Paying the Land by Joe Sacco. Metropolitan Books, 2020. 9781627799034. 272pp. Sacco (Footnotes in Gaza, Palestine, Safe Are Gorazde) heads north from Yellow Knife into Canada’s Northwest Territories in a borrowed truck with his guide, Shauna. They travel to places that can only be accessed on winter roads when the ground is frozen. There Sacco meets and interviews many of the Dene. “”Dene means ‘the People’ and in Canada’s North the term refers to the related group of First Nations whose culture is rooted in the land.” In Tulit’a, they find a small town of 600 where the oil boom is on pause. Unemployment is high. It’s clear there are folks on all sides of the resource extraction issue, and that this community (and others he visits) are dealing with the history of the territory and what was done to their people, from the Catholic Church to the residential schools and the abuse (substance, physical, sexual) that is still rampant. But there are people who remember living a subsistence lifestyle, and others who see what living on the land once meant and what it might mean to do so again. “Unmooring the indigenous people — in fact, erasing the essence of their indigeneity — was long Canada’s official policy.” And now the Dene are trying to get justice for themselves and their communities. Opinions vary from community to community, and from person to person, on the best way forward. Handouts and government aid seem to have many downsides, but the government is the most reliable employer in many areas. It’s clear that many find power in connecting with their ancestors and the way they lived, and in feeling that they have something to offer to their communities both in the present and the future. As always, Sacco draws himself into his book. One of my favorite parts of an otherwise heavy work of graphic nonfiction is a light moment when he refers to himself as Joe of the North, as he tries to drag a fishing net from beneath a frozen lake. Mostly he’s here as a listener and a recorder, helping us get to know the folks he speaks with by drawing and quoting them with a level of care I see in nowhere else. If Sacco took the time to put someone into one of his books they are important; I know they’re worth listening to. (This book, like Sacco’s other nonfiction, begs to be read again and again.)

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab. Tor, 2020. 9780765387561. 448pp. Adeline LaRue, born at the end of the 17th Century in Villon-sur-Sarthe, France, is not content with the village life ahead of her. She wants to travel and discover new things. She’s given some great advice: “Never pray to the gods who answer after dark.” Of course she doesn’t take it. The darkness comes to her in the form of a handsome man she once drew, Luc, and they strike a bargain: when she’s done with her life, he can have her soul. She’s made a mistake; she’s immortal, but also erased from everyone’s memories as soon as she’s out of their sight. Her eternal life is lonely. No one remembers her, but she’s finally free to wander the world. Her curse means she can’t put down roots or have a place of her own or really anything at all. She can’t leave a mark on the world in any medium (even stains she makes disappear), and she can’t tell any of her story or even her real name. And even when she can form a bond with others, even if she spends an entire day and night with them, they never remember her in the morning. (Her curse does make stealing fairly easy though.) Luc tries to get her to give up over and over again, tempts her to give in and give him her soul. But art, and books in particular, give her the strength to go on. And so does pushing at the edge of her curse, trying to find subtle ways to leave evidence of her existence in the world. And then one day Addie meets a young man who remembers her, and to whom she can tell her story. It’s a love story tinged with the inevitability of loss and the return of Addie’s loneliness, and it’s told in parallel with stories of Luc trying to seduce Addie again and again.

Shirley & Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz. Dial, 2020. 9780525552864. 224pp. Jamila’s mom wants to send her to science camp, but Jamila wants to spend the summer playing basketball at the court five blocks away. Her mom thinks that’s too far for her to go alone. Shirley’s mom wants to send her daughter to dance camp. Shirley tells her she just wants to be able to go out in the daylight in their neighborhood. The two ten-year-olds meet at a garage sale, and soon they come to an agreement with their moms: they can hang out at the basketball court together all summer. Shirley’s mom is delighted — her daughter has a hard time making friends. And it’s not hard to see why: she’s brilliant but uncommunicative. She’s also Sherlockian in her observations, which helps her solve kids’ problems and mysteries adults can’t or won’t help with. Then a “big” case comes up. Someone stole Oliver’s lizard, Enoch, while he and his sister were swimming at the public pool. Shirley takes the case, even though it means violating the promises she and Jamila made to their moms. Trouble ensues, along with frustration on Jamila’s part because she wants to be part of solving the crime. This is a great juvenile mystery and a beautifully crafted graphic novel with friendship at its heart. I’m hoping for several sequels.

The Oracle Code by Merieke Nijkamp, illustrated by Manuel Preitano. DC Comics (DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults), 2020. 9781401290665. 208pp. Another great re-imagining of a DC superhero for younger audiences, this original graphic novel focuses on Barbara Gordon (Oracle). She’s an injured teenage hacker trying to adapt to life in a wheelchair. Her father, Gotham City’s Commissioner Gordon, takes her to The Arkham Center for Independence. Dr. Maxell wants her to think of the mansion as her home away from home, so that the ACI can help her advance her rehabilitation. Barbara would rather be home. Her instincts are telling her that staying there is a terrible idea. But after some initial difficult adjusting she makes a few friends and some progress. And then she has to figure out what’s happened to the kids who are missing from the ACI, and what part Dr. Maxwell may have played in whatever happened to them.

