In this stunning graphic memoir debut, painter Heffernan sets out with her infant son on a hike that begins in the tradition of the flaneur and ends as a survival story. Their walk in the woods offers plenty of time for contemplation of the past and present. Heffernan addresses her deceased mother and recalls her childhood as the youngest of a large Catholic family, who shared a world of imagination and stories with her closest sister. But Heffernan is unprepared for the wilderness, and the seductive mystery of nature dissolves when she realizes she is lost and will have to spend the night outdoors with her baby. After her initial panic, she finds an inner resolve that propels her toward survival (and the nearest highway). The work is a love letter to the strange, intimate, and ecstatic wrung from everyday life. Heffernan’s detailed, finely wrought pages are punctuated with her own bright, surreal paintings, as well as those by the likes of Artemisia Gentileschi, El Greco, and Vermeer. As Heffernan shows, the imagination requires care and attention—much like nature. This vivid narrative is a breathtaking homage to both. Agent: Lyn DelliQuadri, Lahr & Partners. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

With an immersive multigenerational story line and distinctive artwork, Otero’s debut graphic novel charts the ripple effects of wartime decisions. In the words of Ro, an Argentinean college student living in her late grandmother’s house, on “the chain of happenstances that led to my existence... Mussolini’s persecutions are at the top of that list.” In a series of flashbacks, Ro narrates her grandmother’s story: after Vilma’s communist parents flee fascist Italy for Argentina, Vilma and her brother Antonio form a close bond; she even keeps his cross-dressing a secret. When her parents force Vilma to work in a factory at age 12 to put Antonio through school, he promises to return the favor. After he chooses marriage to a woman for whom he must provide instead, Vilma becomes the bitter grudge-holder Ro knew as a child. Vilma dislikes most things, but especially politics—they upended her life once, and she wants nothing to do with “the wrong crowd” again. As Ro comes to resent her friends for ditching her for guys, and shrugs off present-day political unrest, she fears that she’s “going to end up alone,” like Vilma. But with help from her grandmother’s ghost—a shape-shifting portrait drawn in shimmering rainbow pencil marks—Ro realizes she can take charge of her life in ways Vilma couldn’t or wouldn’t. Otero’s brightly colored characters are doll-like yet full of passion, outrage, and schemes, and her storytelling is just as bold and memorable as the drawings. It’s an impressive achievement. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

A chance encounter triggers an intricate sequence of stories within stories in Shaw’s kaleidoscopic latest (after Discipline). Browsing an H&M for clothes to wear to a wedding, Ken bumps into a former middle school classmate, Mel. When Ken doesn’t recognize her, Mel points out that she now wears glasses. The narrative then shifts to Mel in her 20s, when her vision began blurring. Her boyfriend is about to propose when an intriguing new guy named Kay starts at work, causing Mel to have second thoughts. From there, the narrative lens turns to Kay, who tells Mel about nude modeling for a drawing class, where the instructor, Karetzky, confides in him about the agonizing end of his affair with a married colleague. The married lover then dives into her trip to Rio following an earlier breakup, where she meets an acclaimed author named Christie, who details her struggle to follow her wildly successful debut. Each episode presents a miniature tale of doubt and resolve. Shaw’s lithe ink illustrations complement the intimacy of the shared confidences, with subtle stylistic shifts lending each a distinct tone. As the anecdotes form links in a chain of received wisdom, Shaw finds insight glimmering in even the murkiest fog of uncertainty. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this eloquent, melancholic sci-fi parable from Hanshaw (Free Pass), aliens have used up their planet and must now move onto the next. Young Hoshi and Faith, however, resist the mandated evacuation. Hoshi’s obsessed with chickens and has a metallic leg, while Faith is distinguished by the outmoded tech bolted to her skull. They bond over the similarity of their metal parts and their shared refusal to leave what’s left of their planet. Ostracized by society and bullied by their peers, the pair struggle to fulfill their individual destinies with the help of a therapist and an emotional support chicken. Hanshaw’s soft and curling cartoon work renders humanoid shapes against pale pastel backgrounds, effectively conjuring this alien and dying world. Long sections of dialogue are made dynamic by emotive lettering and speech balloons. An accumulation of fiery indignities and small moments of beauty brings the dreamlike narrative to an explosive climax and a conclusion that’s both optimistic and satisfying. This lush allegory of defiance and growing up resembles a sci-fi version of Daniel Clowes’s Ghost World. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

Wong (Dear Scarlet) explores her Chinese immigrant parents’ history with gentle curiosity, wry humor, and moments of aching regret. The language gap is an overarching theme: Wong’s parents don’t speak English and she isn’t fluent in Cantonese, making her “my parents’ lousy translator since I was a small child.” The narrative opens in the present day, as Wong struggles to concisely translate a doctor’s verdict to her mother (“stroke not too sharp,” she fumbles in Cantonese). From there, she flashes back to when she and her brother chose Saturday morning cartoons over Chinese language school: “So excited about winning our freedom that I could not imagine what I might be losing.” Loss and the “family history of separation” are also explored, as Wong depicts her parents’ separate, harrowing escapes from China during the Cultural Revolution, while lamenting how little they opened up to her about these and other experiences. Elsewhere, she delves into the history of Chinese immigrants in Canada and how centuries of migration have shaped Chinese culture since the Ming Dynasty. Wong employs simple line drawings to convey complex emotions, choosing just the right imagery and details to depict visiting an old Chinese Canadian cemetery, touring Kowloon, or hanging out at “a second rate Calgary mall” in the 1980s. It’s a resonant journey into the past. Agent: Carly Watters, PS Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

