That one girl who hates Blankets...

Yeah, that was me. I am not a huge fan of Blankets. Let's set one thing straight though, I didn't hate it. So stop throwing me those side glance just because you fell in love at church camp and can totally  relate. I went to church camp too man, lay off.

I'm so awkward...

Now, Craig Thompson certainly has accomplished something here. It's beautifully drawn and is quite substantial in content and length. What bothers me is that I just don't believe what he has to say is very interesting. Just because you were an angsty teen with God issues surrounding your budding teenage sexuality doesn't make you special. If you went to church and reached puberty successfully in the Midwest this is just a right of passage. Call me jaded and unsentimental if you wish, I just seem to have a hard time grasping that this story really needed to be told in such detail. First love, heartbreak, coming of age, I get it, I just don't like the way it's told in this piece. The story structure seems really weak to me, he never really changes from beginning to end. And considering the length of the piece I have a lot of unanswered questions. Did he get molested? Did he tell anyone? What ever happened to Raina? Abuse? Also, the end is just "Then I moved away and became a graphic novelist" Oh really? Great ending Thompson, way to be clever.

What I find so interesting about this graphic novel is that people LOVE this story. So if you want to talk about how much you love it with me, get ready for a healthy debate because I'd love to know why you like it so much.

Fun Home

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is a beautiful autobiographical graphic novel. Her strengths aren't just in prose or artwork, but the perfect marriage of both. It took Bechdel seven years to complete the piece due to her tedious and specific work flow (see video below), however, I believe it was well worth it. I literally can't wait to see what she creates next.

Alison tells her own story, giving great detail to everything from the Victorian funeral home her Dad spent more attention on than her, to the styles of clothing and the New York skyline from Greenwich Village during a family trip. I found the coming of age story to be almost haunting in it's style. While parts were funny, other parts were almost unbelievably awkward. Her references are mostly literary, it being one of the few ways for her to communicate about her (and his) homosexuality. Some readers may find the references elitist or unnecessary, but with basic knowledge of what she is referencing, (The Odyssey, James Joyce etc.) and a few trips to wikipedia and the dictionary for contextual information I found they added depth and intelligence to her narrative. Communicating to her father in this way (though books) was one of the few ways she was able to navigate her relationship with him in her adolescence and early twenties.

 Even though ultimately this book is a story of a gay woman's childhood and the way that impacted the relationship she had with her father and his death, I think that most readers will be able to relate to her family struggles in one way or another. I believe the way Bechdel took such care in crafting each element of the story really radiates through the whole piece, everything is there for a reason, everything has significance to her. The journey from confused child to adulthood and the realization that your parents may not be the model way to live your life is something everybody has to go through. I liked how she started on a good memory. Playing airplane with her Dad, she felt loved and uneasy and did for the rest of his life. But as she grew up she found confidence in who she was, something her father never found.

There was somewhat of a double narrative happening in the book. The dialogue was what was happening in the scene, as it was happening. But the narrative was from the perspective of her now, as an adult. This device really helped cement her perspective both past and present.

Tits and Clits!!

The ultimate dilemma upon discovery of the thing.

Doubtful...

A concerned almost rapist reminds the young lass to lock her doors.

Too true.

Distractions from masturbation are the worst.

What a catch phrase.

When choosing an underground comic it's important to choose wisely. I of course, gravitated towards the publication titled 'Tits and Clits' (GREAT title), since I have both I felt I could probably relate to the subject matter. Turns out, I was right. This little comic is made by women about sex from a female perspective - one of my favorite things. Considering the time period and the culture of feminism at the time I found the themes they cover to be pretty revolutionary. 

I always think of feminism of the seventies to be a little more academic, middle class white ladies working towards equal rights and equal pay - which is true. However in 'Tits and Clits' they cover masturbation, humerus rape scenarios, girl on girl homosexuality, and women of color. These are all subjects I enjoy reading about in popular third wave feminism, but when I think of Gloria Steinem or The Feminine Mystique these conversations aren't a part of the dialogue. It makes sense that these subjects were talked about and obviously concerns to women of the seventies, of course these were topics they were talking about. Perhaps I was a little naive in thinking that these issues were off limits. 

When it comes to the artwork I loved the joyfulness and the range of styles, some look like 'For Better or For Worse', some have a dark sketchy quality and some look like a derivative of superhero comics. It certainly isn't 'drawn well' but it encapsulates a specific kind of raw energy. These girls are angry, hilarious, upset, and horny and they refuse to apologize for the way they feel and I think the way they draw lends to that attitude. This esthetic is something that really attracted me to feminism in the first place, particularly the Riot Grrrl movement and feminism of the nineties. It's delightful to see that these big topics, rape, sexual autonomy, masturbation, etc. were a part of the overall discussion all along.  

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

The Arrival was a very different kind of graphic novel than I had ever read because it is wordless. The story benefited from the lack of language because our protagonist clearly cannot speak with the new citizens of his new land. The story is a familiar one, particularly to Americans who have ancestry from other countries (at least from Europe). An immigrant from a doomed land with scary spooky spiked shadows rides on a big boat for ages to finally make his way in the New World. Tan did a great job of communicating universal emotions throughout the piece including sorrow, loneliness and unfamiliarity as well as joy, laughter and family. I thought that the artwork was absolutely beautiful, and the treatments to some of the images making them look old and tattered gave it a period without ever having to explain it in words. I particularly enjoyed the way he captured the day to day activities on a busy street, giving us a setting but then adding the details that are just a little 'off' that are familiar to the people who live there. The addition of fantasy elements made it universal to every reader because we don't know what it's like to live there either and therefore we are experiencing that world along with the protagonist. The animals that everyone had added some fun and whimsy- that lizard dog thing was reallly cute.

I find it interesting that this book is mostly sold and marketed as a children's story. Though I understand it is technically a 'picture book' I would think that this classification narrows the audience to stumble upon it in a bookstore or library.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever been in an unfamiliar place of any age. I greatly enjoyed this graphic novel and I look forward to what's in store for the rest of the year!