X linked to this list by Sam Thielman of the best comics of the decade. The praise is a bit over the top (“brimming with wit and pathos” . . . “Every page in Ferris’s enormous debut is a wonder” . . . “An astounding feat of craftsmanship and patience” . . . “never has an artist created a world so vivid without a single word spoken” etc.), but that’s been the style in pop-music criticism for a few decades, so I’m not surprised to see it in other pop-cultural criticism as well: the critic is juicing up the positivity because he’s promoting the entire genre.
It’s interesting how different these are than Franco-Belgian BD’s. Lately I’ve been continuing to read Emile Bravo and Riad Sattouf, among others.
U.S. comics are like indie movies, Franco-Belgian BD’s are like Hollywood productions. Even the BD’s written and drawn by a single person have certain production values, in contrast to the DIY attitude from independent comics in English.
I’ve only read one of the comics on the Guardian list (“Hark! A Vagrant”), but seeing the list spurred me to put Alan Moore’s “Providence” on hold at the library. I re-read “Watchmen” a few weeks ago, and was reminded how brilliant it is.