Fist of Five: Graphic Novels

Jake Curtis

Asterios Polyp

David Mazzuchelli was at one point one of the most successful comic book writers around, having done Dark Knight Returns (which is also fantastic and you should read) and then he disappeared from the public eye completely
. 7 years later he released Asterios Polyp. It is truly incredible. It’s a 350 page epic following the life of one man that so perfectly amalgamates artistic and linguistic beauty into an awe inspiring book. In the book each character is drawn in a unique style and these artistic styles are used to display changing relationships and emotions. It is, in my opinion, the greatest graphic novel ever written.

 I Kill Giants

This book is tough to describe. It follows the story of a young girl living in a space between reality and the fantastical. It’s an incredibly emotional and sublime story paired with some of the greatest artwork of the last decade.

Chew

Chew is in no ways a literary classic deserved of a place in the canon. It’s not even really a graphic novel. It’s a collected series of comics. That said it is preposterously amazing. It’s set in a universe in which there are food-based superpowers. Detectives who can gain psychic impressions from food and as a result go around nibbling dead bodies to find out who murdered them, terrorists who can carve chocolate to such a degree of accuracy that it becomes fully functional and a part bionic, part immortal fighting rooster all feature in the on-going story. Chew will make your tears cry tears of laughter.

Fun Home

Written by Alison Bechdel this is the graphic novel for people who might think themselves too literary for graphic novels. In this autobiographical work Bechdel tells the story of what it was like growing up with a closeted, homosexual father whilst living in a funeral home. And this is all done through parallel links to Proust and Joyce and more literary allusions than a simple A-level English student could dream of understanding.

Feynman

For the rare few with a love of both English and Physics, this book is fantastic. A biography of Feynman’s life beautifully drawn into a truly wonderful read. This book perfectly balances Feynman’s personal with his professional life with the explanation of his theories. I would truly recommend it.