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Best Comics of 2020

January 6, 2021

Somehow I was unable to read as many books as I wanted in 2020. It's almost as if my mind was preoccupied with too many other things to focus on the joy of reading. I don't know what that was all about. Still, I was occasionally able to penetrate the muck and the mire, and when I did I found some great comics. They made 2020 worthwhile, if only for a few hours. 

 

Lucy Knisley's "cartoons from the fog of new parenthood" capture the mystery and misery of a those first few months of parenthood where everything is hard, wonderful, and exhausting. 

Backderf recreates the events leading up to National Guard troops firing on protestors with the pacing of a political thriller. The anger, paranoia, and fear of the era permeates every page, and when the inevitable comes it is devastating. 

Comfortable, oblivious readers are taken into a world where all their ideals are challenged in the name of national security. It's a sad reminder that the scars of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks are still with us two decades later. 

North and Monteys took Vonnegut’s splintered narrative and seamlessly transformed it into the comics medium. The humor and sadness are fully, now paired with a visual flair which breathes new life into the text. I had my doubts about this one, but I was wrong. So it goes.

Comic book panel of man expressing horror avatar

Jeremy

Jeremy Estes has worked for Nashville Public Library since 2008. He loves comic books and dislikes the term “graphic novels”. He hosts Panel Discussion, a comics book club for adults, on the first Wednesday of the month at 12pm at the Main Library. 

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