The Best American Comics 2014 by Scott McCloud

The Best American Comics 2014 Reviews

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  Jolanta (knygupe)

  ...kaip čia aš nežinojau apie tokį gėrį...
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  KT

  (I received my copy of this collection from NetGalley in exchange for review.)
  
  Anthology titles never seem to do it for me - though there were some tremendous pieces excerpted here, the collection felt uneven and ill-conceived. Although McCloud frequently brought up his preference that the reader proceed through the anthology in order (with each interstitial essay admonishing anyone who might be "skipping around"), I don't feel that the sequencing here was particularly strong.
  
  Standout pieces from big names like Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, and Charles Burns were a pleasure to revisit. It was great to see Raina Telgemeier featured - her work for younger readers has been wonderful - and the excerpt for Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples was a mainstream highlight. The "new to me" works that I was most excited about were Jane, the Fox, and Me by Isabelle Arsenault and Fanny Britt, "Mom" by Sam Sharpe, and RL by Tom Hart.
  
  McCloud's hand as an editor felt unfortunately heavy here. I could have done without the essays justifying the inclusion of each piece and the explanation of why each piece was placed in which section. The work included was at its strongest when it was allowed to speak for itself. I was hoping that reading this anthology would get me excited about the breadth and depth of American comics in 2014. Instead, I felt mostly bogged down and uninspired.
  
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  Dave Schaafsma

  I don't much like comics collections like this, just snippets, but I guess it does give a sense of the year, and this was a good year, and this is after all a good collection. I read it mainly because Scott McCloud edited it and I had just heard him recently in Chicago. And I don't hunk of him as edgy, but this was more alt comics than mainstream and I liked his set up for it, his essay, his selection. The cover is great, but which I mean it is attractive and Beto Rodriguez did it and it has all this energy. It's with a kid on the cover, true, and you just have to look at the Aline and R Crumb piece to know this is not a kid comic. And the Raina Telgemeier end papers are kid-type stuff, too; not a kid collection, definitely, but still its attractive. The range of stuff here is great. True, I had read most of it already, but I like McClouds's vision and his sense of what was great that year.
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  Joey Alison Sayers

  What can you say about a Best American anthology? There were some great pieces, some crap ones. Some unnecessary contributors, some omissions. Some X, some Y. I didn't agree with the inclusion of every piece, but why would I. It's a subjective collection. Thatss part of its charm and what makes it interesting.
  
  I will say this, though. It has the worst cover of any book ever printed since the beginning of time. It's ridiculous. It looks like an elementary school reading primer cover. It's corny and cloying, and why is it a kid? These are, by and large, comics for adults. Now I have to go look at the awesome
  Jog, Frog, Jog cover just to wash my eyes out.
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  Derek Royal

  Of all of the Best American Comics volumes to come out over the past several years, this is the one I was most looking forward to...and for two reasons. First, Jaime Hernandez did the cover illustration, which is absolutely a wonderful piece of work that really says it all. But more importantly, I was excited by the fact that Scott McCloud was the guest editor. It makes sense that McCloud finally tries his hand at compiling this collection, in that he has a broad sense of the medium, and he brings more of a studious and contemplative approach than about all of the other past guest editors. I respect McCloud's assessment, even if I don't necessarily agree with him all of the time, and I've often taken his comments as a cue to seek out certain titles with which I was unfamiliar. This year's BAC is no exception, as McCloud does a good job at presenting a fairly representative overview of the current state of comics -- or at least comics published between September 2012 and August 2013, the focus of this volume. There's always the temptation to be the armchair quarterback, to take issue with the choices the editor made or feel that he left out other things that you would have included. That's always going to be the case with a project such as this. But if you keep in mind that each Best of American Comics volume isn't any sort of objective "best of" volume, but instead is prone to the same tastes, predilections, and agendas (intended or unconscious) as any other creative endeavor, then you can get a lot out of these books. (I have issues with the "best" part of the title in this series, but that's another story.) And one of the best things about the BAC series is that it introduces readers to comics that they weren't familiar with previously, or didn't even know existed. That's been the case with me, although one thing that struck me this year was how many of the entries I was already familiar with, either having read or being on my to-read list already.
  
