The monsters in horror fiction, whether those monsters are ghosts, vampires, or zombies, always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
Nowhere takes place in Beauséjour. Beauséjour, a small town in Canada and it’s where teenage Joel ends up, along with his morose mother, his verbally abusive but generally useless stepfather, and various animals. When the family’s car breaks down in Beauséjour, they stay at a roadside motel and slowly become accustomed to what makes Beauséjour different from other towns. Those differences include vampires that talk to therapists, ghosts that look like sheets and who actively engage with the living, and a massive cube that sits on the edge of town. And don’t forget about the zombies that wander around at night.
People might look at Claytor’s story and think of shows that run on late 20th century nostalgia like Stranger Things, especially when Joel finds a group of his friends close to his own age to hang out with. However, these friends don’t battle the various monsters that show up in town; they simply accept them as part of living in Beauséjour. In fact, no one within this book expresses any emotions other than melancholy, even when more apocalyptic elements start happening. Many have likely read action/adventure stories with a coming-of-age element that has the protagonist learns more about who they are and who they’re going to be due to the events in the book, but if Joel comes of age within Nowhere’s pages, Joel grows to realize that banality is the norm, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing to realize.
Banality could be used to describe the book’s artwork, which, in any other book, would be a critique, but the banality fits into the book’s overall tone. Claytor uses a deceptively simplistic art style that nevertheless depicts realistic human faces that are struggling to emote within a muted black and white world. Colors are also used sparingly, such as the blood on the vampire’s teeth when he talks with his therapist, and only provide a speck of brightness in Claytor’s universe. Even the aliens, typical grays with bulbous eyes and small mouths, approach their job of manipulation with the enthusiasm of security guards who’d much rather watch the clock tick toward the end of their shift, which is not surprising considering the universe they inhabit.
While lacking the excitement of Stranger Things, this book does share some DNA with an intellectual property well-known for weirdness. “Welcome to Night Vale,” a novel and podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, features a supernatural town where residents accept the supernatural to an absurd degree. Fans of that book/series will want to visit Beauséjour, as well as fans of shows like “X-Files” and “Supernatural,” particularly of their sillier episodes.
Nowhere By John Claytor Goose Lane Editions, 2026 ISBN: 9781773104584
Company Age Rating: 14 Years and Up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Memoirs often capture memories frozen in time, yet over the years, these memories can become reshaped, remixed, and even distorted. After all, facts become scattered but the truth behind the experiences endures. In her introspective memoir Until We Meet Again, Lily Kim Qian wrestles with deeply ingrained truths as she recounts her earliest memories leading to the estranged relationship between her parents, setting her on a path to discovery and inner healing.
The story begins in a jumbled dream-like state as Lily, a daughter of Chinese Canadian immigrant parents, sorts through a mixture of forgotten and remembered childhood memories—baby pictures, birthday parties, walks on a frozen lake, sizzling fried eggs made by her PoPo—which abruptly shifts to a darkened room where she watches her mother in a deep slumber. The scene later segues into a two-page spread where a tidal wave sweeps into a bedroom, signifying violent verbal battles between her parents that rage like a relentless tsunami. Narrated in vignettes, each story illustrates a moment in time, highlighting intimate details as she grapples with the gradual decline of her mother spiraling into the throes of mental illness. Segmented into chapters labeled after family members and locales spanning from Toronto to Shanghai, the plot runs the gamut of turbulent family dynamics converging through time and place as Lily constructs shattered fragments of her childhood to forge a new identity. From affectionate moments of her mother giving her a bath and dining over a meal of fried rice to outbursts of anger erupting between her warring parents, she navigates the ebbs and flows of fractured relationships in search of meaning and stability.
Bold and vivid line streaks infused with flecks of color paint the emotional landscape of each story. A variety of layouts—dynamic double-page spreads, a collage of photos, full-page scenes of places and characters—showcases a compelling assortment of visual compositions and storytelling prowess. Most striking is how the artwork translates metaphors into concrete images, which ranges from Lily somersaulting through recursive panels to illustrate her constant displacement from one home to another to a tangled ball of yarn symbolizing the mass confusion in the triangular relationship with her parents.
