While not new, graphic novels have established themselves as a notable art form over the last few decades. Since the publication of Art Spiegelman's Maus in 1991, the graphic novel format has gained increasing acceptance as a medium to tell any type of story, from social history to personal memoir, space opera, true crime and beyond.
The graphic novels in the SBU Southampton library highlight the wide variety of the form and the creative power of the authors and artists working within it.
D810 .J4 S643 2011
PN6727 .T48 B58 2003
PN6728 .P36 V38 2016
OVERSIZE PN6727 .F4 K55 2014
NC1429 .C525 A2 2014
PN6727 .M288 H47 2014
How to be Happy by Eleanor Davis is, as the author writes in an opening note, "not actually a book about how to be happy". It is, instead, satirical in its content with breathtaking artwork to accompany the text. This collection of graphic/literary short stories feels like people-watching in the best possible way. The stories survey the range of human emotion through unusual and thought-provoking situations. I dare you not to have a revelation about your own search for happiness while reading this- I don't think it can be done.
Sarah Stoss (MFA/Library)
Fantasy? Yes. Science Fiction? Yes. But you also get laughs, adventure, plot twists, and enough alien races to cast the next ten years of Star Trek and Star Wars combined. Writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples package it all in a story of two lovers from warring planets and their struggle to find a place in the world.
Chris Kretz (Library)
Sally Heathcote: Suffragette tells the story of a housemaid who becomes engaged in the fight for women's right to vote in 20th century Britain. This graphic novel depicts the struggles of women during this time who rose up against the government. These courageous women risked their status under threat of violence and ruination. During a time in America where many feel women's rights are being questioned by the government, Sally Heathcote: Suffragette is not only a relevant read, but a necessary one. Through the visual detail and descriptive texts, authors Mary M Talbot, and Bryan Talbot, and illustrator Kate Charlesworth, have created a graphic novel that is both entertaining, and educational as they bring the historical accounts of these women to life.
Sarah Stoss (MFA/Library)
Maus, by author and graphic artist Art Speigelman, is the riveting and brutal retelling of his father’s experiences during the Holocaust. This bleak story, combined with black and white imagery, tells a stark story of pain, suffering, loss and survival. I did not expect this kind of narrative to be written in a graphic art format. Maus is the first and only graphic novel to receive a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for “Special Letter Awards and Citations Award”.
Daphne Trakis (Library)
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