So this part of the site is going to be about comics, kind of a arcane cross-section of literature that is too often overlooked as something just about super-heroes or funny animals and that comics are a genre rather than story-telling method. Sort of like saying all of American literature is essentially described by the overwhelming success of Dan Brown or John Grisham novels. Even the recently launched New York Times Graphic Books best Seller List, a great help in exposing people to comics, is top-heavy with the mainstream power fantasies of the major publishing houses in American comics that are crossing over into summer movie blockbusters. It is, after all, a “best sellers list” and so represents what most people, no matter what their age group, are purchasing.

That general assumption is changing quite a bit, thankfully, as more serious criticism comes into the field looking at comics that shape and define the uniqueness of this style of story-telling as literature rather Hollywood script-fodder. For people just starting to get exposed to this aspect of comics, or for people just looking for a wider selection of great books to read, Gene Kanneberg Jr. book, “500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide” is a must. It’s a primer for understanding the uniqueness of the form with brief but insightful little reviews of why each one of these comics is “essential.”

Like any complete list, there’s a lot of super-hero stuff on there as well, but a good bit of frank talk about what makes those comics work in the way they do. If you’re not really into comics, but you’ve read SANDMAN or MAUS and found it interesting, then you might find it difficult to know where to turn to for another good comic that suits your tastes. This book provides the answers that, sadly, the comicshops, mainstream bookstores and “best sellers lists” so seldom manage.

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