The Reader's Shelf From Library Journal

Elegiac Ink:  Death in Graphic Novels

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? By Gaiman, Neil Illustrator Kubert, Andy Illustrator Bisley, Simon 2009-07 - DC Comics 9781401223038 Check Our Catalog Spotlighting the tale Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, Gaiman joins artists Kubert and Williams for a story that shines a new light on the Batman mythos. …More

Jimmy Corrigan: Or, the Smartest Kid on Earth By Ware, Chris Illustrator Ware, Chris 2000-09 - Pantheon Books 9780375404535 Check Our Catalog This first book from Chicago author Chris Ware is a pleasantly-decorated view at a lonely and emotionally-impaired "everyman" (Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth), who is provided, at age 36, the opportunity to meet his father for the first time. An improvisatory romance which gingerly deports itself between 1890's Chicago and 1980's small town Michigan, the reader is helped along by thousands of colored illustrations and diagrams, which, when read rapidly in sequence, provide a convincing illusion of life and movement. The bulk of the work is supported by fold-out instructions, an index, paper cut-outs, and a brief apology, all of which concrete to form a rich portrait of a man stunted by a paralyzing fear of being disliked. …More

Stitches By Small, David 2009-09 - W. W. Norton & Company 9780393068573 Check Our Catalog 2010 Alex Award Winner 2010 Michigan Notable Book Praise for Stitches: "David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. . . . We know that we are in the hands of a master."-Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist "David Small's Stitches is aptly named. With surgical precision, the author pierces into the past and, with great artistry, seals the wound inflicted on a small child by cruel and unloving parents. Stitches is as intensely dramatic as a woodcut novel of the silent movie era and as fluid as a contemporary Japanese manga. It breaks new ground for graphic novels."-Francoise Mouly, art editor, The New Yorker, and editorial director, TOON Books "David Small evokes the mad scientific world of the 1950s beautifully. Small is an innocent lamb, a sensitive boy, caught in a nightmare situation. Capturing body language and facial expressions subtly, Stitches becomes in Small's skillful hands a powerful story, an emotionally charged autobiography."-Robert Crumb, author of The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb "In Stitches, David Small, one of our most gifted storytellers, exposes the deepest part of a painful youth-as cathartic and disturbing as memoirs get. This one will resonate long after you put it down."-Harry Bliss, cover artist for The New Yorker "Add David Small's book to the illustrated bible of artists who have had to will themselves-invent themselves-and ultimately seize success as the only way to keep the gritty, dark beginning of a home life from snuffing them out altogether."-Jack Gantos, author of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, finalist for the National Book Award …More

Novels by Raymond Briggs (Study Guide): The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman, When the Wind Blows, Ethel and Ernest, Father Christmas, the Man By Books, LLC Created by Books, LLC 2010-09 - Books LLC 9781158530595 Check Our Catalog …More

The Fountain By Aronofsky, Darren Illustrator Williams, Kent 2006-10 - Vertigo 9781401200589 Check Our Catalog The Fountain crisscrosses through three distinct time periods: 1535, during an ancient Mayan war; the present day, following one doctor's desperate search for the cure for cancer; and the far future through the vast exotic reaches of space. Interweaving these three periods, The Fountain follows Tomas �— warrior, doctor, explorer �— as he feverishly tries to beat death and prolong the life of the woman he loves. …More

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic By Bechdel, Alison 2007-06 - Mariner Books 9780618871711 Check Our Catalog Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and funny, readers are drawn into a daughters complex yearning for her father. Apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. …More

Laika By Abadzis, Nick Illustrator Sycamore, Hilary 2007-09 - First Second 9781596431010 Check Our Catalog 2008 Great Great Novel Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earths first space traveler in the Soviets Sputnik program. Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives, giving life to a pivotal moment in modern history. …More