Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
Published by Oni Press

Momence Junior High had two places for students to wait before school began. You could wait in the gym or in the library. The gym was divided with fifth and sixth graders on one side and seventh and eight graders on the other. The library was for if you had homework to do. I don't know why, but I found the gym overwhelming. It was fine at first, but as school progressed the mass of people and noise began to unnerve me. My heart would race and I'd become uncertain. My anxiety grew as my social difficulties grew with my peers. Like many a nerd before me I retreated to the library.
The library turned out to be pretty cool. Since I was in their everyday, I grew to know the librarian. Mrs. White was the nicest person I ever encountered during my years of education. She treated me with a kindness that still softens my heart. I even got a job in the library. Simple stuff really. Deliver film projectors and televisions from the store room to the proper classroom. I loved that job. Felt like I could do something right.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman

I reached the end of the book and cried. Tears flowed in response to the tragedy at the story's resolution. I cared for those little rapscallions. Tears flowed because the author is dead. Chris Fuhrman was only able to gift the world with one book before passing.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

Fables: Wolves by Mark Williamham, Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus...

Fables: Wolves by Mark Williamham, Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Lee Loughridge, Daniel Vozzo, Todd Klein, and James Jean.
Published by Vertigo.

I had the funniest idea as a child. I would read a lot of books on mythology. Most of them were giant omnibuses containing myths from around the world. One section of the ancient Greek myths, another on the Roman, another yet on the Chinese...etc. As I would read each book an idea would float through the back of my mind. All these myths are in printed in the same book. Printed on pages that touch each other. I kept imagining that since all the myths were bound onto pages in a book, they could interact. If Apollo flew far enough across the sky in his chariot he would encounter Thor thunderin across the skies in his chariot. Odesseus sailed past Tir Na Og on his voyages. There were extra invisible pages to a book where the differnt characters interact. A hidden dimension we never see. We can catch a glimpse with our imaginations. Maybe a view if we are lucky.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

Pyongyang by Guy Delisle

Pyongyang by Guy Delisle. Published by Drawn and Quarterly
Publish
How much plot does a story need. Obviously, a story does not need any plot to exist. A writer or artist could just type some words onto a page and claim it is some kind of da-da experiment. It is a story, albeit an unreadable story. So how much plot does a story need to thrive. Pyongyang reqired only the simplest of plots. An animator goes to North Korea to supervise some animation. Book opens with the animator flying into North Korea. It ends with him leaving. Yet most of the book is not even concerned with the animation. Guy Delisle fills the book with details about North Korea. Plot acts as the skeleton for the true flesh of the story. The details form muscle, skin, and the sexy curves of the story. I began to read and soon find myself dancing with the story. I was slow dancing before I even realized it.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth

Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth

I found the book too easy to read but I read it anyway. I read it for the part of me that still is a fifth-grader. Sometimes you have to read for who you want to be. Othertimes you have to read for who you used to be.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

Superman: Infinite City by Mike Kennedy, Carlos Meglia, and Rob Leigh

Superman: Infinite City by Mike Kennedy, Carlos Meglia, and Rob Leigh. Published by DC Comics
Is not every story a story of an alternate reality. Each person imagines a story differently than someone else reading it. The Harry Potter I image when I read any of his books is different than the Harry Potter you imagine. Are not each of us creating alternate realities when we read stories.
Imagine for a minute the beauty of this. Every person has an entire universe of realities, created from the stories they have read and seen, flowing out of them. Would I not bear witness to a river of stars pouring out of everyone could only I see.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Ultimate Civil War: Spider-ham One shot by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Wieringo, Maike Manley...

Ultimate Civil War: Spider-ham One shot by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Wieringo, Maike Manley, Nick Dragotta, John Severin, Skottie Young, Jim Mahfood, Ariel Olivetti, Clayton Crain, Laurence Campbell, Chris Giarusso, Todd Nauck, Robert Campanella, Sean Phillips, June Chung, and Randy Gentile. Published by Marvel Comics

In the 80's, Marvel published a comic called Peter Porker: the Spectacular Spider-ham. A parody of Spider-man recasting the characters as anthropomorphic animals. I loved that comic. Not because it was clever. Not because it had great story telling. No, I loved it because the characters were drawn with such strong shape. It resonated with something deep and hidden. I see now my artistic aesthetics are not just a result of my experiences. They are the result of my experiences interacting with what is already in me.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Invincible #39 by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley

Invincible #39 by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree, and Russ Wooton and published by Image comics.

