Barnstormers

Barnstormers is a 3 part Comixology Original about a pilot named Hawk Baron. Barnstormers is an adventure romance story set in the 1920s when airplanes were just coming on the scene and barnstormers traveled throughout the country giving air shows and rides for a fee. 

Baron is an attractive war hero from WWI who flies his plane in the Southeastern part of the U. S.  After convincing a telephone operator to call ahead to other towns, Baron always finds a crowd waiting for him, which is the only way he can make money. One day, he flies to Barnville and instead of seeing a crowd of townspeople waiting for him, he accidentally crashes into a wedding. The wedding party and guests are angry but the bride-to-be, Claire, uses Baron to flee a marriage that she does not want. Along the way, they have adventures and begin to form bonds of their own. 

This is an entertaining story that I hated to see end. 5 out of 5 stars. 

Hotell

Hotell is a horror story about an off the beaten track hotel. If you drive down Route 66 in the middle of the night and you are desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you will see its battered sign on the side of the road. The Pierrot Courts Hotel is where the tormented made their last stand as well as the demons that haunt them. It's where customers check in but few check out. 

Some of the characters include Jack Lynch, the hotel check-in clerk, who gives his customers more than enough evidence that he is much more than a strange man. The first customer is a pregnant woman named Alice who is running away from a physically abusive boyfriend. Alice is the reason why I found this horror story compelling. As she sleeps in her room, she has nightmares about the boyfriend which is understandable. She also has dreams about her unborn child who comforts her as much as she comforts him. Hearing noises from an adjoining room, Alice knocks on the door and meets a man intent on killing his wife, but she does not know that. Going back to her room Alice tries to convince herself to leave the hotel but she is just too tired and needs another night's sleep. The story then moves on to the tenant next door. Several more storylines concerning other tenants follow and all are gripping.

While I am not a horror or noir fan, Hotell had me captivated. I couldn't put it down and though it is only 96 pages in length, I felt like I had read a full length novel. 5 out of 5 stars.

Acting Class

Acting Class is cartoonist Nick Drnaso's third graphic novel. I had high expectations for the book as his earlier Beverly and Sabrina novels were excellent reads. When I saw the advertisement that said it was a follow-up to Sabrina I thought that it would be a sequel.  It wasn't.

The publisher's summary:

From the acclaimed author of Sabrina, Nick Drnaso’s Acting Classcreates a tapestry of disconnect, distrust, and manipulation. Ten strangers are brought together under the tutelage of John Smith, a mysterious and morally questionable leader. The group of social misfits and restless searchers have one thing in common: they are out of step with their surroundings and desperate for change.

A husband and wife, four years into their marriage and simmering in boredom. A single mother, her young son showing disturbing signs of mental instability. A peculiar woman with few if any friends and only her menial job keeping her grounded. A figure model, comfortable in his body and ready for a creative challenge. A worried grandmother and her adult granddaughter; a hulking laborer and gym nut; a physical therapist; an ex-con.

With thrumming unease, the class sinks deeper into their lessons as the process demands increasing devotion. When the line between real life and imagination begins to blur, the group’s deepest fears and desires are laid bare. Exploring the tension between who we are and how we present, Drnaso cracks open his characters’ masks and takes us through an unsettling American journey.

I was disappointed with the novel. It is not a straight fiction story like Sabrina and I was bored throughout the entire book. Also, it was hard to tell the characters apart because their faces sometimes looked similar. A female character looked like a male character at one point so when they began an improv exercise, it was difficult to tell who was working on their acting skills. The improv exercises were geared toward easing each character's shortcomings so when a few succumbed to fugue states, I was very confused. At the end I did not see any strings being tied up so what was the point of the book?

2 out of 5 stars.

Ballad for Sophie

Ballad for Sophie is a cute graphic novel about a fictional French pianist Julian DuBois. Born in the late 1920s Julian, the heir of a wealthy family, meets Francois Samson, a janitor's son, at a piano contest in Cressy-la-Valoise. Julian wins because his mother bribed the judges but Julian knows that Francois was a better player. It bothers him his whole life. Julian has phenomenal success and is adored in France, selling many records and playing to sold out crowds. He even meets Francois' wife and has an intimate affair with her. The plot then moves to 1997 with an old and bitter Julian meeting a journalist from Le Monde named Adeline Jourdain who wants to interview him. She arrives at his home, a huge mansion that he inherited from his mother, and prods him to talk about his life.  He begins to tell his story but when she reveals that she is Francois' daughter, Julian composes his first score, a ballad for her.

I enjoyed the book but it was a little boring in the middle. It was a beautiful story, though, and quickly picked up when Julian began to understand his accomplishments, failures and how to behave as a good person. The characters were fully developed which gave the story depth. It was a fun read that transported me to France in my comfy chair and I highly recommend for anyone who wants to relax for a while and forget the present.

4 out of 5 stars.

