My 2021 Favorites!

I read a lot of graphic novels every year, and I review most of them on this blog. Check out the ones I liked best published in 2021.

Overall Favorite 

 Cyclopedia Exotica

This book is a highly detailed and moving piece of world-building that imagines that cyclops are real and have to deal with many civil/human rights issues in being accepted into society. It's funny, moving, thoughtful, and provocative. Everything I want from a graphic novel!

 

Schweizer-Hale Award for Nonfiction 

American Cult 

I learned so much about this uniquely American phenomenon from this anthology of stories. It's full of hucksters, pseudo-religion, true believers, tragedy, and existentialism. These stories lingered with me for a long time.

 

 

Favorite Adapted Webcomic

Lore Olympus

This gorgeously illustrated book retells the story of Persephone and Hades with a contemporary sensibility. Its characterizations and plotting are exceptional. It's one of my all-time favorite comics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite Adapted Digital Comic

Friday

A book by a couple of my favorite comics creators about a grown-up version of an Encyclopedia Brown/John Bellairs novel? That's pretty much a book made for me. It's a great mystery set in an appropriately creepy and idiosyncratic town with strong characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Favorite Book About Teaching

Are Comic Books Real?

I also read many books about teaching/education, and this one made me feel what it was like to be a public school teacher. It's frustrating, hopeful, keenly observant, and drawn in disparate styles. If you want to know what teaching is like, read this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Favorite Sequel

Delicates

I was skeptical that a book could live up to the quirky and moving Sheets, but this one may actually pass it in terms of strong character work and realistic adolescent situations. It's a great melding of YA and ghost stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite Reissued Book

The Way of the Hive 

Originally published as Clan Apis, this account of the life cycle of a bee is incredibly informative and surprisingly moving. Pretty much a perfect graphic novel, but now in color!

Favorite YA Book

The Fifth Quarter

This book is mostly about youth basketball and one girl's striving to be the best player she can be, which complicates her friendships. It is also a window into a contemporary family and her mother's political aspirations. I loved so much about this book and its characters, and I am eager for the sequel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite Book Featuring A Psychopathic Pair of Underwear

Crash Site

This graphic novel combines manga with European comics conventions, telling an incredible and harrowing survival tale about a couple of drug smugglers (a woman and her dog), a horrific plane crash, and the underpants that wants to kill them both. This book book bends genre conventions and is not for kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it! That's my list. Happy New Year, everyone!

Lore Olympus Volume One

Lore Olympus is a wildly popular webcomic, one of the most viewed ones on the WEBTOON platform. It is a modern retelling of the myth of Persephone and Hades, with the gods and goddesses possessing cell phones and social media while also engaging in all the sorts of soap opera antics associated with classic Greek mythology. It presents realistic situations that are not always pleasant, and it does so in ways that are compelling and compassionate. It is also frequently funny.

Reading this story, I felt that I knew who these characters were, almost immediately, and they act in surprisingly vibrant ways. The twists on classical storytelling are expert and intriguing. All of the various personalities and relationships are cast in a way that heightens the drama and emotion of the goings-on of this book. It is one of my favorite comics of the past decade, and I am glad to see it in a physical format that will gain it new readers.

The narrative kicks off one day at a posh party at Mount Olympus Hades (who does not even want to be there) makes a remark that this new young goddess (Persephone) puts Aphrodite to shame in terms of beauty. That is a big mistake, because the vain, spiteful goddess of love sics her son Eros on poor Persephone, and she ends up with a spiked drink that knocks her out for the evening. Somehow, she ends up under Hades's care and ends up in his kingdom, where she wakes up and endears herself to his many dogs. There is some flirting, but nothing serious happens. What follows, however, is a lot of rumors, gossip, and wondering by various mythological beings.

What makes this book, which is retelling a tale that is thousands of years old and has been retold countless times, so exceptional is how it depicts its characters. The artwork is full of life and personality. Each god/goddess has their own color scheme and unique designs. They pop off the page in an almost alchemical way. They seem very alive and animated. I was curious to see how effects that worked with vertical scrolling webcomics would work in book form, and they translate extremely well. The story does not flow in the same manner, but the glossy pages and layouts make this a very attractive reading experience.

