The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and The Case of the Two-Faced Statue by Jerzy Drozd. Iron Circus, 2024. 978163899143. 248pp.

Doctor Baer (that’s him, the plush-bear-looking dude on the cover) stores adventurers’ cursed objects. His house is also home to many a weird, possibly evil magical creature, as two adventurers discover when they bring a cursed werewolf head to him. Once placed in his vault, in the gaze of his stone guardians, the werewolf’s spirit emerges to join his household.

Outside, a bird sorcerer (Gallus) and his trusty steed (Wilhemina) are trying to break in. Inside, Doctor Baer is feeding his residents. Soon two new adventurers, Pickles (a pig) and Taft (a huge turtle), approach the house. Their entrance gives Gallus and Wilhemina the opportunity to break in and try to steal Baer’s stone guardian, though Doctor Baer manages to save the elemental wisps in the stone, and its parts are scattered.

If Gallus puts the stone guardian back together first, he’ll be able to nullify any magic used against him. Dr. Baer has to stop that, obviously. The wisps of elemental magic will help, as will Pickles and Taft, who both feel a little guilty.

What follows is a lighthearted adventure with lots of action. Drozd’s art carries the story right along, and the colors are truly magical.

“Lake Tanganyika, Congo in the year 1915. Two vastly different men in a war that is not theirs. Assigned a virtually impossible mission: sink the German battleship, the Graf von Gotzen.” (back jacket copy)

Those men are pilot Gaston Mercier, of the Belgian army, and his guide, rumored to be the mixed-race, kilt-wearing son of David Livingstone. (His nickname “Madame Livingstone” is one used to tease/harass him.)

I don’t go in much for historical stories, and even less for historical French comics — the art and storytelling style don’t often appeal to me, but this is a standout. The story is compelling, but it was Congo-born artist Baruti’s illustrations, from the beautiful nature scenes to the battles and the characters; everything wowed me. Kudos to Catalyst for publishing it in what is, in the US at least, an oversized format.

Young Hag And The Witches’ Quest by Isabel Greenberg. Amulet, 2024. 9781419765117. 272pp.

At one point, I loved nothing more than an Arthurian tale of knights and magic, but these days I find myself a bit bored with most. But I could not put Greenberg’s graphic novel down.

This tale opens with Young Hag coming of age and joining the coven that includes her mother, now called Nearly Wizend One, and her grandmother, Ancient Crone. But after a night of celebration, she is told the truth; they don’t make magic like she expects because the doors to Faerie are closed. She is told why via the story of Morgan le Fay, who was supposed to keep magic alive, but who stole Excalibur. The Ancient Crone then shows Young Hag the piece of Excalibur, which they are keeping safe until they find a way to return it to the lake and lift the curse that keeps magic from le Fay and Britain.

The story of returning magic to our world is what takes up the rest of the book. Along the way, there are retellings of classic moments of involving Arthur, his father, and a few of his knights, both in the past and the story’s present. It has a few twists and turns that shouldn’t be given away or even hinted at in a review.

Worth noting: I love Greenberg’s illustrations so much that I even love the two pages at the front of the book that introduce the characters inside. And of all characters that made me smile, Britomart and Faithful Steed are my favorites.

Roman’s father is in a coma after someone ran him off the road, and it’s clear from the recent vandalism of his father’s work vans that this is no accident, so Roman returns home for the first time in years. His sister, Neveah, is taking care of the family’s business, a crematorium, at the cost of having any kind of life. His brother Dante is hiding from reality in a fog of drugs and booze. It quickly becomes clear that part of what Dante is trying not to think about is the debt he owes the Black Baron Boys gang.

Roman needs to bail out his brother, keep their sister in the dark if possible, and make sure his family is safe. He brings to bear his skills at making money (both legal and illegal), but that’s not enough. Luckily Roman has a friend who specializes in violence and chaos, and who may be able to help him find a solution to the whole mess.

Throughout the novel, the question of what happened to the siblings’ mother decades ago, when she simply disappeared after work, hangs over all of them. Did their father kill her and then cremate her body, as many suspect? Or is she still out in the world somewhere, living a secret life?

Cosby is one of my favorite contemporary crime writers, and this is one of his best books.

Rigsby, WI: Foothold (Volume 1) by S.E. Case. Iron Circus Comics, 2025. 9781638991410. 120pp, Includes a few short bonus comics in the back. My favorite is the one titled “This Comic Is About Pooping”.

This webcomic is about the lives of four teens in a small city in Wisconsin in 2002. At its heart are Jeordie and Bethany (that’s them on the cover), their friends Erik and Anna, and the blind — the forested, dead-end where they go to smoke and get high. They’re worried about sex, relationships, where to get cigarettes, and homecoming. Beth is on the outs with her mom, living with her aunt, and stuck getting home-schooled. Anna is (minor spoiler) taking Beth to prom as friends. Erik wants to take the girl he’s obsessed with, Pam, but she doesn’t seem to respect his feelings much (if at all). Jeordie is about to celebrate his three-month anniversary with Jenna, and he’s got a proposal for what they should do to mark the occasion. (He’s also got an awesome little old dog, Lou.)

I have little in common with any of these teens, but I absolutely loved this graphic novel. This is one of those wondrous comics where everything works, including the fabric of everyone’s clothes.

Worth noting: One of my favorite sequences takes place after Bethany’s mom won’t take her word that she’s taken her meds, and makes her take them again. The aftermath is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Volume 2 will be published next year. (The Kickstarter for it is ending in a few days!) But if you also can’t wait, the comics are still available (and updating twice weekly!) at rigsbywi.com

 

Seoul Before Sunrise by Samir Dahmani. Life Drawn / Humanoids, 2024. Translated by Nanette McGuinness. 144pp. Seong-ji and her friend Ji-won get into different universities after taking South Korea’s entrance exams. Even before it happens, Seong-ji is nostalgic for high school and afraid they’ll lose their connection. Ji-won is just excited about the future. Then the story jumps ahead into their first year at university, when Ji-won hasn’t called or texted Seong-ji for some time. Seong-ji works nights at a convenience store where she thinks about Ji-won and also realizes that she can see clearly into people’s homes at night. And in one of those apartments, she sees a young woman who then comes into the store. She says people tell her things at night, that they’re “chattier than in the daytime.” She starts to stop in regularly. And then she asks Seong-ji to step away from the store for a bit, so she can show Seong-ji something. And that’s how they start to visit empty apartments together. It’s a quiet, dreamlike adventure in which they get to know each other, as well as people in the neighborhood. Seong-ji also comes to some realizations about herself. Dahmani really captures Seoul at night, the sense of almost supernatural weirdness that can come over you when the bright, busy city is so still and quiet that it seems like you’re the only person there. I love the transitional moment in Seong-ji’s life he captures, too, as well as the way he illustrates everything. His art is sublime.