I'm Still Alive

I'm Still Alive is a graphic memoir of author Roberto Saviano's life in police protective custody after writing an expose of the mafia in his native country Italy. Saviano grew up in Casal di Principe where the Camorra clans dominate society. Trained as a journalist, Saviano decided to expose the clans by writing a fiction book that was 100% based on fact.  The clans didn't take it well. His life was threatened on many occasions but ultimately he would have become more powerful if he was dead. His life, on the other hand, was stunted. He was unable to do ordinary chores for himself, such as grocery shopping, and longed for the freedom to be able to do simple things for himself. Eventually, Saviano had to leave Italy for his safety. His life, however, was not any different. He was still in protective custody as he has been since 2006.

While this comic has a serious topic, it is a fast read. I was hooked from the first page and read it in one sitting. At 130 pages that doesn't sound like much a feat, but some graphic memoirs I have read were so dull that reading them was a chore.  The illustrations by Asaf Hanuka helped to tell the story. Hanuka basically used black and white drawings with limited muted colors on each page. The comic strip panels gave the book a lighter feel.

I'm Still Alive is a fantastic comic on the realities of organized crime.  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars. 

Invisible Wounds

 Invisible Wounds is Jess Ruliffson's debut graphic novel. For five years she traveled from coast to coast interviewing veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Inside the book are comic strips of twelve veterans detailing their experiences with war. They all had different ranks and job assignments but all suffered in the same way from being involved in a war. 

The veterans are from different backgrounds. One is transgender and another was the only African American in his regiment. They are from different parts of the U. S., from New York City to New Orleans and Vermont. The one problem that they all had in common was trauma from having served. All of them had issues to deal with upon returning home.

The book reads fast. Since mental health issues are a big part of the veterans' homecoming, I wonder whether reading a graphic novel on war would be helpful for them when dealing with their emotions.

5 out of 5 stars.

Alice Guy: First Lady of Film

 Alice Guy is a real life person from the 19th century.  She was one of the pioneers in  filmmaking. Guy was also one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, she was probably the only female filmmaker in the world. This graphic biography covers her life from childhood to her death in 1969.

The publisher's summary:

In 1895 the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph. Less than a year later, 23-year-old Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker in cinema history, made The Cabbage Fairy, a 60-second movie, for Léon Gaumont, and would go on to direct more than 300 films before 1922. Her life is a shadow history of early cinema, the chronicle of an art form coming into its own. A free and independent woman who rubbed shoulders with masters such as Georges Méliès and the Lumières, she was the first to define the professions of screenwriter and producer. She directed the first feminist satire, then the first sword-and-sandal epic, before crossing the Atlantic in 1907 to the United States and becoming the first woman to found her own production company. Guy died in 1969, excluded from the annals of film history. In 2011 Martin Scorsese honored this cinematic visionary, “forgotten by the industry she had helped create,” describing her as “a filmmaker of rare sensitivity, with a remarkable poetic eye and an extraordinary feel for locations.” The same can be said of Catel and Bocquet’s luminous account of her life.

This book is over 400 pages. The first and last 100 pages were engaging but I got a little bored in the middle. I must say, though, that the history of movie making is covered in detail. Readers more interested in movies than I will love this novel. Readers will see the progression of filmmaking here. When Guy and other filmmakers began, they made one reel films. Then 5 and 6 reel films became popular, but filmmakers didn't make much money from them, forcing many out of the industry. 

Guy created many firsts in cinema, defining the professions of screenwriter, director and producer.  Another first was her film A Fool and His Money which had an all African American cast. Guy died in 1969 and has been excluded from film history until recently. There are full biographies of her that have been written. It was interesting that she began her career as a secretary to a photographer who worked in chronophotography. Chronophotography is photographs affixed to a round disc. As viewers rotated the photographs movement was created. Then the cinematograph was invented and the rest of history. 

At the back of the book is an extensive section that includes a timeline of pivotal events in the invention of cinema, biographical notes of other filmmakers, and Guy's filmography bibliography. It is a great resource for those interested in movie history.

5 out of 5 stars.

It Won't Always Be Like This

It Won't Always Be Like This is Malaka Gharib's second graphic memoir. The book follows last year's I Was Their American Dream. The storyline covers the author's relationship with her stepmother, which is mentioned in American Dream. 

The publisher's summary:

It’s hard enough to figure out boys, beauty, and being cool when you’re young, but even harder when you’re in a country where you don’t understand the language, culture, or social norms.
 
Nine-year-old Malaka Gharib arrives in Egypt for her annual summer vacation abroad and assumes it'll be just like every other vacation she's spent at her dad's place in Cairo. But her father shares news that changes everything: He has remarried. Over the next fifteen years, as she visits her father's growing family summer after summer, Malaka must reevaluate her place in his life. All that on top of maintaining her coolness!

Malaka doesn't feel like she fits in when she visits her dad--she sticks out in Egypt and doesn't look anything like her fair-haired half siblings. But she adapts. She learns that Nirvana isn't as cool as Nancy Ajram, that there's nothing better than a Fanta and a melon-mint hookah, and that her new stepmother, Hala, isn't so different from Malaka herself.

