Customer Reviews

The Best American Comics 2006 (Best American)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With at least two other comics anthologies out this past year, this one is good but certainly not the 'best' as its title claims. Pekar's choices seem very unstructured. Some of his selections have already appeared in (the legendary) "McSweeney's 13" two years ago which was edited by Chris Ware. Ware's selections though seemed to weave a narrative of their own with a bit of comics history thrown in. A direct follow-up to McSweeney's is "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories" edited by (Ware colleague) Ivan Brunetti who continues in the idea of providing a historical context (or at least background) for today's comics. Equal to all of these is the well-designed, daring "Kramer's Ergot 6" (though "Kramer's Ergot 5" is better, if you can find it) which was created by Sammy Harkham who has an editing style like a curator of a contemporary art exhibit.

It's not that Pekar's selections are bad, it just seems repetitive if you've been paying attention to "alt-comics" (or "art comics" or "comix" or whatever you want to call them) for the past 5 or so years. The challenge that a comics anthology has over an anthology of short stories or poetry is that a range of narrative styles is not necessarily a good thing. Without a theme of sorts (at least within the editor's head), the stories seem to swim around in this book and certainly don't hold well together as they do in the aforementioned ones. Not bad, but certainly not the best as Houghton-Mifflin is jumping in late on the game.

The Best American Comics 2006, edited by Harvey Pekar and Anne Elizabeth Moore, is something of a mixed bag. The physical components are top notch, so this collection will look very nice on the bookshelf. Also, there is a nice variety of techniques and styles in the offering. In this respect, it is probably a good representation of the state of American comics today. On the downside, I feel that there is a bit too much filler in this volume.

Make no mistake, Pekar and Moore deserve a good deal of credit for this work. Several of the stories are extremely good. Among these, I would include Complacency Kills by Joe Sacco, La Rubia Loca by Justin Hall, Dance with the Ventures by Jonathan Bennett, Portait of my Dad by David Heatley, Thirteen Cats of my Childhood by Jesse Reklaw, and Walkin' the Streets by Robert Crumb. These stories are well drawn, emotionally moving, and very well written. Some of the other work, however, is simply average, or just didn't appeal to me. A small portion of the book is not very good at all, in either story or art.

One of the more questionnable offerings, in my opinion is Rabbithead by Rebecca Dart. This story is highly innovative, but it comes across as more bizarre than enjoyable. Chemical Plant/Another World by John Porcellino is another one that I found objectionable. It falls in that "slice of life" category without much meaning or substance. Fortunately, these weaker stories are in the minority.

One very admirable aspect of this work is the price. The hardbound book is an exceptional value at $22.00. When compared to the usual price of graphic novels, you get quite a lot of bang for your buck. If a reader doesn't mind some inconsistency in the quality, it's probably a good buy.

I have to say, this is an uneven bunch of stories. Pekar's bias toward autobiography and slice-of-life, and against anything mainstream is palpable. Many of the comics are also poorly written non-linear claptrap that use random acts of violence in order to negotiate their "plots." Just about all of the one-two page stories he picked out were boring in the extreme - how Peter Kuper's SPY VS. SPY or Sergio Aragones's work in Mad, didn't make it in against such obviously poor competition is beyond me.

Worst off, Pekar makes a point, in his intro, to disparage superhero comics, then starts the collection off with a poorly drawn satire of superhero comics - the satire being obvious and blunt - making fun of the fact that deadly radiation, which will kill you in the real world, will somehow give you super powers in the comic world - wow! that's an original observation! The artist, in his bio in the back of the book, admits that he used stick figures in his drawing, because he was caught in a deadline crunch, and essentially cheated on the job he was getting peanuts for, to free up time for the job he was getting paid well for. He was embarrassed to admit that he had become the much sought after "stick figure artist," when he was actually a realistic artist who was just phoning one in. You'd think Pekar, and the rest of the alternative comics world, would be embarrassed to think that the cheaply done work of an artist was considered "the best."

Many of the comics suffer from a dearth of camera angles. Comic story after comic story mainly uses the strait on camera angle to the viewer. Alternative comics are far far behind the mainstream artists in their ability to tell a story with their art, using angles, silhouette, perspective, shading, panel and page layout, etc.

To be fair, there are good stories in here as well. This whole series, tho, suffers from a narrow point of view. It is as if, if it's an alternative comic, it is automatically on par with literature. This anthology gives that point of view the lie. Good literature requires literate writing. Good sequential art, requires good story telling technique. Just being non-corporate doesn't make it good.

This collection of comics is uneven: the stories alternate between flashes of brilliance and mediocrity. These may not be the "Best" comics written in 2006, but there are some gems here.

Some of the comics are highly personal masterpieces, such as Jesse Reklaw's "Thirteen Cats of My Childhood" in which he traces the tragicomic situations of his home life with a running narrative of the various cats his family owned.

Robert Crumb's "Walkin' the Streets" is a fascinating account of the "everyman" nerd that feels out of place no matter where his is.

Lynda Barry's "Two Questions" is a simple, yet amazingly deep comic, dealing with the insecurities every comic artist faces. In a subtle, masterful way, she even broaches the subject of censorship of comics and how society as a whole represses those that challenge convention.

"La Rubia Loca," is the story of how a woman deals with a woman going crazy on a bus trip through Mexico. It is compelling and draws the reader into an awkward situation. The artwork is excellent and the drama is palpable.

"Ready to Die" is "Dead Man Walking" meets the comic form, Kim Deitch's musing on the lethal injection of a killer. Deitch humanizes the character even more the film "Dead Man Walking" humanizes its killer. This is an example of the power of the medium - it is impossible to read this strip without some emotions welling up within the reader - anger, confusion, sadness.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the comics here are not extraordinary. Some of them suffer from poor artwork or uninteresting storylines - or lack of a narrative altogether. Some of them feel self-indulgent and self-pitying. I also hope the editors in the future will enlarge some of the comics - a few of them were too small to read clearly.

