The Best of 2021
Time flies, and it’s only when looking back at things that you might notice you’ve created a body of work to be proud of, and not just a series of random things that filled time.
So forgive me my ego here, and let me link you to some of the best articles from this website from 2021:
Resources on European Comics
This might just be my favorite piece of 2021. With the first new Blacksad book released in a decade, I went back to how Blacksad came to America through a publisher named iBooks. That company had a colorful publisher who, sadly, died in a car accident. That eventually led to the failure of the publisher, and then a legal battle over the “iBooks” trademark with Apple. Thankfully, Dark Horse stepped in and rescued Blacksad.
Also: A sidebar look at the publisher’s 1982 book that kicked off a nationwide treasure hunt that continues to this day.
There’s no more malleable word than “Smurf.” It can be used in whatever way the speaker wishes.
That said, it has come to have meanings in other worlds, like video games, dance, home improvement, and cyber security. This is a list of those alternate meanings.
It is thanks to the research from this article that I learned how to do “The Smurf” and cut up the dance floor. It’s a skill I hope never to have to use.
I’m now over 800 days, but this is the update I wrote after my streak hit 600, with an update as to how my attempts to learn French are going and how that applied to Franco-Belgian comics.
Spoiler: It’s getting incrementally easier to read “Spirou Journal” every week…
At the end of every volume of “Lucky Luke,” the cowboy heads off into the sunset atop his trusty steed, singing, “I’m a poor lonesome cowboy and a long way from home…”
This article tracks down where Morris found that song, shows you the clip via YouTube, and follows the song’s history and popularity, from Black cowboys in the American West to an American folk singer in France in the 1970s.
I got my hands on the Spirou Journal magazine that honored Lucky Luke’s birthday with Moebius and Morris trading places: Morris drew Blueberry and Moebius drew Lucky Luke. The results are amazing and I include them in this article.
This is the article that got the most social media attention last year. Those excerpted panels are perfect for tweets.
I try to stick to the comic book side of things, but every now and then I find material like this and have to share it. This article includes a visual tour through the three theme parks around the world centered on Peyo’s little blue creatures. If you’re a world traveler, you will need to visit Dubai, Moscow, and Shanghai.
Given current world events, maybe you want to postpone that trip a little, though…
Look, I have a soft spot for the Smurfs. I grew up on them in the 80s. I had a lot of those little figurines.
So when Nickelodeon started carrying the new French Smurfs series, I was all over it. This article is my review of the first episode.
Tease: I’m planning more coverage of this series this year. Stay tuned…
European Comic Reviews
I reviewed dozens of books last year, but here are a few of the highlights:
- “Always Never” by Jordi Lafebre
It’s the first book that powerhouse artist Jordi Lafebre both wrote and drew, and it’s a super impressive outing on both ends. The story takes place backwards, showing how two people can have such a strong relationship but how it didn’t work out as traditionally as they might have dreamed it would. It’s slightly complicated that way, but not hard to read. It’s a beautiful and engrossing read.
This book from Belgian creator, Alix Garlin, is about a woman who abducts her Alzheimers-afflicted grandmother from the nursing home to give her a great adventure. We learn a lot about both women over the course of the book, and Garlin’s storytelling style is a point of interest.
Cartoonist Nicolas Keramidas’ autobiographical story talks about his open-heart surgery in a way that’s funny, emotional, and powerful. As with all of the books on this list, it’s often how he tells this story using the unique properties of the comic book medium that makes the story so impressive.
This is an art book featuring the covers Andre Franquin drew for the books that collected (roughly) 10 issues of the long-running magazine at a time. It’s a beautiful art book that features original pencil work, color studies, and more. It’s the best (and most affordable) way to gain insight into the master’s inking technique and style.
Aimée de Jongh’s story features a photographer from New York City during the Depression who heads into the Dust Bowl to photograph the situation there for the federal government. It’s a great period piece with strong cartooning that evokes the period. De Jongh traveled the American West to gather research for this book, and she leaves it all on the page without overwhelming the reader. That’s an impressive trick.
Asterix continues on its every-other-year cadence with this installment from Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad. It’s a very funny book that I had a good time with. I’ve also one to accept that the series will have a completely different style from what made it so popular, due to the tastes of the day.
In an odd bit of timeliness, the book is set in the area known as Sarmatia, which is roughly where Ukraine is today. This has not made as many headlines as the time Asterix battled Coronavirus, though.
Celebrating Mickey Mouse’s birthday, a French publisher brought together a Who’s Who of European comics art to each contribute a page of Mickey Mouse story to this book. Every page begins with Mickey Mouse walking through. door and into some location and then ends with him walking back out through a door. Everything in-between is where the madness of creator imagination steps in, and we see a strong variety of it in this book.
Lucky Luke inherits a plantation and confronts the evils of slavery directly. This was a much-anticipated book last year and one that could very easily have gone horribly awry. I was impressed by how well Jul handled the subject, even if I thought the ending was a little… abrupt.
Meanwhile, Bonhomme returned for a second Lucky Luke volume in his signature style and it worked out very well, perhaps even better than the first.
The Year of Blacksad
I already mentioned the article that went over the publishing history of Blacksad in the United States. I also went back and reviewed the first five books in the series as prep for the sixth, which came out in English in the fall in two parts. Here are all of my reviews for the series:
Hyperanalysis: Detailed Analysis of Comic Book Art
In 2021, I did three articles that went in-depth in explaining how an artist’s style works and all the tricks they use to tell a story with sequential art.
North American Comics Things
While I try to keep a focus on the European comics here, I also occasionally have thoughts that I can’t suppress about what’s happening here at home. That explains these articles:
The role of “cover artist” has stolen many great artists from the interiors of comics, making the comic book reading experience a weaker thing. It might serve more commercial interests and the “collectors” market, but it robs us of better stories.
On a meta level, 2021 appears to have been the year of long headlines. Keep reading; I’ve got more to come.
This is the spiritual successor of one of the most popular (and most misunderstood) articles of all time on this site, “Rob Liefeld Doesn’t Draw Feet! (Except When He Does)“. In this one, I point out all the ways artists try to hide feet in their art, from rubble and smoke to shadows and bodies. I provide plenty of examples along the way.
The way books are collected and then sold digitally makes no sense. Nobody takes the time to think things through and provide digital buyers with collections that actually make sense. A then-recent DC sale provided dozens of examples of the ways things go horribly awry in this department.
I don’t own any graded/slabbed comics. I have no desire to do so.
But you know what? The people who collect those and sell them back and forth are not ruining the hobby. They’re just the next logical step of collectors in modern times. Let them do their thing.
That said, there are some silly add-ons you can buy that I show at the end of the article.
Every year on Mike Wieringo’s birthday, I publish a new appreciation of his art. Last year I took a look at “Tellos” #1 and pointed out some of Ringo’s strong suits as an artist and storyteller. I keep getting drawn to that particular issue and continue to find new things to think about and discuss on this site. It was a wonderful series.
Looking at the pros and cons of digital comic book art and how NFTs might change how original art is collected. In the spring of 2021, DC asserted itself and over-reached with a rights grab that might make NFTs the way they can steal that original art from their artists.
“Luca” is an Oscar-nominated movie. Its director is someone I remember meeting at San Diego Comic Con 20 years ago. This article includes a rundown of all of his comic book art, including reviews of many of his issues and books.
