Zoe Thorogood received multiple award nominations for It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, including 2023 Eisner Awards in the Best Graphic Memoir and Best Writer/Artist categories, Forbes’ “The Best Graphic Novels of 2022” list, and she won the 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award at the Eisner’s. Her art is evocative, engrossing and layered, grabbing readers immediately.
Zoe herself, however, is an entirely different story. She is certainly layered and complex, but she’s also self-conscious, shy, self-described as pathetic and suicidal. It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is her attempt to record a six month span of her life and try to make sense of how and why she is mental and emotionally in the place she finds herself. A large portion of the story takes place during the Covid-19 lockdown period of 2021 and the sense of isolation many of us experience then is personified by Zoe, who was lonely long before then.
There is a lot of fourth wall breaking as Zoe directly addresses the reader in this book. Very early on she admits that she’s recently had suicidal thoughts, but she’s had them since she was 14 so it is nothing new for her. She is also quick to admit that this book may be an exercise in narcissism or it might help someone else, but it certainly is a selfish act. She’s hoping to bring us along on her journey to America for her first big comic convention she’s been invited to and her hope is the trip itself might be a journey of self-discovery. During the course of the story we’ll meet 14 year old Zoe back in 2013 and see what it was like for her to try and survive in school, watch Zoe meet her best friend in college and have her heart broken in America.
We see Zoe struggle with personal interactions in public with strangers, fans of her work, her parents and at time her friends. She illustrates her depression as a monster that follows her, a giant looming specter waiting just behind her. She illustrates multiple versions of herself and her personality in varying styles so that we can better see how she transitions in and out of comfort and confidence to stress and fear. I’ll point out here that the art in this book is phenomenal and truly aids every facet of the storytelling. There are times it is told in just black and white, other times with splashes of color and some pages are collage with photocopy and photographic elements. I was completely captivated throughout the book.
It is bold for a 22 year old to write a memoir as there is usually not much life experience to draw from, but this book didn’t suffer from a lack of self-awareness there. Zoe explores themes of isolation, self-worth and perception while pointing out to herself how wildly indulgent and vain it is. While it may not have provided a neat, tidy ending where all ends ‘happily-ever-after’, we did see a lot of personal growth from Zoe even as she simply engages with the idea that her younger self would see her current art as successful and fulfilling. She ends the story in a better place than we found her at the beginning saying, “Loneliness makes it hard to see the bigger picture. It makes you self-obsessed; not out of narcissism but because your own self is all you have. Your flaws, quirks, regrets, and mistakes begin to engulf you. Your own self begins to overshadow that bigger picture, but there is always a bigger picture.”
Image Comics rates this book as Mature and I would agree for the sake of placement inside a library. Suicide is already a tough subject to tackle with younger readers, but Zoe depicts (and comments on) her casual drug use and there is profane language sprinkled throughout. I wouldn’t tell older teens not to pick this up, it’s clear why it was nominated for so many awards, but for them especially I would point out Zoe’s disclaimer inside the cover about talk of suicide and her confrontations with it. I hope for her sake it was as cathartic to write as it is to read. Her frankness and honesty was compelling and I found myself rooting for her.
It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth By Zoe Thorogood Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534323865
Publisher Age Rating: Mature
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Anxiety, Depression
People love amusement parks, or at least enough people love them to make them a multimillion dollar business. What’s not to love? The gravity-defying rides! The thrilling attractions! The greasy food that will quickly leave your body thanks to the earlier mentioned gravity-defying rides! Horror fans, whether they hate or love amusement parks, should find something thrilling in Dark Ride, Vol. 1 by Joshua Williamson, along with art by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas.
For fans of horror and amusement parks, Devil Land is the one-stop vacation spot. Picture an amusement park designed by Tim Burton but located in Freddy Krueger’s dreamland. This land that somehow combines a Tunnel of Love with buckets of blood is the brainchild of elusive genius Arthur Dante. Many feel Arthur is close to finally passing the keys to this malicious, magic kingdom to one of his children. Will it be divorced dad Samhein (or Sammy), desperate to prove to his father that he deserves to be in charge? Or party girl influencer Halloween (Hallie), able to be seen practically anytime she wants? When a worker disappears within the park, people start investigating and the park shows that it doesn’t have to amuse anyone.
This is volume one of the series, so writer Williamson (author of horror comics Ghosted and Nailbiter) spends most of this book setting up plot threads and introducing characters. From the sister investigating her brother’s disappearance to the Dante children themselves, particularly Samhain, Williamson shows a lot of surprising depth in the more down-to-earth sibling, showing him at least trying to be a good dad to his daughter but ultimately being distracted by the needs of the park. Setting up the more grounded characters is important if readers are going to explore a place like Devil Land alone.
Williamson may have had the contents of Devil Land in his head, but Bressan and Lucas’s art make them seem real. From the rides that look very close to medieval torture devices to mascots that look like they crawled off the shelf of an abandoned Hot Topic, Devil Land as a living, breathing, money-making amusement park is fully realized. Devil Land actually looks like a place gorehounds and amusement park enthusiasts will want to visit. They might even buy season passes.
Dark Ride as a series looks promising, especially for those librarians whose patrons love horror, particularly the kind of horror that’s more schlock than terrifying. However, it could be ready to deliver a different kind of horror once readers are fully strapped in and the ride really begins.
Dark Ride, Vol. 1 By Joshua Williamson Art by Andrew Bressen, Adriano Lucas Image, 2023 ISBN: 9781534325272
Publisher Age Rating: 16+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Everyone loves the archetype of the gentleman thief, the anti-hero who makes their living by breaking the rules with panache and a dry wit. These archetypes mainly steal from those with money, power, or both. Sebastian Harlow, also known as the Black Flamingo, certainly fits that mold while standing out among other rakish rogues. An expert in the acquisition of mystical artifacts and looking good while doing it, his latest job could change his whole outlook on life, provided he survives, in Sins of the Black Flamingo, written by Andrew Weaver and illustrated by Travis Moore.
Sebastian has made it his business to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Miami’s occult items market in order to rob it blind. Like Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, he wears a mask—a glittering masquerade mask—that hides his identity while also being his signature look. However, his life as a gentleman thief is a lonely one. There is his one friend, Ofelia, who serves as his mystical advisor and reluctant conscience, trying to direct him to do more good works. But Sebastian has mostly lived by his wits and according to his whims until a new assignment, and a truly rare acquisition, has him questioning his role in the universe.
Sebastian is a gay man who doesn’t mind being a little flamboyant, hence his uniform of sparkling mask and feathered collar, but Weaver never lets him descend into parody or become one-dimensional. He jokes about finding a handsome detective with which to have the cliched game of cat and mouse, and openly flirts with the chiseled male specimens he encounters. But he also has a very nihilistic view of humanity that gets brutally questioned and reaffirmed throughout the story. Most of Sebastian’s worldview is thanks to a supernatural encounter, but it could also be a byproduct of his existence as a gay man in this current political climate, which Weaver displays in all its ugly, dog-whistling glory. In the first part of the series, Sebastian steals from the Museum of American Heritage and Culture, which is just as racist and repugnant as it sounds.
Setting this story in Miami lets this story be sexy while also giving a chance for Moore’s artwork to shine. Nearly everyone who exists in this world could have been borrowed from fashion catalogs and, thanks to Miami’s warm climate, there are plenty of opportunities for them to show their bodies. Indeed, Moore shows he can draw a svelte male body in the same way many other artists can showcase women in pinup poses. Miami might be a pastel wonderland full of beautiful people, but Moore also shows he can reveal the supernatural horrors that prowl alongside the real world horrors.
Sins of the Black Flamingo definitely belongs in the adult section, with its portrayals of sex and violence, but this book is much more than titillating eye candy. It offers readers a very compelling hero and it shows him fighting in a world too close to our own that desperately needs him.
Sins of the Black Flamingo By Andrew Wheeler Art by Travis Moore Image, 2023 ISBN: 9781534324725
Publisher Age Rating: 16+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: Gay Character Representation: Gay
When art, commercialism, and greed collide, what will be left standing at the end?
From Chip Zdarksy and Image Comics comes Pubic Domain, a graphic novel about the people who make comics and the companies that control them. Miles and his brother, sons of accomplished comics artist Syd Dallas, have spent their lives under the shadow of their father’s reputation and his most famous creation, the popular comics superhero franchise, The Domain. Syd was instrumental in bringing The Domain to life in stories that would entertain fans for decades, spawning a complex and profitable IP that has expanded into films and merchandise. But with his famous creation in the hands of a powerful studio, Syd has received little credit or money for his creation.
When Miles, struggling as a journalist and with a failed relationship bringing him down, discovers an old contract that challenges assumptions about who owns the rights to his father’s most famous comics creations, it sparks a period of soul-searching as well as a potential legal battle against a powerful corporation that values nothing so much as its own well-being. Every member of the Dallas family has been struggling to find their way in a world that cares little for their well-being, and this new battle for the Domain will change all of their lives one more time.
Balancing cynicism with a love of comics, Public Domain serves as a harsh criticism of an industry that sometimes shuts out creators in favor of chasing the next profitable market wherever they can find it. However, while Zdarsky draws a bleak picture of selfish characters who care little for artistic integrity, he sets them alongside others who are driven by a love of creation. From Syd, the legendary artist, to a young comics collector, and a personal assistant who dreams of one day creating comics for herself, Public Domain never forgets the fans and dreamers who make up the best of what the comics industry can be. With intimate and complex characters, Zdarsky’s series is an examination of an industry intimately framed through the drama and dreams of Syd and his family. Humorous, tragic, and heartfelt, this story is a microcosm narrative with implications for anyone who loves reading other people’s stories or telling stories of their own. Condemning the corporate machine while dreaming of the way things can be, Public Domain is big ideas wrapped up in compelling narrative.
In addition to writing, Zdarsky also fully illustrates this comic, bringing engaging visuals and stylized realism to the pages. With distinct colors and accessible art, Zdarsky builds a world in which we can readily recognize the reflection of our own. It is this familiarity that helps Public Domain succeed. In a world where movie studios are looking for the next breakout franchise and studios fight with creators for creative control over projects, Zdarsky’s fictional world is our own, reimagined just enough to allow us to see it from a perspective we maybe haven’t quite considered before.
Image rates Public Domain for mature readers, and between strong language and the more complex themes underlying the story, it is likely best for adult readers—though there is nothing here that older teens will find particularly objectionable. And though a story about the comics industry may sound like something aimed at a niche audience, Zdarsky’s grounding of the narrative in an empathetic family drama ensures that the message of the series never overshadows the characters that shape its center. Timely and complex, Public Domain is an engaging story carefully crafted by a noteworthy comics creator with daring and passion. Across these pages, Zdarsky himself appears to wrestle with questions about the industry he is a part of. A worthy addition to any collection with an older reader base, it’s a story that should appeal, not only to artists and creators, but to anyone involved in fandom—anyone who has ever loved a story and felt their life changed for the better because someone, somewhere put pen to page and brought their imagination to life for anyone who cared to read it.
Public Domain, Vol.. 1: Past Mistakes By Chip Zdarsky Image, 2023 ISBN: 9781534324572
Publisher Age Rating: M NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Joan Peterson has a problem, she’s stuck in the worst sort of Groundhog Day loop. Joan grows up to fall in love with a man who is deeply devoted to her. As soon as he proposes and she says yes a cowboy shows up, tells her “Miss Joan Peterson. She would like you to know… Love is Everlasting.” and then shoots her down. This happens to her across decades, across the country and across eras. Joan is trapped in a cycle of romance that isn’t allowed to be and she cannot figure why or who is behind this.
Love Everlasting opens with Joan falling for George Huff, an executive in what looks like a “Mad Men” 1950s era office setting. We only see them together shortly before Joan experiences life in a 1960s/70s era Bohemian music scene. Kit Myers is a local musician who Joan’s father certainly does not approve of until he learns who his parents are. As soon as he realizes the boy is from good stock, Joan and Kit are free to be together. They profess their love and then Joan is the old West. Two men are fighting over her and at this point she’s realizing her memories are getting muddled together, so she tries running away. She’s running for all three women who she knows she’s been, but she doesn’t know where to run to. She passes out in the desert only to wake up next to a fire, lying on a blanket that’s not hers. A cowboy is sitting at the fire with a message for a Ms. Joan Peterson. There’s something familiar about him she can’t place. He says she shouldn’t have run. This is the first time we see him tell her “Love is everlasting.”
The rest of the book shows Joan with more of her memories and faculties, trying to fight her way out of this cycle. She’s often about to graduate high school, or at that age, and the idea that life, college, or war could separate her from her love propels the couple into early engagement. In the hands of a lesser author this could become convoluted, but at no point was I lost. The book does ask pretty early on that you have faith in the creative team to give you the information you need as you need it, but if you are willing to follow them it makes for a very intriguing journey.
Author Tom King makes a slight departure from some of his recent work to tell a story that is part metaphysical mystery and part family drama. The story is as layered and detailed as you’d expect from him and I genuinely enjoyed the mystery slowly presenting itself right up until the biggest reveal at the end (which admittedly is the springboard into the next volume, leaving plenty left to yet discover.) The art from Elsa Charretier works wonderfully in every decade this story shifts through. Color palettes change and help give a sense of mood every time there is a jump in the story. This feels influenced by artists like Darwyn Cooke and Bruce Timm, which is as high a compliment as I can pay, because their work stands the test of time and this has that same timeless quality.
I agree with the publisher’s age rating of Teen+, which Image Comics defines as “16 and up, may contain moderate violence, moderate profanity use, and suggestive themes.” This book is a little bloody, but not nearly as much as it could be, and it isn’t leaning into gore by any stretch. There is a moderate amount of swearing, but I would like to point out that this book doesn’t contain suggestive themes. This checks a lot of the boxes I use when considering adding book to our collection, including having an unusual premise, art that helps support the storytelling, isn’t intentionally upsetting, and leaves you wanting more. I think it is a solid addition to a library collection, but be aware that it’s still an ongoing title, so it is not yet clear how many additional volumes may follow.
Love Everlasting, Vol. 01 By Tom King Art by Elsa Charretier Image, 2023 ISBN: 9781534324640
Publisher Age Rating: Teen+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
The hero’s quest is as much a staple of fantasy tales as both swords and sorcery. Basically, it involves the titular hero going on a journey. Along the way, the hero, along with a coterie of companions, will encounter many obstacles that will test the group’s resolve, but ideally they will prevail. It’s a formula that’s been duplicated in everything from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars: A New Hope. To be clear, just because a story uses a well-known trope like the hero’s journey doesn’t make it derivative. Largely, it depends on the individual creator to give it a unique spin. For Beware the Eye of Odin, written by Doug Wagner and drawn by Tim Odland, that unique spin involves Vikings and Norse mythology.
The particular hero on this journey is Helgi, a Viking prince who has recently come to possess the Eye of Odin, an actual eye on a chain. The problem is that Helgi must return the Eye to its proper owner by the new moon or suffer a death of “boils and decay.” Helgi is joined by Stigr, a one-armed blacksmith who swings an anvil on a chain, and Kadlin, a female swordswoman who says she’s a Valkyrie. On their journey, this group will encounter the tiny Hundrafolk, the stone-skinned Dwarven Smiths, and trolls that are larger and nastier than the adorable dolls with the multicolored hair.
Those familiar with the hero’s journey will see many of the same type of characters. Helgi is young and temperamental, Stigr is the mentor, and Kadlin, with her very one-sided conversations with a mouse, is the comic relief. Wagner, however, gives these different characters some subtle motivational nuances that help them stand out. Helgi wants to be a good leader and is also willing to sacrifice his life for his friends, Stigr is missing an arm, yet he wants to still feel useful in a warrior culture. And Kadlin? She . . . talks to a mouse, but she might also be a shieldmaiden who carries warriors to their final reward. These and other little touches get the readers invested in this adventure.
The visuals provided by Odland really draw the eye, particularly the creature design. The Hundrafolk look the part of fairy folk and the Dwarven Smiths are all made of stone, but still capable of emoting just as well as characters made from flesh and blood. The real creativity, however, lies in the design of the trolls, who are not only large but have various mutations that make them sprout extra limbs and heads. It’s not all whimsy, however, as Odland isn’t afraid to show these monsters getting bisected and decapitated in detail you’d expect to see in anatomy texts.
Does this story blaze any new trails and stand truly apart from its tropes? The path this story cuts is a well-trodden one, but Wagner’s characterizations and Odland’s illustrations help make this a fun adventure. While not a required purchase, this kind of book is perfect for young adult librarians with teen patrons who have already burned through every Rick Riordan and J. R. R. Tolkien book they have.
Beware the Eye of Odin By Doug Wagner Art by Tim Odland Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534324527
Publisher Age Rating: 13 years and up NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Getting older is inevitable. Getting older means gathering experience and wisdom, but physically it also means gathering some wear and tear on the body. It can be shocking to discover that the activities you once took for granted are now done with a great degree of difficulty, if they can still be done at all. Now imagine you spend most of your life fighting villains and jumping out of moving vehicles. That’s the situation facing Simon Cross, America’s answer to James Bond, in what’s billed as his final adventure, Too Dead to Die: A Simon Cross Thriller, written by Marc Guggenheim and illustrated by Howard Chaykin.
Simon Cross was once America’s greatest super-spy, making a habit of both saving the world and having trysts with the various women he encountered. During one of these trysts, he apparently fathered a daughter, a scientist with a new method to combat climate change. But this new technology can also destroy the world, and when a nefarious organization targets his daughter, Simon must come out of retirement to save his daughter and the world.
People familiar with James Bond will be familiar with all the tropes that pop up in Cross’s adventure, and though Simon is a bit older, he is still more than willing to leap into dangerous situations with guns blazing, dry humor sharpened, and fists ready to fly. Many people remark that Cross just isn’t as young as he used to be, and actually demonstrating awareness of this fact slightly elevated this book above mere action adventure, almost becoming a meditation about people getting older and watching the world pass them by. The world where Simon once fought evil has lost its flavor for two-fisted, promiscuous protagonists, but when his daughter is in danger, it gives him the impetus for, as the book blurb says, one “final adventure.”
And this, billed as his “final adventure,” illustrated by Chaykin, doesn’t skimp on the action or explosions. There are plenty of panels to accurately show the scale of Cross’s daring, even superhuman feats, from the size of the explosions he’s narrowly escaping to his distance from the ground as he jumps from a massive plane into open space. Much of the book seems to be an homage to the ‘80s action genre, when all you needed to create an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride was guns, explosions, and a square-jawed action hero willing to run from said explosions. In that regard, Chaykin’s art doesn’t disappoint.
Librarians might consider getting this for their collection for its value as an action-adventure thriller. This trade paperback includes some comic stories and even some short stories of his earlier spy adventures to show who Cross was, in contrast with the main story that gives some surprising depth to a character who mostly quips and fights his way out of situations.
Too Dead to Die: A Simon Cross Thriller By Marc Guggenheim Art by Howard Chaykin Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534324510
Publisher Age Rating: 16 years and up NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Skottie Young, well-known comic artist and author, has teamed up with Kyle Strahm for a miniseries featuring an unusual questor and his mysterious quest. The story is complete in five issues, combined into a single volume. Some publication data labels it “volume 1” but there is no evidence that additional stories are planned for the protagonist.
