I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately.
It all started with The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier, published by Fantagraphics. When i first read Hornschemieier's stuff, i really didn't get him at all. It was a copy of forlorn funnies, number 5 i think which i had picked up at a sale at Alternate Worlds for like five bucks. it seemed kind or surreal and existential. fast forward a couple of years and i've become quite a fan. I dont quite know where or when me opinions of hornschemieir changed, but i have recently read several of his works and found them compelling. it helps of course that his drawing and colouring is exceptional, but it is my maturing that is leading me to view his storytelling in a different way.
It has really coincided with my rapidly diminishing interest in superhero and other mainstream comics for more indie, slice of life and drama comics.
But The Three Paradoxes was just the beginning of my summer reading. Floored by it, i grabbed the next Hornschmeier book off my shelf, Mother Come Home. It was published about 5 years ago and is widely regarded as Hornschmeier's break-out book, and with good cause. A moving story about a father and son as they struggle to cope with the loss of their wife and mother.
The last book of merit i have read is Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly button, published by Fantagraphics. You could be excused for misaking this book for a brick because, at almost 700 pages, it is indeed a hefty tome. This book proves that decompression can work for indie comics just as well as it works for superhero comics, telling a compelling tale of a family in shock after their parents announced their divorce after 40 years of marriage.
After all this reading, i feel like making some comics of my own...
