Once upon a time in ye olde 2013, in the very blue state of Illinois, Chicago Public School (CPS) officials banned the use of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis in the entire district. 13 years later this feels disgustingly common, a story we’ve learned to tune out, but at the time it shocked the local community and the response was immediate. High school students led a protest, teachers and librarians were up in arms, free speech advocates were taking notice, and it was picked up by news outlets. But information coming from the school district was confusing and inconsistent and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests produced little information or clarity.
Roughly two years later, library graduate student Jarret Dapier, remembering his frustration with the ban and lack of answers, decided to dig deeper for a thesis paper. He interviewed former and current students, teachers, librarians, administrators, and journalists. With little hope of success he sent in his own FOIA request to CPS and was surprised with 42 pages of emails and all the answers he could ask for about the ban and who in the school district was responsible.
Wake Now in the Fire is Dapier’s debut graphic novel and a mingling of those true events with mostly fictional characters based on the students and teachers he interviewed. He follows several high school students (and a few teachers) as they discover the ban and take action. His diverse characters have varied and realistic lives, dealing with all the ups and downs of being a teenager. They struggle with homework, strict parents, and awkward crushes, but also grief, uncertainty, and mental health issues. I really loved that Dapier gave his student characters space to speak and share and develop their, sometimes messy, thoughts in and outside the classroom.
AJ Dungo illustrates Dapier’s narrative with a distinctive and fun graphical style. His clean lines and grayscale color palette are more than able to handle the relatively large cast of characters and complex situations. One detail that I really enjoyed was the use of red only when the book Persepolis is in view in a panel. It’s a nice pop of color that highlights the book’s presence in the lives of the characters.
It feels easy these days to get crushed emotionally by the routine threat of book bans, and I worried a graphic novel focused on it would really bring me down, but Wake Now in the Fire is largely positive. The students are fired up to stand up for their rights to read. The parents, teachers, and librarians are largely supportive. There is visible power in a community that rises against censorship. In his afterword, Dapier draws attention to how things have changed since 2013 with regards to the massive increases in book bans, growing control over marginalized bodies, and the escalating danger of armed government agents. Those comments snapped me back to reality after bathing in some good old fashioned hope during the narrative, but it’s important that our current reality is acknowledged.
The publisher rates this story for ages 14+, which are the ages of the main student characters. There aren’t too many things that would make this difficult for readers under 14, but some issues to be aware of are brief off-screen violence, depictions of mental health struggles in kids and adults, and alcoholism in one of the parents. That parent experiences an on-screen health emergency that his daughter has to respond to in an intense scene. The most stressful parts of the students’ lives are handled well and with grace. This book is a vital addition to a teen, or even an adult collection because it merges history and fiction to tell a compelling story with that crucial element of hope that is so desperately needed right now.
Wake Now in the Fire: A Story of Censorship, Action, Love, and Hope By Jarrett Dapier Art by AJ Dungo Ten Speed Press, 2026 ISBN: 9780593838044
Company Age Rating: 14+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales is a wildly successful series of historical stories told in graphic format. He’s also written short stories with the same style for various anthologies. In his 13th book in the series, he goes full tilt into the short story format with a series of creepy, gross, terrifying, and weird stories, most, but not all, centered around the United States.
The story is framed by his original narrators and characters from history—Nathan Hale, the hangman, the British provost, and, added in Major Impossible, Bill Richmond. Hale starts the story with his narrators peering at a sketch of the front cover, with the historical Nathan Hale explaining that “this book was created by hand by a real human artist.” There’s a humorous warning at the beginning about the scary content, then the framing plot opens.
The four narrators are sheltering from the rain under the gallows and decide to tell scary stories, starting with Captain Hale. Since it’s his thirteenth tale, he tells a scary story about a thirteen baby—the Jersey Devil. Black and white art, picked out with spots of green, illustrates the gruesome creature and its victims, ending with a short discussion on folklore and history. The provost demands a true story, so Hale begins “A Sip of Radiation” and the backgrounds glow a ghostly green as he tells the true story of Radithor, radium-infused water. The story jumps between Curie’s discovery of radium and the effects of Radithor on a welathy young man, Eben Byers, who died a gruesome death due to the “miracle cure” and ends with the radium girls and a creepy correlation between overuse of radium and the possible effects of unlimited internet use. The stories continue with the ghostly “The Demon Cat,” a grotesque tale from Edgar Allan Poe, “Hop-Frog,” and more. They include snapshots of US history, like a dream of Abraham Lincoln, a ghost story from the Civil War, and, of course, reappearances of the Jersey Devil.
