On Paper

I don't know how many times I've crossed paths with graphic novels and illustrations, either on the internet or in local bookstores (Fully Booked and Booksale). They're all so pleasing to the eyes, with the right colors on the right places and just the right amount of humor and sadness in the stories that come with them. Some are calmly shaded but is portrayed by a violent story, and vice-versa. I don't know when my penchant for graphic novels and comics actually started, but I'm pretty sure Winx Club and Archie cradled my initiation as an avid follower. I don't know why I ever stopped reading them, when I used to have so many issues. Eleven years after, I could no longer find them, not even in the deepest trenches of my grandfather's house. 

Now, like an emergency call from the past, I've once again immersed myself deep in the throes of the internet to find these gems.

1. Adrian Tomine

I first saw Adrian Tomine's art a year ago, when I was randomly scanning through Fully Booked's art section. His New York Postcards caught my eye with its seemingly bubblegum-esque mood. It features a girl sitting on train, looking over the window while holding her book across her face. He has also collaborated with The New Yorker, showcasing fifteen of his illustrations. 

Hi ongoing comic series, Optic Nerve, has been on my wishlist for so long now, alongside Killing and Dying. 

Published by Drawn and Quarterly in 1995, the Optic Nerve series has come a long way over the years, featuring different stories of people. Romantic, identity, and even familial crises are present in these mini stories, and it's pretty neat. 

His most recent work, Killing and Dying, which deals with heartache and the unabashed exploration of loss, was critically acclaimed last year. Its ambitiously creative plot instantly pulls that tiny string that somehow brings me back to the Dark Times I used to (desperately) crawl through just to get to the other side. Drama aside, it's exponentially great to think that I have this in my possession.

      

What really is amazing about his work is his explicit description of fixation in his illustrations. These portraits of girls fixated over their points of preference is somehow parallel to how I move around foreign environments, or even in my room.They remind me so much of those train rides I would take; I would stare out the window and I imagine someone doing a sketch of my figure. (I know I'm not the only one who does this.) I love how these portraits directly imply how Tomine pays close attention to his surroundings. 

2. Nick Drnaso

I found this from Drawn and Quarterly, which features mostly teenagers from a local suburb. It's a satirical take on lost souls, with the bleak representation of being an outcast in your own town. another artist who's not a big fan of violent reds and blues, Nick Drnaso especially caught my taste. Beverly's cover itself is speaking so much about what it tells you, and I can't help but feel that this is a slightly comical version of the Coen brothers' film, Fargo. 

There are some elements of quiet violence within each panel, and you might just agree with me; the adolescents in this feature are normally just repressed bodies of brutality.

The barren look of the setting, funny how it is, perfectly represents how I feel about my life as a college student, and how dry I've been feeling lately. Drnaso completely impressed me with his shrewd language that resembles a David Lynch film. His art itself, without any dialogue, sends you to an almost extreme preciseness, without ever being ambiguous. I mean, that's how everyone should be like, right? Sugarcoating is not his forte, and I've never read such atrocious and relentless honesty. I would absolutely die to have this.

3. Craig Thompson

I remember loosing my shit when I first saw this at Fully Booked, almost two years ago. as per usual, I did not have enough money to get it, and promised myself I would come back for it the next week. I came back and and it was nowhere to be found. It was sold out, obviously. After that, I never saw it again. So it's kind of an impossible hunt for me, close two years and I still don't have it. It's shameful, really, because it has such a rich story about Craig, a young man, in the search for his true self, while simultaneously falling in love with a girl named Raina.

                  

The usual revealing-oneself-to-the-other, it still screams unconventionality, with its imaginative visualization through Thompson's wild brushstrokes. I'm still longing to see how the characters' inner demons resurfaced through the gentle-to-turbulent transition of the doodles that surrounded them. Familiarity to heartbreak was never this graphic, as D&Q would like to put it. 

I'm not always a big fan of love stories on comics or graphic novels, but when I am, I make sure that it's this compelling, even though I haven't read it yet. It's also VERY nice to know that the writer wrote the novel as away of coming out to his parents, and no longer being a Christian. Imagine how gratifying it is to read something about redemption--which I need(!!!).

4. Shigeru Mizuki

Japanese history was never this exciting for me, and as an ardent believer in the power of history and its study (Ma'am De Castro taught me well), I find this absolutely, tremendously, appealing both to the eyes and the mind. I've been following documentaries on National Geographic (thanks to my dad) and accidentally finding these is such a great feeling!!! 

I don't like Hitler at all, and I don't support any of the things he's done, and to read this would categorically help me fuel my hate more. Especially now that we, in the Philippines, have a potential Trump and/or Hitler as presidential candidate. 

This book centers on the life of Hitler as a starving art student in Austria, to building Germany only to leave it in ruins. With cartoony characters circling around the enigma that is Adolf, everything seems so entertaining, when it's really a despairing tale. Which is rad, because 1) it's from a Japanese writer; and 2) Japanese writers are the best in juxtaposing stories through their art!!!

This other novel by the same author, Mizuki, on the other hand, serves as a semi-autobiography. As a Japanese army veteran, he tells the story of what was then a militant Japan and United States.

I saw some previews, and it somehow resembles the air that surrounded Hitler. Tense yet full of life because of the funny-looking characters on scenes that depict everyday humor. As an historical account of Japan during the Showa period, it sends the reader some kind of motivation to learn more about Japan. (Because Asian studies are, for me, the best. Sonorous, violent, and very cultural.)

Economy and trade were also tackled, with friendly illustrations that won't confuse the readers. It's such a joy to read an account of what used to be a bulwark of communism.

Definitely a must HAVE.

5. Jillian Tamaki

First started as a webcomic, SuperMutant Magic Academy recites the antics and adventures of lizard-headed Trixie with her fellow mutant classmates.

Brilliantly told through the eyes of a writer whose affinity for young adult stories never seems to go away, it gently reminds us of the woes we used to have as small children, or even as pre-adolescents. Life in the Academy could sometimes be so dull, and it naturally feels like death. As a girl whose middle school life verges from Unbearable to Actual Death, I find this very interesting. It's supplemental to go back and reminisce for one to actually grow up.

Filled with the usual angst everyone used to feel back then, it's a miraculous work from Tamaki. She just saved us all and we don't even know it yet.

I just wish I had enough credit on my card...