allie brosh – Comicsgirl https://www.comicsgirl.com Thu, 18 Dec 2014 02:06:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 https://www.comicsgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cropped-EdenMiller2017-1-32x32.jpg allie brosh – Comicsgirl https://www.comicsgirl.com 32 32 59683043 Review: The Best American Comics 2014 https://www.comicsgirl.com/2014/10/07/review-the-best-american-comics-2014/ Wed, 08 Oct 2014 00:58:22 +0000 http://www.comicsgirl.com/?p=4185 best-american-2014I am not going to go into my thoughts on The Best American Comics  since I’ve already covered that pretty well (I flipped through but did not read either the 2012 or 2013 editions). They are what they are, honestly, and that’s more of a good thing than a bad thing.

Except this year, it’s only a good thing. The Best American Comics 2014 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) is a masterful collection of where the medium of comics is right now. If you need a primer, this is it. If you just want to have all these amazing comics in one volume you can take with you, this is it. This has set the standard for what all the following The Best American Comics books need to be.

Under the guidance of new series editor Bill Kartalopoulos (who, among many other things he does, always puts together incredible programming for Small Press Expo), it does feel like the direction of what these books should be has changed. While I have no problem with what former series editors Matt Madden and Jessica Abel were doing, Kartalopoulos brings a curator’s eye to this collection, seeking out the new and the different, and wanting to highlight new creators alongside the legends. It all goes into a wonderful pool to choose from.

This year’s editor is Scott McCloud, and his background as a comics creator, teacher and thinker shows through. He is obviously excited about comics all the time and his enthusiasm shows through. He organizes the comics here into categories and provides context for each section. It gives the volume a structure and flow that has been lacking in previous ones. Even as much as I know about comics (and many of these creators), I found this to be insightful and informative.

Yes, you’ll still find most of the usual suspects here — the book starts selections from Jaime Hernandez, Charles Burns, Adrian Tomine and R. Crumb — but that’s dispensed with quickly (and wisely). Other than an extended look at Chris Ware’s Building Stories, the rest of the collection is full more recent legends and unknown creators — from Raina Telgmeier (it’s a delight to see Drama highlighted here) to Michael DeForge to Sam Alden (whose gorgeous Hawaii 1997 is included here).

Even crossover favorites like Brian K. Vaughan’s and Fiona Staple’s Saga and Brandon Graham’s Multiple Warheads get nods here. Instead of coming across as “I too like popular comics” on the part of McCloud, it feels more like “These are really great comics and I wanted to share them!”

Did anything surprise me here? I certainly loved that Allie Brosh’s “Depression Part II” is put with all these great comics because it deserves to be there. It’s fun to see an excerpt from Lale Westvind’s Hyperspeed to Nowhere #2 and selections from Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac in this book, too. I appreciate that McCloud didn’t shy away from including more experimental comics from Aidan Koch and Erin Curry.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve read most or none of these comics before. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to discover new creators or just want to enjoy some old favorites. Whether you know nothing about comics or that’s all you read, The Best American Comics 2014 is for you.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Briefly noted:

I’m still going through my stack of comics from Small Press Expo (and the comics I bought afterward), but I just wanted to highlight a few I’ve read lately and have enjoyed.

  • Weird Me Vol. 1 by Kelly Phillips – Phillips tells her tale of her days managing a Weird Al fansite. It’s hilarious and sweet. Her art carries a good sense of setting and emotion and her page layouts are dynamic. I am looking forward to Vol. 2 way too much (in fact, after finishing this, I immediately went online to ask when it was going to be done.)
  • The Secret of Angel Food Cake by Hannah Lee Stockdale – I have read this comic way too many times and after I failed to see her at SPX, she kindly sent me the print version. There is just something so lovely and quiet about the storytelling. And I like the way Stockdale draws dogs. If you draw good dogs, I like your comics.
  • Hair by Matt Lubchansky – This minicomic is basically just a punchline you can guess from the beginning, but it’s still a good one. Lubchansky’s comic is funny and playful — characters are all wide-eyes and exaggerated movements — and things that could be horrifying just come across as silly. Also, great use of spot color.
]]> 4185 Library Con at Petworth Neighborhood Library & Comics by Women https://www.comicsgirl.com/2014/08/03/library-con-at-petworth-neighborhood-library-comics-by-women/ Sun, 03 Aug 2014 18:32:16 +0000 http://www.comicsgirl.com/?p=4161 library-conYesterday, I was a speaker at Library Con at the Petworth Neighborhood Library. It was a small, mostly family-oriented event but well-organized and fun. I am always going to be a fan of events that make comics — of all genres and styles — more accessible to more people.

I first saw Jacob Mazer of Animal Kingdom Publishing discuss his work and the anthology of comics, prose, poetry and criticism he edits. It’s still a young publication, but I definitely think there’s room in the world for more things like this, allowing comics to reach audiences they may not otherwise. Not everything in the second issue is to my tastes, but there is some thought-provoking work in it.

Then I saw Gareth Hinds, whose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet came out last year. He talked about always loving to draw as a child and comics ended up coming naturally to him. He worked in video games for a long time before quitting to create graphic novels full-time. He broke down his process for each book and I was interested to hear he changes techniques and styles for each specific book. He also spoke about the challenges of adapting classic literature.

After that, it was my turn. I talked about comics by women (what else?) and I think it went well for it being such a big topic. My concept was not to give history but offer up titles that people can buy right now. I had a good discussion with the attendees too.

You can download my PowerPoint presentation or a PDF of it, but I’ve also created a list of the creators and titles I discussed below (with links to their websites where appropriate).

I have reviewed some of these books and written more about some of these creators. You should be able to find what you need through the tags.

History/background

 lumberjanesMainstream: Superheroes

Mainstream: Sci-fi/Fantasy

Children and Young Adult Comics

marblesAutobiographical

Manga

  • Kyoko Okazaki: Pink, Helter Skelter
  • Moto Hagio: A Drunken Dream, The Heart of Thomas
  • Takako Shimura: Wandering Son
  • Moyoco Anno: In Clothes Called Fat, Insufficient Direction

UK, Europe and Around the World

  • Mary Talbot: The Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, Sally Heathcoate: Suffragette
  • Isabel Greenberg: Encyclopedia of Early Earth
  • Julie Maroh: Blue is the Warmest Color
  • Marguerite Abouet: Aya series
  • Rutu Modan: Exit Wounds, The Property

strong-femaleOnline comics

Minicomics & cutting-edge creators

Through the WoodsPublishers, groups and events

Top Picks of Comics by Women for 2014

]]> 4161 Review: Hyperbole and a Half https://www.comicsgirl.com/2013/10/28/review-hyperbole-and-a-half/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 23:45:24 +0000 http://www.comicsgirl.com/?p=3987 Hyperbole and a HalfAny time Allie Brosh would post something new to her blog, Hyperbole and a Half, it felt like an event. All productivity would stop as people would post the link to Twitter or Facebook, or even email it (some of us still do that, by the way). Offices would be full of repressed laughter as we read stories about little girls pretending to be wolves, Simple Dog having a wild adventure, or her theories on Internet grammar.

Then, after posting Adventures in Depression two years ago, Brosh disappeared until May of this year. Depression Part Two effectively explains why.

Although I’d say that her book Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened (Touchstone/Simon and Schuster, 2013), helps to tell the rest of the story.

While the book does include several of her pieces available on her website (the Depression comics are here), the bulk of the book is new material and is a witty look into a strange and complicated life.

Part essay and part comic, Brosh has a clear, smart voice and a deep appreciation of the absurd and the ridiculous. Her text and drawings are perfect compliments for each other and she transitions easily between the two, always knowing when something will be better told through words or through images. She’s able to pace her stories the way that is the most effective.

Her Paintbrush drawings are deceptively crude. Always draws herself as a pink tube with bulging eyes and a triangular ponytail (and tellingly, Brosh draws herself the same whether she’s an adult or a child), her presentation of herself is disarming and approachable. Other characters (such as her parents, friends and boyfriend) look more recognizably human, and drawings of animals, sense of movement and setting show she does have a good understanding of art. These aren’t just some silly drawings she’s done without any thought.

But don’t get me wrong — there is plenty of silliness. Many of these stories fall into the “you couldn’t make this stuff up” category, like when her mother takes her and her sister for a walk in the woods and gets them lost, or how Brosh, due to a variety of circumstances, became known for liking hot sauce even though she didn’t. The stories about her two odd, neurotic dogs are among the best (and it’s good those dogs have Brosh to love them).

It’s not all silliness, though. There’s unexpected poignancy underneath the hilarity. Beyond her two pieces about depression, she also chronicles her struggles with what it means to function as an adult (making yourself go to the bank when there’s the Internet to look at!) as well as trying to reconcile the vision she has of herself as a good person with the reality of worrying she’s not. Somehow, even when dealing with these darker issues and insight, Hyperbole and a Half never stops making you laugh.

And I think that’s why we all share Hyperbole and a Half’s pieces with each other. We recognize ourselves the stories of this woman who draws herself as a pink tube, even if she’s quite a bit weirder than we may be. Her stories painfully funny in both the literal and metaphorical sense, much like life itself. Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened is our story, or close enough to it.

Review copy provided by Big Planet Comics.

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