“The Ninth Art” is a term to describe the “art” of comics, coined by Claude Beylie in 1964. (The first eight arts are Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Dance, Poetry, Film, Television, and Beylie proposed that Comics are the ninth art.)

So, for this reading salon, your invitation is to read one or more comics, graphic novels, manga, or similar, and be ready to tell us about them.

A few notes:

First, we’re not thinking of children’s picture books. Yes, they are graphic, but we’ll keep children’s books for another time.

Second, as you read, you may want to take a photo of anything that you think might be worth sharing in the salon – given the visual nature of these books, we may need “props”. Of course, if you own the book/comic, bring that when we meet.

Finally, don’t forget that if you live in Tirol, you can join the Innsbruck University Library, as this is our regional library, and there are some excellent selections there. In addition, you can look on archive.org for older and out-of-print comics.

Language: ​As always, feel free to read in any language. Discussions will take place in English or German, or (more usual) a mix of the two.

​(Want to know what a salon is and how our reading salon works? Scroll down for details.)

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Titles to inspire you:

​​Here are a few comic, graphic novel, and manga suggestions from me to get you started, Where a German version exists, I have included this:
[AUCH AUF DE]

If you want to read these in German, please search for the author’s name – as far as I can see, the titles are often the same as the English versions.

​Please don’t feel that you need to read any of all of these. Find and read books related to the theme that interest you.

