Graphic Novel

The Love Report / BéKa & Maya

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The Love Report
By: BéKa & Maya
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 192
Published: June 13, 2023
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Dates Read: June 12, 2023
Format: Paperback

BBFs Grace and Lola try to figure out the mystery of romance by observing those around them at their middle school.

This was cute. Was it the best story I’ve ever read? No. But, it’s middle grade kids figuring out what love means to them – it’s cute. Plus, the illustrations are vivid and adorable to look at.

The girls learn about all types of other female characters and their history. Even learning about their prejudgement of some simply based on rumors. The boys’ characters aren’t as flushed out, but since this is the first book of a series, I’m hoping to know more about them later on.

This book was originally written in French and set in France. Even though it was translated into English, I still thoroughly enjoyed the background, especially the lunch/park scenes as those are very French.

I’ll be looking out for the next book of this series to read for sure. It’s adorable and there is much room for the characters to grow.

*Thank you Astra Publishing House and Publishers Weekly for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Paper Planes / Jennie Wood

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Paper Planes
By: Jennie Wood, Dozerdraws (Illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, YA
Number of Pages: 216
Published: May 16, 2023
Publisher: Maverick
Dates Read: May 22, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Former best friends Dylan and Leighton are stuck in summer camp for troubled youth after a life altering incident happened. If they don’t get a good evaluation at camp, they’ll get sent away to an alternative high school. While participating in activities and chores at camp, both teens reexamine what led them to their current situation.

This was a good read and a good story, but the storytelling was a little difficult to follow at times; it wasn’t always told there was a time jump and you had to distinguish between the color scheme of the pages. 

I wasn’t ever the biggest fan of Leighton to be honest. I know she was going through stuff and that she was hiding things from Dylan (they both were hiding things from each other), but I don’t know – I never felt like they were the best of friends like they were supposed to have been. I was also disappointed in the ending of it as I didn’t feel like there were conclusions to parts of the storyline.

I was still a fan of the graphic novel though and will for sure be recommending it to others. I really enjoyed the art and will be suggesting it to some for that reason. The representation and the storyline that some of the characters went through are important to share and I can see others enjoying it.

*Thank you Maverick and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Hungry Ghost / Victoria Ying

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Hungry Ghost
By: Victoria Ying
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 208
Published: April 25, 2023
Publisher: First Second
Dates Read: May 10, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: Disorder eating (bulimia), fatphobia, body-shaming, depictions of vomiting, purging, loss of parent, grief, verbally abusive parent

Hungry Ghost follows Valerie Chu while she deals with disordered eating in her senior year of high school when tragedy strikes her family.

I’m in love with the color palette of this entire novel – which, along with muted pastels and adorable, expressive lines makes the story all the more heartbreaking when it’s about a young woman struggling with her relationship with food and with her mother.

It was also interesting to me to be able to see the dynamics of a culture where there’s always good food, and also over-emphasize women being thin.

This is a painful read. The author did an amazing job at both showing and describing the struggles that Val is going through with her illness. People will feel seen after reading this. And those who aren’t dealing with the same struggles, will hopefully be able to have a deeper understanding after finishing this book.

I’ll be recommending this book for sure, but it will come with the Trigger Warnings attached. Take care of yourself.

Daughters of Snow and Cinders / Núria Tamarit, Jenna Allen (Translator)Daughters of Snow and Cinders /

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Daughters of Snow and Cinders
By: Núria Tamarit, Jenna Allen (Translator)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 216
Published: May 9, 2023 (1st Published May 4, 2022)
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Dates Read: May 3, 2023 - May 4, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Fleeing her fire and war-torn homeland, Joana travels to the New World in search of gold to rebuild her life. Along the way she meets friends, foes, and an unlikely companion who may turn into her good luck charm. But the men in this New World are greedy and bloodthirsty for gold and along with a fearsome beast that’s lurking in the shadows, Joana has a lot to look out for if she wants to return home.

The themes of this graphic novel are of nature and protecting and living among/with it, human violence and what colonization has done to the plant.

The art of this is beautiful and interesting. I first saw this book as an ARC, so it was in black and white, and even then I knew I needed to read it in full color. Also, I’m a sucker for three legged animals and Peg had my heart within seconds, so I knew I needed to know her adventure.

I can see myself recommending this ecofeminist graphic novel to quite a few people.

*Thank you Fantagraphics and Edelweiss+ for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Queen in Comics! / Emmanuel Marie, Sophie Blitman

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Queen in Comics!
By: Emmanuel Marie, Sophie Blitman
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 176
Published: May 3, 2023
Publisher: NBM Publishing
Dates Read: May 2, 2023 - May 3, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

The history and making of the world famous band, Queen, in graphic novel form.

This is a great graphic novel about the highlights of the band Queen’s journey.

I enjoyed having bits in graphic novels and then covers in regular text format – it allowed me to read and get more about the band than one tends to get while reading a graphic novel.

Queen is one of my mom’s favorite bands, so it was nice to kind of read up on them more to see their history. Freddie Mercury is a legend.

