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"Graphic Novels" and "Trade Paperbacks"

When I was growing up, I read comic books by the score -- my favorites published monthly or bi-monthly, usually published by Marvel -- and the idea of a "graphic novel" hadn't yet permeated the culture at large. But slowly, in an attempt to court a more adult market for what my wife calls "picture books," the term "graphic novel" started popping up more and more. Now, to my understanding, a "graphic novel" is a larger non-serialized work, a la Persepolis (the Marjane Satrapi autobiography depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution, later turned into a motion picture). And while I read those from time to time, I find most of my current reading torn between monthly titles and collections of those titles, collections that typically go by the "trade paperback" designation.

Anymore, I'm gravitating towards the trade paperbacks of titles as opposed to the monthly model. I assume this is due to an extrapolation of the binge model of television -- Netflix, HBO, FX, and the like -- into the world of comics; every few months, a title pops up that I pound through, rapt and concentrated, then it's on to the next one. And much like the concept of "Peak TV" -- there's too much quality content to ever get it all -- the idea of "Peak Comics" is all too real, as my wallet and bookshelf can attest. Just for posterity, here are the titles I've pounded through in 2017 alone. If you're looking for good reading material, and you can get past the "picture books" monicker, you could do worse than the following.

Black Science (Remender/Scalera/Dinisio -- Image)
Giant Days (Allison/Sarin -- Boom!Box)
Kill Or Be Killed (Brubaker/Phillips/Breitweiser -- Image)
The Wicked + The Divine (Gillen/McKelvie/Wilson/Cowls -- Image)
Harrow County (Bunn/Crook -- Dark Horse)
Sex (Casey/Kowalski --Image)
Outcast (Kirkman/Azaceta -- Image)
Southern Bastards (Aaron/Latour -- Image)
Saga (Vaughan/Staples -- Image)
Black Magick (Rucka/Scott -- Image)
Monstress (Liu/Takeda -- Image)
The Black Monday Murders (Hickman/Coker -- Image)
Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (Aguirre-Sacasa/Hack -- Archie Horror)
Bitch Planet (DeConnick/De Landro -- Image)
Insexts (Bennett/Kristantina -- Aftershock)
Sex Criminals (Fraction/Zdarsky -- Image)
The Beauty (Haun/Hurley/Rauch -- Image)
Wytches (Snyder/Jock/Hollingsworth/Robins -- Image)
The Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Byrne -- Marvel)
Howard The Duck Omnibus (Gerber/Colan/Mayerik/Brunner -- Marvel)
Dark Corridor (Tommaso -- Image)
Mind The Gap (McCann/Alphona/Esquejo/Oback -- Image)
House Of Penance (Tomasi/Bertram/Stewart -- Dark Horse)
Injection (Ellis/Shalvey/Bellaire -- Image)
Jessica Jones: Alias (Bendis/Gaydis -- Marvel)

I hope any one of the above titles finds its way to you and gives you the same enjoyment each one gave me, especially in a time when artistic distractions aren't only necessary, but essential for one's mental health and happiness. Happy reading!

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