No matter what I may tell myself, I know secretly I read Invincible because it takes me back to when I used to play the Marvel Superheroes game from TSR. I was new to collecting comics and it was all a joy. It was exciting to grab the Marvel Handbooks and read about all these heroes and villains. A whole universe spread out before me.
The series also reminds me of how I read reading DC's Secret Origin "number whatever" that showed the secret origins of Dr. Light and the Substitute Legion of Heroes. The Legion of Substitute Heroes! A group of heroes who banded together because they were too lame to join the actual superhero group the Legion of Super-heroes. Chlorophyl Kid could make plants grow slower or faster after falling asleep in a vat of plant fertilizer he thought was a hot tub. Stone Boy could turn into an immovable stone statue. Night Lass has super-strength, but only at night. Fire Lad can breathe fire but has allergies that cause him to sneeze flames. And lastly, their leader Polar Lad, who can withstand cold temperatures without a coat. Being labeled a "nerd" and a "weirdo" by my classmates, I could identify with these losers.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Swamp Thing: Spontaneous Generation by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala

Swamp Thing: Spontaneous Generation by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala, published by Vertigo.
The writer is like a sculptor. He or she is given a large marble block at birth. The soul knows what shape resides inside and has us slowly chisel away at the marble with each story written.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Paul Has A Summer Job by Michel Rabagliati

Paul Has A Summer Job by Michel Rabagliati, and published by Drawn and Quarterly.
The greatest aspect of working in a therapeutic enviroment is not in healing others but in healing others and healing yourself. As you ask your charges to face their shortcomings, you must do the same.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Batman and the Monstermen: Dark Moon Rising by Matt Wagner, Dave Stewart, and Rob Leigh

Batman and the Monstermen: Dark Moon Rising by Matt Wagner, Dave Stewart, and Rob Leigh, published by DC Comics.
I would rather read any of Matt Wagner's Mage series.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan, Nike Henrichon, and Tod Klein

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan, Nike Henrichon, and Tod Klein, Published by Vertigo.
When I read a book, I feel afloat in another world. Yet how much this "journey" effects me is not determined by the number of pages in a book. My Calculus textbook was over a thousand pages, yet I did not feel like I had come back from a grand adventure when I finished it. Nor is resonance determined by the events in a story. If plot and character were enough then only one book would of ever been written. What takes me to another place is the resonance of an artistic work. What is the complexity of a story's symbols. Do these symbols react with the symbols embedded in my personal mythology. Have the memes reached such a density they form landscapes and more complex memes.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

The Scar by China Mieville

The Scar by China Mieville, Published by Del Rey Books
Silas Fennis, the publisher of dissenting pamphlets, hides on a ship called the Wordhoard. One of the many clever details in a book on language disguised as a steam-punk fantasy novel.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Maniac Killer Strikes Again by Richard Sala

Maniac Killer Strikes Again by Richard Sala, published by Fantagraphic Books
If I could break free of the narrative of a story where could I go? Could I go down the back alleys I glimpse as the plot moves forever forward. If I walked far enough would I end up in another movie. Could I travel from one movie to another not only by moving my eyes from one shelf to another in the video store but also by wandering the back alleys. The overlooked roads.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Green Lantern Corps Recharge by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Patrick Gleason...

Green Lantern Corps Recharge by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Patrick Gleason, Prentic Rollins, Christian Alamy, Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Travis Lanham, and Moose Bauman, published by DC Comics
I secretly love the Green Lanterns, but dislike the comics. A Green Lantern comic should take place in space, have lots of aliens, and no supervillians. Just have them stop space pirates or re-ignite a sun. And maybe a cameo by G'nort.
-Jason

Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel

Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel, published by Top Shelf Productions
Doug TenNapel created the video game Earthworm Jim. I loved that game. Except that damn level where you have to pilot Jim in the tiny sub! I never made it past that level.
-Jason

Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 2 #2

Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 2 #2 by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, Alex Ross, Alex Sinclair, and John Roshell

Having discovered his parents killer, the petty criminal will become the hero.
-Jason

New Tales of Old Palomar #1

New Tales of Old Palomar #1 by Gilbert Hernandez, published by Fantagraphics Books and Coconino Press

The Palomar stories always have ancient statues in the background. The statues lurk in the background just as the secret lives of the citizens.
-Jason

Shazam!, the Monster Society of Evil #1

Shazam!, the Monster Society of Evil #1 by Jeff Smith, published by DC comics.

I love Alligator-men. Don't know why.
-Jason

Babel #1

Babel #1 by David B, published by Drawn and Quarterly

The best cartoonist alive today in my opinion. A thoughtfull examination of how childhood dreams and childhood events interact.