#curatorchute

[ourcomicsourselves]

Breakdowns, by Art Spiegelman (Belier Press, 1978). Breakdowns is the Bible of formalist comics. It’s Spiegelman at his anti-narrative best, with dense and complex strips that inspired me, and many other cartoonists, to think about comics’ formal possibilities. But Breakdowns also contains the original “Maus” three-page strip, and fascinating dream strips in which Nazism lurks in Spiegelman’s unconscious. Hilariously, this original, rare copy (it was reprinted in 2008), was first made out to Spiegelman’s father-in-law, and then crossed out. The cover’s self-poisoning, ink-swilling cartoonist—an image that literally “breaks down” as he presumably does internally—has always been evocative for me. -Hillary Chute

[ourcomicsourselves]

Self-Loathing Comics, by Aline Kominsky-Crumb (Fantagraphics, 1995). 

Aline Kominsky-Crumb made me realize how comics could be about expressing the ordinary, and made me realize how interesting that could be, especially for understanding women’s lives. It was like a switch got turned on. I love how this comic book series, Self-Loathing, which she started with her husband, includes collaborative work about their relationship, and lots of venting.