The powerful story, "Nakedness and Power" about the injustices of the Nigerian oil industry was a great example of the subtle power of the comic medium to shift opinions.

Politics is fertile ground for comics in the "Best American Comics" series and its readers are well aware of this. I am no Bush apologist - I believe many of his policies were disastrous - but only 3 years later as I write this, most of the anti-Bush messages some of these artists allowed to infect their work now sounds shrill and trite. I saw this same issue in contemporary art in 2006 - I think many great artists will look back at their work and cringe that they gave Bush more importance in their work than he deserved.

Best American Comics of 2006 soars to great heights at times - but much of the time, it never gets off the ground.

I'm a big fan of comics, graphic storytelling, sequential art, whatever you want to call it, so I was psyched to see the form added to the "Best American" series. This inaugural edition is beautifully produced, with lovely printing, paper, binding, etc. -- equal to the top notch stuff put out by Drawn & Quarterly and other high end indie comics publishers. The contents follow the regular "Best American" series guidelines (published in North America between 1/1/04 and 8/15/05), and its shortlist of 150 candidates was assembled by Punk Planet coeditor Anne Moore. From that list, celebrated comics auteur Harvey Pekar selected his thirty favorite.

With that in mind, the book's true title should probably be "Best American Indie Comics" or "Best American Alternative Comics", since not a single piece from a mainstream comics publishing house is represented. Granted, indie comics need all the help they can get, but this narrow vision is a major flaw. Pekar is very up front about his bias: "...superhero comics still form a division of the science fiction genre, which should not dominate comics any more than they do pose books, film, or television, all versatile forms of expression. While there is no realistic movement in straight [ie. "superhero"] comics, there is one in alternative comics. Realism has been so important in the novel, theater, film, and visual arts. How can mainstream [ie. "superhero"] comics ignore it and other movements that flourish in other art forms? Mainstream comics greatly ignore the medium's potential." While I'm not personally a fan of most superhero comics (give me Joe Sacco or Adrian Tomine any day), this is stunningly ill-informed statement, and especially disappointing coming from someone who ought to know better. Instead of the open-mindedness of a truly alternative scene, Pekar appears intent on invoking some quasi-Maoist criteria of what is truly worthy.

Leaving aside whether or not genre distinctions are even useful labels anymore, Pekar reveals a total and complete ignorance of the state of the non-alternative comics scene. Never mind that many superhero storylines have been thinly veiled critiques of the "real" world, a quick glance at the catalogs of major publishers will reveal all manner of non-"science fiction" material, such as crime, romance, western, etc. Moreover, some of those "movements" he believes superhero comics are ignoring, have been well-embraced by (notably, postmodernism) -- not to mention plenty of artistic innovations. It'd be interesting to know if Moore included any of those in her shortlist of 150. Unfortunately, Pekar appears to be harboring some kind of bitter 1960s vision of mainstream comics, one totally at odds with reality. Pekar's generational bias further shows through in the inclusion of a number of older artists, whose work simply doesn't connect with me at all such as Robert Crumb (yes yes, I _know_ he's a genius), Lynda Barry, and Gilbert Shelton.

That major caveat aside, this is a pretty nice mix of material, although if you've been following alternative comics for the last few years, you'll be seeing some familiar stuff, including usual suspects like Jessica Abel, Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, Ben Katchor, Alison Bechdel, and Ivan Brunetti (Notable omission: Tony Millionaire). Highlights include David Heatley's weirdly captivating collection of vignettes about his father, Rebecca Dart's surreal and structurally innovative "Rabbithead", Joe Sacco's ridealong with Marines in Iraq, Lily Carré's novel take on Paul Bunyan, Joel Priddy's hilariously sad take on superheroes "The Amazing Life of Onion Jack" and Jesse Reklaw's memoir via felines "Thirteen Cats of my Childhood." As a whole the anthology is a bit heavy in memoirs and stories which read like memoirs. For example, I wasn't as enamored with Justin Hall's lengthy story of a bus trip in Mexico "La Rubia Loca" or Jonathan Bennett's "Dance with the Ventures" felt pretty derivative, and the excerpt from Alex Robinson's novel Tricked didn't do much for me either.

Overall, this is quick way to get a sense of the possibilities offered by the form (recognizing that you're only seeing the "alternative" angle). There's a broad range of technique and storytelling style. It is true that, as someone else pointed out, that those pieces which have a political angle invariably take a liberal viewpoint. Doesn't bother me, but others may find it tiresome. It's worth pointing out that buried in the contributor bios in the back are "artist's statements" about each peace, some of which provide some interesting context. Overall, a great value and well worth having despite Pekar's limited perspective.

I guess these were OK comics... they seemed a little depressing. Where is Spiderman and The Hulk? What could be more "American" than Captain America... or Aquaman? Where are they?

But seriously.... hats off to the Best American series for starting a The Best American Comics annual to their already great The Best American series. (My favorite being The Best American Nonrequired Reading). Hopefully they will continue this annually with more and more great comics that maybe don't make it into mainstream hands.

My artist daughter requested this as a gift and has enjoyed it immensely.

While The Best American Comics represents the newest addition to a best-selling 'best' series, it's a fine pick for any interested in all kinds of comics, whether they be newspaper, magazine, or pamphlets, and stands well alone for all kinds of readers. Harvey Pekar, guest editor, has written graphic novels and created an Oscar-nominated film, while the series editor Anne Elizabeth Moore has numerous editing awards to her name. Black and white and color comics alike are profiled from all kinds of artistic sources.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch