Wrap-Up of the 12th Annual Manga/Graphic Novel Reading Challenge

I signed up to read 12 comics this year but more than met the challenge with 39 books. At one point I thought that I would go for 52 books but gave up on that. 22 of the comics were written by new (to me) authors. Here is what I read:

Parenthesis by Elodie Durand

Irmina by Barbara Yelin

Run by John Lewis

Trauma is Really Strange by Steve Haines

The Grand Odalisque by Ruppert and Mulot

Women Discoverers by Marie Monard

Primer by Jennifer Muro

Freiheit by Andrea Grosso Ciponte

Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto

Reckless by Ed Brubaker

Redfork by Alex Paknadel

The Banks by Roxane Gay

Idle Days by Thomas Delsaulniers

Hawking by Ottaviani and Myrick

Credo by Peter Bagge

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang

Hand Me Down by Alex Paknadel

The Pull by Steve Orlando

Sentient by Jeff Lemire

Sara by Garth Ennis

Double Walker by Michael Conrad

Where We Live by Will Dennis

Red Team by Garth Ennis

Tunnels by Rutu Modan

Sweet Tooth Compendium by Jeff Lemire

Snow Angels by Jeff Lemire

The Waiting by Keum Suk Gentry-Kim

COVID Chronicles by Ethan Sacks

Home by Julio Anta

Fire by Peter Bagge

The Father of All Things by Sebastian Girner

Pound for Pound by Natalie Chaidez

Let's Not Talk Anymore by Weng Pixin

Night Train by Steve Foxe

Rebecca and Lucie by Pascal Girard

Factory Summers by Guy Delisle

Hailstone by Rafael Scavone

The All Nighter by Chip Ddarsky and Jason Loo

Favorite Book:  Tunnels

2nd Favorite Book:  The Waiting 

3rd Favorite Book:  The Grand Odalisque

Least Favorite Book:  Snow Angels

Hailstone

The Hailstone edition I purchased contains issues 1 through 5 of a comic book series. I loved it.  The story follows Sheriff Denton Ross who is investigating the disappearance of a girl in an isolated town in Montana called Hailstone. With few police officers on his staff to help, Denton enlists the assistance of soldiers in the nearby military factory. The factory supplies the Union Army with weapons but after Denton sneaks in to the camp, he thinks something else might be going on there. He is pressured by the townspeople to look into the camp because they don't have much food to eat but the military officers have plenty. Denton's deputy Tobias sneek back in to determine what the factory is actually producing all while searching for the missing girl, Mary, who is the 4th young girl to disappear. I have never liked westerns, but Hailstone is a great read. 

The All Nighter

The All Nighter is a comic book series by Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo. It is the story of four vampires who operate an all night diner. The vampires look like humans but they never age. The third installment of this 5 ebook series will be published next week on November 30, 2021. In February 2022 a print edition of the series will be published that contains numbers 1 through 5 of the series. It is a fabulous story and the author is talking with Amazon Studios to develop The All Nighter into a movie. Per the Head of Content for Comixology, Chip Mosher, the story is about the importance of found family and the dangers of pretending to be someone other than who you are.

Alex, Joy, Cynthia and Ian have agreed to blend into human society by operating the diner. It is only open from sunset to sunrise. The group is not allowed to go out in public because they do not want humans to know that they exist. Alex, however, is bored flipping burgers and is dying to get outside and be himself.  He dreams of being a superhero. Joy is a woman trapped in a child's body who wants to be seen for what she is. Cynthia is a former high powered business executive who wants the respect that the used to command. Ian is the leader of the group and he just wants a simpler life. Their identity remains secret within the restaurant and all of them try to not give in to their thirst for blood. 

The comic is a fun workplace comedy as well as a superhero epic. Two police officers are regular customers and they offer some smiles with their own comedy act. Alex, who loves superhero movies, decides to go outside during his shift, don a cape and start fighting bad guys. Unfortunately, his trip gets noticed by The Takers, an organization that will kill any vampire who becomes noticed by humans. Ian and Cynthia do their best to hide Alex's activities when they are visited by Frankenstein from The Takes. 

A great read!  5 out of 5 stars.

Tunnels

Rutu Modan is one of my favorite comic writers. Tunnels is her 4th graphic novel to be published. She also teaches at Bezalel Academy of Art & Design in Jerusalem.  In Tunnels we read about a race to find the Ark of the Covenant in underground tunnels on the Palestinian side of Israel. When a big antiquities collector is forced to donate his entire collection to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Nili Broshi sees her last chance to finish an archeological expedition begun by her father decades earlier. She believes that the dig will locate the Jewish Ark of the Covenant, the most important artifact in the Middle East. Motivated by a desire to reinstate her father's legacy as a great archeologist after a rival accepted the tenure her father earned, Nili gathers a ragtag crew to help her: a religious nationalist, her traitor brother and her childhood Palestinian friend. As Nili's father slips further and further into dementia, warring factions close in on and fight over the Ark. The author believes that the biblical Israel lies in one of the most disputed regions in the world, occupied by Israel and contested by Palestine.  Often in direct competition, Israelis and Palestinians dig alongside one another, hoping to find the sacred artifact which is believed to be a conduit to God.  

Tunnels is a great adventure story.  It delves into the world of Israeli archeology, the rivalry in academia and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  As the author stated in her Afterword, Tunnels is the most complex story she has ever written. The story grabbed me from the beginning. I knew that it was fiction but everything seemed so real. Perhaps this is because the characters have both good and bad attributes, just like the rest of us. There are plenty of twists and turns in the story for mystery readers as well. In addition, there are a few subplots that add to the story.  For instance, Nili believes that a tablet uncovered by an antiquities dealer, who buys from ISIS, will uncover the place where the Ark is located. Someone has to be able to decipher what the tablet says, though. 

The pacing of the comic is perfect. It is a brilliant story with awesome illustrations by the author.  I am so glad that Ishai Mishory translated this book into English so that I could enjoy it.  Tunnels is a fabulous read.  5 out of 5 stars.