I enjoyed this coming of age story. It is a realistic portrayal of a child who grows up with divorced parents who are from different cultures. Malaka's mother is Filipino while her father is Egyptian. Her parents met while in the U. S. but when they divorced, Malaka's father moved back to Egypt. Malaka dresses like an American youth, which shocks her father's Egyptian neighbors. The Islamic faith is a big part of the story as Malaka's father and her new stepmother are Muslim. The story solely takes place in Egypt over several summers which Malaka always spent with her father. As she got older, Malaka's dress became an issue. She was expected by both her father and the Egyptians to dress modestly as she she came of age. On one occasion Malaka was groped by a group of boys because they thought she would be easy, given her dress style.

Gharib is a natural storyteller. It seemed like she was speaking to me face to face about her summers in Egypt. She knew what angles of her story would keep me reading and exactly how to write it out. Because the storyline actually happened to her, the writing flowed naturally.

A fantastic read!  5 out of 5 stars.

Measuring Up

 Measuring Up is a YA graphic novel for ages 9 to 12. The plot concerns a young girl who moves from her native Taiwan to Seattle with her parents when she is 12 years old. Cici misses her grandmother back in Taiwan and comes up with a plan to raise the money the family needs to bring her over for a visit. Cici decides to enter a cooking contest that is similar to the Great British Bakeoff where 12 contestants cook each weekend. One contestant is eliminated each week. The only requirement for the contest is to use whatever ingredient is demanded for that particular week. Cici only knows how to cook Chinese food so her challenge was to learn to make American food.

Measuring Up is about much more than the contest. We read how difficult it was for Cici to assimilate into American culture. Her mother filled her lunchbox with Taiwanese food which disgusted her classmates. Finding friends was a challenge because she was culturally Chinese and had to learn how to act like an American. 

Fans of Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese will love Measuring Up. 5 out of 5 stars 

Ducks

Ducks is a graphic memoir by Kate Beaton. Inside the pages of this hardcover book we read about the two years of her life spent working in Canada's oilfields. When Kate graduated from college, she had a hefty student loan to repay. Knowing that she would never make enough money from working in her chosen field to pay it off, Kate took a job in Alberta's oil sands where she worked as a laborer and then in the crib shop where she handed out tools to workers. She took a few months off after the first year and paid off half her student loans. Kate then worked in a museum but couldn't make her minimum loan payments on that salary. She returned to the oil sands for another year. Her student loans were then paid off and she decided to work as a cartoonist. The rest, they say, is history.

I was impressed with her concern for paying off her student loan debt. Kate delayed beginning her career until the debt was paid. Many residents of the Cape Breton island that she grew up on traveled to the oil sands so they could support their families. I was astonished by the amount of sexual harassment that she had to endure while working there. It doesn't say much for Canadian men and I am surprised by the conduct because I have always heard that Canadians were more group oriented than individualistic. So why the Ducks title? During her second year hundreds of ducks died from getting caught in the sands. This received alot of media attention at the time.

The story itself is well written with an obvious beginning, middle and end. There were twists and turns during her employment which gave it a mystery flare. The drawings were done in black and white in comic book strip format. At over 400 pages it is a hefty book but is also a fast read. I am looking forward to reading more from this young cartoonist.

5 out of 5 stars.

Palimpsest

I have been thinking for awhile about reading this graphic memoir about a woman who was adopted from her native country Korea to her adoptive parents in Sweden.  I finally picked up the comic and it was fantastic.

The publisher's summary:

Thousands of South Korean children were adopted around the world in the 1970s and 1980s. More than nine thousand found their new home in Sweden, including the cartoonist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom, who was adopted when she was two years old. Throughout her childhood she struggled to fit into the homogenous Swedish culture and was continually told to suppress the innate desire to know her origins. “Be thankful,” she was told; surely her life in Sweden was better than it would have been in Korea. Like many adoptees, Sjöblom learned to bury the feeling of abandonment.

In Palimpsest, an emotionally charged memoir, Sjöblom’s unaddressed feelings about her adoption come to a head when she is pregnant with her first child. When she discovers a document containing the names of her biological parents, she realizes her own history may not match up with the story she’s been told her whole life: that she was an orphan without a background. 

As Sjöblom digs deeper into her own backstory, returning to Korea and the orphanage, she finds that the truth is much more complicated than the story she was told and struggled to believe. The sacred image of adoption as a humanitarian act that gives parents to orphans begins to unravel.

Sjöblom’s beautiful autumnal tones and clear-line style belie the complicated nature of this graphic memoir’s vital central question: Who owns the story of an adoption?

Alot of the dialogue is actually exposition with the illustrations showing the emotions of the characters. The color scheme was basically light brown with other cool toned colors. It looked depressing to me but this story is about the depression that the author felt.  In fact, she tried to kill herself. The documents that she and her husband sent to Korean adoption agencies are illustrated in full as well as the responses that they received. While the story informs us about the unique Korean adoption process, there are general roadblocks written in to the story that all adoptees face. It was heartbreaking when a letter came in the mail with less information than was expected. It is also easy for the reader to see all of the steps an adoptee has to take in order to discover their biological background. 

All in all, a great memoir.  5 out of 5 stars.

Welcome to St. Hell

Welcome to St. Hell is a groundbreaking memoir about being a trans teen. Lois/Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this... but she's refusing to listen.

