This uneven Christmas-killer whodunit from Eisner winner Tynion (the Something Is Killing the Children series) and Hixson (the Children of the Woods series) centers on Michael, a gay comic writer burnt out on superheroes,who finally decides to tackle a self-publishing project featuring his true passion: serial killers. He meets with Randall Olsen—a gay man imprisoned more than 50 years ago for killings committed by a masked Santa known as the Deviant Killer. Randall hopes he’ll be portrayed as wrongly imprisoned, but Michael doesn’t pick up on his hints. Instead, they talk about queer life in the 1970s versus today, and Michael finds himself seen and understood by Randall in a way that unsettles those around him—especially the detective with the scars to prove that the Deviant Killer was real. The detective’s suspicions grow as a copycat killer begins to wreak havoc. Tynion again proves his chops at scripting authentic queer characters, but while themes of homophobia, trauma, and LGBTQ intergenerational community adorn the plot, the conceit still lands as less than original. Still, Hixson’s a fantastic artist, and his page design and frantic lines set this apart from other Christmas-killer fare. Readers will hope the next volume better lives up to the series’ potential. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Drawing on his YouTube channel and eponymous podcast, Jonathan “MrBallen” Allen adapts reputedly true (or at least documented) horror stories from around the world to satisfyingly chilling effect. The entries take readers to a valley in Canada’s Northwest Territories with a history of unexplained deaths and disappearances, through a reputedly haunted ghost town in Spain, into the middle of a Siberian tiger attack in Russia, and on the hunt for the man-eating Beast of Gevaudan in 18th-century France, among other escapades. MrBallen’s lurid narration brings to mind old EC horror comics: “It doesn’t matter how far he goes. It doesn’t matter how fast. Somewhere out there in the forest... the man is lurking.” Mutti’s lush art excels at creating eerie atmosphere, shocking the reader with moments of gore, and making the supernatural and mundane menaces feel equally plausible. Most of the tales take place in the great outdoors, and the art successfully evokes shadowy forests, snowbound mountains, blistering deserts, and isolated cabins. This spooky collection of campfire tales will appeal to horror and true crime fans. Agent: Byrd Leavell, UTA. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Harvey Award winner Gendry-Kim (The Waiting) delivers a poignant semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a couple who love dogs, in a small town that often does not. Yuna and her husband, Hun, move from Seoul to the countryside for their anxious dog Carrot’s benefit (after dosing Carrot with Prozac doesn’t do the trick). There they meet their new puppy, Potato, as well as a series of other dogs whom they briefly befriend. Not everyone sees dogs as family members, though, in this alternately welcoming and insular rural community. One monsoon day, Yuna and Hun catch their neighbor slicing up charred dog meat. Later, they encounter a truck soliciting dogs for processing—the local industry of turning canines into medicine or soju is an “open secret.” (In the afterword, Gendry-Kim acknowledges that earlier generations faced food scarcity, and expresses concern that her narrative could fuel stereotypes.) After they rescue yet another dog, Choco, from a neglectful neighbor, Yuna and Hun later see Choco’s former cage occupied by a new dog, lending the narrative’s final pages a wistful tone. In Gendry-Kim’s windblown pen-and-ink illustrations, the dogs often loom over landscapes or dwarf the narrator, indicating the outsize place they occupy in their humans’ hearts. It’s a clear-eyed ode to the complications of living with both pets and people. Agent: Nicolas Grivel, Nicolas Grivel Agency. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

