Author: Gene Ambaum

Graphic Novel Review: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A Graphic Adaptation by Manu Larcenet

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A Graphic Adaptation by Manu Larcenet. Harry N. Abrams, 2024. 9781419776779. 160pp. Includes Larcenet’s letter to McCarthy about the book at the end. I’ve read a few graphic novels drawn by Larcenet that I really enjoyed — Ordinary Victories, plus a few volumes of Sfar and Trondheim’s Dungeon series — but both were drawn in a simpler style. The stark, realistic way Larcenet adapts McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel is stunning, and makes me feel like it’s time to look more deeply into his work. The story follows a father and son struggling through a wasteland of ash and destruction, trying to get to the ocean and maybe some semblance of safety. The two are wrapped in stained, dark clothing. They’re also starving. The pair avoid others out to do whatever it takes to survive and struggle to be good guys. The book is drawn in color, but it’s hard to tell on most pages. There’s a bit […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers by Scott Chantler

Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers by Scott Chantler. First Second, 2024. 9781250846907. 156pp. (more) Fun Extra Stuff at the end, including a bit about the origin of the story, sketches, and a few notes about Chantler’s process. At the end of the book, Chantler talks about how easy it would have been to just repeat the first book in the series with a new problem — I assume he meant the boastful Sir Kelton would again have needed his clear-thinking Squire to save the day (though he would not have admitted it). I would have enjoyed that book, but I like this one much better. Seeing Squire realize he doesn’t know everything and then have to deal with that is very satisfying. The graphic novel opens with Sir Kelton and Squire traveling through the woods. Sir Kelton is entertaining the young goblin child they’re taking to the School of Wizardry with a story. Sir Kelton admonishes Squire for reading on […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: Self-Esteem And The End Of The World by Luke Healy

Self-Esteem And The End Of The World by Luke Healy. Drawn & Quarterly, 2024. 9781770467149. 324pp. A stressed out, thirty-year-old Luke Healy has a lot of stress and anxiety. The earth is falling apart, he’s never going to own a home, and then his twin brother, Teddy, doesn’t ask Luke to be best man at his wedding. He orders a bunch of self-help books and listens to his brother’s voice on the Head App. (Teddy doesn’t believe any of the crap he says via the app.) Jump forward five years to Luke having invited his mom to see one of his plays performed. Then five more when he’s hiking in Greece while trying to work a day job (he takes calls and pretends to be home). Then five more to the set of a movie based on a minicomic Luke wrote back in 2013. Healy’s mother and brother continue to figure into the story throughout, as do floods. It’s all […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: Knots by Colleen Frakes

Knots by Colleen Frakes. Harper Alley, 2023. 9780063247161. 240pp. I’m a huge fan of Frakes’s comics, including Prison Island, Tragic Relief, and her other minicomics, and I can’t believe it missed this graphic novel when it came out last year. At the beginning of the book, Norah and her little sister Lark live in Cheney, Washington, with their parents, who both work for the Washington State Department of Corrections. Nora starts middle school and, after talking her mom into it, begins bleaching and dyeing her own hair at home. It doesn’t go well, then it does, then it doesn’t. Nora’s hair’s ups and downs nearly mirror changes at home, as her mother takes a new job and moves across the state with her sister, leaving Nora in Cheney with her father, who is busier than ever because of a promotion. After her hair gets tangled up, Nora worries about her teacher reporting her to the authorities, and that she’ll be […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol

Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol. First Second, 2024. 9781250314864. 364pp. Includes an author’s note, sketches, beat boards, and two wonderful pages on the coloring process at the end. (The book was colored by the mighty Alex Longstreth.) Jane’s parents have just died, and her awful male cousin is set to inherit everything. He also intends to kick Jane out of her home. She has nowhere to go, but if she gets married, she’ll receive a sizeable dowry. Jane secretly loves Peter. He works with his father, a fisherman who enjoys his son’s manner as little as Jane’s parents liked how she looked. Jane works up her courage, though, and proposes to Peter. He’s more than a little rude about it, and then he’s kidnapped by a mermaid. With a little magical help from a woman in town, Jane sets off after him. What follows is an adventure involving selkies, a mighty water demon, undead sailors, and the […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: Swords, Spacemen, and Superspies Box Set by James Kochalka