  If I had one criticism here, it wouldn't be for this this particular volume -- although I would have liked a different webcomic to stand in as the one reproduced representative in that particular section (there, I did something I said I wouldn't do) -- but for the idea of the series as a whole. If you take a look at all of the guest editors through the years, from Harvey Pekar on down to this year's project, you see a trend and a particular kind of editor/creator. Sure, both McCloud and Neil Gaiman stand out as a little different from the other past editors -- e.g., Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware -- but they're not that different, when you think about it. One could argue that Gaiman is part of the mainstream, but even then, you'd need to qualify your definition of "mainstream" and admit that, really, Gaiman was a relatively "safe" choice in having such broad multi-media appeal. I'd be interested in seeing the BAC series choose a guest editor more enmeshed in the mainstream of comics culture -- and by "mainstream," I mean more than just superhero comics -- and see what they're able to come up with. I actually addressed this issue with the new series editor, Bill Kartalopoulos, when we interviewed him recently on The Comics Alternative, and he said that that's something he didn't think would happen. He made a comment about how HMH in-house editing has a say in the selection process, and that lead me to believe that maybe any "radical" shift from the series' tried-and-true guest editor selection process would have roots internally. Might this underscore something we've discussed many times on the podcast, a bifurcation of a comics-readling public? Are those who make decisions on choosing or approving guest editors the kind of readers who get their list of creators from The New Yorker and the New York Times bestseller lists? Perhaps I'm being to facile in assuming this kind of alternative/indie bias, but it would be a nice exercise -- and a welcomed change of pace -- to find someone more anchored in mainstream (i.e., comics-shop comics, those distributed primarily through the direct market) as a guest editor. What kind of choices would this person make for the year's "best"? What about a Rick Remender? What about a John Byrne? What about a Mike Mignola? What about an Ed Brubaker? What about Scott Snyder? Or damn, what about a Grant Morrison (I was tempted to say Alan Moore, but that would be a choice closer to that of Gaiman)? Morrison would definitely be fun to see. These are just some thoughts or speculations...although I don't assume we'll see this anytime soon.
  
  Still, this kind of speculation doesn't take away from the fact that this is a wonderful anthology, one of the best the BAC series has produced so far. Kudos to both Kartalopoulos and McCloud!
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  John Cooper

  I have Scott McCloud's brilliant 1990s books "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics," and thought he'd be a great editor for the 2014 best-of collection, but boy, was I wrong. What disappointed me about this book? Let me count. First, the absolute lack of surprise in the selections. He starts with the established greats: Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Ben Katchor, Charles Burns, Adrian Tomine, and R. Crumb. But I, like everybody else, have been reading these authors for decades, and these selections in no way show anything new or different in their current work, with the possible exception of R. and Aline Crumb's X-rated "senior sex" piece, which I desperately wish I could un-see. (I'm 52. I don't have that long to wait. I'll wait.) Second, of all the new artists I was exposed to in this book, I can count only one that struck me as interesting enough, different enough, and well-executed enough to make me seek out more. It's no exaggeration to say that I was over halfway through the book, which I read from cover to cover, before I found a piece I enjoyed. And I wouldn't have picked up a book of current comics if I didn't enjoy comics. Everything I *dislike* about comics was here in abundance: the pathetic chronicles of depression, the sad childhood memoir, the pointless angst, the wild, ungrounded experimentation, the clichéd situations, and the weirdness for the sake of weirdness. What I like about comics was mostly missing: the shock of recognition, the unexpected perspectives, the fresh expressions of life-affirming humanity, and the just plain gorgeous art. (As I mentioned, with at least one exception.) Jaime Hernandez's wonderful cover art just doesn't match what's inside, in tone or in quality. And McCloud's frequent, annoying begging of the reader to bear with him, read straight through, and not skip over things didn't pay off. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. But be warned.
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  Matt Graupman

  I've been collecting the Best American Comics books since the series began in 2006. By design, the volumes are always uneven but enjoyable; the degree to which this is true always depends on that year's guest editor. This 2014 collection is no different.
  
  Scott McCloud, undeniably a comics fan and astute critic, has submitted a varied and intriguing set of stories and excerpts. Being a fan of formalism and experimentation, his selections tend to be a little on the wild side (much like Chris Ware's 2007 volume) which doesn't always line up with my tastes. Overall, it's a solid collection but not quite as outstanding as past volumes.
  
  (P.S. - While I'm a fan of his older work and I acknowledge that he's a comics god, I really don't like R. Crumb's cluttered and self-reverential new comics. -10 Nerd Points for me.)
  
  FAVORITES:
  "RL (Excerpt)" by Tom Hart: His series of comics about the unexpected death of his 2-year-old daughter, Rosalie Lightning, are so packed full of joy and sadness.
  "MARCH: Book One (Excerpt)" by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell: Everything that Powell draws is perfect.
  "Canadian Royalty" by Michael DeForge: I usually find DeForge's comics to be too quirky but this piece is delightfully weird.
  "Hawaii 1997" by Sam Alden: Alden is a quickly-rising star in comics and this pencil-rendered story is really remarkable.
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  Marisa

  This is a great collection– there are all kinds of different comics covered in this book, which made it a refreshing read. I enjoyed that it gave me some inspiration to check out some new artists. As in all “Best” lists, there were some that I loved, some I hated. Keep in mind when you’re reading that many are just exerts from a bigger novel. Some of the standouts for me were:
  
  “Drama” by Rana Telgemeier
  “Jane, The Fox & Me” by Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault
  “August 1977” by Nina Bunjevac
  “The Mermaid in the Hudson” by Mark Siegel
  “Saga Chapter 7” by Brian Vaughan & Fiona Staples
  Please note: I received a free copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.
  
  Who should read it? Any fan of comics or graphic novels, but also newbies to the genre. This would be a great introduction!
  