Bill Richmond’s contribution, “The Boo Hag” is framed in a slightly darker green and features a cast of Black characters with creepy fleshless monsters, and placid, swirling waters in the South Carolina Sea Islands that hide dark secrets. Hale switches to a sharper contrast in “The Head in the Jar” which features the folk legend of Joaquin Murrieta. Stark white backgrounds on the small panels show the bare desert of the stockades and Gold Rush towns then switch to a mass of grays as Murrieta suffers and reenacts his vengeance in the dark of night.
The story ends with a transition that takes the readers to Denmark and introduces the berserkers of the title. Hale’s characters in this tale show sharply defined faces with pointed, craggy noses and long-haired, narrow faces contrasting with bulky, bearded warriors and fleshy tyrants. The story comes to a gory and dark end, featuring monstrous beasts and dense, packed panels showing heroes battling creatures in the dark. The stories return to the US and the true crime story of “The Butler Goes Berserk” featuring the mysterious crimes at Frank Lloyd Wright’s estate, Taliesin, committed by his butler, Julian Carlton. The collection is finished with a goofy story from the hangman, framed in glowing green and a final appearance of the Jersey Devil.
Hale ends the book with his usual meticulous research; in this case he adds additional information to the sources explaining which parts of each story are factual and which are folklore or legends. He also includes an encouragement for readers to explore short stories and some recommendations and sources.
This is a fitting transition to twelve wonderful historical graphic novels and hopefully marks the beginning of a new set of these histories. It’s also a fun way to get readers to try something new as well as stop to think a little more deeply about the media and stories they consume, since Hale includes lots of discussion points throughout the story as well as plenty of gore, monsters, and creepy happenings. A sure bet for middle school readers and anyone who enjoys creepy stories and interesting historical tidbits, this will delight both old fans of Hale and those new to his work.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Bones and Berserkers By Nathan Hale Abrams, 2025 ISBN: 9781419773204
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
This is a relatively new series, focusing on creepy or mysterious stories. However, although written by the same author, the first two books in the series are very different.
In the first title, Area 51, Steve Foxe teams up with Fran Bueno to present a slightly creepy but generally informational explanation of the theories, legends, and facts around “Area 51.” The framing story is a young boy attending his unknown uncle’s funeral. TJ, uncomfortable in a black suit with slicked-back red hair, sneaks off on his own and discovers a secret room in his uncle’s house with CIA classified documents. Bueno illustrates this portion like a, as TJ says, “history textbook.” There are images of Eisenhower, a history of the CIA, an explanation of the popular understanding of the events after nuclear testing, and up through the formation of, and public knowledge, of what came to be known as Area 51.
Throughout this section, the colors vary between dull, sandy browns with a few bright reds showing imagined images of mutants and aliens. The story leads up to the development of aircraft meant for intelligence missions and these planes are shown in sleek blacks with secret night-time scenes in dark blue. As TJ continues reading the files, he is interrupted by men in black suits and his mother and he hastily finishes the tales up through the current day, from humorous denials from public figures like Bill Clinton to a thoughtful look at how conspiracies form and current speculations about Area 51. The story ends with an anticlimactic confrontation with the suited men and TJ returns home with his parents, a single bright disc shooting across the night sky.
The second title, Unwanted Guests, features a different illustrator, Naomi Franquiz, and blends several “true” ghost stories into the framing story. Franquiz’ art in the opening story is colorful and includes lots of folds and lines in clothing as well as the background. Foxe sets the framing story by introducing a biracial family moving to a new neighborhood. Minnie, the younger sister, has thick black eyebrows, an exuberant bush of brown curls, a missing tooth, and freckles. She’s dressed in blue overalls and a pink striped shirt. She’s followed by her older brother Jackson. His curls are shaved on the sides with a pompadour style on top and he wears khaki pants and a bright checked orange and yellow sweater. The two siblings bicker over mysterious stains and noises until their dad, with darker skin and a chinstrap beard, sends them off to the park to play. At the park they meet “Theo” a spookily pale kid who presents Asian. Franquiz continues the bright colors with a reddish playscape surface and bright autumn colors in the leaves.