A memoir that reveals episodes of inherited trauma encompassed by the stigma of mental illness in Asian cultures, this story unearths poignant experiences dredged up from private memories. Much like how the brain functions when bombarded by a barrage of memories, Lily’s stories, or rather her recollection of them, unravels through a kaleidoscopic series of fractured moments that form a complex mosaic. Until We Meet Again adds a deeply intimate voice to young adult collections, exploring the complex emotional landscape of dysfunctional family dynamics in a beautifully rendered visual memoir from an Asian Canadian perspective.
Until We Meet Again By Lily Kim Qian Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250884237
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Canadian-American, Chinese, Depression Character Representation: Canadian-American, Chinese, Depression
But I’m going to try, because the book deserves it.
Pastimes is a collection of four-panel vignettes by Saguenay-born Pascal Girard about his life as a 40-something man with a family. STICK WITH ME HERE!
The humor is bone-dry, the emotional points land with humor, and the other material… well, if you’re a fan of the works of Larry David, you’re in for a treat. Much of these comics come from Pascal’s every day life as a social worker for a hospital and the family he has at home and, subsequently, he experiences many baffling social interactions that result in confusion, frustration, or uneasiness (or a combination of all three). He’ll say the inside thoughts out loud and face the consequences. Not in a way that’s noble, but in a way that reminds us that our actions have consequences.
Pascal clearly loves his wife Rebecca and five-year-old daughter Lucie, and even though the strips don’t suggest much struggle past what could be expected in parenthood, the comics do a good job of showing that these struggles still exist. His little girl is obsessed with dying, a subject that gives both her and her father anxiety; it’s often a gateway into a larger subject—of the author losing his younger brother when he was also five-years old. Pascal is getting older; he has to put more of an effort in staying in shape, making healthy choices for himself, and going out to those loud, crowded, dive-y venues for the punk and hardcore music he tends to favor late at night is getting more difficult these days (though he doesn’t give it up, even sharing certain aspects of it with his daughter).
The strips don’t dabble in mature themes like sex, but death, recreational drug use, aging, and uncomfortable social interaction are explored. Not every page is a winner, but there are definitely a number of belly-laughs for me.
I would first describe the book as “cozy.” No Flying No Tights has reviewed literally thousands of comics that are visually complicated and layered and colorful and perhaps epic works of art and Pastimes… is not any of that. Nor does it need to be. The drawings are simple outlines, there is no color, but the characters are still expressive and the visual components of the punchlines land.
I find the book incredibly endearing. It’s not a deep exploration of things that we might think of as we age – perhaps sacrificed for the sake of humor—but it does suggest that there is more going on. Pastimes is deeper than just 4 panels of funny drawings. It’s a light in a dark hallway. And not just because I am also an aging punk rock adult who sees themself in Pascal’s work and therefore established a deep empathetic connection to his life with the first comic and see it as some sort of signal that everything is going to be okay.
Probably.
Maybe.
But the only way to find out is to pick this one up and read it yourself!
Pastimes By Pascal Girard Pow Pow Press, 2025 ISBN: 9782925114543
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Canadian, Character Representation: Canadian,
Fans of Strange Tales may be familiar with Youtube personality MrBallen (real name John B. Allen). A former Navy SEAL, MrBallen doesn’t tell his stories of people’s actual accounts with the supernatural and fantastical on a set lit with black candles or a coffin sitting in the background. Instead, he wears a signature baseball cap and flannel shirt while sitting before a microphone. He doesn’t need Gothic ambience to pull his fans in; the stories themselves are enough. He, along with contributor Robert Venditti, seems to take that approach with his book MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories, illustrated by Andrea Mutti.