A Christmas morning spirals into an ordeal rife with lust and brutality in this surreal graphic novel from Simmons (Black River), which collects the comics he’s serialized for decades. Teenager Jessica leaps out of bed with visions of the holiday presents awaiting her downstairs, but her effort to join the celebration just a few rooms away is thwarted by a litany of strange encounters with the denizens of the Oz-like family farm. There’s a toy-size jazz combo performing in the shower, murderous thundercloud-like wraiths, a naked man shadowing her, and a talking tortoise-chicken. The weirdness snowballs further when Jessica’s grandparents give her a talisman and send her on a quest to save the farm—and all the “friends of the house” who also call it home. As the imperturbable heroine traverses secret passages into this expansive mini-universe and steeps herself in arcane lore, the tone swerves from whimsy to malevolence, with bursts of grisly violence and graphic sexual interludes. (“It may be difficult to clear my mind of all the death I saw today... so much blood,” Jessica reflects). Absurdism is built into the dream logic of the story, while an ambient dread and hints of domestic trauma trend ever more horrific. Simmons’s loose linework and wide-eyed cartoon figures belie the narrative’s transgressive tilt. Indie comics fans will relish this enigmatic mash-up of Lewis Carroll and Jim Woodring. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Disney animator Airriess (The Princess and the Frog), an associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute, debuts with a standout graphic adaptation of Antarctic explorer Cherry-Garrard’s account of his 1910–1913 expedition to the South Pole. This terrific first volume in a four-part series introduces dozens of characters and immerses readers in early 20th-century life aboard the whaler Terra Nova, recounting its journey from Cardiff to the pack icebergs surrounding Antarctica. Especially thrilling is an extended sequence of a savage storm that almost sinks the boat before its crew reaches the continent. Interspersed with the high seas scenes are vignettes of everyday life onboard, with well-researched nautical and scientific details. There’s also room made for lighter moments, such as the traditional hazing of crew crossing the equator for the first time. In another memorable episode, penguins are brought on board and served as a Christmas treat. Airriess’s distinctive character designs, sweeping tropical and polar vistas, and well-chosen anecdotes form a sweeping, majestic saga that achieves the rare feat of being both educational and entertaining. Readers will eagerly await the rest of the adventure. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Čechová’s lighthearted yet insightful debut graphic memoir considers identity, vanity, and artmaking through the lens of her alopecia. Growing up as a thick-haired, unfussy tomboy, Čechová doesn’t give much thought to her hair—until she begins to lose it as an adult. With no clear underlying health condition causing this autoimmune reaction, she is forced to make do. She navigates wig shops and the varying reactions of friends and family to her diagnosis (“All your hair will fall out? That’s terrific.... Everyone will take you for a radical lesbian, and I’ll be your trophy wife!” exclaims one acquaintance). Meanwhile, strangers often mistake her for a cancer patient. At a storytelling workshop in Scotland, she is finally able to see her experience as a hero’s journey and boldly go bald—while grappling with her tendency to suppress any physical signs of stress. In addition to her personal story, Čechová offers cultural context around wigs in the Black and Jewish communities, and various hair factoids (skin with more hair follicles also supposedly heals faster from injury; armpit hair functions to fluff up mate-attracting pheromones). Jislová renders Čechová and the rest of the cast in pink and grayscale with prominent ears, triangular noses, and ample charm. The result is an adept portrayal of how looks are never just about looks. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Macy follows up his graphic adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Teleny and Camille with a stylish graphic biography of novelist Djuna Barnes (1892–1982). Barnes’s manipulative grandmother Zadel called the shots in her family, favoring her do-nothing son over other family members, and building a utopian community on Long Island with a lack of sexual boundaries. After suffering abuse, Barnes left the fold, although she continued to send money home. As Barnes matured into a deeply ambitious, sometimes ruthless writer, she joined bohemian communities in New York and Paris and hobnobbed with Picasso, Hemingway, and Joyce. In 1928, she published Ryder, a seething fictionalized account of her upbringing that was received as farce. Eight years later came Nightwood, a dramatization of her doomed romance with the alcoholic artist Thelma Wood. Despite critical acclaim, her novels didn’t sell, and she fell into obscurity but managed to live long enough to see her novels semi-canonized. In Macy’s capable hands, Djuna’s life and work are stubborn, admirable attempts at self-determination, threaded