Oh, Look At The Pretty

I often judge a book by its cover. It is my way of narrowing down potential reading material from the thousands of things I could read. I also do not wish to have books on my shelves that do not look good. Call me shallow, but there just isn't enough room. And not only do I judge, but often will buy a book purely based on its cover. It was this aesthetic shopping philosophy that recently led me to the new Adrian Tomine graphic novel, Shortcomings. I knew nothing of the book or the author, I just had to own this beautiful item. As a newcomer to the world of graphic novels, I was blown away by Shortcomings and have since followed the trail to the work of other talented artists such as Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes and Chris Wares. I also discovered the power of representing human tragedy in the form of a beautiful graphic novel such as Maus or Persepolis. Looks and substance do not always have to be mutually exclusive.