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The Best American Comics 2010 (Best American Comics)

by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Matt Madden (Series Editor), Jessica Abel (Series Editor)

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 440 ratings · 82 reviews

The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Neil Gaiman—one of the top writers in modern comics and the award-winning author ofnovelsand children’s books—has culled thebest stories from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and theInternet to create this cutting-edge collection. With...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published October 5th 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Mar 20, 2011 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Collection of comics as selected by 2010 editor Neil Gaiman. Love the concept of this book/series but I had a couple of minor qualms: one being the fact that many of the selections were excerpts from longer works. So no matter how great, let's say, Chapter 7 of a certain graphic novel may be, reading it in isolation (in the context of this collection) is an incomplete experience.

Then compound that with the fact that many of the other selections are also excerpts and it begins to color the entir...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics

Guest-edited by Neil Gaiman, this is one of the strongest of the five Best American Comics issued thus thus far – only the 2008 edition, with Lynda Barry at the helm, is equal to or greater than this one (leaving the Harvey Pekar-edited edition from 2006 and last year’s Charles Burns volume to duke it out for last place). Let’s get the main problems out of the way first, both of which have been weaknesses endemic to all the volumes in the series since it began: (1) excerpts from longer pieces th...more Guest-edited by Neil Gaiman, this is one of the strongest of the five Best American Comics issued thus thus far – only the 2008 edition, with Lynda Barry at the helm, is equal to or greater than this one (leaving the Harvey Pekar-edited edition from 2006 and last year’s Charles Burns volume to duke it out for last place). Let’s get the main problems out of the way first, both of which have been weaknesses endemic to all the volumes in the series since it began: (1) excerpts from longer pieces that don’t read well as stand-alone stories, and (2) comics reduced in size from their original larger formats, greatly diminishing their visual impact.

The first problem is perhaps more subjective. This volume opens with chapter seven from Marvel Comic’s Omega the Unknown by Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple, and featuring Gary Panter. Being completely unfamiliar with the series, this convoluted, already-in-progress sequence with its multiple characters functioning in 3-4 concurrent plotlines left me completely confused. I had to read through the thing three times and still didn’t quite have my bearings in the end. To say my appetite was not whetted to further explore Omega is an understatement, and opening the book with this piece felt to me like a miscalculation, the major misstep of Gaiman’s editorship. The other problematic piece along these lines was the excerpt from Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Again, being unfamiliar with the series (I haven’t even seen the movie!) it was hard to get into this piece, or to care much about what the characters were gabbing about (which all seemed fairly inconsequential anyway). The fact that the Manga-ish characters were all drawn fairly indistinguishable from one another didn’t help, though I did otherwise like the art.

Other excerpted comics were far more successful as stand alone works. Both “The Alcoholic” by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel and “The Flood” from A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld, were gripping storytelling that left me wanting to see more from each book; the pages culled from Lilli Carre’s bizarre and haunting short graphic novel The Lagoon highly merited inclusion in this collection, as it was among the best and most original comics of the year. The longish passage from Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware displays Ware’s graphic brilliance, as well as an excruciating understanding of loneliness, anxiety, and despair. That said, this selection is a good place to segue into the second recurrent problem in BAC series: the too-small reprint sizes.

With Ware’s work, there are already-small panels in his dense visual landscapes that do suffer somewhat from reprinting in BAC, but the artist whose work consistently suffers from this problem is Ben Katchor. In volume after volume, his odd, slightly surreal, always intriguing comic strips are presented in full on a single page, with the text practically requiring a magnifying glass in places - I can’t help wondering: isn’t it possible to break his strips up and print each one larger, and over at least 2 pages? That would be helpful (assuming Katchor would be open to this). The other artist most ill-served here is Carol Tyler: her You’ll Never Know, Book One: A Good and Decent Man, one of the best graphic novels released in 2009, was originally published in an over-sized hardcover that showcased her considerable graphic skills; here the smaller presentation weakens the impact of the visuals, and that takes its toll on the story as a whole. Props to Gaiman for choosing Tyler for inclusion, but I recommend reading the original book (and the second volume, newly out this fall) to fully appreciate Tyler’s lovely art and the moving story she has to tell.

