Five Global Graphic Novels You Need to Read
Graphic novels are the windows to the world
Graphic novels are the forgotten treasures of the literary world. Not many people gravitate towards them. Most consider it a minor literary form. And pretty much everyone who thinks this says it without ever having read one. Stories and ideas expressed in a comic strip format are just as compelling and moving as any other form of literature.
During university, I decided to take a class on global graphic narratives having no prior knowledge or even interest in them. I guess, the ‘global’ part intrigued me since I wanted my degree to encompass as much political, historical and cultural literature from across the world. It was the best decision I made.
If you have never picked up a graphic novel and don’t know where to start, here are five brilliant graphic novels I highly recommend.
1. Maus, Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a poignantly witty memoir that recounts the horrors and collective trauma of surviving the Holocaust. The Pulitzer Prize winner weaves through the tragic history of Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew, who survived the Holocausts and his present reality which is greatly overshadowed by trauma. The postmodern art style of this graphic novel is what makes it a contemporary classic. Portraying Jews as mice and Germans and Polish as pigs and cats, this style is able to capture and articulate the complex ideologies of that time period. Maus is definitely an important read and a good place to start when getting into graphic novels.
2. The Arrival, Shaun Tan
Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is a deeply moving narrative and my favourite graphic novel. Through its use of magical realism and an uncanny surrealist setting, this silent graphic novel beautifully captures the silenced and isolating immigrant experience. What I love most about this graphic novel is its universality. The silent form makes it easy for anyone to connect with its themes about migration, displacement and belonging. Truly a global graphic narrative. I highly recommend it!
3. Palestine, Joe Sacco
Originally published in 1993, Joe Sacco’s Palestine is a nonfiction graphic novel that depicts Sacco’s experience in the West Bank and the Gaza Stripe during the first intifada. As a journalistic documenting life in this hostile, occupied region, Sacco shows how the larger political sphere impacts the day to day domesticities and lives of Palestinians. Sacco’s narrative serves as medium to voice the tragedies, sorrows, losses and hopes of the people he meets. With a introduction by Edward Said in its new republished version as well as its references to Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness and Said’s Orientalism the graphic novel draws parallels between colonialism and the situation of Palestine. What I also enjoyed about this novel was its exploration and critique of journalism and the ethics of recounting these realities.
4. Barefoot Gen, Volume One: A Cartoon History of Hiroshima, Keiji Nakazawa
Volume One of this Japanese Manga series details the catastrophic history of Hiroshima. Told through the innocent perspective of a six-year-old boy named Gen, Barefoot Gen depicts the lives of the Japanese people during World War II before the atomic bomb and its horrific aftermath. The novel is tremendously raw and vividly graphic. In its depiction of this devastating event, it angrily denounces war and its impact on innocent lives. A weighty and emotive read.
5. American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
High School is rough for any misfit but for immigrant children it is a tough battle. American Born Chinese captures the struggles of first-generation immigrant teens grappling with their sense of identity and culture in a racist and unwelcoming society. Playing on the American stereotypes of Asian ethnicities, the satire of this novel reveals how deeply these stereotypes are embedded within the American psyche and thus the psyche of the global consumers of this culture. Whilst I enjoyed its humour, what I liked best about this novel was its theme of self-acceptance.
Graphic narratives, as argued by comics theorist Scott Mccloud, serve as a
‘window back into the world we live in, — a window that creates ‘multiple ways of re-entering the world.’
