I picked this up from the new graphic novels shelf at my library because of the title, which I assumed to be some kind of punk rebellion story. It is I picked this up from the new graphic novels shelf at my library because of the title, which I assumed to be some kind of punk rebellion story. It is actually a coming-of-age story about an Israeli woman who grew up on a settlement within an Orthodox community and family. The central theme seems to be her rejection of her religion, in conjunction with her exploration of sex, body image, alcohol, tattoos, all the things her family and faith would strenuously reject.
Givne there's a violent war on, I wish she might have spoken to the fact that she grew up on contested territory, as this is released in 2024. The publisher's description of the book speaks of her having lived in "a region split by religious tensions and sometimes violent conflict," but she largely skirts these issues compared to the time she spends on sex and religion. She doesn't focus too much on her family, either, really, though she dedicates the book to her parents (but that title must have rattled their conservative foundations a bit? Ouch, for them).
Sherman-Friedman seems like a talented artist; I'll read other things she does, likely....more
Published late July 2024; read early through Net Galley early July.
I think I first encountered the work of Vincent Van Gogh when my parents took me aPublished late July 2024; read early through Net Galley early July.
I think I first encountered the work of Vincent Van Gogh when my parents took me and my sister on yearly trips to Chicago, always visiting the Chicago Art Institute. My mother's favorite area was the museum's great Impressionist works, where I would see Van Gogh's paintings--his angular bedroom, his self portraits, his fields and flowers and so on. Then in high school there was Don McLean's "Vincent": "I could have loved you, Vincent; this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you."
I also in high school read Irving Stone's popular Lust for Life about him and over the years read much about him, many biographies; I have collections of his art work, and as I still live in the Chicago area I go there from time to time. When I was in Amsterdam in the seventies I visited the Van Gogh museum for the first time. I was, as millions have been, intrigued, fascinated by his story of genius and madness. At one time I read a selection of the Theo-Vincent letters.
So I wasn't expecting to learn anything new here, just dipping into a familiar story. Simon Elliot draws on works he cites in the appendix, including a biography of Jo, Vincent's loving brother Theo's wife, an unassuming English teacher who became forever known to and thanked by the art world for promoting Vincent's art work in Europe and the US. The story is told from her perspective, showing us the familiar aspects of his life--his massive production in spite of his life being cut short by suicide and impeded by psychiatric struggles, religious obsession, crazy fixations on various women, connections to other artists, and especially, his close relationship to Theo. Theo also died young, heartbroken about his brother's death,. They named their son Vincent, who joined his mother in promoting his uncle's artwork everywhere.
This is not a graphic novel, but a beautifully illustrated biography, straightforward story, great painting of a painter's life.
Thanks for the early look from artist and author Simon Elliot (nice work, man!), the publisher Frances Lincoln/Quarto and Net Galley. The book's official pub date is August 4, 2024....more
Original early review thanks to Net Galley 5/12/24: I love it that the veteran Deans, the veritable GOATS, of Crime Comics, Released officially 9/3/24
Original early review thanks to Net Galley 5/12/24: I love it that the veteran Deans, the veritable GOATS, of Crime Comics, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, with colorist Jacob Phillips, having established their niche in comics history, have decided to try something different, eighties horror, in their stand-alone graphic novel, Houses of the Unholy. Okay, their Fatale can be characterized as horror, with its femme fatale and monsters and mystery, and one volume of that series, subtitled The Devil’s Business, actually deals in part with Satanic Cults. And their series, To Kill or Be Killed, just may feature a demon, depending on your reading of the story. But Houses is a full frontal dark (to match our even darker times?) foray into the world of Satanic Cults, and a departure from their ongoing Criminal series.
The work is still recognizably Brubaker and Phillips: The writing is terrific, with twists and turns, the story proceeding out of text boxes (and illustration) throughout. And it does still involve crime. The art is obviously the father-son Phillips team, and yet they are trying a different tone, a different style, different colors, to fit the different genre, and a crazier story.
