Hit by Pitch

Molly Lawless, Hit by Pitch.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012.

This graphic novelization tracks the weirdly parallel lives of Ray Chapman and Carl Mays from their childhoods in Kentucky, thought the fatal collision of Mays' pitch with Chapman's head, and--for Mays, at least, beyond.  The well-researched story is told though vignettes about the main characters, from varying perspectives, and illustrated with figures reminiscent of Eward Gory.  While the story is a bit dark, telling as it does of the only on-field death during a Major League baseball game, it isn't gruesome or violent, and is an important piece of baseball history, presented in a way that is appropriate and enjoyable for anyone eight or older.

Nelson Mandela Foundation with Umlando Wezithombe, Nelson Mandela: The Authorized Comic Book. New York: W.W. Norton &Co, 2009.

Wow.

This is a beautiful book. Full-size pages of glossy stock give it serious heft, and at over 190 pages, it contains what was originally an eight-volume comic series. These were published by Umlando Wezithombe in South Africa, from 2005 - 2007, to make Nelson Mandela’s story accessible to a new generation.

Mandela’s story should be familiar, and it is worthy of super hero treatment. This book, which focuses on themes of tradition, community, and story, is a wonderful introduction to the South African struggle for freedom. And, as Mandela notes in his introductory comments, you are really famous when “you discover that you have become a comic character”. Drawing on many published and archival resources to show us not only Mandela’s role in the South Africans’ fight for equality, more than twenty years in prison, his jubilant release and election as President soon after, the comic also presents key events and relationships throughout his life that help us understand “why”. While not a deeply penetrating biography, we do see Mandela’s life as a whole, not simply a political thing, and can see glimpses of faults which make him appear that much more human. We see it in beautiful pictures with richly muted color.

Mostly, though, we see a strong and gifted man of great pride who refuses to accept an injustice and, in so doing, persuades the world to stand with him against it. We see a hero, triumphant. What better subject for a comic book?

Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Fables and Reflections (The Collected Sandman, vol. 6). New York: D.C. Comics, 1993.

The Sandman series is a re-imagining of our mythical heritage, akin to Robert Graves' I, Claudius or John Garner's Grendel in its co-opting of familiar characters to re-develop a traditional storyline from a new perspective.

This is serious fiction. Gaiman creates well-plotted stories, which develop over several issues, and fills them with well-developed, achingly-human characters. Some of these are monsters, some human, and some gods, but each is necessary, and believable, in his role.

In Fables and Reflections, the sixth volume of collected Sandman stories, we see Dream interact with Caesar Augustus, Marco Polo, and the great caliph of Baghdad Haroun Al Raschid, as well as what happens when a dream-world collapses. These stories, however, take a back seat to Gaiman's stunning rendition of the tale of Orpheus, the son of Dream and Calliope who descends into hell seeking his lost love Eurydice.

In spite of many changes in Sandman's art production team over the issues, Gaiman gives him a consistent voice across the collected volumes. Using inspiration from all eras of history and a deep knowledge of mythology, Gaiman has, in the Sandman, created a character even the most academically-inclined can enjoy.

Even better, it's a comic book.

Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers. New York: Random House, 2004

Art Spiegelman is one of my favorite cartoonists because he never flinches. The man developed a comic book about the Holocaust, and Maus became a cultural icon by helping children understand the horror we can inflict upon one another. So who better to commemorate our generation’s defining act of terror, the attacks of September 11, 2001?

No Towers is a tortured book, reflecting Spiegelman’s own struggle to accept and understand these events. It is a personal essay in pictures, recounting his thoughts and actions on and after 9/11. This means the story is about Spiegelman, as much as 9/11, and to help us understand him, Spiegelman includes a short history of the funny papers as an appendix. Still, the levity this provides does not completely counter the crushing weight of loss No Towers conveys. As we reach the fifth anniversary of these horrible events, In the Shadow of No Towers is a powerful memorial and reminder of what we have lost.