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Archive for the ‘Graphic Novel’ Category

Victoria Grace Elliott–Please Be My Star (2024)

Posted in Café Tacvba, Elvis Costello, Graphic Novel, Play (Drama), Radiohead, Romance, Sonic Youth, They Might Be Giants, YA Books on February 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 19, 2025 ] Please Be My Star

My daughter brought this book home from the library and said that she liked it, but it was kind of weird, and that I should read it.

So I did.

I loved the art style.  It’s a style that I can’t really do, but which I find very appealing.  I liked that it had a manga feel but wasn’t manga.  I also really liked that there was a fair amount of Spanish in it.

The story is fairly simple.  Erika moved to a new high school.  She was kind of a loner in her previous school.  Having been rejected by friends and potential boyfriends at the old school means she is full of self-doubt.  This self doubt takes the form of a ghostly version of herself who criticizes her in speech bubbles that are black with white text.  And the ghostly version of herself is nasty!

Erika joins the drama club, but they are told that they are not going to be doing a school play this year.  Instead, whoever wants to, can enter a one act play in a local performance.  The writer/director will do everything from casting to set building to everything.

Erika has a massive crush on Christian, a hot boy in class.  His family is Mexican which is where the Spanish comes in.  I love that they go to his house and Erika is given a brief tutorial on how to behave in a Mexican household–and she gets to eat delicious homemade enchiladas de Potosí.  Erika decides to write a play specifically for Christina to star in.

He agrees and the bulk of the book is about them prepping for the play, getting sets and dialogue ready and Erika wondering and worrying about whether Christian likes her back (and why would he, since he is so hot and all).  There’s some minor friction with Paola, a girl who has known Christian forever and who is very possessive of him.  But that storyline is quickly dismissed. (more…)

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Dan Santat–The Aquanaut (2022)

Posted in Animals, Dan Santat, Death, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Ocean on February 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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[READ: February 2, 2025] The Aquanaut

I like Dan Santat (his instagram is fun) and I like his drawing style.  I’ve read a lot of books that he has illustrated but I don’t know that I’ve read all that many books written by him.

This book was pretty weird, but the story was a lot of fun.

The story opens with a man getting killed at sea (yea, pretty shocking).  The man turns out to be the father of the main character, Sophia.

Sophia’s father and her uncle had created a marine theme park called Aqualand.  They were scientists and they wanted to bring the world of the sea to everyone.  But there’s not a lot of money in that so investors kept insisting that they add more excitement to Aqualand.  And soon it was a far cry from what they’d envisioned.

But then one day, an Aquanaut walks out of the sea.  The aquanaut is in a diving suit–the one that her father had used!–It causes quite a stir, obviously, but it has one goal: to find Aqualand.  It’s especially funny when you realize that the suit is being “driven” by three sea creatures.

I enjoyed the story well enough but it did leave a lot of questions, mostly to do with the plot.  There’s no real explanation or even introduction to the sea creatures. And after reading the afterword where Santat talks about how personal the story was to him, I wanted to like it more.  But instead I mostly enjoyed the illustrations and the overall environmental themes and vibe of the book.

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Caza–Kris Kool (1970) [ 2020 reprint]

Posted in Caza, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Infinity, Outer Space, Sex, Sexism, Violence, Virginity (Loss of) on March 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 2024] Kris Kool

Caza is Philippe Cazaumayou, a French illustartor who has been working since the 1960s.  This was his first novel and it is as psychedelic as one might expect from a comic made in 1970.

There’s sex, there’s trippy colors, there’s outer space, there’s even a plot of sorts.

Kris Kool “has known the sumptuous vertigo of sinking among the moribund asteroids… [his] eyes were burnt by the truly dense flames of the sun’s corona.”

Kris is talking to a naked woman [we learn later that she is a “Lectronic Party Doll–For bachelors only”] about his spacecraft–that he sold it to the scrapyard and doesn’t have enough for a new one.  This adventurer can’t possibly end his days like this can he?

Fortunately a rogue named Bluebeard offers him a job piloting an illegal ship for Gweene.  The Gweene is a hot woman with tattoos all over her body and… no face.   She offers him a job to go to the Mandrakes from Venus, the flowerwomen that Kris believes are a myth.  (more…)

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Kazu Kibuishi–Amulet: Book Nine: Waverider (2024)

Posted in Aliens, Alternate Reality, Children's Books, Completed Series, Death, Dystopia, Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Kazu Kibuishi, Mystery, Outer Space, Robots, Supernatural, Superstitions, Technology on February 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 2, 2024] Amulet: Waverider

It has been SIX YEARS since the previous book came out.  This has been a hotly anticipated release around our house as I got my wife into it and she has gotten a bunch of her students into it.  It’s crazy to think that the students who were reading the books in fifth grade are now in high school.

