Innsmouth Volume 1 by Megan James. ComicM!x, 2019. 9781939888730. Contains issues #1-#5. (Physical and digital copies available at https://www.meganjamesart.com/innsmouth which may be the best way to get one.)  also has a few. This is another gem recommended to me by Chris at Seattle’s Comics Dungeon, a book James in her introduction calls “a modern day revisionist horror comedy featuring a diverse cast that would be accessible to newcomers and old fans alike.” It’s a beautiful, fun graphic novel that updates HP Lovecraft’s mythos to the masses. Go by the Comics Dungeon some weekend and ask Chris what you should be reading, he never lets me down. Randolph Higgle from Innsmouth attends East Arkham High School. A Junior Acolyte for his church (or cult, depending on what you believe), he passes out pocket Necronomicons door to door. They’re not well received. He’s well intentioned but maybe a bit dim. His stepfather is a fishman. He wants to go to college but his mother wants him to stay close to home, worship the Deep Ones, and help bring about the end of the world (which isn’t far off). Randolph even (accidentally) becomes the Chosen One to keep the little Shoggoth (the multi-eyed creature on the cover) safe until it’s needed to end the world. He goes to the library at Miskatonic University to find out about banishing it, and there he meets Fatima Alhazred, eldrich-anthropologist-in-training. And then they’re off on an adventure that lasts until the end of the book. There are “horrifying” creatures, a bit of fairly cartoony violence (and blood and bones and stuff), a lot of laughs, and my favorite reanimators for hire ever, Herbert and West. It’s worth a read whether any of this sounds familiar or not. (But if you’re read any pulps and spent your childhood watching horror videos on VHS like me, some of this is probably ringing a bell.) The first issue is available to read free on James’ website.

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill. Oni Press, 2020. 9781549303357. 256pp. This graphic memoir by cartoonist Joel Christian Gill is filled with painful childhood memories that include racism, violence, and bullying. (It’s worth noting Gill was the victim of sexual abuse as well — while it will be clear to older readers what’s happening, it’s not shown on the page.) His story begins with him walking with his mama, who had just gotten out of jail and was dropping him off to stay at a friend’s place for a few days — Gill sees a dead animal and a man at the side of the road. It ends with his marriage at a young age, a successful relationship which continues to this day. In between is a lot of cursing, moving, ups and downs. It’s amazing to see that Gill made it through, and that both the public library and drawing were important parts of his journey. Bookending the story of his life is Gill trying to have a talk in the present day with his son, who seems more interested in his phone and puzzled by the profound discussion about fighting that his dad is trying to have with him. That last bit, of course, was what I identified with the most. I grew up at roughly the same time as Gill, though not in neighborhoods as tough as where he lived in, and found his life story compelling and moving. I think other adults and teens will feel the same way. I’m keeping my copy on the shelf with Jarrett Krosoczka’s Hey, Kiddo and the Sunny books by Matt and Jennifer Holm.

Palimpsest: Documents from a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. Translated by Hanna Strömberg, Richey Wyver, and Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. Drawn & Quarterly, 2019. 9781770463301. 156pp including a postscript and notes on selected panels and pages. Sjöblom was adopted from South Korea by a family in Sweden in 1979. During and after the birth of her second child, she thinks about when she was born, her birth mother, and her early life when she was handed to strangers in a place she couldn’t understand a word who renamed her Lisa. She does an amazing job showing how everyone tried to make her feel about her adoption and her place in Swedish society without ever asking how she felt. As her Korean-ness was erased she was constantly reminded that she didn’t fit in, and even attacked. After escaping high school and moving away from home, she started looking into the story of her adoption, including what it meant and how it affected her. I’m so glad she made it through her darker moments and has produced this graphic novel, which everyone in my family is going to read. Much of the book is a detailed account of Sjöblom and her partner trying to find out as much as they can about her past. Various agencies involved in her adoption (or in recording it) seem determined to keep documents from them because of what the documents reveal not only about shady adoption practices but about Sjöblom’s biological parents. But their tenacity pays off, and they get help from unexpected government offices and agencies, and in the end they learn quite a bit. Their trip to South Korea at the end of the book is riveting.

The Forbidden Harbor by Teresa Radice and Stefano Turconi. Translated by Carla Roncalli di Montorio and Nanette McGuiness. NBM, 2019. 9781681122328. 1807. Young Abel, who has lost his memory, returns home with the British naval officer, William Roberts, who found him on a beach in Siam. (Abel easily took to life on the ship and playing the violin that belonged to Captain Stevenson. The Captain seems to have betrayed the navy and his ship by disappearing with some treasure, though that may not quite be true.) In England Robertson introduces Abel to the Captain’s three daughters, who give him a place to stay. This all sets Abel on a long and winding path to discovering who he is and how to set things right. It’s a romantic and somewhat magical adventure that involves love, betrayal, the madame of a local brothel, poetry, family, and revenge. Turconi’s pencil art is beautiful, and includes a spectacular sea battle that brings everything to life. Saying more would ruin the book for you, though I must add that the hardcover is not only designed to look like an old book, but to feel like one — it’s cover is coated with something a bit rough and grainy and anyone who picks it up up will need to open it. Recommended for all adult graphic novel collections.  

