Do Admit

The gorgeous color pallette of this graphic biography prompted me to read the book. I have read previous books by Mimi Pond so I knew it would be spectacular. The biography is about the six Mitford sisters Nancy, Unity, Diana, Pam, Jessica and Deborah as well as the other members of the aristocratic family, and their geo-political influence on major events of the 1920s and 1930s. The book won the 2026 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Long-form Comic from the Center for Cartoon Studies as well as the 2025 Graphic Novel Critics Poll. The title "Do Admit" is a favorite saying of the sisters. This 444 page book was published in September 2025.

The publisher's summary:

Born with pedigrees but without the pocketbooks to match, The Mitfords were certainly no strangers to lies, intrigue, or scandal. Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. All six sisters were weaned on their family’s well-documented upper class eccentricities: a ne’er do well would-be entrepreneur father; a stern, stiff-upper-lipped mother; a revolving door of governesses of varying propriety, all against the backdrop of a crumbling estate falling into disrepair.

The sisters grew from cloistered turn-of-the-century country girls into debutantes who would marry into political influence―for better or worse. Is it any wonder that a young, working class Mimi in Southern California becomes enamored with The Mitfords’ downright fanciful rich-and-famous lifestyle? This charming, inventively cartooned, and lovingly researched biography captures the dramatic, over-the-top antics of high society’s strongest personalities as they rubbed elbows with some of history’s most infamous fascists and communists.

Pond’s genius for classic cartooning in the vein of the Vanity Fair caricature and the satirical illustrations of Charles Addams brings the aesthetic decadence of the 1920s and ‘30s to life with effortless aplomb, warts and all.

I had heard the Mitford name before but knew nothing about the family. The book fills in all of the details of each of the sisters' lives who lived during the first half of the 20th century. I wondered why the author, Mimi Pond, decided to write about them as I believe we are around the same age. How did she become interested in the family? Regardless, she wrote an entertaining and informative book about the sisters.

As I stated above, I loved the color palette. Another aesthetic I liked was the use of info-graphics for the narrative part of the story. I thought this was creative and enjoyed reading the narrative. The author used lines of text of different font sizes placed at different angles. She is a master of typology. The rest of the story was shown in whimsical illustrations. The copyright page states Pond owns the copyright to every part of the book. From this information it becomes apparent that she drew the illustrations and did the lettering in addition to writing the text. I hope Pond wins more awards for the book because it is fantastic. 

There are dozens of characters. We have the six sisters, two parents, many spouses, a few children, and many famous people inside the story. The Mitfords knew Hitler, Winston Churchill, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and William Faulkner. Two of the sisters were fascists. Diana and Unity were deeply entrenched in the Nazi inner circle. Diana married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists. Unity became obsessed with Adolf Hitler, befriending him and remaining a dedicated follower in Germany. Hitler's records show he met with Unity 140 times. Jessica was a staunch communist and she moved to the U. S. Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica and Deborah married nephews of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, respectively. Needless to say, these divergent political views created distance in their relationships with each other.

Do Admit is going to be in my top books for 2026. It is a masterpiece. 5 out of 5 stars.

Muybridge

Muybridge is the graphic biography of Eadweard Muybridge. He was one of the earliest pioneers in photography during the nineteenth century. He is famous for his time sequence of a horse galloping. Cartoonist Guy Delisle brings this unknown photographer to life in this book.

The publisher's summary:

Sacramento, California, 1870. Pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge becomesentangled in railroad robber baron Leland Stanford’s delusions of grandeur. Tasked withproving Stanford’s belief that a horse’s hooves do not touch the ground while galloping atfull speed, Muybridge gets to work with his camera. In doing so, he inadvertently createsone of the single most important technological advancements of our age―the invention of time-lapse photography and the mechanical ability to capture motion.

Critically-acclaimed cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Hostage) returns with anotherengrossing foray into nonfiction: a biography about Eadweard Muybridge, the man whomade pictures move. Despite career breakthrough after career breakthrough, Muybridgewould only be hampered by betrayal, intrigue, and tragedy. Delisle’s keen eye for detailsthat often go unnoticed in search of a broader emotional truth brings this historical figureand those around him to life through an uncompromising lens.
 

The biography begins with Muybridge as an adult and continues until his death. He traveled to the U.S. west coast to take the first photos of Yosemite and American Indians and was known nationwide for his feats. He also traveled to Europe in order to obtain more job assignments. He married but was never home, always traveling to a photo shoot. His wife got bored and cheated on him, getting pregnant in the process. Muybridge exploded in rage when he found out. I was surprised by his anger because, after all, he could be away from home for as long as a year. 

The art work was done in black and white drawings in comic strip panels. It was cool to see Muybridge's actual photos throughout the book too. The dialogue was spot on and showed how big Muybridge's ambitions were.

I enjoyed reading about one of our early pioneers in this field. I wish, however, that Delisle would write more travelogues. I loved reading them.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Golden Voice

The Golden Voice is the story of a Cambodian singer by the name of Ros Sergey Sothea. She was popular during the Vietnam War era, otherwise known in Cambodia as the American War. She disappeared, though, in the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge. Sothea began her working career as a rice farmer but became famous as a rock and roll musician in the 1960s and 1970s. She was also a recording artist who captured the hearts of the Cambodian people. Sothea recorded over 500 songs with her signature angelic voice in several genres from bolero to romantic ballads to psychedelic rock. When Cambodia exploded into a brutal civil war, Sothea's singing career remained prolific, even when she joined the army as one of the country's first female paratroopers. After years of bloody conflict, the communist Khmer Rouge seized control, bringing Cambodia's golden age of music into a dark era of silence. Most artists, including Ros Serey Sothea, were murdered. Her legacy, however, continues to inspire Cambodians today.

This is an eye opening biography. I did not know anything about Cambodia during the Vietnam War era because I was just a kid while it was going on. It was sad to read about the conditions that people had to live with. 

The author's added links to songs Sothea recorded in the front of the book. This was ingenious! I have read biographies of other musicians that did not have this feature and the musicians meant nothing to me. Being able to hear Sothea's singing made her seem more real and complemented my reading experience. The authors also added links throughout the story to Sothea's playlist so the reader can listen to them. I loved this feature. 

The characters spoke three different languages: French, English and Khmer. It wasn't always apparent which side some of the characters were on. By using different colored dialogue boxes the authors made it easy for the reader. Pink boxes were used for Khmer, blue boxes for French speakers and yellow boxes for English. Again, another ingenious feature.

The Golden Voice is the best graphic biography I have ever read. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Nikola Tesla

This comic is a graphic biography of Nikola Tesla that was originally published in Italy in 2021. Tesla was a contemporary of Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Author Sergio Rossi poses a question for the reader: was Tesla a brilliant inventor or a visionary detached from his time? It is one of five historical fiction graphic biographies published in March 2023 of famous Europeans by Comixology Originals. Comixology partnered with Italian publisher Becco Giallo to translate each of these comics into English. 

Tesla was raised in Austro-Hungarian Empire during the mid-nineteeth century. While his family was poor, he was able to study and become an engineer. Searching to make a fortune Tesla emigrated to France and then the United States. While in America he obtained a job in Thomas Edison's laboratory where the War of the Currents began. Edison was a proponent of direct current for energy while Tesla believed in an alternate current. Tesla won the war as his alternating current was chosen to be used on a national scale.

The story was told in black and white drawings, usually two to a page. The narrators were two men who were discussing Tesla while driving in a car. One of them was a scientist and the other was a documentary film maker. This format was easy to read and understand. Note, though, that this comic is not a complete biography. Rather, it offers a good starting point for further reading about Tesla.

5 out of 5 stars.

Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream

This comic is one of five historical fiction graphic biographies published by Comixology Originals in March 2023 through a collaboration with Italian publisher Becco Giallo. Mary Shelley is the daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft through whom she was able to meet many well known authors and artists. When Mary was 17 she eloped with romantic poet Percy Shelley. She later visited Europe with him, her step-sister Claire and her lover Lord Byron. While staying in a villa in Geneva the four of them combatted boredom by writing stories involving true terror. This is where and how Mary created Frankenstein.

I did not like this comic much. The writing was awkward and the artwork seemed to be horrifying. While the characters wrote horror stories in their villa, the biography itself is not a horror story. I am not sure whether the art matches the story. A few of the panels have red ink on them. I am not sure why as the emotion in similar panels were drawn exclusively in black. 

These historical fiction graphic biographies are not meant to be complete biographies. So much is left out of Mary Shelley's life that I didn't see a point to the comic. No rating.

Socrates

Socrates is another one of Comixology Original's historical fiction graphic biographies of famous European people. It was translated into English through a partnership with Italian publisher Becco Giallo and published in March 2023.