In Welcome to St. Hell, author-illustrator Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be. 

When I began reading I wondered whether the comic would be preachy. It isn't. The author kept his hometown anonymous by calling is St. Hell in the comic and the high school he attended was called St. Hell High School. I felt so bad for him when he was taunted by his classmates. Young kids can be way too critical. However, he did find friends that accepted him and some of them came out publicly with different sexual orientations after high school. 

The artwork created the humor in the novel. We see Lois/Lewis trying several actions to hide her feminine body shape. He works out in order to get rid of his curves and diets heavily that he has to be treated for anorexia. He finally admits to his mother that he is trying to get rid of his feminine shape because he feels like a boy. The author is lucky that his mother accepted him when he came out and, in fact, encouraged some of his behaviors because, inside, she knew that he was different.

I don't know that I would have purchased this book if I didn't have a trans friend. We have had many great conversations about life in general and I see and accept her as a normal person. Without knowing her, I probably would have had a hands off approach to anyone talking about being trans. It is too different from my life. While it is risky for a trans person to come out publicly, it was helpful for me to know someone who experienced this. 

This is a thoughtful memoir that taught me alot about the struggle of trans people.  5 out of 5 stars.

After Lambana

After Lambana: Myth and Magic in Manila is a fantasy graphic novel that explores the world of Filipino myths.  It was published on June 7, 2022 by Tuttle Publishing. The author, Eliza Victoria, is an award winning writer in the Philippines and has published general fiction, science fiction, short stories and poetry. 

The publisher's summary:

Lambana--the realm of supernatural fairies known as Diwata--has fallen, and the Magic Prohibition Act has been enacted. To add to his troubles, there's something wrong with Conrad's heart and only magic can prolong his life. He teams up with Ignacio, a well-connected friend who promises to hook him up with the Diwata and their magical treatments--a quest that's not only risky but highly illegal!

On the shadowy, noir-tinged streets of Manila, multiple realities co-exist and intertwine as the two friends seek a cure for the magical malady. Slinky sirens and roaming wraith-like spirits populate a parallel world ruled by corruption and greed, which Conrad must enter to find the cure he seeks. He has little idea of the creatures he will encounter and the truths to be revealed along the way. Will Lambana spill its secrets and provide the healing balm Conrad needs? Or will he perish in the process?

I didn't enjoy this story much. While beautifully illustrated with bright colors, the story itself lacked suspense. The characters were not fleshed out at all. I did not either like them or dislike them. It was difficult to figure out what was going on and while I was reading I wondered why  I should even care about continuing it. I am not attracted to mythological stories and am completely ignorant regarding Filipino mythology so perhaps this was my problem. Still, myth stories need strong characters and plot to keep a reader interested.

No rating.

World Record Holders

I had high hopes for this long anticipated graphic novel. However, it did not interest me. The comic was written by one of my favorite cartoonist's, Guy Delisle. The comic showcases a collection of his work from the beginning of his career to the present. There are 12 stories contained within the book that range from wistful childhood nostalgia to chagrined post-fame encounters. In one story we see Delisle visiting an exhibition of his work in another country and being confronted by an angry spouse who blames him for destroying her marriage. A juvenile game of Bows and Arrows turns menacing as arrows shot straight up in the air turn into barely visible missiles of death. A coded message from space creates different reactions from different people―debates, dance festivals, gallery shows. 

DeLisle's artistic style is not one that I particularly care for, but it worked well in his prior comics. However, with the stories in World Record Holders not making much sense, the illustration style becomes even more important. DeLisle has written several travelogues and autobiograhies that were fantastic so I am very disappointed with this graphic novel. In fact, I cannot even give it a rating. Only the most devoted DeLisle fans are going to want to read this book.

Moms

I have been thinking about reading this graphic novel ever since it was published in English two years ago. I finally took the plunge and took it out of my public library. Moms is a humorous look at the way middle aged women think. Taking place in South Korea, there are three main characters. Lee Soyeon, Myeong-ok, and Yeonjeong are mothers in their mid-fifties. They’ve had it with their dead-weight partners and the grind of the menial jobs they have. Their overbearing bosses control everything, down to how much water they can drink while they are working. Lee Soyeon divorced her husband years ago after his gambling debts forced them to file bankruptcy. She finds herself in another decade-long relationship with Jongseok, a waiter at a nightclub whom she has grown tired of. Myeong-ok is having an illicit affair with a younger man, and Yeonjeong, whose husband suffers from erectile dysfunction, has her eye on an acquaintance from the gym. All three of these ladies have become bored with conventional romantic dalliances and are embracing outrageous sexual adventures in nightclubs, motels, and even the occasional back-alley. I think they are giving twentysomething women a run for their money. 

It is refreshing to read a book about the emotional and sexual needs of middle aged women. This is not something you find very often. The author, Yeong-shin Ma based the story on his divorced 50 year old mother. He asked his mother keep a journal where she would write about her dating experiences. He also asked her to write about her girlfriends, who were also on the dating scene. What Ma discovered was that older women do not put aside their desires just because they are no longer young. I wonder if he was shocked to find this out. I am betting that he was.

Moms is an amusing story that women will be able to relate to.  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Days of Sand

Aimee de Jongh's Days of Sand was initially published in France by Dargaud Benelux in 2021. It was published in English on April 19, 2022. The story takes place in the Dust Bowl area of the United States in 1937. It's interesting to me that this Dutch author chose to write a comic based on the dust bowl history. She has been publishing comics for 18 years.

The publisher's summary:

In the middle of the Great Depression, 22-year-old photographer John Clark is brought in by the Farm Security Administration to document the calamitous conditions of the Dust Bowl in the central and southern states, in order to bring the farmers’ plight to the public eye. When he starts working through his shooting script, however, he finds his subjects to be unreceptive. What good are a couple of photos against relentless and deadly dust storms? The more he shoots, the more John discovers the awful extent of their struggles, and comes to question his own role and responsibilities in this tragedy sweeping through the center of the country.

 

I am impressed with the thoroughness of de Jongh's research. As a history buff, I am well acquainted with the dust bowl era and believe that the author exhibited her knowledge of the subject in her story. The story itself was  well told. The characters were convincing. Using a professional photographer to tell the stories of those who lived in the affected states was brilliant. John Clark, the photographer, is the most fleshed out character as he is involved in the story from its beginning to the end. He meets a wide variety of people in his quest to complete a to-do list of photos that his boss wants. The artwork is appropriate for the story. The pages are colored in shades of browns and dull reds to match the dusty landscape of the dust bowl region. 

The writing in Days of Sand is commendable. I recommend this comic not to just history buffs but young students as well. The comic format is perfect for young readers to learn about this part of history.

5 out of 5 stars.

Georgia O'Keefe

Maria Herreros wrote this graphic  biography of Georgia O'Keefe in 2021. Herreros was born in my favorite international city, Valencia, Spain, but now lives in Madrid. Her book was translated into English in 2022 by Lawrence Schimel. Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is considered one of the greatest representatives of North American art of the 20th century. A pioneer of abstraction, famous for her paintings of giant flowers, New York skyscrapers, and landscapes of remote New Mexico, she was hailed as the "mother of modern American art." Beyond the artist, María Herreros investigates the deep being of O'Keeffe: a tireless traveler, a lover of nature, a strong and emancipated woman who built her own image and carved her own path.

I expected that the biography would cover the artist's entire life. It doesn't. What is covered in the book is her life as a working artist which began alongside her meeting with photographer Alfred Stieglitz. They soon begin a long distance love affair that lasted a  lifetime even though is was, for the most part, by correspondence. Herreros reviewed letters that O'Keefe wrote to her friend Anita Pollitzer. From the letters we discover that O'Keefe always had a fear of what others thought of her. I was surprised by this given the success she had during her career. However, every one of us has an issue or two. It would have been nice to read about her childhood including what made her want to paint and what training she received. This part of her life is not covered in the biography and I feel that this was a squandered opportunity by the author in finding out what made O'Keefe tick.

3 out of 5 stars.

A Visit to Moscow

A Visit to Moscow is a graphic memoir of Rabbi Rafael Grossman's trip to the Soviet Union in 1965.  He went there with a group of American rabbis from the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Grossman led a congregation in Long Branch, NJ and was chosen for the trip because of his Eastern European ancestry. 

The story itself is quite short, 63 pages. 12 more pages follow with explanations about the trip, a saga about Soviet Jews, a Note from the author and the Illustrator's Sketchbook. This is not a memoir with alot of action. Grossman probably spent less than an hour with the Jewish man he wanted to see. Meyer Gurwitz was the brother of one of Grossman's acquaintances, Meyer's sister Bela.  She had not heard from her brother in over ten years and was worried about him. After feigning a headache at the Moscow hotel where Grossman was staying, he got in a taxi and traveled to Meyer's home. There Grossman found out that Meyer had a ten year old son who had never left the one room home he had been born in. Meyer explained that if he let his son outside that the KGB would force him into a Soviet school where he would lose his Jewish heritage or worse, be killed.

While the story was interesting, it could hardly be described as scintillating reading. I enjoyed the artwork by Yevgenia Nayberg. Nayberg watched Soviet noir films and reviewed photos from the 1960s to obtain a visual direction. She used subdued blue, green and yellow colors in the drawings. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazona

Amazona was published on May 3, 2022. It is a graphic novel by Canizales that concerns an indigenous group in Colombia. Andrea, a young Indigenous Colombian woman, has returned to the land she calls home. Only nineteen years old, she comes to mourn her lost child, carrying a box in her arms. She also comes with another mission. Andrea has hidden a camera upon herself. If she can capture evidence of the illegal mining that displaced her family, it will mark the first step toward legally reclaiming their land. 

Amazona is advertised as a socially conscious thriller from graphic novelist Canizales. I wouldn't call it a thriller but it was definately written to get the attention of readers who like socially conscious books. I thought it was a little dull, though. It could have been written as a reportage comic, a la Joe Sacco, but it was written as fiction. 