The nine stories within this book are from around the world. Many of them are typically spooky stories that one would tell around a campfire; hence, the book’s front cover has MrBallen sitting behind a campfire surrounded by skulls (the closest he comes to Gothic trappings) while he locks eyes with the reader as he prepares to tell these stories. His first story involves a stretch of Canada’s Northwest Territories that has made many people disappear over centuries, a story which sets the tone for the rest of the book, while other tales include a man who disappears in an abandoned Spanish village where a witch met her end, a woman who has a very strange and visceral dream while camping, a man encountering a persistent tiger, and an actual giant encountered in the mountains of Khanadar, Afghanistan.
The stories MrBallen and Venditti share are stories that he has researched, stories he’s heard from others (the story of the giant is one he’d heard from a fellow soldier), or ones he’s experienced himself. The stories are presented as nonfiction but MrBallen doesn’t spend time delving into the history of these encounters or trying to prove or disprove their veracity; he’s simply there to tell a story and entertain his audience. The way these stories are presented also bank on another part of MrBallen’s appeal: his approachability. His stories aren’t told with the dry delivery of a folklore scholar, but of someone sharing this story with a friend in a not-too-crowded local bar.
Mutti’s art style also shows a distinct lack of ostentatious ambiance, which benefits the book. Mutti forgoes detailed images of many of these terrors, particularly the supernatural ones, and shows just enough to let the reader’s unsettled mind fill in the blanks. For settings, he only places the bare minimum within a scene to create the proper atmosphere, whether that be fog winding through a dark forest, or the terrified eyes of the people experiencing these stories. Even Mutti’s watercolor style artwork, with pale colors and realistic detail for the non-supernatural elements, complements rather than distracts from the stories’ elements.
In the public library nonfiction shelves lurk books about real-life hauntings and stories meant to raise hackles on unsuspecting adult patrons. The patrons who enjoy those books will enjoy MrBallen’s tales; perhaps they are even fans of his Youtube show. If they are not fans, they might discover MrBallen through reading the solidly spooky tales he has collected.
MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious The Graphic Tales By John B. Allen Art by Andrea Mutti Ten Speed Press, 2024 ISBN: 9781984863430
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
When most people think of horror anthologies in the comic medium, they might think of EC Comic’s Tales from the Crypt or The Vault of Fear. They might also think of Creepshow, a series of movies and television shows that were an homage to comics like Tales from the Crypt. Very few might think of, or even remember, Harvey Comics, creators of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch. Writer and artist Jay Stephens seems to have been thinking of both when he created Dwellings, a more grown-up horror anthology that utilizes Harvey Comics’ artistic style.
The town of Elwich, at first glance, doesn’t appear too different from other small towns in Canada, except that it is cursed. Many of Elwich’s inhabitants have had encounters with ghosts, monsters, demons, and things that go bump (and worse) in the night, and their stories are told in this anthology. But be warned that the ghosts in this book are definitely not friendly nor are the witches (and warlocks) here in any way good.
While it is tempting to dismiss this book as a gimmick, relying on the shock value of seeing characters that could have leaped out of the ‘50s funny pages bleed and be dismembered, Stephens does tell some solid scary stories. Standout tales in this book feature a woman who is searching for her grandmother in a forest along with her hand puppet companion and a tale about a haunted attraction that wreaks havoc on its customers. Those familiar with Creepshow and Tales format (or the format of many horror short stories) will recognize the twist endings that come at the end of these stories while reaching for the readers’ collective throat.
The dichotomy of mature and violent stories told through a cutesy art style might initially draw in the curious, but Stephens shows a commitment that goes beyond merely drawing a few cutesy characters dying horrifically. Those who actually remember when comic books were not only under a dollar but had ads for x-ray specs and exploding gum will marvel at the attention to detail Stephens’ ads add to the book’s overall tone while also hinting at the stories that are contained within.
One particular highlight that strengthens the illusion of this book time-traveling from the fifties is the six panel black-and-white comic “Aw Hell.” When all of “Aw Hell” is read, it eventually reveals the humorous story of how a scoundrel named Jack tricked the devil and later birthed the Jack O’Lantern. Dwellings is full of moments like this that immerse the reader in a universe where it could be bought at the local drug store for pocket change.
This book is specifically geared toward more adult horror fans, but teens (or teen librarians) who aren’t too squeamish might like to give Dwellings a home. Though it might seem like the book is targeting a small niche group of horror fans who also love Casper and Wendy, fans of punchy horror stories, particularly those fans with a sense of humor, should like how Stephens homages horror comics.
Dwellings By Jay Stephens Oni Press, 2024 ISBN: 9781637152911
Publisher Age Rating: 12 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Canadian,
This collection of seven stories honoring the northern regions of Canada and the Indigenous residents has been reprinted from the three-anthology series, Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, featuring these three authors with strong ties to the region and the people. Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley is of Inuit-Cree ancestry from Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. She is an Inuit scholar who studies world religions and cultures. Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, of Scottish-Mohawk ancestry, was born in southern Ontario, Canada and is a folklorist and fantasist specializing in magic, mythology, and Inuit lore. Richard Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT. Tlicho are Dene First Nation people living in the Northwest Territories. He currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta not far from this reviewer and is a well-known storyteller, author, and educator.
Each of the entries in this new collection include new splash pages as an introduction to the stories but do not include the prefaces that accompanied the stories in their original publications. For this reason, I am offering some of the material included in the Moonshot anthologies for additional context.
All three awarding winning authors have shared their knowledge of traditional teachings, the history of Arctic shamanism and cosmology, and the joy of storytelling, and the awareness of the solid intersections of their rich backgrounds with the wider contemporary culture. The stories in this collection continue this practice, bringing awareness of non-Indigenous as well as Indigenous readers to the magic of the Canadian far northern regions. The various illustrators for the individual stories are not from the region but are well versed in the geography and culture of the people they are bringing to vivid life. The collection was published separately in two languages, English and Inuktitut. I will be discussing the English collection.
Burning Cold opens with prefaces explaining the authors’ objectives in writing these tales. Rachel and Sean explain that while much of what they create is based on traditional tales and figures, their stories are fiction immersed in traditional lore. However, they do not tend to offer the reader clues to which is which and, as they write, “You’ll just have to make a game at guessing which parts are exactly that [traditional lore], as opposed to flights of our fancy. In this sense, with a smile, but no joke, we are actually being quite traditional” (4). Richard, in his preface, contends that “comics and illustrated literature are the perfect ways to welcome readers of all ages into the grace, dignity, stories, and medicines of our culture” (6).
The first story, “Tlicho Naowa” by Van Camp, indicates a contemporary family blending the traditional ceremony with the trick and treat ceremony that both occur on October 31. The Dene ritual expresses love and respect to family members who are no longer alive as well as imploring the spirits of the Caribou people for a safe and plentiful upcoming hunting season. This is the significant time of year for Caribou herds and their migration in the area. Nicholas Burns’ colourful illustrations effectively illuminate the modern home and customs of the family, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, placing the reader warmly inside the family. The dialogue also highlights the Indigenous language of the area. The following story, also from the first volume of Moonshot, is an illustrated tale written by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley and illustrated by menton3. The story evokes the danger presented by the traditional Qallupilik to the people, especially young children who wander too close to the edge of ice floes. The Qallupilik, at times formless, are known shapeshifters and child-snatchers and in this tale, it assumes the shape of a human female to collect a young female who taunted them, perhaps unknowingly. The white text is presented on black pages alternating with full page coloured atmospheric and striking illustrations.