The publisher's summary:

Athens, 399 BC. In what may be remembered as the first trial for crimes of opinion, Socrates is sentenced to death. Accused of corrupting youth with atheistic doctrines, the philosopher's line of defense is uncompromising and defiant. He is thus sentenced to drink hemlock by an even larger majority of jurors, and once in prison, awaiting execution, he refuses to flee lest he violate those laws to which he has always been devoted.

Socrates was not only one of the best known and most influential philosophers in human history, but also the first martyr for his own ideas.

His trial tells how the greatest democracy of the time could have sentenced the best of its citizens to death. 

I found this comic hard to read. I had to concentrate on the words in order to understand what was going on. The style of writing fits with the philosophy of the era though. The author included a note in the back of the book stating that he based the book on Plato's writings. 

While philosophy lovers will enjoy the comic, I did not. It was just too heavy for me. No rating.

Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh Sadness Will Last Forever is a graphic biography written by Francesco Barilli and illustrated by Sakka. It was published in Italy in 2019. In March 2023 Comixology Originals published it in English. The comic was written as an intense and uninterrupted dialogue between Vincent Van Gogh and his madness. From his relationship with his brother Theo to his famous quarrel with Gauguin, resulting in the partial self-mutilation of his ear, to the extreme act of self-harm that led to his death.

I didn't know much about Van Gogh's life story before reading this comic. The writing was crisp and the illustrations were very French with an attractive French script font. With just 129 pages, it is an easy and fast read. There was a 70/30 split between dialogue and narration. A few times I needed the narration in order to figure out what was happening. All in all this was a fantastic biography of Van Gogh. I am rating it 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.

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.

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.

Billionaires

Billionaires is Darryl Cunningham's 2021 graphic novel. It is a biography of three of the world's current billionaires, Rupert Murdock, Jeff Bezos and the Koch Brothers. Billionnaire Robert Maxwell plays heavily in Rupert Murdock's story. At 244 pages, each of the billionaires receives about 90 pages of space in the book. Cunningham begins each biography with the birth and childhood of the person. They continue until their death or their current state of affairs. Each of them was driven to succeed by destroying every competitor they had. The key word here is destroy. They were not content to push the competition out of business but rather destroy the owners themselves. All of them had instincts that drove their businesses far above their competitors and created new ways of doing business that other companies have followed.  

While I had previously read alot about each of these men, when I looked at them as a group I saw similarities that I had not seen before. The last four pages of the book discussed the economic and societal problems that stem from the actions of these billionaires. It did sound a little sanctimonious even though I agree with the author's conclusions. However, I cannot think of any way that Cunningham could have said it differently. He addresses the effects they had on American policy making and political campaigning.While each of these men used a philosophy of small government and low oversight over corporations to build their empires, what society has received is the exact opposite. We have alot of government oversight of American businesses. How did this happen? These men used political power to stop any competition. This can only happen if government oversees the affairs of all of the other companies. 

The political power these men held influenced world affairs in a negative way. The founder of the Koch dynasty supported Nazi Germany with its oil refineries. Murdock's love of gossipy newspapers and his media mergers is what gave us opinionated news anchors. In my opinion he gets the bad rap for creating Fox News. Bezos' predatory acquisitions brought us his vision of The Everything Store. No one seems to be able to succeed in selling any products because Bezos will just start selling the product cheaper, putting other companies out of business. 

Billionaires is an insightful graphic novel that gives the reader all the knowledge they need about the lives of these three men. The author has successfully told their stories but in a funny way. There are alot of laughs throughout the book and I can confidently rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

Putin's Russia

Darryl Cunningham's latest graphic novel is Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator. It was published on February 15, 2022 and is a biography of the Russian dictator. As publisher Drawn & Quarterly said recently, it is unfortunate that this comic arrived at this point in time. With Russian troops now in eastern Ukraine, it could not be more timely. News articles state that World War III is right around the corner. I do not understand why WWIII is a possibility but when you read about Putin's rise in Russia you see what he is capable of. 

In this biography of Vladimir Putin we see the development of a schoolyard bully in Soviet era Leningrad into a KGB officer, then on to a corrupt commodities trader and continuing on to being the president of Russia. The reader is shown the brutality that Putin has waged against his detractors as well as his lawless financial dealings. What I gleaned from the book is that everything Putin does politically enhances his personal finances. Taking that idea further, I imagine that Putin will make billions off of Ukraine. Money is the only thing he is interested in. Yes, there are advantages to Russia for invading Ukraine. It has oil and plentiful wheat fields that Russia could benefit from. However, when you see the totality of Putin's life you see that every political decision he makes only makes him richer. 

