The Best American Comics 2006 review by Athena

Edited by Harvey Pekar, this first edition of The Best American Comics anthology showcases the variety of comics and visual storytelling available today. Many of the stories are very political which is understandable since comics has history of being subversive. Even more off the comics featured are based on autobiographical experiences or nonfictional accounts which seems to me the biggest movement in comics and graphic novels these days. The end of the book includes notes about the contributors and on the pieces in the book by the authors themselves. There are quite a few that did not stand out for me as it often happens in some anthologies, but many were well done, a couple extremely so, and one made me laugh out loud. Pekar wanted it to feature the best of the 2004-2005 time frame and allow old and new readers like to appreciate comics. I don't think this would necessarily be the best introduction to the graphic storytelling medium, but it really does showcase the diversity of styles in the medium. It is short, and I would recommend reading the introductions after the comics themselves.