Alex Spiro

My 2016 Reading Challenge list (the one from PopSugar) included graphic novel as one of the forty items to check off, and it surprised me that I don't actually read them. Really ever. Because I respect graphic novels and the people who enjoy them. And I have read the occasional webcomic, and I always see what [a:Kate Beaton|2921970|Kate Beaton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1318610112p2/2921970.jpg]'s done lately, and working at the bookstore I always went through to sort that section show more and thought that plenty looked interesting, and yet I don't read graphic novels. And when it came time to check this off my list, I didn't even know where to begin. I went to the library with a few recommendations, spent a long time going through the shelves, chose four, but only read this one. (It was a beautiful sunny day in the park, so warm for late October, almost wrong yet I wasn't about to complain.)

I like the structure of it, allowing each artist seven pages. It's like the confines of a sonnet, encouraging artistry through limitation. There were definitely some I preferred over others, some which I might look into the illustrators of had I not already returned this book to the library, and yet I still have no great desire to take out specific graphic novels (apart from, admittedly, the graphic novel version of [b:In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way: A Graphic Novel|25620698|In Search of Lost Time Swann's Way A Graphic Novel|Stéphane Heuet|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434334770s/25620698.jpg|48536146], which intrigues me to no end, but which I wouldn't dare open till I read the novel, which will be a while yet). show less

oost Swarte (Is That All There Is?, Fantagraphics), Tom Gauld (Goliath, D&Q), Jillian Tamaki (Indoor Voice, Drawn & Quarterly), Luke Pearson (Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Nobrow), Anders Nilsen (Big Questions, D&Q), Joseph Lambert (Winner of Ignatz award categories for ‘Outstanding Anthology or Collection’ and ‘Outstanding Artist’ awards for I Will Bite You), Ethan Rilly, Eda Akaltun, Andrew Rae, Rob Bailey, Henry McCauseland, Domitille Collardey, Michael DeForge