Science fiction and horror don’t have to necessarily be completely original to be good. Some might argue that many of the stories we enjoy are completely new but are instead repackaged tropes from past stories, only made different by adding a sprinkling of different characters or a completely different setting. And settings don’t get much more different from the norm than Golgotha Knob, Kentucky, the setting of Golgotha: Motor Mountain. This alien invasion into body horror and Appalachian fiction is written by Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler and illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez.
Golgotha Knob, Kentucky isn’t so much a town as much as it’s a stretch of land where the people who live on it either enjoy Golgotha Knob’s isolation or dream of escaping it. Those in the latter group are the Damnage Brothers, Elwood and Vernon. They’re meth cookers who dream of leaving Golgotha Knob behind to live in the utopia of Cincinnati, Ohio. They’re achingly close to their dream, but a chuck of space debris has mixed with their latest meth batch and they’ve got to fill a very large order made by some dangerous people.
Once people start sampling this new meth/meteor hybrid, Golgotha Knob becomes infested with mutants, mutant skinheads, and a angry sheriff who’s out for the Damnage’s blood (and perhaps other body parts). Fans of a certain age will remember the 80s show The Dukes of Hazzard, which features two cousins on the run from the law, and Golgotha also features a narrator that interjects with information that’s not always important to the plot. This narrator not only provides information about the space rock and what it does but also adds a Southern folksy humor even as they discuss such obscure topics as the Muscagee people and the Hadron Collider. This narrator also adds to the plot’s overall cosmic insanity as the brothers encounter a world that is literally mutating around them. However, before the plot veers totally off into fever dream surreality, Erman and Nadler’s plot keeps it grounded with the brother’s obvious and heartfelt sibling bond.
But getting back to the surreality, which is expressed in Rodriguez’s artwork through illustrations of bodies changing, smooshing together, and becoming living nightmares, this world is saturated in Day-Glo colors and Lovecraftian monstrosities. Vernon and Elwood wear masks that look influenced by Lucha Libre wrestling and Mad Max films. They roam an increasingly apocalyptic wasteland in a car that looks to be flesh rather than metal. Those that might find Erman and Nadler’s story confusing might be drawn (or dragged) into Rodriguez’s gonzo artwork.
This book definitely takes the kitchen sink approach to graphic novel storytelling, incorporating everything from the Southern Gothic to Japanese Manga. Whether it belongs in an adult collection will depend on whether or not one’s patrons have a taste for mind-bending graphic storytelling. Golgotha takes a lot of chances that might turn more traditional graphic novel fans off, but for those that are more adventurous, they might enjoy taking a trip (hallucinatory or otherwise) to Golgotha Knob.
Golgotha: Motor Mountain By Matthew Erman Art by Robbi Rodriguez IDW, 2024 ISBN: 9781684059676
What “counts” as a graphic novel or comic? It’s an interesting question, especially with the proliferation of the graphic style into a number of different formats and genres. It’s easy to identify some nonfiction as being a graphic, especially those that have a strong narrative like memoirs, history, or the Science Comics series, which use a fictional narrative structure. It gets a little more confusing when it comes to illustrated nonfiction, like Lindsey Leigh’s latest book, but I, personally, stick by what I tell the kids—if it has speech bubbles, it’s a comic!
If we stick with that, Leigh’s book is definitely a comic as not only does it include speech bubbles it also divides information up into panels with something of a narrative structure. Her previous comic-style nonfiction book explored the depths of the ocean and this title explores the depths of the earth and the strange life-forms to be found in caves.
After introducing the concept of caves, the bulk of the book explores the three different types of cave animals, troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. Leigh then gives an overview of memorable caves around the world, and finishes up with the human history of interaction with caves and the need for conservation efforts around caves. The book ends with an index of the creatures introduced.
