This is the fourth in a series on creating my comics canon. For the first three parts see one, two, and three.
There's something really quite brilliant about comics, something that's so obvious and yet is hidden behind people's preconceived notions of the medium. In film it's not unnatural for a documentary to be wildly critically acclaimed, nor is a work of non-fiction prose out of the ordinary. Yet when I told my friend Marisa, an admitted fiction hater and non comics reader, that I could find a comic for her to enjoy she scoffed a little. I could imagine what was going through her mind; "yeah, right, Superman and Batman".
It's still ingrained into people's minds that comics are a genre, not a medium, and so it's great to be able to do things like this, which showcase the complexity and diversity of comics. It takes people by surprise and it has a lot to do with what Gene Kannenberg called "letting the scales fall from their eyes." And so it is with that statement and my friend Marisa's prejudice in mind that I offer a few brief explanations on my choices for canonical non-fiction comics.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
I mean let's just get this one out of the way. Probably the greatest non-fiction comic ever made, and one of the greatest comics ever created, Spiegelman's tale of his father's imprisonment by Nazis using anthropomorphic cats and mice as Nazis and Jews is at times heartbreaking, at times humorous, and always thought-provoking. Any history class focusing on the holocaust and not using this book is doing its students a disservice. I'm not sure there's anyone out there, comics or non-comics fan alike, who hasn't heard of this book, and it is absolutely essential to any comics canon.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Like Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art McCloud's revolutionary Understanding Comics is a unique look at the craft of comics and an exploration of the mediums structure and benefits. It's one of those books that completely changes the way you think about comics, even if you don't agree with everything it's saying. Comics scholars have a lot to thank McCloud for, as he makes a point of describing how we can learn from comics, and this book might be his best example.
Palestine by Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco has written some powerful journalistic comics in his career but none as powerful as this tale of his journey to the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories in the early nineties. Both a synopsis of events as well as a history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we see the area from Sacco's point of view as well as the imagined POV of some of the locals. Though he's there as a journalist his desire to be an impartial observer often conflicts with his personal feelings. Really quite stunning, all around.
American Splendor by Harvey Pekar et al
Pekar's American Splendor is an autobiographical comic unlike many others. Unlike most autobiographical works which span years or specific events of a person's life Pekar instead chooses to, for the most part, cover the day to day activities of his life. Going to the store, sitting on the couch listening to records, eating at a restaurant; all of the mundane activities of his life are put under a microscope and examined through his cynical point of view. The result is perhaps the most personal of autobiographical works, each tale with a different artist which help alter the mood of the story. If the platitude "saying what we're all thinking" is never true, Pekar at least comes the closest.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Perhaps more poignant now than ever Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's life as a child around the time of the Iranian revolution. Deeply personal and deceptively deep despite its almost childlike artwork Persepolis works not only as a primer to the revolution but also as a look at the everyday life of an Iranian citizen. Satrapi succeeds in covering Iran where so many have failed when covering Iraq, and that is to imbue the characters with humanity rather than making them nameless, faceless Middle Easterners. Great, heartfelt storytelling.
These choices jumped out to me but I'm sure I missed some essentials. Still, it's a good starting point and hopefully there will be some other great suggestions in the comics. And Marisa, take your pick!
What non-fiction work would be in your comics canon?
NOTE: I'll be extending this feature into next week, as there's a lot more I want to cover with very little time.
1 comments:
It's weird seeing my name in someone's blog. I will borrow Persepolis, and maybe the one about Palestine.
Post a Comment