The next three stories are from the second volume of Moonshot. Richard Van Camp’s ‘Water Spirits” continues the theme of the contemporary infused with traditional belief systems. The school field trip to the gold mine offers accurate information about the history of the mine as well as the implications of the poisoning of the waters that led to its demise. Within the tale, told by a fictional guide, is knowledge rarely shared outside of the culture. “The tradition of respecting the Spirits and never placing drinking cups directly on the ground as described in the story is typically told by Elders to youth, only in the spoken word, making this story a unique experience”. The Arctic fantasy tale “Winter’s Shell”, by the Qitsualik-Tinsleys, is told through the comic format with illustrations by Alexandria Neonakis. Several Inuit shamanic symbols are adapted in order to share teachings and world understanding not usually discussed openly in the culture but instead are shared through art, story, and aangakkuuniq (shamanism). The story and art evoke a feeling of mysticism and mystery and does not offer any immediate answers for the reader. This feeling of unexplained magic and wonder continues in Van Camp’s “Magic of Wolverines”. The Wolverine is a trickster spirit and to the Tlicho Dene, it represents an unending source of strength, beauty, and respect, the most important facets of life. This concise tale explains the authority of wolverines through narration boxes and the powerful illustrations by Scott Henderson.
The final two stories, from the third volume of Moonshot, demonstrate the power of belief and living and environmental knowledge of the people of the far north. “Waterward”, told in prose by the Qitsualik-Tinsleys in white text on a black background, is a dark, disturbing, and ominous tale that is effectively accompanied by the haunting full-page illustrations of Sadekaronhes Esquivel. The final tale by Van Camp is filled with colour and hope, bringing the collection of tales full circle with the distribution of meat from a successful caribou hunt. The hunt was apparently a success due to the Sky People, whose lights danced in the night sky. For readers who are familiar with Van Camp’s previous stories about Benny and his hometown of Fort Smith will recognize some of the main characters in the story creatively illustrated by Kyle Charles, a Cree illustrator now living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Although these stories are reprinted with additional splash pages instead of the introductory material of the original, the fact that they are presented as a united whole provides the reader with a more intense reading experience and understanding of the environment, mystic, power, people, and the culture of the Canadian far North. Highly recommended for library collections of Indigenous materials, Canadian materials, and world views.
i. Moonshot, Vol. 1, page 122. ii. Moonshot, Vol. 2, page 95. iii. Moonshot, Vol 2, page 78.
Burning Cold An Inuit and Dene Comics Collection Vol. By Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, and Richard Van Camp, Art by Various Arvaaq Press, 2024 ISBN: 9781774506547
Publisher Age Rating: 12-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: Canadian, Dogrib Dene, Inuit, Character Representation: Canadian, Dene, First Nations or Indigenous, Inuit,
Best friends Gabby, Mindy, and Priya are very different, but they have the same problem: all three girls love animals, and none of them are allowed to have pets. Determined to get quality cuddle time with some critters, they try out several schemes before creating a dog-walking business, which they name PAWS (an acronym—sort of—for Pretty Awesome WalkerS).
Several clients sign up immediately, and suddenly the girls have all the dogs they can handle—maybe even more than they can handle. Conflict bubbles up: Priya plays lots of sports, so the other two keep having to walk extra dogs when she has practices or games. Mindy can really use the dog-walking money, so she’s keen to take on more dogs even when the trio is already struggling. Gabby is the youngest, and sometimes feels that the other two don’t listen to her.
When the girls finally solve these issues, more trouble pops up: Mindy’s mom starts dating, which makes Mindy feel insecure and afraid of change just as the other two girls want to ask a new friend to join PAWS. Then Priya’s family moves across town, and her parents want her to switch schools. How will the girls of PAWS keep their business—and their friendship—going strong?
This fun series will inevitably draw comparisons to the Baby-Sitters Club, another series in which tween girls form a business together and deal with professional and personal issues. Both feature characters who are very different in personality and background but are close friends: Gabby comes from a secure, well-to-do family and is a little sheltered; Mindy is a stylish, chronically-online latchkey kid with a single mom; Priya is an athlete and the child of immigrants. Hazel, who joins PAWS in the second book, is new in town and uses a wheelchair. Each book focuses on the character whose name is in the title, with occasional sections following one of the others. Like the girls of the Baby-Sitters Club, these kids work through the practical details of how pre-teens might realistically organize and run a business.
