In the frame: Best of the year in comic books and graphic novels
From left to right: Delights: A Story of Hieronymus Bosch by Guy Colwell (Fantagraphic Books); Cerberus’ New Trick by Brendan O’Connell and Fiona Boniwell; and Erased: An Actor of Color’s Journey Through the Heyday of Hollywood by Loo Hui Phang & Hugues Micol (NBM).
Five centuries on, Hieronymus Bosch’s enigmatic masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights continues to exert a strange fascination. Little is known about it, but Colwell, a figure in California’s underground comix scene of the 1970s, penetrates its mysteries in a story that deals with the tensions between the demands of patronage, religious doctrine and artistic vision.
Reading it, I hoped this was fiction as it galled me to think that such a singular work of art was compromised. But Delights also asks if this actually matters.
If Maximus Wyld didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him. A fearless figure of mixed race, incorporating Native American, Asian and Black, Wyld’s beauty won him admirers in Hollywood like Capra, Ford and Hitchcock. However, his refusal to play stereotypical roles, and his left-leaning politics, hampered his career.
Spoiler alert: he didn’t exist. Or did he? He is the archetypal Hero with a Thousand Faces. Here is a graphic novel as elegant as its hero.
Intoxicated by the themes and imagery of science-fiction like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show, awkward ‘70’s teenager Brian grapples with making his super-8 sci-fi and his unrequited feelings towards his leading lady.
Deftly handled and beautiful to behold, the master immerses us in the characters and landscape. Subverting our expectations of another ink-black Black Hole drama of Freudian body horror, Burns creates a satisfying layered emotional drama, For more classic Burns weirdness, check his collection of imaginary magazine covers, Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix by J.M. Dupont & Mezzo (Black Panel Press) The creative team behind the stunning tale of blues legend Robert Johnson, Love in Vain, reunite for this account of guitar genius Jimi Hendrix’s turbulent life. Taking us up to September 1966, four years before his untimely demise, this is an unflinching portrayal that balances his toxic upbringing with his joyful pursuit of extraordinary sounds.
Each panel feels like a tableau. Mezzo is a Carivagio of comics, but with Dupont’s deadpan prose it flows exquisitely.
Each book by the Irish cartoonist feels like another giant leap. His previous book, The Con Artists gloried in a clever and playful narrative and here he goes even further. Is this the real Luke Healy? How could any sane person function like this? A figure wracked with self-doubt and struggling to find his place in a world in chaos, Healy is as neurotic and hilarious as Woody Allen, and as clever as a Tom Stoppard, but he is also incredibly wise.
Based on Abouet’s experiences growing up in Yopougon, the populous suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Claws Come Out is the second installment of the adventures of the eponymous Aya, a student trying to find her way in the world. The vibrant storytelling has an almost soap-like quality as it introduces us to an extended and colourful cast of characters and is replete with memorable aphorisms.
Having previously produced the whimsical Death’s New Lease on Life, the creative Cork duo of writer O’Connell and illustrator Boniwell bring added depth and versatility to Cerberus’ New Trick.
Ignominiously made redundant, the fabled guardian of the gates of Hell forms an unlikely friendship with a young girl with Down Syndrome. Meanwhile, a giant menace is about to wreak havoc on the world. The theme of technology-driven corporatisation versus humanity fits easily into this action-driven story while the art effortlessly accommodates pulpy sci-fi with grounded reality.
Cork writer Gary Moloney made his American publishing debut with When the Blood Has Dried (Mad Cave), a fantasy tale of a retired warrior whose past catches up, inked by regular collaborator Daniel Romero.
Having previously tackled Cú Chulainn on the gritty Hound, PJ Bolger and Richmond Clements unite for an all-ages The Children of L.I.R. (Atomic Cafe), where the legend is told through the lens of an Ireland still feeling the reverberations of its independence.
Meanwhile, Tipperary’s Séan Hogan brings a brash Tarantino sensibility to the War of Independence on Brotherhood Part 1. The top-notch artwork is begging for colour.
