[...] very pleasant contrast to last year, where I couldn’t even fill out a top ten, I had more good books to choose from than slots. [...]

[...] Nothing Better: Into the Wild (APR10 0929, Dementian Comics, $15); in fact, it was one of my Best Graphic Novels of 2009. Now you can order it through your comic shop, and if you enjoy funny and heart-warming stories [...]

[...] I’ve put in my list every year.) This time, I combined entries from my 2009 best manga and my 2009 best graphic novels lists — but for some reason, I only got quoted when it came to the [...]

Seriously though I do believe that there are too many autobiographical comics and that most of them are not very good. When I read Stitches I knew about the shock of his cancer but reading it (and i read it a few times – shameless plug, read my interview with Small on CBR), it’s not about the shock. It’s about this family with parents who are incapable of raising children, and not just the parents but we also see it with his grandmother who is really insane and troubled. And yet despite drawing this portrait of his parents as so emotionally distant that they couldn’t help but be anything except bad parents, they’re sympathetic characters. Especially his mother who is fairly monstrous is ultimately the tragic figure of the book.

A lot of autobiographies (comics and prose) tend to be about events that are much smaller and less resonant than what Small writes about. There’s also a tendency to be fairly narrow in scope, not just focusing around events that aren’t especially important but rarely venturing beyond the central character telling the story and yet Small is as concerned if not more so at depicting the people around him.

It’s brutally honest. The book never lapses into cliche and I’m sure there were many scenes that he could have used with regards to his fighting with parents. It isn’t art that saves him or the love of a woman which is the typically plot line. Instead it’s his therapist being nice to him and he manages to slog through.

Also there’s the fact that the book is tightly plotted, where in my mind most autobio comics tend to be meandering stories without plot. (Or, they tend to be poorly written Pekar-esque scenes stretched out to a length where there’s nothing of value or interest – but admittedly, that’s another point for another time)

And I never made it through LotR, either book or movie, either, so that comparison may not have had the effect you intended. :) Seriously, yes, it becomes more difficult for autobio to stand out, but that doesn’t mean a book can’t. I didn’t think this one succeeded at doing so, though. (I talk more about this in an upcoming interview with Tom Spurgeon, actually.)

I always love reading best of lists from the people I admire. I must admit that I couldn’t disagree more with your assessments of Stitches and Asterios Polyp. Stitches I’m a huge fan of and the press material may have ruined the book for you – I avoid reading them beforehand – I don’t think it diminishes what David Small managed to accomplish.

And as far as there being too many bad parent autobio comics…C’mon. There’s a hundred bad fantasy movies released each year, it shouldn’t influence your opinion of Lord of the Rings. There are far too many navel-gazing autobio comics with nothing to say, but that doesn’t mean there’s not room for one with style, structure and real talent to shine.

I will second Drew’s suggestion of Storm in the Barn, if only for the art and the pacing. The story is just okay but Matt Phelan is an artist born to make comics.

Drew, thanks for sharing your picks. I’ve only seen Far Arden; I’ll have to check out the other two.

Honestly that’s why I wish there were more “My Favorites…” of the year lists rather than “Best of…”

The Best of list you have, 1 or 2 seem interesting (I’ve even read two of the ten counting the four you added) but I don’t know how many of them sound like they’d be really entertaining reads.

Of course when I looked at GNs as a whole this year, or perhaps even comics as a whole. Other than a few manga titles I didn’t find a whole heck of the lot entertaining this year.

Where are the books like Rucka and Lieber’s Whiteout? Or Carla Speed Mcneil’s Finder? Or even fun teen comedy like Chynna’s Blue Monday? Where’s the slice of life work of an Andi Watson? Or masterful hidden depths of a Linda Medley Castle Waiting?

Maybe its because I have yet to really get into web comics, so I’m missing the really good young/new creators. Or that I haven’t been able to make it to a con in a while.

I just know I read far fewer comics this year than I have in a very long time. All the creators I liked have seemingly gone away or become work for hire creators doing something that’s perhaps solid but ultimately forgettable at the big two.

Imposter’s Daughter, the Storm in the Barn, and Far Arden were some of my favorites.

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson names her Top 6 graphic novels of the year, plus six more that didn't make the [...]