Putin was lucky is obtaining jobs that brought him more and more power. He was able to join the KGB in which membership is by invitation only. When returning from an assignment in East Germany he somehow found jobs that allowed him to take advantage of the post-Soviet chaos. By becoming affiliated with Boris Yeltsin, Putin was able to become president of Russia. Someone obviously helped him rise to power but the author does not tell us who that person is. Most likely no one knows this information other than Putin himself. Anyone with knowledge about Putin's past ends up dead and by controlling the media, he is able to create his own biography. 

This is an eye opening picture of the Russian dictator. Personally, I like to refer to him as Czar Putin. Highly recommended. 5 out of 5 stars. 

Run

The beginning of John Lewis's political career is the subject of Run, Book One. However, he passed away before the book was finished. 90% of the book was completed and approved by him before his death. I am presuming that there will not be a Book Two since he has died.  

To John Lewis, the civil rights movement came to an end with the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. By that time he had served for more than 5 years as a leader of the movement.  He led sit-ins, marches and was an original Freedom Rider.  Lewis also served as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for several years, spoke at MLK's March on Washington and co-lead a march from Selma to Montgomery on Bloody Sunday.  Run begins where March 3 ends. Lewis recounts the highs and lows of fighting to harness the legal protections that are now law. However, the Vietnam War presents a challenge for an electorate that becomes consumed by the images on their TV screens and soon forgets about the civil rights movement.

The artwork is amazing.  Nate Powell had to draw his scenes from the reference of thousands of newspaper and magazine photographs. However, he had to make them historically accurate while also needing to change the angle of the drawings to fit the comic format. In addition, he had to comb through online listings of objects that he was not familiar with, such as period appropriate typewriters, so he would know what the looked like. Powell also researched how people dressed in the 1960s so that the characters' age, occupation and socioeconomic status was accurate for the time period. This sounds like a monumental task for someone who did not live through this era.  

The boldness of John Lewis' story captured this reader's attention. Everything written into the comic was so serious that sometimes it felt like information overload, even though the information was necessary to tell this true story. His vision regarding what was important enough to be included in the book is probably what makes all of his comics such good reading.  Lewis was so good at this that I believe he missed a calling as an author too late in his life. 

Run is another fantastic comic detailing events in the civil rights movement.  I wish that these comics would not end with Run because they tell this story in vivid detail.  5 out of 5 stars.

Factory Summers

Factory Summers is another great autobiography from cartoonist Guy Delisle. He has written several travelogues from following his wife to Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Shenzen and Burma while she worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres. Here, we have the story of Delisle's four summers as a teenager working for a pulp and paper factory in Quebec City where he grew up.

Factory Summers has alot of dry humor within its pages. Delisle describes his co-workers as sexist, telling dirty jokes on a daily basis. As a union employee myself, I can say they are typical union workers. LOL. If they can find a way to relax on the job, they do it. It's not that they are forgoing the hard work their jobs demand. These fellows work with huge machines that require constant cleaning up and fixing and the areas they are located in have no air conditioning. There is danger of getting hurt every day. The factory was built in 1927 and there had not been any changes to the building or the machinery over the years. This was an antiquated system that Delisle was dealing with. With 12 hours shifts required 6 days a week, I doubt that he would be allowed to work here as a youth if the factory was in the U.S. I thought it was a cruel job for a sixteen-year-old kid and cannot believe he did the work without questioning the rules. If it was me working there, I would have filed a complaint with OSHA for unsafe working conditions.

The story itself was well told. The monotony of the work days are shown by both dialogue and drawings. The only reprieve the author had was by drawing comics and making plans to attend animation school in Toronto. His relationship with his father, who got him the job, is also a part of the story. The book opens with Delisle having his annual visit with his father, divorced from his mother, and ends with his death. The relationship frames these summers working at the same plant his father worked at. 

I highly recommend this one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Fire

Fire is a graphic biography of Zora Neale Hurston, an African American writer in the early twentieth century best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston challenged the norms of what was expected of an African American woman. She was the fifth of eight children from a Baptist family in Alabama. Her writing ability blossomed while she was a student at Howard University in Washington DC and then at Barnard College where she was the only black student. When she arrived in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance she found herself surrounded by peers such as poet Langston Hughes. Hurston later became a noted folklorist and critically acclaimed novelist. Despite her achievements, in order to make money she frequently had to resort to becoming a maid. Hurston was largely forgotten by the end of her life in 1960.