This book follows Emily as she combats the evil Ikol.  I had assumed that Ikol was the inverse of Loki, but later in the book he explains that it is an acronym–the Intelligent Kinematic Operations Laboratory (the place he was born).

But Emily’s plan is to undo all of the wicked things that Ikol has done to the citizens of this world.  Mostly that involves getting people to look inside of themselves and see their true nature.

Meanwhile Trellis and the elves are heading bac into their own territory.  They are smuggled in as sick prisoners suffering from (I love this) Empathitis.  When they get to the castle, it turns out that Gabilan is in power.  He expects a fight from Trellis, but Trellis says no, he is there to serve the rightfully appointed king.  Everyone is shocked. (more…)

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Ben Hatke–Reynard’s Tale: A Story of Love and Mischief (2023)

Posted in Adventure, Ben Hatke, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foxes, Short Books, Trickster Tale on February 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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[READ: January 20, 2024] Reynard’s Tale

I’ve really enjoyed all of Ben Hatke’s books.  He tends to write children’s books.  And, given the size of this book, I thought it would be a children’s story as well.

But it isn’t.  It’s not fully adult or anything, but the word “bastard” does appear and it is clear from the (superb) drawings that sex has been had–nothing explicit, and maybe a child wouldn’t get it, but…

The book is roughly 80 pages with an illustration on every other page.  I love the way that Hatke draws Reynard, the fox, as pretty much all nose and hat–very expressive without actually seeing a face.

Reynard is the classic Trickster.  As the story opens, he is sitting in the woods thinking of his love.  His reveries are broken by Collar the Crow (who is a priest) who comes with a summons from the King and a blessing. (more…)

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Andi Watson, Simon Gane–Sunburn (2022)

Posted in Andi Watson, Donkeys, Drinking, Graphic Novel, Greece, Humiliation, Image Comics, Romance, Simon Gane, Vacation on July 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: June 25, 2023] Sunburn

I haven’t read a book by Andi Watson in a long time.

I used to be a big fan of his indie comics and then I lost touch with him–turns out he was hired by the big guns and has been working with Dark Horse for a pretty long time.

This surprises me, because his stories were usually very quiet and introspective.  Like this one.

It also surprises me that Simon Gane did the art for this book because I was especially attracted to Watson for his drawing style.  However, Gane’s designs are quite excellent and work really well for this story.

The story starts out pretty simply.  Rachel is a sixteen year old British school girl.  Her parents are typical, with her dad giving her a hard time because she doesn’t like eggs.  And making dad jokes.

Then her mom comes in the kitchen and says that Peter, Rachel’s dad old friend, has invited Rachel out for the summer holidays.  Rachel is mortified at the thought of spending the summer with her parents’ friends–ones she doesn’t even remember–is horrifying.

Until her mom says that they are vacationing in Greece.

Greece is lovely–so much more beautiful than rainy England.  Peter is an older gent and is super nice, but it’s Peter’s wife Diane who is full of ebullience and life.  She swoops down, gives Rachel a huge hug and tells her to make herself at home.   She gives her regionally appropriate clothes to wear (British swim suits are very different from Grecian ones) and even lets her have some wine with dinner.

That first night they go out to a grown up (boring) party.  Fortunately, there’s a local boy, Benjamin, who is very nice to her and they begin hanging out. Rachel teaches him to swim and he provides her with her first kiss.

But things seem a little off.  Or if not off exactly, then maybe uncomfortable.  Benjamin says that everyone knows everyone else at these parties.  There’s no secrets.  “I know who cheats at backgammon and I know who’s gobbling pills by the handful just to make it through the day.”

It turns out that everyone at these parties also knows about Ben and Rachel.  One day Diane warns her to be careful to not bring home “anything unwanted.”  She is offended by the lectureand is upset when Ben doesn’t act the way she thought he would.  He basically says that no one cares about what they do, but it sounds a bit like he means he doesn;t care what he does either.

Things grows tense.  And then even more tense when an actual secret comes out.  I was rather surprised by the secret myself.

But it’s also nice that Rachel grows from the experience.

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Damian Bradfield / David Sánchez–Algorithmic Reality (2022)

Posted in Corporate skewering, Damian Bradfield, David Sánchez, Dystopia, End of the World, Environmentalism, Graphic Novel, NBM, Outer Space, Sci-fi, Technology, The Future on July 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: July 15, 2023] Algorithmic Reality

I received this book at work with a bunch of other graphic novels from NBM.  I liked the stuff they sent out–anti-corporate and promoting the underground.  And this book fits in with that ethic.

