David Auerbach’s Books of the Year 2022: Comics and Art

Waggish 2023-01-07

Installment two of my books of the year, with most nonfiction still to come. It seemed a very lean year for comics overall. The big event is the long-delayed translation of the first half of Lewis Trondheim’s Ralph Azham, his 1200-page treatment of power, politics, religion, and family. Trondheim’s ability to improvise a better story than most people can plan out remains exceptional. There is also the final book of Hubert’s uncompleted The Ogre Gods, putting a point on his loss through suicide.

Ralph Azham #1: Black Are The Stars Trondheim, Lewis (Author) Super Genius

Ralph Azham #2: The Land of the Blue Demons Trondheim, Lewis (Author) Papercutz

First Born: The Ogre Gods Book Four (Ogre Gods, 4) Hubert (Author), Gatignol, Bertrand (Artist) Magnetic Press

La Synagogue Sfar Joann (Author), Sfar Joann (Illustrator) DARGAUD

The Court Charade Flore, Vesco (Author), Kerascoët (Author), Kerascoët (Illustrator) Europe Comics

Dungeon: Early Years, vol. 3: Wihout a Sound (3) Gaultier, Christophe (Author), Sfar, Joann (Author), Trondheim, Lewis (Author), Oiry, Stephane (Author) NBM Publishing

Dungeon: Twilight vols. 1-2: Cemetery of the Dragon Sfar, Joann (Author), Trondheim, Lewis (Author), Kerascoet, [none] (Illustrator) NBM Publishing

Adventuregame Comics: Leviathan (Book 1) Shiga, Jason (Author) Harry N. Abrams

Pogo The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Box Set: Vols. 7 & 8: Pockets Full of Pie & Hijinks from the Horn of Plenty (Walt Kelly's Pogo) Kelly, Walt (Author), Aragonés, Sergio (Foreword), Caswell, Lucy Shelton (Foreword) Fantagraphics

The Projector and Elephant Vaughn-James, Martin (Author), Seth (Editor), Heer, Jeet (Introduction), Seth (Designer) New York Review Comics

All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson Johnson, Charles (Author) New York Review Comics

The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1922-1924 Herriman, George (Author) Fantagraphics

YOKAI Yumoto, Koichi (Author) PIE International

George Grosz in Berlin: The Relentless Eye Rewald, Sabine (Author), Buruma, Ian (Contributor) Metropolitan Museum of Art

Käthe Kollwitz: A Survey of Her Work 1867 - 1945 Fischer, Hannelore (Editor) Hirmer Publishers

Austrian and German Masterworks: Twentieth Anniversary of Neue Galerie New York Price, Renée (Editor), Lauder, Ronald S. (Preface) Prestel