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Your Summer Graphic Novel Reading List

by Clay Conger 4 June 2013 No Comment E-mail Clay Conger

It’s summer, and whether you’re employed, in school, or both, this season is the perfect time to catch up on your reading. As busy as we all are, we always find a way to make time for extra pursuits in the summer. As such, below is your required reading list for these three months.

The purpose of this exercise is not only to get you off your Ipad but also to demonstrate how graphic novels, out of any medium, are some of the most unappreciated works of art. They are referred to as simple comic books and tossed aside as trivial bits of paper and color. Yet some graphic novels stand above others like Hemingway and Thompson in terms of their scope and cleverness, and to see this first hand, here are five graphic novels to read this summer.

5. Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth:

This bizarre story follows a lonely middle aged man dealing with the fact that he is about to meet his long lost father. Although he is meek and plain, he constantly has strange and often violent fantasies and seems to have a very loose grip on reality. Due to the ever-changing sequence of panels, the awkward situations and dialogue, this book is the most difficult to read on this list, but it also feels shockingly real, like peeping through a window into someone else’s life. Do not read a few pages and then put it down. You need to beat this book in a couple weeks at the most to get the full effect, although if you read it all in one way it will most likely depress you. Tread carefully with this one.

4. Tank Girl:

On the other side of the spectrum, this book is pure stimuli. Pick up any copy of the series, it does not matter which one, and see for yourself how a graphic novel can give you a demented rush similar to a movie like Fight Club or a book like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The series follow Tank Girl, a fist-fighting, heavy drinking Australian mercenary who drives around in a tank with her equally wild compatriots. There is almost never a pause in the fast action or dialogue, and an experiment for you to complete is to read this and then go out at night with friends and see if you feel more amped up than usual.

3. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together:

This is the fourth novel in the series, and while you should read all six, this is the best. Scott Pilgrim is a twenty-three year old in Canada dating the mysterious Ramona Flowers while having to defeat her evil ex-boyfriends Street Fighter style. Although this premise seems cartoonish, and the series certainly envelops itself in comic and gamer culture, this book in particular explores deeper themes like temptation, infidelity, the past coming back to haunt you, miscommunication, and self improvement. It is a book on relationships at its core and a fun comic book-style romp at its edges. If you are in a relationship or just left one, read this and jot down what you would do if you were in Scott Pilgrim or Ramona Flower’s shoes every step of the way.

2. Maus:

This is a two part series about the holocaust, and while there has been no shortage of holocaust books (Night, Number the Stars) there has not been one done this creatively. Maus is a graphic novel wherein all the characters are different animals based on race and allegiance. So the mice are Jews, the cats are Germans, etc… and as simple of a change this is, it gives the material an entirely different feel, like entering another world. Read the first book, then wait a little while, and then read the second so you can read it all with a fresh mind.

1. Watchmen:

The king of graphic novels and the only one to appear on Time’s Top 100 Novels. This book is so good and not only must you read it in full but must tell anyone, family, friends, homeless people and jilted lovers that they should pick up a copy as well. The story follows several superheroes, most of which do not have any powers but are normal people enlisted by the government to fight crime. Once vigilantism is outlawed, they either slip into obscurity or continue as they did before. This was the first major work that dealt with superheroes as vulnerable and flawed, and not only is the writing and art beautifully conceived but it is a must-read for anyone wanting to see a superhero story done in a new light. Your specific assignment, other than reading it and telling people about it, is to pick which Watchmen superhero you would want to, keeping in mind you would have to inherit their problems as well. Would you want to be the badass yet lonely Rorshach, the soft spoken yet overweight Nite Owl, or the sexy Silk Spectre who has to fight crime in stiletto heels? Go to your nearest store and buy this immediately. And don’t watch the movie. It stinks.

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