There are plenty of well-chosen stand-alone comics alongside the excerpts, including “The Bank,” Derf’s 20+ page tale detailing the funny, skuzzy, glory days of the punk rock scene in early 80’s Cleveland; “Ex Communication” by Todd Brower and Steve MacIsaac (the lone gay voices here) which combines innovative formalist technique with an acutely relatable story exploring what really happens down the line after two people decide to “just be friends”; Dave Lapp’s “Flytrap” offers simple art and a compact, emotionally direct story about a teacher and a troubled special ed student; and “Norman Eight's Left Arm” by Theo Ellsworth offers a fine, funny example of the work of this truly original and inventive cartoonist. “Trinity” by Michael Cho is an excellent historical piece about the Manhattan Project, and pages from Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli showcase his tour-de-force cartooning skills – this is perhaps the most visually gorgeous work in the entire book. Some good shorter pieces by Peter Kuper, Gabrielle Bell, and Chris Ware round things out, with some just-okay stuff by folks like Peter Bagge, Lauren Weinstein, and Jesse Reklaw also along for the ride. The introduction by Gaiman was well-written and clever, and the cover art’s bold graphics (by Frank Cho) to my mind make for a far more dynamic, eye-catching package than the artier, more diffuse work of previous volumes (also a wise idea to ditch the unnecessary dust cover).

I really like this series, warts and all, and appreciate that Houghton Mifflin is expending so much energy on comics. 4 out of 5 stars and eagerly awaiting the 2011 edition.

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Apr 22, 2011 patty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2011, public-library

Standouts were excerpts from "The Flood" from A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld, "The Bank" from Punk Rock and Trailer Parks by Derf, and "Trinity" from Taddle Creek by Michael Cho. Includes an excerpt from The Book Of Genesis by R. Crumb, which is an excellent book as well.

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Apr 14, 2012 Levi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

Obviously, some were better than others. There are a few excerpts I might seek out the full versions of, but it's probably more useful in that it got me to read comics I never would have picked up otherwise. Like the Chris Ware comic(s): I've seen his books at the library and flipped through them, but they're so dense and nothing about them managed to capture my attention. I read the entire Acme Novelty Library short story, and by the end I could see why Art Spiegelman likes his work so much (di...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Sean Pagaduan rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a rule, I don't usually read comics. I usually do heavy literature. David Foster Wallace, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Bernhard. I ran across a copy of Best American Comics 2011 in a bookstore and fell in love with one of the comics. Unfortunately, Phoenix public libraries don't have the 2011 collection yet. I had to settle for 2010.

I may be preaching to the choir here, but these are not comics in the sense that they're funny, or they go for cheap shots, or they have cheap emotions. These are fai...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Kirstie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

If you're like me, you're utterly exhausted in the harshness of winter. After I survive work, I do about two hours of hardcore reading each day at the gym and then at night, when I'm taking a bath so hot it scalds my skin, I like to read comic books. It usually helps me laugh and gives me a little perspective on things.

That said, some of these comics are about very serious matters such as 911 and WWII. They greatly vary in their divulging of politics, dreams, personal and world histories, human...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excellent sampling of comics that truly display the diversity and power of the medium. Gaiman points out in his introduction that for a long time comics and graphic novels have been dismissed as repetitive, simple minded, kids stuff, but recently the industry has begun to notice that there are plenty of real artists creating important works of art/literature and they have been around for a while with relativly little acclaim.

This book gives the reader snippets of what Gaiman and the other edi...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Karissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received a digital copy of this book through Netgalley. I enjoyed this book and thought it did a great job of capturing a broad range of comics. Some of the comics are politically or historically significant and some of them are just plain fun. There is a nice forward by Gaiman explaining how he choose these comics to be the "best". Most of these comics center around life in general but some of them are sci-fi or super hero comics too.

I really enjoyed some of the comics that gave a perspective...more I received a digital copy of this book through Netgalley. I enjoyed this book and thought it did a great job of capturing a broad range of comics. Some of the comics are politically or historically significant and some of them are just plain fun. There is a nice forward by Gaiman explaining how he choose these comics to be the "best". Most of these comics center around life in general but some of them are sci-fi or super hero comics too.