The spread on olms, a troglobite and blind salamander found in European caves, is a good example of Leigh’s work. The background colors are a swirling mix of deep purples and greens. Against these, the lavender olms, with pink, filly gills, stand out well. Two panels on the first page introduce them and their habitat, showing them zipping through a cave habitat. Below the panels, two olms are shown cuddled together, saying “Time for an olm cuddle puddle!” The following page includes another set of panels, demonstrating the olm’s ability to go dormant for long periods, and the spread finishes with a comparison of olms and axolotls, with the two declaring “We don’t wanna grow up!”
The olms are drawn in a curvy, comic style, managing to look cheerful even without facial features other than a hint of a curving mouth. Leigh plays with lettering to great effect, using an ornate, slightly spooky font for the heading, a bold uppercase font with letters picked out in purple for the speech bubbles, and a lightly curved, smaller font for the larger blocks of text.
Readers more accustomed to nonfiction presented in blocks of text, rather than the more graphic-style layout of the text being fully incorporated into the artwork, may struggle with the colored backgrounds and tracking down all of the different speech bubbles, short paragraphs, and sections of information. However, kids who are used to the comic format will have no problem devouring this new style of nonfiction and will easily remember the cool facts they learn about caves throughout the book.
It’s always been ideal to have a mix of formats for kids to experience reading and gathering information and the growth of graphic formats in nonfiction is just one more tool for librarians and teachers to impart information. Leigh’s humor, fun artwork, and presentation of information, helpfully reinforcing key points, makes her work a must-have for most library and school nonfiction collections.
The Dark! Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves By Lindsey Leigh Penguin Random House, 2024 ISBN: 9780593662595
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,
Nonfiction comics, especially informational, how-to guides, have been around for a long time. However, it’s only recently, as the graphic novel format has exploded, that they have begun to diversify into a more narrative format. Many nonfiction titles are now graphic blends, with illustrations, factoids, and cartoons mixed together and this is an interesting example of that style.
The book is arranged in the pattern of the ocean, starting with the Epipelagic, or Sunlight, zone and moving down to the trenches and the Hadalpelagic Zone. Each zone is contained in a chapter, with a few pages for the upper zones and up to twenty pages for the deeper zones. With the chapters, Leigh profiles the creatures that live in each area, noting the depth range of each. The creatures are drawn in cartoon style, with vivid colors, slightly exaggerated shapes and features, and they make jokes and asides in a handful of speech bubbles.
Short sequences of 2-4 panels give information and let the creatures talk directly to the reader. For example, the spread on Sea Angels, a type of sea slug, has a full page showing a larger-than-life sea angel in blue shading to green with bright orange spots. Against the deep blue background of the second page, the information about the sea angel’s hunting of the sea butterfly is illustrated with the sea angel shooting out their crown of tentacles and loudly declaring “Behold me, sea butterflies, and QUIVER WITH FEAR!” The sections of text are included in loose bubble shapes with lighter blue bubbles floating around the area.
The last section of the book deals briefly with specific deep-sea environments like brine pools and adaptations for survival like chemosynthesis. Leigh finishes off the book with an author’s note, suggestions for preventing pollution and learning more about the ocean depths, and an index of all the creatures profiled in the book.
Leigh does an excellent job of illustrated the strange beauty and unique ecosystems of deep-sea creatures in a humorous and accessible way. While this is not, strictly speaking, a traditional graphic narrative, it uses comic elements like panels and speech bubbles to comedic effect, enhancing the collection of informative facts and it will be popular with young readers of many different tastes. I would especially recommend this to fans of Mike Lowery’s Everything Awesome series and readers who are not quite ready for the lengthier and more complex narratives of First Second’s Science Comics.
The Deep!: Wild Life at the Ocean’s Darkest Depths By Lindsey Leigh Penguin Workshop, 2023 ISBN: 9780593521687
NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9), Middle Grade (7-11)
Readers familiar with the mishaps and misadventures of animal friends as written and illustrated by Andrew Cangelose and Josh Shipley will no doubt be excited to dive into this fourth installment in the series that started with This is a Taco! Part informational picture book, part comic, this hilarious hybrid tells the tale of forest baker Shelly the turtle’s attempts to teach baking apprentice Bucky the rabbit how to make a birthday cake. But of course, anyone who noticed the crossed-out “disaster” right on the front cover of the book knows this baking lesson is going to be anything but ordinary!
