September Graphic Novel Recommendations - Anthologies

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Anthologies!
There’s nothing better than sitting down with a quality anthology. Texture, variety, surprise, these are the things one expects when they read through an anthology. And what better way to discover new artists and writers? What better way to explore new art and style, especially work one might never get to, never access? Consider it an education in the world of comics in the form of a book. If you’re like me you like to keep your anthology close at hand, say, the coffee table, the desk, the book shelf in the living room where, on a quiet night or an afternoon when you’ve got time to kill, you can pick it up, flip it randomly or to that favorite short that, no matter how many times you read it, it gets you laughing. Anthologies have long-time value—either because you only slowly pick away at the different stories or because after one read through it’s just as exciting and refreshing to read it again. Take some time with these less well-known anthologies, they’re a treat.

Abstract Comics: The Anthology: 1967-2009 (Hardcover)

By Andrei Molotiu, Andrei Molotiu
$39.99
ISBN-13: 9781606991572
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Fantagraphics Books, 9/2009
An Anthology of Abstract Comics Edited by Andrei Molotiu
I won’t try and re-state it; Andrei Molotiu says it perfectly in his introduction, that this book attempts to chronicle how cartoonist and other artists have, “played with the possibility of sequential art whose panels contain little to no representational imagery, or that tells no stories other than those resulting from the transformation and interaction of shapes across a comic page.” And that’s the adventure really. For me it’s hard to slow down sometimes, as so often graphic storytelling is a combination of narrative and art it’s easy to fall into reading mode—scanning left-right, left-right—that it becomes a treat to take in a page of art, take a panel, and consider how the shapes, texture, depth, and color interact with another, how, if one takes the time, the enjoyment one finds in story—often a purely verbal or written one—can be translated into something completely different. Take the time to sit down and experience some of the works in this book.

From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium (Paperback)

By Steffen P. Maarup
$29.99
ISBN-13: 9781606993255
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Fantagraphics Books, 8/2009
From Wonderland With Love Edited by Steffen Maarup
Fantastic! Really, that’s all I have to say about this amazing collection. It blew me away. There was not one moment in the reading of this book (in one sitting, slouched and unblinking on my couch, coffee going cold) that I did not completely love. HuskMitNavn’s Newspaper Cartoons will make you wonder and laugh, Nicoline Werdelin’s Because I Love You So Much is a perfect combination of humor and tragedy told in combined four to five panel vignettes, which, all on its own is well worth the price of the book. This collection also has in it an energy not so often seen in comics: from a mad scientist heavy rock badger to the glorious, funny, and epic rock musical of Sloth by Ib Kjeldsmark, a lot of the cartooning is similar in character and pacing to street art. Mythic and dreamlike, meditative and fantastical, this is a superb and surprising collection.

From the Shadow of the Northern Lights (Paperback)

By Various Swedish Cartoonists
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781603090117
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Top Shelf Productions, 8/2008

From the Shadow of the Northern Lights, Galago Magazine
At times political, moody, whimsical, moral, this anthology of Swedish comics is a delightful slice of the Swedish alternative comics scene. Incredibly varied and textured, this anthology has an eclictic mix of styles: from Joakim Pirinen’s vulgar but humorous family interaction to the Woodring-ish tales of Marcus Ivarsson and Kolbeinn Karlsson and to the imagistic, surreal and wonderful strips of Gunnar Lundkvist and Knut Larsson, this collection packs an impressive punch. Sometimes hauntingly moral and unapologetically melancholy, I have very rarely been as impressed by an anthology as much as I have with this one.

Made in France: 8 Artists and the Graphic Novel (Paperback)

By Alexis Nolent
$35.00
ISBN-13: 9781934171073
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Nyehaus/Foundation 20 21, 6/2009
Made in France: 8 Artists and the Graphic Novel Edited by Alexis Nolent
For the serious enthusiast only. But I don’t mean that as any sort of warning. This limited edition collection features some of France’s biggest names in the field, an exemplary cornucopia of bande dessinée. The collection includes eight separate, nicely bound booklets featuring each artist and a nice curator’s note, which doubles as an introduction to the work and some thoughtful graphic criticism. Most of the booklets feature beautifully printed scans of the original art boards—my favorite are the LAX’s beautifully inked and painted boards from some his finest work. Truly, a unique collection.

Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays (Paperback)

By Brendan Burford
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780345505293
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Villard, 5/2009
Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays Edited by Brendan Burford
Brendan Burford has compiled here a wonderful assortment of non-fiction graphic pieces. Really, you’ve got everything here: memoir, journalistic coverage of current events, sketchbook images, history, and profiles that explore both place and person. And it’s not just the content but also the assemblage of graphic storytellers—Josh Neufield, Greg Cook, Nate Powell, Paul Karasik—and visual artists—particularly, Tricia Van Den Bergh and Victor Marchand Kerlow, whose paper and ink sketches of New York subway musicians perfectly evokes the raw and multi-faceted scene without words or sound. One of the only strictly non-fiction anthologies and a highly enjoyable one at that.

Awesome 2: Awesomer (Paperback)

By Top Shelf Productions
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781603090391
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Top Shelf Productions, 7/2009
Awesome 2: Awesomer Edited by Charlito and Mr. Phil
If you’ve ever wondered what was happening in the world of indie comics then this is your book. Chock full of some of the scene’s most talented (expect to see big names—or at least indie big names—like Jeff Lemire, Chuck Forsman, Miss Lasko-Gross and many other less than big names) from one page strips, to tragic short tales, gems of high literary quality, to the less than serious (I’m thinking here, The Sea Beast Solution Part 1 by Rich Miller) to the final Awesomini, a collected mini-comic from the students at The Center for Cartoon Studies. It’s very rare to find such a highly condensed, yet accessible collection as this one. An added bonus:  proceeds from the sales of the book go toward a scholarship for a student at the CCS!

Alan Moore Light Of Thy Countenance (Paperback)

By Alan Moore
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9781592910625
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Avatar Press, 3/2009
Other Editions of this Title
Another book by Alan Moore? Are you serious? Oh yes, I am. I can’t get enough of this guy. There's good reason, too: he's a genius. Who else could write, "Think not the gods find no enjoyment in Apocalypse: it is our noblest sport. It is our right." and get away with it? This, however, is a beautifully done adaptation of a story written by Alan Moore about the power of television, centered largely on Carol Livesly, a T.V. personality, and how her image in our lives has framed not just personal moments but national and international ones too. Antony Johnston preserves Moore’s story in an elegantly scripted graphic novella.