Nonfiction Comics

Unshelved is an amusing webcomic detailing the trials and travails of a group of librarians at the Mallville Public Library. Anyone who’s ever worked in a library will sympathize with the scores of irrational library patrons, and for the rest of us who haven’t… well, maybe we’ll think twice next time we’re at a library.

Like many traditional newspaper strips, Unshelved runs black-and-white serial strips Monday-Saturday, and Sundays are reserved for a full-color standalone strip. Except of simply presenting an expanded gag, though, Unshelved does what they call the “Unshelved Book Club,” where the characters will discuss a book that the creators have chosen to spotlight.

Sometimes it’s just Dewey (the main character) selling a particular book to library patrons, or to his co-workers, while at other times it’s incorporated directly into the story.

The Book Club strips have even been posted in libraries and bookstores, hopefully to encourage customers to check out the book featured. It’s a good selection of books, and the comic format is a novel way to get people interested. Check out the list of titles on their site.

(A strip talking about the Owly books, which often use pictures and symbols in lieu of words for the dialogue.)

Have you ever been absolutely shocked that one of your favorite authors had a work you never expected him to have? I mean sure, everybody has to start somewhere, but you have your expectations, and every now and then something is found that rips them all apart, or creates even better ones in their place. I was not expecting this to happen with Gene Yang, author of one of my favorite graphic novels to date, American Born Chinese.

See, American Born Chinese is a book that tells three stories: one is a take on the traditional Monkey King tale (which Dragonball is based upon as well), the second is about a Chinese boy trying to fit in, while the final tells a story of an annoying cousin come to visit. All are told magnificently and leave you with a smile on your face afterwards. I had not seen any other works by Yang on the shelf, so I figured he had either told the story he had to tell, or he had works that were nice and independent and alluding my grasp. About a month ago, I went on Amazon and found three other comics done by Yang, all before he put out ABC. Two of them, Gordon Yamamoto And The King Of The Geeks and Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order, appear to be more along the lines of what I already expected from the author in question. The other they had listed, through me entirely for a loop, and puts the point as to why I am including this here at Nonfiction.

Enter The Rosary Comic Book. A small, simple comic book detailing in full the Catholic Rosary prayer. Gene even presents instructions on how to perform the prayer, whether it be using an actual rosary, or using the comic itself. He informs people to use a rectangular panel of the comic as an Our Father, a square panel as a Hail Mary, and every panel that has a rose next to it will be time to pray the Glory.I am sure that this book was intended to be used for Catholics either in church or at home, but it was eyeopening for me, a Jew. I knew very little about Catholic customs up until now. All I knew were the snippets I had learned from friends over the years. Now, with this comic, I understand their traditions a bit more. Another item to note about The Rosary Comic Book is that the people are not drawn as white, which makes sense. Each person has a tan to their skin, which would come with being in a desert region, wouldn’t it? On his website, Gene explains why he wrote and drew the comic book in nice, simple terms:

I’ve always struggled with how to incorporate my faith into my comics in an authentic way. One Lent, I decided to do a comic adaptation of the Rosary Prayer, rather than giving up chocolate or soda. The Rosary Comic Book is the result.

Makes sense to me. For anyone looking to learn a bit more about Catholic tradition, or if you are simply in the mood for a nice, well drawn and thought out comic book, I highly recommend tracking down a copy of The Rosary Comic Book. My expectations, they have changed.

Even Japan is getting into education-based releases. This time, they take the form of Edu-Manga; in short, volumes focused around particularly relevant historical figures and their contributions to society. Ranging from more modern individuals such as Albert Einstein and Helen Keller, back to older figures like Joan of Arc, the manga use a style comparable to that of the American cartoon Histeria!, or even the earlier years of Doctor Who, to get their message across to the younger generation. By using one of the most recognizable characters in the history of manga, Astro Boy, as an observer to this history, it grounds the story, giving kids something to keep their focus.

The books were originally released in Japan back in 2001, but were first brought over and translated for a North American audience by Digital Manga Publishing in 2006. Each volume is written and drawn by a different team, however I assume consistency will be maintained, as Astro Boy is universally drawn in the same style whenever he appears. I am intrigued to see how accurate the biographies told within the manga truly are, so expect a more thorough review of the individual volumes in the near future, thanks to Akadot Retail having a bundle of four in stock. If you work at a school library or even the children’s section of a random branch, this sounds like a nice set of manga to add to your collection.

Comics and video games have had a pretty storied history together. There are comic-based games like Superman on the Atari 2600 all the way to Marvel Ultimate Alliance on… practically every system in existence today; games that directly address the comics format like Comix Zone for the Sega Genesis where your main character can actually break through the panels and shred the pages; or of course, the many video game webcomics that currently litter the web today. Some, like Penny Arcade, are cultural forces onto themselves, providing intelligent and vital commentary on new games and industry happenings.

Ziff-Davis Media/1Up.com editor Jeremy Parish is well aware of this connection and has proclaimed his, let’s call it ‘admiration’, of the comics medium time and time again. He even started a group over on 1Up for the posting of original comics, an experiment that ultimately failed to pan out. But that doesn’t stop him from trying other things.

Maybe it’s because he’s been around a while, earned his dues, gained respect… or just a reputation, but Jeremy has gotten the leeway to post reviews which break traditional mores of what a review should be. Jeremy has explained them away by saying that sometimes he’s written enough about a game that another traditional review would be redundant. Probably true, but consider that these ‘gimmicks’ are often informative, witty, and they really stand out in the increasingly overcrowded field of Internet video game reviews.

And they’re really great examples of comics used for purposes other than entertainment. Check out some of his work, linked for your convenience over at his 1Up blog.

Howtoons is a place where kids can be kids. The web site reminds me a lot of the Scholastic Magazines I used to get in the mail as a kid. There was actually a issue with the New Kids on the Block animated series on the cover.  But I digress.

Howtoons provides activities and projects for kids to do that are fun, creative, and can easily be enjoyed by adults as well. A perfect example of this is their recent Express Yourself strip, which focused on how to create custom T-shirts nice and easy. The strip focuses on how girls can have fun with the process, but I imagine boys could dig making their own shirts too. The instructions are clear, as are the pictures, and it doesn’t hurt that the art is very pretty. Vibrantly colored with simple design, it gets the point across while being easy on the eyes.

Each comic is downloadable as a .pdf for easy home access, and you could always download the jpg images if you so desire. Along with the comics, the site has a blog with more fun reads, trivia, and art for the kiddies to the enjoy. Next rainy day, you’ve got things to do. And please, do try the Trash Bag Raincoat. The Sin Cityesque art is a fun art shift, and made me smile upon viewing. Do you think Marv did that when he was a tot? I would certainly like to think so, because I am silly like that.