Twig, a blue beastie with a charming twig hat and a sarcastic slug-like friend, wakes up late on the first day of his first quest and everything seems to go downhill from there. He longs to live up to his dead father’s legacy as a placeling, one who puts items into place for heroes to use on their quests to save the world. But he’s panicked at the realization that, untrained as he is, he will be responsible for the last placement of the last magical item, the only chance for a hero to save the world from a dark and deadly doom.
Twig makes new friends and enemies, reflects on his past and his present, and survives extraordinary adventures as he races to catch up and fulfill his purpose, but will he be successful? Or, as he fears, will he fail along the way, proving himself to be nothing more than an untrained placeling, better at cooking than questing, only chosen because there was no one else to carry on his father’s legacy?
Young and Straum’s imaginations populate Twig’s world with a wild variety of creatures, many of them drooling and many-toothed, some integrated with strange steampunk gadgets, others looking like giant, hungry worms. Twig himself, with his wide mouth, flat teeth, and delicate black claws appears to be largely an herbivore. Splat, his many-legged and stretchable friend, shines brightly in yellow and occasionally literally lights up in dark spaces. They meet a rhinoceros-like creature with a pink hide, hunted nearly to extinction, a terrifying jellyfish-like beast with glowing green eyes, imprisoned for eons, and an eyeless hunter who is after Twig’s pelt, among many others. Straum stays away from the stereotype of furry=friendly, and the creatures range from terrifying to neutral, some dripping with goo, others simply chowing down on mysterious goop, or with no visual hints as to their unfriendliness until they try to eat and/or skin Twig and his companions.
Although there are moments of creature violence, the level of gore is akin to the original Star Wars movies, with perhaps a bit more liquid on occasion. What makes this rated for teens, in my opinion, is the theme of struggling with making your own way in the world, stepping out from a parent’s shadow, but still wanting to feel like your parents are proud of you. Reflections on the nature of relationships, failure, and the destruction wrought by supposedly intelligent and sentient creatures are also threaded throughout the story and while sometimes the text leans toward trite, it’s a good fit for the questing theme. There are moments of black humor as well, mostly from the smart orifice of Splat, and one finishes the story with a satisfied feeling that Twig will do ok in the future, as will his world.
Recommended to teen and adult fans of Jeff Smith’s Bone and those who like a little reflection in their action stories.
Twig By Skottie Young Art by Kyle Strahm Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534323469
Publisher Age Rating: T
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Vampire comics aren’t hard to find, but they are not all created equal. Marvel and DC will occasionally throw out the idea “what if your favorite character was a vampire/had to fight vampires” and those books don’t always land because the conceit doesn’t hold up in the existing worlds. Little Monsters, on the other hand, has created its own mythos. While some parts of the world are immediately recognizable, it has its own ideas and plenty of intrigue. The irony is that the real success here was when the creators humanized the vampires and gave us reasons to empathize with the characters we meet. The book starts slowly, drawing you in with a quiet, deliberate introduction to the characters and the city they inhabit. It builds in tension and is very measured in pace until something eventually gives, then it’s a faster, jarring experience driving towards a cliffhanger ending.
Romie, Yui, Lucas, the twins Ronnie & Raymond, Billy, Bats and Vickie emerge at night into the abandoned city that is all theirs. It is a black and white world with only the smallest touches of color, mostly provided by the drawings Romie leaves scattered around the city. They have been here, on their own, at least over a hundred years, as best as they can remember, living on rats and whatever else they can find. They play the same games, have the same arguments, read the same books and live the same day over and over. We meet them the day everything changes, as Billy happens upon a human man trapped under some rubble. This is the first regular person they have seen in centuries and while they were told never to feed on people, Billy cannot help himself. This incident will shake their world and bring everything they thought they knew in question.
Romie is the oldest of them all and theirs is the first backstory we see from The Black Forest in 1763. Romie leaves their dying parent to cut firewood, but when they return a vampire has drained the man dead. “I’m sorry,” the vampire tells Romie. “I have been traveling a very long time and I—I was so hungry. I thought he was alone. But now you are alone. Yes? Well, you need not be. You need never be alone ever again.” This type of introduction will happen again in Orange County, 2029 to Billy, Nebraska, 1933 to the twins, and Hiroshima, 1945 to Yui. They are children found alone after a misfortune befell their parents/caretakers and this mysterious figure offers them to never be alone or hungry again.
