Graphic Novels for Early Readers
Posted on February 20, 2025 at 6:43 am by Gene Ambaum
Fry Guys by Eric Geron, illustrated by Jannie Ho. Andrews McMeel, 2023. 978152479433. 80pp.In Spudtown, Idaho, Waffle, Curly, and Sweet Potato (that’s them on the cover) are looking for adventure when UFO-nion rings start beaming hot grease at the city. The mayor is no help, but luckily the fries have some ideas about what to do. The whole book is a nice bit of silliness, and had a lot of fry- and potato-based puns to keep adults entertained (or groaning) as they read it to their kids. (Plus there’s already a sequel, Batter of the Bands.)
The Luna Sisters Battle for the Moon Blossom (I Like To Read Comics) by Dan Yaccarino. Holiday House, 2025. 9780823456369. 40pp.The Luna sisters live on opposite sides of the moon, and they’re not just very different, they don’t get along, either. When they both want the same pretty flower, they decide to battle for it. But then a threat to the flower appears, and they might have to work together to save it.
Hearing Things (TOON Level 2) by Ben Sears. TOON Books, 2024. 9781662665431. 40pp.Tim loves walking around his neighborhood with his cat, Frankie, recording sounds. He’s working on finding sounds that will help his friend Martha finish the scary song she’s working on. Frankie soon disappears over a wall into a quiet, spooky old house and helps Tim find what he’s looking for.
Note: If you’ve never read any of Sears’ Double+ graphic novel series, I highly recommend them all.
Graphic Novel Review: Haru: Book 1: Spring by Joe Latham
Posted on February 13, 2025 at 6:45 am by Gene Ambaum
Haru: Book 1: Spring by Joe Latham. Andrews McMeel, 2024. 9781524889616. 270pp.
Haru is a little blue bird with a little brother, Goose. Haru wants to leave the valley where they live, to see what’s up on the mountain in the distance and beyond, but that’s a dream since he can’t even fly.
Other birds make fun of Haru for being blue, but his friend Yama is just the pick-me-up Haru needs. The darkness that once spread across the world is watching them; because it believes Haru is the one mentioned in a prophecy it sends a minion out to grab Haru. Soon Yama is infected with the darkness. It gives him cool powers, but it’s scary because it could hurt someone and Yama can’t get rid of it.
Haru and Yama head to the Old Oak Tree to seek advice on what to do. It’s a quest! Or the beginning of one, at least, to be continued in sequels. (Book 2 is out now.) There are freaky moments involving bog bodies and, later, a weird shopping mall, but there’s help in the form of Herb, a friendly mushroom who cares for dandelion cubs and loves nature.
This book feels like the beginning of something special and reminded me of when I read the first books of Amulet, Bone, and Lightfall.
Graphic Novel Review: I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop
Posted on February 11, 2025 at 6:25 am by Gene Ambaum
I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop. Pantheon, 2024. 9780307908735. 496pp.
Vellekoop’s graphic biography begins when he’s a little boy in love with his mom, heading downtown together on Remembrance Day. When he arrives home with a new book (Cinderella) he shares it with his older sister. After a pillow fight with his two brothers, everyone sits down at a family dinner during which his father goes into one of his regular rages. And then his father takes him on a special excursion to see Fantasia, “an experience that more or less set the course for the rest of [his] life.” Disney becomes his obsession. (Later Barbies and science fiction do, too; there’s an amazing scene where he first sees Planet of the Apes on TV.)
His relationship with his parents becomes a little more complicated when he comes out to them, but he’s lucky enough to have theater, drawing, and good friends to help him through difficult times. Vallekoop attends art school and eventually moves to New York where he works as a commercial artist. He contends with loneliness throughout his life, though the book ends on a high note.
Worth noting: Vellekoop’s illustrations feel like they belong to past decades, but they also have a quality. I particularly enjoyed the way he drew family photographs (there are quite a few on the endpapers), movie posters, and scenes from movies and TV.
Also: the photo drawn on the cover appears on the outside of the hardcover, under the dust jacket. Be sure to have a look.
Graphic Novel Review: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A Graphic Adaptation by Manu Larcenet
Posted on February 6, 2025 at 8:39 am by Gene Ambaum
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A Graphic Adaptation by Manu Larcenet. Harry N. Abrams, 2024. 9781419776779. 160pp. Includes Larcenet’s letter to McCarthy about the book at the end.
