This science biography about three anthropologists who lived with primates is astounding. I’ve heard of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey before, but I didn’t realize just what they accomplished. Primates brings their discoveries to life. In 1960, Goodall lived in Africa for a long-term observation of chimpanzees. It’s a good thing that she didn’t mind spending a lot of time alone, doing nothing but watching animals, because she discovered them using tools. That was a revelation, since until that time, […]

What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel is an adaptation by Tim Foley of Dan Rather’s best-selling prose book (written with Elliot Kirschner). Since the appeal of the comic format was recognized by larger, more traditional publishers, resulting in the graphic novel boom, there have been any number of non-fiction comics released. Some of them focus on education to the exclusion of anything else. That makes for dry, unappealing works that don’t take full advantage of the medium, or worse, illustrated […]

It’s been too long since Jay Hosler (The Sandwalk Adventures, Clan Apis) brought out one of his amazing true science comics. He’s got a gift for explaining complex biological topics in entertaining adventure stories. Last of the Sandwalkers continues that trend with the story of a group of beetles seeking to learn more about their desert civilization. Lucy, a scientist, is keeping a journal of their expedition, based on her idea to explore. She’s accompanied by the knowledgeable Professor Bombardier, […]

It’s a sign, I think, of how accepted comics for young women have become (in contrast to the bad old days of a couple of decades ago, when comics were superhero stories for young men) that we finally have a horse book. The horse book used to be a staple of fiction for girls. But horses are generally acknowledged to be easier to write about than to draw, which may be one reason it’s taken so long to get a […]

I enjoyed Mike Lawrence’s Star Scouts when it came out last year, so I was thrilled to see that there’s a sequel. Star Scouts: The League of Lasers opens by reminding us of Avani and her interstellar friends. She’s been invited to join the League of Lasers, an elite club for star scouts. While on a try-out mission for membership, Avani gets to put all her scout skills into practice when her smart-aleck spaceship crash lands. Those skills include patience […]

Shattered Warrior is an affecting portrait of life during wartime occupation, a story of a young woman fighting the alien race who’ve stolen her world that demonstrates real emotional depth in life-and-death situations. Colleen was the privileged daughter of a great estate until the aliens came. They destroyed the city and her home and killed her family (and stole her Bible! just kidding, Romancing the Stone fans). Now, she works a tiring, assembly-line job sorting minerals for the occupiers to […]

Decelerate Blue brings the popular dystopian YA genre of a young rebel finding her people to comics. Adam Rapp writes and Mike Cavallaro draws the story of Angela, a fifteen-year-old living in a world that emphasizes speed and hyper-consumption. All sentences end with the word “go”. Using too many adverbs will draw the wrong kind of attention. Everyone has a tracking chip implanted in their arm. Movies last under fifteen minutes. But Angela has found a copy of the banned […]