Highlights of 2023: Best comics and graphic novels of the year
The best graphic novels of 2023
Egyptian illustrator Mohamed’s debut novel creates a magic realist world where wishes can come true. However, there are different categories: expensive first-class wishes and often treacherous, third-class wishes. We follow the individual stories of working-class widow Aziza, privileged, yet anxiety-ridden, student Nour and Shokry, the kiosk owner with three bona fide wishes for sale. We believe it is his book, but it’s the indomitable Shawqia, who habitually idles at the kiosk, who delivers the stunning revelation.
It’s a tale with an epic sweep, brimming with subtext, and Mohamed, a brilliant cartoonist whose work recalls Craig Thompson with a touch of Gilbert Hernandez, delivers it with authority.
Bell was a child when his mother explained that as an African-American the world would treat him differently. The Talk chronicles a multitude of those instances, while also detailing his growth as a man, a father, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
Rendered in a very expressive style, accentuated by loose layouts, Bell’s memoir is full of perceptive and profound insights. The tumultuous period in the 00s, from 9/11 to Obama, where he began to forge his professional career, coincides with a greater sense of empathy, understanding and creative drive, leading, ultimately, to the point where he must deliver “the talk.”
A French film student drawn to studying in the USA in order to experience African-American culture, Mauceri falls under the spell of Scott-Heron. It’s a moment that coincides with the contentious election of George W. Bush. He spends the following decade planning a documentary film on the reclusive artist, getting tantalisingly close.
Scott-Heron haunts the book and Mauceri’s enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. There’s a vibrancy and immediacy to the art, adding to an intriguing portrait of an enigma and the America that shaped him.
Formatted like a newspaper strip - think of a sour, self-loathing Andy Capp - Why Don’t You Love Me? Is a stunningly deceptive beast, a darkly funny portrait of a loveless marriage and aimless lives whose recurring title panel switches in tone from anguished cri de coeur to plaintive existential mantra. It's like the story reawakened in an oddly compassionate Twilight Zone episode.
Two titans of children’s fantasy. After 2017’s powerful refugee drama, Illegal, Colfer returned with the same team to tell the parallel stories of a fisherboy from the Bay of Bengal and a curious girl in icy Northern Canada. The dire consequences of global warming is the theme and the subtle climactic linking of the twin narratives feels simultaneously triumphant and tragic.
Landy’s original graphic novel debut focuses on small Irish town bigotry and xenophobia to create a fast-paced, wisecracking supernatural thriller. The storytelling from Belfast illustrator and 2000AD favourite Holden is top notch. And the villain is equally gruesome and charismatic.
Both books can be enjoyed by older readers.
Fans of Jenkinson’s wonderful 2020 debut Ghosting will find much to admire in her follow up. While lacking its predecessor’s dramatic and suspenseful beats, Midlands, too, has a mystery at its core. In the wake of her mother’s death, Ronnie Fox, a Dubliner moored in Mullingar, has her assumptions shattered.
Jenkinson loves to immerse the reader in landscape and landmarks. And contrary to what the palette of cool blues and her protagonist’s misgivings might tell us, Midlands is a quietly affectionate affirmation of community.
Published in November, 2022, it came too late for last year’s review. Nevertheless, I vowed to highlight it this year because (I) it’s a Cork book and story that deserves recognition. And (II) I applaud its publication by Cork City Libraries.
With so many ills in the world, Egan is an inspiring figure and it’s an illuminating slice of Cork social history.