I’ve read a few graphic novels drawn by Larcenet that I really enjoyed — Ordinary Victories, plus a few volumes of Sfar and Trondheim’s Dungeon series — but both were drawn in a simpler style. The stark, realistic way Larcenet adapts McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel is stunning, and makes me feel like it’s time to look more deeply into his work.
The story follows a father and son struggling through a wasteland of ash and destruction, trying to get to the ocean and maybe some semblance of safety. The two are wrapped in stained, dark clothing. They’re also starving. The pair avoid others out to do whatever it takes to survive and struggle to be good guys.
The book is drawn in color, but it’s hard to tell on most pages. There’s a bit of color when the sun is up, and some when they’re able to risk a fire or light a lamp. But the most vivid color at the beginning of the book is from packaging, on a box of matches and a soda can, things left over from the way people used to live.
Worth noting: Larcenet apparently attempts to follow McCarthy’s novel and avoid any reference to the film adaptation. I haven’t read McCarthy’s book. If you have, please tell me if Larcenet manages to do this. It’s so unlike the film I feel like he succeeded, but I’d love an informed opinion.
Screenshot
Screenshot
Graphic Novel Review: Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers by Scott Chantler
Posted on February 4, 2025 at 6:15 am by Gene Ambaum
Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers by Scott Chantler. First Second, 2024. 9781250846907. 156pp. (more) Fun Extra Stuff at the end, including a bit about the origin of the story, sketches, and a few notes about Chantler’s process.
At the end of the book, Chantler talks about how easy it would have been to just repeat the first book in the series with a new problem — I assume he meant the boastful Sir Kelton would again have needed his clear-thinking Squire to save the day (though he would not have admitted it). I would have enjoyed that book, but I like this one much better. Seeing Squire realize he doesn’t know everything and then have to deal with that is very satisfying.
The graphic novel opens with Sir Kelton and Squire traveling through the woods. Sir Kelton is entertaining the young goblin child they’re taking to the School of Wizardry with a story. Sir Kelton admonishes Squire for reading on the trail, saying he lacks a sense of adventure. But Squire wishes the knight would pay more attention to their surroundings; they’re lost, and Sir Kelton’s disdain for reading extends to maps as well. Things look up (to Sir Kelton at least) when he has to fight another knight who also isn’t good at listening. Then Squire heads up a tree to try to figure out where they all are, and ends up being captured by hungry gnolls. (Throughout Squire recalls meeting the beautiful Queen Marley, and eventually what she told him about his duty to Sir Kelton.)
Worth noting: Chantler works with a limited color palette again, though it’s different from that of the first book; it’s stunning, and it works particularly well in clarifying which are the flashback scenes. The monsters are just terrifying enough and the battles are entertaining.
Graphic Novel Review: Self-Esteem And The End Of The World by Luke Healy
Posted on January 30, 2025 at 6:24 am by Gene Ambaum
Self-Esteem And The End Of The World by Luke Healy. Drawn & Quarterly, 2024. 9781770467149. 324pp.
A stressed out, thirty-year-old Luke Healy has a lot of stress and anxiety. The earth is falling apart, he’s never going to own a home, and then his twin brother, Teddy, doesn’t ask Luke to be best man at his wedding. He orders a bunch of self-help books and listens to his brother’s voice on the Head App. (Teddy doesn’t believe any of the crap he says via the app.)
Jump forward five years to Luke having invited his mom to see one of his plays performed. Then five more when he’s hiking in Greece while trying to work a day job (he takes calls and pretends to be home). Then five more to the set of a movie based on a minicomic Luke wrote back in 2013. Healy’s mother and brother continue to figure into the story throughout, as do floods. It’s all weird as what starts out feeling like a memoir veers into deadpan, near-future science fiction.
Worth noting: Healy uses the same six-panel layout on most pages. It works really well with his limited use of color (see the cover) and his crisp, clear style of illustration.
Screenshot
Screenshot
Graphic Novel Review: Knots by Colleen Frakes
Posted on January 28, 2025 at 6:22 am by Gene Ambaum
Knots by Colleen Frakes. Harper Alley, 2023. 9780063247161. 240pp.
I’m a huge fan of Frakes’s comics, including Prison Island, Tragic Relief, and her other minicomics, and I can’t believe it missed this graphic novel when it came out last year.