And that disaster ensues almost from the get-go, with main characters Bucky the rabbit and Shelly the turtle instantly at odds in their approaches to baking. As Bucky the rabbit speeds ahead without following proper baking instructions, and experienced baker Shelly the turtle taking it at a slower pace, adults and older kids reading aloud to younger readers may soon recognize why something about this feels familiar: it’s a clever reimagining of the classic fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
As in the timeless tale, Bucky the rabbit’s belief that speed is equal to skill ends up being his biggest error. When he serves his cake at the party, the exaggerated expressions of disgust on the faces of his forest friends are proof that mistakes were definitely made. After all, it’s got to be quite a shock when you bite into a slice of dirt frosted with mud and sprinkled with acorns when you’re expecting tasty chocolate cake! But Shelly the turtle shows young readers that taking things slow and steady and following the recipe step by step will win the race save the party for all!
Kids will enjoy following along with the goofy antics sprinkled amongst real information, like brief references to the history of birthday cakes, and will likely want to give baking a try with their grown ups using the actual recipe outlined in the story.
Shipley’s illustrations are lively and sweet with a vibrant color palette. The pages and panels depicting the situations Bucky finds himself in have a whirlwind feel to them, full of speed and action, while Shelly’s quiet baking scenes have a gentle softness evocative of her character. Though it is technically the fourth in a series, This is a Birthday Cake works just as well as a standalone book for readers unfamiliar with the previous three books. It likely will entice those new to the series to go back and find the first three, though. Recommended for young readers who are making their first jump from picture books to beginner graphic novels, or who might still be reading together with an adult, this delightfully silly tale could be cataloged in either a graphic novel or a picture book collection.
This is a Birthday Cake (This is a …! bk 4) By Andrew Cangelose Art by Josh Shipley Oni Press, 2022 ISBN: 9781637150450
Publisher Age Rating: 4-8 NFNT Age Recommendation: Picture Books (3-8)
Nick Bruel first introduced Bad Kitty in picture book format in 2005 and she was immediately popular. Her alphabetical shenanigans returned with the introduction of Poor Puppy in a second picture book and then she found her true metier in illustrated chapter books with Bad Kitty Gets a Bath in 2008.
Over the years, Bad Kitty has starred in a number of humorous adventures, the later titles including some pointed commentary on refugee (kittens), the election (of cats), education (of cats) and Bad Kitty’s cell phone usage. Bad Kitty retains her stubborn nature and chaotic behavior throughout, and the latest incarnation of this perennially popular character is the reissue of her tantrums and adventures in full color.
Her latest book, published in full color, starts with Bad Kitty leisurely scrolling through her phone while her exasperated (and unseen) human asks her to help clean up or at least do something that’s not electronic! It’s decided, to Kitty’s shock, that she must have… a playdate and Strange Kitty is the selected “friend.” Strange Kitty, who wears a top hat and tie, talks (unlike Bad Kitty who communicates only in meows), and has a mouse friend, arrives with a stack of comics and eventually, after an eloquent flow of language, convinces Kitty to join them in a make-believe game of superheroes. This involves several activities for readers to participate in as well, like using a superhero name generator and following instructions to create a comic. The arrival of another friend, going by the name of Dr. Lagomorph, sets the game going and the trio enjoy a raucous game throughout the house, ending when Kitty gets a little over-enthusiastic and breaks the rules. It all ends happily however, with a rather sententious speech from the mouse and amends from Kitty—and the human’s discovery of just what their game has done to the house…
Bruel’s layout for the Bad Kitty chapter books alternates between spot illustrations with short paragraphs of text and more traditional comic panels, with the primary dialogue from Strange Kitty, Dr. Lagomorph, and Power Mouse. Kitty has retained her trademark look throughout the series, a skinny black cat with spiky fur, bulging yellow eyes, and a splash of white on her chest. Bad Kitty’s expressions are most often seen in their lack, as she stares blankly at Strange Kitty’s antics, occasionally shrugs, and periodically erupts into a frenzied attack. Most of the humor is a combination of the deadpan delivery of lengthy perorations from Strange Kitty and the rapid switch between Bad Kitty’s indifference and wild reactions. Bruel plunges fully into the imagination game in this book, cutting panels in half with the imagined superheroes and villains, sporting full armor and massive muscles, and the real “kids” playing in homemade costumes.
As I’ve watched Bad Kitty evolve over the years, I’ve personally found the later books to be a little repetitive and leaning more heavily on didactic lectures. The combination of illustration, text, and comic can be both a pro and a con, as it discourages some struggling readers who can’t handle the lengthier text and complex vocabulary as well as falling on the radar of “comics are not real books” parents, but also gives readers a little bit of extra challenge on adding more text to what appears to be an “easy” chapter book. In my experience, most young fans gravitate to the earlier titles, those which don’t necessarily include a “lesson.” However, the series as a whole continues to be wildly popular and this latest title will both get kids giggling and as well as giving a tip of the hat (Super Kitty’s hat of course) to parents and teachers concerned with excessive screen use, not to mention including some inside jokes for superhero fans.
While I would not introduce a new reader to the series with this title, it’s certainly worth adding to the collection; the only real drawback is that this and the other newly reissued full color titles are not yet available in library binding, only in hardcover, and they are less likely to last through multiple readings from eager young fans.
Supercat By Nick Bruel Macmillan Roaring Brook, 2022 ISBN: 9781250749987
NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9), Middle Grade (7-11)
There are probably few who have not yet heard of Reynard the fox. This roguish trickster has slunk his way through European folklore since the Middle Ages, stirring up trouble and defining the vulpine archetype with his cunning, charm, and mischievous nature. Wherever he goes, chicanery is soon to follow, whether by fate or his own design. In Reynard’s Tale, Ben Hatke pays homage to this mythic figure in a new story that sends Reynard to the clutches of Death and beyond, all the while trying to escape capture from his sworn enemy, the wolf Isengrim. Encountering mermaids, old flames, a mechanized sorcerer, and other wonders, the fox travels through a world that seems colder and more brutal than the one he once knew, one that may be ushering in his ultimate denouement.
With a combination of prose and illustrations to tell this tale, Hatke brings a lyrical, magical atmosphere to Reynard’s adventure that is reminiscent of the stories that made him a legend so long ago. The story itself is simple, its structure much like any fable you remember reading as a child, though the tone relishes in a vague complexity and periods of reflection. Its voice is one that, like Reynard himself, has been through a few scrapes, seeming weary at times but still managing to find the energy to keep going. Overall, it contributes to a feeling of winding down, of that one last hurrah before everything comes to its eventual end, mirroring Reynard’s journey. The landscapes he traverses only heighten this theme, as skulls and tombstones are recurring motifs in the background. Events go by incredibly quickly, though the plot never feels rushed as the clever fox hardly sticks around one place for long while trying to evade Isengrim. At times, the story manages to evoke the same trickiness as its protagonist, seemingly going down one narrative path only to take a sharp detour to a place less expected. It is truly a Reynard story told in a fresh, yet nostalgic way with Hatke encapsulating everything there is to enjoy about this perennial character.
Adding to that old world charm is the evocative art style that brings back memories of beloved fairy tales, with its rough textures and clean outlines. Though only giving snapshots of the story, as opposed to the usual flowing narrative illustrations of graphic novels, Hatke perfectly captures the emotions conveyed in the text. There is an undeniable warmth in its more jovial moments, as Reynard catches up with a former lover over a glass of wine. Stillness and depth are prevalent when he reflects on his past deeds and where his path is leading him. And there is urgency in his movements as he dashes away from those that pursue him. Even without the text, the reader can follow events from the illustrations alone, each one filled with a clear purpose and personality. Hatke’s combination of rich prose with an alluring, striking art style delivers an ambiance seldom seen, a sense of an earned weight and maturity from a character that has captivated readers for centuries, even as he is wrapped up in an entirely original adventure.
