Characters: Fiends of the Library
Graphic Novel Review: Zeroed Out: A Sci-Fi Rom-Com by Jim Munroe and Eric Kim
Posted on October 16, 2025 at 6:47 am by Gene Ambaum
Zeroed Out: A Sci-Fi Rom-Com by Jim Munroe and Eric Kim (artist). At Bay Press, 2025. 9781998779673. 163pp.
Offworlders and their tech have improved life for most folks on Earth. But Matias lost a girlfriend to one of the shapeshifting offworlders. Now he has a job working for them that’s so boring that all he can think about is how lonely he is. (He spends all day overwriting hard drives with zeroes.) But things start to change after his offworlder boss, Sam, introduces himself. At work, Sam looks like a neanderthal, and finds it refreshing how honestly Matias talks to him. Sam offers Matias overtime as an advisor, and Matias accepts. Matias soon finds out that on weekends Sam chooses to appear as an incredibly attractive young woman, and that Sam is lonely, too.
The whole story is super weird, a not-quite-romance that goes in unexpected directions and which I thoroughly enjoyed. Between this graphic novel and Munroe’s prose novel We Are Raccoons I’ve become a fan, and plan to continue seeking out his work in books and other media.
Screenshot
Screenshot
Graphic Novel Review: The Fable Omnibus 1 by Katsuhisa Minami
Posted on October 14, 2025 at 6:41 am by Gene Ambaum
The Fable Omnibus 1 by Katsuhisa Minami. Kodansha, 2024. 9978888772447. 416pp. Publisher’s Rating: Mature 18+
This manga series opens with Fable, a legendary hit man, taking out a bunch of goons. He’s unhurried, the violence is balletic, and when he takes off the hood he’s wearing he’s a bit of a goofball. He loves Jackal Tomioka, a third-rate comedian who can make Fable laugh no matter how many people he’s killed. (That’s Fable on the cover with his pet bird on his head.)
Fable’s boss tells him and his driver that they won’t be taking any new jobs for a while. He wants them to lie low in Osaka and to try acting like normal people for a change. They’re to pose as brother and sister, and they are absolutely not supposed to kill anyone while they’re there.
The local yakuza give them apartments and are instructed to leave them alone. But some of them have other ideas, including members set on testing Fable’s skills, running him out of town, and trying to follow in his footsteps.
This first volume is odd, at least if violence doesn’t bother you. The next two get rougher when, among other things, a gang member returns from prison and tries to force Fable’s neighbor into prostitution. Fable’s unique, light approach to life stands in contrast to this character and others, which seems to be setting him up to be a hero of sorts.
Picture Books!
Posted on October 9, 2025 at 6:26 am by Gene Ambaum
Umami by Jacob Grant. Viking, 2024. 9780593624067.
Umami (a penguin) is tired of eating cold fish, so she sets out on an adventure. She travels and eats foods with lots of different flavors, and then she decides to bring those home for the other penguins to try.
I loved the cover of this book and all of Grant’s illustrations throughout, so I went to the library and checked out all of the books by him (and drawn by him) that I could. This next book was my favorite of the rest:
Cat Knit by Jacob Grant. Feiwel and Friends, 2016. 9781250051509.
Cat and Girl are friends, but then Girl brings home Yarn, and Cat really loves him. But Girl changes Yarn into an itchy sweater that Cat does not like that much… (Grant’s illustrations still have the same life in this book, but they’re drawn in a different style that I also loved.)
The Everything Trail by Meg Fleming, illustrated by Chuck Groenink. Beach Lane Books, 2025. 9781665924870.
I do not love roaming in the forest, but this book almost makes me want to hang out with trees, so I know it’s excellent. Bonus points for the giant slug and the high-fiving of ferns. And the redwoods, because even I love redwoods.
Book Review: Questions Without Answers by Sarah Manguso, illustrated by Liana Finck
Posted on October 7, 2025 at 6:25 am by Gene Ambaum
Questions Without Answers by Sarah Manguso, illustrated by Liana Finck. Hogarth, 2025. 9780593733622. 160pp.
The book is full of the best questions kids have ever asked. They’re profound and strange, and arranged into the following subjects: people, animals, things, big things, you, and me.
