It is All Hallows’ Eve. It is a night of foreboding, even without a storm brewing. Some believe it is a night when the boundaries between life and death are thinner, and evil things walk abroad.
The date means little to highwayman Dick Turpin, and his partner in crime, Tom King. They already live a life where the boundaries between life and death are thin. And they think there’s no evil things about but them.
They may be wrong.
When an accident overturns the carriage that was their quarry, Tom is quick to enact a new scheme. He poses as a nobleman, with Dick as his manservant “Richard,” hoping to secure the nobles’ luggage and ride off with it untroubled.
However, the scheme goes overlong, as the two parties join to seek shelter and soon find a seemingly abandoned monastery. Alas, whether it is due to the night in question or whether their presence awoke it, some ghostly presence takes exception to the intruders. Soon the scoundrels are facing closing walls, stinking clouds and swarms of rats. To say nothing of the deadly touch of the specter clad in plague doctor’s garb…
Dick Turpin and the Vengeful Shade is an interesting blend of historic fiction and horror. Of course, there is no record of the infamous British thief ever fighting a ghost. Yet writer Steve Tanner pays as much attention to historical accuracy as he does craft in spinning a ripping yarn.
The story draws upon two main conflicts. The first is that between the Church of England and the Catholic Church. The second is Plague of 1563. History buffs will appreciate this attention to detail and how it plays into the ghost story to make it a little more grounded. Not that this matters much to Dick Turpin himself, who spends most of the story wishing he could shoot something. He’s also none too choosy about it being the ghost, Tom King (who takes a bit too much pleasure in playing the noble and bossing him around) or the various nobles and servants annoying him. This adds humor, which offsets the horror, along with a noble lady who speaks of the stories of Dick Turpin ravaging the women he encounters and then being a bit slow in agreeing with her husband in finding the prospect dreadful.
The artwork is of similar craft and quality. Roland Bird, best known for his work on Legion of Super-Heroes, is in fine form here. He proves equally adept at drawing animals, period costumes and supernatural strangeness. He is well-backed by the color art of Brett Burbridge, which adds an evocative and somber aura to the finished artwork.
As with their recent reprint of Dick Turpin and the Crimson Plague, Time Bomb Comics does not offer a rating for Dick Turpin and the Vengeful Shade. However, despite a lack of nudity or any sexual content beyond references to ravaging, I’d still suggest this one be kept in the adult collection. While the horror elements and bloodshed might be acceptable for most teenagers, I feel the historical elements and slow-boiling story will appeal more to adult audiences.
Dick Turpin and the Vengeful Shade By Steve Tanner Art by Roland Bird Time Bomb, 2020 ISBN: 9781916465343
Library patrons of a certain age may remember when a crime wave hit local cinemas back in the 90s. Nothing was actually stolen but money was lost from fans who gladly spent their money on tickets to see films like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, films that show the sometimes comedic and often chaotic world of criminals behaving criminally. Mugshots, written by Jordan Thomas and illustrated by Chris Matthews, is something of a throwback to that era, even if it does take place in the year 2008, while also managing to tell its own unique story.
As mentioned before, the story takes place in 2008 in a version of Bristol, UK that Guy Ritchie could have visited for inspiration. John Bannon might be an unrepentant criminal but he’s still a loving uncle, which is why he heads back to Bristol to help find his missing niece. Bristol is especially dangerous for John since crime boss Harry Woods has declared Bristol off limits for John. This means that John’s investigation into his niece’s disappearance will make him the target of gangsters, killers, and corrupt cops, all while a gang war threatens to tear the city apart.
For those patrons that love crime stories that follow Tarantino’s and Ritchie’s aesthetics, stories with twisted plots and casual violence, Thomas’s story more than provides. Many of these characters are immediately likable, or at least charismatic in the way that good villains are. In the book’s intro, Thomas says this about his characters: “These people are doing terrible things, but goddamn if they aren’t entertaining to spend time with.” Many of them are entertaining despite how they quickly and brutally resort to violence and intimidation to get what they want. Differentiating his story from filmmakers like Tarantino and Ritchie, Thomas avoids the pop culture quips and rapid fire exchanges that are often part of their films, instead focusing on efficiently telling a noir-ish story of how crime doesn’t always pay but one must eventually pay for their crimes, one way or the other.
