What are Graphic Memoirs?
Graphic novels are primarily known for being works of fiction. The genre developed from the comics and grew into what we know today from superheroes and fantastic stories through the ages. However, over time the medium has expanded to be a broader means of storytelling. Nonfiction is now a legitimate place for the graphic novel, as has been the graphic novelization of mainstream novels to reach an even broader audience. The work that put nonfiction on the map with graphic novels was Art Spiegelman’s award-winning book “Maus”, detailing his father’s survival in the horrors of Auschwitz during World War II. Since then other works, such as Chris Ware’s “Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth!” have drawn critical acclaim for their realistic themes, and ability to deal with difficult subjects in a powerful manner that are easy to follow in a graphic format.
Graphic Memoirs Book List:
I’m listing several non-fiction books, primarily but not exclusively memoirs or biographies, to highlight what the graphic novel has to offer in telling a real story. Not all heroes necessarily wear capes, but real heroes do have a place, and a story to tell, in a graphic novel:
We Are Not Strangers by Josh Tuininga
Inspired by a true story, this graphic novel follows a Jewish immigrant's efforts to help his Japanese neighbors while they are incarcerated during World War II. Marco Calvo always knew his grandfather, affectionately called Papoo, was a good man. After all, he was named for him. A first-generation Jewish immigrant, Papoo was hardworking, smart, and caring. When Papoo peacefully passes away, Marco expected the funeral to be simple. However, he is caught off guard by something unusual. Among his close family and friends are mourners he doesn't recognize-Japanese- American families-and no one is quite sure who they are or why they are at the service. How did these strangers know his grandfather so well? Set in the multicultural Central District of Seattle during World War II and inspired by author Josh Tuininga's family experiences, We Are Not Strangers explores a unique situation of Japanese and Jewish Americans living side by side in a country at war. Following Marco's grandfather's perspective, we learn of his life as a Sephardic Jewish immigrant living in America and his struggles as he settles into an America gearing up its war efforts. Despite the war raging just outside US borders, Papoo befriends Sam Akiyama, a Japanese man who finds his world upended from President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. Determined to keep Sam's business afloat while he and his family are unjustly incarcerated, Papoo creates a plan that not only changes the lives of the Akiyamas but also of the entire Nihonmachi community. An evocative and beautifully illustrated historical fiction graphic novel revealing the truth of one man's extraordinary efforts, We Are Not Strangers converges two perspectives into a single portrait of a community's struggle with race, responsibility, and what it truly means to be an American.
Funny Things by Luca Debus
Discover the man behind Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang in this imaginative and tender-hearted tribute told in comic-strip format! Charles M. Schulz was arguably the most influential and popular cartoonist of the 20th century, and he poured many of his own emotions and experiences into the world of Peanuts over its iconic 50-year run. Now, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi pay tribute to the master by telling the story of Schulz's life in the medium that made him immortal: the comic strip. Every strip provides a laugh as well as a piece of insight into his remarkable life story. Starting with the last days of his monumental career, Funny Things jumps back and forth in time to narrate both Schulz's artistic achievements and the personal episodes that formed him as an author and human being, ultimately shaping him into the most beloved cartoonist on the planet. Filled with affection, charm, and poignant insight, Funny Things imagines Schulz through the lens of the very world he created, inviting us all to meet the man behind the blanket.
In Search of Gil Scott-Heron by Thomas Mauceri
Gil Scott-Heron is one of the most important artists of the past 60 years, and is widely credited as laying the foundations for modern hip hop as we know it. This gorgeous graphic novel follows the author as he attempts to track down the elusive "Godfather of Rap" for an interview that never seems to happen, while examining his target's music, controversial life, and lasting political and cultural legacy.