In addition to the artwork, the personalities are all defined in bold, distinct ways in the narrative as well. Persephone herself is young and sheltered, a bit naive but smart. She wants to get out of her mother's broad shadow and make something of herself. She does not want to be a simple conquest for a lecherous elder god. Her life gets further complicated by her relationship with Artemis, her roommate who is the goddess of chastity, among other things, and who is very protective of her.

However, Artemis is too distracted to see her brother Apollo making unwelcome advances towards  Persephone. One night he takes advantage of her, and she feels too ashamed and conflicted to deal with the violence afterward. She questions her role in this event, and she fears what others will think. I feel that an important aspect of this book is its telling this sort of story, which is too painfully common though not often shared.

Lore Olympus is the debut comics work of Rachel Smythe. She has won a Harvey Award for her work on it, and has also been nominated for an Eisner. She speaks about her work on the webcomic and adapting it into a print version in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been glowing. Etelka Lehoczky wrote that "anyone who's drawn into Smythe's world will appreciate its beauty and wit, and few will escape its seductive ambiguity." Publishers Weekly summed it up, "As rich as baklava but snacky as a bag of potato chips, this romance is hard to resist."

Lore Olympus Volume One was published by Del Rey, and they offer more info about it here. The webcomic appears at WEBTOON, and is currently on Episode 184. This book contains episodes 1-25.

Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas

The holidays can be a tough time of year for many people. This is especially true for Friday Fitzhugh, a young woman who comes home to her small New England town after her first semester at college and finds herself embroiled in a mystery. This situation is not novel to her, because she spent most of her childhood traipsing over town with her best friend Lancelot Jones, solving mysteries, foiling villains, and discovering all sorts of magical items. Something menacing and mysterious is lurking in the woods outside of town, driving some townfolk mad. However, something happened just before she left for college that estranged her from Lance, and she does not know quite how (or if) to deal with it. 

Friday is a sort of version of Sally Kimball,  tough and athletic and able to be a body guard for her friend. Also, she is a multi-faceted young woman who is trying to figure out her place in the world, and what a strange world it is. The seaside New England town where this book is set is like a character unto itself, full of interesting characters, adjoining a creepy forest, and a focal point for dark magic. 

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I may just be the perfect demographic for it. It smacks of things I read when I was a kid, like the Encyclopedia Brown series and John Bellairs novels, only with a twist that carries them beyond a children's book perspective. The characters and setting coalesce organically in the tightly plotted narrative, plus the artwork is exceptional. It is full of atmosphere, and I loved poring over pages to admire the archaic architecture, creepy critters, and spot-on character designs. My admiration of the art, along with the need for checking for clues to the mystery, led me to re-read this book a few times for fun. The worst thing I can say about it is that it is a long prologue for the real  narrative, because the last few pages of the book add a twist that I did not see coming. But it's so incredibly intriguing and well crafted  that I really did not care. It's a great piece of genre fiction, and I cannot wait for the next two books to see how things resolve.

Friday is a collaboration between writer Ed Brubaker, artist Marcos Martin, and colorist Muntsa Vicente. Brubaker is a multi-award winning comics creator whose works include Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito, Fatale, The Fade-Out, and Kill or Be Killed. Martin has also won Eisner Awards for his art in the superhero series Daredevil and the webcomic The Private Eye. Vicente has done design and illustration work for a number of high profile clients and more recently has also gotten into coloring comics.

Friday won the 2021 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, and all of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Publishers Weekly wrote that "this atmospheric first installment sets up compelling sequels, with a sucker punch ending that demands follow-up." Luke Chant opined, "Ed Brubaker’s script is excellent, while Marcos Martín and Muntsa Vincente combine to do a great job capturing the 70s feel." Steve Baxi called it "an incredible start to what is sure to be an incredible series."