with desperate bids for validation. His evocative black-and-white comics are punctuated by art-deco details—notably, the only color throughout is a bright auburn used for Djuna’s hair and that of the family members she can’t fully escape. Readers will marvel at Barnes’s spirit and tenacity. Agent: Madison Smartt Bell, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Writer Walker and artist Anderson, winners of the Eisner Award for The Black Panther Party, reunite to upend Mark Twain’s caricature-like portrayal of Jim, the enslaved character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The narrative unfolds across different points in time: 101-year-old Jim talks to his grandchildren, while his granddaughter passes on the story to her own granddaughter, who grows up to become a history professor and tells Jim’s story to the world. In 1855, Jim, who has looked after Huck Finn his entire life, confronts the boy’s father, Joe Finn, about his sister Eudora Watson selling Jim’s wife and children and an altercation breaks out. Huck, trying to save Jim, seemingly kills his father, and the two flee together on a raft down the Mississippi River. They endure run-ins with scavengers and fights with bounty hunters, aid fellow runaways, join in Civil War battles, and take part in cat-and-mouse chases with a diabolical Joe. Interspersed with the adventures are academic discussions of the Civil War, slavery, and race relations. The n-word appears in redacted form throughout, its middle letters crossed out. Walker’s quirky characters are rendered in a bold and dynamic art style that emphasizes the harrowing and tender aspects in equal measure. It’s a vital reconsideration of an American classic. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

This insidiously gorgeous collection showcases the wicked intelligence and dark sensibilities of indie comics mainstay Gfrörer (Vision), whose stories range from witty to horrific, sacred to profane. Many pieces offer glimpses of mundane lives in historical or mythic settings, where things go sharply awry: a woman working behind the scenes in the Roman Coliseum develops a bond with a Christian doomed for sacrifice, prehistoric people comparing their cave paintings (“Don’t say anything about it! It’s so bad compared to yours!”) get wedged into a tight spot, a werewolf and her girlfriend go on the lam. Others illuminate arcane bits of lore, like alchemy or the Voynich manuscript. Longer arcs follow Jadwiga, a hard-headed medieval witch, in her gruesome work. Gfrörer ably demonstrates her horror chops but proves equally adept at offbeat pieces like a humorous guide to tea leaf readings (heavy dregs predict “caffeine addiction”; a small ax shape is “grad school”) and a pair of pornographic retellings of Edgar Allan Poe stories. The meticulous, densely textured linework creates depth and shadow, and the faintly old-fashioned elegance of her art belies the provocative content. She fills panels with small historical details—and ample eroticism. Lovers of the macabre will savor this cabinet of curiosities. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this jumbled, fitfully tantalizing graphic novel, noir comics creator Miller (Sin City) trips into the dark fantasy genre with artist Emma Kubert (Stoneheart), and cowriters Maranville and Silvestri (the Star Trek: Discovery series). Annabeth, a teenage artist, butts heads with her wrong-side-of-the-tracks family and her mother’s seedy boarders—except her sage grandfather, a fellow nerd. One morning she ventures into the woods near their house in search of birds to sketch and meets Knox, a mysterious and magnetic young man. Little does she know that Knox is a scout from a tribe of goblins embroiled in a war between magical realms. When Annabeth unwittingly attracts the power of a glittering item known only as “the relic” (“How can something so small and weightless carry within it the fate of so many souls?” the goblins marvel), magic invades her world in ways that first seem beneficial—the bullies at school turn pleasant—but soon become sinister. The narrative leaps over character development and forgoes explanations of its plot turns, giving the proceedings a rushed feeling. Kubert pulls off some art elements effectively—namely, the glimpses into secret realms and the horde of “baby demon elves” who track Annabeth—but her human characters are often stiff and inconsistently proportioned, and her thick, scratchy inking lacks dimension. Despite some moments of magic, this disappoints. Agent: Silenn Thomas, Frank Miller Presents. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink