Get Graphic Vol 1: Telling True Stories the Comic Way

Book Buzz is a blog produced in collaboration with neighborhood librarians from Houston Public Library, Harris County Public Library and the Bellaire Library.

Confession: I’m tired of superheroes!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy superhero stories, but they are all beginning to blend together. I want to read graphic novels that do not revolve around radioactive insect bitten heroes, misfits in space or truth-loving goddesses. Graphic novels should not be synonymous with superheroes.

With the growing popularity of graphic novels, more and more authors are using the format for nonfiction. Highly acclaimed graphic memoirs, like Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, have added a literary appeal to graphic novels, attracting new readers. The versatility of the graphic novel format allows for new and different storytelling.

Here are a few graphic nonfiction recommendations that will appeal to avid graphic novel readers and first time graphic novel readers.

Part biography and part steampunk adventures, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, begins with retelling Ada Lovelace’s childhood, meeting and working with Charles Babbage (The Father of the Computers), and soon we find the two mathematical geniuses fighting crime in Victorian England. Wait . . . what?

Padua decided to give Lovelace and Babbage many more adventures in an alternative universe known as the Pocket Universe, instead of a universe where Lovelace dies young and Babbage dies a bitter old man without ever building his Difference Engine. In the Pocket Universe, our steampunk heroes Lovelace and Babbage find themselves at odds with Queen Victoria, trying to solve an economic crisis, and being too smart for their own good. Just know that when a crisis arises in Victorian England, our heroes can be heard yelling, “To the Difference Engine!” A charming read with delightful artwork, Lovelace and Babbage will no longer be footnotes in history.

Cartoonist Lucy Knisley was raised by foodies, so it is no wonder that her strongest memories involve food. In Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, Knisley has collected her favorite “taste-memories”, recalling the taste of the food as well as the importance the experience had on her life. A meal for the eyes, I highly recommend this colorful graphic novel. The recipes in the book are delicious, especially the carbonara!

The Green River Killer: A True Detective Story by Jeff Jensen is not for the faint of heart. In the early 1980s, Seattle’s Green River Killer was responsible for the deaths of more than 48 women. For more than 20 years, Detective Tom Jensen worked relentlessly to capture the monster responsible. In 2003, Tom is there for the arrest of Gary Leon Ridgway, and is given the opportunity to interview one of the worst serial killer in U.S. History. Tom hopes to find closure for the families of the victims and for himself. Will he ever make sense of the evil acts committed? Author Jeff Jensen, Tom Jensen’s son, brings a personal insight to this chilling true crime story. This book is a must-read for true crime fans. 

Graphic novels are here to stay - after all, the earliest form of writings were composed of glyphs.