The Complete Curvy by Sylvan Migdal. Iron Circus Comics, 2019. 9781945820403. 520pp. Publisher’s rating: ADULTS ONLY. Fauna, a liar (magic user) from Candy World, is fleeing an awful arranged marriage. On Boring World (our world), she meets and quickly falls for (and into bed with) Anaïs. This starts a fun, sex-filled adventure that includes lots of magic, a hot candy octopus lady, pirates, superheroes, a plan to conquer Boring World and a plot to democratize magic. Anaïs and Fauna’s love for each other is at the heart of the book, though they clearly need to talk about their relationship. The story is kinda structured like a video game, and sex is everywhere, friendly, and involves every combination of folks and beings you might imagine (and some you might not). It’s a bit like a good-natured, pornographic version of Adventure Time. I just recommended this to a friend who once complained to me that she couldn’t find anything else as fun and sex positive as Colleen Coover’s Small Favors.  

Manga (The Citi Exhibition) edited by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere and Matsuba Ryoko. Thames & Hudson, 2019. 9780500480496. 351pp including notes, a checklist of works in the Citi exhibition at the British Museum in 2019, a glossary, a Japanese language bibliography, an index, and more. This is simply the most attractive, best designed reference book on manga I’ve ever seen. From the dust jacket art (it’s from Golden Kamuy by Noda Saturo) to the cover art (“Edo As It Was!!” by Akatsuka Fujio) to all of the manga reproduce within, this book is one that belongs in every public library. It’s as fun to flip through as it is informative to read. Many extracts of manga drawn in different styles are reproduced, with translations in the gutters alongside the pages. The book can function as an introduction to manga and graphic novels, or a resource for those who want to know much more than they already do. There are interviews with many involved in the field including creators (my favorites are with Akatsuka Fujio and Inoue Takehiko) as well as essays on everything from manga’s symbols to Tezuka Osamu to the history of manga and its future. It will probably take me years to read every page because it keeps leading me on side trips to other books and authors. I’m sad I missed the exhibit but this is the next best thing (and maybe better since I tend to race through museums).

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. Dancing Cat Books, 2017. 9781770864863. 234pp. In this post-apocalyptic future, the Earth is pretty messed up, and so is a lot of  humanity. Most people can no longer dream, but the indigenous people of North America are the exception, so they’re being rounded up and sent to “schools” where their ancestors’ dreams are harvested from their bone marrow. The process is as awful as it sounds and kills those subjected to it, reducing them to the material the non-indigenous want. Frenchie has lost his family, but becomes part of a group of mostly children trying to evade agents of the Canadian government’s Department of Oneirology. Guided by two adults — Miigwans, a man still struggling with the loss of his husband, and Minerva, a quiet old woman who does a lot of watching and a little laughing — they head north. Along the way they tell stories and try to help the kids heal, or at least keep going. They’re all in for more pain and loss along the way, but there’s also a bit of joy, too. This book was so harrowing in places that I had to put it down a few times even though I wanted to tear right through it. It’s easily the best YA novel I’ve read in the last few years.

are you listening? by tillie walden. First Second, 2019. 9781626727731. 306pp plus some process drawings in the back. Any new graphic novel by Tillie Walden is a reason to celebrate, and I’m hurrying to finish my review of this one so that my daughter can read it next. Bea seems to have run away from home (she’s eighteen, though, so she can leave if she wants to). In a mini-mart she runs into Lou, her mother’s friend, who is on a road trip of her own. Lou offers to drop her off in McKinney as long as she doesn’t try to steal her car again. (Apparently Bea thought about it years ago.) As they start to talk, it becomes clear that Bea doesn’t really have anywhere to go. There’s a cat that they try to return to its home, a lot of conversations about their families, and some creepy dudes from the Office of Road Inquiry who seem to be following them (and the cat). There’s also a quiet bit of magic and maybe a monster. It feels like a low-key Miyazaki film about that road trip we all should have taken right on the edge of becoming an adult, or the one we should take when we’re having a mid-life moment.  

Mimi and the Wolves Volume 1 by Alabaster Pizzo. Avery Hill, 2019. 9781910395486. I need to rave about Alabaster Pizzo’s art. The anthropomorphic animals she draws are (mostly) wonderfully cute (the wolves can look a bit sinister.) Her writing plays against the cuteness in the most perfect way. It’s like a deep, PG-13 version of Animal Crossing that looks better because it’s drawn in black and white. Mimi is a garland-making mouse who lives with her mate, Bobo. Ever since she was little she’s had a recurring nightmare full of weird creatures and violence (it doesn’t scare her). After taking a concoction to help her have a lucid dream, she speaks to the Holy Venus in her dream. Mimi paints the symbol Holy Venus shows her onto leaves and soon makes a friend who knows about Venus, too — Egort, a wolf. He tells her about Venus, talismans, and spirit guides. Bobo is alarmed — he tells Mimi its the symbol for a cult. After he finds out she’s been hanging out with wolves, he’s alarmed. (She didn’t even tell him about the drugs she’s been doing with them.) He forbids her from seeing them again, but she has to find out about the symbol and the meaning of her dreams. Strange place for a cute anthropomorphic animal comic to go, but it’s compelling. I’m waiting for the next volume.

Edison Beaker Creature Seeker: The Lost City by Frank Cammuso. Viking, 2019. 9780425291962. 176pp. Edison Beaker survived the Darkness, brought back the keystone, and fought Baron Umbra, but his uncle still won’t let him help with Creature Seeker business. His Grandma reveals that she knows about their adventure, and tells them about the Lost City of Pharos (which she needs them to find) — Edison is the Torch Bearer, and needs to bring the Spark there. Soon they’re being chased by underlings, reunited with their friends Knox and Alexander (a giant cat), and on their way to face Baron Umbra again. (He’s a one-eyed, flaming skull with shadow tentacles? Very cool.) Cammuso’s graphic novels have everything I need in a kids book — great plot, fun dialogue, wonderful drawings. I read everything he publishes, and recommend his books for libraries everywhere.