The Case of the Missing Men by Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes

If you ever consider what graphic novel to give to someone who doesn’t normally read graphic novels, this is a title to add to your list. And while the actual story presented here may not be true, it offers a glimpse into what life was like on the U.S. But the character of Calamity Jane is full of exuberant contradictions. It’s a difficult genre to do well and many comics biographers oversimplify their subjects. I usually don’t like biography in comics.

Beneath the Dead Oak Tree is a short book, but shocking in how quickly it devolves into unbridled evisceration.Ĭalamity Jane by Christian Perrissin and Matthieu Blanchin Her color work is gorgeous and her sense of line is sensuous, which contrasts nicely with the horrific nature of her subject matter. Emily Carroll is one of those comics artists whose work I buy sight unseen. If you don’t yet know about ShortBox, check it out. Every one has at least one book that I really love and several others that I appreciate having been published. I’ve been getting the ShortBox packages for a little while now. They are average people who are excited by their discoveries, but oddly blasé about their personal safety.īeneath the Dead Oak Tree by Emily Carroll

In a way, it reminded me a bit of the beginning of Moebius’s Aedena, but the characters in Schrauwen’s work, while having god-like power through their technology, are not being deified by their creator. The final story in Parallel Lives is a different take on a classic sci-fi trope: discovering a new world. It started with trying Arsène Schrauwen out through Hoopla. I discovered the work of Olivier Schrauwen this year. This list is organized alphabetically by title.Īrsène Schrauwen and Parallel Lives by Olivier Schrauwen And that’s why I think lists like this can be helpful. I can check out graphic novels from my library these days. Long gone are the days when the only good books were shoved into the back of the comic book store next to the porn, and there only one or two I actually wanted to read.

There are just more good books out there, more quality publishers, and more artists. If anything, I feel like I’m reading less. Still, this became a longer list than I was anticipating when I first came up with the idea of doing this. And since this is a best of list, there are many things that I’ve read that are not here at all, and some of those things were good. I am sure I read things this year that I am forgetting. These are not necessarily comics and graphic novels published this year, though many of them were, but a list of what I read in the past twelve months. As is traditional these days, here is an end-of-the-year list.

John dear by laura lannes