At the beginning of the book, Norah and her little sister Lark live in Cheney, Washington, with their parents, who both work for the Washington State Department of Corrections. Nora starts middle school and, after talking her mom into it, begins bleaching and dyeing her own hair at home. It doesn’t go well, then it does, then it doesn’t. Nora’s hair’s ups and downs nearly mirror changes at home, as her mother takes a new job and moves across the state with her sister, leaving Nora in Cheney with her father, who is busier than ever because of a promotion. After her hair gets tangled up, Nora worries about her teacher reporting her to the authorities, and that she’ll be in trouble because she’s alone at home so much.
This is a great read — Nora is full of new-to-middle-school worries but not the same ones I’ve read about in other books — and her family’s problems don’t involve divorce despite her parents having markedly different personalities. (Minor spoiler) Everyone is in a rough place and instead of driving them apart everyone comes together in a believable, hopeful way by the end.
Worth noting: Nora spends lots of time at the library!
Screenshot
Screenshot
Graphic Novel Review: Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol
Posted on January 23, 2025 at 6:41 am by Gene Ambaum
Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol. First Second, 2024. 9781250314864. 364pp. Includes an author’s note, sketches, beat boards, and two wonderful pages on the coloring process at the end. (The book was colored by the mighty Alex Longstreth.)
Jane’s parents have just died, and her awful male cousin is set to inherit everything. He also intends to kick Jane out of her home. She has nowhere to go, but if she gets married, she’ll receive a sizeable dowry.
Jane secretly loves Peter. He works with his father, a fisherman who enjoys his son’s manner as little as Jane’s parents liked how she looked. Jane works up her courage, though, and proposes to Peter. He’s more than a little rude about it, and then he’s kidnapped by a mermaid. With a little magical help from a woman in town, Jane sets off after him.
What follows is an adventure involving selkies, a mighty water demon, undead sailors, and the quest for eternal youth. Throughout, Jane is brave and kindhearted and the kind of person I wish I had more of a chance to root for. This may be my favorite of Brosgol’s books, which is saying something considering how much my daughter and I love Anya’s Ghost; her art and storytelling get better with every book.
Worth noting: This graphic novel uses spot gloss perfectly on the cover. Hats off to Kirk Benshoff, the cover designer.
Screenshot
Screenshot
Graphic Novel Review: Swords, Spacemen, and Superspies Box Set by James Kochalka
Posted on January 21, 2025 at 6:41 am by Gene Ambaum
Swords, Spacemen, and Superspies Box Set by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920082. (The box set includes a digital edition of each book.)
The three books in this boxed set are fun and showcase both Kochalka’s skills and silliness in the best ways.
Elf Cat Is Famous by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920037. 100pages
This fantasy story is drawn in black and white, so it feels like an instant classic. Elf Cat is broke but he needs a sword. Lucky for him (maybe) he plays by his own rules. Nothing can stop him, not even Elf Dog.
Moon Book Prototype by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920044. 20 pages.
An alien soldier on the moon — he looks like a robot or cyborg — finds a book. As he faces the muscular Bigbro and the deadly Snakeskin, he explores the magic of reading. A lovely gift for the librarian in your life!
Duck Fighter by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920068. 90 pages.
A secret agent-type dude in a pink tux crashes the Sisterhood of Duck Appreciation’s get-together. Several ladies are happy to see him, at least until he attacks a hat that one of the members is wearing (it looks like a duck). After that some of the ladies are still happy to see him, but there are ducks that must be fought and a vision quest to take.
This book is insane, and it’s my favorite of the bunch even though Moon Book is about reading.
Physical and digital copies of each were available at http://blackeye.ca, but you may have to use your library superpowers to get them now.
Graphic Novel Review: East District by Ash H.G
Posted on January 16, 2025 at 6:30 am by Gene Ambaum
East District by Ash H.G. 2dcloud, 2024. 9781937541613. 88pp. https://2dcloud.com/products/east-district-ash-h-g
Three young men try to find their way through an apocalypse where others become violent or maybe undead. There are confrontations and honest conversations as they look for Sheila, who has gone missing. The whole thing feels minimalistic until it’s just suddenly, overwhelmingly horrific and inexplicably weird.
This is the best adult graphic novel I picked up at Seattle’s Short Run comics festival back in November. Thanks to Ash H.G. who did a fanstastic drawing in my book when he signed it.
I’ve enjoyed other 2dcloud’s graphic novels, which are always design-oriented and tend toward the avant-garde. This is the most narrative story I remember from a book they published, and it’s arguably the most accessible. It’s worth checking their website to see what else might catch your eye. https://2dcloud.com/