PAWS is set in Vancouver, Canada, and feels very much of the present day. The girls use some current slang, especially when they squeal over animals, calling them “pupper,” “floof boi,” “lad,” “fren,” and “king,” and exclaiming “I would boop that nose so hard!” Phones and social media also feature frequently. All of this feels natural, and while the language may eventually seem a little quirky to future readers, the storylines and themes of friendship, accepting change, and taking care of yourself are timeless.
The art is a colorful, lightly cartoonified version of reality. The characters are expressive, sometimes becoming comically exaggerated to show extreme emotions. They are distinct and easy to tell apart, and each has an individual style, including plenty of different outfits. The animals have a lot of personality, too. While the focus is on the characters, the backgrounds are detailed enough to keep the settings—mostly parks, school, and the kids’ homes—clear and present. There are also a couple of illustrated recipes: Mindy narrates how to make gamja bokkeum, a Korean dish, and her mom’s boyfriend Mike explains how to make a kind of breakfast casserole.
There is no violence, no swearing (unless you count an embarrassed character mumbling “Oh God”), and no romantic content other than Mindy’s mom innocently hanging out with her new boyfriend. The stakes are emotional and logistical, not physical danger, except for one instance when Priya falls and hurts her leg.
These funny, relatable characters learn problem-solving and other life lessons through engaging stories. Definitely hand this series to fans of the Baby-Sitters Club, as well as to readers of other middle-grade realistic fiction, like the work of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale.
PAWS By Nathan Fairbairn Art by Michele Assarasakorn Penguin Random House Razorbill, 2022 ISBN: 9780593351864
Volume
ISBN
2
9780593351932
3
9780593351963
Publisher Age Rating: 8-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Canadian, Thai, , Character Representation: Black, Indian, Korean, Wheelchair User, Hindu ,
A house can be just a place to live but a home can be so much more than that. It can be where you feel safe, where you feel loved, and where you feel comfortable. Mazie Lovie’s middle grade graphic memoir The Lucky Poor tells Mazie’s own experience growing up poor, with not always ideal living situations, until her mom becomes a homeowner through Habitat for Humanity Canada.
Mazie lives with her mom and her younger brother, Jake. They’ve lived in the Bug House, with her mom’s boyfriend, then an apartment that was way too small for the three of them. Her grandparents live on a farm nearby where she spends every weekend, the most stable and consistent home in her young life. Her grandparents have a (two room) vacation cottage home too, where Mazie gets to spend a week every summer. It’s great to live with so much family close by but when it comes to physical space, it’s not always that great.
As Mazie starts getting older, she admits to herself she needs more space, her own dedicated space without Jake barging in. Jake is autistic and it’s not always easy for Mazie to be patient with him. It’s not until she joins a group with other kids with autistic siblings that she feels safe admitting this. It’s a lot of emotions for a tween to handle, dealing with being poor and not having her own room, but Mazie knows her family is part of the lucky poor, the group of people who dance around the poverty line but always have a roof over their head.
When Mazie is 13, her mom is the recipient of a house from Habitat for Humanity Canada. The family is required to complete 500 volunteer hours and maintain the upkeep of the house. The House, as it’s referred to in the book, gives Mazie a taste of the classism that’s been lying within some of her family members. They think Mazie’s mom doesn’t deserve the house. There’s people worse off than they are, they already had a place to live, why should they get a free house? The Lucky Poor does a gentle job of dealing with these heavy topics, as Mazie looks within to try to understand why anyone would feel this way. Readers will also see how hard her mom works at being the perfect homeowner and her need to continue to prove they deserve it.
The book primarily focuses on Mazie’s family but delves more into her friendships as she gets older. The House becomes a space for community; her Girl Guides group uses it as a meeting spot and it serves as a help for other members of her troop. Readers can use the story as a kickoff to think about what their living situation means to them and how it may serve as a place beyond just where their family lives.
