As a young person growing up in Fairfax County, Virginia, Lauren Haldeman played soccer on a public field next to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Here, bullet shells and other Civil War artifacts were so common that players walked the field before games to prevent injuries from stray metal. The soccer field wasn’t the only space in Haldeman’s childhood marked by Civil War violence—in the woods, her brother once found a human femur, likely the remains of an amputated limb, while Haldeman herself was visited by disturbing nocturnal visions that had the features of hypnagogic hallucinations, but felt more like hauntings.
Blending graphic memoir, poetry, and history, Team Photograph assembles a narrative from these fragmentary encounters with Northern Virginia’s Civil War past. This book isn’t a traditional historical narrative about military campaigns or battle maneuvers; instead, Haldeman is interested in the emotional legacies of violence, whether encountered through commemorative spaces such as national parks, archival objects, or individual acts of remembrance and erasure.
The book is organized as a series of short comics interspersed with poetry sequences, showcasing Haldeman’s craft in both forms. Dense, deft lyrics evoke powerful, if slippery, emotional responses to history; a sequence of poems titled “An Incident” are particularly memorable conjurings of Haldeman’s childhood hallucinations, shot through with dreamy, unsettling weirdness. The book’s colorful art operates as a counterpoint to the literary register of its text, wolf-headed figures stand in for soccer players and Civil War soldiers serving as a playful distancing effect. Both the words and pictures are layered with historical allusion: images copied from antique photographs, quotations from primary documents, and erasure poetry crafted from texts as diverse as the Washington Post and the poetry of Walt Whitman.
Haldeman’s repurposing of historical texts and images gives Team Photograph a feeling of collage, a creative melding of present and past that resembles the artifact-strewn soccer field of her youth. These “overlays of space,” as she describes them, are sites for Haldeman to craft personal responses to Northern Virginia’s violent past, whether contemplating the meaning of her childhood hallucinations, exploring resonances between team sports and military combat, or grieving the death of her brother in a random act of violence in 2012. Yet Haldeman’s project isn’t simply to impose her own story on the past. She positions herself as “a vessel, a thing possessed,” an artistic mode that allows her to channel the voices of the Civil War dead, who, “having died now cry out / to be seen.”
This openness to the voices of the past means relying on serendipity to guide the narrative, even when it surfaces stories that were missing from Haldeman’s childhood understanding of the Civil War. One narrative excursion uncovers the history of the Robinson House, an African American historical site at Manassas National Battlefield Park that was destroyed by arson in 1993. Haldeman, who is white, isn’t sure it’s her place to tell this story, but she decides to use a newspaper article to construct “erasure poetry” about this contemporary act of racist violence, drawing parallels between the arsonist’s destruction of historical memory and her own ambivalent attempts to reconstruct it.
With its blending of narrative modes and genres, Team Photograph is a richly layered reading experience that will give readers of poetry, literary nonfiction, and experimental comics plenty to mull over. The book is particularly recommended for communities who are currently debating contested Civil War landmarks, offering a model for reading these spaces, and their histories, generatively and against the grain.
Team Photograph By Lauren Haldeman Sarabande Books, 2022 ISBN: 9781956046007
The Illustrated Al is a difficult comic to quantify, much like the music of its author. While Alfred Matthew Yankovic (aka “Weird Al”) is most famous as a parodist who found fame mocking Michael Jackson and Queen with songs like “Eat It” and “Another One Rides The Bus,” Al has also written a number of original songs. Some were stylistic satires of other musicians, such as Al’s salute to Sting and The Police with a song about the beauty of a black velvet Elvis Presley painting, “Velvet Elvis.” Others were parodies of certain genres of songs, such as the break-up ballad “Since You’ve Been Gone.” All of them are brilliant, but hard to explain in words. They must be heard.
This makes the idea behind The Illustrated Al all the, well, weirder. As comedian Emo Phillips explains in the introduction, the idea behind this book was to create print music videos for some of Weird Al’s most popular original songs that never got an actual music video based on them. Translating one medium to another is challenging even within a traditional story structure. Adapting music into comics sounds impossible, particularly when the music is devoted to such esoteric topics as a 2000 inch big-screen television set or the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
Somehow, The Illustrated Al manages it.
Many of the comics contained within this volume feature art that satirizes other artists, in the same way that Weird Al parodies other musicians. For instance, Ruben Bolling (of Tom the Dancing Bug fame) mimics the Love Is… comics in adapting the Weird Al song “You Don’t Love Me Anymore.” The original parody mocked saccharine love songs, with there being a total disconnect between Weird Al’s tender tone and lyrics such as “You slammed my face down on the barbecue grill. Now my scars are healing, but my heart never will.” The comic creates the same comedic disconnect, with the familiar style of Kim Casali portraying a dejected Al being tortured by his “beloved.”
