Simple, sweet boy’s school romance. Charlie Spring was outed last year and is now openly gay, despite occasional bullying and shunning; his new seat partner Nick Nelson is a pure-hearted, friendly rugby player who wouldn’t understand subtext even if it was patiently pointed out to him. Meet-cute scenes ensue. Nothing complicated about this graphic novel, which is adorable from start to finish; the characters are weirdly (but refreshingly!) open and communicative with one another, which tends to stave off angst and drama.
Tag: type-graphic
Junior High, by Tegan and Sara
Super cute graphic novel of Tegan and Sara’s experiences in junior high, with each girl’s thoughts rendered in different colors to make it easy for the reader to follow along. The girls’ experiences are very relatable and smoothly rendered, with the problems of friend drama, puberty, crushes, and family expectations all clearly and sympathetically presented. The only hiccup for me was knowing that Tegan and Sara went to junior high around when I did, so I knew that their experience had been updated with cell phones and social media; it makes their story more relatable to the young but also reminds me of how different my own junior high experience was without these modern additions.
Fence: Striking Distance, by Sarah Rees Brennan
This reads like a fanfiction of a sports anime, which I guess it kind of is since it’s a novelization of the comic series originally by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad. (I haven’t read the original material either but from what I know of Pacat, I’m sure it’s quite faithful to the original.) The fencing is present but somewhat disappointingly muted; instead, the focus is on the characters and their stumbling, often-hilarious journey towards romance. Predictable sweetness, with occasional biting social commentary.
Batter Royale, by Liesl Adams
Cute little graphic novel about Rose, a young Canadian waitress who loves baking but can’t afford culinary school. One day a food critic tastes her baking and invites her to a reality show baking competition; of course she jumps right in. The book is definitely for younger folk; Rose’s sweetness is always rewarded, her antagonist is cartoonishly evil, any argument she has with her partner is swiftly resolved, and it’s amusing to think of how many lawsuits would be filed against the producers of the baking competition in the real world. A generally adorable read, interspersed with cheerfully illustrated recipes. I might even try to make some of the maple-infused desserts someday.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton
I picked up Ducks because it was nominated by Mattea Roach for the nationwide Canada Reads competition; I knew little else about it, and was surprised to find that a) it was an autobiographical comic, b) written by a Cape Breton native, who c) went to work in the Alberta oil sands, and d) began publishing the excellent webcomic Hark! A Vagrant during that time. To pay off her student loans, Beaton joined the masses from Atlantic Canada heading towards Alberta. The experience was extremely toxic, both for the environment (the title refers to a flock of ducks which died after landing in a tailings pond, causing much PR flailing) and for Beaton personally, who pitilessly details the harassment and misogynism that she faced as one of the very few women in the isolated environment, as well as the huge mental toll that it took on her. Although my own experience in male-dominated workplaces was nowhere near as bad, I still recognized many aspects of the casual workplace misogyny, as well as her unhappy, resigned tolerance of it which mirrored my own; I loved so much the clear-eyed way in which she presented it, even as it hurt to read. I also loved visiting both Cape Breton and Newfoundland as a tourist, and am embarrassed to say that I had no idea of the economic situation that drove so many of the locals to look for work elsewhere. The comics are simple, but poignant and very human; in one exchange, Beaton says to her truck driver from Newfoundland, “were you a fisherman, before?” He responds simply, “I’m still a fisherman. I’m just here.” And then the comic zooms out to show the pickup driving through the snowy mine, against a background of heavy equipment, a steep cliff face, and a black, empty sky.
LaGuardia, by Nnedi Okorafor, illustrated by Tana Ford
Written by Okorafor after a bad experience with the TSA, and after the Muslim ban was put in place, this graphic novel explores a world in which aliens have come to Nigeria and integrated into society, and in response the US puts a travel ban in place to block any immigration from Nigeria or other countries with alien citizens. As human and political xenophobia clash against protesters pleading for tolerance, a Nigerian-American doctor named Freedom is affected on a very personal level as she travels back to the US while smuggling a leafy alien refugee called Letme Live. None of the messaging is subtle, but the artwork and coloring are lush and beautiful and the story moves along nicely.
The Nameless City trilogy, by Faith Erin Hicks
The Nameless City trilogy consists of three books: The Nameless City, The Stone Heart, and The Divided Earth. The city in question has been conquered so many times that its name has been lost; its inhabitants merely put their heads down and just try to get by. Kaidu, an extremely unwarlike scion of the current occupiers, slowly gains the trust of a native girl who calls herself Rat, and soon the two find themselves at the center of a conflict that could destroy the city. The main characters were adorable and even the villains were deftly handled; the art style was simple and clean with great details, especially when it comes to illustrating the city itself. It’s theoretically for kids, but the complex character motivations and the themes of identity and belonging make it good reading material for adults as well.
This Place: 150 Years Retold
This is a collaborative graphic novel anthology, each story highlighting a person or a historical moment in the Indigenous people’s fight to survive in Canada. As the foreword says, each Indigenous story is a post-apocalyptic survival tale, which makes every Indigenous person a hero. Each contribution is prefaced with a timeline of events, unavoidable evidence of the government’s ongoing determination to stamp out Native cultures and Native people, and the stories shine a light on atrocities that the government would prefer to paper over, as well as on heroes that should be more widely celebrated. The book actually reminded me most of Four Hundred Souls, Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain’s collaborative history of African America; like that book, it draws an unmistakable line from the government’s first racist actions to those of today, and also leaves you awed by the strength of all those who fought and survived.
Pumpkin Heads, by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks
Super light and super cute, as sticky and sweet as a PSL. Friends who work a seasonal gig at a pumpkin patch try to drink in as much autumn joy as possible before saying goodbye to this stage of their lives. Full of the poignant endings of leaving high school and going to college. Love the characters’ unbridled joy in all things fall, and their unhesitating support for one another.