GRAPHIC NOVELS WORTH SEEKING OUT

ILLUSTRATOR AND CARTOONIST PETER KUPER ON FIVE OF HIS TOP PICKS

Peter Kuper’s career has been nothing if not varied: The illustrator and cartoonist has published adaptations of fiction by Franz Kafka, original graphic novels, books for children and adults, and regular comic strips for MAD magazine, among other works.

Now, he’s taking a deep dive into what has been a lifelong interest: entomology. Kuper is at work on an upcoming book on insects, and his research and art on the subject is featured in a major exhibition, called “INterSECTS,” at the New York Public Library. The exhibit was inspired by Kuper’s stint as a Cullman Fellow at the library, which allowed him uninterrupted study and access to the institution’s considerable resources.

“The pandemic extended the time I could be there, and the library was closed to the public. As I learned about the history of insects and the entomologists who studied them, I wandered the halls of this postapocalyptic, empty library, and the library itself became the perfect framing device,” Kuper says.

The exhibit, which features images from Kuper’s forthcoming graphic novel, imagines insects occupying the vast, vacant halls of the historic building. This isn’t his first time incorporating a fascination with arthropods into his work: His graphic novel, Ruins, for instance, tells the story of a couple on sabbatical in Oaxaca, while also touching upon the annual migration of monarch butterflies from Canada to Mexico.

Kuper says he feels a responsibility to reveal the hidden world of insects: “My intent is to get people to look down and watch where they step,” he says. “I don’t like getting bitten any more than the next person, but what insects do is positive. Without them, we literally won’t survive.”

But this is just one of many topics and styles that he’s been drawn to over his career.

“Sticking to one style doesn’t have an appeal to me,” Kuper says. “I can be prolific because I’m inspired by the choices I have, and feel an urgency to get things down on paper.”

Here, the artist shares some of his favorite graphic books and comics, themselves wide-ranging in subject and form.

COMIC STRIPS BY WINSOR MCCAY McCay did early comic strips at the turn of the century, and accomplished amazing things with the form. As a teacher, I’m always going back with my students to early work like his. There are a lot of formal lessons you can take from these. In his day, McCay’s comics would show up in the Sunday newspaper and take up a full length of newsprint, and he’d do remarkable things with that space. Today, artists like Chris Ware follow this kind of model for magazines like the New Yorker, creating really interesting stories.

SAFE AREA GORAŽDE BY JOE SACCO Sacco is a journalist who creates comics about places affected by war. This one, about the Bosnian War, came about after he spent time there [in 1995 and 1996]. He goes into these war-torn places and then does amazing comics about them.

about them.

HERE BY RICHARD MCGUIRE This book focuses on a single point, a patch of land, and moves backward and forward through time. We visit the same spot 4.6 billion years ago and then zoom to 1955, where we see characters sitting on their couch at home. There are conversations that take place in a disjointed way over the years, and at the same time, in a corner of the room, there’s an image of a Native American standing in a field in 1915. It’s a brilliant way of capturing simultaneity.

FLOOD! BY ERIC DROOKER Flood! is an epic story that is entirely wordless, taking place in New York City and touching upon politics and society. I’ve always been interested in art that is wordless, like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, for the ways in which it can be so funny and political without using any dialogue. It crosses all international borders that way.

PERSEPOLIS BY MARJANE SATRAPI Persepolis was initially banned in different places [including some U.S. school districts], which of course made it shoot to No. 1. It’s autobiographical—I love graphic novels that are close to being true stories and can open the door on history in that way. Satrapi not only has an incredible facility for storytelling, but also has a story that is worth telling.

Peter Kuper’s “I Told You So” appeared in the New Yorker.