*Thank you NBM Publishing for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Wynd, Book One: The Flight of the Prince / James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas

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Wynd, Book One: The Flight of the Prince
By: James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 256
Published: May 11, 2021 (1st Published June 17, 2020)
Publisher: BOOM! Box
Dates Read: April 19, 2023 - April 20, 2023
Format: eBook

Wynd works out of sight in the secret rooms beneath the floorboards at the local tavern in Pipetown in Esseriel. He dreams of being “normal” and meeting the castle’s groundskeeper he spies on working. But Wynd has pointy ears, a sign of the magical blood that runs through him. Usually his shaggy hair could hide them, but recently they’ve grown bigger and are now harder to hide.

Following a series of events, now Wynd, joined by his best friend Oakley and two others, must set off on a journey to discover the magic in the world outside the walls of Esseriel and, most important, the magic within himself.

So, I kind of found this book on random while on my library’s Hoopla account – but I’ve always enjoyed James Tynion IV’s work and usually give his stuff a go. This is definitely different from his works like Something Is Killing the Children or The Closet – on the complete opposite end really, but I loved it so much.

I have a feeling the little group that has formed in this first book is shaping up to be a found family and that is absolutely one of my favorite troupes!

The art in this is beautiful and the color pallet just makes everything pop and stand out.

This is definitely going to be one I will start recommending to others and you can bet I’m going to be reading Book Two as soon as possible!

Who Owns the Clouds? / Mario Brassard

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Who Owns the Clouds?
By: Mario Brassard, Gérard DeBoid (translator)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 100
Published: January 10, 2023 (1st Published May 1, 2021)
Dates Read: April 14, 2023
Format: Hardcover

Even though it’s been years and Mila is no longer a child, she still holds memories of a childhood torn apart by war. But even with those memories, Mila has a hard time distinguishing between what was a dream versus reality – especially the lines that her and her family stood in – and the clouds…

What a beautifully drawn, heart wrenching graphic novel originally in French, now in English.

There’s not a lot of text in this – it’s almost like a picture book, but with spooky, thought-provoking art about a childhood in war. But then, you’ve got text like this:

“Maybe memories are like clouds. Some, lighters, float high above; others are darker, weighing heavily on our shoulders for a long time, until the day we’re finally ready to let them fly”

Beautiful and highly recommended.

*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Last of Us: American Dreams / Neil Druckmann, Faith Erin Hicks, Rachelle Rosenberg

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The Last of Us: American Dreams
By: Neil Druckmann, Faith Eric Hicks, Rachelle Rosenberg
Genre: Graphic Novel, Horror
Number of Pages: 104
Published: July 31, 2013
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Dates Read: March 6, 2023
Format: eBook

Set before the video game, The Last of Us: American Dream follows Ellie as her friendship with Riley blossoms at her new military boarding school.

As I’m sure a lot of people are doing right now with the series finale of the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us I grabbed the graphic novel to give it a read.

It’s too short! I kind of wish there was more – especially since I’ve fallen in love with this series and now want to consume everything about it (including hopefully playing the game too). I wish there were more graphic novels to showcase other characters’ back stories!

The art of this shows the actions and movements clearly – even when something happened quickly, it was shown easily.

It’s a prequel to the video game and does differ from the show.

Bea Wolf / Zach Weinersmith

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The cover of graphic novel "Bea Wolf" with a little girl with a teddy bear head with cape on as she stands on a golden stack of sweets and treats and stuffed animals
Bea Wolf
By: Zach Weinersmith
Genre: Graphic Novel, Middle Grade
Number of Pages: 208
Published: March 21, 2023
Publisher: First Second
Dates Read: February 27, 2023 - February 28, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

In this middle grade retelling of Beowulf, a gang of troublemaking kids must defend their treehouse fort, Treeheart, from a boring, fun-hating adult, Grindle who can turn the kids into boring teens and adults with just a touch of his finger.

Just going to start this off with the claim that I don’t believe I ever read Beowulf – there may have been a time in high school when I should have read it when we were in the unit of classics, but I tended to fight against being told what to read at that time.

I wanted to read this one graphic novel because of the cover – I immediately fell in love with the little girl on the cover. The illustrations were gorgeous and beautiful to look at and that’s what kept my attention the most.

Since this was a retelling, Zach Weinersmith used the formatting and style methods from the original Beowulf, which they talk about at the end in a note (which I was laughing at their call out to being either a librarian or a future writer as to why exactly you were reading a super long note written by the author in the first place)

This will be a different reading style for Middle Grade readers, but I believe once they get started on reading it, they will get the rhythm of it and they’ll fly through it in no time with giggles erupting with every page.

Bea Wolf is fun for everyone, all ages will be laughing at the shenanigans of the kids from Treeheart and their allies.  

*Thank you NetGalley and First Second for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Fangs / Sarah Andersen

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Fangs
By: Sarah Andersen
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 100
Published: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Dates Read: February 25, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Elsie is a three hundred year old vampire who meets Jimmy, a werewolf, at a bar. Fangs follows their relationship filled with cuteness and humor. 

I don’t know how I went this long without reading this graphic novel, as I love Sarah Andersen.

Each page was its own scene and this is such an adorable book filled with the cutesy, cheesy relationship of a vampire and a werewolf sprinkled in with humor of the stereotypes of the two.

The art was simple, but still amazing, like the rest of Andersen’s style. It made me giggle and smile seeing Elsie and Jimmy being together.

Definitely recommend this book, especially those who have read Andersen’s novels and comics before – you won’t be disappointed.