This efficiency is also the theme in Matthews’s unique and eye-catching artwork. Matthews uses a retro art style that would look right at home on a poster for a thriller from the 60’s. Using minimal colors and details, Matthews still manages to clearly tell a story visually with dynamic movement from his characters, along with small touches like character designs with distinct head shapes and hairstyles, that make what’s going on in the story easy to follow.
This book from Mad Cave Studios shows how this studio is diversifying its offerings and not simply relying on horror and fantastic stories. Such diversity among their titles will put this publisher up there with other comic publishers like Image Comics and Dark Horse. Adult graphic novel fans who fondly remember 90’s crime movies, or who watched those movies on streaming, should like reading and untying this tangled plot to reveal a simple story of how crimes, both big and small, eventually catch up to us.
Mugshots By Jordan Thomas Art by Chris Matthews Mad Cave Studios, 2025 ISBN: 9781545815915
In his debut graphic novel, writer and illustrator Kengo Kurimoto has created a lush, sweet meditation on the healing power of nature.
Wildful is a mostly wordless graphic novel but for all the lack of dialog, it says a great deal. A young girl, Poppy walks her dog every day and finds, along her urban street, a gateway to a quiet natural area. Among the twittering birds, Poppy and Pepper meet Rob, a boy who shows them the secret world that lies right under our noses.
Although there is virtually no exposition, Kurimoto allows the story to unfold organically, like the buds and flowers Rob shows Poppy. Poppy’s mother is depressed over the recent death of her mother and is unable to leave the sofa. Poppy tells her about her new friend and about the birds and plants they find. Her mother promises to go out with her “some other day.”
The art is rich with close ups and wide shots of birds, trees, plants and the wildlife that inhabits an urban wilderness behind a broken, chain-link gate. Told in sepia washes and stunning ink detail, Poppy watches and listens and eventually draws her mother out of the cocoon of blankets and grief on their couch.
Colorless and nearly wordless are strange choices for a graphic novel but Kurimoto has made a gorgeous, quiet tale for art and nature lovers of all ages, reminiscent of The Secret Garden. Poppy and her mother are Asian and Rob cues white.
Wildful By Kengo Kurimoto Anansi Press, 2024 ISBN: 9781773068626
Publisher Age Rating: 9-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11) Creator Representation: East Asian, Character Representation: East Asian,
“I wondered why I suddenly needed a manual for understanding my friend.”
In But You HaveFriends, Emilia McKenzie uses short anecdotes told in comic format to tell the story of a friendship. After frequent moves as a young child, Emilia struggled to fit in and find friends, until she met C. Their friendship blossomed into a deep connection lasting nearly 20 years, until C’s death by suicide in 2018. This memoir is McKenzie’s attempt to process the friendship, C’s death, and her grief.
Emlia and C (Charlotte) met when avoiding lunch during year 10. This friendship felt different from the beginning. Other relationships felt surface level, but C and Emilia were able to talk about deeper issues in their lives, like their emotions and mental health (even when they didn’t quite have the vocabulary to understand it). It was, “just the two of us against the world.”
Long-lasting friendships evolve over time, especially those with foundations in your adolescence. C and Emlia were separated by distance in uni, and their relationship to each other changed, but not in importance. Though only occasionally together, they still found depth in each other without judgment.
C’s mental health issues became more severe while at uni. Eventually, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. After uni, from Emlia’s perspective, C’s mental health ebbs and flows, with a sharp decline in the few years preceding her death.
The book is not McKenzie’s attempt to share C’s life story or to educate anyone about mental health and suicide. It is about friendship. As C’s mental health deteriorates, Emelia makes every attempt to be there as a friend. However mental health is personal and difficult to understand from an outside perspective.
I, fortunately, have not lost a loved one to suicide, but I have had close friends and loved ones deal with severe mental health episodes. This book resonated with me. Some people who shower love onto friends with ease and no judgment are often those same people struggling to find peace for themselves.
McKenzie’s illustrations are hand-drawn with light purple shading (C’s favorite color). Emotion, emphasis, and even age are depicted through simple lines on the face or in the panel. Even the text is handwritten. It is more reminiscent of a diary than a polished published comic. It mirrors the writing, which focuses more on relationships and the emotional response, rather than a cohesive story. The effect is disarmingly intimate. And despite every attempt to appear professional at my desk at work, I felt tears in my eyes throughout the last half of the book. The story affected me more than I realized it would, and I anticipate many others will feel similarly.
But You Have Friends is a tender exploration of friendship, love, and grief. The book is published for an adult audience. It is from the point of view of an adult looking back at the journey of a friendship, and many adult readers will find resonance or parallels with their own relationships. I will be purchasing it for my high school’s collection, as I think many teens will also appreciate a touching memoir about friendship and mental health.
But You Have Friends By Emilia McKenzie Top Shelf, 2023 ISBN: 9781603095273
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Character Representation: Borderline Personality Disorder
Once & Future is the kind of sprawling, engrossing, chaotic tale that you don’t see every day. It’s incredibly well plotted and while it may have resolved itself in five volumes, it feels much larger than that. Now that the story is finished (at least for now according to author Kieron Gillen in the afterword), I think it is easier to give the series the endorsement it deserves because of how well it sticks the landing. The story itself is incredibly ambitious and reviews of the first volume might not have been overly effusive. To see the scope of it now in retrospect, the amount of weaving Gillen did to bring it all together and to do it in such a satisfying way is no small feat.
Once & Future, Vol 4: Monarchies in the U.K. opens with all of the United Kingdom pulled into The Otherworld, where Duncan and Bridgette are trying to find a place to hide long enough to regroup. They decide on Bridgette’s ancestral home, which here is actually the Grail Castle. Early in this volume another Arthur and Merlin step into this world and now there is a battle over who is the “true” king. This Arthur brings new knights with him, like Eliold and Yvain. Turns out that William Shakespeare was the greatest monster hunter of the accord and this is where all the talk of “stories” really coalesces. His secret armory is as much collected writings as it is weapons, but Bridgette is after his quill. This is about the time Mary shows up and complicates how Bridgette planned to get the upper hand in Otherworld. She is looking for the water god Leir or Lear who is now trapped in the waters of Leicester. This should be more than enough for one book, but Lancelot seems torn as to which Arthur to serve and then another Arthur and his army show up as a battle for the land ramps up. This volume concludes with Bridgette, Duncan, and Rose finding the person who is tied to the quill, Robin Hood.
Once & Future, Vol 5: The Wasteland introduces Robin Hood’s terrifying band of merry men and he inducts our three heroes in the group. They wind up discovering a new steampunk Arthur while Mary is at Grail Castle working her own angles. Did you forget the Green Knight was part of this story? I did. He’s back and book five doesn’t have time to waste. Bridgette’s new plan is to get the waters of the Lethe, which are waters of forgetting, and use them on the whole of the U.K. so that everyone forgets they know about Arthur and the stories, and hopefully pull them out of The Otherworld. Mary and Lancelot find poor, broken Galahad and try to get him to reach the Grail inside the castle, but it’s futile. December 24th rolls around and a bolt of lightning delivers a sword directly into a stone and proclaims “Whoever Draws This Sword Shall Be the Rightful King of England”, changing the plans. Now our heroes have to guard the sword from all the Arthurs, but they have some help in Sir Hempleworth from British Intelligence and some of his soldiers who have survived. While they hold their ground, Galahad finally reaches the Grail, but it costs him his life. This brings Mary back to her mother and the revenge she seeks against the first Merlin.
The rest of the story is told at a fever pitch and it is all spoilers from here out, so I will simply say that even after introducing so many story lines and so much folklore, Gillen doesn’t forget to close a single thread. The amount of story arcs that get a fitting and fulfilling conclusion is actually really impressive. There are big plot twists, but none of them feel unearned. It is just a series of payoffs for storyline after storyline, some of which were set up in volume 1 and just left till now. I cannot think of another book I have read like this that manages to tidy up all the things it set out on the table in a way that demonstrates a clear plan and deliberate execution.
Dan Mora had to come up with so very many creatures, villains, and monsters for these books it is equally impressive he kept them straight. All of the different Arthurs have their own unique look and feel while also being tied just enough together that you know they are the king of their timeline. The pace of the narrative at times is driven by the energy and composition of the panels, which Mora won’t get enough credit for. This series owes a great deal to his attention to detail and ability to build multiple worlds or timelines that all reflect each other while standing on their own.
This series is best suited for older teens and adults due to occasional swearing a lot of fighting. It’s just bloody enough to not recommend to young teens, but there are enough high concepts here that it might not appeal to that age group anyway. That being said, you don’t have to be an Arthurian expert or remember how Beowulf goes to enjoy this. It is equal parts history lesson, literature class, and heavy metal album. Recommending this to libraries who might have been on the fence early is easy now because we can say definitively it is only five volumes altogether and they are worth it. It starts out complex and, while that does not really change, it gets easier to follow and the through line becomes a lot more clear. This is a worthwhile addition to an adult collection that wants something that is not superheroes, but has a tinge of familiarity to it. It is a pleasure to read and a truly satisfying conclusion for those who make it to the end.
Once & Future By Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora BOOM! Studios, 2023 Vol. 4: Monarchies in the U.K. ISBN: 9781684158294 Vol 5: The Wasteland ISBN: 9781684158621
Eugene Bullard lived the kind of life that demands biographers take notice. He was the first Black fighter pilot from the United States, as well as a decorated soldier, boxer, vaudeville performer, and Paris businessman. His social circles included early 20th-century notables like Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, and boxer Aaron Lister “Dixie Kid” Brown. During his pilot career, he had a pet monkey named Jimmy who accompanied him on all of his combat flights.
Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard captures the kinetic energy of Bullard’s biography but also gives it weight. It’s a sensitive portrait of a daring young man encountering the possibilities and complexities of the world beyond his birthplace—small-town Georgia at the dawn of Jim Crow. The book’s success is due to a seamless collaboration between cartoonists Ronald Wimberly and Brahm Revel; Wimberly’s deft script allows Revel’s emotionally rich, vintage-inflected art to speak for itself and makes use of a clever frame story that positions Gene as the author of his own story.
Bullard did tell his story to the American public more than once, most notably on the Today Show in 1959. By that time, he was an unknown figure working as an elevator operator at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Now Let Me Fly imagines Gene trapped in an elevator with a white advertising worker who’s spellbound by Gene’s stories and later arranges for him to appear on the show. This accidental interviewer serves as an audience proxy, giving us space to process the emotional highs and lows of Gene’s story but also bookmarking moments when Gene’s story complicates the expectations of a non-Black audience.
Gene’s story opens with trauma—the near-lynching of Gene’s father by the Klan after he stands up for himself against an abusive supervisor. The episode underscores the precarity of the family’s life in the Deep South, and despite a tender relationship with his father, Gene begins running away from home. At thirteen he leaves for good, joining a group of traveling Romani and learning to race and perform with horses. At this time, many African Americans are moving north in the Great Migration, but Gene is determined to go farther—he’ll make his way to Europe, where he believes he’ll find true racial equality.
Perseverance, charisma, and a stint as a stowaway allow Gene to make his way to Britain and then Paris. Racism is still present in his career as a street and vaudeville performer, but to Gene, none of it compares to the violent apartheid of the South. He trains as a boxer and settles into a seemingly charmed life as one of many African American exiles living in Paris—but then World War I strikes, and the city he loves requires defense. Gene enlists as an infantry soldier in the Foreign Legion, the boldness that’s defined his life propelling him to courageous feats amidst a dehumanizing war. Sent home with grievous injuries, he nevertheless talks his way into being selected as a fighter pilot, finishing out the war as one of the few Black pilots in the air.
In Wimberly and Revel’s hands Bullard’s story is powerful, but it’s rarely sensational. His story has room to breathe, with wordless panels lingering on the bittersweet beauty of the Deep South and lively adventure of Gene’s life abroad, as well as frankly depicting his experiences with violence, both at home and at war. This frankness extends to use of language; the book reproduces historical slurs, including “gypsy” to refer to Romani people. The inclusion of slurs in historical works is a debated topic, and this word in particular gave me pause, but the author’s intention appears to be an honest rendering of history, which includes sympathetic characters using problematic language. I do think it would have been useful to include an author’s note discussing this choice, as readers may be unaware that “gypsy” is now broadly considered offensive.
