Favorites of 2007 - Graphic Novels & Manga

Let me state up front that this is not necessarily a 'Best of' list; I didn't have time to read everything and I'm sure that there's some good stuff that came out in 2007 that I just haven't gotten to yet.

That said, here are my picks for my favorite graphic novels and manga from 2007 (I'll follow later in the week with a post on favorite comic books):


Original Graphic Novels:


The Arrival by Shaun Tan

The Arrival actually came out in 2006 in Tan's native Australia, but it didn't really hit U.S. shores until this year so I feel justified in including it. Tan, generally a creator of picture books for children, has created a wordless graphic novel that seeks to give the immigrant experience to the reader. Our nameless immigrant travels across the ocean to a strange land; at first we think we're in a early 20th century on Earth milieu, but soon we discover that we're in a world that clashes with the bizarre and wouldn't be out of place in a Jim Woodring comic. The sights are odd, the flora and fauna are odd, the customs are odd, and we don't understand the language. I don't know if it's possible for a comic to be a truly immersive experience, but The Arrival comes about as close as possible.



Bookhunter by Jason Shiga

Set in the early 1970s, Shiga's Bookhunter takes the police procedural and sets in the world of a major city public library. For anyone who enjoys a good comic this is entertaining; for a library geek like myself, it's paper-and-ink crack. Bookhunter goes a long way in solidifying Shiga's reputation as an unheralded comics genius. (You can read Bookhunter online in its entirety here, though I strongly suggest that this is a comic best experienced in print.)



Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks

You might expect that at this point there wouldn't be anything new in zombie comics. I would have thought such an opinion to be correct, had it not been for Faith Erin Hicks' debut graphic novel Zombies Calling. Three university students find to their surprise that their campus is being overrun by zombies, and they use their knowledge gleaned from watching zombie movies to survive. It has just the right mixture of humor, satire, action, drama and pathos; and Hicks's agreeable art (reminiscent of fellow Canadian Brian Lee O'Malley) is perfect for this kind of story.


Manga


Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma

2007 saw the resumption of English publication of one of my all-time favorite manga series, Kiyohiko Azuma's delightful slice-of-life comedy Yotsuba&! No other comic being published today makes me laugh so much, and it's good clean fun at that. Charming, sweet and fun, it serves as a perfect example of how to make good comics.



Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno

A collection of two (or three, depending on how you count them) stories dealing with the long-term effects of the atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima, Kouno's Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms pulls off the tough task of being an 'important' work without seeming like it's trying to hard. Despite the sometimes depressing themes, this is not a depressing book. We see the bomb as a ghost hanging over the people, but it is a ghost that they learn to deal with. Heartbreaking, yet strangely uplifting in the way the characters not just survive but also live. It has stayed with me ever since reading it.

2007 Fiesta Bowl

While there were a few good bowl games this year, there was nothing to compare to excitement that was the conclusion to last year's Fiesta Bowl. Now thanks to Hulu, we can all relive it.

We pick up late in the fourth quarter as Boise State, with an eight point lead, is trying to run the clock out against Oklahoma...

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

For our first cover of 2008 we have Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer's cover to Biff-Bam-Pow! #1, on which One Punch Girl has laid the smackdown on Nukular Jones, the gang of "low rent monkey muscle."

(Standard disclaimer about monkey muscle not really being monkeys applies.)

Click on the image for a larger version.

Refugees Unite!

Badly designed, impossible to navigate, ugly, loud, depressing, reeking of death. How did this beast that is eating the fabric of our civilization and puking it up on the shoes of our future achieve such popularity? I might be talking about the Bush War, but in this case I'm referring to MySpace.

I had a blog on MySpace for a while and it made my colon throb. And not in a good way. So, at the helpful advice of many of you, my readers, I abandoned it like the religion I was raised in and moved over to Blogger. I pray to the multitude of gods I no longer believe in (proud atheist) that it treats me – and you – well.

The groovy photo below is of me the night I met Dennis Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth. I am a fan of his philosophies and politics and was thrilled to discover he has been a fan of my cartoons. (We're both ethical vegans) He's very charming and affable and I gave him one of my new books. I always pull a wagon full of books behind me in case I meet someone I admire.

More in a week or so. Hope you like the new blog and please tell your friends, family, and enemies all about it!
Smooches,
Dan

YAMR: Best of 2007

Christmas is over, so it's time to retire the Christmas 2007 Mix on Yet Another Music Radio; it was very popular during the holidays, but we're moving on.

Our new playlist at YAMR for the next little while is Best of 2007, nearly 100 tracks of my favorite music from the past year.

You'll hear songs by:

Abra Moore, Adrienne Young, Alison Krauss, Aly & AJ, Amanda Abizaid, Amy Winehouse, The Apples in Stereo, ATB with Heath Nova, Ben Lee, Bethany Dillon, Brandi Carlile, Britt Nicole, Chantal Kreviazuk, Celtic Woman, Colbie Caillat, Deana Carter, The Dollyrots, Dolores O'Riordan, The Electric Soft Parade, Elini Mandell, Emmy Rossum, Feist, A Fine Frenzy, Flyleaf, Fountains of Wayne, Green Day, Her Majesty's Sound, Iowa Super Soccer, Jane Monheit, Joss Stone, Julie Marcell, Julie Doiron, Kelly Sweet, Kim Richey, Kristin Hersh, Laura Veirs, LeAnn Rimes, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Miskovsky, Mandy Moore, Marié Digby, Martina McBride, Meg Baird, Miranda Lambert, Missy Higgins, Mocean Worker, Nichole Nordeman, Noisettes, Patty Griffin, The Pipettes, The Puppini Sisters, Richard Shindell, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, Rihanna, Rilo Kiley, The Rocket Summer, Samantha James, Sara Bareilles, Sara Evans, Sarah Johns, The Section Quartet, Silversun Pickups, Sleepthief & Kristy Thirsk, Suzy Bogguss, Tegan and Sara, Todd Snider, Tracey Thorn, Uncle Earl, THe Unlovables, vicky Beeching.

It's nearly six hours of great music, so tune on in!
 

Graphic Narrative Discussion Group

I briefly mentioned yesterday that last night we were having our inaugural meeting of a Graphic Narrative Discussion Group. The group is a spin-off of sorts of our Fantasy & Science Fiction Theory Reading Group. Every year for the past few years that group has chosen a graphic novel as one of the selections; this new group is for those of us who want to do more than just one a year and/or things that don't necessarily fall under fantasy or science fiction.

Last night we decided to do a somewhat major work every other month (we haven't decided yet what, if anything, we'll do in the intervening months). Here's the slate we came up with for our first year:

February: Global Frequency by Warren Ellis and various artists (both volumes)

April: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

June: Yotsuba&! by by Kiyohiko Azuma (first 2 volumes)

August: Mister O by Lewis Trondheim

October: Palestine by Joe Sacco

December: Get A Life and Maybe Later by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian


To me this seems like a good batch offering plenty of variety and potential discussion.

Blogging About Not Blogging is a Sin

Things this week on YACB are pretty quiet. I'm working on my Favorites of 2007 post, which should be ready to go early next week. Also, tonight is the very first meeting of our new Graphic Narrative Discussion Group, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a brief report on that.