Three great graphic novels that I especially recommend for cooler, grayer months are the quiet, meticulously crafted Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware, the beautifully illustrated autobiographical coming of age tome Blankets by Craig Thompson and my most recent discovery, the American Splendor series by working-class scholar Harvey Pekar.
Few of the comics I like are typical superhero fare, and Jimmy Corrigan is the antithesis of the typical comic book. That's why it's so perfect for passing hours in bed on a cold gray day. Heady, introspective, quiet and self-effacing, this little gem set in Chicago develops a complex, multi-generational narrative fraught with themes of insecurity and daddy issues. It's a beautiful read — from its atypical format and cover design to its minuscule lettering and Ware's obsessively tight, designed illustration. Readers beware: Jimmy Corrigan got me so transported that I squinted at the pages for hours and ruined my distance vision. Absolutely worth it. I'm looking forward to a re-read.
Blankets employs brush-and-ink illustration, a subtle characteristic that makes the novel. The whimsical snow-scaped scenes evoke the emotion of this adolescent first love story. This is a thick one, but it reads easily — more saccharin and accessible than Jimmy Corrigan.
American Splendor was one of the first comics to stretch the medium beyond strongmen in tights, first published in 1976. The stories are all everyday episodes from Harvey Pekar's file clerk job or errand trips...While I'd heard about Pekar's stories on NPR, I imagined the stories would be as boring as their subject matter is mundane: wrong. Harvey opens up the wonder and drama of the ordinary in an unexpected way. I also recently watched the Sundance-winning adaptation of the comics starring Paul Giamatti and featuring Pekar himself.
American Splendor has inspired me to start making some comics of my own. I'll post a one-pager I'm working on soon. I'll also be posting miscellaneous drawings, works of art and other bits of drivel as I feel the urge.
