Sleep

Let me start off by saying that Zander Cannon is one of my favorite comics makers, and I have reviewed almost every book he's drawn. His series Kaijumax is one of the most enjoyable comics out there, as is his book Heck. He has also drawn a few nonfiction graphic novels along the way, including Bone Sharps Cowboys and Thunder Lizards, T-Minus, and The Stuff of Life. His art style is somewhat cartoonish, but also packs a punch in terms of drama, expression, and pacing. And I love that he adds lots of small touches that reward readers with multiple re-readings of his books.

Sleep is a horror comic, about a man named Jonathan Reason. When he falls asleep and wakes up, he finds himself in strange situations and amid carnage but with no memory of what has transpired.

He begins to realize that when he goes to sleep he becomes something else, something unknown to him. That something hurts and even kills people, and he does not know who to turn to for help. Jonathan has been a good Samaritan for most of his life, and he has one good friend, Tabby, who gives him support, but he is deeply troubled by the ethical consequences of his actions. Also, he has no idea why this is happening to him, or at all really.

Two things make this book work for me. The first is that it is told so that the reader is just as in the dark as Jonathan, which ramps up the tension and anxiety and conveys the horror story in a compelling and visceral way. Second, the black and white artwork is accentuated occasionally with the color red, in the form of Jonathan's glasses usually, but over the course of the book it also comes into play with the reveal of what has been happening. As soon as I finished reading the story, I started going back and seeing what information was being left as clues along the way, a hallmark of a book with exceptional plotting and execution.

Also, I have to say that this book really sticks the landing. The final image is simultaneously revelatory, terrible, and sweet, and it has haunted me since I read the book. If you are a fan of horror, go get this book in your hands as soon as you can.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Eric Marcotte delved deeply into the philosophical aspects of Sleep and called it "a series where you will benefit from a second read-through – it is easy to miss a lot of subtle details and clues as you get caught up in the propulsive thriller aspects." Landon Kuhlmann called it "a slow-burn mystery that rewards patient readers."

Sleep was published by Image Comics, and they offer a preview and more info about it here. This book features violence, gore, and profanity, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to read about those things.

Francisco Goya "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters"

 

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring

I recently borrowed this book from my local library. Libraries rule!

Rite of Spring is a continuation of the series Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, which I read and reviewed last year. In this book we flash forward eight years into the 1990s and the advent of the internet becoming commonplace in homes. With this new technology comes different ways to communicate and share/search for information, which transforms small town living and also begins to complicate Samantha's life. It turns out that people searching for murder victims can track clues and share info on message boards, which brings Monica, a persistent and determined duck, to town to figure out what happened to her brother Daniel, who was one of Samantha's victims.

Monica's momentum is formidable, which makes it compelling to see how Samantha deals with her. This book has just as many twists and turns as the original series, with Samantha trying to stay ahead of her pursuer(s) while pretending to befriend and assist them. Secretly, she is also planning a pretty vicious response of her own. Additionally, her past is explored and the origins of her murderous ways are revealed (to the reader anyhow). 

The artwork is charmingly disturbing in how it uses the cuteness of funny animals to embody horror movie tropes. The gory bits are more shocking in their realism when juxtaposed with the general picture book animal qualities. Overall, I was impressed by how well plotted and creepy this book is, and the way it ends promises more dreadful deeds to come, which I will eagerly await.

Patrick Horvath wrote and drew this series, with lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Horvath has written and directed a number of movies, and beyond this debut series of his he also is writing the Archie in Hell mini-series. Otsmane-Elhaou has lettered books for many different publishers and also was a co-editor of PanelxPanel, an excellent, Eisner Award-winning web journal about comics. Horvath speaks about this follow-up story arc and future installments in this interview.

The reviews I have read of this book have been positive, though some point out the let-down that can come with a sequel. David Brooke wrote that it "successfully builds on the original series with a compelling new protagonist, emotional depth, and chilling visuals." Ian Keogh called it "very readable, but not as strong as the first outing." Greg Burgas wrote about having "serial killer fatigue" in general but still found it to be "a fairly worthwhile comic."

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring was published by IDW, and they offer more info about it here. This book is not for kids.

Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel

I remember reading Tuck Everlasting when I was in school, and I happened on this graphic novel adaptation recently at the local library and checked it out. 

 

0-year-old Winifred Foster strains against the strictness of her mother, and one day decides to explore the local woods. She meets what she assumes is a young man, and when she asks him his age he tells her 104 but quickly changes his response to 17. She also sees him drinking from a small spring but when she tries to take a sip, he blocks her way and tells her a wild tale. 

He and his family drank from that same water decades ago, and they have since not aged at all and also learned that they can also withstand mortal injuries. They view their condition as a plight not a blessing, speaking about what it is like having people and the world change around them while they remain unchanged. 

Winifred promises to keep their secret, but she also plots to maybe drink from the spring herself someday, a matter which causes her much deliberation. To complicate matters further, there is also a stranger in town who seems to know about the family and their spring, and he is seeking to locate it so he can sell the water to the highest bidders.

This adaptation of the classic story about a young girl who happens upon a family who have seemingly gained eternal life by drinking from a magic spring is a thoughtful and evocative meditation on mortality and what makes life worthwhile. The artwork incorporates some of the original text and also conveys the narrative in ways that take advantage of graphic novel conventions. In an era of cash-grab, slapdash "adaptations," this one builds from and augments the original.

K. Woodman-Maynard wrote and drew this book with much feedback and interaction with the original author Natalie Babbit's family. She also adapted another classic novel, The Great Gatsby, into graphic novel form. She speaks about her work in adapting Tuck Everlasting in this interview.

This book has been very well reviewed, appearing on several end-of-year "best of" lists. In a starred entry, Kirkus Reviews summed up, "as wise and wonderful as the original." April Spisak wrote that the "illustrations do their intended work of filling in the rest, drawings that tell a story of longing, danger, loss, and hope as much as the text." In an another starred review from School Library Journal, Kasey Swords wrote, "Woodman-Maynard achieves the seemingly impossible task of enhancing a much beloved classic."

Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and they provide a preview and more information about it here.

D'orc Vol. 1: The Book of Certain Doom

I recently borrowed (via Hoopla) and read this collection of comics that will not be available physically until October 14th. Libraries rule!

D'Orc has been a series with a lot of buzz around my local comic book shop, and I picked up and read the first issue months ago and decided to wait for the collection. I am not made of money, people! I can see why it's been popular among folx I know, because it's a fun, funny, and action-packed adventure. The main character is the titular D'Orc, a thing of legends, born from a creature of light (a dwarf) and a creature of dark (an orc), and who is prophesied to destroy the entire world.

As if that is not enough a weight to bear, he also has an undying, talking battle-shield and the ghost head of a slaughtered chicken as companions as he travels the Scar, a land between realms where there is constant strife. Almost everyone is out to kill him, and despite this all he seeks to right wrongs and defend the weak. Also, he and his compatriots seek to find the mysterious Bone Witch, so that D'Orc can learn about his origins and the shield about the soul inhabiting it.

Not just full of action, this story also has a lot of witty banter between characters, humorous situations, slapstick comedy, puns, and magical enchantments to boot. The artwork is dynamic, cartoony, and full of emotion and personality. This series is charming and exciting, a sure-fire hit for fans of fantasy and adventure tales.

This comic book series was created, written, and drawn by Brett Bean with colors by Jean-François Beaulieu. Bean has drawn many comic book series, including I Hate Fairyland, and also a number of graphic novel series for younger readers, such as Muk 'n' Honey and Zoo Patrol Squad. Beaulieu has many credits in the comics industry, including books for Image and Marvel Comics. Bean talks about his career and inspirations for D'Orc in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been very positive. Ricardo Andrés Acevedo called it "a wildly entertaining journey packed with enough humor and bloodlust to sate even the hungriest of comic book readers." Collier Jennings described it as "a fast-paced, funny take on the fantasy genre." School Library Journal gave it a starred review.

D'orc Vol. 1: The Book of Certain Doom was published by Image Comics, and they offer previews and more information about it here. The series is ongoing, and a second trade paperback collection will be published in December.

Graphic Science: Seven Journeys of Discovery

I have read a number of graphic novels by Darryl Cunningham, who has mainly focused his work on nonfiction, writing biographies about billionaires, Vladimir Putin, and Ayn Rand, as well as explorations of psychiatric conditions and science denial. He infrequently blogs here, sharing a look into some of his more recent fictional work.

I recently checked out his book Graphic Science from my local library, because local libraries rule. I had not read it before, though it has been out for some time, and I found it included biographies of several scientists whom I did not know much, if anything, about.  They are:

Antoine Lavoisier: A French chemist who named oxygen and identified it as a chemical element, beginning the system of organizing elements that eventually came to be represented in the periodic table.

Mary Anning: An English fossil collector whose discoveries changed how researchers thought about prehistoric life.

George Washington Carver: A Black-American botanist who studied ways to combat soil depletion as well as peanuts and sweet potatoes.

Nikola Tesla: A Serbian-American inventor who pioneered work with alternating current electricity and whose inventions paved the way for modern society.