I don’t know David Sánchez’s work, but his style in this book reminds me of Chris Ware and Ted Rall.  Ware in particular because the characters look vaguely the same in every panel (on purpose) with minimal changes between panels.  Damian Bradfield is a British businessman (that’s pretty much all it says about him on the book) and he has written four tales of dystopian technology takeover.

In the first, a man goes to a store to buy a pair of shoes.  He doesn’t buy any but the employee follows him seemingly everywhere to make sure he doesn’t want them.  On the street.  In the grocery store (where the employee has photos of the sneakers).  Then he sees the employee in different outfits everywhere until finally the employee is in his house. The employee is never aggressive, just always there–like your ads on your phone. (more…)

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Kami Garcia; Gabriel Picolo–Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven (2021)

Posted in Beast Boy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Death, Gabriel Picolo, Graphic Novel, Kami Garcia, Raven, Supernatural, Teen Titans on July 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: May 20, 2023] Teen Titans: Raven

Kami Garcia has written (and Gabriel Picolo has illustrated) a trilogy of books about Raven and Beast Boy from the Teen Titans.

I only know about Teen Titans from teen Titans Go! which I think is hilarious and (which I realized years after watching it) has nothing really at all to do with the actual Teen Titans who are serious (and kind of dull in a DC comics way).

But these stories are interesting and seem to be breaking out of the darkness that DC is under with these lighter (but not nearly as light as Teen Titans Go!) origin stories.

As with all comic book characters, origin stories are canon.  Until they need to be modified for the new series. I don’t know what the actual origin stories of either of these characters are, but I enjoyed these quite a bit.  I also rather liked this book because on the cover Raven looks like Miss Calendar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

At the end of each of their books, they were heading to Nashville to meet Slade, a mysterious figure who says he has answers.  They are in the same cafe and when their orders get mixed up (Beast Boy is vegetarian), they wind up talking.  Beast Boy falls for her instantly, but she is very suspicious and blows him off. (more…)

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Kami Garcia; Gabriel Picolo–Teen Titans: Beast Boy (2020)

Posted in Beast Boy, Death, Drugs, Gabriel Picolo, Graphic Novel, Kami Garcia, Raven, Supernatural, Teen Titans on July 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: May 20, 2023] Teen Titans: Beast Boy

Kami Garcia has written (and Gabriel Picolo has illustrated) a trilogy of books about Raven and Beast Boy from the Teen Titans.

I only know about Teen Titans from teen Titans Go! which I think is hilarious and (which I realized years after watching it) has nothing really at all to do with the actual Teen Titans who are serious (and kind of dull in a DC comics way).

But these stories are interesting and seem to be breaking out of the darkness that DC is under with these lighter (but not nearly as light as Teen Titans Go!) origin stories.

As with all comic book characters, origin stories are canon.  Until they need to be modified for the new series. I don’t know what the actual origin stories of either of these characters are, but I enjoyed these quite a bit.

This story begins in Georgia where teenaged Garfield Logan (Beast Boy) has a bucket list that mostly includes gaining weight and muscle.  As he leaves the house, his parents ask him if he has taken his Aminotrianidol, to which he says yes, just like every day.  This is a supplement that they say he absolutely must take every day.

Garfield and his friend Stella drive to the county fair to watch their friend Daniel ‘The Tank” Tanaka win a hot dog eating contest.  Stella is an online gamer with thousands of followers.  Garfield is bummed because he doesn’t have a thing that he’s good at. (more…)

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Kami Garcia; Gabriel Picolo–Teen Titans: Raven (2021)

Posted in Amnesia, Beast Boy, Death, Gabriel Picolo, Graphic Novel, Kami Garcia, Raven, Set at School, Supernatural, Teen Titans on July 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: May 20, 2023] Teen Titans: Raven

Kami Garcia has written (and Gabriel Picolo has illustrated) a trilogy of books about Raven and Beast Boy from the Teen Titans.

I only know about Teen Titans from teen Titans Go! which I think is hilarious and (which I realized years after watching it) has nothing really at all to do with the actual Teen Titans who are serious (and kind of dull in a DC comics way).

But these stories are interesting and seem to be breaking out of the darkness that DC is under with these lighter (but not nearly as light as Teen Titans Go!) origin stories.

As with all comic book characters, origin stories are canon.  Until they need to be modified for the new series. I don’t know what the actual origin stories of either of these characters are, but I enjoyed these quite a bit.

This story begins in Atlanta where teenage Rachel (Raven)’s foster mother is planning to adopt her.  But there is a car accident and Raven’s mother is killed. (more…)

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