Me & Comix (or Graphic Novels)

I've been a reader of comics (graphic novels if it makes you feel more adult) my whole life.  When I was a kid there were Archie comics and Superman (who I always thought was kinda boring).  One of my parents' friends collected underground comics of all times and when we would go to dinner at his house I would sequester myself in the room with them and dive in.  He had Spiderman, but he also had the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and tons of others.  I still remember a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers with a page full of panels.  In the first one comes the unmistakable sound of "HUCK" and then in another panel, "Oh my god, the cat is hucking!"  followed by various Freak Brothers running through the other panels.  It was so funny and such a cool cinematic use of the form.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers - Image via Wikipedia

As I got older I didn't read many comics.  Good ones were hard to come by where I lived (this was pre-Internet) and I really didn't like all the conservative politics many of them espoused.  Then I went to college and there was Alan Moore's Swamp Thing.  I was hooked and have followed Mr. Moore ever since.  His mad genius never ceases to please me.  Maus was another wonderful discovery in my favorite bookstore in Albuquerque, the Living Batch, now sadly closed. 

Alan Moore - Image via Wikipedia

Time went on, I moved to Seattle, and discovered Sandman in its graphic novel form and more Alan Moore - Watchmen and V for Vendetta.  Watchmen is one of the only books I've ever read that gave me nightmares - there's something about the feel of it all that gets right under my skin.  I got into some of the Fantagraphics titles and bought lots of other stuff - some I liked, some I didn't like.

My husband turned me onto a bunch of stuff that I hadn't seen before, as well.  He has a formidable comix collections (16 boxes worth), all properly stored.  We refer to them as our retirement nest egg.

Neil Gaiman - Image via Wikipedia

There are a bunch more, but I won't go into too much detail as I'm going to review some of them this year.  Some of the best stories I've ever been told were told to me in comic book form.  With the right combination of writer and artists, comix like nothing else.  They manage to be literary and yet have a flexibility in their use of their form that is unparalleled.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at A Game of You by Neil Gaiman (my favorite volume of Sandman).  There is a scene at the end where the main character is attending a funeral and draws lines on her face in imitation of a veil.  This operates on so many different levels - she is drawing and we can see she's drawing because we're looking at a drawing.  It's this Russian nested doll of shifting context that is unique to both the writing and to its form.

Comix are an essential part of the reading life.  I hope my reviews of some of these as a part of the Graphic Novels Challenge will inspire you to read something new and amazing.