Autobiography in pictures

[kjpepper]

So I just got finished rereading Persepolis and Persepolis 2 (the English editions, if anyone's wondering) in anticipation of loaning my copies to a friend of morlock's and because I'm rather excited by the fact that they're making them into a movie. Great read, if anyone's wondering. Next time I have money (which will probably be the fifteenth of never) I need to pick up Marjane Satrapi's other two books.

I have found though, that I really like autobiographical graphic novels. I've always liked reading autobiographies as a kid, fascinated by the idea of someone telling their life story in their own words, but adding someone's own pictures to that adds a whole different level of amazingness. Which explains why I loved and was profoundly moved by Fun Home and way long ago, Maus. Even Persepolis - I love Satrapi's renderings of her life growing up in and growing away from Iran in stark black and white and can't wait to see how that will translate on screen. However, I'm feeling the need for more. Anyone have any graphic autobiographies to recommend? *looks pointedly at grinninfoole*

I need to get back in the habit of eating lunch. I haven't been lately and I get home cranky, bitchy and starving. I do apologize for myself tonight, I was rather nasty to folk upon returning home. More reasons, I think, to avoid people for a while - apparently my patience is not what it used to be. :P Still once I got some of sunny's very yummy roasted all natural chicken under my belt I was much more human. Oh and The Covenant? About as bad as predicted. "WE ARE THE SONS OF IPSWITCH!!! YOU WILL ME YOUR POWER OR I WILL BEAT YOU AND SUCK OUT YOUR SOUL WITH PSYCHIC FIBEROPTIC CABLES! OOOOH!" *scary fingers* So incredibly silly.

That's really all the news for now.

Comments

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

maus i and ii are both good, as is a contract with god.

the life of the buddha is also covered in a really long series. it's actually really good.

[kshandra]

Pedro and Me, by Judd Winick. Bring Kleenex.

And not quite what you're looking for, but: Love, Sal: Letters from a Boy in the City, written by Sal Iacopelli and illustrated by Phil Foglio.

[anami.livejournal.com]

It's a Bird by Steven Seagle is really good.

And though it is not autobiography, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud did a wonderful job of describing the art of comics and why the medium can be so powerful. (It also could easily serve as a good reading list to further explore the genre).

I'm glad I saw this, I can't wait to check out some of the other suggestions people have given you!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Check out Fun Home by Alsion Bechdel if you have not already done so; Ethel & Earnest by Raymond Briggs is a wonderfully touching story of how his parents met and survived WWII; One!Hundred!Demons! by Lynda Barry is part of her fantastic "auto-ficto-biography" work about her childhood.

Enjoy! :-D

[sundart.livejournal.com]

If you do want to read Understanding Comics, anzovin has a copy here at home.

What?!?!

[reverendtom.livejournal.com]

"The Covenant? About as bad as predicted. "WE ARE THE SONS OF IPSWITCH!!! YOU WILL ME YOUR POWER OR I WILL BEAT YOU AND SUCK OUT YOUR SOUL WITH PSYCHIC FIBEROPTIC CABLES! OOOOH!" *scary fingers* So incredibly silly."

You dare to mock the power and glory of THE BOYCRAFT!!!

Fool...they shall descend upon thee with their snazzy wardrobes and delicately finessed coifurres (or however the frell you spell that...me am big, dumb barbarian boy and am not knowing how am spell hairdoingstuffness)

Flee while you can!!!

Re: What?!?!

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

ROFL. Where the hell have you been lately? *hug*

Re: What?!?!

[reverendtom.livejournal.com]

Well, when I'm not roaming the valley and doing my best to impersonate a 250lb muppet, I'm doing that whole silly school thing. I did make a silly face at your woman last week though, while heading in to watch Smokin Aces while waiting for my woman to get off work ;)

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

Well, you have hit most of the books that come to mind immediately. As some of your other commenters noted, Pedro & Me is good, It's a Bird is quite moving and I haven't read Love Sal (though I am a fan of Mr. Foglio, must check that out.)

Sticking to actual autobiography, there's a lot of stuff by Robert Crumb you should probably look at (titles escape me, but it's in print and we carry it at the store), The Playboy by Chester Brown, Peep Show by Joe Matt (though he becomes increasingly revealed as a repellant person), Rent Girl by Michelle Tea (more of an illustrated book, really, but an interesting topic), and book called Psycho (I think) by a woman whose name is also eluding me right now, who delves into her own experience of being, well, psychotic.

Loosening the strictures a little bit: Blankets by Craig Thompson is very good. Yossel by Joe Kubert is a completely fictional speculation about what his life would have been like if his family hadn't left Warsaw before the Nazi invasion. And, the piece de resistance, Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse. This is based on Howard's life, though only he knows how closely, but it isn't autobiography--it's historical fiction about a young white southern man coming to terms with being gay even as the civil rights movement catches fire. It is, also, one of the greatest comics ever done. Read it. If you are tight for cash, borrow the copy at Smith College (which happens to be signed by the author, because Bonnie brought it to him when he was at 5Con in 2000.) We definitely carry this book, and I would love to sell tons of them. I rank it with Maus and Fun Home in terms of artistic excellence and emotional profundity. Also, Howard's really nice.