Theo drops hints about their house and then tells them two scary stories. In the first story, a ghost tale from the 1920s, Franquiz switches to a more subdued palette with sepia tones that contrast with the brightly colored contemporary neighborhood. Minnie and Jackson interrupt for explanations of terms like spiritualism and poltergeists and Theo ends the story on an ambiguous, creepy note. After a very nervous night, the siblings approach Theo again and he tells them a second story about yet another Minnie – Minnie Clyde Winston and her bleeding house. This story, which is from the late 1980s, has brighter, more contemporary colors. Minnie is shown as a Black woman with light skin and curly hair and the pools of inexplicable blood are a viscous red. There are a few gruesome images of blood-drenched monsters but the story fades away as Minnie gradually denies the events to reporters to get some peace. As the story ends, readers return to the bright autumn park and Theo hints at a third story, about a young boy named Theodore who disappears in an attic… echoes of the earlier stories he told are revisited in the siblings’ experiences that night and the book ends with a final, ghostly shiver.
Both titles include sources for the unsolved mysteries, but the first book has a more straightforward, historical approach which is mirrored in the simpler, more basic tones of Bueno’s art. The second book, with the lengthier and creepier framing story, has a more gruesome tinge which pairs well with Franquiz’ colorful art and heavily emphasized lines. While both books will appeal to young readers, the first is more likely to interest those who already have an interest in aliens, unsolved mysteries, and history while the second will appeal more to fans of ghost stories and scary tales.
Archives of the Unexplained By Steve Foxe Art by Fran Bueno, and Naomi Franquiz Macmillan First Second, 2025
Volume
ISBN
1 Area 51
9781250850287
2 Unwanted guests
9781250850263
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
Science Comics is a long-running series, which invites a wide variety of skilled creators to explore different scientific subjects. All of the titles in the series have a certain amount of narrative story holding the information together, but some definitely lean more towards the expository, which is the case in this title
A prose introduction from Emily Lindsay, a paleontologist who works at La Brea Tar Pits, gives some context for the book, explaining the rise and extinction of megafauna and prehistoric mammals and the importance of large mammals today. Flood begins the narration with an iconic sequence of panels showing a line of mammoths tramping across a glacier in Siberia, where they are then attacked by a pack of cave lions and one young mammoth plunges into the icy water below.
He uses this sequence to kick off the basic concepts being introduced in the book, showing the modern relatives of mammoths and cave lions – elephants and African lions – and then jumping back to the origin of mammals and their gradual development over millions of years. These pages are filled with neatly drawn charts of evolution and cartoon creatures in bright colors who comment on each other’s adaptions with jokes.
Flood helps readers follow the evolutionary development of mammals with a yellow diapsid, “Dia” and a red synapsid, “Sid.” Eventually, Dia evolves into the dinosaurs, eyeing Sid hungrily, while Sid evolves into the early mammals, brownish-yellow, blue, and purple creatures. In the next big extinction, Dia’s survivors shrink down to a feathery yellow bird while Sid returns to his red, basic mammalian form. Flood’s color-coded animal adaptations make it easy for young readers to follow the complex concepts of evolution and adaptation over the huge periods of time represented.
The story next moves on to the Cenozoic, the age of mammals. Flood illustrates the early mammals in soft browns and grays with faint black patterns, setting them amidst lush green jungles and forests. This morphs into the more colorful variety of mammals we’re more familiar with today, as well as gradually diversifying plant life, with colorful flowers, birds, insects, and more. Dia and Sid continue to show up—Dia staying in her yellow bird form while Sid changes frequently, although generally keeping to a four-footed, small red mammal shape.
Flood continues the story, showing how the changes in climate and habitat prompted evolutionary changes in mammals and drawing more and more parallels between prehistoric and modern creatures as evolution progresses. The original red of Sid the synapsid shows up again here, in the arrows and charts, while extinct animals are generally shown in plain greys and browns, allowing the animals who have contemporary survivors to show up more clearly in the artwork.
Sid shows up again, illustrating the evolution of herbivores from small to large, to survive the large carnivores. Dia flies along above a fleeing Sid, making comments on the predator and prey racing about. The two follow along as the story nears the modern day, showing the niche animals that evolved on the now-distinct continents and the convergent evolution of different species. When the narration reaches the ice ages of the Pleistocene, Flood steps away from animals in a spread to illustrate the climate changes with blue and green diagrams and a fiery sun shooting rays of orange and red toward earth.