I really enjoyed some of the comics that gave a perspective on American history. There was a rendition of events from Katrina flooding New Orleans in "The Flood" and one that almost has me in tears called "The Alcoholic" in which the day of the Twin Tower bombing is lived, you see some of the lives that were lost and what people had to go through that horrible day, it was seen in a way I never saw it from afar. These were probably my two favorites from a historical perspective

Then there were the funny ones like "Norman Eight's Left Arm" in which two robots make a bet and one looses his arm and "Lobster Run" which gives a somewhat serious but kind of funny look into a young foreign couple trying to scape by in New York City. I also enjoyed the short strips from James Kochalken which gave a humorous look into pregnancy and parenthood.

Additionally there were the strange ones: like the eerily humorous "The Lagoon" and (the one I most related too) "Mixed Up Files" about a book obsessed mother. Of course there was a great super hero comic called "Omega the Unknown" which was kind of your classic super hero comic but more screwed up and just plain strange but oh so entertaining.

There were a couple that I just skimmed through because I didn't find them to be all that interesting, but the majority of comics included were great.

All in all an excellent book. Comics from all genres and tons of drawing types represented. If you are a comics fan but have been left in the dust by the tons and tons of new comics being released then you should pick this up. If you are someone who is interested in comics but doesn't know where to start, pick this up. It gives a great overview of the wide range of superb comics out there.(less)

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Dec 03, 2010 Giovanni Gelati rated it 4 of 5 stars

Out of the three posts today on the graphic novels this is the one that I would consider more “grownup”. Looking for diversity in your content? Want to see a variety of writing styles? Looking to see as many different art forms in graphic novels as possible in one place? Then this is your graphic novel for all the right reasons. Here is what we have:
“The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Neil Gaiman—one of the top writers in modern...more Out of the three posts today on the graphic novels this is the one that I would consider more “grownup”. Looking for diversity in your content? Want to see a variety of writing styles? Looking to see as many different art forms in graphic novels as possible in one place? Then this is your graphic novel for all the right reasons. Here is what we have:
“The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Neil Gaiman—one of the top writers in modern comics and the award-winning author of novels and children’s books—has culled the best stories from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Internet to create this cutting-edge collection. With entries from luminaries such as Tim Hensley, Michael Kupperman, and Dash Shaw.”
Where else are you going to get to experience 25 different stories? The emotions of the stories run the gamut: sad, happy, giddy, the whole nine yards. I have to give this compilation props for having as many different themes as it does artists and authors. It is an amazing gathering of talent on all sides of the different projects. Did I really enjoy each and every story? No, but I got to experience something different from what I was used to and learned much in the journey.
Neil Gaiman has put together a graphic novel collection that you can not only read through once, but need to go through again and again there is so much there in content and artwork. It is easy to miss something the first time around and still have a fresh look at on another read through.
What are you reading today? Check us out and become our friend on Shelfari & Linkedin. Go to Goodreads and become our friend there and suggest books for us to read and post on. You can also follow us on Twitter, Wattpad and the Gelati’s Scoop Facebook Fan Page. Did you know you can shop directly on Amazon by clicking the Amazon Banner on our blog? Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com

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Nov 27, 2010 christa rated it 4 of 5 stars

It has been three months since I fell in love with the young slacker Scott Pilgrim, and what a whirlwind these three months have been. In the aftermath of Book 6 of the series I tore through in cackling maniac mode, I've gone loco for pictures with words, captured in panels. I haven't felt this curiosity and newness and excitement toward, well, anything in years. Dude. I've even started drawing. And if that doesn't say something ...

"I wish I could direct this much enthusiasm toward, I don't know...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Chibineko rated it 3 of 5 stars

One thing is absolutely certain. Comics are more than just ink & paper, a source of superheroes & villains, or a way to amuse children. Comics can appeal to all audiences & contain all sorts of plotlines, from funny to sad to the strange. In the 2010 collection of the Best American Comics anthology, we get to see 25 comics (some of which come from larger works) that run almost the full gamut of reader emotions.

