The Best American Comics 2014
Scott McCloud, Guest Editor
Bill Kartalopoulos, Series Editor

Table of Contents

GREAT COMICS ARE NOT A GENRE

JAIME HERNANDEZ
Crime Raiders International Mobsters and Executioners
from Love and Rockets: New Stories #5

BEN KATCHOR
Picnic Now!, Sickroom Reading, and The Hand Laundry
from Metropolis Magazine

CHARLES BURNS
The Hive (Excerpt)

GILBERT HERNANDEZ
All the Marbles (Excerpt)
from Marble Season

ADRIAN TOMINE
Translated, from the Japanese,
from Optic Nerve #13

R. CRUMB and ALINE KOMINSKY-CRUMB
High Road to the Shmuck Seat
from Drawn Together

BEN KATCHOR
A 21st Century Still Life
from Metropolis Magazine

RAISING READERS

RAINA TELGEMEIER
Drama (Excerpt)

FANNY BRITT AND ISABELLE ARSENAULT
Jane, the Fox, and Me (Excerpt)

FAMILY TREE

MIRIAM KATIN
Letting It Go (Excerpt)

TOM HART
RL (Excerpt) from RL #2

SAM SHARPE
Mom (Excerpt)
from Viewotron #2

NINA BUNJEVAC
August, 1977
from Heartless

STRANGE ADVENTURES

MARK SIEGEL
The Mermaid in the Hudson (Excerpt)
from Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson

BRIAN K. VAUGHN AND FIONA STAPLES
Saga Chapter 7 (Excerpt) from Saga #7

BRANDON GRAHAM
Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1 (Excerpt)

TED MAY
Dimensions
from Men's Feelings

THE BOOK OF THE YEAR IS NOT A BOOK

CHRIS WARE
Building Stories (Excerpt)
from Building Stories

TESTIMONIALS

JOHN LEWIS, ANDREW AYDIN, AND NATE POWELL
March: Book One (Excerpt)

FRANK YOUNG AND DAVID LASKY
The Program Is Morally Good (Excerpt)
from The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song

ED PISKOR
Hip Hop Family Tree (Excerpt)
from Boing Boing

WEBCOMICS

ALLIE BROSH
Depression Part Two (Excerpt)
from Hyperbole and a Half

EVEN STRANGER ADVENTURES

MICHAEL DEFORGE
Canadian Royalty
from Lose #4

THEO ELLSWORTH
The Understanding Monster–Book One (Excerpt)

THE KUIPER BELT

RON REGE, JR.
Is There Silence?, The Implications of Making Something from Nothing via the Spiritual Realm AND This Is Magic–This Is Alchemy
from The Cartoon Utopia

C.F.
Face It
from The New York Times Opinionator

VICTOR CAYRO
Bittersweet Romance (Excerpt)

ONSMITH
Whistle While You Work . . . or Think of Death
from Study Group Magazine #2

GERALD JABLONSKI
Schweinhund AND Howdy, His Nephew Dee Dee and a Friend of Howdy's Nephew
from Cryptic Wit #3

LALE WESTVIND
Hyperspeed to Nowhere, Return to Entropy (Excerpt)
from Hyperspeed to Nowhere #2

G.W. DUNCANSON
Untitled Selections
from Cash Money Cartoons

AIDAN KOCH
Blue Period
from Sonatina #2

ERIN CURRY
Ambient Air (Part II)
from Ambient Air

MEMORY BOXES

RICHARD THOMPSON
Cul de Sac, September 17–23, 2012
from Cul de Sac

SAM ALDEN
Hawaii 1997
from samaldencomics.tumblr.com
Bill Kartalopoulos
As Series Editor of The Best American Comics, it is my job to attempt to see as many of each year's most interesting comics as I can. The majority of these arrive as submissions through our public postal address. Others I find by attending comics festivals, consulting with colleagues, reaching out individually to artists and publishers, visiting comic books stores, endlessly scanning the internet, and generally keeping my antenna up at all times. After nearly a year of looking and reading, I forward to each year's Guest Editor a selection of more than one hundred outstanding works. From this pool of material, the Guest Editor selects the pieces that will appear in each year's Best American Comics (while retaining, as well, the latitude to bring in some work they may have discovered independently).

On the subject of our process, I cannot urge any artist or publisher strongly enough to submit work to Best American Comics. We have a completely open submission process, and all work that is submitted will be considered. Please send work, labeled with contact information and date of publication, to:

Bill Kartalopoulos
Series Editor
The Best American Comics
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
3 Park Avenue, 19th floor
New York, NY 10016

We feel very strongly about the material selected to appear in Best American Comics and are excited to share these works with a broader audience. But we also acknowledge that this is but one carefully considered selection of the vast body of great work published in any given year.

