Every day this month I'm going to feature a current comic book writing "star," someone who I think is a very good writer.

I'm mostly going to try to keep from the biggest names as much as possible, because, really, do I need to talk more about the awesomeness of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis?

Here is the archive of previously featured writers.

Today we look at a writer who is a marvelous storyteller!

Enjoy!

I already featured Raina Telgemeier on the Month of Art Stars, for her expressive Lynn Johnston meets Bill Watterson art style, but consarnit, she's just too good of a comic book WRITER not to feature here, as well!

First off, Telgemeier is one of the best comic book adapters that I have seen, as I have little to no interest (closer to no) in the Baby Sitter's Club, and yet I've read and enjoyed her adaptations of the Ann M. Martin books. She just knows how to tell a story beautifully.

However, that is not limited only to ADAPTING comics, because her OWN work is excellent, as well!

Her auto-biographical comic, Smile (about her experiences dealing with tooth problems as a young girl), is coming out soon as a graphic novel (well, 2010, but that FEELS soon!). A comic book about dealing with dental issues sounds totally boring, but Telgemeier manages to make it fun and engaging. It started as a web-comic, which you can still see here (the beginning, at least).

During the Art Stars piece, I shared a great short story by Telgemeier, and it is so good that I am going to share it again, this time as an example of how good of a storyteller she is (and how clever she can be)...

As an extra bonus, here's another short story by Telgemeier...

Check out some more of her comics here!