Finck’s illustrations turn each question into a one-panel comic. If you haven’t fallen in love with Finck’s style already, this book will push you over the edge. I love the way her drawings can be silly and still express a childlike wonder, even though they’ve clearly been drawn by an adult.
I know everyone is going to tell you this is a great book for folks who have kids and love kids and so on. But get a copy for that friend of yours who says they hate kids. I think this will help them more.
Woo! Picture Books!
Posted on October 2, 2025 at 7:18 am by Gene Ambaum
This Year, A Witch by Zoey Abbott. A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, 2025. 9781665956024.
The little girl narrating this tale is done with cute costumes! She’s ready to be a witch! And this is amazing because of the bright colors in this lovely picture book and the surprise ending. (Plus her dad sews. And there’s a cat.)
The Zom Bees by Justin Colón, illustrated by Kaly Quarles. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025.
Green zombie bees in a graveyard! But they’re not here to eat our brains; they’re flying about for a much nicer reason. (This book also has a surprise ending that leaves room for a sequel.)
Aggie And The Ghost by Matthew Forsythe. A Paula Wiseman Book, 2025. 9781534478206.
Aggie is a bit annoyed by the fact that her house is haunted, so she gives the ghost a few rules. But the ghost is terrible at following rules. They play an epic, exhausting game of tic-tac-toe to figure out which of them has to leave. (The ending isn’t a surprise exactly, but it’s one of my favorites. Plus Forsythe’s illustrations have amazing blends of colors.)
I Hate Everything! By Sophy Henn. Beach Lane Books, 2025. 9781665980494.
One ghost says it hates everything, but the other reminds it that it doesn’t really. It’s a book full of big feelings, and I love Henn’s use of word balloons and simple facial expressions. (If your kids might be freaked out by other ghostly or witchy picture books, this is the one to bring home.)
Graphic Novel Review: Jazzy The Witch In Broom Doom by Jessixa Bagley
Posted on September 30, 2025 at 6:30 am by Gene Ambaum
Jazzy The Witch In Broom Doom by Jessixa Bagley. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. 9781665922326. 232pp. Includes an author’s note and an excerpt of the next book in the series.
Jazzy’s moms and granny are very excited when she leaves for school on the day all of the young witches start their flying lessons. They hope she’ll one day take over the family’s broom business! But Jazzy can’t really get off the ground. In fact, she’s not great at magic in general; she feels like she’s missing something.
While watching TV with her familiar, Fiona (a bat), she figures out what that is. She was born to be a cyclist! She enlists the help of her friend Aggie to get a bike, and then spends all of her time learning to ride it. It’s clearly her jam, but she’s lying to her family, not getting ready for the flying parade in honor of the super moon, and she’s also not being a great friend.
Bagley’s picture books are beautiful, but this graphic novel is my favorite. It feels personal and joyous, and the witches and their town really come alive in its pages.
Graphic Novel Review: Motherlover by Lindsay Ishihiro
Posted on September 25, 2025 at 6:25 am by Gene Ambaum
Motherlover by Lindsay Ishihiro. Iron Circus Comics, 2025. 9781638991465. 307pp.
Motherlover is the story of two moms becoming friends and then falling in love. Alexis is a single mother who just moved home with her daughter; she seems terrible at long-term relationships. Imogen, her neighbor, has three kids and a husband who completely takes her for granted. That changes a bit when Imogen moves out; Alexis is there to provide support and to keep her from believing he’s going to change. Their friendship is adorable, and I especially loved Imogen’s reaction when Alexis’s friends assume Imogen is more than a friend. Their parenting skills are top-notch, too.
I met my friend Michelle at the wrap party for Strangers in Paradise years ago. She made fun of my drink, and I responded by teasing her a bit for crying after reading the last issue. I knew I had to tell her about this book as soon as I turned the last page.
Motherlover started as a webcomic, though it’s no longer available online. But you can read its sister comic at https://howbabycomic.com/
Graphic Novel Review: Low Orbit by Kazimir Lee
Posted on September 23, 2025 at 6:21 am by Gene Ambaum
Low Orbit by Kazimir Lee. Top Shelf, 2025. 9781603095525. 336pp.
