Stories of Sadness and Depth Beyond Measure

I'll begin by saying that both of the graphic novels featured in this post are particularly amazing and that you should go out and rent or purchase them immediately if at all possible. They have a lot of similarities not in drawing style, but in that they both face incredible darkness viewed through the imaginative mind of a child.

In Epileptic by French artist David B., he tells the tale of his childhood through adolescence, which is fully permeated with the struggles the family must face as the result of his older brother's epilepsy. He comes to know a great amount of pain and suffering at a very young age as he and his family make every attempt to "cure" his brother but ultimately fail each time. The way he deals with this never-ending battle is through an obsession with exactly that: battles. He constantly draws battles of a different nature, detailed war scenes with armor-clad soldiers fighting to the death. He does this as a way to understand, deal with, or sometimes escape the epileptic reality that constantly follows his family.

The art is beautiful and dark, and upon first glance I thought it reminded me of Marjane Satrapi's drawing style in Persepolis. Through a bit of research on David B. I found out that he was actually Satrapi's "mentor and teacher," according to a New York Magazine book review. The art is appropriately dark in most places and exceptionally intricate, and the story is truly captivating. As a reader you really want to see this family prevail and win the battle against epilepsy, against their struggles, against their sadness. A great book, indeed.

While David B.'s art reflect darkness through literally being dark and is also meanwhile a real-life reflection, Paul Hornschemeier's fictional Mother, Come Home is done in a muted color palette and has a much more somber tone instead. Yet both are, to me, the same level of incredible.

It's the story of a little boy whose mother was gravely ill and passed away, and of the little boy's father who is failing to cope well with the loss of his wife. The novel is short, so I won't give away more detail and spoil the story, but it's a very touching thing to say the least. The ending should be shocking and horrific, but in the context of it all it seems only natural. When you read it you'll see what I mean.

I think that I can safely say that these two graphic novels are among my absolute top favorites, and you couldn't ask for a better pair of art and content than what they individually contain. Prepare yourself for seriousness, but don't be afraid of the dark-- it's great.