“A man can be a lot of things in life, and there’s a lot of ways to tell his story,” Gene says in the final pages of the book. Now Let Me Fly is particularly interested in how Gene’s travels shed light on the systems of power that define the modern world. As Gene escapes the uniquely American racism of his birth and makes new connections, he glimpses opportunities for solidarity among people of different oppressed backgrounds, whether they’re terrorized Black Americans, ostracized Roma, colonized Moroccans, or infantry soldiers of all ethnicities caught up in the mechanized horrors of modern warfare. Yet the book acknowledges how fragile these possibilities are—for instance, in an episode when a Jewish tailor calls Gene by a racial slur, only to make amends when passersby verbally attack both Gene and the tailor’s assistant. “Most people can’t see how they’re wrong till something similar happens to them,” Gene observes. “For some, they still won’t.”
I read Now Let Me Fly in a single sitting, and I think many readers will have the same experience—this book, and Bullard’s story, are just that compelling. This is a standout in the field of graphic biographies and highly recommended for adult and teen readers.
Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait ofEugene Bullard Vol. By Ronald Wimberly Art by Brahm Revel Macmillan First Second, 2023 ISBN: 9781626728523
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: African-American Character Representation: African-American, First Nations or Indigenous
The nineties were a time when a company could sell a comic simply on the artwork, of what many would call style over substance. It was a time of holographic covers, collector’s issues, and the gorgeously-rendered characters within these books all possessed a gritty, acerbic aesthetic and attitude (in short, a typical ‘90s attitude). Some might look at these kinds of characters with a feeling of nostalgia while others might simply find them exhausting. The main character in Purgatori: Witches Get Stitches, the latest Purgatori collection written by Ray Fawkes and illustrated by Alvaro Sarraseca, highlights this dichotomy.
The character of Purgatori looks more devil than vampire, complete with fiery red skin and leathery bat wings. She is a thousands-year-old vampire who sustains herself from the blood of others, not only stealing their life essence, but also their memories. Feeding adds to Purgatori’s own skills and abilities, but it also leaves her with a swirling cacophony of memories and emotions all struggling for dominance. A coven of young witches seek to take advantage of this and use Purgatori for their own selfish purpose. Purgatori must stop them before she begins to lose control of herself.
Ray Fawkes inserts some interesting folklore creatures and the people who hunt them, but the very nature of Purgatori, and Fawkes’s rendition of her, makes Purgatori a character that doesn’t seem capable of having her own identity. Purgatori is basically a cypher who absorbs the memories and personalities of those upon which she feeds to the point that she is swept away on the experiences of her victims. She even comments on how she feeds on bad people for awhile, until she becomes bad, then she feeds on enough good people to point her moral compass the other way. Purgatori has a distinct lack of agency in her long-lived existence, and with her dialogue being mainly snarky and suggestive one-liners doesn’t allow her to be a multifaceted character. Purgatori’s dialogue also affects the story. When humor is purposefully inserted into horror, it creates moments of levity in what could otherwise be suffocating darkness. When humor is used too much, it saps all the tension from the story..
Sarraseca’s artwork offers some eye-catching horror moments, such as the shapeshifters Purgatori encounters and the witches combining more than just their energies to attack her. However, it doesn’t detract from the scantily clad, centerfold-adjacent renditions of the heroine, whose uniform is a black leather bikini. Purgatori isn’t contorted into unnatural shapes that defy physics and anatomy, but there’s also no denying that Purgatori’s pin-up looks are a major part of the book’s appeal. The book tacitly admits this in their cover gallery by inserting photos of a few professional models dressed up as Purgatori among the other sexualized drawings of the book’s star.
As for this book’s purpose in a library’s collection, it might find some circulation among other gen-X and millennial males who spent their hard-earned money at their local comic shops, and in that vein, it could even be considered an artifact of a long-ago age. But unless a library has a collection featuring other pin-up fantasy comic heroines like Vampirella and Lady Death, this book could probably stand to be lost to history, or at least passed over when making selections.