The story shows the indigenous people being taken away from their beautiful rainforest to live in tiny apartments. Andrea's family of 38 people all lived in a one room 600 square foot apartment. The illustrations were done expertly here.  We see the apartment in the eyes of an Ikea decorated home. Where you would see an Ikea lamp are 5 people on the floor. In an other part of the home where you might see an Ikea rug, are 8 people lying on the floor. This analogy to Ikea was fantastic. It helped me to see what the real situation was for these indigenous folks. The pages were colored in either reds or graphic pencil. The pages showing Andrea in the rainforest are done in shades of red. The pages showing her in her apartment are done in shades of black. The purpose for the coloring is obvious.

Illustrations aside, the story was not very suspenseful and is definitely not a thriller.  I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Always Never

 Always Never is the story of two old friends who spent one night together 40 years ago. The story is told in reverse order with the first pages devoted to their reunion. Each chapter a prequel until the final chapter which shows them meeting for the first time. The book consists of one volume. It was originally published in France in 2020 but was published in English in May 2021.

The story begins with Ana and Zeno finally retiring and giving their romance a chance to bloom while they both still have time left. Each chapter steps further back and shows the two lovers touch and go courting through phone calls and letters. Ana didn't wait long after Zeno left to find herself a husband. Zeno was a drifter who spent time on boats while he worked on his dissertation.  He left behind a family owned bookshop that Ana wanted to destroy for a public works project. It took Zeno 40 years to complete the dissertation and as soon as he finished it he looked up Ana. Ana had just retired as the mayor of an Italian city that is remarkably similar to Venice. 

The artwork consists of line drawings with bright color schemes. The drawings have a French flair even though the story takes place in Italy. The color scheme changed according the location that scenes were happening in. Pages depicting sunny days are colored in orange, a greenhouse location is colored in green and night time and rainy scenes are done in blues and purples.

Always Never is a fun senior romance. Highly recommended.

Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body

Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body is a 5 part online comic published by BOOM! Studios in November 2021. It is a crime thriller set in Texas where President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. The Kennedy assassination has spawned many conspiracy theories: mafia involvement, the second gunman, government cover-up… but the most important chapter of this sordid tale may just be the theory that the body buried at Oswald’s Rose Hill gravesite is not actually Lee Harvey himself. Meet the ragtag group of “useful idiots” – a wannabe cowboy from Wisconsin, a Buddy Holly-idolizing (former) car thief, a world-weary civil rights activist ready for revolution, and a failed G-Man who still acts the part – who are unwittingly brought together to clean up the crime of the century, and specifically deal with the matter of Oswald’s body.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this story. I know most of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination but never heard of the one about Oswald not being buried in his grave at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, TX. I searched Wikipedia regarding this conspiracy to see what information was out there about Oswald's body being stolen. I found that his body was exhumed 18 years after his death as there were questions whether a Soviet spy, who was an Oswald lookalike, was buried there instead. The body in the grave was Oswald though. The characters in the story indirectly show that they killed Kennedy and used Oswald as the fall guy.  Jack Ruby, who is the person who shot Oswald, was not mentioned in the comic. I thought that was strange. The premise for the story was good. However, the author played too much with the facts and we don't need any additional false theories about Kennedy assassination out there. 

A paperback copy of the series will be published on August 30, 2022 by BOOM! Studios. I don't think that I will be buying it for my print collection. 3 out of 5 stars. 

Vann Nath: Painting the Khmer Rouge

 

This is a graphic biography of Vann Nath, a Cambodian painter. Nath used his art to fight against the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge. In 1978, the young painter was arrested by the Khmer Rouge, the violent and totalitarian Communist Party of Kampuchea that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Imprisoned in the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, better known as S-21, painting became synonymous with survival for him. Ordered, like many Cambodian artists and craftsmen, to put his talent to use to glorify his captors, upon his release he continued painting, this time, to remember and pay tribute to the victims of Pol Pot's regime.  The only reason that he survived is because the man running the prison needed someone to paint of portrait of their supreme leader, Pol Pot. Nath became the most celebrated survivor of the prison. He died in 2011.

I learned much from this book. I knew that the Khmer Rouge were brutal but had never read about any specifics from their reign of terror. Vann Nath's graphic depictions of the torture he experienced in S21, which he painted after his release, brought it to life. The story is unsavory but sometimes the truth is brutal. At the back of the book are copies of the paintings Nath painted for the regime during his incarceration. I like his style and wonder what subjects he would have painted if his life had not been so difficult. 

If you love history, you should read this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

In the Flood

Trapped and separated by an apocalyptic rainfall, Mike and Clara, devoted husband and wife, have sworn to find their way back to one another.  Rising waters are threatening the dream home that Mike built but they quickly discover that the rain, and their predicament, is not what it seems. Clara was/is a singer who does magic tricks with cards. Her singing and tricks are half of the story. The main thrust of the story is whether they can they figure out the grand trick that's being played on them and overcome it to reunite.  In the Flood is a surrealistic comic by Ray Fawkes. Comixology has collected all of the installments of the series into one volume which they published in March 2022. I obtained a digital copy of the book from them.