Alfred Wegener: A German climatologist who explored and mapped polar regions and also put forth the first theories about continental drift.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell: An Irish physicist who discovered pulsars but was not among the recipients of the Nobel Prize this work garnered.

Fred Hoyle: An English astronomer who worked out the concept of nucleosynthesis, which is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing neutrons and protons, and he also coined the phrase "Big Bang," ironically popularizing the term while rejecting the theory.

The images and text read in journalistic and informative fashion, showing the origins and high points of each person's lives and scientific interests. The book ranges far in terms of the topics covered, and I feel I learned much about each scientist and also got to know them as people. What is common in their stories is that they have been overlooked for awards or that their work has been misunderstood in some way. This book would be a great resource about some specific topics in science, which could be read as excerpts, or even as the seeds of a project in exploring scientists' lives and careers. It's a great collection of biographies.

The reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Johanna Draper Carlson wrote, "Reading them [the scientists] as people, some who undercut themselves with mistakes or unusual behavior, makes their discoveries all the more powerful and interesting." Joe at the Woolamaloo Gazette opined about the book that "each [chapter] shares this rather lovely approach – putting the human face on these events, people and discoveries."

Graphic Science was published by Myriad Editions, and they offer preview images and more information here. 

Hometown

Hometown is a riveting, gorgeous, and moving book. It is about a girl who appears human and lives on a world populated with with otherworldly beings and creatures. Her mother takes her out collecting, and her father and she build animals and machines. She also has five siblings:

Although all of the scenes and beings seem alien to me, to her they are commonplace and the only people, things, and places she has known. One day, a strange thing falls from the sky that makes her question everything she knows, and it wants to take her back to the place where she is from. Thus, she has to make a potentially difficult choice.

I do not want to spoil things about the plot, but I found so much of this book emotionally compelling. She feels such joy in her hometown and the questions she poses are profound and human. I found myself concerned, charmed, frightened, and tickled multiple times over the course of reading this book, and when I read it with my seven-year-old, she was rapt as well. And to think that I have not even mentioned the sumptuous artwork, done with a combination of colored pencils and watercolors. The result is a surreal phantasmagoria that is unique though calls to my mind effects reminiscent of artists like Frida Kahlo, H.R. Giger, Chris Van Allsburg, and Jim Woodring. It also has so many subtle details, some of which are funny or cute and others secret plot points. Go read this book!

Hometown was written and drawn by Shaun Tan, an artist and filmmaker who is best known for The Arrival. He has drawn multiple books that have been published internationally and can be read by people of all ages. He has also won an Academy Award for the animated short film The Lost Thing, the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Sweden, and the Kate Greenaway Medal in the UK. He speaks about his work on Hometown in this interview.

This book has been very well reviewed. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "a luminous and ethereal work about home and identity." April Spisak wrote, "There are so many extravagantly surreal moments within the immersive illustrations that it may take a few repeat readings for the profound messages to take root; it is to Tan's enormous credit that each time through will yield new details, both artistic and emotional." Peter Dabbene called it "a masterful graphic novel."

Hometown was published by Levine Querido, and they offer a preview and more about it here. 

Thank you to Tracy van Straaten for the review copy!

A Tale of Two Travelers

I bought this book during Fieldmouse Press's annual catalog pre-sale. I got all the books, and I will be reviewing some of them here, stay tuned! First up is A Tale of Two Travelers, an adaptation of a tale from the Brothers Grimm. In this story, a tailor and a shoemaker meet up on the road to a big city, and they decide to travel together. They are a study in opposites, as the tailor is rather carefree, open, generous, and likes to leave things to chance. The shoemaker is reserved, severe, penurious, and likes to plan everything out in advance. The shoemaker gets easily annoyed by the tailor, and even attempts to leave him a few times. When they come to a point where the trip will take either two or seven days, the tailor does not take enough water to sustain him, and then the shoemaker strikes a dark bargain for his companion to survive.

I was not familiar with this story beforehand, and it is intriguing on its own, with weighty ethical and moral implications. But the narrative is incredibly enhanced by the deceptively simple artwork, which is sketchy, bold, and expert. The characters and backgrounds are rendered in remarkably economical ways that amplify the characters' personalities, the stakes of their situations, and the emotional drama. I loved reading this book, and it would be an excellent text to include in any unit or study of folktales or simply as a great diversion in its own right.

This book was written and drawn by Madita Schwenke, whose comics have mostly been published in German. If you go check out her website, you can see images from some of her other works, like Drifting and Wohnen und Wurmen. This book was translated into English by Natalye Childress, a writer and editor who trucks in comics.

A Tale of Two Travelers was published by Fieldmouse Press, and they offer preview pages and more information about it here.