Best Comics of 2018: An International Perspective (original) (raw)

Year in Review

I could have backdated this Best of 2018 Article and pretended that I posted it in early 2019. But I didn’t… So my apologies to my International Correspondents below for missing the boat and being so tardy in compiling this and getting it online. Still, in my view it is never too late to learn about more great comics from different parts of the world. I hope you enjoy finding out about these selections from Argentina, Poland, Portugal and Singapore. Click on your country of choice below to be re-directed to that section:

ARGENTINA - POLAND - PORTUGAL - SINGAPORE

Argentina

Selected by Juan Manuel Dominguez

Juan Manuel Dominguez wanted to be a superhero. Now, the Batman-Gorey lover drowns his dreams of saving the universe with comics and film criticism - the Clark Kent answer to reality - and believes his folks and friends contribute to the most super factor of his professional and non-ultra-powered life.

Antes que me olviden (‘Before They Forget Me’)
by Jo Murúa
Wai Comics

Jo Murúa should be an app. He should be the filter through which comics, that savage born during The Simpsons Age of Pop Culture (and all its miracles and paper-bin wonders), becomes a rabid reaction – and also a heartfelt one – against this calamity called our modern age. This anthology of his internet works becomes the perfect red carpet for imagery that feels anarchic, angry, urgent and, its most important instinct, caged. You cannot stop feeling the sense of the gravitational pull which pop culture references, from his coaching in Dadaism, urban bitterness and absurdism, have on Jo’s work. He sums up the best and most unstoppable grim smiles of the Argentinian new wave of self-made comics authors.

El ángel negro (‘The Black Angel’)
by Camila Torre Notari
Maten al Mensajero

What could be interesting about a family adopting a cat? Everything. Torre Notari works wonders with something that no one else feels interested in: living. Not just the “Watch-me-at-my-worst-hour, self-deprecating autobiographical comics”. Not at all. She manages to become the warmest comic book author in Argentina. Her stories can be savage, violent and with a B-movie-like imprint that makes them funny, easy to look at and punk. Here, she crafts the story of a family, her family, and a cat, her cat, in their suburban home. Nothing else. And it resonates. Simple makes it stronger, and Torre Notari understands this, in a way that comics tend to forget. Simple doesn’t mean naive, not at all. Im all its kindness, Torre Notari understands what is behind those doors, how love feels when it becomes a responsibility, and she even manages to create one of the most charismatics cats in the history of Argentine comics.

Poland

Selected by Michał Chudoliński

Michał Chudoliński is a comics and film critic. Chudoliński also gives lectures on American popular culture, with an emphasis on comic books (“Batman’s mythology and criminology”; “Comic book Canon”; “Comics Journalism”), at the Collegium Civitas and the Warsaw Film School. Founder and editor of the Gotham in Rain blog. He co-operates with magazines like Polityka, 2+3D, Nowa Fantastyka, Czas Fantastyki, Charaktery and is a guest speaker on the Polish Radio. Currently he is working at AKFiS TVP and is the Polish correspondent of “The Comics Journal”. Co-founder of the Polish Science Fiction Foundation.

Michał Chudoliński is a comics and film critic. Chudoliński also provides lectures on American mass culture, specializing in comic book culture (Batman Mythology and Criminology) at Collegium Civitas. Founder and editor of the Gotham in Rain blog. Co-operating with magazines like Polityka, 2+3D, Nowa Fantastyka, Czas Fantastyki, Charaktery and on Polish Radio. Currently working for Polish Television AKFiS TVP and TVP Culture. Also performs the duties of the Polish correspondent of the worldwide collection of “The Comics Journal”. PhD student at The Graduate School for Social Research (GSSR) of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Pan Żarówka (‘Mr. Lightbulb’)
by Wojtek Wawszczyk
Kultura Gniewu

A both thrilling, and compelling 600-page story about a man possessing the attributes of a lightbulb. A bitter-sweet plotline of contemporary Poland, sometimes an unliveable place in which an individual tries to become as normal and regular as possible. It’s also partially a surrealistic therapy for author Wawszczyk himself, as this highly talented artist and animated movie director on the pages of this comic book discusses his own intimate situation of the sicknesses of both his parents. Full of the grotesque, this comic book becomes a triumph of hope despite the adversities, the lack of everyday kindness and other troubles in life. Waszczyk tries to tell a story of seeking a streak of light in the total void, even in the darkest and loneliest moments of our lives.