I have no idea what this story is about. There didn't seem to be any purpose for the storyline, if there is one.  While I was reading, I thought that I would figure out the plot toward the end of the book. I didn't. The art was done in manga style and I liked the color scheme of bright pink and blue.  The scenes with Clara were pink and those with Mike were blue. Other than that, I cannot comment any further on the book.  No rating.

Chef's Kiss

Chef's Kiss is a coming-of-age graphic novel about a college graduate who majored in English. Ben Cook could not find a job in his chosen field. He applied for jobs as a copyrighter, journalist and proofreader but because he had no job experience, no one would hire him. One day he passes by a restaurant and sees a help wanted sign. Ben decides to apply. After all, he is a gourmet cook at home. However, the restaurant owner requires a series of tests before hiring Ben permanently. With sous chef Liam's help, Ben begins his culinary journey.

Right off the bat I could tell the dialogue between the characters was true to life. It's what you would look for in a novel and it helped to depict the characters and their relationships. There was alot of small talk between them but it was relevant to character development. I got to know each character by the way they spoke, the words they used. There was no exposition. The back story of the expectation of Ben's parents for him was all told in dialogue. 

Chef's Kiss is filled with humor. The taste tester at the restaurant is the owner's pet pig. The back story on how Chef Davis met the pig was fantastical but made me laugh. Ben's crush on Liam is a major component of the story so if you don't like queer YA stories, you will want to skip this one.

5 out of 5 stars.

Cold Iron #1

Cold Iron is a 5 part comic by Andy Diggle. While the copyright is from 2020, Issue 1 was just released as a Comixology Original in May. Next week Issue 2 will be released. Cold Iron is a supernatural thriller that takes place on the Isle of Man. Steeped in Celtic myth, Viking history and Faerie folklore, the island is nestled in the Irish Sea midway between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, to aspiring singer-songwriter Kay Farragher, it feels a million miles from anywhere. She dreams of escaping the humdrum life of a sleepy backwater, and gives no credence to her grandmother’s old folktales and odd superstitions. But when she saves Mona, a traumatized girl lost in the night of Hop-tu-Naa, Kay quickly realizes this is no mere Halloween prank gone wrong. In the mossy glens and rainswept valleys of the island, the shadows of a forgotten past are gathering once more. There is another world, an older world, close by our own but out of reach. On this night the walls grow thin, and someone, or something,  has clawed its way through and it is here to hunt.

The story has a lovely British flavor with slang terms and a British accent here and there in the dialogue. The setting is dominate in this installment of the series.  We see neolithic burial sites, Celtic stone circles and Viking castles. The use of Celtic folklore creates a specific mood for the island and sets up the plot. All of the characters were introduced and they are fully developed in the comic's short 27 pages.  The author did a great job of setting up the story that will follow. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Red Tag

I have read Issues 1 through 3 of Rafael Scavone's Red Tag comic. He co-wrote the comic with Rafael Albuquerque and Roger Cruz. Issue 4 will be  released tomorrow and issue 5, the final issue for Season One, will be released next month. It was a captivating story about three friends searching for justice on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lis, Lu and Leco are street artists and they bonded over their love for Brazil's unique street art called "pixo" which is a Sao Paulo fixture. After discovering that dangerous people, holdovers from Brazil's brutal dictatorial past, are plotting against the reform movement in Sao Paulo, the three of them gain the attention of these people and their lives become endangered. Afraid that one of the reformer's life is in danger, overnight they spray paint warnings to him in pixo on Sao Paulo's buildings. 

This is a fast paced thriller with appealing characters.  I especially loved the villain - Noronha.  He is a military policeman who works undercover and earns money by extortion. The drawings of his facial expressions were amusing. The plot itself could take place anywhere on the planet, not just in Brazil. Youths from many countries are protesting against corruption wherever they see it. In this respect, the story is timely.

I loved this comic and plan on reading the 2 future installments of the series.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Panic #1: Coffin

Issue #1 of The Panic was recently published. It's a 5 part comic that is one of Comixology's Originals. Release #2 comes out next week and in early November a paperback version containing all 5 issues will be published.

The Panic opens with Annie Delgado on a train for her commute into New York City. The train suddenly derails and Annie's best friend dies. The train car that she is trapped on is beneath the Hudson River and neither she nor her ten other fellow commuters can get  their cell phones to work. The group decides to help each other in order to survive the night. They begin to make plans on how to climb out of the train to safety but they each have cultural, racial and political biases that get in the way of communicating. They soon realize that one of their fellow commuters was not on the train before the crash and all are suspicious of him. 

The comic is advertised as a horror story but I felt is was more a suspense thriller.  I did not see any horror aspects in issue 1. Perhaps it is coming. The artwork was interesting. Most of the pages are colored in blue and the varying funky hairstyles of the characters helps the reader figure out who is who. The publisher stated in their summary that the theme of the comic is loss of security and control of your surroundings. I did not analyze the story as such but enjoyed it immensely.

5 out  of 5 stars.  

Policing the City

Policing the City is an ethnographic written by Didier Fassin. Originally published in French in 2020, it has now been translated into English. The novel is dedicated "to all those who undergo daily the harassment, the humiliations, the baiting, and sometimes the violence and racism of the police, and who are finally succeeding in making their voices heard." 