The narrative begins to return to the introduction, showing the migration of mammoths and describing the La Brea Tar Pits, as well as introducing the evolution of a new mammal – humans. Sid and Dia show up again, watching the arrival of humans. Flood illustrates the changing evolution of different human species, showing a variety of darker skin colors, postures, and hair textures. He has a distinctive style when drawing human faces and this begins to show up in this last section of the book, with larger eyes, square, blocky hands, and thick lips. The story ends with a discussion of the current extinction event we are living through and the effect it has on mammals, including humans.
Flood has written or illustrated several other Science Comics titles and his blocky, simply style with lightly humorous touches and clear, simple diagrams is well-suited to the series. He does an excellent job in this title of connecting the complicated and wide-ranging topic together, moving between epochs and eras and tying the exposition together with narrative touches from beginning to end. The text is very readable, although the number of Latin species names may daunt some young readers. However, those who are interested in prehistoric life will be generally familiar with the nomenclature and the text is very understandable even if readers stumble over some of the names. This is another excellent entry in a strong series that should be represented in all public and school libraries.
Prehistoric Mammals From the Jurassic to the Ice Age By Joe Flood Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250868428
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
Shining a light on a lesser know story from the Civil War era, Legion M Entertainment and Stranger Comics bring together a talented creative team including creatives from Disney, Marvel, and DC, for Defiant, this first volume chronicling the life of Robert Smalls.
Born to an enslaved mother in the American South, Smalls dreamed of freedom. Beginning with his childhood, Defiant follows Smalls as he grows through education, love, and eventually into working as a sailor when war breaks out against the North. It is in this war that Smalls sees an opportunity at freedom, to steal the Confederate transport ship he worked on and escape to Union-controlled territory with some of his fellow crew and their families.
It was this escape that made Smalls famous, but his life’s work did not stop there. He continued as an influential figure throughout the war and beyond, including time serving in Congress. There are many today who do not know the details of Smalls and his life, and in the supplementary material that accompanies this graphic novel, the creators, as well as Smalls’s great great grandson, reflect on the power of legacy and the necessity of telling stories like this in order to remember the past and inform the future.
Defiant opens with a framing narrative depicting Smalls later in life as he takes his grandson fishing. It is here, as they wait for the fish to bite, that he begins to recount his story. Each section of the book captures key moments of Smalls’s youth and adulthood. It’s a significant length of time to cover, but the creators pace the story well, showcasing the experiences that formed Smalls’s character and the sense of defiance that would later drive him to risk everything in pursuit of freedom. The story is told with fondness and dramatic flair, but it doesn’t lose sight of the Smalls’s humanity or the horrors of US slavery at the time.
Balancing cinematic sensibilities with a desire to share a true segment of history, the writing effectively moves between interludes with the older Smalls and the larger narrative chunks leading up to his dramatic escape. The dialogue is straightforward and occasionally on the nose, but the book does an excellent job identifying important details to convey and moving the story along, while also bringing the reader into Small’s life along with the lives of those around him. It’s a story told with concern for historical truth, but also with acknowledgement that some liberties were taken and some factual gaps filled in to bring the story to life.
With these same cinematic sensibilities, the artistic team uses bold coloring and some dynamic layouts that quickly grab the reader’s attention. There’s a general sense of realism to the visual sequences, but the art takes some compelling creative liberties at times which help to elevate the themes and content of the story. There is one pivotal moment early in the book where Smalls, as a child, witnesses the violence and cruelty committed against the Black people around him. With use of light and shadow as well as distortions of faces that once seemed less threatening, the artists bring us into the experience of the moment and the realization of the evil inherent to the institution of slavery. Here and elsewhere, the art reckons with the realities of the time without the need to linger over pain and suffering. As the book progresses into the dramatic escape that Smalls is most known for, the visuals continue to bring the reader into the action, with effective choices in framing and dramatic moments that heighten both the tension and the heroism of what Smalls and the other achieved.
Stranger Comics lists Defiant as suitable for all ages. There are a range of areas in the content to be mindful of—violence and death in war and toward enslaved people, occasional slurs, briefly implied nudity, and some sequences of tension and threat which at times include children. However, none of these are presented for shock value or in graphic detail; even the creators state that their intention is not to linger over the violence and other horrors of the time. What detail we do see in the pages is relatively brief, maintaining focus on Smalls as a central figure and celebrating what he achieved without glossing over the reality that helped shape him.