Amazingly, most of the comics don’t require any familiarity with the songs that inspired them, though fans of Weird Al’s music are almost certain to get the most enjoyment out of The Illustrated Al. My personal favorite was Peter Bagge’s adaptation of “Why Does This Always Happen To Me?” in which Al cries to the heavens over various injustices, such as his favorite show being preempted with an emergency report. He also recognizes the victim of a horrific accident as the friend who owes him money and grumbles about never getting paid back now.
Another comic of note is Craig Rousseau’s suitably sinister spin on “Melanie,” which seems like a romantic song about love at first sight. Then you learn that the singer fell in love with the titular Melanie after spying on her showering with a telescope. Another high point is the adaptation of “Everything You Know Is Wrong,” which is expressively illustrated by MAD Magazine artist Gideon Kendall.
The Illustrated Al doesn’t have an official rating, but I’d suggest that, much like Al’s music, it is a firm PG-13 or T For Teen equivalent. There are no curse words, but there is a fair bit of violence and death, including depictions of suicide and self-harm. I’d also like to include a tongue-in-cheek trigger warning for any gun lovers who might accidentally stumble across the adaptation of “Trigger Happy,” which happily mocks those who think the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is sacred but basic firearm safety is optional.
The Illustrated Al By Al Yankovic Art by Peter Bagge, Ruben Bolling, Craig Rousseau, Gideon Kendall Z2 Comics, 2023 ISBN: 9781954928640
Publisher Age Rating: 13+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Best friends Grace and Lola talk about everything together—and lately, they’re talking a lot about love. Relationships and boys are a mystery to both girls, but they are curious,. They decide to launch a project together to find out more: the Love Report.
In a shared notebook, they record everything they learn as they interview people who might have a useful angle on love: the school gossip, a couple who just started dating, two female friends who are feuding over a boy, the pretty girl who all the boys like, and the tough girl with a bad reputation. Lola even gets up the nerve to talk to the boy she likes! But heartache is coming for both girls. Will their friendship get them through? And will they ever understand love?
This story features close friendships, school drama, and family issues. Grace is a little jaded and skeptical, with a string of short relationships behind her, while Lola is less experienced and more hopeful about romance. The rest of the cast—mostly their classmates, with occasional appearances by their family members—brings other backgrounds and personalities to the mix. The story is set mostly at school and at various character’s homes, with a few forays into other parts of the unnamed city where it takes place.
In all the talk about love and relationships, the story acknowledges, but does not thus far actually show, the existence of LGBTQ+ people. For instance, Grace suggests that the boy who keeps dodging Lola’s attention might already have a girlfriend, or “maybe a boyfriend.” Characters take it in stride when the possibility of same-sex dating is mentioned, but we don’t actually see any of it happen.
This book collects the first two volumes of The Love Report, which were originally published in French as Coeur Collège (BeKa is a two-person writing team based in France). The illustrator is Italian. There are a few traces of the original French, including characters whose names have changed: for example, whenever Lola’s name appears in the illustrations, and at least once in a speech bubble, she is called Linon. There are also a couple of places with possible missing words or other small editing slips, but nothing big enough to cause confusion.
The illustrations are rich with detail. The delicate line art and varied but low-intensity color palette give a sense of cozy softness that is underscored by a lot of the visuals: fluffy hair, puffy or slouchy jackets and sweaters, rumpled beds, even poofy autumn trees. The style is realistic, but with clear manga influences. The characters are lively and expressive.
While the book has zero nudity and doesn’t show anything more sexual than a few kisses, there is discussion of one girl having a reputation for being “easy.” The words “bimbo,” “slut,” and “bitch” appear once or twice each, though the latter two are used by unpleasant characters and clearly not meant to be viewed as acceptable. There are some tough family situations, including parents who fight and a verbally abusive stepmother. There is also one scene of mild danger when a man chases and threatens our protagonists before being scared away.
With sympathetic characters exploring a topic of near-universal interest, plus a cozy and colorful art style, this book will appeal to fans of realistic fiction and school stories. Hand it to older readers of Raina Telgemeier, Victoria Jamieson, and Shannon Hale’s graphic novels, especially if they are open to an art style with more of a manga feel.
The Love Report Vol. 1 By BeKa Art by Maya Hippo Park (an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers), 2023 ISBN: 9781662640407
Publisher Age Rating: 10 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: French, Italian Character Representation: Assumed Black
Before opening the cover of the graphic novel, I knew that this was a true story, a memoir that had been originally told in an animated film for the National Film Board of Canada, but I had no other familiarity with the story or the reaction that it would generate within me. I was perplexed when I immediately recognized the setting of the story—I had been at that camp myself, a gift from an unknown sponsor much earlier and, while I distantly recalled much of the camp experience, I had totally forgotten where it was located until I saw the provided map. Memories came flooding back. Like my earlier experience, the author/protagonist was also attending the camp for the first time and, like this reviewer, was more excited about the accessibly of comic books and time to read than anything else!