The publisher's summary:

Adapted from the landmark essay Enforcing Order, this striking graphic novel offers an accessible inside look at policing and how it leads to discrimination and violence. What we know about the forces of law and order often comes from tragic episodes that make the headlines, or from sensationalized versions for film and television. These gripping accounts obscure two crucial aspects of police work: the tedium of everyday patrols under constant pressure to meet quotas, and the banality of racial discrimination and ordinary violence. Around the time of the 2005 French riots, anthropologist and sociologist Didier Fassin spent fifteen months observing up close the daily life of an anticrime squad in one of the largest precincts in the Paris region. His unprecedented study, which sparked intense discussion about policing in the largely working-class, immigrant suburbs, remains acutely relevant in light of all-too-common incidents of police brutality against minorities. This new, powerfully illustrated adaptation clearly presents the insights of Fassin’s investigation, and draws connections to the challenges we face today in the United States as in France.

While described as a graphic novel, it is not a novel but rather a graphic memoir. Everything in the book actually happened. I dispute some of the author's conclusions, such as that French police officers copied bullying tactics from American law enforcement.  I also do not believe that the anti-crime efforts of the French police are as black and white as they author shows us. Fassin says that almost all of the police rely on their political beliefs when dealing with so-called crime. He also says that the victims of police brutality are 100% innocent. Nothing is really this black and white and I think that Fassin has done a disservice to the problem of police brutality. I believe that he has a prejudice against the police because, as he stated early in the book, his own son had a run-in with the law.

3 out of 5 stars.

Bootblack

Bootblack is a historical graphic novel of 1930s New York City. It takes place during the construction of the Rockefeller Center.  Originally published in French in 2020, it has now been translated in English. The story is about Altenberg Ferguson who hates his German name and family. Leaving home still a child, he lives on the streets working as a shoe shiner also referred to as a blackboot. After changing his name to Al Chrysler, he soon tires of being hungry and sleeping outside in the cold. Al returns home only to see the building his parents were living in on fire. They perished. Returning to the streets he teams up with 2 friends to shine shoes. New friend Frankie talks the trio into running money for the mob but after deciding to steal some of the mob's cash, Al is caught by the police and sentenced to 10 years in an adult prison. By the time he is released WWII is ongoing. Al joins the army and is sent overseas to Germany, where he finds himself in the town of Altenberg, the town he was named after.

I enjoyed Bootblack. There was alot of mystery concerning where life would take Al. The story alternates between Al's childhood and his soldiering during WWII. I initially had a hard time figuring out where the story was going but after realizing that the story was alternating time periods, it was easy to accept and continue reading. In fact, I believe it enhanced the story. I certainly did not expect the ending but it was most appropriate given Al's identity issues.

4 out of 5 stars.

Django

Django is a graphic biography of renowned twentieth century guitarist Django Reinhardt. Born in 1910 in a Roma community in Belgium, Django's childhood friends were taking him in a bad direction. He began stealing and gambling. After a run-in with the police, Django's mother finally buys him what he always wanted-a banjo. Django learns how to play quickly and he develops an expertise by his teen years. He plays in several bands in Paris, earning alot of money. However, after a fire started in his caravan, Django's left hand is seriously burned. He is told that he will never play again but Django overcomes all the odds by switching to playing an easier instrument-the guitar. His fame continued to spread and he is considered one of the best musicians of his time.

The comic had a slow start for me. I had never heard of Django before reading the book. This child prodigy was leading a fantastic life. There wasn't much excitement until the halfway point in the story when he was injured in the fire. Then there was the wondering whether he would recover.  He had to use his hand differently after it was injured but the author did not go into any detail about how he made the transition.  Django had two loves, Naguine and Bella. These storylines were OK but there wasn't much mystery here.

This was an OK book. 3 out of 5 stars. 

Olympia

Olympia is the sequel to The Grand Odalisque. Characters Carole and Alex are childhood friends who are partners in art theft crimes. They have been working together for nine years. With just a few days having past after their theft of the famous painting The Grand Odalisque at the Louvre, they are hired by a mobster to steal an ancient mask. With that theft completed they are then given their next assignment: to steal three paintings. Edouard Manet's Olympia is one of them. It is located in the Petit Palace in Paris. With the help of their mutual friend Sam the ladies begin planning the heist. Of course, they encounter several complications including the fact the Carole is nine months pregnant. They use modern technology and common theft how-tos to carry off the assignment. The English version of this graphic novel was published on March 1, 2022 by Fantagraphics.

It was easy to get back into the story from February 2021's The Grand Odalisque. The reader doesn't really need to know anything special from the earlier novel in order to follow the story.  The ladies were shadowed by the mobster's hit man, Antonio, as they planned and executed the theft. It was amusing to see them sexually harass Antonio and get no response from him. They used the same phrases that men use when they harass women. The howdunit of the theft was enjoyable. There were enough twists and turns to satisfy the mystery reader but the artwork is what made the Parisian setting extraordinary. The architectural line drawings let you know where the setting was located. 

All in all, Olympia was a fun read. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.