Ja, Nina Szubur (‘I, Nina Szubur’)
by Olga Tokarczuk & Daniel Chmielewski
Wydawnictwo Komiksowe

Yet another adaptation into comics of prose written by 2018 Booker-awarded Olga Tokarczuk. Chmielewski attempts the ambitious task of translating to comics a 2006 novel inspired by Sumerian mythology Anna in the Catacombs, published in the Myths series by Scotland’s Canongate Books. The reader is invited into a near-future dystopic world. Nina Szibur sets out to rescue her beloved one, Inanna, imprisoned in the bowels of the city of Uruk. In only a few days the world that Nina knew becomes a well-woven web of lies and dependencies, in which the protagonist’s actions are strongly connected not only with saving the life of Inanna, but the whole city of Uruk. It’s a subtle and refined combination of leaving the Platonian cave and post-apocalyptic fears, while picturing the mechanisms of power and war, strongly inspired by documentaries on Third World countries. Chmielewski’s narration deserves admiration, as no one can drive a plot by telling the story frame-by-frame as well as him, creating an absorbing flow of graphics.

Rewolucje: Apokryfy (‘Revolutions: Apocryphs’)
by Mateusz Skutnik, Jerzy Szyłak, Rafał Skarżycki, Tomasz Kołodziejczak, Nikodem Skrodzki, Grzegorz Janusz, Daniel Gizicki, Tomasz Pastuszka, Tomasz Kontny, Berenika Kołomycka, Jan Mazur, Jerzy Łanuszewski, Tomasz Pstrągowski & Magdalena Cielecka
Timof Comics

Mateusz Skutnik has invited his friends, scenarists and writers, into the universe called Revolutions to tell their own stories according to their own rules. He gave them full freedom, which results in courageous attempts to perform bold deconstructions. In effect, a well-known anthology by famous Polish authors has been created. This series is a great starting point for a new reader to become familiar with the Polish comics scene and its authors. Also, fans of silent comic books will not be disappointed, as Skutnik emphasises this form of art.

Oskar i Fabrycy #02: Dyliżans widmo (‘Oscar and Fabrycy: Stagecoach Spectrum’)
by Maciej Kur & Mieczysław Fijał
Egmont

Don’t be misled by its trashy cover – Kur and Fijał have managed to create a worthy fantasy album for the young, full of humour and adventure. Both creators show traits of talent as great as Janusz Christa’s, the creator of the famous Kayko and Kokosh. A specific Polish humour has been cleverly combined with European standards of comics narration. In Oskar and Fabrycy’s adventures one finds not only clever and classical Polish comics references, but also slight hints of Slavic legends and interesting interpretations of the works of art. A great export good for the French bande dessinée market.

Noc świetego Bartłomieja (‘St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre’)
by Gabriel Maciejowski & Hubert Czajkowski
Klinika Języka

This experimental and bold comic book shows the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in a completely different perspective, by exploring the attempts of lobbyists at the highest levels of religious and political power. The authors call this comic the first Polish example of illustrated political and historical journalism. This book forces the reader the think once again about the relevance of all the political, cynical games that result from contemporary wars. Dark and gloomy Czajkowski’s illustrations fill the comic book with engaging uncanniness.