While the creator is best known for his middle grade Zita the Spacegirl and Mighty Jack series, Reynard’s Tale is for an adult audience that still enjoys the company of fables and their lasting intrigue. Along with the presence of alcohol and partial nudity, the maturity of Hatke’s writing style does not make the comic a great fit for younger readers, though it may hold some interest for older teens. Extensive knowledge of Reynard’s history as a character in the European literary canon is not a requirement for one to understand the story, but it helps to have a basic idea of what he represents for the full effect to sink in, as the book itself does not go into detail of his past. Technically existing as an adult picture book, the placement of this title in a specific collection may pose some confusion over whether to place it in general fiction or the graphic novel section. Due to its marketing as a graphic novel and First Second serving as its publisher, however, I personally recommend the latter. Librarians and educators in search of an engrossing, fast-paced fantasy graphic novel with a unique and beloved identity should consider purchasing this title.
Reynard’s Tale: A Story of Love and Mischief By Ben Hatke Macmillan First Second, 2023 ISBN: 9781250857910
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
With every year, truth seems to become more and more subjective. At least that is what many forces want us all to think. In issue after issue, we are driven apart by obfuscation and subterfuge. It’s hard to imagine how we can come together to exist in the same reality sometimes. Author Samuel Spitale believes he knows how to reclaim our reality with his book How to Win the War on Truth: An Illustrated Guide to How Mistruths Are Sold, Why They Stick, and How to Reclaim Reality.
This hybrid comic and non-fiction book looks at propaganda and bias. It is lengthy and detailed. Spitale tells story after story that illustrates how humans seek to reduce complexity and how our brains can fail to recognize certain facts. These blind spots allow us to be manipulated by marketers and public relations companies. He cites a wide variety of interesting research including Daniel Kahneman and his work on human error. The illustrations by Allan Whincup effectively break down some of the more complex ideas into understandable parts. The comics are more on the cartoony side than realistic and that helps when tackling such an intense subject. Graphs, pie charts, and topical quotes spoken by cartoon politicians and economists help relay the information.
The book spends a lot of time on the history of propaganda as well as U.S. political history. It rings true for the most part, but occasionally becomes a left wing polemic. The chapter on what to do about this substantial problem is slight on workable solutions, so readers may be disappointed considering what the title of the book is. Spitale is still describing the problems right up until the conclusion. Previous works on similar topics, like Unrig, had specific proposals and examples of solutions that are being tried around the country. This book could have used more of that.
The publisher states this book is an “illustrated guide.” That is more accurate than calling it a graphic novel. This is a dense book with lots of text. There are illustrations on most every page, but they are not sequential art. This book belongs in an adult nonfiction collection. Only the most interested teens are going to stick with this to the end. This is certainly an important topic, but I wonder, if they had fully committed to telling a story with pictures would the work be more accessible to a larger audience?
How to Win the War on Truth: An Illustrated Guide to How Mistruths Are Sold, Why They Stick, and How to Reclaim Reality By Samuel Spitale Art by Allan Whincup Quirk, 2022 ISBN: 9781683693086
The cover of this collection of biographies shows a background of mathematical equations and a line-up of women with varying skin tones, dressed in clothing from an astronaut suit to historical gowns, but all with the same slim silhouette and of roughly the same height.
This sets the stage for a series of overviews of twenty women in the sciences, which manage to be largely similar, despite their different backgrounds and areas of study. The collection is oddly unbalanced, starting with approximately 20 pages on Marie Curie, giving a rapid overview of her life, relationship with Pierre and other romantic entanglements, and ending with her daughter Irene continuing her work. This is followed by several more contemporary scientists, with an overview of their lives and accomplishments in text accompanied by a thumbnail image and a single graphic panel showing them with other scientists in a lab or involved in their scientific work.
Several shorter comics, about ten pages each, profile Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr, Rosalind Franklin, and Mae Jemison. Lovelace’s narrative is bracketed by a modern teacher introducing her to high school students and ends abruptly with her losing “everything” at gambling and then dying. Most of the narrative with Hedy Lamarr is given over to her personal life, including a full page on her husbands. Franklin’s narrative focuses heavily on her unsuccessful struggle for equality, emphasizing that she was most accepted and happy during her work in Paris. Mae Jemison’s story is upbeat, the only prejudice shown in her family huddling around a televised report of Martin Luther King’s death and a class of smiling white children playfully tossing a paper ball at her head. There are no sources cited or back matter. The longer comics all include what appear to be quotations from primary source material, but also fictional dialogue.
The art, although depicting a wide variety of women in different time periods, has a strong similarity. The women are all shown with the same slim figure and average height. Only Marie Curie is shown to age, with her lightening hair, stooped posture, and a few wrinkles. The backgrounds are also similar, with Curie and Franklin shown against tree-lined avenues in Paris and a few sepia-toned war scenes, Jemison in darkened, indoor areas until she blossoms in the sunny, outdoor spaces of California, and Lovelace in groups of indistinguishable people. It’s ironic that, despite the introduction claiming that the purpose of the book is to bring to light hitherto overlooked female scientists, the five women given the longest profiles are already well-known and their comics focus more on their personal lives than on their scientific achievements. Even Curie’s longer comic is taken up with images of her wedding and later romantic entanglements, while Lamarr’s is mostly a series of images of her in provocative period gowns and bathing suits, with a success of husbands, and later as a recluse in Florida. Her inventions outside of the frequency-hopping idea are not referenced, but her plastic surgery is. Rosalind Franklin is, ironically, erased from her own comic, which transitions from her work with DNA to showing the male scientists laughing about her and her ideas at a pub, and then to their awards, overlooking Franklin completely with a brief mention of her later work before her early death. The comic ends with the belated and posthumous recognition of her work, shown in plaques and a statue. Jemison is depicted in the most upbeat fashion, with an emphasis on her hard work and early achievements and ending with her inspiring girls at a science camp.
The aim of the book is worthy, but it is far from the only reference on the subject and it is poorly designed. The translation is rough, with frequent exclamations, choppy sentences, and the occasional typo. Readers interested in graphic interpretations of women in science will do better to explore Primates by Jim Ottaviani, selected Science Comics that emphasize the contributions of women, like Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers, or, for lighter fare, Corpse Talk from DK.
Women Discoverers: Top Women in Science By Marie Moinard Art by Christelle Pecout NBM, 2021 ISBN: 9781681122700
Publisher Age Rating: 12 years and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: French Character Representation: African-American, American-Austrian, British, French
Bizarre, playful, and abstract are just a few of the words that come to mind when admiring the work of Herbert Crowley. In his lifetime, Crowley exhibited artwork alongside Picasso, Van Gogh, and Renoir. And yet, Crowley’s work has been largely forgotten by popular culture. The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Works & Worlds of Herbert Crowley is a rare glimpse into the life and art of an elusive figure.
Before delving into this work one unavoidable topic must be bridged: this is not a graphic novel. This is very distinctly an art book that, if we are going by the Dewey Decimal System, belongs in the good ol’ 745s. Yes, the text does contain comic strips. However, the majority of the text is dedicated to a biography of Herbert Crowley, scattered between images of Crowley’s distinct sculpture work, bohemian friends, and early sketches. Now, onto business.
Crowley is most notable for his Symbolist cartoon strip; The Wigglemuch, which ran in the New York Herald in 1910 for only fourteen weeks before disappearing from the Sunday pages. The appeal of Crowley’s work seems to derive primarily from both the nihilistic, yet beautiful, tone of much of his artwork, paired with the understated nature of the creator. These elements culminate into what is the perfect example of an Outsider artist, also defined as an artist who works outside of the establishment.
Described by creator Justin Duerr as a “magical mascot” in Herbert Crowley’s art, the Wigglemuch are rotund, animal-like creatures serving to accompany their human companions across landscapes rooted both in fantasy and in historical imagery. Quite frankly, the drawings are gorgeous. Crowley was known for his scrupulous work and obsessive attention to detail. Upon first glance, Crowley’s artwork appears to be relatively simplistic. His human figures mimic the form of paper dolls in a toy theater. His landscapes often contain no more than a clear sky and a distant mountain range. And, yet, upon closer observation, intricate lining, near-perfect circles, and subtle emotional gestures abound. As expected in any competent comic strip, the captioning of each panel adds to the complexity of these images.
In true Symbolist fashion, the story in these comics is told indirectly. There is no punchline. The Wigglemuch is strictly a series of actions written in verse, allowing for interpretation by the reader. The creatures of The Wigglemuch, referred to as both ‘Wigglemuch’ and ‘Wiggles’ are thrust into a series of concurrent adventures requiring liberation from their circumstances. This is, perhaps, consistent with Crowley’s constant financial struggle as a visual artist and ongoing suicide ideation. Either way, readers of The Wigglemuch are sure to find meaning in Crowley’s work.
Duerr is clearly passionate about the work of Crowley and this passion transcends the pages of The Temple of Silence. The curation of Duerr’s research and Crowley’s artwork is stunning. I was wholly engrossed by Duerr’s enthusiasm and look forward to his forthcoming work. The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Works and Worlds of Herbert Crowley is an essential collection title for those interested in Outsider art and 20th century art movements. However, the book is not a necessary addition to a graphic novel collection.
The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Works and Worlds of Herbert Crowley By Justin Duerr Art by Herbert Crowley ISBN: 9780997372991 BeeHive Books, 2020 Publisher Age Rating: 18+
of the stories we enjoy are completely new but are instead repackaged tropes from past stories, only made different by adding a sprinkling of different characters or a completely different setting. And settings don’t get much more different from the norm than Golgotha Knob, Kentucky, the setting of Golgotha: Motor Mountain. This alien invasion into body horror and Appalachian fiction is written by Matthew Erman and Lonnie Nadler and illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez.
style into a number of different formats and genres. It’s easy to identify some nonfiction as being a graphic, especially those that have a strong narrative like memoirs, history, or the Science Comics series, which use a fictional narrative structure. It gets a little more confusing when it comes to illustrated nonfiction, like Lindsey Leigh’s latest book, but I, personally, stick by what I tell the kids—if it has speech bubbles, it’s a comic!
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.
the graphic novel format has exploded, that they have begun to diversify into a more narrative format. Many nonfiction titles are now graphic blends, with illustrations, factoids, and cartoons mixed together and this is an interesting example of that style.
Readers familiar with the mishaps and misadventures of animal friends as written and illustrated by Andrew Cangelose and Josh Shipley will no doubt be excited to dive into this fourth installment in the series that started with 
shenanigans returned with the introduction of Poor Puppy in a second picture book and then she found her true metier in illustrated chapter books with Bad Kitty Gets a Bath in 2008.
There are probably few who have not yet heard of Reynard the fox. This roguish trickster has slunk his way through European folklore since the Middle Ages, stirring up trouble and defining the vulpine archetype with his cunning, charm, and mischievous nature. Wherever he goes, chicanery is soon to follow, whether by fate or his own design. In Reynard’s Tale, Ben Hatke pays homage to this mythic figure in a new story that sends Reynard to the clutches of Death and beyond, all the while trying to escape capture from his sworn enemy, the wolf Isengrim. Encountering mermaids, old flames, a mechanized sorcerer, and other wonders, the fox travels through a world that seems colder and more brutal than the one he once knew, one that may be ushering in his ultimate denouement.
With every year, truth seems to become more and more subjective. At least that is what many forces want us all to think. In issue after issue, we are driven apart by obfuscation and subterfuge. It’s hard to imagine how we can come together to exist in the same reality sometimes. Author Samuel Spitale believes he knows how to reclaim our reality with his book How to Win the War on Truth: An Illustrated Guide to How Mistruths Are Sold, Why They Stick, and How to Reclaim Reality. 
The cover of this collection of biographies shows a background of mathematical equations and a line-up of women with varying skin tones, dressed in clothing from an astronaut suit to historical gowns, but all with the same slim silhouette and of roughly the same height.
