Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Oni Press, 2019. 9781549304002. 240pp. I had read many excerpts of this, the most challenged book in the US, but as I was preparing for a staff day graphic novel talk in November I wasn’t sure I had ever finished it. I started reading during a moment when I had way too much to do, and then I couldn’t put it down. And wow, now I get what all of the fuss is about. I’ve read lots of graphic novels and graphic memoirs by members of the LGBTQ+ community, but this is arguably the most powerful. I think it might change the hearts and minds of people who have never empathized with someone struggling to figure out their gender identity. At least I hope so. If you’ve never read it, I urge you to, whether you’re someone who thinks they want it out of the library or a library person who just hasn’t gotten around it yet. Worth noting: My favorite thing about the book is that Kobabe mentions numerous books that meant a lot to em over the years. If you remember the Unshelved Book Club comics, these pages are kinda like those but so much better. Kobabe also has a new short piece on The Nib’s site, “I Made The Most Banned Book In America” that’s worth a read. https://thenib.com/i-made-the-most-banned-book-in-america/ The site also has an excerpt of Gender Queer. https://thenib.com/growing-up-gender-queer/

Meadowlark: A Coming-Of-Age Crime Story by Greg Ruth and Ethan Hawke. Grand Central, 2021. 9781538714577. 248pp. I saw this graphic novel a bunch of times before I picked it up — I didn’t notice the subtitle or the police cars on the bottom of the cover, and I didn’t really know what to make of the cover’s central image or title. I’m so happy I finally checked it out from the library though — it’s a great crime story, and Ruth’s detailed, evocative illustrations moved me throughout. Teenage Cooper is in trouble. He’s disrespected his stepfather again, so his mother calls his father, Jack. It turns into a take-your-kid-to-work day at the prison where Jack is a guard, which is unfortunate — it’s not too long before there’s a riot, three prisoners escape, and several people die. It’s soon clear Jack is involved. After a violent run-in with the men who planned the whole thing, they’re soon racing to save Cooper’s mother and stepfather. It’s a harrowing, bloody crime story that’s more entertaining than any R-rated movie I’ve watched recently.  

Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait Of Eugene Bullard by Ron Wimberly and art by Brahm Revel. First Second, 2023. 9781626728523. This graphic novel is a portrait of an American hero we should all know about. It opens with an elevator operator, Gene, and a man who works in the building, Mr. Casey, getting stuck in an elevator together. Casey thinks Gene is joking when he says he was the first negro combat aviator — but Gene shows him the medal he won. Then he starts recounting the long story of how he ended up in France, which includes him running away from his family home in Columbus, Georgia, at age eleven, after his father had to go flee a white mob. (Afterwards, Eugene had terrifying dreams about lynchings that led him to flee to France, where he heard white people and black people live together.) On the road Eugene spends time with a group of Irish people who’ve come to the US from England, and it’s from them that he first hears the legend of the Ibo, a clan from Africa who refused to be enslaved. They teach him about horses, and feed his hunger for travel, too. It’s not long before he stows away on a boat and makes it to the UK where he works at a carnival, takes up boxing, and starts performing on the stage as well. Gene is still quite young when he makes it to Paris just ahead of World War I, which leads him to become a soldier in the trenches and eventually a combat pilot. Eugene Bullard led an extraordinary life, and if Wimberly and Revel set out to get me interested in it, they succeeded. I’ve got a list of books from the bibliography to track down, and I’m hoping to find an interview or two with Bullard, too. Worth noting: throughout the book the racism he faced as a young man is shown to be something he and others are still dealing with even in a big city in the North (in what I assume was the 1950s). But the book offers a bit of hope, too. Revel seems able to accomplish anything as an artist, from scaring me during harrowing battles to making me experience the joy of children playing. He creates a sense of time and place with a few carefully chosen details and brings every character to life with subtle expressions and body language. This graphic novel is worth reading and then rereading for every detail.

Until I came across a stack of recent collections at my local library, I hadn’t read any Usagi Yojimbo for a few years — I knew I’d missed all of the recent full-color collections from IDW, but not that I’d also missed a few from the end of the series at Dark Horse, back when it was still published in black-and-white. The series is as good as ever, and as much as I liked the old uncolored books the newer collections are fabulous, too. These are the three I liked best. Usagi Yojimbo: Mysteries (Volume 32) by Stan Sakai. Introduction by Yuki Matsuzaki. Dark Horse, 2018. 9781506705842. 180pp plus a cover/pinup gallery. Contains #159-165 of UY Volume 3. Usagi comes across a dead, high-ranking samurai in the woods, and finds a little girl hiding nearby. On his way to take her to Inspector Ishida, they’re accosted by some samurai who want the girl and even go so far as to attack Usagi when he’s buying her a meal. It’s a huge mistake and only the beginning of a larger mystery that starts with finding the girl’s father’s confession. Thieves Kiyoko and Kitsune make an appearance, and of course my favorite scenes are the “The Body in the Library” chapters. Usagi Yojimbo: Homecoming (Volume 35) by Stan Sakai, colors by Tom Luth. Introduction by Peach Momoko. IDW, 2021. 9781684058020. Contains #8-14 of UY Volume 4. This volume starts with a graphic lesson on how tatami mats are made, which plays into the plot. Usagi heads to the north province where he grew up. He crosses paths with samurai transporting new tatami mats for Lord Gifu, who will use them as part of a tea ceremony for an emissary of the shogun. When the samurai are attacked, Usagi helps defend the tatami from the ninja. Later Usagi is pursued because he continues to wear the mon of Lord Mifune, which begins a journey to his home village, Mariko (the woman he loved), and Kenichi, his childhood friend and rival. Katsuichi-sensei (Usagi’s teacher) and Jotaro, who is secretly now Usagi’s son, also make appearances. The best part of the color version: seeing the blue Usagi wears during the fight scenes. Usagi Yojimbo: Tengu War! (Volume 36) by Stan Sakai, art assist by Randy Clute, colors by Hi-Fi Design. Introduction by Kevin Eastman. IDW, 2022. 9781684058754. Contains #15-21 of UY Volume 4. Usagi seeks his other master, a one-handed tengu named Sojobo. There’s a flashback to how Usagi earned the right to be trained by him, and, in the present day, as you might guess from the title, Usagi finds himself in the midst of a war between supernatural creatures. Toward the end of the story he meets someone from his past, from just as he fled the battlefield with Lord Mifune’s head. And then Usagi meets Yukichi, who remembers when their paths crossed years ago.

