E4 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
best books
tiful, including Garry Trudeau’s
“Doonesbury” book “Lewser!,” Tom
Tomorrow’s “This Modern World”
release “Life in the Stupidverse”
and Ruben Bolling’s “Tom the Danc-
ing Bug” compendium “Into the
Trumpverse.”
Yet broader and more historical
takes on politics were also abun-
dant, including R. Sikoryak’s “Con-
stitution Illustrated”; “Drawing
the Vote,” a guide to voting rights
from Tommy Jenkins and Kati
Lacker; and from World Citizen
Comics the timely “Fault Lines in
the Constitution: The Graphic
Novel,” which smartly spotlights
the living document’s relevance to
presidential impeachment, a
peaceful transition of White
House power and other modern
concerns.
The most powerful of them all
was “Kent State: Four Dead in
Ohio,” a deep journalistic dive into
the still-resonant ’70s tragedy by
Ohio native Derf Backderf (“My
Friend Dahmer”).- LGBTQ representation keeps growing.
Trung Le Nguyen delivered a
sparkling debut with his graphic
novel “The Magic Fish,” about the
child of Vietnamese immigrants
who teaches through fairy tales —
yet wrestles with how to come out to
his family.
Also noteworthy were “You
Brought Me the Ocean,” by Alex
Sanchez and Julie Maroh, “The
Times I Knew I Was Gay,” by Eleanor
Crewes, Sophie Yanow’s hitchhik-
ing-toward-discovery tale “The Con-
tradictions,” and Noelle Stevenson’s
memoir, “The Fire Never Goes Out.” - Youth was served.
As young readers attended school
from home, they could take breaks
with deft new illustrated literature,
much of it almost nostalgically set in
schools. The year’s best YA books
included Terri Libenson’s “Becom-
ing Brianna,” Lisa Brown’s “The
Phantom Twin” and Maria Scrivan’s
“Nat Enough.”
Then there were Pilkey (“Dog
Man” and “Cat Kid” books) and Jeff
Kinney (“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The
Deep End”), who helped power the
kids’ market with relentlessly strong
sales — a trend that shows no sign of
flagging in 2021.
[email protected]
Michael Cavna, the creator of the
Comic Riffs column, reviews graphic
novels for The Washington Post.by the wayside in 2020, comics
offered such nostalgic stories as
“Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moon-
age Dreams,” centering on the rock-
er’s Ziggy Stardust persona; and
“Chasin’ the Bird: Charlie Parker in
California,” as Dave Chisholm and
Peter Markowski revisit the jazz
saxophonist’s stint in Los Angeles in
the mid-’40s.- Politics was front and center.
Comics collections that lam-
pooned President Trump were plen-
ing the summer’s virtual Comic-
Con — in which the acclaimed
author offers sharply felt insights
into how he experiences this specif-
ic culture.
Or if you were missing sports, you
could score a copy of Yang’s “Dragon
Hoops,” a study of a real-life Bay
Area high school basketball team
that learns about itself during a
championship season; or Sloane Le-
ong’s “A Map to the Sun,” a coming-
of-age hoops tale.
And while much live music went- Comics fed the quarantining soul.
As lockdown meant shutting
down most of our cultural attrac-
tions and distractions, graphic nov-
els stepped up with vicarious
thrills.
As in-person comics conventions
from coast to coast toppled like
dominoes, creators and fans were
missing these bonding pilgrimag-
es. And one of the best recollections
of this life was Adrian Tomine’s
“The Loneliness of the Long-Dis-
tance Cartoonist” — released dur-
BY MICHAEL CAVNAC
omic shops were shuttered
by the hundreds. Cartoon-
ists canceled long-planned
bookstore tours, and the
grand gatherings from San Diego
Comic-Con on down became virtu-
al versions of themselves. Given
such obstacles, 2020 was the year
that the comics industry could
have taken cover, merely trying to
survive.
Yet graphic novelists and other
comics storytellers adapted and
rose to ongoing challenges. Au-
thors hunkering down at home
became Zoom ’toonists, sometimes
drawing remotely for fans, some-
times reading their works to
school-age audiences in quaran-
tine. And by the fall, North Ameri-
can graphic novel sales were up
more than 40 percent — boosted
significantly by manga and the
“Dog Man” publishing empire of
Dav Pilkey.
Here were five of the main comics
trends that helped define 2020,
along with the books that propelled
the industry to new heights:- Comics representation mattered.
Amid the year’s reckoning over
race in America, graphic novels
continued to give voice to once-un-
derrepresented stories, and cre-
ators of color drew critical ac-
claim.
Shortly before George Floyd’s
death sparked international pro-
tests, Gene Luen Yang and artist
Gurihiru released the graphic novel
“Superman Smashes the Klan.” In-
spired by a ’40s radio serial, the
masterful comic centers on two Chi-
nese American teenagers who must
help the Man of Steel battle the
KKK’s racial violence shortly after
World War II.
Other heralded culturally di-
verse stories included “Almost
American Girl,” Robin Ha’s illus-
trated memoir about suddenly re-
locating from South Korea to Ala-
bama as a teenager; “When Stars
Are Scattered,” in which Victoria
Jamieson helps tell Omar Mo-
hamed’s true story of growing up
in a Somali refugee camp; and
“Long Way Down,” as Jason Reyn-
olds’s free-verse story got a graph-
ic-novel adaptation with artist
Danica Novgorodoff. Plus, “Class
Act,” Jerry Craft’s latest book
about middle-school life, arrived
months after his “New Kid” won
the Newbery Medal.
Trends that defined the g raphic scene
ILLUSTRATIONS BY AYSHA TENGIZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTBY SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA
AND LAVIE TIDHAR“The Only Good Indians”
By Stephen Graham Jones
Jones, a member of the Blackfeet
Nation, conjures a revenge story
involving friends who are haunted
by a supernatural entity. The tale
calls to mind classics such as “It”
and “Ghost Story.” Jones’s take is a
fresh and enticing tale — and fea-
tures a memorable foe.“The Order of the Pure Moon
R eflected in Water”
By Zen Cho
A former nun with secrets joins a
group of mercenaries on a rip-roar-
ing wuxia (martial arts) adventure
that combines witty banter and
plenty of excitement. The charac-
ters and their relationships are
vividly drawn, and Cho explores
serious themes of colonialism and
war.“The Silence of the Wilting Skin”
By Tlotlo Tsamaase
In this impressive and memora-
ble debut, Tsamaase presents a sur-
realist odyssey: A city is bisected by
a railway of the dead, and the pro-
tagonist sheds her color and her
name. Throughout, Tsamaase ex-
plores themes of race, gender and
sexuality in unexpected and com-
pelling ways.“Te nder Is the Flesh”
By Agustina Bazterrica, translated from
Spanish by Sarah Moses
After a virus makes animal flesh
poisonous to humans, cannibalism
is legalized, and people are raised
for their meat. A man who works at a
slaughterhouse receives an expen-
sive gift: a woman he is supposed to
eat. Horrific, yes, but it is hard to
look away from this raw, disturbing
tale.“Wa r of the Maps”
By Paul J. McAuley
In this elegiac far-future quest
story, an aging lawman battles a
strange post-human plague across a
strange world. The underrated
McAuley is in top form in this hard
science-fiction novel with heart.
[email protected]Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of
“Mexican Gothic,” Gods of Jade and
Shadow” and “Signal to Noise.” Lavie
Tidhar is the author of several novels,
including “The Violent Century,” “A Man
Lies Dreaming,” “Central Station” and,
most recently, “By Force Alone.”C ompelling tales
from the realms of
sci-fi and fantasy