Beaky Barnes: Egg On The Loose by David Ezra Stein. Penguin Workshop, 2022. 9780593094761. 128pp. Caldecott honor and Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award winner Stein’s first graphic novel feels a madcap homage to old Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy movies, and features cartoony art that feels equally timeless. When Simpletown Town Inspector Cobb needs an egg for his sandwich, he heads to a cafe where some very odd things are happening behind the scenes. There aren’t any, and the owner needs to get the inspector out of there before he notices the elephant in the kitchen, so the proprietor hurries off to find one when a human-sized chicken, Beaky, and its friend (an inventor) stop by for a meal. (She orders the fish, which is problematic as behind the scenes the fish doesn’t want to get in the pan. (Don’t worry, it all ends well for the fish.)) The cafe owner is excited when Beaky lays her first egg, but then Beaky steals the inspector’s bike setting off a very silly sequence of events that includes her egg, spaghetti, the Inspector’s clothes, the elephant, the fish, and the inventor. It’s all very silly, and there are ads for odd inventions interspersed throughout the story. This would have been a perfect read aloud with my daughter when she was little, and had moved away from picture books and wanted more and more Babymouse; it lends itself to creating crazy voices as part of an animated read that would be fun for everyone.

Doughnuts And Doom by Balazs Lorinczi. Top Shelf, 2022. 9781603095136. Margot Grapes has failed her witch spell test for the third time, but luckily her potion business is really popular. Stressed out, she flies off on her broom to get a doughnut and a milkshake, but the shop is out of the doughnut she wants, and the sassy clerk, Elena, really gets on her nerves. Then she grabs Margot’s familiar, Stanley (a snake); Margot loses it and accidentally curses a doughnut, which Elena soon eats. This has consequences for them both as Elena (who is trying to make it as a musician) get zapped at a concert and Margot gets into major trouble for casting the spell. But then they somehow become friends and maybe more. This lovely graphic novel is mostly shades of grey-blue with black ink, though there are bursts of magical pink as well. Overall its tone is friendly, and the relationship between the two characters develops realistically despite the trouble Margot’s magic causes. I’d give this to any teen I know.

Ducks by Kate Beaton. Drawn & Quarterly, 2022. 9781770462892. 436pp. Beaton’s Hark A Vagrant! comic strip proved she’s one of the best cartoonists ever — I rank her work right up there with The Far Side and Peanuts. This is Beaton’s memoir of the two years she spent working in the Alberta Tar Sands to pay off her student loans, when she was twenty-one. After starting as a waitress, she works at different sites in tool sheds and offices, and at every one men outnumber women to a staggering degree. And at the men behave badly (and sometimes terribly) which is worse because, in remote camps where the money is better, she and the few other women who work there live in shared housing with the men, too. Beaton is a master of supplementing the sense of being stuck in an awful job in an awful place with wonderful character moments, making the reader feel like we know her family and the people she works with, good and awful. And the pacing of her memoir is incredible — she makes it clear that where she worked was not just a series hostile workplaces but environmental hellholes as well. It reminds me of no other book as much as Guy Delisle’s Hostage and the way it gave a sense of the passage of time as the kidnapped Christophe André experienced it. This is the best memoir I’ve read in years, which is saying something because there have been so many great graphic memoirs published recently.