Just Roll With It illustrated by Veronica Agarwal & written by Lee Durfey-Lavoie. RH Graphic, 2021. 9781984896995. 336pp. With a few character sheets and notes on how the graphic novel was made at the end (with cats!). Maggie loves role-playing games. she carries a d20 (a 20-sided die) with her everywhere and uses it to help her make decisions including how to feel about things. When she meets Clara on her first day of sixth grade, she gets a low roll, but eventually they bond over their love of the Chosen book series. As Maggie enjoys her science class, she worries about rumors of a snake lurking outside school, and her d20 rolls are causing her anxiety. Her parents notice her OCD, though Maggie doesn’t want to talk to anyone about it. Throughout the story feels hopeful, like Maggie will eventually be able to rise to the challenge and face what’s happening like the heroes she enjoys playing as and reading about. There’s a real sense of love that infuses everything about this book, from the drawings to the writing to the role-playing sessions. It’s an extremely kind story despite the bullies. Minor spoiler: I particularly liked what the therapist says at the end of the book, which Agarwal addresses in the author’s notes.

Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma by Melanie Lee & Arif Rafhan. Difference Engine, 2020. 9789811450440. 212pp. Contains discussion questions and a short explanation of dementia at the end. Ash’s life sucks — her mom just took away her phone because her math scores are dismal, and her grandma needs help and supervision because she’s losing her memory. But when a laundry pole is about to fall from a neighbor’s balcony and hit Ash on the head, Ah Ma saves her by flying through the air and kicking it to splinters. She seems to forget it happened, then tells Ash her secret — she has superpowers. Her daughter, Ash’s mom, doesn’t know. Ash soon discovers she may have powers, too, when she and her friend Zoe face bullies outside the elevator in her apartment building. Not too long after that Ash and Ah Ma are fighting crime and helping folks as costumed heroes despite Ah Ma’s memory problems. (Secrets don’t last long in the book, and the whole story has an upbeat ending.) Thanks to my friend Sarah who got me a signed copy at an academic conference in Singapore! If you’re wondering how to get one of your own, the publisher’s website has a list of retail and academic partners at https://differenceengine.sg/comics/amazing-ash-superhero-ah-ma/ The book and its sequel seem to be available in the US for Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Fight Girls Volume 1 by Frank Cho, colors by Sabine Rich. AWA Upshot, 2022. 9781953165268. Contains #1 – 5. The queen abdicated her throne a year ago, her marriage has been annulled, and an ancient contest of ten champions is about to start. The survivor of the trials will become Queen of the empire, but that will be a trial of its own. The contestants are a diverse group of women from across the empire, and not all of them fight fair. (Because Cho drew this, they’re all beautiful though. And athletic.) The trials are violent and of course the entirety of the bloodsport is broadcast live. The frontrunner doesn’t last long. And the woman who is unexpectedly doing better than expected is being investigated by authorities, who fear something is amiss. There’s a lot going on in this science fiction action movie of a graphic novel. Right when I was deciding whether or not to close the book because I was tired of seeing young women torn apart by well-drawn monsters, it took a pleasant turn. Two of the blurbs on the back mention The Hunger Games, and it’s a good read-alike for those looking for a straightforward, R-rated version.

Thieves by Lucie Bryon. Nobrow, 2022. 9781838741198. 208pp. This great romantic YA graphic novel starts with Ella investigating Madeleine, a girl in one of her classes whom she’s obsessed with. They bump into each other at a party, Ella drinks quite a bit, and when looking for a bathroom to barf in she finds a closet full of cool stuff. The next morning she wakes up at her apartment surrounded by some of those things unsure how she got there. Madeleine arrives shortly after and the romance proceeds to its next step, but Madeleine also reveals that the party was at her house and that some of her stuff was stolen. I don’t want to spoil the story, but the next part of the book is the same sequence from Madeleine’s point of view, which leads to revelations. The two end up with a mission they try to complete for the rest of the book as their relationship develops. Byron does a great job capturing the energy of a crush in her writing and art. The whole thing feels wonderfully lo-fi, in particular because of the way she switches between colors throughout and because of her use of screen tones.