Aidan is a bookseller at The Book Jewel. He is an avid reader, artist of many mediums (comics, painting, & more), and a bassist as well. Aidan has been a longtime fan of comic books and the artists who create them. As such, we asked Aidan what his 8 Favorite Comic Books of all time are.
Yoshiharu Tsuge is one of comics' most celebrated and influential artists, but his work has been almost entirely unavailable to English-speaking audiences. The Man Without Talent, his first book ever to be translated into English, is an unforgiving autobiography of frustration.
Swearing off cartooning as a profession, Tsuge takes on a series of unconventional jobs -- used camera salesman, ferryman, and stone collector -- hoping to find success among the hucksters, speculators, and deadbeats he does business with. The result is a dryly funny look at the pitfalls of the creative life, and an off-kilter portrait of modern Japan.
7. Socrates the Half-Dog by Joann Sfar
Hercules is the son of Zeus, half man, half God. Socrates is the son of Zeus' dog, half dog, half philosopher. His demi-god master fights hard, loves hard and acts on quick impulse with lightning reflexes. So it is up to Socrates to be the brain in the operation.
While Hercules saves the world from monsters, Socrates narrates and weighs the consequences with dry humor and tries to move his master in the right direction...
Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen; years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. This memoir tells the tale of the intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
This is an intense read about not only the coming of age of a young woman, but is also a powerful testament of the human cost of war and political repression.
American Splendor is the series that sparked a revolution in comics and brought graphic novels to the attention of post-adolescent readers everywhere.
Ghost World follows the story of teenage girls Enid and Becky, two best friends facing the prospect of growing up and apart from one another. This beloved tale was adapted into a movie directed by Terry Zwigoff and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
3. Spy vs. Spy by Antonio Prohias
MAD magazine honors this comic artist in Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook. Antonio Prohias's wordless, Cold War-inspired spoof of the agents of international intrigue portrays the twin enemies outdoing each other in elaborately stupid plots to achieve the other's demise. The author's works were so influential that in 1960 he fled Castro's new regime in Cuba after being unofficially blacklisted for his political cartoons
King-Cat Classix collects material from the first fifty issues of John Porcellino's King-Cat Comics as they appeared in self-published, handmade zines throughout the 1990s. In the inky drawings featuring beloved pets, awkward teenage one-night-stands, and everyday blunders, we see a style emerging that is steeped in truth and transparency--one that continues to ring true today.
When he was a child, Darby Conley used to wonder what his dog was thinking. That curiosity inspired his creation of the iconic comic strip Get Fuzzy in 1999, which has rapidly become one of the most popular cartoons in newspaper syndication. Showcasing the relationship between Bucky, a temperamental cat with an attitude; the sweet and sensitive dog Satchel; and their mild-mannered human companion, Rob Wilco, Get Fuzzy has cornered the market on anthropomorphic antics.
