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Notables 2010: Joseph Lambert’s Food/Fall

Joseph Lambert, Food/Fall (scroll down), 2008.

Joe Lambert just keeps popping up in our lists. He was chosen by Lynda Barry for BAC 2008 for the first comic of his we ever saw, he’s in Notables 2009, twice in 2010, and, (spoiler alert—he doesn’t even know this yet) in 2011, too. Clearly he is One to Watch (and it will get easier to do as of this fall, when he has a book due out from Secret Acres). This mini is a two-fer, “Food” a creepy/funny tale of extraterrestrial dinner swiping, and “Fall” a pretty reimagining of the seasonal gods who walk among us, and what might happen if they were to decide to change their minds about things. Very strange layouts that just…might…work at play here, as well. Worthy of study.

I’ve posted a couple of sample pages here, but search for “Fall” on Lambert’s Flickr stream and you can find all five, as well as get a glimpse of the pages in many stages of process, including printed in a newspaper, which is apparently how they were first published (who knew? I guess I should have.) Here’s page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, and page 5. And here‘s a great mock-up of his work process, showing pencils, inks, colors, and the color layer on its own. Teachers: this is a very handy pedagogical tool, and cool to boot.

Age: all, pretty much.

 

What is this “Notable” thing all about? Matt and Jessica are the series editors for the Best American Comics, and are responsible for the Notable Comics list at the back of the book, which is comprised of virtually all the comics we sent to the guest editor that weren’t picked, as well as a number of others that we think are noteworthy for various reasons, but that we didn’t send to the guest editor.

We’ve always hoped readers will delve a bit into the list to find more great stories once they finish reading BAC. Realistically, though, we know that’s tough. What can you know about a story from a title and author? So this is one of a series of posts focusing on each of the Notables from the 2010 Best American Comics.

Have or know of a comic we should look at? Find submission info here.

The “age” suggestion is what we think might be the minimum age for reading and appreciating a work. All works on the list, though, should appeal to older audiences too. It’s a minimum suggestion only.

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