Time Magazine's Andrew D. Arnold, who happens to be one of the most perceptive critics (and champions) of literary graphic novels, gets an entire page in this week's (June 13th) issue of Time to showcase five superb graphic novel offerings from five different publishers. 

The first book Arnold discusses is Daniel Clowes' masterful Ice Haven, published by Pantheon, an initially puzzling blend of 30 short comic strips set in a weird suburban village that somehow coalesces into a superb and satiric portrait of our era.

Arnold's second selection goes back in time to the 1950s as portrayed in the Little Lulu comic books written by John Stanley and illustrated by Irving Tripp.  Dark Horse is about to publish the fourth collection of comic books in this series--a series Arnold recommends in toto and correctly notes is 'as entertaining and revisitable as I Love Lucy.'

The other three graphic novels profiled in Time all have an international flavor.  Joe Sacco's War's End, from the Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly, continues his in-depth illustrated reportage of the Bosnian War and demonstrates that the potential of the graphic novel medium for displaying conflict and character with subtlety and clarity is unrivaled even by documentary filmmaking. 

Manu Larcenet's Ordinary Victories, which won the grand prize at France's top comic festival in Angouleme last year and is published here in the U.S. by NBM in its ComicsLit series, also deals frankly with the forces of history and class but its observations are subjectively filtered through the less-than-exemplary character of its protagonist, a burned-out photographer.  Numerous European artists have taken 'funny animal' cartooning out of the realm of children's comics in order to create some of the most interesting portraits of the human condition, and Why Are You Doing This? by the Norwegian artist Jason (published here by Fantagraphics) is one of the best examples of this genre.