frbd1-10, Exercise 3: A personal canon of five works

Model answer (check the details); another list is equally good if each pick is justified:

1. The Adventures of Tintin (Hergé), for influence: it set the clear-line style and the adventure model (Chapter 3).
2. Gaston (Franquin), for craft in comedy: the gag page at its best (Chapter 4).
3. Astérix (Goscinny and Uderzo), for popularity and wordplay: the best-selling hero, with a translator's art in English (Chapter 5).
4. L'Incal or Arzach (Moebius), for visual originality and influence on later science fiction (Chapter 6).
5. Persepolis (Satrapi), for reach and for showing what the graphic novel can do with memoir (Chapter 7).

What it leaves out: women other than Satrapi, Tardi's war comics, the satirical press, manga's effect on the market, and the many series not translated into English. A longer list would add Tardi, Bretécher, Trondheim and others.

Note: each choice answers a different criterion, so the list can be defended, but it is still one person's selection.