This trade paperback of Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas was published by Image Comics. All individual and future issues are and will be available from Panel Syndicate.

American Cult

Comics anthologies can be very uneven, but I feel that American Cult is an excellent introduction into the strange, uniquely American blend of religion/fanaticism and capitalism/exploitation that is the cult. This phenomenon is defined in an introduction to the book, and many chapters straddle the line between reporting and commenting on these movements characterized by charismatic leaders and their sometimes insane, yet still convincing (to some) preaching. There are some of the "greatest hits" one who expect of such a book, including a look at the Jonestown Massacre (Ryan Carey and Mike Freiheit) and the Manson Family murders (by Janet Harvey and Jim Rugg).

Some, like Lonnie Mann's "Orthodox Judaism is a Cult" are more potentially controversial in their takes on organized religion, while others Like Ben Passmore's examination of MOVE look at cults as political entities.

Some, like Josh Kramer and Mike Dawson's "Cults Reoriented" revealed strange connections like the one between Sufism Reoriented and the Cheescake Factory. Others are more wrenching and personal, like the particularly memorable entry by J.T. Yost, a look at a refugee from the Westboro Baptist Church.  

That the entries in this book are presented in chronological order invites comparing and contrasting them, and I learned a great deal about these various groups, even ones I thought I was pretty familiar with. This book is ideal for those interested in nonfiction, history, religion, or unique social phenomena. I got a lot from reading it.

American Cult was edited by Robyn Chapman, and she  also contributed an entry about Heaven's Gate. She has been involved in the comics industry in a number of ways, most notably as proprietor of Paper Rocket Minicomics. The book features story and art by creators I am familiar with, such as Box Brown, Mike Dawson, Mike Freiheit, Emi Gennis, and Ben Passmore, while also showcasing a bunch I am just learning about. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from them.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Rob Clough wrote, "Chapman’s decision to sequence the stories in chronological order further cements this impression of history repeating itself. What makes this an interesting book to read is that the contributing artists use widely varying approaches." Publishers Weekly concluded, "Though these comics raise more questions than they answer, they sweep admirably through a little-understood phenomenon." Leonard Pierce called it "a pretty good reflection of its subject matter: never coherent, often shocking, full of little revelations, and liable to pull you in to its strangely riveting view of the world."

American Cult was published by Silver Sprocket, and they offer a preview and more about it here. Although it is about US history, this book features a lot of sex, drugs, and profanity, so it is suggested for more mature readers.

The Fifth Quarter

4th grader Lori Block LOVES basketball, and she is on her school's team, but she is not so good and only gets to play in the "fifth quarter" when things don't count. After getting a small taste of actual gameplay, she wants more and gets the opportunity to take part in some camps where she can learn more skills and practice. She is driven to succeed and relishes her opportunities, even though her desires come at odds with her friendships.

Lori's friends are not into basketball as much a she is, and at recess they rather play unicorns or four-square than shoot baskets, which causes her distress. She is also awkward at times and makes comments that are meant as jokes but get taken as insults, especially to her fellow "double-dribble twin" Sophia. So she has a lot to navigate in terms of her social world.

Adding to this mix is her family, which includes her mom and dad as well as her younger twin siblings, Jason and Becky. They are all depicted in realistic manner, with a plot following her mother's run for local political office (trying to do something to help the kids) against a smug incumbent, and her put-upon father trying to hold down the fort and keep the two little one's faces out of screens as much as possible. One of the aspects of this books I liked the most was how much space and respect was given to her family, who are important players in this story, which I find is not often the case in YA/tween graphic novels.

This book excels at capturing the excitement of the games as well as the variety of social and emotional dynamics. The relationship aspects of this book are complex and compelling, and I love how it captures the messiness/uncertainties of human interactions and growing up. Just check out this sequence from early on in the book:

In terms of artwork, I think that the coloring pops and the facial expressions and gestures are economical and highly expressive. I found the Fifth Quarter to be utterly riveting and read it in one sitting. It's a very human and relatable book that I feel I will revisit multiple times. If there is any justice in the world, it will sell millions of copies.

I am a big fan of this book's author Mike Dawson. He has written and drawn a few graphic novels over the years, including Freddie & Me, Angie Bongiolatti, and Troop 142. He also has done a lot of  graphic nonfiction and essay work, including the collection Rules for Dating My Daughter and plenty of comics for The Nib. He speaks about his work on The Fifth Quarter in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book indicate its high quality. Publishers Weekly wrote that it was full of "sincerity, humor, and strong character development." Kirkus Reviews gave it a thumbs up, concluding, "Nothing but net." Hillary Brown commented about Dawson's art style and storytelling, especially on how refreshing it was to see the adults portrayed as "real humans, dealing with their own shit."

The Fifth Quarter was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more information here. It is also the first of a series, and I am eager to see more of these characters and their lives.

Delicates

Sheets, the book that precedes this sequel, was an unexpected delight for me, a tale about a loner who not learns that ghosts exist but teams up with them in order to deal with some pretty bleak life circumstances, was full of heartfelt characterizations and intense storytelling. It's a beautifully personal book, and I wondered how a sequel to it would work. Turns out, that sequel Delicates is as fantastic as the first book. Marjorie Glatt is still the main character, and her life has taken an upswing, as she is surprisingly now in the "cool kid" clique at school and not the outsider she once was. Still, this position brings with it complications. She does not have so much time to spend with her ghost friend Wendell, who is beginning to feel abandoned. And she has to navigate new social situations and mitigate the bullying done by her frenemy Sasha. 

Most of Sasha's venom is aimed at Eliza Duncan, a young African-American woman who has been held back a year at school. I think the classic way to describe her would be as a young woman who is "not applying herself" to the best of her abilities. Her dad is one of Marjorie's teachers at their school, and even he cannot get his daughter to stop obsessing over photography. Specifically, she wants to capture an image that proves the ghosts exist, and because of her highly visible ambition she is an easy target for ridicule. This bullying weighs heavily and begins to affect her demeanor and will to live.

Ironically, Marjorie of course knows that ghosts exist and could set up a photography session quite easily, but she is reluctant to let anyone know what she knows for a couple reasons. One, she is afraid to be exposed as some sort of "freak" because of her association with the undead. Two, she is unsure of Eliza's intentions and the societal impact of publicly proving an afterlife exists. Still, she can see what Eliza is suffering and she experiences lots of turmoil over deciding what to do.

Worlds are colliding!

By now you have gathered that there is a lot going on in this book in terms of its plot and narrative, but where I think it excels especially is in its characterizations. All of the characters, not just Marjorie and Eliza, but also even ones like Sasha and Wendell are shown to be nuanced, complex beings. They are not always nice or lovable, but they are shown to be quite human (even the ghosts!). The ways that these characters interact with each other is depicted in incredibly artful and lifelike manner, both in terms of the story and the artwork. The muted color scheme in particular helps highlight the emotional and tonal aspects of the narrative. The characters may be fictional creations but they seem very real, and this is as moving a book as I have ever read about friendship.

As a final plus, I think this book stands well on its own. Although I feel it would be more rewarding to read it after Sheets, a new reader would not be lost reading it as it has been written in a way that (re)introduces this world and its characters in very accessible fashion.

In addition to the aforementioned Sheets, this book's creator Brenna Thummler also collaborated on an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. She speaks about her work on Delicates in this interview.

The reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "an original exploration of what it means to be seen and accepted." Lauren from Northern Plunder called it "a very emotional read that I highly recommend." There is also an in-depth discussion of the book (spoilers abound) in this discussion with the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club.

Delicates was published by ONI Press, and they offer more information about it here. It is also available to read right now on Comixology Unlimited.

Are Comic Books Real?