In addition to reprinting a highly selective body of outstanding work, each volume of The Best American Comics also includes a lengthy list of Notable Comics selected by the Series Editor to more fully indicate the breadth and quality of the field. The previous Series Editors of Best American Comics, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, instituted a policy of posting a hyperlinked version of their Notables lists on their website in order to draw more attention to these honored works. This seems like an excellent decision to me, so I have done the same here and will continue to do so for future volumes of Best American Comics that I work on.

In the column to the left you'll find the Table of Contents for The Best American Comics 2014, and below I have reproduced this year's list of Notable Comics. Clicking on the author's name will take you directly to that artist's website. Clicking on the book cover or title will, in most cases, take you to a site where you can find the indicated work. These comics are all well worth your time if you have enjoyed The Best American Comics 2014
PRESS

Booklist review (starred)

Kirkus review

Publishers Weekly review

Graphic Novel Reporter review

Boing Boing review

Denver Post review

Miami Herald review

Washington Post review

USA Today review

Bookgasm review

Largehearted Boy review

Comicsgirl review

Comics Bulletin review

Comics Grinder review

The New Yorker coverage

LA Times coverage

Washington Post interview with Scott McCloud

Paste Magazine interview with Bill Kartalopoulos

Publishers Weekly: More to Come interview with Scott McCloud

Graphic Novel Reporter interview with Bill Kartalopoulos

Huffington Post spotlight on Aidan Koch's "Blue Period" from Best American Comics 2014

The Seattle Stranger: "The Best American Comics 2014 Is Maybe the Best Book in the Entire Best American Series"

New York Daily News books blog

The Awesomer spotlight

Comics Grinder interview with Bill Kartalopoulos

Notable Comics
September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013
Selected by Bill Kartalopoulos

CHRISTOPHER ADAMS
Strong Eye Contact.
2D Cloud
DERIK BADMAN
Colletta Suite I-VI. Comics as Poetry.
New Modern Press
PETER BAGGE
"Mr. Unpopularity." Dark Horse Presents, #27.
Dark Horse Comics
TAYLOR-RUTH BALDWIN
the "doing nothing now"s turn into weeks turn into months turn into what am i doing with my life. Hanging Rock Comics.
thisishangingrockcomics.tumblr.com
DEREK BALLARD
Cartoonshow #2: Your Daughters Will Bear Our Children.
Drippy Bone Books
JOSH BAYER
Raw Power, #2.
Retrofit Comics / Iamwar
DREW BECKMEYER
Everything Unseen, Parts 6 & 7.
Revival House Press
GABRIELLE BELL
July Diary 2013.
gabriellebell.com.
SAMAN BEMEL-BENRUD
Abyss.
2D Cloud
E. A. BETHEA
Single-page comics from Tusen Hjärten Stark, #1.
Domino Books
ELIJAH BRUBAKER
Reich, #9 & 10.
Sparkplug Comic Books
TESSA BRUNTON
Second Banana.
Self-published
ANDY BURKHOLDER
Qviet.
qviet.tumblr.com.
ADAM BUTTRICK
Idol Worship.
Self-published
LILLI CARRÉ
Rainbow Moment. Heads or Tails.
Fantagraphics Books
GENEVIÈlVE CASTRÉE
Susceptible.
Drawn and Quarterly
SHAWN CHENG
The Suitor.
Self-published
SEYMOUR CHWAST
The Odyssey.
Bloomsbury
MAX CLOTFELTER
Buster.
Self-published
WARREN CRAGHEAD
Gloucester Is a Colony. Comics as Poetry.
New Modern Press
JORDAN CRANE
Keeping Two, Part 5.
whatthingsdo.com.
ANYA DAVIDSON
The Whole Hole.
Self-published
ANDY DOUGLAS DAY
Chauncey.
Sonatina Comics
ALEX DEGEN (A.D.)
Soft X-Ray.
Chromazoid, #2.
KIM DEITCH
The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley.
Fantagraphics Books
JULIE DELPORTE
Journal.
Koyama Press
JO DERY
Metal Travels.
Cake 2013 Digest.
STEVE DITKO
#17 and Ate Tea N: 18.
Robin Snyder
J. T. DOCKERY
The Black Riders and Other Lines. Despair, vol. 1.
Self-published
NICK DRNASO
Young, Dumb, & Full of Cum.
Oily Comics
AUSTIN ENGLISH
The Life Problem.
Drippy Bone Books
CHAR ESME
The Secret of the Saucers.
Self-published
EAMON ESPEY
Songs of the Abyss.
Secret Acres
INÉS ESTRADA
Lapsos, I-I & I-II.
Self-published
EDIE FAKE
Untitled. Monster 2013, vol. 1.
Hidden Fortress Press
XELA FLACTEM
Bad Sex.
Spider's Pee-Paw, #1.
EROYN FRANKLIN
Making Tide and Other Stories.
Self-published
NOEL FREIBERT
Single-page comics from Weird, #3.
Cut-Cross International
RENÉE FRENCH
Baby Bjornstrand, Parts 1—3.
studygroupcomics.com.
MARNIE GALLOWAY
In the Sounds and Seas, vol. 1.
Self-published
JULIA GFRÖRER
Unclean. Black Eye 2.
Rotland Press
LEIF GOLDBERG
National Waste, #8.
Self-published
V. A. GRAHAM
Lode.
Most Ancient
LISA HANAWALT
Moosefingers. My Dirty Dumb Eyes.
Drawn and Quarterly
GEOFFREY HAYES
Patrick Eats His Peas and Other Stories.
TOON Books
LIZZ HICKEY
Jammers.
Hic and Hoc
KEVIN HOOYMAN
Conditions on the Ground, #1—4.
Self-published
DUNJA JANKOVIC
Cicadas. Sonatina, #2.
Sonatina Comics
KEITH JONES
Morons, #1.
Self-published
AARON LANGE
Trim, #1.
The Comix Company
JASON LITTLE
Borb.
beecomix.com.
MATT MADDEN
Pantoum for Hiram.
Columbia, vol. 51.
MARDOU
Sky in Stereo, #2.
Yam Books
JED McGOWAN
Voyager.
jedmcgowan.com.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Untitled spot illustrations for The New Yorker.
Condé Nast
MICHAEL McMILLAN
The ZZZZZ Series and Other Stories.
Picturebox
MELISSA MENDES
Lou, #7—15.
Oily Comics
DREW MILLER
Poor Thing, #1.
Neoglyphic Media
TALYA MODLIN
The Big Sweet.
Self-published
JONNY NEGRON
Infinite Lover.
Studygroup Magazine, #2.
DAVID NYTRA
The Secret of the Stone Frog.
TOON Books
MARÉ ODOMO
Internet Comics.
Sacred Prism
JOE OLLMAN
Science Fiction.
Conundrum Press
RAYMOND PETTIBON, WITH TEXT BY JONATHAN LETHEM
Four Paintings by Raymond Pettibon: A New Collaboration.
The Believer, vol. 11, #3.
ETHAN RILLY
Pope Hats, #3.
AdHouse Books
KEILER ROBERTS
Powdered Milk, #11.
Self-published
ALEXANDER ROCINE
The Bloomer.
Self-published
JAMES ROMBERGER
Post York.
Uncivilized Books
ZAK SALLY
Sammy the Mouse, vol. 2.
Uncivilized Books
SETH SCRIVER
Blob Top Magazine, #1.
Colour Code
ROBERT SERGEL
Eschew, #3.
Secret Acres
SAR SHAHAR
Sequential Vacation, #2.
Secret Acres
DASH SHAW
New School.
Fantagraphics Books
R. SIKORYAK
The Expectations That Made a Man Out of Pip.
The Devastator, August 2013.
JORDAN SPEER
Support Group.
Future Shock, #4.

