The sequel to Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword picks up where the previous book left off — but in such a way that it stands alone perfectly well. Mirka is still 11 years old, still headstrong and determined and seeking meaning in her life she isn’t ready for yet. She has a sword, but since she’s grounded, she’s got no chance to use it. When she tries to bully the troll into teaching her more about sword-fighting, he summons […]

Nathan Hale (artist of the recommended graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge) tells true tales of American history in the new Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, aimed at kids looking for excitement and humor. The publisher promises “history’s roughest, toughest, and craziest stories in the graphic novel format”, and that’s what Hale provides. The first, One Dead Spy, focuses on the author’s namesake, Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War spy famous for the quote, “I regret that I have but one life to […]

The story of a young woman finding herself as an artist while adapting to life in the big city has been told before, but never so well or in so graphically interesting a fashion as in Page by Paige. Paige has moved with her parents to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, and she’s feeling lonely and unsure of herself. She misses her friends and a more natural setting and feels she can’t be truly herself in this new situation. […]

I’ve always adored Jason Shiga‘s puzzle comics, most recently Meanwhile…, but I wasn’t as big a fan of his more straightforward story comics (Double Happiness and Bookhunter). Until now. Empire State manages to take a genre I found annoying and played out — the young man finding himself through failed romance — and make it freshly successful. Jimmy and Sara were best friends (and fellow misanthropes) in Oakland, but Sara’s moved to New York for a publishing internship. Jimmy decides […]

The cover claims 3,856 possibilities in this “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style comic by Jason Shiga, and I can believe it. Unfortunately, the introduction to Meanwhile warns us “most will end in doom and disaster” (also like the CYOA novels) and only one path will “lead you to happiness and success”. On the bright side, that means lots of re-read and play value as the reader tries to figure out the best choices. Jimmy winds up in a mad scientist’s laboratory […]

Or, as the subtitle has it, “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl”. The important piece there is the last, because what makes this graphic novel by Barry Deutsch so remarkable is its combination of folkloric adventure with the authentic, respectful portrayal of that particular culture. Mirka chafes against the knitting and other homecrafts in which her stepmother Fruma aims to train her. She’s an agressive, argumentative back-talker, too smart for her own good and her place in a traditional […]

Mom’s Cancer deservedly won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic (the debut of that award category). Now, collected in hardcover, it launches the Abrams Image line of illustrated and art books. Brian Fies created Mom’s Cancer when his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. It captures how he and his sisters dealt with her treatment in an affecting, honest fashion. Although a very personal story, it is also universal in its lessons about the search for answers, the […]