When you hear the term graphic novel, what do you think of? An illustrated book for kids, dotted with speech bubbles but lacking substance? A mass-produced comic book of superheroes, enticing to look at but easily forgettable? There’s often a misconception that goes hand in hand with graphic novels: that they’re that they’re “easy reads” — enjoyable to flip through, but ultimately vapid and not worth remembering. But it is, indeed, a misconception, and these five graphic novels are here to prove that. With keen precision, these reads evoke the full range of human emotions, depicting moments so searing in their accuracy, so painfully relatable, that we can’t help but feel as if we ourselves have sunk into the pages.
Alone In Space: A Collection by Tillie Walden
The Eisner Award-winning creator of notable graphic novels like Spinning and On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden wows in her highly-praised collection Alone In Space. This novel of graphic vignettes spans between fantasy and reality; one story follows a young boy as he battles a debilitating illness in a secluded castle with only his family and a giant cat for company. In another, a woman ruminates on friendship, companionship and solitude while being the sole resident of a space station. There’s everything from witches controlling weather to a small-town teen romance to even a comic about the author herself — and all of it features Walden’s signature delicate linework and masterful use of space, often breaking out of constrictive comic panels to let the story breathe. The result is a series of pensive novellas that echo with a quiet, almost melancholic yearning.
Building Stories by Chris Ware
To call Chris Ware’s Building Stories a graphic novel would be too simplistic, and possibly straight-up inaccurate. This rule-breaking collection comes together in a box rather than a bound book. Made up of 14 pamphlets, scraps of paper and even a fold-out piece of cardboard, Building Stories can be read in any order, creating a cyclical story of fragmented memories and the futile rat race of modern society. Ware’s creation oscillates between gradual, unhurried examinations of modern life and sharp, stinging melancholy in the face of lost time and wasted opportunities. Centered around the tenants of a three-story walk-up in Chicago — the titular building in question — the collection examines the exhaustive grind of day-to-day life when paired with existentialism pondering what could have been. The shuffled, disjointed nature of the collection’s lack of order only adds to this dizzying reading experience, mimicking the confusion felt all too often in our own lives; like the protagonists of Building Stories, the reader has no idea what is next in store.
Metal Angel: Five Graphic Novellas by Felix Carrión
Described as a “collection of short graphic novels that are more like intimate reveries,” Metal Angel strives to tackle the difficult and the profound alike. The author entreats readers to take their time with each of the five graphic novellas, covering everything from apocalyptic disasters to a moment where history diverges from reality, thanks to one time traveler. With striking black-and-white images and sparse, carefully chosen text, Metal Angel succinctly depicts issues of war, violence and struggle that are all too relevant to the modern-day reader. Even with the added fantastical element, the stories are sure to resonate with us and remind us of the real-world problems we face. It’s exactly that relatability that Carrión has worked so hard to depict, and what he’s spent years ruminating on, honing his stories for maximum effectiveness and poignancy. The novellas transform into visual statements, reflecting our own experiences and lives back at us for us to contend with our existence.
To read more about Metal Angel, check out our full review here.
Boundless by Jillian Tamaki
Tackling themes of societal expectations and the modern human experience, Jillian Tamaki’s collection of graphic stories comes alive on the page until you almost expect the characters to draw breath. With textured renderings of daily life to narratives that spin out into the surreal, Boundless tackles difficult yet relatable topics with apparent ease. In one story, a saleswoman tries to persuade other women to buy products that will scrub the insecurities and imperfections from their faces — perhaps to the extreme. In another story, the titular character Jenny wrestles with what she considers personal failings after seeing the Facebook page of an alternate, better version of herself. Other stories feature everything from talking animals to mysterious cults, all while grappling with what we expect of ourselves and those around us in this era of hyper-consciousness. Tamaki deftly deals with the topics with such accuracy it feels razor-sharp, especially when paired with such soft, gentle illustrations.
Sleepwalk: and Other Stories by Adrian Tomine
Selected from his acclaimed comic book series Optic Nerve, cartoonist Adrian Tomine presents sixteen short graphic stories that capture bleak everyday moments suspended in time, frozen perfectly for us to study and pore over. Described by Kirkus Reviews as “visually gripping and emotionally challenging,” Sleepwalk taps in on brief moments in modern life, often ones that go unspoken, yet still pierce our hearts. From missed connections to moments where friends or lovers fail to communicate, Tomine uses his deceptively straightforward, almost simple artistry to capture the complicated feelings we often struggle to describe in words — moments of crushing loneliness that bleed out from the pages and into the reader. This collection reminds us that there are moments of struggle that connect us all, and compels us to have empathy for those around us, and to remember the kinds of experiences and emotions — even the unpleasant ones — that unite us all.
