Presidential portraits December 20, 2008
Posted by sophoristicallyspeaking in : Uncategorized , trackbackGraphic Novel Friday: A One-Two Punch of Best American Comics and Ivan Brunetti’s Anthology of Graphic Fiction
Two series in similar formats have been vaguely mirroring each other for the past couple of years: Ivan Brunetti’s An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories, now in its second volume, and The Best American Comics, now in its third volume. Both anthologies collect the best of North American comics and graphic novel excerpts. Brunetti’s anthology does this by sifting through the last ten to twenty years (mostly) and publishing the idiosyncratic results. The Best American Comics, with guest editor Lynda Barry and new series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, provides a snapshot of the previous year in comics.
Thus, one can expect that Brunetti will provide a kind of “classic” experience, both wide and deep, while The Best American Comics is held hostage to the quality of the comics produced during the year under review. At the same time, though, BAC has the flexibility created by using a guest editor, meaning that the definition of what constitutes a great comic will change every year.
Some reviews of these volumes, and their predecessors, have misunderstood the nature of the respective projects, usually “siding” with the Brunetti. But the sampling process and the intent is so different that it’s fairer to say that both projects accomplish admirably what they set out to do. What I find especially fascinating about these books is that they acknowledge without fanfare that it is important to both preserve the history of this artform and to catalog its rich variations going forward. Having both projects available to readers and academics from prominent publishers is an important step in the evolution and codification of an art form that is now often eclipsing movies and novels as the relevant form of storytelling in the 21st Century.
Both An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories and The Best American Comics make compelling holiday gifts, either separately or in tandem. The highlights of Brunetti’s book include contributions by Richard Sala, Chris Ware, Robert Crumb, Renee French, and Art Spiegelman. The Best American Comics 2008 features Alison Bechdel, Matt Groenig, and Gene Luen Yang, among others. Barry’s introduction is in the form of a comic, and is, like everything she does, brilliant.
If either volume has a limitation, it’s that both ignore the superhero genre and other “commercial” material, along with a focus mostly on realism rather than surrealism or fantasy. (To be fair, BAC has a note indicating they tried to reprint a section from Paul Pope’s Batman: Year 100, but could not get permission from DC.) I would also submit that someone needs to consider the herculean task of doing a Best Comics of the Year volume, including material from all over the world.
But, in the meantime, these two anthologies provide a fascinating glimpse into the vibrant, lively world of comics in North America.
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