Teaching can be maddening, frustrating, exhausting, rewarding, surprising, and rejuvenating, and Are Comic Books Real? captures those emotions in a visceral way I've not seen another graphic novel do. This series of stories from teaching and glimpses into the lives of elementary school students and their teacher, captures the good days and bad, the days when you question your sanity/life choices, and the times when something happens to make everything seem worthwhile. Some times nothing seems to go right. Others, the students amaze you with their work or crack you up with their observations of the world and/or ways that they interact with each other. There is a certain sense of capriciousness that goes with teaching, and this book depicts that roller-coaster ride with great acuity and empathy.

I loved how it incorporates lots of different sorts of representation, from more traditional ink drawings (both in black and white and in color) to color pencil drawings to single page portraits of students to actual student comic work. I loved seeing how all these various images combined to portray the realities of teaching and learning and how art affects it all. It captures the tenor of the controlled chaos of a classroom as well as the unique politics of students and how their behaviors affect their teachers. Just check out this moment:

I loved this book and found it incredibly moving. It made me laugh and cringe, empathize and recall some of my toughest days, and also called back some of my most memorable students. It made me remember what being a school teacher was like, and I think that it should be read widely by folks who would like to be educators or educators themselves, but perhaps especially by those who purport to know what teaching is like. I think ignorance and abuse of the profession and those who sacrifice much (both financially and mentally) to practice it are some of the biggest issues facing education in our country today. This book entertains and enlightens.

This book's creator Alex Nall is a teacher and an artist. He has published a number of other comics and books, including Lawns, Teaching Comics, and Kids with Guns. He speaks about his comics and teaching in this interview, and there is also more about his work on his (maybe no longer updated?) blog.

Are Comic Books Real? was published by Kilgore Books, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. This book was one published via a Kickstarter campaign this year. I gladly backed it and would hope others might also in their future ones.

Crash Site

I was intrigued when I saw this title solicited, and reading it was a beguiling and bewildering experience. Crash Site is a strange and provocative book that definitely makes an impression. It is ostensibly a survival tale starring three protagonists: Rosie, a young, white, British woman who is vapid and self-centered; her devoted dog Denton, whom she uses as a drug mule, and Pants Dude, the most sinister anthropomorphic pair of underwear ever. 

After plane crash left the trio as the sole survivors stranded in the Amazon, they have to deal with the elements as well as a each other. A self-centered woman, emotionally needy dog, and murderous pair of panties that wants to pocket the entire score for itself make for a whole lot of drama.

This survival plot is intriguing and captured my imagination, but there are many aspects in this book that make for curious juxtapositions. The main narrative is a harrowing tale where one character is literally a cute pair of panties wielding a knife. There is an ongoing exploration of colonialism, from the practice of smuggling drugs to racist stereotypes in video games to the artwork of the book, which borrows heavily from the conventions of horror manga. It is also somewhat cartoonish and kawaii, which belies so many of its situations and commentaries. There are also several scenes that look at the intersections of sexuality and violence, such as when Rosie and her friends practically murder a lifeguard who tells them they cannot sunbathe in the nude and when Denton gets caught masturbating to a magazine called Woke Girls.

This is a book that lets readers have their cake, but the cake is a tough one to swallow, a mixture of disparate and clashing flavors. Instances of fan service are combined with horror imagery. Almost every joke accompanies scenes of violence and murder. Social commentary appears and is overwhelmed by absurdity. I think this is a surprisingly complex book, one I appreciated and enjoyed, though I imagine it is not to everyone's taste. So much about this book made me feel uncomfortable and off-balance, but in such compelling ways.

I could not locate much information about this book's author Nathan Cowdry, but I plan to check out whatever he publishes. He has put out a few other zines and comics, including Shiner and Western Voyeur.

The reviews I have read about this book wrestle with its complexity. Publishers Weekly concluded, "Cowdry’s mix of rock-solid gags, horrifying imagery, and surreal satire makes for an unsettling and indelible experience." Nicholas Burman wrote, "Crash Site is a comic that tickles your ribs and also strikes them a few times with a hot poker." Hillary Brown opined, "I kept teetering between annoyance at Crash Site and liking it, which could be what Cowdry is striving for."