Natalie Burns was one of six kids in her community accusing adults of satanic rituals and abuse--there were actually something like 12,000 cases against adults, ruining many lives, so it really was a kind of panic--when she was little. Now she makes up for it by working as a PI rescuing kids from cults. But an ex-FBI agent comes to her to tell her that of the 6 original accusers, two are dead, and she is in now in danger. The plot involves her brother, too, and it all goes crazy, turning in on itself. Maybe a little too crazy for me, but hey, this is the genre, too! Eighties horror was always as crazy/silly as it was jump scary.
This book looks to the past with reference to The Salem Witch Trials with its focus on the conspiracy theory of 1692-3 that led to the murder of many good people in a small community. All dismissed as lies afterwards. See, too, Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, for a story of the trials, written as an analogy to the early 1950’s commie “witch hunt” led in part by Senator Joseph McCarthy. This comic also makes reference to eighties and nineties cults and their insane leaders drawing victims into their hysterical muck and mire.
It also looks to the present, too, as all good horror does, in referencing the damaging effects of conspiracy theories in 2024 society.
Of course the Satanic Panic is not an original theme, with lots of folks writing about it, from Grady Hendrix to Stranger Things to you name it. But this is a fine addition to the bunch, so no big complaint here. It has a kind of hysterical over-the-top-ness to the conclusion that is both dark and a tribute to the horror genre, so it was both scary and fun. I get it that tastes will differ.
*The title, kids, is a reference to Led Zeppelin’s 1973 album, Houses of the Holy. You're welcome.
Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics and the authors (who are not actually my personal friends though I nevertheless want to have a beer with them; sure, I’ll buy!) for an advanced copy of Houses of the Unholy in exchange for an honest review....more
Lunar New Year Love Story (2024) is my first five star graphic novel of 2024, and will be a hit for the two creators, writer Gene Luen Yang (American Lunar New Year Love Story (2024) is my first five star graphic novel of 2024, and will be a hit for the two creators, writer Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and illustrator Leeuyen Pham. I predict lots of awards, It’s long for a YA book, and may actually lean to the typical audience of these creators, middle grades, but it is rich and beautiful.
Valentina Tran was named after Valentine's Day, so her invisible friend is the cute Cupid icon, until he morphs into an actual (guess) at the spooky, ghostly figure of the original Saint Valentine. It’s a romance, no surprise, but it also explores issues of culture, faith, and across Chinese, Vietnamese (Tet) and Korean cultural celebrations of the Lunar New Year. There’s a lot of research that was done here, including a trip to see a statue of St. Valentine in Italy, and looking at how the Korean lion dance works with the Biblical story of martyrs facing down lions. We have two potential love interests, cousins Leslie and Jae, we have a kooky bff, we have kooky Korean Uncle and kooky Grandma and sadsack sweet Dad. There’s lots of funny bits--the Feng Shui Yogurt Shop, lots of funny nerd boyfriends.
But above all there is the celebration of the Lunar New Year, and the Lion Dance, with lots of colorful illustrations. A 2024 YA Graphic novel event celebrating love, family and Asian culture, yay! You wanna see it?
Hurrah! Great idea to release a 20-year-anniversary edition for one of the greatest graphic novels in history. The added, process pages and early sketHurrah! Great idea to release a 20-year-anniversary edition for one of the greatest graphic novels in history. The added, process pages and early sketches and added notes are a kind of gift to readers new and continuing,. I have taught this book many times and will again. A YA text, 624 pages, that to life it seems overwhelmingly War and Peace, but has a warmth and intimacy one might associate with a favorite book of poems. Many pages of this midwest novel are swirling images of trees and snow and blankets that in the way of all visual art speaks volumes of emotions, both anguished and sweet. I highly recommend it. First love in conflict with the conservative religion the mc was raised in. Passionate spirituality and a commitment to art.