• A Contract with God [AUCH AUF DE] → Will Eisner
  Four interconnected stories about life in an apartment building in the Bronx during the Depression.
• Alice in Borderland [AUCH AUF DE]→ Haro Aso
• One of the best manga to read in the death games category thanks to its compelling underdog heroes, vivid illustrations, and well-executed games (an obvious highlight of the genre).
• Asterios Polyp [AUCH AUF DE]→ David Mazzucchelli
  An architect’s marriage fails, his apartment burns down, and he rebuilds his life working as an auto mechanic in a small town.
• Asterix [AUCH AUF DE] → Written by René Goscinny, illustrated by Albert Uderzo
  Set in a Gaulish village by the sea, the comic series usually involves the protagonists holding out against an invasion by Julius Caesar’s army.
• Berserk [AUCH AUF DE]→ Kentaro Miura
  Berserk follows Guts, a “warrior born from a hanged corpse”, raised by an abusive father, and trained to become a mercenary.
• Blacksad [AUCH AUF DE]→ Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist)
  Set in the ’50s, this film noir-inspired series is populated by a world of anthropomorphic animals, whose jobs usually fit the characteristics humans project onto them.
• Blankets [AUCH AUF DE]→ Craig Thompson
  First love, fundamentalist Christianity, and the Wisconsin winter converge in this almost 600-page coming-of-age memoir.
• Bone [AUCH AUF DE] → Jeff Smith
  Bone centres on the three Bone cousins: Phoncible P. “Phoney” Bone, Smiley Bone, and Fone Bone who have been run out of their hometown of Boneville after Phoney’s campaign for mayor went awry.
• Buddha [AUCH AUF DE]→ Osamu Tezuka
  A unique interpretation of the life of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.
• Doraemon → Fujiko F. Fujio
  The manga follows a robotic cat sent from the future to help a young boy named Nobita.
• From Hell [AUCH AUF DE]→ Alan Moore
  This epic graphic novel reimagines the infamous Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.
• Fullmetal Alchemist [AUCH AUF DE]→ Hiromu Arakawa
  Two brothers search for the Philosopher’s Stone to restore their bodies when an attempt to bring their mother back to life goes horribly awry.
• Gil Jourdan [AUCH AUF DE]→ Maurice Tillieux
  The adventures of a young bespectacled detective.
• Girls Of The Wild’s → Hun & Kim, Hye-Jin
  Using the reverse-harem trope, it follows struggling teen boy Jaegu Song, who becomes the first boy to enrol in a private all-girls academy – famous for producing female martial arts champions – in the hopes his presence will coax more traditionally feminine traits out of the wild girls.
• Golgo 13 → Takao Saito
  The series follows professional assassin Duke Togo: with mature themes and serious storytelling.
• Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths → Darko Macan and Edvin Biuković
  Grendel became a synonym for The Devil with the title held by the emperor of the world (Grendel-Khan) and members of a warrior society identical to samurai.
• Here [AUCH AUF DE]→ Richard McGuire
  Every page shows the same corner of a room across vast stretches of time – prehistoric forests, colonial America, domestic scenes from multiple centuries, geological deep time.
• In the Kitchen with Alain Passard [AUCH AUF DE]→ Christophe Blain
  A work of graphic non-fiction: one of the world’s great chefs, Passard shocked the culinary universe in 2001 when he announced he was “tired of cooking animals” and would dedicate himself to vegetables like beets and celery, whilst Blain drew thousands of colorful panels of Passard in his kitchen and gardens for the book. Passard contributed 15 recipes.
• Iznogoud [AUCH AUF DE]→ Writer René Goscinny and comics artist Jean Tabary
  The title comes from “he’s no good” pronounced with a French accent, this comic series chronicles the life and times of Iznogoud, the Grand Vizier of the Caliphate of Baghdad at an undefined period.
• Kariba → Daniel Clarke
  A graphic novel are inspired by the great Zimbabwean Lake Kariba and center around the ancient folklore surrounding it.
• Madam & Eve → Written by Stephen Francis and drawn by Rico Schacherl
  A satirical comic strip about a white woman and her black maid in the new South Africa.
• Marsupilami [AUCH AUF DE]→ André Franquin
  A comic book character and fictional animal species.
• Maus: A Survivor’s Tale [AUCH AUF DE]→Art Spiegelman
  Spiegelman interviews his father about surviving the Holocaust, depicting Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and Poles as pigs.
• Monstress [AUCH AUF DE] → Writer Marjorie Liu & artist Sana Takeda
  Set in a world evocative of Asia in the 20th century, Monstress follows Maika Highwolf, a young girl who shares a powerful psychic link with an Arcanic, a member of a magical race of creatures being hunted by humans who seek to consume them to gain their power.
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters [AUCH AUF DE]→ Emil Ferris
  Ten-year-old Karen Reyes investigates her upstairs neighbour’s apparent suicide in 1960s Chicago, imagining herself as a werewolf in a world of monsters.
• Oishinbo → Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki
  Oishinbo follows the adventures of a culinary journalist.
• One Piece [AUCH AUF DE]→ Eiichiro Oda
  The adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates.
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood [AUCH AUF DE]→ Marjane Satrapi
  A powerful memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, told through poignant black-and-white comic strip images.
• Shubeik Lubeik [AUCH AUF DE] → Deena Mohamed
  A brilliant and imaginative graphic novel set in Cairo, where wishes are real: feminist and Arab-centric.
• Spirou & Fantasio [AUCH AUF DE]→ Rob-Vel
  Spirou and Fantasio are two adventurous journalists who run into fantastic adventures, aided by Spirou’s pet squirrel Spip and their inventor friend, the Count of Champignac.
• The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer [AUCH AUF DE]→ Edgar P. Jacobs
  MI5 agent Captain Francis Blake, and his friend Professor Philip Mortimer, a leading British scientist, are the sworn enemy of Colonel Olrik, who appears very frequently. Their confrontations take them into the realms of detective investigation and science fiction, dealing with themes of time travel, historical events, and espionage.
• The Adventures of Tintin [AUCH AUF DE – Tim-und-Struppi-Serie] → Hergé (pen name of Georges Remi)
  Set in the 20th century, the comic follows a young Belgian reporter and his dog Snowy.
• The Arrival [Keine Worte – alle Sprachen] → Shaun Tan
  Tells the story of an immigrant’s life in an imaginary world, using photo-realistic illustrations and no dialogue to convey themes of solitude, alienation, and hope.
• The Infernal Devices → Cassandra Clare
  Tessa Gray, a sixteen-year-old American girl, is traveling alone to Victorian London and runs afoul of the city’s sordid supernatural underworld. Rescued by the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, she quickly finds herself caught up in an intrigue that may very well destroy her new friends.
• The Labyrinth → Ben Argon
  Two rats trapped in a labyrinth navigate existential questions about freedom, death, and meaning – transforming Sartre’s philosophy into visual narrative.
• The Moomins [AUCH AUF DE]→ Tove Jansson
  Moomintrolls are white, hippopotamus-like fictional creatures who live in Moominvalley.
• The Nice House on the Lake → James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno
  What happens when a group of strangers accepts an invitation to spend a week in a gorgeous forest mansion set beside a private lake?
• The Sandman Vol. 1 [AUCH AUF DE]→ Neil Gaiman
  The titular character is the god of dreams (and nightmares), one of seven “Endless” gods created to anthropomorphise metaphysical concepts such as destiny, despair, desire, and death.
• The Snowpiercer → Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette
  Le Transperceneige takes place in a not-so-distant future where climate change has killed almost all life on the planet. A few survivors have managed to board the snowpiercer, a self-powered train circling the frozen earth. Took over 30 years to publish.
• The Walking Dead [AUCH AUF DE] → Robert Kirkman
  The comic series that kick-started the TV series, follows Rick Grimes and others during a zombie apocalypse, with gripping themes of morality and survival.
• Uzumaki [AUCH AUF DE]→ Junji Ito
  This manga is about the people who live in a small town plagued by a curse involving spirals (the “uzumaki” of the title).
• Watchmen [AUCH AUF DE]→ Writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, colorist John Higgins
  An intricate tale that presents a dark, alternate version of 1985, where superheroes have risen and fallen.

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​What a “salon” is (and how our reading salon works)

​​In the 16th & 17th century, the concept of salons emerged. They were gatherings held my a host (like me!) – and often- women (starting with literary salons) – and served as an important place for the exchange of ideas. They were theatres of conversation and exchange, which is exactly what I hope for our reading salons.

​​How the Innsbruck Reads reading salon works:

​​Over several months (usually 3-ish), read one or more books related to the theme and then join us for a meal and a conversation about what excited, delighted, or disappointed different readers. Feel free to find your own books or be inspired by the ones I offer.

​​This is an opportunity to stretch yourself and read outside your favourite genre, using a thematic anchor, and learn about a variety of different books from fellow readers.