A life in images: 5 graphic novel memoirs

"When I put together a graphic novel, I don't think about literary prose. I think about storytelling."
- Ted Rall

I find graphic novel memoirs endlessly fascinating. They're an open invitation for us to literally view the author's life history as seen through their own eyes. It is an honour that I am ever mindful of. Sometimes the journey is challenging. Sometimes it's awkward and uncomfortable. Sometimes it's hugely inspiring. Sometimes it's devastatingly sad. Sometimes it's incredibly hopeful. Always, always they are a revelation. Earlier this month I read Alyson Blechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic in relation to another Comic Book Month post. Blechdel's bittersweet yet darkly funny memoir made me wonder what other graphic novels we had that were autobiographical which, of course, led me here. I've read quite a few over the last few days and the ones that I've chosen to list from #1 - #5 are ones I'd never heard of until this month. All of those in listed as further recommendations are either ones I'd read, read about, or had recommended to me by friends and colleagues. And so I give you - A life in images: 5 graphic novel memoirs.

Query: Have you read any of the titles below?

5 GLBTQ graphic novels you might not know we have (that I've read and enjoyed recently)

List by Tosca

"My sexuality is a part of me that I really like. But it's not the totality of me."
- Portia de Rossi

A message on our work tweetstream the other month made me realise that I take my sexuality for granted. I often tweet funny haha (and sometimes funny weird) romance book covers and titles I've seen or am reading at the time, but it's only just occurred to me recently that all of those books feature male/female characters. In my taken-for-granted-mostly-straightness I hadn't considered that before. I'm guessing that the reason for that is because my sexuality is much like my gender, or my name, or seeing my face in the mirror each morning (messy hair, bad breath and all): it's not something I consciously think about. I don't say to myself each morning, "My name is Tosca, I'm a female and I'm bisexual." It just is. So I set a personal goal to celebrate Comic Book Month by requesting and reading a whole bunch of graphic novels featuring gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ) characters. Some of my books were parts of series (such as Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore, Love and Rockets by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Alison Bechdel and various manga series like Antique Bakery and Ghost talker's daydream). Some were standalone titles. All of them exceptionally beautiful in their own way.

This isn't one of our tongue-in-cheek top 5 lists, after all, why would you rate someone's sexuality? It's more in the manner of highlighting parts of our collection you might not know about. Possibly I haven't listed titles that you expected or hoped to find here, and I'm more than willing to read any recommendations you leave as a comment. It was exceptionally hard to limit myself to such a small number but, here it is, my list of 5 GLBTQ graphic novels that I read recently and enjoyed. Viva la Comic Book Month!