I don’t really know how to sum up Young Agatha Christie. It’s got a number of interesting features, and together they make for an enjoyable read, but I would never have predicted all of them in the same graphic novel. It’s by William Augel, translated by Benjamin Croze, and published by Humanoids. Some of the full-page, nine-panel comic strips feature a morbid girl, as when she has one doll give another arsenic at a tea party. These have the humor […]

Andy Warner, the author of the entertaining popular history Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, returns with a similar, animal-focused book, Andy Warner’s Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets. Readers discover when and how certain animals were domesticated and some of the beliefs held about them. Some of the animals are eaten, some die in war, some are pampered, some are fads. He’s divided this collection of interesting facts and explanations into three categories: “Creatures We Find Cute” goes beyond dogs, cats, […]

How to Win the War on Truth: An Illustrated Guide to How Mistruths Are Sold, Why They Stick, and How to Reclaim Reality covers, with copious illustrations, propaganda — what it is, well-known examples, and how to understand and avoid it. Related topics, such as public relations, implicit biases, and underlying economic motivations, come into play as well. It’s written by Samuel C. Spitale and illustrated by Allan Whincup. There’s a lot of information here. It’s all about showing readers […]

Julia Wertz’s latest autobiographical comic puts all the rest of them — Drinking at the Movies, Museum of Mistakes (to be rereleased next month), The Infinite Wait and Other Stories — into new context. Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story is 300-plus pages of deceptively simply, impressively readable comics about her finally acknowledging her alcoholism and how she decided to change her life. Her journey isn’t always inspiring or straightforward, but it’s honest and relatable. Wertz starts the book […]

The camp-themed S’More Magic is the latest entry in the ongoing Witches of Brooklyn graphic novel series by Sophie Escabasse. Effie is off to the woods for a summer camp for witches. There, she’ll find out whether she has a green thumb, meaning affinity with plant magic and a special connection with nature. The new setting allows for new characters. Her aunts (whom we got to know in the first book) and friends (second book) make small appearances, but the […]