By Jake Sexton
San Diego has survived yet another Comic-Con, with all the chaos, joy and crass commercialism that it radiates. I am an avid comic fan, and although I love my action-packed superhero adventures, I have just as much admiration for the serious, creative and mature titles. So let me recommend some of my favorite comic collections of the past year.
While libraries have a reputation for sharing lofty knowledge and art, that doesn’t change the fact that your average library customer is here to pick up the latest murder mystery or spy thriller. And I think those people would enjoy “The Fade Out” by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. “The Fade Out” is a noir-style drama set in 1940s Hollywood — on the set of a film noir movie. Troubled screenwriter Charlie Parish wakes up in a bathtub after his latest bender, barely able to remember the night before. He finds himself in a stranger’s home, with the dead body of his film’s leading lady on the living room floor. While he’s pretty sure that he isn’t the killer, he knows that his alibi of “I was blackout drunk 20 feet away” is unlikely to hold water with the police. The mystery becomes a sordid look at Hollywood excess, Red Scare repression, and crushed souls in the land of dreams.
One of the year’s other most-acclaimed titles is “Bitch Planet.” Called “Margaret Atwood meets Quentin Tarantino,” this subversive comic by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro takes the gritty sci-fi and exploitation films of the 1970s and combines them with a sexist version of “1984.” Any woman who refuses to behave in the “proper” feminine manner is at risk of arrest and incarceration on an all-female prison planet. But the “non-compliant” inmates at this prison aren’t all victims. Some are rowdy, mad, and ready to fight. The entire comic is a sly satire of a shallow and patriarchal culture, and leaves the reader wondering how far away we are from this level of injustice.
“Saga,” by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, is another beloved series not for children. Imagine a gritty version of “Star Wars,” unafraid of sex, violence or dark humor. A man and a woman from two enemy races fall in love, have a child and begin life on the run from both of their home worlds. Surprisingly, Vaughan has said that he wanted to explore the theme of parenthood and cloaked it in the guise of intergalactic space adventure, which makes it a fun, thoughtful and sometimes touching read.
Lastly, I’d recommend “Ms. Marvel” by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona. Suitable for all ages, this common superhero story defies expectation and makes clever metaphorical points about identity, youth and society. Our main character is 16-year old Kamala Khan, a Muslim girl from New Jersey. Her struggles to fulfill the expectations of her religious parents, her subtly racist classmates and her adventure-seeking self are symbolized by her newly-gained superpower: to alter her body into any size or shape. Without a heavy hand, the comic tells a fantastical story, while touching on themes of faith, race, technology and celebrity that are quite smart. It’s also great to see a major comic publisher (Marvel Comics) taking a big step towards a stable of heroes who represent their increasingly diverse fan base.
—Jake Sexton is librarian at the La Mesa branch of the San Diego County Library. Call the library at 619-469-2151, visit in person at 8074 Allison Ave. or get information online at sdcl.org.
