The Best of 5767: Comics
As you might’ve heard, the lunar calendar finished its cycle and the Jewish year 5767 became 5768. We considered fireworks and a night of pick-pocketing in Times Square, but instead we decided to use the opportunity to reflect upon the best the past year had to offer in the arts and culture. So, here’s the best in comics of the lunar year 5767 from the loonies here at Heeb.
1. Nick Bertozzi, The Salon (St. Martin’s Press)
Writer/artist Nick Bertozzi’s The Salon takes place in Paris, 1907 and features Picasso, Braque, Gertrude and Leo Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Erik Satie, all of whom banter about the Stein studio in intellectual and artistic cahootz. They collectively enjoy the pleasures of a special absinthe that opens a portal, which enables the imbiber to actually enter paintings. The catch? A blue-skinned banshee repeatedly escapes from this art-dimension while the portal is open to rip off the heads of modernist painters. The surreal shenanigans that ensue tickle right and left brains, delineating the origins of cubism by way of vivacious illustrations in a gorgeous muted palate. JEFF NEWELT
The Best of the Rest:
2. Bryan Talbot, Alice in Sunderland (Dark Horse)
3. Walt Holcombe, Things Just Get Away From You (Fantagraphics)
4. Bob Fingerman Recess Pieces (Dark Horse)
5. Allison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin)
6. Kim Deitch, Alias the Cat (Pantheon)
7. Gabrielle Bell, Lucky (Drawn & Quarterly)
8. Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp, Testament (Vertigo)
9. Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
10. Harvey Pekar, Dean Haspiel & Friends, American Splendor: Another Day (Vertigo)
1. Nick Bertozzi, The Salon (St. Martin’s Press)
Writer/artist Nick Bertozzi’s The Salon takes place in Paris, 1907 and features Picasso, Braque, Gertrude and Leo Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Erik Satie, all of whom banter about the Stein studio in intellectual and artistic cahootz. They collectively enjoy the pleasures of a special absinthe that opens a portal, which enables the imbiber to actually enter paintings. The catch? A blue-skinned banshee repeatedly escapes from this art-dimension while the portal is open to rip off the heads of modernist painters. The surreal shenanigans that ensue tickle right and left brains, delineating the origins of cubism by way of vivacious illustrations in a gorgeous muted palate. JEFF NEWELT
The Best of the Rest:
2. Bryan Talbot, Alice in Sunderland (Dark Horse)
3. Walt Holcombe, Things Just Get Away From You (Fantagraphics)
4. Bob Fingerman Recess Pieces (Dark Horse)
5. Allison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin)
6. Kim Deitch, Alias the Cat (Pantheon)
7. Gabrielle Bell, Lucky (Drawn & Quarterly)
8. Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp, Testament (Vertigo)
9. Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
10. Harvey Pekar, Dean Haspiel & Friends, American Splendor: Another Day (Vertigo)
comments
submit a comment09.20.08 at 8:09 pm
Nice list and it even has 4 works by Jewish authors (Fingerman, Rushkoff, Modan, Pekar).
Here’s a challenge for you :
Could you compile a list of top 10 Jewish comics of 5767?