Besties Work It Out and Besties Find Their Groove

Kayla Miller’s Click series (five books so far, the latest being Crunch) has a spinoff. That’s the benefit of writing about kids in school — there are more stories to be told about Olive Branche’s sixth grade classmates. Particularly if you bring in a co-writer (Jeffrey Canino) and another artist (Kristina Luu). Besties Work It Out stars Beth and Chandra, best friends. Chandra’s struggle is parents who consider her older sister near-perfect. She needs them to see her as responsible […]

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Distressed Beeping: Andi Watson’s Single-Page Comics

I’ve been a fan of Andi Watson’s work since the mid-90s, when he came to attention with the Skeleton Key series. In the 200s, his Breakfast After Noon and Slow News Day were wonderful examples of how comics could tell stories of everyday lives. More recently, his kids’ fantasy graphic novels Glister and Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula I found adorably creative. I was a little worried when his latest book for adults, The Book Tour, didn’t click for me. […]

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Batman in “Mystery of the Scarecrow Corpse” (Book/Record Set)

Thanks very much to a generous reader of SherlockComics.com, I have now acquired a copy of the 1976 Batman Book/Record Set that contains two stories, “Gorilla City” and (the reason I have it) “Mystery of the Scarecrow Corpse”. (All pictures below taken by me, as you can see from the slight wonkiness.) That eight-page story, by Elliot S! Maggin and Cary Bates, features Batman, visiting England, summoned to help with a murder case, working with an inspector from Scotland Yard. […]

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Revenge of the Librarians

With Revenge of the Librarians, Tom Gauld returns with another volume of witty, insightful cartoons about books, writers, and readers, following You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack and Baking With Kafka. The humor requires a certain level of literacy, but the feeling of “getting it” is addictive, reminding us of the joy of books. Gauld’s comic strips often make readers feel clever for getting the reference or feeling better informed after reading. There’s a wonderful, warm emotion of “oh! […]

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Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story

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 […]

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Animal Rescue Friends

Young readers might enjoy these slight stories about kids helping animals, but overall, Animal Rescue Friends is bland. It’s written by Gina Loveless and Meika Hashimoto and illustrated by Genevieve Kote. Maddie finds a lost dog in the park and takes it home. Since her apartment building doesn’t allow pets, she has to take it to Animal Rescue Friends. She starts volunteering as a way to keep seeing the animal. She and another volunteer fight, which leads to a horse […]

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Why the People: The Case for Democracy

Why the People: The Case for Democracy is another in First Second’s line of World Citizen comics, civics-focused non-fiction graphic novels that aim to “equip readers to be active citizens and informed voters.” I’m always a bit hesitant when I pick up one of these titles, as part of me hasn’t shaken the idea that educational works, particularly about politics and citizenship, are going to be too good-for-me to be entertaining. Thankfully, Why the People uses images and metaphors in […]

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Doctor Strange (Folio Society Edition)

The Folio Society, the upscale publisher of limited editions, has released a fifth book in their Marvel Heroes series. (I previously talked about the Folio Society when I covered their Black Panther collection.) This time, it’s one of my favorite Marvel characters: Doctor Strange! As with the other books, Roy Thomas has selected the 13 stories reprinted here and written an introduction, explaining his choices. The hardcover is brilliantly colored, representing the psychedelic peak period of the Sorcerer Supreme. It […]

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