COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS
A Brief History of Feminism, by Patu and Antje Schrupp; translated from the German by Sophie Lewis (MIT Press; 80 pages; $14.95). In just 80 pages, this whimsical graphic novel traces feminism through the ages, devoting panels to, among others, Sojourner Truth, Simone de Beauvoir, Angela Davis and Judith Butler.
In the Beginning: lllustrated Stories From the Old Testament, by Frédéric Boyer; illustrated by Serge Bloch; translated from the French by Cole Swensen (Chronicle Books; 520 pages; $40). French religious scholar Boyer’s distilled retellings of 35 biblical stories match the minimalist pen-and-ink illustrations done by Bloch in this weighty paperback. A delight for all ages.
Monograph, by Chris Ware (Rizzoli; 280 pages; $60). The size of a large roasting pan, Ware’s latest whopping collection (after “Building Stories,” 2012) is a chronological tour of the singular cartoonist’s life and work. “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth” and plenty of other panels of his instantly recognizable, stylized characters share space with New Yorker covers, photos, paintings, sculptures and notes. Completists and neophytes alike will get lost in it all — happily so. With a preface by Ira Glass and an introduction by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman.
The Story of Sex: A Graphic History
Through the Ages, by Philippe Brenot; illustrated by Laetitia Coryn; translated from the French by Will McMorran (Black Dog & Levanthal; 193 pages; $27.99). Not quite for all ages is another French book, a playful look at sex throughout human history. Brenot, its author, is well familiar with the field, as a university sexologist and anthropologist; he even speculates on what pleasures of the flesh might be like in 2200 (orgasms delivered by way of brain-chip implants).
Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New
York City, by Julia Wertz (Black Dog & Levanthal; 284 pages; $29.99). A regular New Yorker contributor who grew up in the Bay Area, Wertz fell for New York when she moved there in 2006. Her love of the city and its history enliven the streetscapes in her superb book, a then-and-now tribute to bookstores, music venues, movie theaters, bars and many other spots. Wertz is very funny and profane, but never wallows in bitter nostalgia.
Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance, by Pratap Chatterjee and Khalil (Metropolitan; 229 pages; $25). Chatterjee, an investigative journalist with CorpWatch, based in San Francisco, collaborates with Berkeley illustrator Khalil to delve into the world of mass surveillance. Some of the story will be familiar to those who’ve seen “Citizenfour,” the 2014 documentary about Edward Snowden. (One of Snowden’s code names was Verax, “truth teller” in Latin.) The authors make the most of the graphic novel form to relate a thrilling, globe-trotting story that centers on complex data collection systems.