Scans_Daily

[Late post is late! I wish I had a more interesting excuse, but I've been writing a paper.]

Non-fiction comics, there are more than you think. In most discussions of Important, Serious and Non-Fiction Comics, the first work trotted out is Maus. Then maybe a few biographies, some graphic journalism, perhaps Scott McCloud. Maus is wonderful of course, and deserves all the praise and attention it gets, but there's more to non-fiction comics (hey look, there's a Wikipedia entry for you to explore at your leisure). I read a lot of non-fiction comics, everything from bios, to memoirs, to literary criticism, to political stuff--because hello, two great tastes that go great together.

Today I'm going to share a few pages, and link to some reviews and interviews with some of the better known creators doing graphic non-fiction.

Art Spiegelman

Maus

It won the Pulitzer. It's taught in innumerable courses, in innumerable schools. More than likely, you have already read it--I don't know what else to say about this most famous work of graphic non-fiction. Here's an interview with Spiegelman from Irish radio program Invisible Threads.

Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon
The 9/11 Report, A Graphic Adaptation, After 9/11 & Che: A Graphic Biography

I love Ernie Colon's art and I unabashedly love Sid Jacobson's narrative skills. In 9/11 Report he adapted a bone dry government document to something readable. With After 9/11 they move into graphic journalism proper, looking at changing US policy and journalistic trends post 9/11. Here's a 2006 NPR interview with the creators.
( 2 pages from The 9/11 Report (triggering) and more non-fiction comics )

Ok, so that's my non-fiction comics plug. What are your favourite non-fiction comics? (Seriously, any recs?)