Lunch Quest by Chris Kuzma. Koyama, 2019. 9781927668658. 82pp. A hungry rabbit arrives home in his carrotmobile and starts looking for lettuce. He sticks his head in the lettuce cubby (and another world?) where he sees two young skaters, Greta and Sully, whose amazing kickflips produce hot dogs and black holes. They meet a gremlin that’s even more amazing, and whom they follow to the forest. They have quite an adventure. A deer farts on Greta. There’s a dragon, and a giant skate ramp. The rabbit just watches this. Then he heads to the basement because he hears music. There are rainbow bricks and his giant friend named Ethel, who has a piano. He asks her about his lettuce, and then looks into her piano (and another world again) and watches as students from Buena Vista Elementary have a dance battle with students from the nearby boys academy. Weird? Yeah! And it’s sweet with moments of silliness and joy.

Reckless by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist), and Jacob Phillips (color). Image, 2020. 9781534318519. 144pp. Publisher’s Rating: M / Mature. Ethan Reckless helps people who need it. And he operates out of a classic movie theater — how cool is that? He solves problems big and small, and sometimes he even makes money doing it. Years ago Reckless was a student informant for the FBI, undercover in a radical group. He almost died in an explosion that ended his “career,” and he can’t remember the events of that day. Back then he was in love with Rainy, who is still on the run, and who just made contact with him. She needs his help to get some money she’s owed; it will allow her to get out of the country and start over. Reckless remembers how he felt for her, but since the explosion his emotions, even in his memories, are flat. The only emotion he can feel anymore is anger. And there’s lots of that as he looks into getting Rainy’s money back and bad things happen. It all leads him to a drug smuggling operations, an armed compound, and a showdown with a guy wielding a machete. Brubaker and Phillips have been making the best crime graphic novels out there for decades. If you know a Jack Reacher fan who thinks they don’t like comics, get them this one (and then the rest of the books in the series — I think there are supposed to be at least three published by the end of 2021).

The Seeds by Ann Nocenti and David Aja. Dark Horse / Berger Books, 2020. 9781506705897. Collects The Seeds # 1 – 4. 128pp. This graphic novel takes place in a toxic future where it’s safer than not to wear a gas mask everywhere. The planet is dying but who cares because it’s a crappy place. There’s a walled zone where neo luddites have gone to start an anti-tech revolution: no internet, no phones, anarchy. A few aliens live there (and cross to the other side of the wall, too), lurking about, sampling seeds from our world (that’s genetic material, I think). Things are not better inside the zone. Maybe, somehow, mankind is not quite doomed, in which case seeds the aliens have collected will be worthless. Hope exists in the form of a love story between one of the aliens, Race, and his human lover, Lola, who may be pregnant. A reporter, Astra, is on their trail, trying to write the kind of clickbait her newspaper needs. Or maybe it’s the kind of huge story she longs to write? In moments it’s not quite apocalyptic, and it’s my favorite graphic novel from Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint so far. Aja’s cinematic art, with its stark blacks and old school screentones, keeps it compelling throughout.

Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley. Random House Graphic, 2020. 9781984896841. 224pp. Jen loves comics, dislikes chores, and hates snakes. She’s in charge of the farm’s chicken coop, but prefers drawing (which is especially awesome in her hideout in the barn, with the cats that live there). She’s kinda getting used to life in the country with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend Walter, including working their booth at the farmers market. Then Walter’s daughters come for a visit. The older of the pair, Andy, is a bit of a know-it-all who takes charge of everything. She starts naming the chicks Jen cares for, and things get worse from there. Jen’s mom and Walter see the value of what Andy does, but it’s totally irritating to Jen. (They do finally bond as part-time sisters, in part due to Jen’s comics, and in part because none of the girls loves life in the country.) Knisley’s graphic novel for kids is based on her own life: after her parents split up, she and her mother moved from New York to a small farm. This is a great book about moving on after divorce and trying to become part of a new family unit, with a bit of math trouble thrown in. (Knisley discusses her dyscalculia at the end of the book.)  

Kairos by Ulysse Malassagne. English translation by Anne and Owen Smith. First Second, 2020. 9781250209610. 190pp. http://www.powells.com/book/-9781250209610?partnerid=34778&p_bt Nils and Anaelle are spending a few days at a remote cabin. On the first night, everything is peaceful until the fireplace erupts in a blue explosion. Armored and sword-wielding dragons appear from another world, and it quickly becomes clear they’re there for Anaelle. In the fight that soon follows, she’s much more of a badass than she seemed. But the dragons capture her and take her through the portal. Nils isn’t going to just let that happen, so he leaps through in pursuit. What follows is a fresh take on the rescue-the-princess fantasy subgenre. Anaelle’s parents want her to marry, to keep their power intact. (She’s to marry her father, which no one is excited about.) Nils has little but his recklessness and his anger to help him save the woman he loves. Turns out that, along with a few new friends, may be probably enough. His quest will change him, though, and things won’t turn out like he expects. Malassagne’s drawings are as kinetic as any manga action sequences I’ve seen, and the book has a mix of things I hadn’t expected — bloody violence, social justice themes, and kawaii characters. If you’re a librarian in a school, give this a read before putting it on your shelf. It’s not that I think it’s inappropriate, but it’s more adult than you might think, with little hint of that in the initial pages.