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ericfheiman's review
4.0
A solid collection of the previous year's best comics by one of the art form's elder statesmen, Neil Gaiman ("Sandman," et al). Definitely one the better entries in the series, and second only to Lynda Barry's from 2008. (If you haven't checked out one of the excerpted works, "Asterios Polyp" by David Mazzucchelli in its entirety yet, put it first before this collection.)
ula_j's review
3.0
I happened to get the 2009 book from the library before this one and I hated it. I love comics and GNs but that one was just full of comics I didn't get at all. I was a bit weary but this collection is so much better. There's a wide range of story content and artwork. Not all of it is great but I will definitely be looking into some of the work. My favs include work by Chris Ware (who's just awesome), Gabrielle Bell, David Mazzucchelli, and Fred Chao. Weee for nerding-out my Saturday.
saidtheraina's review
4.0
Another volume in a great series, this time edited by one of my all-time fav authors. Fabulously, I'd read many of the included comics and/or had heard of many of my favorites. But standouts I hadn't seen before were Dave Lapp, Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel's The Alcoholic, Fred Chao, and Todd Brower and Steve MacIsaac's piece Ex Communication. Yay Neil continuing to put some energy into comics and yay collections of great comics. :)
mattycakesbooks's review
3.0
I'm a fan of the Best American Travel Writers series, and I've read a few of the other collections, but I feel like this - while possibly the coolest of the Best American collections, and that includes Dave Eggers' "Nonrequired Reading" selections - is also the least effective of doing the works justice. For the most part, these aren't complete works, which makes them hard to follow. The only piece I'd read before was the Scott Pilgrim excerpt, and I could see how hard it was to follow within the context.
It's still a cool idea, and I love Neil Gaiman, and a lot of the pieces in here are amazing, but it was really tough to appreciate in the same way as the other ones. It would be like doing a "Best Novels" list and only providing a chapter for each.
It's still a cool idea, and I love Neil Gaiman, and a lot of the pieces in here are amazing, but it was really tough to appreciate in the same way as the other ones. It would be like doing a "Best Novels" list and only providing a chapter for each.
angelofthe0dd's review
4.0
An excellent collection of strange, enlightening, or just plain fun illustrated short stories and graphic novel snippets.
chadstep's review
4.0
Wish I could recommend the full five stars but this is like listening to samples of a best-of hits medley on an awards show--no comics appear in full, just a sampling. I want the whole story, not just pieces!
caedocyon's review
3.0
Obviously, some were better than others. There are a few excerpts I might seek out the full versions of, but it's probably more useful in that it got me to read comics I never would have picked up otherwise. Like the Chris Ware comic(s): I've seen his books at the library and flipped through them, but they're so dense and nothing about them managed to capture my attention. I read the entire Acme Novelty Library short story, and by the end I could see why Art Spiegelman likes his work so much (did I mention I saw Art Spiegelman talk recently? because I did; it was pretty awesome), and while I still have no desire to read the rest at least I have some idea what his work is now.
The most memorable one was Norman Eight's Left Arm. It's also the one that held together best as a single story, so much so that when I went back to find the name I was surprised to find that it's also an excerpt.
Some others that were successful as stand-alones which I also liked: Lobster Run, The Alcoholic. Ex Communication was self-contained but also hard to follow, somehow---I found myself having to concentrate and read panels multiple times to figure out what was going on.
The Flood gave me the strongest "wow, I really want to read the rest of this!" feeling.
Scott Pilgrim is obnoxious on many levels, and reading a disjointed scene from it did nothing to change my opinion, but it probably does count as influential. Or something.
The most memorable one was Norman Eight's Left Arm. It's also the one that held together best as a single story, so much so that when I went back to find the name I was surprised to find that it's also an excerpt.
Some others that were successful as stand-alones which I also liked: Lobster Run, The Alcoholic. Ex Communication was self-contained but also hard to follow, somehow---I found myself having to concentrate and read panels multiple times to figure out what was going on.
The Flood gave me the strongest "wow, I really want to read the rest of this!" feeling.
Scott Pilgrim is obnoxious on many levels, and reading a disjointed scene from it did nothing to change my opinion, but it probably does count as influential. Or something.
kirstiecat's review
4.0
If you're like me, you're utterly exhausted in the harshness of winter. After I survive work, I do about two hours of hardcore reading each day at the gym and then at night, when I'm taking a bath so hot it scalds my skin, I like to read comic books. It usually helps me laugh and gives me a little perspective on things.
That said, some of these comics are about very serious matters such as 911 and WWII. They greatly vary in their divulging of politics, dreams, personal and world histories, human relationships, outer space, and even religion. Most of these didn't make me laugh at all but had a much more serious intent. At the same time, Gaiman did a great job compiling excerpts of graphic novels and comics as well as from a wide variety of these writers and illustrators themselves in terms of fame. You will find excerpts from Jonathan Ames' The Alcoholic, Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library, Peter Kuper's Ceci N'est Pas une Comic, R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis, Lethem's Omega the Unknown and, perhaps the most famous right now, Brian Lee O' Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe. At the same time, there were quite a few comics I didn't know and perhaps my favorite of the whole collection was Derf's The Bank excerpt from Punk Rock and Trailer Parks about a guy who works at a small club and gets to take The Clash around.
This collection is recommended for those who don't know who to look to before making a commitment to buy and read an entire graphic novel and, while not all of these grabbed me, I did enjoy many of them. I'd be really interesting to see collections of best comics from other countries as well. If anyone has any recommendations for me I'd love to hear them.
That said, some of these comics are about very serious matters such as 911 and WWII. They greatly vary in their divulging of politics, dreams, personal and world histories, human relationships, outer space, and even religion. Most of these didn't make me laugh at all but had a much more serious intent. At the same time, Gaiman did a great job compiling excerpts of graphic novels and comics as well as from a wide variety of these writers and illustrators themselves in terms of fame. You will find excerpts from Jonathan Ames' The Alcoholic, Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library, Peter Kuper's Ceci N'est Pas une Comic, R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis, Lethem's Omega the Unknown and, perhaps the most famous right now, Brian Lee O' Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe. At the same time, there were quite a few comics I didn't know and perhaps my favorite of the whole collection was Derf's The Bank excerpt from Punk Rock and Trailer Parks about a guy who works at a small club and gets to take The Clash around.
This collection is recommended for those who don't know who to look to before making a commitment to buy and read an entire graphic novel and, while not all of these grabbed me, I did enjoy many of them. I'd be really interesting to see collections of best comics from other countries as well. If anyone has any recommendations for me I'd love to hear them.
the_oakland_readers's review
4.0
this was a good quick read. since I know little of graphic novels, knowing where to start is pretty intimidating but I think this series is a pretty good primer. the main con is obviously the limited size of the volume and therefore the prevalance of excerpts. overall very entertaining.