Let me say right off the bat that many people will not like, or even approve of this comic because the author has used dialogue that was the black slang common in the American South at the time of Hurston's life. Peter Bagge may have decided to use this type of language because Hurston was a folklorist whose books used this type of slang in her writing. I don't know specifically why he chose this route. Hurston made several anthropological trips throughout the South gathering information for her book and used this language in her book on folklore. I found it difficult to accept the dialogue and some of the illustrations, given the political correctness of our day.

That said, the book gave an in depth perspective of Hurston's life. She had plenty of ups and downs, many of which were due to Jim Crow laws. However, she had an indelible spirit. Nothing kept her down for long. She had a stick-to-it-iveness that helped her persevere over several years to get an education. I think many people would have given up but Zora relentlessly pursued her goals regardless of societal rules. 

Peter Bagge included forty pages of notes concerning his sources at the end of the book detailing every fact he presented in the comic. It is interesting reading and helps the reader to obtain context of the era in which Hurston lived. 

Superman Smashes the Klan

I don't read superhero comics very often. When one of my favorite comic writers publishes one, I read it. I have loved all of Gene Luen Yang's books. Previously he published the Boxers and Saints volumes, American Born Chinese and last year's Dragon Hoops. With this Superman volume Yang takes on the Klan of the Fiery Kross, a pseudonym for the Ku Klux Klan.  

The story takes place in 1946 when teenagers Roberta and Tommy Lee move with their parents from Chinatown to Metropolis, the home of Superman. Tommy makes friends easily but Roberta wants to go back to Chinatown where she was comfortable. One night the Lee family awakens to find that their house is surrounded by the Klan of the Fiery Kross and see a burning cross in their yard. Superman leaps into action but his exposure to a mysterious green rock leaves him feeling nauseous and weak. He is only able to defeat the Klan later with the help of Roberta and Tommy. During this conquest, Superman sees visions of his deceased parents asking why he is only using half of the powers he was born with. Superman works through his memory to figure out what is holding him back.

While this was an enjoyable story of good versus evil, the poisonous remarks of the Klan members against this Chinese family gave it a bad tone. I found it difficult to overcome the hate that sprung from its pages. I presume that this was the effect that Yang was going for and that he presented an Asian family as the victims due to the AAPI discrimination that has been ongoing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The comic is advertised for young adult reading and I would agree with that. It would be helpful to present the realities of hate to youths, but not those too young for the message.

5 out of 5 stars.

Credo

Credo is a graphic biography of Rose Wilder Lane. I thought it would be about a suffragette but Rose Wilder Lane is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Wilder wrote the Little House on the Prairie books. I was not aware that she wrote these books with her daughter making huge edits. The books were written mainly by Lane but the ideas for the stories came from Wilder. 

Lane was an accomplished 20th century writer, feminist, war correspondent, and one of the  founders of the Libertarian Party in the U. S. She was anti-government and anti-marriage and did not believe that gender should hold anyone back from experiencing all that the world has to offer. Lane was one of the highest paid female writers in America, traveling all over the world in search of a story. She even traveled to Korea and Vietnam to cover those wars for the newspapers that she wrote for. However, she is mainly known as being the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder. There are several different opinions on how much Lane contributed to the Little House books but the original manuscripts have survived and there is no doubt that Wilder did not know how to write. Lane rewrote the stories so that they were readable. What most people do not know is that she wrote biographies and fiction on her own. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it twice in succession. It is amazing to me that she was friends with President Herbert Hoover, writer Dorothy Johnson and Johnson's husband Sinclair Lewis. With these people as friends, I would expect that Lane's name would be easily recognizable. Unfortunately, it isn't. She was lucky in her career, raising the glass ceiling for women in succeeding generations.  Her credo was an article she wrote concerning her political opinions. It was marketed as her credo, hence the name of the book.

Credo was a great history lesson for me and I highly recommend the book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Hawking

Hawking is a graphic biography of U. K. physicist Stephen Hawking.  The biography covers his life from his birth to his death. As most people are aware, Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, a degenerative neuromuscular disease while he was in his early 20s. While the disease weakened his muscles and limited his ability to move and speak, it did not limit his mind. Hawking is known for his groundbreaking research in cosmology and physics and lived to reach his 60s. Though he used a wheelchair, he traveled all over the world to summer schools, conferences and sabbaticals.

