On the other side of the world, comics and graphic novels are seen as legitimate works of art and forms of entertainment, read by all ages, in public and out in the open. Whereas in America, the country that birthed so many of comics’ icons, it remains frowned upon as kid’s stuff – immature, irrelevant and worthy of a quick trip to the trash.

It’s certainly not the first time America has been wrong, but at least we have a chance to right this one. One step is THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006, the inaugural edition for graphic storytelling in Houghton Mifflin’s 92-year-old line of “Best American Series” annuals. Serving as editors of this first volume – 30 selections in all – are AMERICAN SPLENDOR writer Harvey Pekar and former Comics Journal editor Anne Elizabeth Moore.

One major caveat: For Pekar to disqualify all superhero comics from the collection simply because he doesn’t like them seems to smack of the snobbery that marginalizes comics in the first place. In his own intro, he praises the idea for this book because “it lends legitimacy to the cause of comics, my medium, and their creators.” The newcomer to comics who picks up this book may be turned off by its lack of variety, its emphasis on the serious. Strictly judging on a thumb-through, you’d think half of all U.S. comics centered on lesbianism and the war.

That said, there’s some good stuff here. Joel Priddy’s stick-figured “The Amazing Life of Onion Jack” is as funny as when I first read it (in a Free Comic Book Day offering, no less), as is Chris Ware’s clever “Comics: A History,” a bite-sized pastiche originally created as the wraparound cover for MCSWEENEY’S #13.

Rebecca Dart turns in the surreal “Rabbithead,” which has a real inventiveness to it as one simple act slowly branches off to where you’re following seven separate storylines at once, sans words, while Gilbert Shelton proves the underground comix scene is alive and well with a new Wonder Wart-Hog misadventure.

Some of my favorites in the book are the autobiographical pieces, as long as they’re not overly depressing. Of noteworthy mention here are Jonathan Bennett’s “Dance with the Ventures,” Rick Geary’s one-page “Recollectin of Seduction,” Robert Crumb’s “Walkin’ the Streets” (though boo to him for whining about having to supply a brief background statement about the work), David Heatley’s riotous “Portrait of My Dad,” Jesse Reklaw’s “Thirteen Cats of My Childhood” (which is about exactly that) and “Chemical Plant/Another World” by John Porcellino, whose King-Cat Comics and Stories I could read all day long.

Downright horrid is Esther Pearl Watson’s “Busted!,” so amateurish it insults more amateurs. Similarly, Olivia Schanzer’s “Solidarity Forever” proves your drawings can be as crazy as you want, but worthless without a story to go with them.

Unlike the recent YEAR’S BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS, COMICS & MANGA, BEST AMERICAN COMICS reprints pieces in their entirety, which is preferred (though they do share an entrant in Anders Nilsen’s “The Gift”). There’s no shortage of recognizable names with a title this high-profile (Lynda Barry, Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco), but plenty of newcomers as well, making for a well-rounded representation … of alternative comics. It could use a little lightening up, since “alternative” is nowhere to be found in the title, but all in all, we’re damn lucky to have its company. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• AMERICAN SPLENDOR #1 by Harvey Pekar