Bonus list:
Beneficio by Michał Kalicki & Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz (Timof Comics)
Dozorca. Nie wszystko złoto by Bartosz Sztybor & Ivan Shavrin (Non Stop Comics).
Eden by Tomasz Woroniak (Timof Comics)
Za późno, by przebaczyć & Rad Erwank by Michael Tanner & Lukasz Kowalchuk (OMG! Wytwórnia Słowobrazu)
Weź się w garść by Anna Krztoń & Hans Lijklema (Wydawnictwo Komiksowe)
Woda i ogień. Syn by Benedykt Szneider (Kultura Gniewu)

Portugal

Selected by Gabriel Martins

Gabriel Martins has been writing about comics since 2006, on several blogs and websites. He also wrote a couple of prefaces on Portuguese editions and is, since the beginning, a jury for the Portuguese Comic Con Awards. Occasionally he writes for comic fanzines (or just for himself) and has been nominated at Amadora BD for a Portuguese-German collaboration entitled OhZona, that explores the wonders and terrors of Carnival.

Pequenos Problemas (‘Little Problems’)
by Francisco Sousa Lobo
Chili com Carne

Something changed after the publication of The Dying Draughtsman in 2013. Like ripples in the ocean, the work of Francisco Sousa Lobo spread across the globe, he was a new author to take into account, one of those that really has something worth saying. Since then many other books by him have been published, always well praised by specialist critics. After winning in 2017 the award for best book at the international festival Amadora BD with Deserto/Nuvem, Sousa Lobo returned last year with this anthology Pequenos Problemas. This is one of those books that several fans of the author will greatly appreciate, in the sense that It gathers all his previous short stories, adding three new ones. The stories were produced between 2004 and 2018, gathering more than 10 years of work. It is very interesting to find here many reflections that would emerge in the later, longer works by Sousa Lobo, where he continued to explore the themes of family, religion and the importance of art, as well as the description of certain episodes related to the author’s psychological breakdown, the one that triggered The Dying Draughtsman. It’s really a privilege the way Sousa Lobo is so open and honest about this particular difficult time, he always has something new to add, an extra layer to share with the reader. Take note that in 2018 Sousa Lobo also published the fanstastic short comic Master Song about a London nanny who never recovered from reading Fifty Shades of Grey.

Madoka Machina #6
by André Pereira
Polvo

In the same way we immediately recognise a Tim Burton or Wes Anderson movie, the same happens with the pages of André Pereira. After starting to publish Madoka Machina in 2015, this was the year that finally saw the conclusion of Pereira’s series. There are several ideas here that may be well-known to the reader, but they are developed in a very distinctive way, by bringing magical concepts into more modern, technological times. All this is transposed into the comics medium through amazing layouts, constructed in a very dynamic and, when necessary, obscure way. This is the author’s world, a universe of his own. It should also be noted that despite all the fantasy explored in the background, Madoka Machina is, at its core, one of the best portrayals, through comics, of our new generation of working-class heroes.

Jardim dos Espectros (‘Garden of Ghosts’)
by Fábio Veras
Escorpião Azul

Fábio Veras might well be the 2018 Portuguese revelation in the comics industry. In his debut Jardim dos Espectros, Veras already displays great mastery of this medium. His attention to the storytelling, the characters’ different expressions, and especially the way he is able to use different shades of grey are impressive. In a few pages, he is able to give us a world that feels both real and ancient, like an old legend that is passed down through generations. Therefore it is no wonder that it has been a matter of (very little) time before he was invited to publish new works, as is the case with the brand new Os Filhos do Rato written by Luís Zhang (G.Floy/Comicheart). It should be interesting to see how Veras works with a different writer rather than writing for himself. Nevertheless, he has every chance of becoming one of the major Portuguese comic book artists of the future.

Cicatriz (‘Scar’)
by Sofia Neto
Polvo

Sofia Neto already has a considerable curriculum in comics, as both an author and a publisher of several zines. She is also one of the most significant female Portuguese authors of our times. Taking all this into account, it seems rather strange that only in 2018 were we able to see her first published solo book. At the beginning, Cicatriz presents itself wrapped in a veil of mystery. We don’t know what is going on nor which genre we are really in, only discovering both answers as we move along. The drawing is quite raw and stripped of gimmicks. Neto knows the story she wants to tell and focuses solely on that. In the end, we have a solid arc with a good amount of heart, which is always the most important part.