Incredible Dooom [Vol 2) by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden. HarperAlley, 2022. 9780063064973. The second volume of this graphic novel series takes place in the 80s, in Evol House, a venue for punk shows and the home of a local BBS where runaway teens and others take refuge. It’s pitch perfect, and full of awkward moments, others that are wonderful, self doubt, and chapters that bring the characters from the first volume more into focus. And it has a perfect ending. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.   Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner. William Morrow, 2022. 9780062653314. 466pp. This is both a sequel and prequel to Michael Mann’s 1995 film. Because the early pages are so reflective of the movie, I almost threw it across the room, but I’m so glad I hung in there until it got going. It tells the story of an earlier heist, back when the whole crew was alive, and follows the movie’s survivor as he tries to recover and restart his life while on the run, far from home and his family. It’s very entertaining. If you know someone like me who has to watch Heat in its entirety every time they stumble across it on TV, get them this book. Nona The Ninth (The Locked Tomb Book 3) by Tamsin Muir. Tordotcom, 2022. 9781250854117. 480pp. If you like fantasy and science fiction and you’re looking for an absolutely superb read with an entertainingly smartass protagonist, go read the first book in the series, Gideon The Ninth. That will almost inevitably lead you to this book, because you’ll love it so much you want to find out what the hell happens next. But when you read that book take notes. Muir does not slow down and does not explain much — you’re either entirely with her and the story she’s or you’re going to hate it. And this book (unlike the others) has some parts that make the backstory clearer, but only if you’re already in the know. As soon as I finished it I called my friend Beck, “WTF just happened?” And she tried to fill me in and answer my questions, but she doubted her answers a bit too, I think. We’ve been reading articles on the series. So it’s time for me to reread Gideon the Ninth (and then, inevitably, the others again) with a notepad in hand, and I’m going to have to before the fourth book comes out next year. I feel like I’ve joined a cult. (In writing those words I’m not sure that’s a joke.) A great read despite my personal confusion.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross. Abrams ComicArts, 2022. 9781419761676. 64pp. This is basically a double-sized comic book in hardcover format written and drawn by Alex Ross, who is arguably the greatest artist working in superhero comics. It’s a full on homage to the FF comics of Lee and Kirby with dazzling colors and shadows during a journey through subspace and into the heart of the Negative Zone. The story is fun — it involves a man who once masqueraded as the Thing (and who once saved Reed Richards’ life). It’s worth finding and flipping through whether you’re a superhero fan or not — this is a book so many fans have been waiting for that, if you’ve seen any Marvel movie, you should at least give it a look. And it will look great on any display in any bookstore or library. Worth noting: the FF’s origin story is told on the inside front flap of the dust jacket, and the beautiful endpapers are indicative of how well designed the whole book is.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King, Bilquis Evely (artist), Matheus Lopes (colorist). DC Comics, 2022. 9781779515681. Contains #1 – #8. After her father is murdered by a man named Krem of the Yellow Hills, Ruthye takes the sword from his body and sets out to find someone to help her take revenge. When a bounty hunter tries to take advantage of her, Supergirl intercedes. Supergirl is on the planet (which is under a red sun, which means she has no powers) so that she can celebrate her twenty-first birthday by getting plastered. She takes out the bounty hunter anyway. While she’s throwing up, Ruthye tries to hire her. Supergirl refuses. But then Krem attacks Supergirl and, more to the point, her dog Krypto, and then steals her ship. So Supergirl and Ruthye set off on a quest to the stars (and toward places with yellow suns) for revenge and to save Krypto’s life. Many people make the mistake of underestimating them. Comet makes an appearance. It’s epic. This is one of my favorite superhero graphic novels, and it’s right up there with Mark Waid’s run on Legion of Super-Heroes in terms of creating a new tone for a young hero. It makes plain the trauma Supergirl endured as a young person (and how much worse it was than the trauma Superman endured when Krypton exploded), but the story doesn’t marinate in the darkness; Supergirl is a point of light.  

The Treasure of the Black Swan by Guillermo Corral and Paco Roca. Translated by Andrea Rosenberg. Fantagraphics, 2022. 9781683965787. 224pp. 2007. The “Black Swan” is located in the Straight of Gibraltar by Ithaca Deep Sea, and it contains the largest submerged treasure ever found. The treasure hunters relocate everything taken from the wreck to Florida and set about hiring lawyers to make their claim for keeping it all. They refuse to reveal the ship’s location or to identify it. Alex Ventura, working for Spain’s Ministry of Culture’s Chief of Staff, head’s to Heritage Service where he meets an archivist, Elsa, who seems to have the best idea about what’s going on. Together with a lawyer, Jonas Gold, the pair start researching ships in order to identify the one that was found in order to prove it was Spanish and to try to reclaim Spain’s property. This is a tale of research, legalities, and history brought to life by Roca’s stunning art. The book is mostly conversations, and Roca is amazing at making these compelling –though the graphic novel is particularly stunning when it’s not it shows bits of history and the underhanded way the wreck was found. Worth noting: This is work of fiction based on events witnessed firsthand by career diplomat / writer Corral, who has worked both in Spain and abroad.