Crash Site was published by Fantagraphics, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. If you have even skimmed this review, you should glean that it is suggested for mature readers.

Cyclopedia Exotica

Cyclopedia Exotica is an amazing graphic novel that explores issues of identity in an intriguing way. The book starts off as a series of encyclopedia entries on cyclopes, their biology, and their history as a race. However, once it touches on the life of Etna, a model who became a sensation when she posed nude for a men's magazine, the book becomes an immersive look into the lives of contemporary cyclopes and all that they entail. After reading this book, I was struck by just how deft it is in creating a parallel world based on a fantastic premise and then immediately normalizing that premise. It makes the cyclopes so human and relatable that they actually seem a real ethnic group, and also acts like an extended metaphor for Orientalism.

What I find most charming and provocative about this book is how subtly it tells a long form narrative through a series of short episodes that read like an amalgamation of gag strips and short stories. Each one is finely crafted, sometimes resulting in a chuckle but more often in a poignant moment or insight into being a frequently fetishized minority. This book operates almost like a pointillist painting, with each tiny detail contributing to an artful, moving portrait of a people.

Ostensibly a book about mythological creatures, it actually has lots of insight into modern humanity and the many choices we face. Over the course of the book, I got to know each character and how they cope with the world. Some, become twin artists who make plenty of conceptual pieces that cast an interesting light on the ways cyclopes are and are not incorporated into human society. Others are trying to make their way in the world with romantic relationships, either with cyclopes or humans. Some of the characters try to do things to "pass," from having elective surgery to become a "two-eye" to wearing special clothing that shapes their bodies to be more ideally human. And one cyclop woman has to make some hard choices between being a parent and re-entering the work force. 

I loved getting to know the world and characters in this book, and the slight consolation I had when it ended were the very informative entries about each character, why they were named as they were, and the author's intentions with their plots and sub-plots. This book is so fully realized and thoughtful, and it calls to mind poet Marianne Moore's line about "imaginary gardens with real toads in them" with how much the artful fiction evokes reality.

Cyclopedia Exotica is the creation of Aminder Dhaliwal, an animator who has worked for a number of major studios. Her debut graphic novel, Woman World was nominated for a 2019 Ignatz Award. She also has published the graphic novella Dead End Jobs for Ghosts. The coloring of this book was done by Nikolas Ilic, a production artist who specializes in character design. Dhaliwal speaks about her work on the book in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book sing its praises. Carmen Maria Machado wrote that "the characters in Dhaliwal’s stories sparkle. They’re tenderly rendered and their problems are real." Oliver Sava was impressed by how she tackled "complicated subject matter with empathy and humor, offering ample social critique while keeping the focus on how these characters connect with each other—and learn how to love themselves." Jeff Provine opined, "The emotional touches with the engaging characters brings the reader along through quick comic stories, always wanting more even after the final page."

Cyclopedia Exotica was published by Drawn & Quarterly, and they offer a preview and much more here.

The Way of the Hive

 

The Way of the Hive was originally published as Clan Apis more than 20 years ago, first as five comic books, then as a collected trade paperback, and it holds up incredibly well. It tells the tale of a young bee Nyuki, who grows from a larva under the tutelage of an older bee named Dvorah. It's a tale full of adventure, humor, and also some sadness, as you can read in my original, glowing review here. 

This updated edition is even better, as it is published in color, and features some touched-up artwork. If you want to learn about bees, including their lifespans, behaviors, or other biological information, this is the book for you. It's engaging, educational, and, best of all, entertaining. I consider it a must-have for a wide age range of readers.

This book's author Jay Hosler is a professor at Juniata College. He's published multiple comics and graphic novels about biology and evolution, including Last of the Sandwalkers, The Sandwalk Adventures, and Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth. He speaks about the reissue of this book in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this edition have sung its praises. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews summed it up in one word, "Sublime." Johanna Draper Carlson called it "timeless."

The Way of the Hive was published by Harper Collins, and they offer more info about it here.