Faith/religion is a very personal thing. To the non-believer, most religions seem crazy, led by delusional, autocratic leaders, guided by seminal textFaith/religion is a very personal thing. To the non-believer, most religions seem crazy, led by delusional, autocratic leaders, guided by seminal texts with often questionable content. I grew up in a church in part guided by the teachings of John Calvin, and attended Calvin College, a small college associated with the (Dutch) Christian Reformed Church. Having left that church and that religion more than half my life ago, it is tempting for me to enumerate all the ways it seemed to the non-Calvinist world (including me, now) insane, or at the very least misguided, focused on total depravity predestination and so on.
Growing up in a religion--I was required to go to church for services twice on Sunday, and my parents in the previous generation went three times, the middle service entirely in Dutch--and a descendant of the theologian Abraham Kuyper, I was steeped in religion, and part of the process of creating a religion seems to me staking out theological territory that delineates right religion from wrong religion. So in my religion all other religions were seen as lacking, including Mormonism, also known as the Church of Latter Day Saints. We were introduced to Joseph Smith in World Religion classes--to his visions, his "divine inspiration" to create a sort of competing religious text to the Bible, his divine decree to establish polygamy as God's Will--as a kind of fraud. Calvin was seen by my religious community as rational and devout and Smith--who was killed by an angry mob in 1844 at the young age of 38--as insane, but to others, atheists, both were and are seen as ludicrous, I suppose.
I say all that to acknowledge and respect what I take to be Noah Van Sciver's magnum opus, Joseph Smith and the Mormons, his most ambitious project, accomplished at more than 400 pages over decades. Van Sciver was led out of the Mormon religion by his mother, who divorced Van Sciver's Mormon father, so he spent his life wondering about Smith and whether Mormonism might have been the way to go for him. So it's personal, and detailed, and in it he tries to be objective, not commenting on the story he tells in graphic novel or biographical fashion, with lots of notes and an afterword.
To say the story is, for non-religious types, especially, a kind of slog is to understate the experience. Unless you are Mormon, you won't care to read the fine print of Mormon history. The art is among his best ever, but the story could have been accomplished in half the time to get at the essence of Smith's life and ideas. And his wife! This is by my count the fourth nineteenth-century book Van Sciver has illustrated and/or written: his book The Hypo, about Lincoln; a book about Johnny Appleseed; a book about the socialist politician Eugene Debs, and this book on Smith, and my collected impression is that these books are text-heavy, strange, focused on pretty wacky folks (sorry) on the whole. Compared to his humorous and/or touching books such as Saint Cole and Fante Bukowski, these historical books are deadly serious, completely without humor, and comparatively dull. But give Van Sciver credit for his ambition to come to terms with Smith and the religion in which he had been raised. I can see why others might five this five stars, as his masterpiece....more
I read Liana Finck's Passing for Human and am familiar with her work in The New Yorker, so picked this up the other day, in part because my eyes focusI read Liana Finck's Passing for Human and am familiar with her work in The New Yorker, so picked this up the other day, in part because my eyes focused on the attractive cover. This book is a more than 300-page adaptation of the Book of Genesis with God as a woman (which is of course not an original idea, but it's well done here, both humorous and insightful). Finck is respectful of the "original" that she read as the first book of the Torah, so her version is both whimsical and thought-provoking on this book's tales of Earth's and humankind's beginnings, our difference from other animals, and all the familiar stories in it.
It's a longish book, and way complicated, just as any translation of Genesis must be. I own Robert Crumb's The Book of Genesis, which includes every single word from the King James version of the Bible. Fundamentalists say every single word is literally true, and better to read than any other books on the planet, and it is a good collection of sometimes didactic, sometimes bizarre, but nevertheless interesting and instructive tales. Crumb was in part responding to the humorous assertion from some Christians who want to censor all sorts of books for excessive sex and violence and crazy flights of fancy. Read the Holy Bible! That's the one! Sure, read Genesis to your children, go ahead, and see if you can take this pastiche from different texts that is Genesis and make it into a sweet and straightforward tale. Whoa! Talk about sex and violence!