As such, it’s a suitable read for older kids and upward, not only for the book’s sense of adventure, but also for the rich and important history it seeks to convey. In the afterword, writer Rob Edwards reflects on the importance of telling stories and why he sees such value in remembering the life of Robert Smalls. There is value, not only in the history recorded here, but in the discussions offered by Edwards and the others in this book who reflect on what it can mean for us today, to remember the bravery and steadfastness of those who have come before. In this way, Defiance is a perfect read for the current moment, and a great addition to shelves in schools, libraries, and home collections, especially with a movie also in production.
Defiant The Story of Robert Smalls By Rob Edwards Art by Sean Damien Hill Legion M and Stranger Comics, 2025 ISBN: 9781939834379
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Black, Character Representation: Black,
Hayao Miyazaki needs no introduction to most anime fans. Even if his name is not known to most American fans of the artform, the odds are good that they’ve seen one of his movies. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, and Spirited Away are only some of the classic movies he’s directed. Indeed, the greatest challenge in assessing Miyazaki’s career is not debating his influence on the genre and other directors. It is deciding which of his great works might be considered his best.
The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki does not try to answer this question or even offer fodder for that discussion. What author Nicolas Rapold does instead is look at Miyazaki’s influences, both in his life and his reading. Through this, and a series of essays, Rapold tries to find the source of the creativity of the man called the “godfather of animation in Japan.”
This might be seen by some as spoiling the magic. However, Rapold’s intent is not to prove the truth of C. E. M. Joad’s saying that “the height of originality is skill in concealing origins.” Instead, he uses this examination to show how Miyazaki’s genius lay in how he twisted the stories he loved as a child in new directions.
The first quartet of essays set the tone for what follows, as Rapold explores four of Miyazaki’s greatest influences. These are given as Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Homer, and Jules Verne. However, in discussing these, the essays spin out to cite other influences and common themes with books Miyazaki named as his favorites and why they relate to his work.
It is no intuitive leap to tie most of Miyazaki’s films to Carroll. Many of his protagonists stumble into strange worlds, much like how Alice Found Wonderland. Burnett’s The Secret Garden is an obvious influence on Howl’s Moving Castle and the secret garden hidden within it. Yet Miyazaki also comes back to that book’s theme of regrowth and the power of one person to heal the world and others.
Homer’s Odyssey informs the theme of the wandering stranger trying to get home, as does Gulliver’s Travels. And Verne’s advanced science may be reflected in the flying machines of Castle in the Sky. Yet his books also continue the recurring theme of motion and the power of the self-motivated individual.
However, Rapold also examines Hayao Miyazaki’s work through nonthematic avenues. There are essays and photos of the real-world locations that inspired his visuals. There are also looks at other creators who may have influenced him or were influenced by him. This includes an essay comparing Miyazaki and Stephen Spielberg.
This is all a bit academic for the children for whom Miyazaki made his works. Indeed, I was stunned by how much text there was contained within a book about a visual artist. This is not to say that there are no pictures from the movies, but they are shockingly small for a volume this size and there are few full-page images. Despite that oddity, I think most art history and anime history library collections would benefit from owning a copy of The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki.
The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki By Nicolas Rapold Frances Lincoln, 2025 ISBN: 9781836004813
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Cocktails. We know them. Many love them. But how many of us know the long and complicated journey through history that brought us the cocktail as we know it today?
From Ten Speed Graphic, renown cocktail historian David Wondrich delivers The Comic Book History of the Cocktail along with art from Dean Kotz, Brad Simpson, and Micah Myers. Opening with some pre-history, this nonfiction journey around the world introduces the earliest known precursors of mixology from civilizations such as Rome and India. From there, the story really begins in the 1600s with the expansion of global trade and the journeying of ingredients, practices, and liquors around the globe. While cocktails are rather a niche subject, their evolution was shaped by many aspects of a changing world. Race and gender dictated who could stand behind a bar. Politics and global warfare led to booms and lulls in alcohol consumption. And social standards drastically changed consumer expectations about what a cocktail could be and where the bars that served them fit within society. With deep historical knowledge and a clear affection for mixed drinks, Wondrich and the creative team offer a detailed and engaging history of drinking which simultaneously takes us across centuries of world history, charting the ebb and flow of society before turning an eye toward the infinite possibilities of the future.