Purgatori: Witches Get Stitches By Ray Fawkes Art by Alvaro Sarasecca Dynamite, 2022 ISBN: 9781524121679
Publisher Age Rating: 13 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: Canadian,
Lewis Hancox’s teen years were much like anyone else’s, filled with the typical high school drama, perpetual awkwardness, and desperation to fit in. For him, however, it seemed like there were extra hurdles to face, being a girl that had yet to discover that he was actually a boy. In Welcome to St. Hell, Hancox addresses his younger self to guide her through those messy years of hating her body, of being confused at who exactly she’s supposed to kiss, of constantly trying to pass as a “normal girl.” Being a typical teenager, the younger Hancox tries to ignore her older self at every turn but cannot deny that she feels like an alien in her own skin. What follows is a humorous, relatable, and down to Earth depiction of Hancox’s gender exploration and eventual acceptance, told in a way that educates just as much as it entertains.
Welcome to St. Hell’s story is refreshingly grounded, widening its appeal to every kind of audience. Though the author’s transness is the focal point, there are other elements and situations that distinguish Hancox’s experiences from coming solely from a trans standpoint. Anyone who has ever walked a high school hallway will relate to those feelings of just trying to survive that time while also making an identity that’s your own, or something close to it. We all face adversities when discovering who we are, and we all fumble along the way. Hancox utilizes these shared feelings within adolescence to illustrate his journey in a context that anyone can empathize with. This is also added by his inclusion of interviews he conducted with his family and friends, detailing their initial reactions to his coming out and how they came to support him. These interviews allow for a different perspective for both allies and trans youth, delivering moments of education in how to best conduct allyship and shedding light on the effects a coming out may have to both parties.
The one thing that may take some readers out of the comic is the heavy use of British slang, which can confuse those not familiar with it, though they may adapt once they find the comic’s rhythm.
Though it has its moments of heartache, Hancox’s story is ultimately one full of honesty, hope, and humor. Even the presence of Hancox’s older self brings the positivity of a future where trans youth survive and have fulfilling adult lives. While trauma and hardship are incredibly valid in one’s gender journey, a memoir that sets a more uplifting tone to a work of trans survival can bring about a great deal of affirmation in trans youths’ lives.
Matching the tone and feel of the comic perfectly, Hancox’s art style looks like it came right out of a teenager’s prized doodle book. At many points, it reminded me of a lot of different zines, though mainly due to its mostly four panel per page structure and black and white color. The art style lends itself to a lot of great, funny expressions, my favorite being Hancox’s big eyebrows that cover a range of emotions all on their own. It is not an overly ornate comic, sticking more to simple character designs and backgrounds, but will appeal to those who prefer more cartoon-like art and less busy panels.
As the memoir is split between Hancox’s high school and college years, there are some mature topics that come into play, such as alcohol use, gender dysphoria, and eating disorders, and includes some brief moments of cartoony nudity and one use of the T slur. Scholastic has given this graphic novel an age rating of 14-18, which is appropriate given the content listed above, though I’m sure college students may be able to relate to the second half as well. Welcome to St. Hell is best for those looking for representative trans comics, whether as a trans youth looking for validating experiences, especially from trans men, or an ally looking to educate themselves on trans matters. I highly recommend this title to librarians and educators aiming to include a good variety of trans works into their graphic novel collections in terms of tone and depictions.
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure By Lewis Hancox Scholastic GRAPHIX, 2022 ISBN: 9781338824445
Publisher Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: British, Trans , Eating Disorder
Scarlett and Sophie Rickard’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists adapts a classic work of socialist fiction for a new audience. This retelling of Robert Tressell’s 1914 semi-autobiographical novel follows Frank Owen, a house painter with tuberculosis, and his fellow laborers, dramatizing their experiences with crooked bosses and chronic poverty in a pre-welfare state Britain. The graphic novel draws an unflinching portrait of working-class life, but its tragedies are interwoven with a wryly comic, yet profoundly moving message about power, politics, and the necessity of class struggle.
The book opens with a crew of painters on break, engaged in a contentious discussion of the economic issues that define their working lives. Low wages and lack of job security have left a mark on each man: Owen resorts to doing skilled decorative work for little pay, while facing the prospect of leaving his family destitute should he succumb to tuberculosis; another worker, Easton, is so far in debt that he must take in an unsavory boarder to ensure his young child has enough to eat; and the elderly Linden must continue working to provide for his family, knowing that the alternative is a punishing old age in the workhouse.
Yet The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is not simply a chronicle of suffering. The painters argue, agitate, and make us laugh as they express political opinions that feel as current in our modern era as in early twentieth-century Britain. This is a didactic novel, which means we’re treated to slightly stagey conversations in which characters wrangle over the root causes of economic inequality and explore its possible remedies. Thanks to Sophie Rickard’s eloquent and economical script, these exchanges are nearly as affecting as the labor struggles that inform them. It’s a joy to watch political dialogue take place not in classrooms or on social media feeds, but in the workplaces and homes of working-class families. Readers may or may not cosign the book’s of-its-time vision of a classical socialist utopia, but many will respond to its central thesis, that progress is possible if ordinary people engage with politics not as a spectator sport, but as citizens acting in solidarity with their fellow workers.
If Sophie Rickard’s script deftly adapts Tressell’s original 600-page epic, Scarlett Rickard’s art brings it to vivid life. Full-color panels recall the sharply observed domestic settings of Raymond Briggs’ adult graphic novels, delivering what feels like a sly satire of bucolic depictions of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Against dollhouse-like backdrops of houses and storefronts, Rickard portrays the physicality of labor, craft, and housekeeping, reminding us that ordinary people worked hard to construct and maintain the built environments that appear in our favorite BBC costume dramas. Yet there’s also a lot of warmth in these pages; emotionally rendered scenes of holiday celebrations, family gatherings, and acts of friendship bring to life not only the struggles of the working class, but the personal relationships that make change worth fighting for.
In the decades following its original publication, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists had an outsized impact on labor politics, both in Britain and globally. The Rickards’ adaptation makes this indispensable novel accessible to contemporary readers in an effective new format. This book is an excellent choice for nearly all adult graphic novel collections, and young adult and high school purchasers should also give it strong consideration. Readers should note that, in addition to scenes of violence and worker abuse, this book contains depictions of sexual assault, postpartum depression, and suicide.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists By Sophie Rickard Art by Scarlett Rickard SelfMadeHero, 2021 ISBN: 9781910593929
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: British Character Representation: British, Chronic Illness
They say that a hero is only as good as their villain. Would Sherlock Holmes be as impressive without a Professor Moriarty to test him? Would Superman be as super without a Lex Luthor? Absolutely not! This belief is what drives The Master, the twisted counterpart of The Doctor, who is driven to conquer everything The Doctor strives to protect.
The Master’s current incarnation and first female incarnation, who goes by the nickname Missy (short for Mistress) is neck-deep in another scheme, seeking a Time Lord artifact known as the Key to Time. And she is not working alone, having gone back in time to enlist the help of an unexpected ally—the first incarnation of The Master to battle The Doctor on Earth. There is, however, the slight complication that The Master is currently in an ultra-secure prison, leading Missy to pose as the newest incarnation of The Doctor, come to check up on her greatest enemy. Because Missy knows how untrustworthy her past self is and isn’t about to give away the game just yet by needlessly risking a paradox. Yet.
Doctor Who: Missy: The Master Plan is another brilliant Doctor Who story from Jody Houser, who has been wowing Doctor Who fans with her Thirteenth Doctor comics, as well as specials like Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious, for some time now. There are two reasons why Houser is rightly praised as a Doctor Who writer. First, Houser has a tremendous grasp of the characters, and fans of the show are sure to hear the velvet purr of Michelle Gomez and the distinctive voice of Roger Delgado as they read Missy and The Master’s dialogue. Second, despite showing a clear knowledge of the show’s history and the characters, Houser makes her stories accessible to newcomers, so fans of the current Doctor Who series, who might never have seen a classic Third Doctor story, will not need to worry about becoming lost in the narrative.