The story told in The Lucky Poor ties into the book itself, with Mazie deciding what she wants to do with her life as it ends. Lovie’s art style is colorful and cartoonish, reminiscent of a webcomic in the best way. It may potentially attract younger readers but the narrative of Mazie’s life is more on the older middle grade side. Readers who’ve personally experienced housing insecurity may find this graphic memoir particularly emotional at times and it could evoke big emotions in readers of any class background.
There’s a lot of heart and love in The Lucky Poor, along with potential for discussion about classism and dealing with discrimination, even from the people you love. It’s recommended for readers of other graphic memoirs for middle grade readers, such as The Tryout and Chunky.
The Lucky Poor A Habitat for Humanity Story By Mazie Lovie Iron Circus, 2024 ISBN: 9781638991250
Publisher Age Rating: 11-13
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
Don’t let its cute manga-inspired art fool you. Matchmaker, the queer slice-of-life comic book by Cam Marshall, addresses plenty of serious topics in its compact print volume, such as: staying safe during the Covid-19 pandemic; the stress of being unemployed or underemployed in a capitalist society; work life balance; and asserting and affirming sexual and gender identities.
In six chapters, the book reveals the lives of three young friends struggling through life and searching for romance, with fully realized side characters to round out the story. Transgender, nonbinary lesbian Kimmy attempts to set up gay cisgender Mason with the perfect guy. Meanwhile, Kimmy develops feelings for their mutual friend Marlowe. The relationships unfold at a natural pace while the reader waits to find out if Kimmy’s matchmaking will succeed. Romance is the core of the plot but subplots such as artist Marlowe’s wrist injury; animator Mason’s desperate search for decent paid work; the friends’ thorough efforts to protect immunocompromised Mason from Covid while others remain lax; and Mason’s sister Sam’s questioning of sexual identity balance out what would otherwise be a one-dimensional story.
Marshall’s art is in black, white, and gray. It is arranged in panels with full page artwork at the beginning of each chapter. The dialogue and images fit neatly within the panels and each enhances the other, especially in terms of humor which is depicted textually and pictorially. Exaggerated facial expressions and well-placed onomatopoeia give a fun, goofy vibe to the story. Picture a winking Marlowe handing a receipt with her phone number on it to love-struck Kimmy with a BAM! while Kimmy’s eyes spiral in a classic “knocked out” expression (151). The print book is about 5.5 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide, an unusual size for an adult section book. But it’s conveniently portable and surprisingly, the art and text are not negatively impacted.
The youthful sense of humor, timely existential woes, and art style of Matchmaker will mostly appeal to folks in the mid 20s to mid 30s age range. Recommend this charming book to fans of slice-of-life stories such as Giant Days or Wet Moon.
Matchmaker By Cam Marshall Silver Sprocket, 2023 ISBN: 9798886200294
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Nonbinary , Character Representation: Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Nonbinary, Trans, Depression
Bad Medicine is essentially fairly good medicine—a graphic novel celebrating oral storytelling, Cree folklore, friendship, with five creative teens around a campfire by the river, telling horrific tales. The stories are cautionary tales that become more and more spooky as the teens try to excel each other’s stories and telling skills evoking monsters such as impish little folk, ghosts, shapeshifters, and demons from local folklore.
The first tale is told about the vivid experiences of a man fishing in the river in close proximity to the campfire where they are sitting. Although one of the teens protests from the onset that the story is not true, the others are a willing audience to the tale of the man and his fatal adventures with the small trickster beings in the river. The teens are spooked but ready for the next story which “is true, at least.” This tale is also eerie, but the malevolent creature in it is much too human and the story much too familiar for many young Indigenous women on their own. The third story begins in the daylight but, once again, the tale takes a very dark turn with the audience left feeling uncomfortable and uneasy at its conclusion. The supernatural in this story is perhaps not as frightening as the other evil creatures in the previous tales, but perhaps that depends on your perspective. Before the next storyteller takes a turn, one of the teens leaves the campfire to go home, not because he wants to leave but, as the others explain, because he needs to protect his sisters. His story is told next, but not as something that happened in the past. The horror is, unfortunately, much too authentic, happening to him over and over again each evening when he finally is at home. After he leaves, the four remaining teens safely extinguish the fire and make their way home in the dark. They are feeling satisfied with the evening and plan to tell more stories around the fire at a later date.
Brief and natural conversations around the campfire between each of the tellings and among the teens put the stories in context and make the reader feel that perhaps they too are sitting around the fire with the storytellers. The illustrations have simple unadorned backdrops that, at the same time, establish the distinct setting for each tale. The illustrations accentuate the natural world surrounding the teens as well as real-life concerns that also envelop them as they make their way in the modern world. The rectangular panels are coloured with a mostly subdued palette with the exception of the first tale, which offers bright yellows that fade away to the darker hues of browns and black for the remaining episodes. I did have a little trouble telling characters apart at times.
Writer and illustrator Christopher Twin is from the Swan River First Nations reservation in northern Alberta, Canada. He is a freelance illustrator and comic book artist currently living in Edmonton. He focuses on telling stories, both in text and illustration, of social and cultural divides and life as a mixed-race individual.
This graphic novel is suitable for a teen audience who like horror, scary stories, and realistic fiction featuring Indigenous people. Highly recommended for First Nation collections, those interested in the art of storytelling, and local Alberta lore.
Bad Medicine Vol. By Christopher Twin Emanata, 2023 ISBN: 9781772620870
Publisher Age Rating: 14-18 NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Canadian, Cree Character Representation: Canadian, Cree
always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
Memoirs often capture memories frozen in time, yet over the years, these memories can become reshaped, remixed, and even distorted. After all, facts become scattered but the truth behind the experiences endures. In her introspective memoir Until We Meet Again, Lily Kim Qian wrestles with deeply ingrained truths as she recounts her earliest memories leading to the estranged relationship between her parents, setting her on a path to discovery and inner healing.
tell his stories of people’s actual accounts with the supernatural and fantastical on a set lit with black candles or a coffin sitting in the background. Instead, he wears a signature baseball cap and flannel shirt while sitting before a microphone. He doesn’t need Gothic ambience to pull his fans in; the stories themselves are enough. He, along with contributor Robert Venditti, seems to take that approach with his book MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories, illustrated by Andrea Mutti.
Vault of Fear. They might also think of Creepshow, a series of movies and television shows that were an homage to comics like Tales from the Crypt. Very few might think of, or even remember, Harvey Comics, creators of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch. Writer and artist Jay Stephens seems to have been thinking of both when he created Dwellings, a more grown-up horror anthology that utilizes Harvey Comics’ artistic style.
from the three-anthology series, Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, featuring these three authors with strong ties to the region and the people. Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley is of Inuit-Cree ancestry from Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. She is an Inuit scholar who studies world religions and cultures. Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, of Scottish-Mohawk ancestry, was born in southern Ontario, Canada and is a folklorist and fantasist specializing in magic, mythology, and Inuit lore. Richard Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT. Tlicho are Dene First Nation people living in the Northwest Territories. He currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta not far from this reviewer and is a well-known storyteller, author, and educator.
of them are allowed to have pets. Determined to get quality cuddle time with some critters, they try out several schemes before creating a dog-walking business, which they name PAWS (an acronym—sort of—for Pretty Awesome WalkerS).
loved, and where you feel comfortable. Mazie Lovie’s middle grade graphic memoir The Lucky Poor tells Mazie’s own experience growing up poor, with not always ideal living situations, until her mom becomes a homeowner through Habitat for Humanity Canada.
Bad Medicine is essentially fairly good medicine—a graphic novel celebrating oral storytelling, Cree folklore, friendship, with five creative teens around a campfire by the river, telling horrific tales. The stories are cautionary tales that become more and more spooky as the teens try to excel each other’s stories and telling skills evoking monsters such as impish little folk, ghosts, shapeshifters, and demons from local folklore.