As a person with a disability, I was quite surprised to read about all the traveling that he did. It is well known in the disability community that airlines lose most of the wheelchairs that are checked by passengers. It was surprising to read that he never lost his. It is also surprising that he was allowed to fly at all while he was beginning his career. Prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act, wheelchair users were not permitted on airplanes.While Hawking was flying to and from the U. K., he would have had to transfer to American planes for some of his trips. It is pretty amazing to me that as his disabilities got worse, he always found a way to continue working and that Cambridge University, his employer, never tried to prevent him from working. If he was an American, this would not have happened. Hawking received many accommodations for his disabilities. Not everyone received this assistance, particularly before the year 2000. Hawking was lucky.

The book gives plenty of details about his research and how he arrived at his conclusions. Mathematical equations fill the pages. They went right over my head but I was amazed at how the comic book format made them look simple. The book has been written and illustrated in comic book panels with bright colors illustrating the drawings. At 290 pages, Hawking's life has been presented in full and I don't see that the graphic novel format affected the completeness of this biography. 

I am anxious to re-read the book but before I get started I am rating it at 5 out of 5 stars. This is a must read.

Women Discoverers

This small comic book contains the biographies of 30 female scientists. A few of these biographies are merely written in paragraphs while five are done in 20+ page comic strip panels.  The ladies that are featured in the book are:

• Marie Curie (Poland, France) Physics/Chemistry
• Francoise Barre Sinoussee (France) Biology
• Donna Theo Strickland (Canada) Physics
• Dorothy Vaughn (USA) Mathematics/Computing
• Ada Lovelace (Britain) Mathematics/Computing
• Emilei du Chatelet (France) Mathematics
• Emmy Noether (Germany) Mathematics
• Grace Adele-Williams (Niger) Mathematics
• Hedy Lamaar (Hungary/USA) Engineering
• Katherine Johnson (USA) Mathematics
• Marthe Gaetier (France) Pediatrics
• Maryam Mirzakhani (Iran/USA) Mathematics
• Rosalind Franklin (UK) Physics/Biology
• Sophie Germain (France) Mathematics/Physics
• Irene Joliot-Currie (France) Physics/Chemistry
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell (UK) Astrophysics
• Mae Jemison (USA) Medicine/Space Exploration
• Stephanie Kwolek (USA) Chemistry
• Grace Murray Hopper (USA) Computing
• Xie Ye (China) Chemistry

I found the book informative.  Many of these ladies I had not heard of before. Rosalind Franklin stood out in my mind as there is a medical school in my city that bears her name.  I thought Hedy Lamar was an actress.  While she did begin her career in acting she moved into science during WWII. Also, I was not aware that Marie Curie was born in Poland.  She moved to France to study at the Sorbonne and stayed there both as a teacher and a researcher.  

To say that the book will be inspiring for young girls is a given.  Most of these women grew up in societies that did not allow women to work, let alone get an education and a job.  Their trials when they were young can only give hope to today's young girls, who also have personal or family objections to overcome.

A great read!  5 out of 5 stars.

Freiheit

Freiheit! The White Rose graphic novel takes place in Germany during WWII. It is a true story about a group of young German students who questioned the authority of the Nazis and paid for their actions with their lives.  It was published last month.  I received an advanced review copy from the Librarything Early Reviewer's Program. This book is the graphic version of  a book by the same name.

Most of the members of The White Rose were Munich University students. The name of the group was selected by them from the title of a poem by a famous German poet. It was formed in 1942 and was active through 1943.  The group opposed Hitler on ethical and religious grounds.  They tried to get the German people to passively resist the Nazi Party and distributed six leaflets before they were caught.  The initial six members who were arrested were found guilty four days later and immediately guillotined. A copy of the leaflets in both German and English are at the back of the book.

This is a compelling story and I would like to know more about the White Rose movement.  These students were incredibly brave. If I didn't know it was true story I would be tempted to say it is farfetched. Who in their right mind opposed Hitler? You knew you would die if you did so. However, it is nice to be reminded that there have been many people in past centuries who stood up for what they believed in and did not follow the crowd.

The artwork was colored in dark tones to fit the mood of the story. The illustrator did not use the typical comic strip format, which made the graphics meet the seriousness of the topic. The fonts used were typical of the 1930s and 1940s so the reader can tell which era this happened in. 

The word "freiheit" means both liberty and political freedom in German. The White Rose frequently used it in their leaflets. It's perfect for this graphic biography.

5 out of 5 stars.