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| Courtesy of spxpo.com |
Museum of Mistakes by Julia Wertz
Wertz's newest book made its debut at SPX this
year and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to attend. Her earlier graphic
memoir, The Infinite Wait and Other Stories (a book I've talked about here before)
is one of my favorites, so I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Museum of Mistakes. Wertz took a break from
cartooning in 2012 after the publication of The Infinite Wait and hasn’t created any new content since.
While a lot of Museum of Mistakes has either been previously posted
online or published in different forms, it’s still definitely worth checking
out. The book is a nicely bound omnibus
of her online comics (many of them unpublished until this point) as well as
collecting some of her earliest work, sketches, work in progress pages,
interviews, and short stories.
The loose structure makes it easy to flip through. Most pages show a quick snapshot of Wertz’s life – the hopeless shenanigans she gets herself into, working life in the food industry or just random conversations with friends. The comics are roughly in chronological order as she typically creates them as they happen in her life, but there isn’t really a narrative focus like you would see in The Infinite Wait or Drinking at the Movies. However, Museum of Mistakes makes for a great noncommittal way of checking out her work and getting a sense of her style. If you’re already familiar with Wertz’s work, you’ll definitely want to pick this book up.
Tomboy by Liz PrinceWertz's newest book made its debut at SPX this
year and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to attend. Her earlier graphic
memoir, The Infinite Wait and Other Stories (a book I've talked about here before)
is one of my favorites, so I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Museum of Mistakes. Wertz took a break from
cartooning in 2012 after the publication of The Infinite Wait and hasn’t created any new content since.
While a lot of Museum of Mistakes has either been previously posted
online or published in different forms, it’s still definitely worth checking
out. The book is a nicely bound omnibus
of her online comics (many of them unpublished until this point) as well as
collecting some of her earliest work, sketches, work in progress pages,
interviews, and short stories.The loose structure makes it easy to flip through. Most pages show a quick snapshot of Wertz’s life – the hopeless shenanigans she gets herself into, working life in the food industry or just random conversations with friends. The comics are roughly in chronological order as she typically creates them as they happen in her life, but there isn’t really a narrative focus like you would see in The Infinite Wait or Drinking at the Movies. However, Museum of Mistakes makes for a great noncommittal way of checking out her work and getting a sense of her style. If you’re already familiar with Wertz’s work, you’ll definitely want to pick this book up.
Tomboy follows author Liz Prince through her childhood and early adolescence into her teen years as she attempts to define what exactly makes her a girl. As a child, Prince always seemed to reject anything typically “girly” finding herself more comfortable in jeans and t-shirts and playing baseball than wearing dresses and dancing ballet.
Prince struggles over the
years with societal expectations of femininity. She faced bullying at school
for refusing to adhere to strict gender conformity. In fact, she swung so far
away – she started to despise girls who embraced stereotypically female pursuits.
But once given the chance to really be herself, Prince is able to discover is
that your identity is what you make it. Tomboy is a really great book for anyone
who has ever felt they didn’t fit in. Prince makes some surprisingly astute
observations regarding gender inequality in a context that is accessible for
any reader.
I
had the sincere pleasure of seeing artist Jillian Tamaki speak on panel about
sharing stories of girlhood through graphic novels. She was joined with Aisha
Franz (Earthling), Melissa Mendes (Freddy Stories, Lou), and panel moderator Ellen Lindner (The Black Feather Falls). I really enjoyed listening to all of the
artists talk about why they chose to tell the stories they do, and how much
their own lives influence their work. Afterwards, I got to speak briefly with
Ellen Lindner who was just as star-struck being near Tamaki as those of us
attending the panel, as it quickly became clear Tamaki is operating on a whole
different artistic level. To put it simply – This One Summer is absolutely beautiful.
It
focuses on Rose and Windy, two girls who spend their summer with their families
at a lakeside cottage resort. They are getting older; Rose is beginning to find
herself fascinated with the local group of teens while windy (a bit younger) is
still content to spend her time swimming in the lake, eating candy, and
watching horror movies. While marketed as a young adult novel, This One Summer actually tells three
parallel stories (written by Tamaki’s cousin, Mariko) – that of Rose and Windy,
the group of teens dealing with a possible pregnancy, and the adults
(especially Rose’s parents, whose relationship is becoming more and more
fraught). It’s surprisingly nuanced and may actually not appeal to younger
readers. Regardless, the artwork is so remarkable; anyone would enjoy at least
flipping through the pages and pouring over each detailed panel.
So
those are my picks! It’s worth noting
these are just a few books that actually have publishers (and that you’d be
able to check out from the library!), but many of the artists I saw take a more
DIY approach, hand assembling mini comics to sell or sharing their work on
tumblr. And speaking of tumblr – you should
check out our page to see library photos and other literary posts.
~Meredith T.
~Meredith T.
I had no idea how vast the world of graphic novels is. What a wonderful experience!
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