‘From the Gutters’: Series on graphic novels aka comics

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:09AM

At 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month we discuss graphic novels at the main Oak Park Public Library. Graphic novels … aka, comics. As I had to explain to a neophyte, these books are intended for adults but the term “graphic” merely applies because they contain drawings. We welcome experts and neophytes, old and young, to discuss this genre. The main current is to build an appreciation of this often maligned form by reading terrific works of literary art. This is why we call the series “From the Gutters.”

We have a terrific slate of graphic memoirs forthcoming:

Feb. 1: The Imposter’s Daughter: A True Memoir by Lori Sandell.

Sandell grew up in awe of her larger-than-life father’s jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. She unconsciously emulates her dad’s outsized manner, but in researching his life, she discovers he’s nowhere near the man he says he is.

March 7: Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey by GB Tran.

An American-born son of immigrants confronts the legacy of family pain predating his birth. In this kick-in-the-gut graphic novel, Tran purposely fragments the plot, shifting points of view, narrative voices and settings while the reader must assemble the pieces to learn how his parents became the people he knew.

April 4: Blankets by Craig Thompson.

Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. Controversial and immensely lauded, this is a tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith.

May 2: Palestine by Joe Sacco.

Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, whose name has since become synonymous with this graphic form of New Journalism.

June 6: Epileptic by David B.

David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. An honest and horrifying portrait of the disease and of the pain and fear it caused the family, Epileptic is also a moving depiction of one family’s intricate history.

Whether you love graphic novels or just want to learn more, join us for refreshments and discussion at the main library, 834 Lake St. Copies of each title will be available a month in advance.

Alan Jacobson is an Adult and Teen Services librarian at the Oak Park Public Library.