When we meet the children, they have been living without “the elders” (who we don’t meet in this volume) for several hundred years. They were told to stay in the city for their safty and that the elders would come back for them. Now that a human has wondered into their midst, the kids no longer know what to believe. Billy thinks it is time to leave and hunt more of the humans because after his first meal he realizes they have been lied to. It is the best he has ever felt and the world itself feels different. Yui, Lucas and Romie do not want to leave and they don’t want to eat people. It goes against everything they’ve been told. Romie found a young girl who followed her father (who Billy and the others have killed) and is now trying to hide her from Billy and his faction. The point of no return is when Billy and company find the human camp and in the ensuing fight lose one of the twins. This volume ends with so much unanswered and so much at stake that I’m already frustrated I have to wait for the next volume.
If you have read the series Descender or its follow up Ascender, then you already know how captivating the creative team of Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen are. Little Monsters is a distinctly different book than those, but it contains all of the hallmarks of this creative team that made their previous series so enjoyable. Nguyen is one of the most striking and unmistakable artists working today. While this book might not show off his effortless use of watercolors as it is so stark, his approach to layout and building rising action are second to none. The publisher rates this comic Mature and as it is about vampires, the blood won’t surprise you. However, there is very little in the way of bad language and nothing sexual so I would make the argument that older teens can enjoy this macabre story as well. I also wouldn’t label this has a Horror genre book, although there is plenty of suspense. The fact is that they are children in every sense except that they are now ageless. There is a lot left to explore in the next volume and as this is an ongoing monthly comic, libraries picking it up should keep an out for future installments. I enjoyed this as much as anything I have read this year and very much look forward to seeing what is next!
Little Monsters Vol. 01 By Jeff Lemire Art by Dustin Nguyen Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534323186
Publisher Age Rating: M
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Iris, Lili, and Nora are three best friends, ready to take on their senior year at Seaside High and to make the most of this time together. Jackie Morrow’s Supper Club follows the girls through a school year full of changes and growth.
Senior year is not a time for slacking and each girl’s plate is fuller than ever. It’s not just classes or college decisions hanging over their heads, everyone is just busy all of the time. Iris is always aiming to be the best at everything she does, Lili is dealing with distance from her parents, and Nora is finding it harder to deal with things that used to come easily. The creation of the titular Supper Club comes when Nora realizes the thing that’s been pulling them to after school clubs has always been the lure of free food. As long as they always have a reason to meet on Friday nights, there’s no way their friendship will suffer or fall apart!
The club becomes a safe space for the friends, along with a few other classmates, to share time with each other and to share cuisines from everyone’s cultures. The school year rages on with each of the three friends facing harder, and oftentimes more private, challenges that test their friendship and the club itself, getting to a point where the girls are barely speaking to each other. But it always comes back to Supper Club, the food they’re sharing with each other on those Friday nights, and the friendships that keep bringing them back to the meetings.
Nearly every chapter of the graphic novel is named after a food item consumed at one of their club meetings. As one character points out, food is a special kind of comfort, just like the company of friends. Readers may be inspired to follow along with the dishes and it could even inspire some Supper Club themed book discussions. The author includes three recipes of her own at the end of the book as well. Young foodies and chefs will eat this up!
The art of Supper Club excels at expressing the emotions of the characters, especially in scenes where the characters are dealing with anxiety and stress. The pages representing a panic attack are intense and invoke the feeling to a point some readers may need to take a minute to take a breather. Additionally, the food preparation scenes are specific and colorful, with the food holding its own in the panels. Allie Pipitone’s work as colorist deserves a mention for how often the coloring helps tell the story and guide the reader’s emotions.
Overall, Supper Club is a cute and heartfelt graphic novel recommended for young adult readers. There is some crossover potential for both older middle grade and adult readers, as the story can be appreciated by a range of ages. Readers who loved Lucy Knisley’s Relish will eat this book up, as will readers who enjoy the friendships in John Allison’s Giant Days. It may inspire some readers to start supper clubs of their own too!