The camp, in central Alberta, Canada, is located close to the small town of Eckville which, in the 1980s, became notorious because of its anti-Semitic mayor who also was a grade nine teacher in the local school. For several years the teacher, Jim Keegstra, taught his students that the Holocaust was a hoax. This was eventually halted by a parent campaign that resulted in a law case regarding hate and anti-Semitic propaganda. Keegstra was fired, but what was his legacy in the belief systems of those students? “Believing the curriculum was “incomplete,” Keegstra had been teaching Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in his classroom – that Jewish people had an international plot to control the world and were to blame for everything that’s wrong” (17).
To combat Keegstra’s troublesome legacy, the Alberta Jewish communities invited the students taught by Keegstra to the summer camp for a day of basketball and fellowship encouraging cultural understanding. The reader is privy to the initial worries and concerns of Hart and his fellow campers regarding the admission of these students into the camp and their lives. What follows is an illustration of misunderstandings and beliefs…and the natural healing and changing of worldviews through the game of basketball. The illustrations are simple line drawings, mostly in black and white, with spots of bright colors and backgrounds emphatically aiding in the emotional telling of the story. The perspective of the text and the illustrations is that of the children with the colored panels accentuating the outlandish monsters created by their imaginations and lack of knowledge of each other.
In the author’s note at the end of the book he discusses the effect Keegstra’s trial had on him as a grade 6 Jewish student. “Keegstra was successfully convicted of criminally promoting hatred of Jewish people, which was an important test of Canada’s hate speech legislation” (83). Hart continues to explain that the public debate surrounding this trial, although uncomfortable, forced Canadians and others beyond our borders to seriously consider the dangers of racism, the necessity of critical thinking skills, and the personal responsibilities to stand up against hate.
Although the basketball game took place in 1983, the trial in 1985, and Keegstra’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1996, the issues of racism, anti-Semitism, critical thinking, conspiracy theories and the dangers of hatred are not limited to the past.
I was a mother with two young children when the Keegstra Affair came to light. I lived locally and followed the news faithfully but was never aware of this basketball game until now. This is a story that needs to be read and revisited both the in the original filmic version and this newly published graphic novel again and again. The book includes an introduction, follow up to the trial, study questions, and a glossary. It is a concise and accessible entry to the ease of spreading conspiracy theories, fake news, misinformation, and hatred. Highly recommended for school and public libraries.
The Basketball Game By Hart Snider Art by Sean Covernton Firefly, 2022 ISBN: 9780228103912
Publisher Age Rating: 12+ Related media: Movie to Comic
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Middle Grade (7-11), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: Canadian, Jewish Character Representation: Canadian, Jewish
As a young person growing up in Fairfax County, Virginia, Lauren Haldeman played soccer on a public field next to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Here, bullet shells and other Civil War artifacts were so common that players walked the field before games to prevent injuries from stray metal. The soccer field wasn’t the only space in Haldeman’s childhood marked by Civil War violence—in the woods, her brother once found a human femur, likely the remains of an amputated limb, while Haldeman herself was visited by disturbing nocturnal visions that had the features of hypnagogic hallucinations, but felt more like hauntings.
The Illustrated Al is a difficult comic to quantify, much like the music of its author. While Alfred Matthew Yankovic (aka “Weird Al”) is most famous as a parodist who found fame mocking Michael Jackson and Queen with songs like “Eat It” and “Another One Rides The Bus,” Al has also written a number of original songs. Some were stylistic satires of other musicians, such as Al’s salute to Sting and The Police with a song about the beauty of a black velvet Elvis Presley painting, “Velvet Elvis.” Others were parodies of certain genres of songs, such as the break-up ballad “Since You’ve Been Gone.” All of them are brilliant, but hard to explain in words. They must be heard.
boys are a mystery to both girls, but they are curious,. They decide to launch a project together to find out more: the Love Report.
animated film for the National Film Board of Canada, but I had no other familiarity with the story or the reaction that it would generate within me. I was perplexed when I immediately recognized the setting of the story—I had been at that camp myself, a gift from an unknown sponsor much earlier and, while I distantly recalled much of the camp experience, I had totally forgotten where it was located until I saw the provided map. Memories came flooding back. Like my earlier experience, the author/protagonist was also attending the camp for the first time and, like this reviewer, was more excited about the accessibly of comic books and time to read than anything else!
