Names and Faces

New Yorker cartoonist Hook’s insightful graphic memoir debut proves that the topic of identity is endlessly ripe, despite her own admitted “reluctance to engage” with her experience of growing up biracial. The work comprises linked personal essays in comics form. The daughter of a white American father and a Chinese mother (both linguists), Hook grows up hearing “What are you?” from peers and strangers. Each essay looks at biracial and bicultural identity through a different lens. Standout pieces delve into extended metaphors, such as “The Vine and the Fish,” where Hook unpacks negative narratives about “invasive species”—in this case, the kudzu vines that cover foliage in her home state of Virginia. The false dichotomy of “good native” vs. “bad invasive” creates a framework in which “a war of extermination seems inevitable and righteous.” Hook draws herself with straight hair and simple clothing, pushing back on others’ tendency to be confused or dazzled by her “exoticism,” such as when she works for a Beijing art gallery and finds herself cast as “eye candy.” The final chapter is devoted to Hook’s efforts to paint her own self-portrait, which also recalls her experience sitting for a painting her parents commissioned when she was a child. The result is layered and colorful, complicated and bold—just like the collection itself. Agent: Chad Luibl, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)