Supper Club By Jackie Morrow Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534324213
Publisher Age Rating: Teen+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
the Best Graphic Memoir and Best Writer/Artist categories, Forbes’ “The Best Graphic Novels of 2022” list, and she won the 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award at the Eisner’s. Her art is evocative, engrossing and layered, grabbing readers immediately.
People love amusement parks, or at least enough people love them to make them a multimillion dollar business. What’s not to love? The gravity-defying rides! The thrilling attractions! The greasy food that will quickly leave your body thanks to the earlier mentioned gravity-defying rides! Horror fans, whether they hate or love amusement parks, should find something thrilling in
Everyone loves the archetype of the gentleman thief, the anti-hero who makes their living by breaking the rules with panache and a dry wit. These archetypes mainly steal from those with money, power, or both. Sebastian Harlow, also known as the Black Flamingo, certainly fits that mold while standing out among other rakish rogues. An expert in the acquisition of mystical artifacts and looking good while doing it, his latest job could change his whole outlook on life, provided he survives, in Sins of the Black Flamingo, written by Andrew Weaver and illustrated by Travis Moore.
When art, commercialism, and greed collide, what will be left standing at the end?
Joan Peterson has a problem, she’s stuck in the worst sort of Groundhog Day loop. Joan grows up to fall in love with a man who is deeply devoted to her. As soon as he proposes and she says yes a cowboy shows up, tells her “Miss Joan Peterson. She would like you to know… Love is Everlasting.” and then shoots her down. This happens to her across decades, across the country and across eras. Joan is trapped in a cycle of romance that isn’t allowed to be and she cannot figure why or who is behind this.
The hero’s quest is as much a staple of fantasy tales as both swords and sorcery. Basically, it involves the titular hero going on a journey. Along the way, the hero, along with a coterie of companions, will encounter many obstacles that will test the group’s resolve, but ideally they will prevail. It’s a formula that’s been duplicated in everything from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars: A New Hope. To be clear, just because a story uses a well-known trope like the hero’s journey doesn’t make it derivative. Largely, it depends on the individual creator to give it a unique spin. For Beware the Eye of Odin, written by Doug Wagner and drawn by Tim Odland, that unique spin involves Vikings and Norse mythology.
Getting older is inevitable. Getting older means gathering experience and wisdom, but physically it also means gathering some wear and tear on the body. It can be shocking to discover that the activities you once took for granted are now done with a great degree of difficulty, if they can still be done at all. Now imagine you spend most of your life fighting villains and jumping out of moving vehicles. That’s the situation facing Simon Cross, America’s answer to James Bond, in what’s billed as his final adventure, Too Dead to Die: A Simon Cross Thriller, written by Marc Guggenheim and illustrated by Howard Chaykin.
Skottie Young, well-known comic artist and author, has teamed up with Kyle Strahm for a miniseries featuring an unusual questor and his mysterious quest. The story is complete in five issues, combined into a single volume. Some publication data labels it “volume 1” but there is no evidence that additional stories are planned for the protagonist.
Vampire comics aren’t hard to find, but they are not all created equal. Marvel and DC will occasionally throw out the idea “what if your favorite character was a vampire/had to fight vampires” and those books don’t always land because the conceit doesn’t hold up in the existing worlds. Little Monsters, on the other hand, has created its own mythos. While some parts of the world are immediately recognizable, it has its own ideas and plenty of intrigue. The irony is that the real success here was when the creators humanized the vampires and gave us reasons to empathize with the characters we meet. The book starts slowly, drawing you in with a quiet, deliberate introduction to the characters and the city they inhabit. It builds in tension and is very measured in pace until something eventually gives, then it’s a faster, jarring experience driving towards a cliffhanger ending.
Iris, Lili, and Nora are three best friends, ready to take on their senior year at Seaside High and to make the most of this time together. Jackie Morrow’s 
