Hell Phone: Book One

Sometimes, I just have to read a good, creepy story, and Hell Phone fits the bill perfectly. It's the story of a couple of hip (my word, not theirs) best friends and next-door-neighbors, Sissy and Lola, who happen upon a stray flip phone. Strangely the outdated phone continues to ring until they answer it, and when they do they get cryptic directives that lead them all over town.

Spoiler: Whoever the guy is, he's not a hermit, and he was not in that house. I won't spoil what was, but it was gross and horrifying. Of course, no one in authority believes Lola or Sissy, so they are left to their own devices in order to get to the bottom of things. 

As a fan of the teens-who-solves mysteries trope, I really like this well done and contemporary take, and a lot hangs on the two main characters. They are fashionable, savvy, sort of sensible, and darkly humorous. They are also graphically depicted in a wide-eyed, colorful manner that pops. They're cool. They know the kind of story that they are in, and they know how to game the rules. The problem is that the mystery starts taking more turns and involving more people they know, so things start to spiral out of control.

Hell Phone was created by Benji Nate, a comics artist and comedian. She has created a number of other graphic novels and comics, including Catboy, Lorna, and Girl Juice.

This book was named one of the 2023 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and all of the reviews I have read have been positive. Alenka Figa commented on the "cute, appealing visuals and humorous dialogue." Arpad Okay gushed that this "book is establishing new territory in comics and crime pulp fiction." Publishers Weekly called it "a quirky and stylish supernatural mystery that still hits her sweet spot of slice-of-life friendship comics."

Hell Phone was published by Silver Sprocket, and they offer a preview and more info here. You can also read the entire story (so far) online and free at Webtoons. I have not seen Book Two solicited yet, and I hope to see it sometime soon.

Catboy

Originally a series of comics published online at Vice, Catboy tells the tale of what happens when a random wish comes true. One day 20-something artist Olive sees a falling star and wishes that her best friend (and cat) Henry could hang out with her as a human. Voila, the next day he is in her apartment in human form, and her life will never be the same.

 

What makes this book work so well is how idiosyncratic and humorous Olive and Henry's relationship is. She has to teach him to try to be as human as possible, though he still lusts after other cats and wants to eat delicacies like dead birds. Some of the jokes come from those situations, but more of them come at Olive's expense, when it becomes clear just how much she is struggling in ways that Henry immediately excels. She tends to have few friends and keeps to herself. Henry immediately makes everyone his friend, including Dixie, whom Olive has been trying to befriend for years. He gets a successful job as a dogwalker and begins to make more money than her, even buying proper furniture for their apartment. She is struggling to be a professional artist, and he walks into his first sketching session and displays virtuoso skills. Still, even with these disparities, there is no mean-spiritedness. Both are true friends, and they always try to uplift each other.

The artwork here is another big sell for this book. As you can see from the excerpt, it incorporates some manga conventions in ways that make each character vibrant. The colors and backgrounds make this a very familiar and inviting world, making it easy to relate to the plights of these young people trying to make their way through life.  Even though the premise is pretty silly, the combination of stylish outfits, expressive artwork, strong relationships, and quirky situations makes for a very satisfying read.

This book was created by Benji Nate, who has another  attractive and unorthodox-looking comic called Lorna available from Silver Sprocket. She talks about her work on Catboy in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Robin Enrico wrote, "While the stories in this collection are short and simple they are constantly funny and frequently resonant." Rob Clough called it a book that embodies "a new kind of punk attitude, one emphasizing sincerity, kindness and openness." It currently has a 4.11 star (out of 5) rating on Goodreads.

Catboy was published by Silver Sprocket Press, and they offer a preview and more here.