Swords, Spacemen, and Superspies Box Set by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920082. (The box set includes a digital edition of each book.) The three books in this boxed set are fun and showcase both Kochalka’s skills and silliness in the best ways. Elf Cat Is Famous by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920037. 100pages This fantasy story is drawn in black and white, so it feels like an instant classic. Elf Cat is broke but he needs a sword. Lucky for him (maybe) he plays by his own rules. Nothing can stop him, not even Elf Dog.         Moon Book Prototype by James Kochalka. Black Eye Books, 2024. 9781738920044. 20 pages. An alien soldier on the moon — he looks like a robot or cyborg — finds a book. As he faces the muscular Bigbro and the deadly Snakeskin, he explores the magic of reading. A lovely gift for the librarian in your life! […]

Tags

Graphic Novel Review: East District by Ash H.G

East District by Ash H.G. 2dcloud, 2024. 9781937541613. 88pp. https://2dcloud.com/products/east-district-ash-h-g Three young men try to find their way through an apocalypse where others become violent or maybe undead. There are confrontations and honest conversations as they look for Sheila, who has gone missing. The whole thing feels minimalistic until it’s just suddenly, overwhelmingly horrific and inexplicably weird. This is the best adult graphic novel I picked up at Seattle’s Short Run comics festival back in November. Thanks to Ash H.G. who did a fanstastic drawing in my book when he signed it. I’ve enjoyed other 2dcloud’s graphic novels, which are always design-oriented and tend toward the avant-garde. This is the most narrative story I remember from a book they published, and it’s arguably the most accessible. It’s worth checking their website to see what else might catch your eye. https://2dcloud.com/

Tags

Book Review: Comics 1964 – 2024

Comics 1964 – 2024 edited by Thierry Groensteen, Lucas Hureau, Ann Lemonnier, and Emmanuèle Payen. Thames & Hudson, 2024. 9780500028407. 288pp. I didn’t get to see the exhibit at the Centre Pompidou this book is based on — it closed in November 2024 — and I was about to order myself a copy of the French edition for my birthday when this arrived in the mail from the publisher. All by way of saying: I was overly inclined to love this book when it arrived, and I did. You should get a copy for your public library shelves, too, especially if you have a decent graphic novel collection for adults. Worth noting: There’s more than a little adult content in the original art featured in the book. Most are in English, French, or Japanese. While a working knowledge of these languages might help in appreciating the work a bit more, it’s not necessary — the book is spectacular in terms […]

Tags

Book Review: Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story (Mutts) by Patrick McDonnell

Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story (Mutts) by Patrick McDonnell. Abrams ComicArts, 2024. 9781419779084. 192pp. This is the story of the guard dog in the comic strip Mutts. It’s the beautiful “conclusion” to the story of a dog left outside that is finally forgotten, abandoned, and then saved. It’s a gift book sure to make dog lovers (and even cat lovers like me) shed tears. The book contains some of McDonnell’s initial sketches, earlier comics featuring the guard dog, an introduction that will be especially meaningful for Peanuts fans, and a selection of quotes showing the response to the featured sequence of comic strips, which appeared in Mutts at the end of 2023. There are also dog photos and stories of dog adoptions plus a resource guide at the end. McDonnell’s art is always amazing, and seeing it enlarged, one-panel to a page for much of the book, made me appreciate it even more. Give this book to your […]

Tags

Book Review: Big Breath In by John Straley

Big Breath In by John Straley. Soho Crime, 2024. 9781641296540. 274pp. Delphine has cancer, and she doesn’t have much longer to live. After stepping into the middle of a violent incident involving a man, the woman he’s beating up, and the baby she’s holding, Delphine proves she’s still a bit of a badass (though a weakening, balding badass). A friend asks her to help find a kidnapped child, which leads her back to the woman and makes her determined to save all of the kids involved. She spends some time remembering her husband, who she worked with as an investigator before she stopped doing that and started researching marine life instead. She also spends a lot of time thinking about the lives of whales, mostly sperm whales, and using her knowledge of them to reflect on what she’s experiencing which involves white supremacists, child trafficking, and murder. (There are enough great people in the book to balance out the horrific.) […]

Tags