Sheets

Another of the finalists in the Middle Grades category for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards presented at the Denver Pop Culture Con, Sheets is a ghost story with a few twists. 11-year-old Marjorie Glatt is the protagonist of the book. She faces trouble on three fronts: first she's a sort of pariah at school; second she is dealing with her mother's death and father's depression; and third she is running the family business, a laundromat. As if these obstacles were not enough, she gets more heaped on her plate. A scheming entrepreneur Mr. Saubertuck is trying to sabotage her business so he can turn the space into a yoga studio, and a ghost named Wendell starts showing up and treating the place like his very own spa.

After dealing with a few episodes of sabotage and ornery customers, Marjorie figures out what Wendell is and tries to enlist his aid. Unfortunately, he's not the most reliable sort and is also prone to telling lies. Without spoiling too much, she finds a way to prevail, and this book resolves pretty happily. Still, overall, the book is rather bittersweet.

For me, the best aspect here was the character work, which is strong. Marjorie is very put upon, but she is also strong and persistent and you really feel for her and her plight. Wendell is a complex sort of enigma, and Marjorie's dad is a mess who just cannot seem to get it together. But especially I must say that Mr. Saubertuck is the most reprehensible and vile villain I have encountered in a comic in a long time. I found him utterly contemptible in a visceral way, even though he turns out to be rather pathetic. In the end, the characters made Sheets a very moving and memorable read.

This book is the first original graphic novel by Brenna Thummler. She has previously collaborated on an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. She speaks more about making Sheets in this interview. She also elaborates more on it in this article related to its Free Comic Book Day offering.

The reviews I have read of this book have been mostly positive. Publishers Weekly called it "a smart story about friendship and grit." Johanna Draper Carlson found the book uneven and wrote, "Thummler has some areas to work on, but the combination of laundry, sheets, and ghosts is clever." Noah Berlatsky called it "a fairly standard YA coming of age story, which combines realism and fantasy deftly, if somewhat predictably." Zarik Khan described it as "incredibly endearing and heartbreaking." Gwen and Krystal also had a lengthy discussion about it at the Comics Alternative podcast.

Sheets was published by Lion Forge Comics, and they offer a preview and much more here. And, good news, there is a sequel coming out in 2020, called Delicates.

The publisher provided a review copy.