Can you name the top selling comic artist who has been in the New York Times Bestsellers list for the last three years? Alan Moore, Mark Millar, Scott Snyder or Brian K. Vaughan? Maybe you've got Neil Gaiman or someone else like Frank Miller. You're not going to get it, I can tell you now.
Raina Telgemeier.... yup, Raina Telgemeier. For many of you that name will not be familiar, even those of you who are into comics. That's because Raina's books are mostly for teens and young adults. On May 10, 2015, Telgemeier's works took all of the top four spots on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback graphic books- a first in the medium.
She is one of the biggest selling comic artists but is often forgotten from the comics dialogue, overshadowed by more well know brands such as Batman, Superman, Spiderman and the like. However this is a real shame as I love her work, I first read her award winning book Smile a few years ago and incorporated the graphic novel into my computing lesson plans when teaching computing in Cambodia. I got my pupils to use the Scholastic Graphix Comic Builder to create a comic using the in-browser tools and was taken by the art style and honesty in the story.Since then I have read Drama, a very human story which deals with issues such as identity, sexuality and friendship and her follow up to Smile, Sisters.
So this post is merely to flag up the work of a hardworking but under-appreciated and under-recognised artist.