The American comic industry has always had a space for small, independent publishers, and I’m glad, because it means you can sometimes stumble across something like this. Wife Gets Smart, Makes Husband Happy: Supermarket Comic Strip Ads of World War II, compiled by Nat Gertler and published by his About Comics, is odd but strangely readable. Oh, not all at once — the messages are simple and repetitive. Yet there’s a compelling charm to how some anonymous advertising writer managed […]

It’s been forever since I’ve thought about John Kovalic’s Dork Tower. I read the comics in the early 2000s, when they were coming out as issues and collections, but it’s been more than 15 years since then. (I liked that they, for being a gamer comic, were still understandable to non-gamers. They were typical of the era, a bunch of guys with a token girl, but they talked about interpersonal interaction, not just collectibles, and they were likable enough. And […]

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a classic young adult novel, written over a hundred years ago. There’s something beautiful to the story about an orphan girl finding new family and friends through resurrecting a forgotten garden, but it’s also quite dated. (A bereaved child ignored? Someone sick and disabled simply being shut away? The foreboding housekeeper? Magical healing? The class issues?) Ivy Noelle Weir (Archival Quality) does a brilliant job adapting the familiar story into the modern […]

Queer as All Get Out combines two popular comic genres — graphic memoir and non-fiction biography — in outstanding fashion. Author Shelby Criswell lives in Texas. They cope with “unwanted attention for being visibly queer” by reflecting on the lives of ten people whose stories reveal different aspects of queer experience. I could identify with their mixed feelings about liking where they live but being discouraged by Southern intolerance. Their story, and this graphic novel, is a welcome reminder that […]

Sherlock Holmes International is the latest Holmes-themed Graphic Novel Adventure. These books are also games, choose-your-own-path comics where the reader gets to investigate crime scenes by turning to different panels. Witnesses are interrogated, with the reader only able to ask some of the set of questions. If they ask the wrong question, though, the suspect might get upset and refuse to answer. This volume contains three cases, with Sherlock Holmes accompanied by his brother Mycroft. Because of Mycroft’s government position, […]

Let’s Make Dumplings!, the comic book cookbook by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan, is incredibly thorough, which makes it ideal for a deep dive into a cuisine almost everyone loves: Asian dumplings. The book, illustrated in simple style but brimming with detail, is friendly in tone, as though the authors are keeping you company in the kitchen. The reader will learn legends, ingredients, equipment, and techniques, including how to fold different shapes and how to eat them. The recipe section […]

The Poorcraft Cookbook is an outstanding addition to the Poorcraft series. The original volume, which came out in 2012, had a handful of recipes (focusing on rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, and a roast chicken) in the food chapter. This volume, by Nero Villagallos O’Reilly, expands greatly on the idea. It takes a while before we actually get to the recipes, as advice on buying and cooking comes first. Penny (the one with the practical advice) and her dog Nickel help […]

Hope Larson’s All Together Now is the second book in the Eagle Rock trilogy, which began with All Summer Long. While the first book dealt with Bina’s lonely summer, this volume tackles creativity and relationships. (Eagle Rock is the name of the Los Angeles neighborhood where Bina lives.) Bina and her friend Darcy have a band, but they need a drummer. They find Enzo, but adding a new person means the relationships change, particularly once Darcy and Enzo start dating. […]