The comics collected in this volume range from the truly bizarre The Night...more One thing is absolutely certain. Comics are more than just ink & paper, a source of superheroes & villains, or a way to amuse children. Comics can appeal to all audiences & contain all sorts of plotlines, from funny to sad to the strange. In the 2010 collection of the Best American Comics anthology, we get to see 25 comics (some of which come from larger works) that run almost the full gamut of reader emotions.

The comics collected in this volume range from the truly bizarre The Night of Your life to the Hurricane Katrina comic A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge. Along with these comics there are also ones that have gained quite a bit of widespread media attention, such as the excerpts from Crumb's The Book of Genesis & O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe. There is truly something here for just about every audience.

Rather than list each comic, I'm going to highlight a few of the ones that I personally liked the most. All of the comics were incredibly well done & Gaiman (the celebrity editor for the book) did a fine job of collecting & organizing the set- it is just that listing them all would take up too much space.

My two favorites of the book had to be Asterios Polyp & The Night of Your Life, with A.D. coming up as a close third. The Asterios Polyp excerpt had such a wonderfully fun art style that allowed artist Mazzucchelli to shift from humorous to lighthearted to sadder scenes. He isn't nailed down to any one specific style- I was pleased to see that just as each character had their own personality, the art styles also differed.

The Night of Your Life was another of my favorites. In it the artist Reklaw illustrates various different dreams, each with their own surreal stories. The artwork was wonderful, but I especially loved how Reklaw was able to bring each dream to life without making the dream dull or too strange to relate to or understand in some format. That's a feat that is no doubt incredibly difficult, yet Reklaw manages to make it look easy.

I also enjoyed A.D. as well as the 9-11 based story The Alcoholic, both managing to entertain as well as pull at our emotions. With A.D. I was able to feel worried for the two men trapped in the flood, refusing to leave everything they own behind & it made me wonder what I would have done, if I were in their shoes. I also enjoyed having my heart broken by The Alcoholic, an excerpt set during 9-11, with the main character having to not only figure out how to cope with such a traumatic event but to also help another deal with the loss of her husband.

Not all of the stories were my cup of tea, but I could really feel the emotions behind each one. I loved how the artwork & storytelling styles changed with each tale. This is not only a book to collect but something that you lend out to friends so they can learn to appreciate how varied the world of comics really is.

(ARC provided by NetGalley) (less)

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Aug 17, 2010 Seán rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, comics-n-art

When it comes to latter-day cool kid comics, you might be like this reader. You enjoy the occasional graphic novel but usually encounter only those few titles that, by dint of their genius (artistic or marketing), bubble up to the top of the mainstream heap. A fan, but no fanboy.

Although I don't know if TBAC: 2010 has been curated to the exacting taste of the diehard fiend, the book certainly succeeds as an anthology for the casual fan or weekend enthusiast. Mostly favoring independents over big...more When it comes to latter-day cool kid comics, you might be like this reader. You enjoy the occasional graphic novel but usually encounter only those few titles that, by dint of their genius (artistic or marketing), bubble up to the top of the mainstream heap. A fan, but no fanboy.

Although I don't know if TBAC: 2010 has been curated to the exacting taste of the diehard fiend, the book certainly succeeds as an anthology for the casual fan or weekend enthusiast. Mostly favoring independents over big boy publishers, Neil Gaiman has collated a tremendous range of work, pulling in stuff from fairly obscure writers and artists but also heavy hitters like R. Crumb and the Brothers Hernandez. The selected work has been arrayed like a kaleidoscope of story and aesthetic, from cutesy alt-weekly strips that almost verge on lame to lush figurative art that could only be rendered in this bastard medium, day-glo to ash, one-note jokes to the all but inexpressible. It probably doesn't matter if you've got a Peter Bagge tattoo or haven't geeked out on comics since grammar school, my bet is you'll find things to your liking.

The Dope: The snippet from Lilli Carre's The Lagoon is so entrancing even impoverished fellows will be tempted to rush off to cop. Seemingly inexhaustible, Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Company hits everything on my checklist: gorgeous color, intricate, geometric precision, bizarre stories, and generally throwback aesthetic--it's so, so good. And even if you saw bits of R. Crumb's Bible book in the Times, you'll still marvel at the Genesis excerpt here. It's like Larry Gonick's brilliance turned up to incandescent. Also, props always to Ben Katchor.