This western-style adventure in a sci-fi universe from Moustafa (Count) blends genres into an enjoyable if routine tale of a thwarted attempt to escape one’s destiny. Technologically enhanced Meris, who has laser eyers and is marked by a metallic triangle on her forehead, stumbles into town injured and gets healed by good Samaritan Ness and his crew of adopted daughters and dogs. But Meris’s peaceful oasis is threatened when she crosses paths with a ruthless bounty hunter and his brother, who recognize her as the assassin called Cyn. To protect her newfound family, Meris must revert back into the inhuman weapon that is Cyn. The expressive art shines in dynamic fight scenes where Cyn wields her weapons like a whirling dervish. Fans of Firefly or The Mandalorian will find much that’s familiar—a bad guy from the past here, a good guy sacrificed there, trotting along unremarkably until the final face-off. Dedicated admirers of Moustafa’s art will enjoy flipping through, but those new to his universe building would be better off starting with Count. (June)

Reviewed on 06/21/2024 | Details & Permalink

Fans who grew up on Goosebumps will relish the throwback scares and camp horror in this adult-oriented offshoot of Stine’s Stuff of Nightmares series. “Red Murder,” the first of the volume’s two stories, centers on comics creator Alex Oxaca, whose personal fame dwindles in inverse proportion to the popularity of his ax-murdering character Red Murder, who he named after his troubled but beloved brother Dale. “I guess I made Dale immortal,” Alex says on a podcast. There’s even a blockbuster film adaptation, for which Alex gets no cut of the profits, having drawn the killer work-for-hire. When what appears to be the real Red Murder shows up at a horror convention and kills fans and panelists, his creator and readers reckon with just how close blood relation can be. An unconventional visit from Santa and his rat “reindeer” sets the tone for the second entry, “Slay Ride.” Loner Heinrick Fiddler gets laid off from his job as a mall Santa, which sparks a spiral of rage and delusion as he paints the town red—and not in the festive way. Gorham and Bak match the spirit of Stine’s oeuvre, complete with twist endings, while upping the gore—though by contemporary standards, nothing feels that shocking. Old-school horror lovers will dig this. (June)

Reviewed on 06/21/2024 | Details & Permalink

A queer rodeo star trudges home in this enigmatic graphic novel from Lockard (Liebestrasse). Jimmy Thomas, star of the Electric Rodeo, is losing his panache and too often his grip on the reins. His latest tumble earns a stern warning from a doctor, which Jimmy disregards (“I will ride into my grave”). But when word from his mom arrives that his dad is in the hospital, Jimmy saddles up his horse Emmylou and trots out of a dizzying, fantastically styled city. On his journey back through a desert landscape, he ruminates on his first love, a fellow rodeo hopeful whose career prematurely ended with a bad fall. As Jimmy reminisces, his path leads him into strange encounters, one-night stands, eerie visions, and dangers, such as a cattle’s horns alight with St. Elmo’s fire and a close encounter with a terrifying shape-shifting canine. David’s art has a sketchy, soft-focused quality that adds to the aura of mystery. Boldly colored backdrops imbue the narrative with a big-sky feel, whether in the city’s moody night clubs or the red rock loneliness of Jimmy’s trek. While many questions go unanswered—both about this magical world and Jimmy’s past—there’s a consistently tender emotional core. The result is a beguiling adventure. (June)

Reviewed on 06/21/2024 | Details & Permalink

Béhé, a comics professor at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin, adapts anthropologist Pascal Boyer’s theory of religion in this detailed and convincing work of graphic scholarship. Pascal arrives at a dinner party and dives into a debate with the other guests about the origins, purposes, and features of religion. His interlocutors represent types—including a genuine believer and a cynical skeptic—who share common presumptions that religion is designed to comfort, explain the natural world, and cope with death. Knocking these theories down, Pascal explains how human minds create templates and make leaps without conscious awareness, which leads people to arrive at similar beliefs across different religions. Also covered is how faith spreads, the utility of rituals, and the rise of fundamentalism. Drawing on his fieldwork among the Fang people in Western Africa, Pascal builds a complicated yet satisfying argument that there is a scientific and sociocultural rather than mystical explanation for humanity’s tendency toward belief. Béhé’s black-and-white artwork is naturalistic, with ample imagery drawn from history, pop culture, and religion (a single splash page mashes up everything from Arthurian legends to classic sci-fi). As an explainer of Pascal’s philosophy, it’s both comprehensive and precise. This will appeal to fans of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Novah Harari’s Sapiens. (June)

Reviewed on 06/14/2024 | Details & Permalink

Gyu-seok’s arresting English-language debut showcases the struggles of Korea’s labor movement through the misadventures of a reluctant activist. The narrative opens in the aughts, as labor organizer Go-shin Gu uses underhanded tactics to help a man receive unpaid wages. The focus then shifts to Soo-in Lee, the demanding manager of a grocery chain who nevertheless pushes back against an illegal order to force his employees to quit. Flashbacks fill in Soo-in’s backstory: even as a student, he had a strict moral code, putting him at odds with his peers in school and the military. When he leaves the service, he tries to keep his head down at the grocery store, and is disillusioned by his superiors’ corruption. Back in the present, unionization talks bring Soo-in into contact with Go-shin, who ridicules Soo-in for being someone who “can’t stand getting their hands dirty” and introduces him to the “real world” of labor protesting. The art imbues a somber atmosphere in a sketchy, rough-draft style reminiscent of Naoki Urasawa. Though flashbacks blended in with the present-day story can sometimes be hard to follow, it’s a thoughtful, well-researched take on the history of the fight for workers’ rights. Readers will be impressed with how Gyu-seok sprinkles consciousness-raising in with pop comics action. (June)

Reviewed on 06/14/2024 | Details & Permalink