However, Finck does not get all graphic here about either the sex or the violence. She makes it clear that women are ignored or abused through the book, but seeing it all through the lens of God-as-Woman makes it for her more palatable and relatable. Finck says in her afterword that she hopes her book gives people the encouragement to develop for themselves a relatable version of God. Is this what when I grew up they called "relativism," as in make-the-Bible-say-whatever-it-is-you-want-it-to-say so you can justify your own behavior? No, Linck just thinks you can't believe in a God you can't relate to.
The "begats" are always a challenge in these early books. So much begatting! And the men seem to begat men, since there is no mention of women (so the illustration of men giving birth out of different parts of their bodies is amusing). So do you like reading about Noah and God's angry destruction of all the humans on the planet (except Noah and his wife) and most of the animals as punishment? Yeah, okay, you can have that story and make a picture book out of it (as people have!). But what about Noah's wife?! And the men in this book such as Noah who live to 950 years old?! Literally true? Old math vs new math? But hey, I want to find out the name of Noah's personal trainer!
In the end, Finck both 1) doesn't encourage you to take all of Genesis as literally true, though 2) it gives a fairly standard rendition of the core of the book, seen through a (softly, respectfully) feminist lens. The art is wonderfully light and colorful and engaging. One of the best comics works of the year....more
I just read a book about a woman's obsession with True Crime, and this graphic collection by a variety of artists had kind of a similar effect on me. I just read a book about a woman's obsession with True Crime, and this graphic collection by a variety of artists had kind of a similar effect on me. Yeah, my eyes have always strayed to these kinds of stories in the paper. And I know about all of them, from Charles Manson to Keith Raniere. One story is about a 1690 cult, but it is clear this country (the USA) has always had people falling prey to these crazy ideas and people. And yes, many of them are led by men who prey on women. Like slowing down for a train wreck. One conventional religious one they include is Orthodox Judaism, but there are extremist elements in almost every religion, seems to me. Why steer away from Christian fundamentalism, or radical factions of other religions?
So there are short stories in this graphic about all these cults, and one begins to wonder what it all adds up to. Can we connect this to present Q-Anon-driven politics or the scams that lead people to drink horse dewormer versus following sounder medical practice and science? And the long tradition of gullible humans giving their money to scammers of all kinds, sometimes religious folks promising the End of the World. But to be honest, many religious practices seem crazy to non-religious types, (baptism, the Eucharist, virgin birth and so on) though these religious practices may not stoop to the level of a cult. But there's no concluding essay or reflection, something to help us really understand what this phenomenon is about, so I'll look elsewhere for something that brings it all together. Something that explains how gullible people can be....more
A coming-of-age graphic novel about fifteen-year-old Lauren, growing up in a conservative religious environment at the turn of the century, and it hitA coming-of-age graphic novel about fifteen-year-old Lauren, growing up in a conservative religious environment at the turn of the century, and it hit pretty close to home for me growing up in a similarly restrictive environment. Lauren is not allowed to read books on Evolution, she hates her body, and she is very much guided by her parents and their evangelical church in all things. There's humor in the gross/creepy teachers, and then there's a kind of exploratory relationship with Mariah, who she is assigned to do a report with. Mariah is Wiccan and kinda punk and in a couple of sleepovers gives a kind of wild makeover and then makes out with Mariah. Lauren likes it, but then later regrets this, internalizing some well-ingrained church-based homophobia.