Though deeply researched and factual, this graphic history is written with a clear and engaging style that makes the subject matter entertaining and accessible. The narrative voice that drives much of the book feels quite personal, interjecting commentary on world events and suspect cocktail techniques throughout. There are also frequent interludes from two bartender characters who offer further commentary on topics from the chapters while also sharing recipes and techniques for some of the drinks referenced throughout. Rather than a history text, the book feels like a casual lesson from a friendly group of people passionate about the subject matter. The book is full of information while never feeling bogged down in excessive detail. Even with all that it presents, there is clearly so much more a curious reader could go on to discover with further reading. Indeed, Wondrich closes the books with an extensive index and bibliography of further resources for those curious, highlighting the extensive body of scholarship underlying the information presented here. If the writing has any weakness, it’s the fact that a book of this sort simply doesn’t have the space and time to dive as deep as some of these historical figures and periods deserve. On a pickier note, the dialects and historical accents of some of the historical figures rendered into written text are occasionally distracting—but even these are drawn from historical sources as accurately as possible. As an introduction to the subject which manages to effectively cover a huge span of time and history, Wondrich remarkably makes the subject matter both accessible and fun to read all along the way.
Wonderich’s extensive knowledge is made all the more engaging with art from Dean Kotz. There isn’t a great deal of sequential visual story telling here. Rather, Kotz captures an enormous range of historical figures and time periods. Illustrating each era the book covers from those uncertain times of pre-history right up through the covid pandemic and into the modern day. With heavy line work and a mix of style and realism, Kotz details bustling bars, shattered battlefields, horrific plantations, and the men and women who walked through them all. It’s an undertaking to capture chemistry and brewing practices alongside shifting societies around the globe, but every page of this book is made better through Kotz’s illustrations. Particularly of note are the double-page spreads of bars at specific periods of time, showing their evolution from small, focused establishments to the influential social spaces that they are today.
With no recommended age range and no particularly explicit content, this book is relatively safe for any reader to flip through. However, given the explicit focus of the subject matter on drinking and alcohol, it’s a read best aimed at adults, especially given that it takes a rather positive slant on the history of cocktails without more nuanced discussion of the risks drinking also poses. Nearly every page features liquor being made or consumed, and there are also digressions into serious topics such as war and the international slave trade. As such, adults with interests in areas of history and drinking will be the audience best served by this one. Additionally, it does lean more text-heavy than some comics, expecting the reader to be settled in with an attention span to match. As a final note, not only does Wonderich offer a wealth of historical information not regularly covered by more mainstream sources, he also goes out of his way to recognize the contributions of often marginalized figures throughout history. There’s a clear, individual perspective to the history, but the book is always explicit about where there is authorial commentary alongside historical fact. Furthermore, the book is upfront about any place where the historical record is murky or nonexistent. The Comic Book History of the Cocktail would be an excellent addition for any comics collection that leans toward the adult and the historical. It is a strong read on its own, and might also ignite further curiosity in the covered range of topics and intriguing historical figures.
The Comic Book History of the Cocktail Five Centuries of Mixing Drinks and Carrying On By David Wondrich Art by Dean Kotz Ten Speed Press, 2025 ISBN: 9781984860330
Imagine my surprise when I heard that civilization collapsed some 3,000 years ago, as opposed to almost any other date (insert Daria theme song here. Look it up, kids.).
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed is a graphic novel by experts on the subject, Eric Cline, and Gynnis Fawkes. It is an adaptation of Cline’s book of the same name.
Cline has a daunting task ahead of him in this endeavor. The original non-fiction book is complicated and dense (and won several awards), as we would all expect, and to package all that information in a way that is digestible and accessible is a real challenge.
We come across a tried and true method for the storytelling here: the framing device is from the perspective of 2 characters – Pel, a member of of the marauding Sea Peoples, and Shesha, an Egyptian scribe – visit the locations discussed in the text to explore many, MANY theories, facts, speculations, and historical disasters that brought the the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Egyptians to the end of the Late Bronze Age.
There’s a lot of text to get through; when I describe the book as “dense,” I truly mean it. Each page is chock-full of historical explanation and detail. Small text. We’re approaching something more like an illustrated textbook. Your experience of the text-to-picture ratio this is going to vary, but I would not recommend this for younger readers for the sheer amount of words. Again, this is an adaptation of a nonfiction book that does some serious digging (hurrhurr archeology joke) into a very academic subject.
