Week of 12/18/2023
On the final update of the year, we have nursery rhyme buffoonery and holiday sneers on The Shapes and I countdown my favorite comics of the year!!
The Shapes
Hey Diddly-Doodly
Haughty Holidays
Sammy the Critic
Top 10 Comics of 2023
With the year coming to a close, now is a perfect time than ever to sit and look back at the best 2023 has had to offer in comics (apologies for releases between December 20 through the 31st). From realistic fantasy redefining popular mythos to autobiographical social commentary and just plain funny stuff (pun intended), this year heralded remarkable diversity thematically and in representation. Kick back and relax as I countdown my favorite 2023 comic releases which include graphic novels and comic books.
10. Us by Sara Soler (Dark Horse Comics)
Published originally in Spain and translated by Silvia Perea Labayen, Us is a memoir covering the author’s experience discovering her sexual identity as a bisexual as her girlfriend Diana uncovers hers as a trans woman. Their self-discovery and coming out process isn’t linear because real life often isn’t, and I appreciate these unique perspectives. The subject matter is earnest, but Soler employs humor through her chibi-like art style and predominately soft pink and blue color scheme. Furthermore, she doesn’t shy away from frankly depicting the innermost thoughts and feelings she had including some less-than-flattering ones from when she was less informed on LGBTQ+ issues.
9. Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni (Abrams)
Bongiovanni’s newest graphic novel follows a queer friend group in Minneapolis that decides to form a club for 30s-something and older queers like themselves who feel out of place with the younger crowd. Full of funny TMI dialogue and multiple storylines exploring their dynamics and life predicaments, their friendship is an authentic joy to watch. Most comics about LGBTQ+ characters seem to focus on teenagers and young adults, so it’s refreshing to see something about an established group of older adults and their everyday lives.
8. Alison by Lizzy Stewart (Fantagraphics)
The newlywed Alison flees an unfulfilling marriage after middle-aged professor Patrick sweeps her off her feet and introduces her to the late-1970s London art scene. Told through a marriage of sequential art and narrative prose, the book chronicles Alison’s life and her progression in the art world. Stewart’s black and white watercolors meshed with a dose of abstract minimalistic backgrounds evoke an exquisite finesse fitting with the story’s themes. Meanwhile, the prose elements are impactfully used for first-person narration that provides more depth into Alison’s musings in a way that would otherwise feel cluttered and limited if it had to be conveyed through panel captions. I would fancy seeing more books that combine graphics and prose this seamlessly.
7. The Talk by Darrin Bell (Henry, Holt, & Co.)
I’ve been a longtime fan of Darrin Bell’s newspaper comic strip Candorville for its insightful social commentary, particularly concerning race relations thus when I heard he published a graphic memoir, I knew I had to read it. Sure enough, this did not disappoint! Spanning from Bell’s childhood growing up in LA during the 1980s to the present, the recurring theme here is “the talk” that every black family in the U.S. has to give to their children about surviving in a predominantly white society that marginalizes Black Americans. Ironically, it was Bell’s white mother that would regularly give him the talk while his black father generally evaded the subject out of discomfort which is used as a springboard to explore how each generation processes the traumatic effects of systemic racism and how it affects their openness towards discussing the issue. Bell himself is forced to confront this dilemma by the end as he’s raising his children. Written with nuance and thought-provoking honesty, this debut tour-de-force deserves to be required reading in middle and high school classrooms.
6. PeePee PooPoo #420 by Caroline Cash (Silver Sprocket))
After a successful #69, Caroline Cash returns appropriately with #420 of her anthology comic book which is equally entertaining. Drawing influences throughout from Ivan Brunetti’s geometric shapes to Daniel Clowes’ cynicism, she uses these sources to do her own thing anarchically. The comics here are primarily autobio and slice-of-life material. However, Cash takes experimental approaches to these genres leading to unique results like a first-person POV of her on an ordinary day walk or depicting the complexities of filing taxes to the IRS as fighting her way through a medieval warzone.
5. Everything Sucks by Michael Sweater (Silver Sprocket)
Sorry, but I just couldn’t pick one issue of this to include since they’re all so good! I already reviewed the series on one of my previous updates, so I’m keeping this real brief, but the TL;DR is that it’s a stoners/slackers comedy revolving around the day-to-day mishaps of roommates Noah and Calla. Michael Sweater’s recognizable art style has a nostalgic cartoon quality while the humor is very easy-going and relatable. Everything Sucks is easily my favorite comic book series right now and the only one besides PeePee PooPoo I consistently pick up every time a new issue is out.
4. Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual by Simon Hanselmann & Josh Pettinger (Fantagraphics)
Surfs up, [grown-up] kiddos for some fun family time with degenerate Werewolf Jones and sons as we revel in good ol’ harmless child neglect and verbal abuse. Simon Hanselmann never seems to miss with his Megg, Mogg, & Owl comics, this installment being no exception with artist Josh Pettinger on board. To fans of the series, Jones’s bad parenting is no question. However, the comics collected here really zoom in on kids’ perspective drawing out how it affects the family unit. As with the rest of MM&O, there’s the expected dark comedy to it all which had me howling as usual. Nevertheless, akin to Hanselmann’s magnum opus Bad Gateway, the prolonged sequences of anguish go from being darkly comic to simultaneously sad enough to feel bad for the poor kiddos.
To readers who were lucky enough to preorder the book, it came with the B&W zine The Werewolf Jones Guide to Parenting which contained invaluable advice like the following:
“When I go shopping, I LOVE a bargain, and there’s no better deal than stealing! Avoid an embarrassing confrontation by having your progeny conceal your winnings. Security rarely search minors.”
3. Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith (Abrams)
Zippy the Pinhead creator Bill Griffith writes a fascinating biography of Nancy creator Ernie Bushmiller which recounts and analyzes his life and his creation. Of the graphic biographies I’ve read, this takes the most experimental approach by having the Nancy cast directly interact with the narrative which is juxtaposed with ample excerpts from the comic strip. In some way, it reminds me of those old educational videos where a cartoon character like Donald Duck is learning the information a narrator presents to them at the same pace as the audience while humorously reacting to it.
Reading How to Read Nacy made me appreciate Bushmiller’s compositional directness and simplicity, but Three Rocks made me realize what he considered “dumbing down” really entailed simplifying the dialogue to focus on visual humor which is the source of surrealistic and meta gags that are as equally clever as witty dialogue.
2. Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz by Luca Debus & Fransesco Matteuzzi (IDW)
Where Three Rocks is metatextual, Funny Things leans towards sentimental pastiche recounting the famed Peanuts mastermind appropriately in comic strip format. Matteuzi’s art doesn’t ape Peanuts verbatim and arguably shares more in common with Bill Watterson, but it’s not trying to be an artistic facsimile so capturing the essence of Schultz’s work is what’s important which it does flawlessly. Even though the book is over 400 pages long, it never feels like it drags because the pacing reads more like a series of short episodes in a person’s life you can jump in and out of without feeling like you’ve lost track. This and Three Rocks are must-reads for any comic strip aficionado, lover, and creator of art who needs a reminder of why they got into this hobby.
1. Shubeik Lubiek by Deena Mohamed (Pantheon)
Egyptian cartoonist Deena Mohamed’s self-translated debut graphic novel is an astounding fantasy epic taking place in a version of our world where wishes in a bottle are bureaucratized under a class system with 1st class wishes, for example, being high-quality and, therefore, expensive while the cheap 3rd class wishes (also known as delseeps) are more deceptive and require extreme caution using. Set in Cairo, the book is divided into three parts centering around each of the protagonists: Aziza, an impoverished widower who’s unjustly tried for owning an unregistered wish; Nour, a university student dealing with depression; and Shokry, a kiosk stand owner who wants to get rid of three wish bottles but refuses to use them himself due to how it conflicts with his religious views.
Of the three main characters, I found Shokry the most interesting because he receives the most development as his internal moral conflict and family history are extensively explored. His friend, an elderly woman suffering from cancer, is an equally enthralling character with a complex and emotional backstory that even tugged at my heartstrings.
Additionally, throughout the book, we get these infographics interspersed that provide historical context behind the wish system integrating real-life events which adds another layer of believability to the lore. Mohamed’s graphic design experience really shines here through her use of eye-catching visual aids so it never feels too technical and dry.
At over 500 pages, Shubeik Lubiek is a rich tale that’s one of the best this decade has graced us with thus far.