  See all my reviews and more at
  www.ReadingToDistraction.com or @Read2Distract
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  Amy

  McCloud couldn't have been a better editor! I hope HMH/The Best American series brings him back again and again. Each introduction is a gem, and McCloud got me appreciating certain artists (Chris Ware: "...the burden of memories") in a whole new way. I especially appreciate his attempts at articulating webcomics - which is terribly hard for me to maneuver; and I laughed out loud at his hyperbolic reference to seppuku in regards to understanding this particular art form! At the beginning of the book, McCloud warns readers to honor the planning of this book; I issue the same warning: read the book in sequence! The sequencing of the collection is a work of art itself!
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  tysephine

  This was more of a 2.5 stars, I think.
  
  I appreciate all the effort put into this collection, but there was some weird stuff in here, a lot of which made no sense to me. Maybe I am not the target audience for this collection. It went over my head a lot and some of the later categories, with the more abstract concepts, made zero sense to me. I feel like I need to cleanse myself with something more low-brow now.
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  Laura

  This is a pretty good sampler for finding new comics and artists. I didn't read all of them because I didn't always like the art. Some of them were really weird too. I think I'll take a look at this every year though.
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  Kristy

  I'd vote in favor of fewer pieces with longer excerpts, but a great sampler of the diversity within the genre.
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  Nikki

  "Best of" collections are always a disappointment.
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  Nick

  
  Not a bad collection. Mind-expanding, with some real winners and some genre-bending craziness. Definitely skipped through a number though, including so-so comics I'd already read and some that were virtually impossible to read.
  
  Not a fan of no individual comic title/introductory pages.
  
  3.6 Stars
  
  
  
  My Favourites
  
  - 'Crime Raiders' (Excerpt) - Hernandez
  Odd, interesting urban minority comedy/drama
  
  - 'Killing and Dying' (Excerpt) - Adrian Tomine
  I've read the full one -- amazing!
  
  - 'High Road to Schmuck Seat' - R. Crumb and Alice Kominsky
  I have limited Crumb experience, and I found this rude, disgusting, half-assed, and entertaining
  
  - 'RL' - Tom Hart
  A very sad story where parents lose their daughter. Page 127 features a fascinating view of New York.
  
  - 'Mom' - (Excerpt) - Sam Sharpe
  Whewf. Heavy, disturbing and realistic.
  
  - 'Sailer Twain...' (Excerpt) - Mark Siegel
  Nice art, great use of perspective and shadow (eg page 174), and a bizarre, funny and oddly-realistic story.
  
  - 'Saga' (Volume 7 Excerpt) - Vaughan
  Oh yeah, I'll have to finally read this series
  
  - 'Dimensions' - Ted May
  Short and instructive. Take a breath -- good ideas!
  
  - 'Building Stories' (Excerpt) - Chris Ware
  Awesome as usual, though a strange ending choice for the excerpt.
  
  - 'Canadian Royalty' - DeForge
  Weeeeeird-ooooh
  
  - 'The Understanding Monster: Book 1' - Theo Ellsworth
  Kraaaazy. I kind of want to read more. Relationships? Epiphany? Intelligence?
  
  - 'Hawaii' - Sam Alden
  Powerful thesis. The boy will spend the rest of his life trying to find a girl from his youth, surely more in terms of mate patterns, but probably with an undying hope.
  
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  Audrey

  I dunno, why are comics are still so steeped in misogyny? Curate better. Some of these are wonderful and some are like extra-cringey.
  
  I wanted to give this a four because there’s some gorgeous stuff in here & it was lovely to see Allie Brosh included, but it’s pretty white & hetero & lots of misogynistic themes. It’s also super male-dominated even though McCloud goes off on this tangent about “where are all the upcoming man artists.”
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  Dee

  In my opinion, this is the best book in the ‘Best American Comics’ series. Not sure if 2014 was just a really great for comics or what?! But the thematic organization is so on point, I read every single comic in this book and enjoyed them all.
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  Rachel

  READ!
  MORE!
  COMICS!
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  Emily

  i have 12 new GN to read now. scott was an amazing guest editor. i learned things.
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  nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite)

  Good read.
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  April eclecticbookworm

  A good collection of sequential art diverse in style some better than others and exposes you to work you might not have seen before.
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  Jose

  Helped me find authors that I now love. Highly recommend it to anyone trying to understand comics as a medium.
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  Jon Hewelt

  meh.
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  Eternaljay

  I liked the comics, but I didn't like how vulgar most of them are.
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  Douglas

  Scott McCloud's sequencing of the selections are well done and the intros for each section are great. There's a lot of great stuff in this collection.
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  Preethi

  Like all anthologies, there were a few good artists and sections but on the whole the book is a pass.
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  Kat Hulu

  Scott got the tiniest bit overbearing at times (“see what she did there?”) but this is a great selection that was thoughtfully assembled and introduced.
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  Tye

  There were some gems in here. And, there was also some really off the wall comics as well.
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  Andréa

  Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.