Fawkes’ illustrations are evocative of humanity’s early attempts artworks/image-making. Think like the cave paintings of Lascaux, Greek pottery, and Roman fresco. The lines are simple, and while characters and objects are shaded, hard swathes of colors are used instead of rendering. The stylization is pretty firmly in a cartoon-ish style (as opposed to photorealistic). I do want to draw attention to the environments and backgrounds – there is some really detailed, professional pencil-work at play here that very successfully communicates different materials, fabrics, surfaces, and natural phenomena.
1177 B.C. could be a good addition to a collection, but I feel that its place would have to be pretty unique in an array of collection development needs – we have an illustrated nonfiction graphic novel that is kid-friendly and about a very specific topic. Due to the high volume of explanation within the pages, I don’t think young children would like it very much. And the childish presentation might put some older kids off who are more interested in just the facts; the publisher put their recommended age range as 16-17. While I’m certain there are older teens who would enjoy this, I would think that they might just prefer to grab the original book this comic was based off of.
Use good judgment and consideration.
Reviewer’s note: the location given is an approximation of the regions explored; keep in mind that these civilizations no longer exist and borders and countries have changed over time.
1177 B.C.: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed By Eric Cline Art by Glynnis Fawkes Princeton University Press, 2024 ISBN: 9780691213026
“As I delved deeper into the narrative, day by day, step by step, I realized that the fact which made this story famous worldwide became almost secondary.”
It’s a bold claim.
But we’ll get into that later.
Just a quick note: I am very far removed from this story. And this is not the case with author Frédéric Bertocchini, who states that he was born almost 1 year after Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 and the harrowing events that followed. The first I had heard of this story was, strangely, in my high school freshmen chemistry class. Couldn’t tell you how it came up.
The story about the Uruguayan rugby team (Old Christians Club) that crash landed in the remote Andes and what they did to survive is perhaps not well-known in this day and age. Certainly, not particularly well-known to American audiences – there is one movies from the 90s that I can recall (Alive, directed by foreign media have covered the story through documentaries, films, and even theater. And seeing this book up for release, well, I was compelled to take a look. This is Bertocchini’s English-language debut.
The story is told from the perspective of Roberto Canessa; at this point in his life, he is a 19-year-old medical student and has nothing but hope for his future. The comic wastes little time; the disaster strikes early, and now Canessa is tasked with doing what he can with his medical knowledge to try to keep the first round of survivors alive. But the conditions are harsh out this far, the snow is falling, and the airplane has little amenities to offer first aid, let alone serious medical treatment. And it’s not just outside forces that threaten the survivors – infighting, power struggles, threats, dwindling supplies, and paranoia also take hold.
It is on the 10th day of their suffering that Canessa suggests eating the bodies of the deceased. Obviously, an incredibly difficult and painful thing to put forth, something that only can be done by someone who is on the brink of death with no other options for life-supporting nutrition. This is the “fact which made this story famous worldwide” that does, in fact, become secondary to the day-to-day survival activities this group of people had to endure. The story gets grimmer as the days go on – the search for their plane is eventually abandoned by the authorities, the mountain sends its arbitrary wrath, more survivors die, and the ups and downs of hope and despair are experienced with disgust and faith in turn. For the sake of the review, I will say that the survivors are eventually rescued after Canessa and Fernando Perrado trek through the mountains for 10 days, eventually coming to the nearest town and alerting the authorities. The passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 were stuck in the remote Andes for 72 days. Of the 45 occupants on the plane, 16 survived.
The art is flat and blocky with a minimalist color pallet, reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s work. There is something matter-of-fact about the straight lines and square compositions. It makes for an enjoyable, straightforward reading experience.
This story is certainly not for everyone, but I was that kid in school reading about the Donner Party and Franklin’s lost expedition for fun, and I knew what I was getting into. The illustrations are not graphic or violent, an amazing feat, really, considering the subject matter. The book is not exploitative nor morbidly gaze-y. But the slicing of human flesh from human bodies for consumption is shown, and I would say the overall melancholy of the events depicted is definitely something to be aware of. If you can get through that, then you will be able to enjoy this harrowing narrative of loss, grit, and teamwork.
Shadows on the Ice: The 1972 Andes Disaster By Frédéric Bertocchini Art by Thierry Diette Black Panel Press, 2025 ISBN: 9781990521294
Publisher Age Recommendation: High school/16+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult, High school Character Representation: Uruguayan
Shadows on the Ice: The 1972 Andes Disaster? Vol. By Frédéric Bertocchini Art by Thierry Diette, Pacal Nino, , Not in listBlack Panel Press, 2025 ISBN: 9781990521294
Company Age Rating: 16+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: French, Character Representation: Uruguayan,
In 1978, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il had South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee kidnapped because he loved her films. Spat’s graphic novel recounts this true story, interspersing it with a reimagining of a folktale that Korea’s first kaiju film, Pulgasari, was based on. This serves two purposes – it becomes an allegory for political strife in both Koreas, but its also a failed South Korean film that Kim wanted remade. To do so, he later captured Choi’s director ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok, as well.