Azar lives in Vermont with her mother, in an apartment inside a house where her friend Tristan and his father Shannon also live. Azar’s father is still in New York trying to sell their old apartment, but Azar thinks something else may be going on between her parents. She doesn’t quite fit in at school and has a crush she can’t quite bring herself to act on. The way her mom keeps misusing Tristan’s they/them pronouns, and the fact that she thinks Tristan is too young to make such decisions about themselves, keeps Azar from coming out to her mother.
One night, Azar finds a science fiction novel under her bed; it’s The Exiles of the Overworld, a novel Shannon wrote. Tristan seems unimpressed by his father’s work, but Azar can’t put it down. And from the way Shannon’s agent, Howard, keeps trying to get in touch with Shannon, it seems like others are very interested in his work, too.
When Azar needs some space, Shannon and Tristan are there to support her. The town’s abandoned mall and the secrets everyone is keeping play a part in the story. Minor spoiler: Several of the characters end up at a science fiction convention in New York that highlights much of what I love about fandom, especially the folks who cosplay.
This is a beautiful, character-driven graphic novel about growing up and coming out. I loved everything about it, and I know several people I’m going to buy copies for this year.
Graphic Novel Review: The Field by Dave Lapp
Posted on September 18, 2025 at 6:01 am by Gene Ambaum
The Field by Dave Lapp. Conundrum Press, 2024. 978772620948. 552pp.
In the book’s first episode, young David Lapp, inspired by his friend Edward, draws dirty pictures and puts them on the edge of the vocabulary board in Ms. Lewis’s class. Edward then turns David in. Ms. Lewis tapes a note to David’s mother, along with the drawings, to David, who has to wear them for the rest of class.
There’s some more trouble before summer vacation starts. It’s not all Edward’s fault — especially the incident with the angry gym teacher during a square dancing session, when the teacher slams David up against the wall for goofing off. But Edward is always there. He gets David to collect “bees eggs” in a jar. He shows David the dead cat he found. When David takes his new friend Hussein to the field, Edward and Jack drop a hammer on Hussein’s head from their treehouse. It’s no wonder David’s mom thinks Edward is bad news. She wants him to stay away from Edward. He doesn’t. And it’s just the beginning of a long summer.
It’s easy to see why the book is dedicated to Chester Brown — it shares Brown’s matter-of-fact tone in showing the trouble the boys get up to. It’s not all horrific, but a lot of it reminded me of how thoughtless and cruel my friends and I could be as little kids, particularly to bugs, birds, and each other. And it made me remember the fields where I’d disappear with friends carrying bb guns and books of matches, and of all of the weird, horrible adventures we had.
This is not a book for children, though at first glance it might look like one; it is the ultimate gift for men of a certain age, who grew up where suburbs abutted natural areas, and whose parents thought sending them outside all day was better than having them watch TV. (If they’d known what we were doing, I think they would have begged us to watch more TV.)
Graphic Novel Review: Lion Dancers by Cai Tse
Posted on September 16, 2025 at 6:59 am by Gene Ambaum
Lion Dancers by Cai Tse. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665927739. 299pp. including a note from the creator at the end.
The book opens two years ago at the Twelfth Asian International Lion Dance Championships, where the Black Lion Dance Team performed a spectacular leap to defend their title. Wei was in the crowd with his grandmother, and he wanted to fly as part of a lion dance team, just like his dad. But two years later, in middle school, Wei is a different kid. His father died, and he’s living with his grandma. Sports are not his thing. A boy named Hung and his friends seem dedicated to making Wei’s life miserable.
Then Wei runs into someone from a lion dancer team and asks to join. But when he shows up for practice, Hung is there. Hung starts screaming that Wei is not allowed to join. Other team members welcome Wei, though. And as he starts practicing with the team, he remembers when he and Hung trained together with their fathers, and Hung was his tail. The rest of the book is about them learning to endure one anothers’ presence, and then of course (minor spoiler) to work together as a team again.
I loved how upbeat this book is despite Hung’s terrible attitude. Plus Tse taught me a lot about how tough it is to be a lion dancer; in Seattle, I’ve seen my share of performances over the years, but I never really understood the strength and coordination required.