Astro Plus Press
OTTO SPLOTCH
Stink Helmet.
Self-published
LESLIE STEIN
Eye of the Majestic Creature, vol. 2.
Fantagraphics Books
MIKE TAYLOR
Late Era Clash, #25.
Self-published
SETH TOBOCMAN WITH HAYLEY GOLD
The World's Most Criminal Defense Attorney.
worldwar3illustrated.tumblr.com.
PETE TOMS
On Hiatus, Part 1.
studygroupcomics.com.
CAROL TYLER
You'll Never Know, Book 3: Soldier's Heart.
Fantagraphics Books
TOM VAN DEUSEN
Scorched Earth, vol. 1.
Poochie Press Publications
OLGA VOLOZOVA
The Golem of Gabirol.
Sparkplug Comic Books
LANCE WARD
Kmart Shoes.
Seventh Avenue Productions
PETER WARTMAN
Over the Wall.
Uncivilized Books
ESTHER PEARL WATSON
A Portrait Without a Face.
Self-published
LESLIE WEIBELER
Dionysian Spirit. Sonatina, #2.
Sonatina Comics
LAUREN WEINSTEIN
If This Is All You Get.
The Big Feminist BUT.
STEVEN WEISSMAN
Barack Hussein Obama.
whatthingsdo.com.
JULIA WERTZ
The Infinite Wait.
Koyama Press
DYLAN WILLIAMS
The Dead of Night. The Big Feminist BUT.
ERIC KOSTIUK WILLIAMS
Hungry Bottom Comics, #2: 2 Fags 2 Furious.
Self-published
RONALD WIMBERLY
Prince of Cats.
DC/Vertigo
CHRIS WRIGHT
Blacklung.
Fantagraphics Books
SUA YOO
DJ Paintings.
vice.com.
MICKEY ZACCHILLI
RAV, #7 & 8.
Self-published