My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris

However, to get to the heart of the Monsters phenomenon, you just have to dive between the covers of the book. The work that became Monsters was as much as anything a key part of her rehabilitation. Having lost the use of her dominant right hand – and, thus, her ability to draw – she had in effect to learn again from scratch. Having faced the effects of scoliosis earlier in her life, Ferris – a working illustrator/designer and single mother – found herself paralysed after a mosquito bite left her with West Nile virus.

There’s also the altogether more pertinent issue of the artist’s medical history. Pow! Zap! Comics aren’t just by kids any more! First up – and surprisingly noteworthy – is the fact that in a market that loves its youthful prodigies, Emil Ferris is an honest-to-goodness Grown-Up, making her comics debut in her mid-50s. Of course, there are a couple of obvious PR hooks. So what is it about Monsters that has exerted such a gravitational pull on readers? However, as 2017 made its exit (to a chorus of “Don’t let the door bang your arse on the way out”), there was an unusual sense of consensus among panelologists – including the inmates and readers of Broken Frontier – about the original graphic novel of the year: My Favorite Thing is Monsters, by Emil Ferris, published by Fantagraphics. BROKEN FRONTIER AWARDS – BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL WINNER!Įvery year the comics critics’ “best of” lists start to congregate like wiry hairs in the internet plughole, and every year they provoke the same range of reactions, from sage nods to weary eyerolls to spluttering outrage.

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris