The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

For those who, like me, consider comics to be an international medium (and, in fact, the only true international medium ever since the flicks got sound), silent comics are the nec plus ultra. Stories that don’t need words to convey their message, to tell their story, quite often are amongst the purest examples of what this medium is capable of.  And yes, L’Association’s Comix2000 has its own shrine on my bookshelf.

The problem, of course, is that silent comics rarely get published in book form.  While some cartoonists, like Lewis Trondheim or Thomas Ott, have published collections of silent stories, most comics without words are published in anthologies, magazines and hard-to-find mini’s.

Thanks to the hard work of Mike Rhode, comics archivist extra-ordinaire (and author of the Film and TV Comics Adaptations index, spotlighted here), tracking down these stories just got (a little) easier.  In the latest edition of his Stories Without Words index, Rhode lists wordless graphic narratives in comic books, strips, cartoons, woodcuts, children’s books and mini’s.  Quite often reviews or impressions by various luminaries from comics criticism are included, making you realise how these books and stories are unique, and actually inviting you to start tracking them down.

Rhode picked up the work where the previous version (published in 2000 and largely based on the list he compiled together with Tom Furtwangler and David Wybenga) left off.  This means that it may be lacking in its coverage of recent work, and Rhode is obviously aware of that.  The list in its current format is clearly meant as a starting point for a new and comprehensive overview, for which all help is appreciated.  Whether it’s by adding some obvious missing entries  (e.g. this version does not list The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8, Thomas Ott’s latest silent graphic novel, the collected editions of Lewis Trondheim and Thierry Robin’s Petit Pêre Noel, or the subsequent issues of Erik Kriek’s Gutsman Comics, published after 2001), or by providing some help with editing, your involvement is appreciated.  That aside, Stories Without Words is a good start if you want to delve into this wonderfully pure form of comics.