Reading Graphically: Five Graphic Novels & One Comic

Another interlude between the novels …

Paul Kirchner‘s Hieronymus & Bosch is an amusing distraction, detailing the torments of a medieval ne’er do well (Hieronymus) and his toy duck (Bosch). While some of the inspiration is obvious from the names, there is significant comic inventiveness throughout. This is more a series of comics than it is a novel. Fun.

Renée Nault‘s adaptation of Margaret Atwood‘s The Handmaid’s Tale is gorgeous, and highly successful. The former is a testament to the richness of the painted tableaus and the use of color throughout. The latter speaks to a level of fidelity to the source material that is highly effective: it does–as it must–deviate from Atwood’s novel, but never by so much as to question its status. That is, this is not really an original work, it’s one artist’s translation of a great work into another medium. Still, it’s lovely and a shorter trip than re-reading the original novel.

Tillie Walden is one of the emerging stars of the form, and the attention paid to Spinning and The End of Summer is well deserved. This review covers two of her smaller works: i love this part (2015) and A City Inside (2016). Both are “one-shots:” thin explorations of a single theme or moment. While A City Inside is a strong exploration of the relationship we have to specific places, i love this part is amazing, a poignant and telling story of young love and discovery.

Every few years, a wordless story about dinosaurs emerges. Tadd Galusha‘s Cretaceous (2019) is the latest entry in the genre. It’s solid, and as they all are, well-researched and clearly also intended to increase our understanding of what these creatures were, according to best current research. So, feathers!

Finally, a recommendation for an ongoing comic: Garth Ennis‘ A Walk Through Hell is easily the best new comic I’ve come across in a long, long time. Terrifying, nightmarish, humanly compelling … it is a gripping and emotional roller coaster, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. The first five issues are available in a collection.