Last year we recommended that you buy comic books for your loved ones as geeky Christmas gifts. Here, we do it again! In this post Maria Berge will give you solid advice for what to buy this time around. Two of the benefits with comic books are that you can read them quickly, and that you can return to them over and over again. Below Maria describes a few comic books she continues to return to, so keep on supporting your local bookstore!
PERSEPOLIS: The history of Iran is more current the ever
Marjane Satrapi has said that she got so tired of explaining what it was like to grow up during the Iranian Revolution that she decided to do it with a graphic novel. Since she starts off from a child’s perspective her critically-acclaimed autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis makes it possible to get an understanding for the history of Iran for someone who had no clue before. It contains detailed descriptions of oppression and torture but is also full of humour (children have their own way of surviving oppression).
NIMONA: To all the people that hang out with monsters!
ND Stevenson dedicates this story to “all the monster girls” out there, but the centre of the story is Lord Blackheart who tries to befriend the shapeshifter Nimona. He calls himself a villain and he really wants to bring down The Institution that rules the kingdom, but he is careful to not hurt anyone or make too much chaos. Although Nimona is much stronger than Blackheart – she can turn herself into a dragon, rhinoceros or shark depending on her mood – she looks up to him. But Nimona despises Blackheart’s rule to not kill anyone: “Isn’t the point of being a villain that you don’t need to follow the rules?”. This story consists of a great mixture of fantasy and modern technology that deconstructs the classic narrative of hero versus villain. But it is also a story about the importance of having a friend when celebrating Christmas or ordering a pizza.
FUN HOME: Because this is really good literature!
This family tale starts in the darkest of places: Allison Bechdel thinks that she lost her father in an attempted suicide. The reader understands quickly that she comes from a dysfunctional family where the family members all have artistic talents but live their own lives under the same roof. Allison’s father never dared to leave the closet, but Allison herself started living openly as a lesbian when she was nineteen. Two nights before her father dies Allison dreams that she is seeing the “most glorious sunset” but then she becomes frustrated that her father is too slow and misses it. This tragicomic description of a family is an illustration of how the US became more LBTQ-friendly bit by bit. The illustrations are marvellous. Time magazine named Fun Home number one on its 2006 list of the “10 Best Books of the Year”.
CASTLE WAITING: We need more nuns with beards!
The story starts like the classical fairy tale of Sleeping beauty, but what happened when the princess woke up and got away with her handsome prince? According to Linda Medley she left the castle and all the staff and her friends behind. After many years the “Castle Waiting” becomes a home for a very heterogenous bunch of people, including Sleeping Beauty’s friends that have stayed and turned old. My favourite character in this gang is a kind-hearted and cheerful nun that has a close relationship with a small demon, and has a background in a circus as well living in a convent for bearded women. These books have no real ending so Medley can do whatever she likes with the story, if she one day wants to continue it. I really hope she does, because all her stories contains so much warmth and hope.