The Chaff: At the risk of being kicked out the hipster clubhouse, the weakest selections were (1) the dozen or so strips from James Kochalka's American Elf; and (2) the few pages from Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe. While I can appreciate the concept of the former, i.e., indie-comic-strip-as-diary, I found the selections boring and visually uninteresting. As to the latter, Scott Pilgrim's inclusion felt obligatory insofar as O'Malley's repurposed manga appears to be heavily character-dependent and thus doesn't translate well in an abridged format. Also, try as I might, I don't even really see the point of the thing.(less)

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Dec 29, 2010 Malbadeen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!

I love the colors of the coverr, I love the feel of the cover, I love the dimensions, I love the contents!

I was surprised/pleased that I even enjoyed a comic about robots (a topic I usually file under not-my-thing along with vampires and zombies).

I also loooooooved the excerpts from Asterios Polyp (especially the last 2 pages, 106-107).

And Chris Ware - wow! always wow.

And Jesse Reklaw - yah because he's from Portland and yah, because I love The Night of Your Life and was so...more

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Aug 12, 2010 stormhawk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pre-publication-galley

This is an excellent retrospective of American Comics from this year. I had expected a lot of text and a couple of panels here and there, but rather it's a book chock-full of art, both color and black and white. Rather than a page here or there, you get to immerse yourself in the comics, some presented in excerpts, some in full. It is worth buying even if you're just curious about R. Crumb's Genesis ... but please, stay for the rest. The art is as varied as the subject matter ... full color, lin...more

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Jan 14, 2011 AdultFiction Teton County Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

TCL Call #: Graphic Novel Best 2010

Jess - 4 stars
I'm pretty fond of the graphic novel format these days--I got hooked with Persepolis. This particular compilation edited by Neil Gaiman (that includes a look into Robert Crumb's "The Book of Genesis") was a satisfactory taste of some of the best out there. Many of the entries are excerpts from longer works. Gaiman does an awesome job with the introduction because he admits "so many comics are being created and intended as books, as longer stories....more

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Nov 23, 2011 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-slash-graphic-novel

I was pretty disappointed with this collection. I saw Neil Gaiman's name on it and had to check it out, but it just did not live up to the "best" title to me at all. Several of the selections are political, which isn't my thing when it comes to comics, and I was lost a lot of the time because I haven't read the issues that precede most of the series that are represented. Also, I just didn't like some of the comics. I felt like, in general, the book is sort of a downer. I'm okay with having some...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm pretty fond of the graphic novel format these days--I got hooked with Persepolis. This particular compilation edited by Neil Gaiman (that includes a look into Robert Crumb's "The Book of Genesis") was a satisfactory taste of some of the best out there. Many of the entries are excerpts from longer works. Gaiman does an awesome job with the introduction because he admits "so many comics are being created and intended as books, as longer stories. Which on the one hand is a very good thing, as e...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Alger rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was a good year, but the collection feels a little stale in that almost all of these are collected elsewhere. They may be the best, but there is no real discoveries in here.
Maybe it isn't fair to ding the volume if the most widely published stories of the year are the same as the best, but (for example) this was the year of R. Crumb's Genesis. Why did they choose to re-re-publish the Garden of Eden panels that were published in the New Yorker, and elsewhere. Couldn't the editors get permissi...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I recently became interested in graphic novels, and in an effort to discover more about the genre, I picked up this anthology. I had read various cartoon themed comics as a kid, and was looking for more after reading a few graphic novels that I found in a book store. I chose this collection because I had enjoyed other "Best American" anthologies (e.g., The Best American Non-Required Reading and The Best American Short Stories) and really wanted to see what else was available. This is a nice, har...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Sarah Payok rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

This is a pretty solid anthology. Not everything in it blew me away but I did leave it with several books on my to-read list (The Alcoholic, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Johnny Hiro), as well as a couple items on my never-need-to-read list (Scott Pilgrim). I really enjoyed some of the shorter, sweeter comics in the book - a collection of single panels on dreams, two robots contesting for access to the other's arm and memory.