Os Regressos (’The Returns’)
by Pedro Moura & Marta Teives
Polvo

Os Regressos is the next expected step in the evolutionary path of Pedro Moura and Marta Teives. The authors have been working together for some time now and those who are familiar with their previous short stories, namely the ones published in the more recent anthologies of The Lisbon Studio (G.Floy/Comicheart), will certainly recognise here a continuation of that work, both in terms of style and theme. Os Regressos is still a story about people, their fears, concerns and interactions with the world, however this time Moura and Teives explore a very specific direction in the development of the main character and the conclusion of her story. In the end it is very clear the attention they have given to detail through the narrative, with all the characters having a very specific voice that distinguishes them, and with the fictional village Corvelo being brought to life in a very authentic manner, emanating a real feeling as if it could exist somewhere in Portugal.

Singapore

Selected by Lim Cheng Tju

Lim Cheng Tju writes about history and popular culture in Singapore. He co-authored The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity (Amsterdam University Press/NUS Press) and co-edited Liquid City Vol 2 (Image Comics), an anthology of Southeast Asian comics. He is the country editor (Singapore) for the International Journal of Comic Art and his articles have appeared in the Journal of Popular Culture and Print Quarterly. He was an advisor for the Barbican touring exhibition Mangasia. He writes comics sometimes too.

Terumbu (‘Reef’)
by Cheah Sin Ann
COSH

Cheah Sin Ann drew the first long running comic strip in Singapore, The House of Lim, which ran in The Straits Times for right years in the 1990s. Recently he has ventured into graphic novels with The Bicycle (2014), an adventure set during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-45), which has since been translated and published in France. His latest graphic novel, Terumba (meaning reef in Malay) is a story set in the high seas along the Straits of Malacca in the 19th Century. It depicts a love story between a lowly pirate boy and a girl from the Malay royalty against the background of the decline of piracy in the region with the rise of British imperialism and modernity. Cheah romanticises the notion of piracy and the portrayal of the Malays is rather stereotypical and of the British and imperialism, uncritical. But one can excuse him, as he has said the inspiration for this tale is old P Ramlee movies. He just wants to tell a fun and uncomplicated action story and it is his tribute to the sultan of Malay cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. Terumbu is part of the COSH (Comics of Singapore Histories) line of graphic novels, which uses history and heritage as a backdrop for its whimsical stories. Declaration of interest: I am one of the founders of COSH and the editor of the series.

The Prodigy Vol 1: Blade of the Chrysalis
by Dave Chua & Koh Hong Teng
Pause Narratives

Another self-published initiative by novelist Dave Chua and artist Koh Hong Teng who have earlier collaborated in Liquid City Vol. 2 (Image Comics, 2010) and a thoughtful adaptation of Chua’s own novel from 1997, Gone Case (2010-2011). From social realism to sword-fighting fantasies, Chua and Koh have decided to move away from the trend of serious and heavy stories in Singapore comics to go for something that could have a more mainstream appeal. I wouldn’t say this new approach is completely successful. Working within the action genre, both can’t help but still sneak in social commentary on class, society and power in The Prodigy, a planned six-parter inspired in parts by the stories of late wuxia giant, Louis Chia, Taiwanese comic artist Chen Uen and newer genres like ‘silkpunk’ (think Ken Liu). For this first volume, quite a bit of context-setting is required, which slows down the story. Koh has not fixed his habit of drawing characters who look too similar to each other, which makes the story hard to follow at times. A list of protagonists at the beginning of the book would have been be useful. Chua could have also spent more time tightening up some of the dialogue. But as we get pulled into the comic with its multiple storylines and cast of strange characters, these are minor quibbles. Empires in conflict, mysterious creatures, a lamentful hero, a young punk in the vein of Yang Guo (the spirited hero of Louis Chia’s Return of the Condor Heroes) and a sister-and-brother duo who are more than what they seem. What is there not to like? Ambitious as both Chua and Koh are, carving out a new path to tell sword-fighting stories in comics.

Posted: March 21, 2020