But You Have Friends by Emilia McKenzie
Emilia first met Charlotte in their school locker room in the late '90s. They quickly bonded over indie music, feminist literature, a love of purple, and a shared sense of outsiderness. Their joyful, intense friendship evolved through the years--until Charlotte died in 2018 following a long struggle with depression. Now, Emilia assembles her memories into a graphic memoir reflecting on the bond they shared and the ways it shaped them. As they pass in and out of each other's lives, teenage ideals collide with adult realities, prompting reflections about the meaning of friendship. But You Have Friends is a tender tribute to an irreplaceable friend and a sharply observed, personal account of the aftermath of loss. It is also a humorous, candid memorial that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved.
Flic: The True Story of the Journalist Who Infiltrated the Police by Valentin Gendrot
The story of a French journalist who infiltrated the country's police force, revealing a culture of racism and violence in which officers act with impunity.
Flung Out to Space by Grace Ellis
A fictional and complex portrait of bestselling author Patricia Highsmith caught up in the longing that would inspire her queer classic, The Price of Salt. Flung Out of Space is both a love letter to the essential lesbian novel, The Price of Salt, and an examination of its notorious author, Patricia Highsmith. Veteran comics creators Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer have teamed up to tell this story through Highsmith's eyes--reimagining the events that inspired her to write the story that would become a foundational piece of queer literature. Flung Out of Space opens with Pat begrudgingly writing low-brow comics. A drinker, a smoker, and a hater of life, Pat knows she can do better. Her brain churns with images of the great novel she could and should be writing--what will eventually be Strangers on a Train-- which would later be adapted into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. At the same time, Pat, a lesbian consumed with self-loathing, is in and out of conversion therapy, leaving a trail of sexual conquests and broken hearts in her wake. However, one of those very affairs and a chance encounter in a department store give Pat the idea for her soon-to-be beloved tale of homosexual love that was the first of its kind--it gave the lesbian protagonists a happy ending. This is not just the story behind a classic queer book, but of a queer artist who was deeply flawed. It's a comic about what it was like to write comics in the 1950s, but also about what it means to be a writer at any time in history, struggling to find your voice. Author Grace Ellis contextualizes Patricia Highsmith as both an unintentional queer icon and a figure whose problematic views and noted anti-Semitism have cemented her controversial legacy. Highsmith's life imitated her art with results as devastating as the plot twists that brought her fame and fortune.
A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings by Will Betke-Brunswick
During Will Betke-Brunswick's sophomore year of college, their beloved mother, Elizabeth, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They only have ten more months together, which Will documents in evocative two-color illustrations. But as we follow Will and their mom through chemo and hospital visits, their time together is buoyed by laughter, jigsaw puzzles, modern art, and vegan BLTs. In a delightful twist, Will portrays their family as penguins, and their friends are cast as a menagerie of birds. In between therapy and bedside chats, they navigate uniquely human challenges, as Will prepares for math exams, comes out as genderqueer, and negotiates familial tension. A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings is an act of loving others and loving oneself, offering a story of coming-of-age, illness, death, and life that announces the arrival of a talented storyteller in Will Betke-Brunswick. At its heart, Will's story is a celebration of a mother-child relationship filled with unconditional devotion, humor, care, and openness.
Sensory: Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology
From artist and curator Bex Ollerton comes an anthology featuring comics from thirty autistic creators about their experiences of living in a world that doesn't always understand or accept them. Sensory: Life on the Spectrum contains illustrated explorations of everything from life pre-diagnosis to tips on how to explain autism to someone who isn't autistic, to suggestions for how to soothe yourself when you're feeling overstimulated. With unique, vibrant comic-style illustrations and the emotional depth and vulnerability of memoir, this book depicts these varied experiences with the kind of insight that only those who have lived them can have.
MAUS: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in "drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust" (The New York Times). Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek's harrowing story of survival is woven into the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century's grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth! by Chris Ware
A compilation of material previously published in serial form and new material forms this graphic novel about a lonely thirty-six-year-old man named Jimmy Corrigan, who meets his father for the first time and contemplates the worth of his own existence.
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