One of the enjoyable aspects of a comics anthology is seeing suc...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Jenifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this anthology. There was brilliance and only a couple that fell flat for me. I am usually skeptical of antholgies that excerpt a lot of longer works, but overall, it worked okay in this one. I think Gaimen did a nice job of collecting representative works from a wide variety of genres withinthe medium...they were not all my style, or what I would normally read, but that is the beauty of reading an entire anthology such as this. Even if it wasnt my normal taste, I appreciated th...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Peacegal rated it 3 of 5 stars

As with other volumes in this series, the book collects excerpts from comics and graphic novels representing a wide variety of styles and sources. So, you shouldn’t pick it up expecting to love each and every thing.

I found the comics in the 2010 edition ranged from stupid to amazing. I loved the feature "Trinity" by Michael Cho, which traced the development of the atom bomb, and the fascinating personalities behind it all. I was also delighted by the comic-ification of other people’s dreams by J...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Nina rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Best American Comics was way out of my comfort zone. I have tried a comic book a long time ago and I did find it fascinating and wonderful to read. I thought this comic book would contain some comic stories, but the main focus was on the pictures. Therefore it felt more like an art book.

And some people love art and some people just don’t. But what is art?
I will explain this by giving you an example. A teacher at college once asked us, what is art? Is it a painting, a drawing, a sculpture? Do...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Ula rated it 3 of 5 stars

I happened to get the 2009 book from the library before this one and I hated it. I love comics and GNs but that one was just full of comics I didn't get at all. I was a bit weary but this collection is so much better. There's a wide range of story content and artwork. Not all of it is great but I will definitely be looking into some of the work. My favs include work by Chris Ware (who's just awesome), Gabrielle Bell, David Mazzucchelli, and Fred Chao. Weee for nerding-out my Saturday.

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Jan 08, 2011 Marybeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book pulls you back to it again and again. There are so many tantalizing selections. It is a great introduction to the whole comic genre. My earliest reading memories involve Mad magazine in the 50s when it was full of intriguing stories and the greatest drawings. Bev, my best friend, and I loved that magazine and waited eagerly for every new issue. The comic genre today brings back that delight. I still have several times more to go through the book. What fun.

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Mar 26, 2011 Raina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, graphicnovel, short-stories

Another volume in a great series, this time edited by one of my all-time fav authors. Fabulously, I'd read many of the included comics and/or had heard of many of my favorites. But standouts I hadn't seen before were Dave Lapp, Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel's The Alcoholic, Fred Chao, and Todd Brower and Steve MacIsaac's piece Ex Communication. Yay Neil continuing to put some energy into comics and yay collections of great comics. :)

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Feb 04, 2011 Britanny Zendejas rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

A lot of the excerpts from full books were hard to get into/fully understand, and because of that I didn't like this collection as much as I'd hoped. Also, I felt that the section they chose of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World to put in this book could have been much better. It did inspire me, though, to want to look up other works by some of the authors/artists within the collection.

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May 06, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to this since it was edited by Neil Gaiman, but it was something of a letdown. There was some great material in here, mostly the auto-biographical stuff had a strong resonance, but a lot of the opening material fell flat.

I like reading the yearly anthologies because it gives me a good clue of what to look into. So, I'd give this a good rating as reference material, but not as a book on its own.

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May 31, 2012 Shayna Ross rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics

It was interesting to see the different story lines and styles of drawing. Some of the comics were pretty interesting reads, although there were a few that I didn't like as much. However, I think that makes it a better read since you don't know what to expect next. I will definitely pick up the other years of American Comics compilation.

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Apr 11, 2012 Serena rated it 4 of 5 stars

this was a good quick read. since I know little of graphic novels, knowing where to start is pretty intimidating but I think this series is a pretty good primer. the main con is obviously the limited size of the volume and therefore the prevalance of excerpts. overall very entertaining.

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7915861-the-best-american-comics-2010?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347615478l/7915861.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7915861-the-best-american-comics-2010?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Best American Comics 2010 by Neil Gaiman[/url]

The Best American Comics 2010 (Best American Comics)

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