Roberta Ingranata once again proves herself the perfect partner in crime to Jody Houser. Best known for her work on Witchblade, Ingranata has established herself as one of the premiere Doctor Who artists ever since Titan Comics picked up the license several years ago. The likenesses of the actors from the show are captured perfectly, yet show none of the stiffness that is sometimes seen in comic book adaptations of a popular television show. The expressions of the characters are natural and the action flows smoothly from panel to panel in a way that is frankly gorgeous.
This volume is rated 12+ and I consider that to be a fair and accurate rating. There is nothing in this book that would be considered objectionable for teenage audiences, and I dare say some younger children could probably handle the language and the content. There is no sex, nudity, harsh language, or gory violence. There is a fair bit of action, however, with some daring sword fights, but nobody dies, and no bloodshed is depicted. I highly recommend this volume to all fans of Doctor Who and anyone who might be looking for an entry into the comics based on the show, if not the show itself.
Doctor Who: Missy: The Master Plan By Jody Houser Art by Roberta Ingranata Titan, 2021 ISBN: 9781787736450
Publisher Age Rating: 12+ Related media: TV to Comic
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Character Representation: Ambiguous Mental Illness
money was lost from fans who gladly spent their money on tickets to see films like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, films that show the sometimes comedic and often chaotic world of criminals behaving criminally. Mugshots, written by Jordan Thomas and illustrated by Chris Matthews, is something of a throwback to that era, even if it does take place in the year 2008, while also managing to tell its own unique story.
power of nature.
“I wondered why I suddenly needed a manual for understanding my friend.”
Once & Future is the kind of sprawling, engrossing, chaotic tale that you don’t see every day. It’s incredibly well plotted and while it may have resolved itself in five volumes, it feels much larger than that. Now that the story is finished (at least for now according to author Kieron Gillen in the afterword), I think it is easier to give the series the endorsement it deserves because of how well it sticks the landing. The story itself is incredibly ambitious and reviews of the first volume might not have been overly effusive. To see the scope of it now in retrospect, the amount of weaving Gillen did to bring it all together and to do it in such a satisfying way is no small feat.
States, as well as a decorated soldier, boxer, vaudeville performer, and Paris businessman. His social circles included early 20th-century notables like Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, and boxer Aaron Lister “Dixie Kid” Brown. During his pilot career, he had a pet monkey named Jimmy who accompanied him on all of his combat flights.
substance. It was a time of holographic covers, collector’s issues, and the gorgeously-rendered characters within these books all possessed a gritty, acerbic aesthetic and attitude (in short, a typical ‘90s attitude). Some might look at these kinds of characters with a feeling of nostalgia while others might simply find them exhausting. The main character in 
Lewis Hancox’s teen years were much like anyone else’s, filled with the typical high school drama, perpetual awkwardness, and desperation to fit in. For him, however, it seemed like there were extra hurdles to face, being a girl that had yet to discover that he was actually a boy. In Welcome to St. Hell, Hancox addresses his younger self to guide her through those messy years of hating her body, of being confused at who exactly she’s supposed to kiss, of constantly trying to pass as a “normal girl.” Being a typical teenager, the younger Hancox tries to ignore her older self at every turn but cannot deny that she feels like an alien in her own skin. What follows is a humorous, relatable, and down to Earth depiction of Hancox’s gender exploration and eventual acceptance, told in a way that educates just as much as it entertains.
Scarlett and Sophie Rickard’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists adapts a classic work of socialist fiction for a new audience. This retelling of Robert Tressell’s 1914 semi-autobiographical novel follows Frank Owen, a house painter with tuberculosis, and his fellow laborers, dramatizing their experiences with crooked bosses and chronic poverty in a pre-welfare state Britain. The graphic novel draws an unflinching portrait of working-class life, but its tragedies are interwoven with a wryly comic, yet profoundly moving message about power, politics, and the necessity of class struggle.
They say that a hero is only as good as their villain. Would Sherlock Holmes be as impressive without a Professor Moriarty to test him? Would Superman be as super without a Lex Luthor? Absolutely not! This belief is what drives The Master, the twisted counterpart of The Doctor, who is driven to conquer everything The Doctor strives to protect.
