Finding the relationship you need is a nourishing experience. Even more so when food is involved. A comforting slice-of-life manga, She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat volume 1, is about two neighbors bonding over food and cultivating a new caring space for each other.
Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times: Intended Audience and Its Role in the Commentary of Victimhood
Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew Maclean is one of the best graphic novels I’ve read. When folks ask me what my recommendations are for their next read, it is always at the top of the list — especially when those folks have a young adult daughter as there are not enough…
Revenge is the Abyss that Stares Back in Violation (2020)
Content Warning: Discussions of sexual assault and graphic violence.
Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin Examines A Civil Rights Hero
Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin Émilie Plateau (Writer and Artist), Montana Kane (Translation), Cromatik Ltd. (Letters) Dargaud (French), Europe Comics (English) April 17, 2019 Disclaimer: Izneo has provided WWAC with a VIP Access Pass. Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin had done the…
Book Beat: Rowling’s Retroactive Inclusion and The Emilia Report
Hello, readers! And welcome back to Book Beat, our weekly roundup of book news and literary curiosities. This week, I’ve got some Harry Potter frustrations and a report on gender bias.
Dead Girls Explores A Dark American Cultural Obsession
Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession Alice Bolin HarperCollins Publishers June 26, 2018 I admit, when I first saw Alice Bolin’s Dead Girls on display at my local library, I was both repulsed and attracted. As much as I like a good thriller or any female-centric story, I’m tired of trendy book titles…
John, Dear is a Stunningly Well-Crafted Comic about Abusive Relationships
John, Dear Laura Lannes Retrofit Comics September 2018 Content warning: This comic depicts an abusive relationship and abuse is discussed in the review. John, Dear by Laura Lannes is not an easy comic to read. In terms of construction and artistry, it should be; Lannes uses holes and a physical body’s literal descent into emptiness…
The Complete The Killer: The Craft of Pasting Ethics Over Action
The Complete The Killer Matz and Luc Jacamon, translated by Matz and Edward Gauvin, with lettering by Marshall Dillon (Chapters 1-10) and Deron Bennett (Chapters 11-13) Archaia for BOOM! Studios The Complete The Killer (RRP $39.99) is unbelievably long. Unreasonably, as a PDF—my internet’s not great, but even so—it took a full hour to load…
Gunblast Girls Review: A Distressingly Problematic Space Romp
Gunblast Girls Volume 1: In Your Face, Loser! Crisse (Writer and Artist), Besson (Colours) Le Lombard April 18, 2018 Mercenary Zdenka has a job to finish which will leave her wealthy beyond her imagination. But to complete her mission she needs help and not just from the Gunblast Girls, her crew. Zdenka already has the…
Jessica Campbell’s XTC69 gives the Middle Finger to Misogyny and Transphobia
XTC69 Jessica campbell Koyama Press May 2018 Sometimes, when I feel buried under a flood of stress both in my personal life and from the general state of the world, I want to consume media that just makes me feel joy. I need to smile and laugh, to step out from under the weight of…
Sisco #1: You’re in the Danger Zone
Sisco #1 Thomas Legrain (artist), Benec (writer), Peng Weng and Studio 9 (colorist) Europe Comics June 2017 In an era when comics are becoming more diverse and the stories told more creative, I find it fascinating how some cling ever tighter to the same stories of the past. With Sisco, I hoped for something new. Instead, I…
Hipster Manga: Angel Heart
Although it’s only half the name of the series, “heart” is literally at the center of the long-running manga Angel Heart by Tsukasa Hojo. (Literally-literally, not figuratively-literally.) It’s both a story of a transplanted heart and the code name of a young assassin aptly named Glass Heart. After a particularly gut-wrenching kill, Glass Heart decides…
