Presentation on impressive graphic novels to Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) 13, as part of the annual Notable Genre Book Marathon panel discussion

3. My preferences
• Titles written for adults or older teens
• Fairly recent publications
• Original work; no adaptations
• Absorbing, page-turning narratives
• Intellectual heft; something to teach me
• Works that pack an emotional punch Zombies & super-heroes?
Not this time
I didn’t consciously seek out diversity, but the authors I chose include a hockey fan from
Canada, a British scholar of critical discourse analysis, and a pair of Brazilian twins.

5. “ … weaves a rich tapestry of
triumph, tragedy, gender politics, dying
dreams and personal tragedy.”
- Iann Robonson, Craveonline
First graphic novel to win a Costa Book Award
Part biography, part memoir, Dotter contrasts the lives
of two women with famous, demanding fathers.
• Lucia Joyce (1907-1982), daughter of Modernist
poet and novelist James Joyce
• Mary Talbot, daughter of eminent Joycean
scholar, James S. Atherton.

6. James Joyce and his family

7. Young Samuel Beckett,
a Joyce protégé. Briefly
dated Lucia
Joyce’s last dance recital, in 1929.
She designed her shimmering fish
costume

13. Several awards in 2011
• Eisner Award: "Best Limited Series
or Story Arc“
• Harvey Award: "Best Single Issue
or Story“
• Eagle Award: Won "Favourite
New Comicbook"
“There are graphic novels that speak of what it is to be human
and then there are graphic novels like Daytripper that celebrate our
humanity as well as our very existence.”
- Comic Revoluion

18. “Unflinchingly mines the drama of both petty slashes of racism and
larger instances of civil unrest …also how small acts of humanity can
outclass even the most determined hatred.”
- Booklist
A story based on real-life events from Mark Long’s childhood
• Takes place in Houston, Texas 1968
• Two families – one white, one black – cross the color line to help
free five college students accused of killing a policeman.
• Long wanted to provide a more nuanced portrait. Says too
many stories about racism rely on clichés, like redneck cops or
saintly minorities. “There’s nothing to be learned or truly felt
when emotional responses come that cheap.”

23. Twenty years after Kings in Disguise, “one of the great
graphic novels of all time,” comes an even better sequel.
• It’s now 1937, and Fred Bloch is a young
man who wants to be a writer
• He works in a traveling WPA
circus, apprenticed to an escape artist
• Though the story is fiction, the scenes
were extensively researched. The
strikes, Pinkerton goons, red-baiting
comments are all depicted accurately.
A quietly epic human tale that beautifully employs the comic medium
in its telling … and very possibly the most affecting graphic narrative that
you will read in the next couple of decades.” - Alan Moore

24. Fred and his reporter friend watch a confrontation between strikers
and police during the 1937 Republic Steel Strike in Chicago

25. From Chicago Tribune, May 30, 1937

29. Because the Depression was 80 years ago, it's easier for people
who didn't live through those times to discount the answers that were
found back then.
- James Vance

30. When we started the book, the full effect of the economic collapse
hadn't been felt yet, the war on unions hadn't begun, the Occupy
movement hadn't started.
There was a point later on when Dan and I were talking, and he
laughed and said that we'd gone from being a period piece to being
timely.
But that's what happens when you're dealing with history;
sometimes you don't realize that what you consider to be the past
hasn't ended yet, and you're a part of it, too.
- James Vance

32. “Quiet lives, quiet people, and
quiet drawings rest on every page, in
the middle of vast, quiet farmlands that
seem perpetually cold and barren, but
somehow still sustain life.”
-GraphicNovelReporter
Quite simply, the most moving book I’ve read in a long time
And I don’t even like hockey!

33. All three stories in the trilogy take place in a rural community in Canada.
The main characters in each segment have bit parts in the others.
Book One: Tales from the Farm
Shy, lonely Lester becomes
friends with the much older
Jimmy Lebeuf, who runs the local
filling station. Jimmy almost
made it into pro-hockey, but
ever since the accident during a
game, he’s been “kinda slow.”

34. Book two: Ghost Stories
Brothers Lou and Vince both
played for the Toronto Grizzlies in
1951. A half a century later, Lou
can still hear the roar of the
crowd, and the scraping sound
of his skates on ice. The
memories are all he’s got
now, but he’s so haunted by
regrets that he can’t enjoy them.

35. Book Three:
The Country Nurse
Anne Byrne is a home
health care worker who
knows all the secrets in
town, except maybe her
grandmother’s.

36. N In Essex County, Lemire crafts an intimate study of one
community through the years, and a tender meditation on
family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation.
Lemire draws us in and sets us free.
- Goodreadspressivinkinof
a young artist at the height of his n and sets
Can anything heal the wounds caused by a century of deception?
Maybe not, but reading this marvelous book
is healing in itself.

38. Favorite Review Sites
noflyingnotights.com
comicsbeat.comtcj.com/category/blog
comicgeekspeak.com
comixology.com/Graphic-Novels diamondbookshelf.com

39. Please share your
own favorites!
Nanette Bulebosh
Elkhart Lake, WI
920-946-9482
msbosh@gmail.com
@msbosh