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A review by glassesgirl79
The Best American Comics 2006 by Lynda Barry, Rick Geary, Jessica Abel, David Heatley, Kim Deitch, Alex Robinson, Chris Ware, Harvey Pekar, Alison Bechdel, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Ben Katchor, Anders Nilsen, Olivia Schanzer, Jesse Reklaw, Justin Hall, Robert Crumb, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, Gilbert Shelton, Seth Tobocman, Jonathan Bennett, Rebecca Dart, Esther Pearl Watson, Hob, David Lasky, Jaime Hernández, Lloyd Dangle, Ivan Brunetti, John Porcellino, Lilli Carré, Tom Hart, Kurt Wolfgang
4.0
The Best American Comics 2006 is a great combination of 30 well drawn comics, sharp writing, and political awareness.The book manages to have a good balance of color an d black and white comics and well as traditional versus more modern styles.
My favorite comic in the collection was "Nakedness and Power" which is a political comic discussing the oppression of Africans as well as the current oppression of Americans in reference to oil prices.The pictures in this comic are compelling as well as the simplicity of the text make this comic a must read.
Some comics are based on real life events while others comics are completely fictional;however both types of stories leave the reader feeling different than they did before they read the comic strip.
I also enjoyed the contrasting relationships between father and child in the stories "Portrait of My Dad" and "Thirty-three".
In "Portrait of My Dad," the comic is actually a collection of several comics which all focus of interactions between the author and his father. As I read the strip, I was able to see pieces of myself within the comic in how my father and I relate to each other. The main thing I took away from this comic was that in life, especially when it comes to parent and child relationships,
while some children spend their whole lives trying to gain acceptance from their parents, in actuality, some parents are seeking that same type of acceptance from their children as well.
"Thirty-three" is a story of an unlikely father and daughter reunion. The comic is again about a father and child however in this case, the child (Phoebe) has come to find her father (Richard). The conversation they share is an awkward one yet both characters try to make the best of the situation they find themselves in. At the end of the strip, Richard makes a choice in regards to Phoebe and he is positive his choice is the right one. I was able to identify myself in this strip in the when you are close to your parent, sometimes you have to have awkward conversations to get to know each other again.
The only thing that annoyed me was that the comics that was shown on the cover of the book was not included in the collection. I feel like it would have been better to have just not had a comic on the cover at all or showcased one actually in the collection.
Overall, this book is a great read for anyone who hasn't read comics in a while or would like something unlike the type of comic strips you usually find in the newspaper.
My favorite comic in the collection was "Nakedness and Power" which is a political comic discussing the oppression of Africans as well as the current oppression of Americans in reference to oil prices.The pictures in this comic are compelling as well as the simplicity of the text make this comic a must read.
Some comics are based on real life events while others comics are completely fictional;however both types of stories leave the reader feeling different than they did before they read the comic strip.
I also enjoyed the contrasting relationships between father and child in the stories "Portrait of My Dad" and "Thirty-three".
In "Portrait of My Dad," the comic is actually a collection of several comics which all focus of interactions between the author and his father. As I read the strip, I was able to see pieces of myself within the comic in how my father and I relate to each other. The main thing I took away from this comic was that in life, especially when it comes to parent and child relationships,
while some children spend their whole lives trying to gain acceptance from their parents, in actuality, some parents are seeking that same type of acceptance from their children as well.
"Thirty-three" is a story of an unlikely father and daughter reunion. The comic is again about a father and child however in this case, the child (Phoebe) has come to find her father (Richard). The conversation they share is an awkward one yet both characters try to make the best of the situation they find themselves in. At the end of the strip, Richard makes a choice in regards to Phoebe and he is positive his choice is the right one. I was able to identify myself in this strip in the when you are close to your parent, sometimes you have to have awkward conversations to get to know each other again.
The only thing that annoyed me was that the comics that was shown on the cover of the book was not included in the collection. I feel like it would have been better to have just not had a comic on the cover at all or showcased one actually in the collection.
Overall, this book is a great read for anyone who hasn't read comics in a while or would like something unlike the type of comic strips you usually find in the newspaper.