The title refers to Christian "rave" events sponsored by Lauren's church where girls are encouraged to dance with boys, but not too provocatively, and so on. The assumption that boys andmen are in charge of girls/women comes through pretty clearly. There's some funny moments, and some outrage at the serious and confusing restrictions Lauren experiences, but ultimately there's a lot of melancholy. I know the Canadian Campbell studied with Jeffrey Brown at the Chicago Art Institute, so I think I can see his influence a bit on her sketchy style. This is the second book I have read from her....more
I really liked this National Book award nominee a lot. The art is lively and the dialogue is even livelier. Amanda (Mads) is a student at a small CathI really liked this National Book award nominee a lot. The art is lively and the dialogue is even livelier. Amanda (Mads) is a student at a small Catholic high school and she is part of a devout Catholic family. The book is attractively framed by a series of head shots of the seven boys and one girl she had at that point kissed (which reminded me of Mari Naomi's Kiss and Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22). The eighth kiss was by far the most dramatic for her, as her family has a history of denouncing their transgendered grandfather. They are decidedly trans-and homophobic, but guess which way Mads is leaning at this point. (Yeah, and the best kiss was with Laura, though Laura was not into it. Mads kissed (and more) Adam, Laura’s brother, but eh, no electricity. Maybe her friend Cat?
Get this: Amanda’s best friend is her Dad, who is way fun, but also, unfortunately, hates the whole range of glbtq humans as immoral. Until Mads comes out, using the family history to in part address the issue. I like the q part of the process, her exploring what she wants, who she is, and even after she comes out she crushes on a gay boy and sure enough, kisses him. We also get pictures of other boys and girls she kisses, too, at the end. Mads’s sexual identity seems fluid at this still early point.
Like I said, lively, brings the energy, great dialogue, good and ultimately positive, queer-affirming story. It takes its sweet time getting going, but the sweetness wins you over, ultimately. ...more
Belzebubs is this cute little book collection of the every day family life of, not Dennis the Menace, but a black metal band. It answers the question Belzebubs is this cute little book collection of the every day family life of, not Dennis the Menace, but a black metal band. It answers the question you were dying to know: What happens when teen occultists wearing death-mask face paint and spouting Satanist cult ideas fall in love, get actually married, and raise a family?? The dad is Soth and the mom Lucyfer. The kids are Lilith and Leviathan. What does adolescent resistance look like in such a family? Right, a daughter prays at the table, insisting they all “say grace”! And so on. Cute, black (of course) and white, pretty funny....more
Kind of a goofy tale about a kid, Benjamin, who is interfaith--Jewish and Catholic--and treated differently in school because of this. He learns from Kind of a goofy tale about a kid, Benjamin, who is interfaith--Jewish and Catholic--and treated differently in school because of this. He learns from his father that being Jewish is almost akin to being a super-hero, so he has ethnic pride in that side of his family. Heonce wears a cape to school and announces, proudly, "I'm Jewish. Like Superman!" Goofy art style, mildly amusing, maybe helpful to those kids who are interfaith and struggling with that aspect of their identity.
The title is a little confusing, maybe. If you have read superhero comics you may be aware that Superman was created by two Jews, and there has been some theorizing about some possibly Jewish aspects of his identity. Superman isn't Jewish, though, no. And Benjamin learns he is not superhuman, either, as he tries to figure out how to honor both his mother's and father's faiths. ...more
The girl in this story, Marcine, is highly influenced by her worries about sanpaku, and she follows this macrobiotic guru to try and make sure she is not cursed by it:
It’s a more-dark-than-light pen-and-ink drawn comic, a coming-of-age story that touches on Catholicism, superstition, Filipino culture, shoplifting, macrobiotics/health, family. Quirky. I didn’t love it, but it is interesting, about the vulnerability of youth and being led to act on strange ideas one encounters. I thought of that book The Girls (Cline) and how one can be led down strange roads, drinking that kool-aid of the moment....more
In the close to 70 glbtq graphic memoirs and fiction I have read in the past couple years, very few deal with the faith complications that coming out In the close to 70 glbtq graphic memoirs and fiction I have read in the past couple years, very few deal with the faith complications that coming out can entail. As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gilman was one I recall. I think most of them assume that when you come out you also come clean out of your (conservative) religious background that condemns you as gay sinner. This book is an exception to that rule: Nichols is nearly crushed by his sense of himself as sinner, but never gives up on his faith in God, and finds flocks--church and otherwise that will love and support him. He's gracious, expecting grace.