This dual story-telling format means that Spat has quite a bit of ground to cover. This includes Choi and Shin’s first meeting, their romance, film careers, marital troubles, kidnapping, reuniting, and escape in less that 200 pages. It’s hardly enough time to sketch in details even if half the pages weren’t devoted to a folktale where a blacksmith’s daughter’s relatively carefree life is upset when the king kidnaps her father for forced labor. She must work with her fellow townspeople and some magical beings to rescue or avenge their loved ones.
However, the brevity works. There’s certainly enough story to fill volumes of nonfiction prose, but as an enticing introduction to Korean history and folklore, this shines. Readers are likely to finish this with many questions that are readily answerable with a bit of research. The downside is that occasionally the narrative feels abrupt as it switches between Choi and the pulgasari story. This is amplified by the spare art style. Sheree Domingo’s art style emphasizes emotion and vibe. For instance, Choi on a picnic with her children versus Choi as an actress talking to the press with Marilyn Monroe could almost be different graphic novels entirely – a great representation of the different eras of Choi’s life. The color palette consists mostly of blues and yellows, with occasional reds. Otherwise, it’s mostly black and white and contained in the expected panels. Domingo breaks free with phenomenal full page spreads where the passage of time occurs in torn off calendar pages or film cels.
There is something a little off-putting about the speech bubbles font in the English translation that isn’t present in either the Korean or German text. There is also a full-page panel featuring a protest that has footnoted translations placed rather awkwardly. The volume ends with a few pages of text that give a more succinct timeline, which is appreciated. It also may delight readers of a certain age since it mentions Choi and Shin’s involvement in the Three Ninjas movie franchise.
I happily recommend Madame Choi and the Monsters: A True Story for library collections as an interesting insight into Korean history. The kidnapping and strange behaviour of Kim Jong-Il is a great hook to draw readers in before giving them a greater insight into Korean culture and history. Aspects of Korea’s arts are trending these days with the love for K-pop, manhwa, and K-dramas continuing to rise, so that may translate into greater interest in Korea as a whole.
This title is geared towards adults not only because of the serious subject matter, but it does contain a couple panels of nudity in addition to domestic violence and infidelity. There is on page violence, but it is more disturbing for implications rather than the imagery.
Madame Choi and the Monsters: A True Story By Patrick Spat Art by Sheree Domingo Abrams, 2024 ISBN: 9781914224225
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: German, Character Representation: Korean, North Korean, South Korean,
Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis in the entire district. 13 years later this feels disgustingly common, a story we’ve learned to tune out, but at the time it shocked the local community and the response was immediate. High school students led a protest, teachers and librarians were up in arms, free speech advocates were taking notice, and it was picked up by news outlets. But information coming from the school district was confusing and inconsistent and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests produced little information or clarity.
with the same style for various anthologies. In his 13th book in the series, he goes full tilt into the short story format with a series of creepy, gross, terrifying, and weird stories, most, but not all, centered around the United States.
titles in the series have a certain amount of narrative story holding the information together, but some definitely lean more towards the expository, which is the case in this title
creative team including creatives from Disney, Marvel, and DC, for Defiant, this first volume chronicling the life of Robert Smalls.
odds are good that they’ve seen one of his movies. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, and Spirited Away are only some of the classic movies he’s directed. Indeed, the greatest challenge in assessing Miyazaki’s career is not debating his influence on the genre and other directors. It is deciding which of his great works might be considered his best.
Cocktails. We know them. Many love them. But how many of us know the long and complicated journey through history that brought us the cocktail as we know it today?
theme song here. Look it up, kids.).
became almost secondary.”
In 1978, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il had South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee kidnapped because he loved her films. Spat’s graphic novel recounts this true story, interspersing it with a reimagining of a folktale that Korea’s first kaiju film, Pulgasari, was based on. This serves two purposes – it becomes an allegory for political strife in both Koreas, but its also a failed South Korean film that Kim wanted remade. To do so, he later captured Choi’s director ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok, as well.
