Graphic Novel Review: We Only Find The When They’re Dead Book One: The Seeker written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Simone Di Meo

We Only Find The When They’re Dead Book One: The Seeker written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Simone Di Meo. With color assists by Mariasara Miotti. BOOM! Studios, 2021. Contains #1-#5. 9781684156771. 112pp.

After asteroids are all mined out, humanity finds a new resource: enormous dead gods whose bodies can be harvested for materials. This science fiction graphic novel opens in 2323, when Georges Malik, a boy on his family’s autopsy ship, sees a dead god for the first time. Then it jumps to 2367 when, as captain of his own ship, Malik is about to lead his crew on another harvest. It’s hard to make enough money to keep going when corporate ships get all the most valuable parts, and when the price is controlled by the government. Being in the sights of Paula Richter, the most ruthless officer piloting an escort ship, makes it even tougher. But Malik and his crew are going to try their dangerous, get-rich-quick plan anyway — to find a live god. All does not go as planned.

Di Meo and Miotti’s colors seem to glow on the page, and really bring this to life. The writing is stellar, too. Volume 2 is due out in 2022, but if you can’t wait that long issues of the comic are coming out every few months or so.

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Graphic Novel Review: The Golden Age Book 1 by Roxanne Moreil and Cyril Pedrosa

The Golden Age Book 1 by Roxanne Moreil and Cyril Pedrosa. English translation by Montana Kane. First Second, 2021. 9781250237941. 224pp.

Princess Tilda’s father has just died, and nobles are arriving for her coronation. she’s saying goodbye to her father when her little brother arrives with soldiers and announces that many of their father’s vassals have pledged allegiance to him, and that Tilda will be sent into exile. Luckily her childhood friend Bertil and his master Tankred (a disgraced noble) rescue her. They are chased through a dark and colorful forest where Tilda is wounded and begins to have visions. She heals at a hidden compound where women who live peacefully, hidden from the world, though they also seem to be preparing for a fight.

At the end of the book, Tilda, unsure whom she can trust, seeks something hidden, a treasure secretly left for her by her father. It may be the key to regaining her throne, though that seems unlikelier than ever as peasants have revolted against the nobles, and violence is imminent.

This is the first of a two book series, and the second book was just published in the U.S. The writing is great, but it’s Pedrosa’s art, and particularly his colors, that make the book something special. Pick up a printed version of the book to see how spectacular they look.

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Graphic Novel Review: Crush by Svetlana Chmakova

Crush by Svetlana Chmakova. Yen Press, 2018. 9780316363242. 240pp.

This third graphic novel in the Berrybrook Middle School series focuses on the athletic and shy Jorge Ruiz. People think he’s kind of intimidating because of his size, but he’s pretty awkward. He has two great friends, Olivia and Garrett, and a huge crush on Jazmine, who he can hardly bring himself to speak to. Things get weird as he tries to figure out how he’s feeling, and weirder still when he finds out Jazmine has a boyfriend. (It doesn’t last.) There’s an upcoming dance that adds to Jorge’s stress, some friend drama as Garrett makes poor choices in trying to become friends with a popular quarterback, James, and a terrible situation when everyone thinks Jorge made awful comments online (and won’t believe that someone hacked his account).

Chmakova’s books take me right back to all the middle school drama I remember and imagine. Her characters are easy to identify with, and the way she tells stories always wows me. The next book in the series, Enemies, will be released in September 2022. While I’m waiting for it I’m going to reread my favorite book of hers, Dramacon!

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Graphic Novel Review: Let’s Not Talk Anymore by Weng Pixin

Let’s Not Talk Anymore by Weng Pixin. Drawn & Quarterly, 2021. 9781770464629. 204pp.

This is the story of several women on Pixin’s mother’s side when they were fifteen, stretching back to her great grandmother in 1908 and forward in time to include her own imaginary daughter, Rita, in 2032. I’m not sure how much story I carried away from this, but then it’s not built around a page-turning plot. It’s an exploration of the connections across generations and family members’ influences on one other. It’s a weird blend of history and autobiography and speculative fiction the likes of which I’ve never read before. And it’s a very compelling sequential story told in vignettes via paintings that I adored.

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Graphic Novel Review: No One Else by R. Kikuo Johnson

No One Else by R. Kikuo Johnson. Fantagraphics, 2021. 9781683964797. 104pp.

Charlene is working as a nurse and taking care of both her elderly father and her young son. Then her father has an accident and dies. She snaps, quits her job, stops picking up her house, and starts studying to apply to medical school. Her brother, a musician, shows up, and finds out their father died. He has little sympathy for his sister, and isn’t sure she’s okay. This is just the first few pages — the rest is all beautifully written family dynamics full of wonderful dialogue and the best blue-and-orange sequential art ever. My favorite character by far is Charlene’s son Brandon — we get to see the moments where he starts to take a bit of responsibility for himself, his confusion at what’s going on around him, and how upset he is by it all as he searches for his missing cat, Batman.

A revised edition of Johnson’s previous graphic novel for adults, The Night Fisher, was recently released as well. And if you haven’t read his book The Shark King from Toon Books, it’s also great. All three of his books are set in Hawaii.

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Graphic Novel Review: I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki, art by Yoshi Yoshitani

I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki, art by Yoshi Yoshitani. DC Graphic Novels For Young Adults, 2021. 9781779501264. 184pp.

Mandy’s mom is the superhero Starfire, the ass-kicking, “bikini”-wearing member of the (Teen) Titans from the planet Tamaran, which makes people think they know Mandy. Her mom gets her all kinds of attention she doesn’t want, which sucks because Mandy sees herself as the opposite of Starfire. Mandy has no powers. She’s short and round and likes to dye her hair black so that she doesn’t sparkle. Her best friend Lincoln doesn’t care that Mandy’s mom is a hero, and is trying to help her navigate the Starfire groupies at school as well as her crush on Claire. Mandy gets a bit freaked out when Claire invites her over to work on a school assignment, but then gets mad when she asks about college — Mandy isn’t planning to attend one, and she does not want to talk about it. It’s pretty clear Claire is interested in friendship with Mandy, and maybe more…and then Starfire’s evil sister Blackfire shows up to demand that Mandy fight her to the death for the Tamaranian throne.

The art is great, the dialogue is realistic, and as a Teen Titans from way back it’s nice to see that DC green lit a book like this, one from such an unexpected narrative angle.

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Graphic Novel Review: Wrassle Castle Book 1: Learning The Ropes by Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin, illustrated by Galaad

Wrassle Castle Book 1: Learning The Ropes by Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin, illustrated by Galaad. Wonderbound, 2021. 9781638490098. 96pp.

Lydia wants to be a professional wrestler like her famous older brother but her parents want her to go into the family business. So she has to hide her training — she wrestles in street matches and even against wildlife in the forest. (Her friends have formed an underground alibi network to help, though they’re running out of excuses for her parents.) There’s a lot going on that sets up book two: Lydia’s brother is arrested, the kingdom is under attack, and Lydia is trying to win a tournament to become an entry-level wrestler at Wrassle Cassle.

It’s a bit of lighthearted, inclusive, coming-of-age fun in a medieval setting, and I’m looking forward to the next two books, which will be published in 2022.

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Picture Book Reviews

The Pros & Cons of Being a Frog by Sue deGennaro. A Paula Wiseman Book, 2016. 9781481471305.

A boy who likes to dress up as animals is friends with a girl who speaks mostly in numbers. She helps him figure out which animal is best for him but then he makes her mad. Message: it’s cool to have friends who are different. DeGennaro’s playful, number-filled images feel very kind.

 

Arnold the Super-ish Hero by Heather Tekavec & Guillaume Perreault. Kids Can Press, 2021. 9781525303098.

Arnold’s family members all have powers and work as superheroes. Arnold is the phone guy. One day when he takes a call for help and rings the alarm, no one comes to help. So he puts on a costume and sets off for the city park, helping several people along the way. (His family even thinks he’s cool, though even they don’t know his secret hero identity by the end.) A funny, short comic about helping people in small ways, done in graphic novel format. Perreault’s pictures help the book hit just the right tone.

 

Someone Farted by Bruce Eric Kaplan. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018. 9781481490634.

The Krupke family is on their way to the supermarket when one of them farts. (Sally notices it first.) No one will admit they did it. They all end up in jail. And that’s not even the end of the book. Good stuff, much funnier and more real than most of those holiday picture books you’re sick of.

 

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Graphic Novel Review: Djeliya: A West African Fantasy Epic by Juni Ba

Djeliya: A West African Fantasy Epic by Juni Ba. TKO Studios, 2021. 9781952203244. 180pp.

The Wizard Suomaoro destroyed the world from high in his ivory tower. Now Awa Kouyaté, last in a line of djeli guiding the rulers of Keita, is helping Mansour, the surviving heir to the Keita throne, race the holy man Mbam to the tower’s secrets. (Awa and Monsour are actually to blame for the situation — the pair stole a criminal lord’s powerful juju for Mbam, which allowed him to break into the tower.) Mbam sees himself as on a quest to restore order by replacing the wizard. But Awa and Mansour need to beat him to the top, to stop him from ruining the world.

This post-apocalyptic tale has traits of superhero and manga comics, along with giant djinnes, monstrous criminals, magic, and high technology. The art is as kinetic and energetic in places as FLCL. It runs the gamut from wild colors to black and white, and turning from one page to the next I never knew what to expect. From berserk layouts to old school manga screen tones, this book has everything and it all works. The story itself is demanding, going backward and forward in time in a rhythm that needs more concentration than the average graphic novel, but which is so worth reading and rereading. What a book!

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