L. Nichols, "born" (or is it assigned?), Laura, is never comfortable in his body, and a familiar story of coming out is told, in the context of a (conservative) Southern Baptist seventies upbringing. It's a pretty straightforwardly told tale, though it is repetitive in its depiction of the struggles, something I associate with its being adapted from the webcomic Nichols constructed over the years. This could have been thinned down. We know people are often narrow-minded and even gay-bashing, especially true of the Louisiana he describes growing up in the seventies, and we know The Church in this time largely saw being gay as sinful, but we hear this again and again in this book. I suppose it's like a nightmare he can't wake up from, an echo he hears every day. But I think if I had not also just read the lyrical and poetic Passing For Human by Liana Finck I might have appreciated this more. I felt like more time could have been spent on the unique aspects of Nichols's positive engagements with religion that keep him in the faith. So there's repetitions, and there's gaps about relationships he develops Some stuff just seems missing in the story.
These support groups, friends, the church, some of her family, are his "flocks," and this is a cool and important idea. I also liked Nichols's fun and colorful illustrations, that invite all readers in. But the main audience for this seventies (largely) coming-of-age story might be young people, encouraging them to become the selves they were meant to be (and yes, he's still a Christian at the end)....more
Melanie Gillman's unique webcomic turned paperback about a queer (but I only learned this for sure from the cover, because it wasn’t obvious throughouMelanie Gillman's unique webcomic turned paperback about a queer (but I only learned this for sure from the cover, because it wasn’t obvious throughout) black (though her Dad appears to be white) teenager on a backpacking trip with what appears to be an all-white, cis-gendered Christian feminist organization. The teen, Charlotte, or Charlie, eventually finds that other girls also feel sometimes marginalized by the women leaders. Though I personally don’t see it as deeply disrespectful to either Christians or mainstream white feminists, there is a critique here of white feminism, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other hand, for not being more inclusive of people of color, or lgbtq folks. It's about and for teens, YA.
These critiques we have been reading about for decades, but are still relevant to Charlie, who seems to be very sensitive to exclusionary language use and some historical references. Mortified by them, and unable to connect to anyone, as a result. I said I didn't think the critiques here are scathing, but if we are meant to really feel this comic is critical of Christianity, or feminism, we may have Sydney to thank, as she gets uncomfortable whenever the leader shares her feminist tales. Whenever she speaks, actually. Because the leader pushes an anti-patriarchal agenda, but Charlie doesn't seem to care about this, particularly. She's concerned not that women are excluded by the male power structure, but that queer girls are excluded from such discussions.
Over time we see that Charlie is not completely alone; there is a trans woman, Sydney, she befriends, who also sees herself as isolated and alienated, and they bond in their silent resistance. The leader appears to be of mixed race, half Navaho, but we don't yet know what to do with this fact; maybe the "point" (and this is a book trying to make points, for sure, more than tell a story) is that even bicultural women can be insensitive or clueless?
This ends abruptly, as we are not quite at the summit of the mountain, and the Christian women’s retreat that is their goal, and a little investigation reveals that this is intended as at least a two part series. I like as I always like pages with fewer words, where we get to see natural settings. The silent landscapes, colored with colored pencils, are my favorite parts of this book, but the cartoony renditions of the girls and women are just okay for me. Though it is not yet clear what the natural world means to Charlie (she seems mainly annoyed by it, as she is everything else), a crow/feather seems to symbolically guide her in her separate experience of the trek. This may get clearer in the next volume, I’m not sure.
This is a book about intersectionality, very consciously so, though I am not sure exactly so far what it will have to say about that. I thought it was pretty good, the story focusing on two “border” girls, thoughtful, just fine. I'm (a little, not much) curious if Charlie and Sydney will get more tolerant and accepting of the leader; or if she will get more sensitive to their needs.
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