Written by Jose Oliver
Art by Bartolo Torres
104 pages, black and white
Published by Kettledrummer Books and Diabolo Ediciones S.L.
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for young and cute characters running into the ancient gods of H.P. Lovecraft’s creation. There’s something funny about kids encountering Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth, in all their hideous glory. That’s why I absolutely could not pass up Young Lovecraft, because it felt almost like someone had created a comic strip with me especially in mind.
By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
96 pages, two-color
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
It’s possible to not be the target audience for a book and still appreciate what it’s aiming for. That’s definitely the case with Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady books, aimed squarely at younger readers. As an adult, you might look at the books and say, "I’m too old for these." I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss them out of hand, though. Sure, they’re juvenile and silly, but I think if you let your inner child out, there’s a lot of fun to be had in these books.
By Keiji Nakazawa
288 pages, black and white
Published by Last Gasp
There are sacred cows in all genres and groupings of comics, those works that if you haven’t read you’ll get a funny look (at best) by way of response. Over the years, one of the works I’ve meant to try out is Barefoot Gen, Keiji Nakazawa’s autobiographical account of living through the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Earlier this year I finally broke down and picked up the first of its ten volumes. What I found inside was, well, not quite what I was expecting.
By Jeremy Bastian
36 pages, black and white
Published by Olympian Publishing
Strictly as a title alone, Cursed Pirate Girl was going to get my attention. It’s a strange turn of a phrase, and I think creator Jeremy Bastian knew just that when he used it. But honestly? What it really took for me was the cover of the first issue. Looking at the main character, sword in one hand, and tendrils of hair extending and crawling across the space? Well, I was hooked with just that single glance. As it turns out, lucky us, the insides are even cooler.
By Hannah Berry
112 pages, color
Published by Metropolitan Books
I must admit, of all the "buddy story" creations out there, a man and his tea bag hardly seems like the most gripping one. With Hannah Berry’s debut graphic novel Britten and Brülightly, though, the idea almost seems to work. What we end up is not really a story about a man and his tea bag, but rather about a private investigator delving into the uglier side of life and what he finds waiting for him.
By Kevin Huizenga
32 pages, black and white
Published by Buenaventura Press
There are a handful of creators for whom I’ll buy just about anything, and Kevin Huizenga is one of them. I will admit, though, that I was a little surprised at first when I saw one of his more recent comics, Fight or Run: Shadow of the Chopper. At a glance it seemed a little more low-brow than the sort of comics I was used to from Huizenga. But you know what? I really shouldn’t have doubted that this comic would be anything less than fun.
By Marjane Satrapi
96 pages, black and white
Published by Pantheon Books
I don’t think there’s any denying that Marjane Satrapi didn’t so much arrive in comics as she burst onto the scene with her autobiographical Persepolis graphic novels. A huge success (both commercially and creatively) in both comic and movie format, it’s safe to say that Persepolis will be a work that leaps first to mind for most people when they hear about Satrapi. While she’s released two books for adults since then, though, they seem to have slightly fallen under the radar. So with Chicken With Plums just being re-released in paperback, it seemed a good at time as any to see what Satrapi’s been up to since Persepolis.
By Alison Bechdel
416 pages, black and white
Published by Houghton Mifflin Books
I have a confession to make. For years, I picked up a copy of The Washington Blade free weekly newspaper but often didn’t read a single article. Instead, I’d flip right to the back and read the latest installment of Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For. So while some people have Bechdel’s excellent autobiographical graphic novel Fun Home on their bookshelves, mine is flanked with a complete collection of Dykes to Watch Out For collections (except for the one that went missing) as well as her artbook. So it was almost a certainty, then, that I’d end up with her massive best-of collection, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. But for people who have only read Bechdel’s Fun Home, though, it’s a great way to see just what else you’ve been missing.
By Tim Piotrowski
28 pages, color
Published by Glitchworks
One of the things I love about self-publishing and mini-comics is that if someone wants to say, write a story about corporate greed starring Kool Aid Man, they can just do it. Tim Piotrowski’s Kool Aid Gets Fired might not have any grand revelations about business culture or the discarding of commodities, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s really darn funny while having a serious message, and it’s a mini-comic that made me really happy when it’s all said and done.
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Art by Jillian Tamaki
144 pages, black and white
Published by Groundwood Books
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read Skim. I enjoyed Mariko Tamaki’s graphic novel with Steve Rolston, Emiko Superstar, and Skim‘s received nothing but accolades since its publication a year ago. Recently I pulled it off of the massive, swaying pile of "books to be read" and within a matter of pages, realized that I’d made a huge mistake by waiting this long to read Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s book.
