Women And The Graphic Novel
Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Books, Gay/Lesbian, Women | Comments Off on Women And The Graphic Novel
A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels, and often aimed at an adult audience. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic-book series.
A graphic novels is typically bound in a longer and more durable format than the familiar comic book, using the same materials and method as a printed book, and is generally sold in a bookstore and or specialty comic book shop.
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is indeed a graphic rendering of a family locked in tragedy, caught in moments from her life – and more importantly, from the life and death of her father. Alison tells her story through snatches of literature, photography, art, even her own diary from her childhood, in a series of repeated, but not repetitive looks at the relationships in her family and the relationship she had with her father, in particular.
12 Days is a story of a woman’s attempt to get over her grief for an ex-lover who has died. This process is complicated – and assisted – by the presence of her lover’s cousin, who brings her some of her her ex’s ashes, and stays around to escape his own issues with his family. Through Jackie and Nick’s reflections, we come to know a little bit, but not too much, about Noah, her life and her death.
Love and Rockets defines a world of Hispanic gang warfare, ’80s California, punk rock, and women wrestlers. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’s main characters are Maggie and Hopey, two adorable lesbian rockers who start out in a somewhat vague relationship and are then separated by adventures both grand and demeaning.
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, aka Kimberly Keiko Cameron, is about a goth girl in an all-girls school in Toronto, circa the early ’90s. Skim is an articulate, angsty teenager, the classic outsider yearning for some form of acceptance. She begins a fanciful romance with her English teacher, Ms. Archer, while nursing her best friend through a period of mourning.
