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Graphic Novels

Her Frankenstein

Her Frankenstein

Kawashima, Norikazu
$19.95
A 2024 NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY SELECTION FOR BEST NEW COMICS OF 2024 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY TOP 10 MUST-READ MANGA OF 2024 Dare to read the psycho-horror classic that horror manga master Ito Junji called a "frightening but moving story about an unfortunate individual who, lost in search of his true self, finds his own annihilation instead."

Little Tetsuo is a wimpy mess. His parents don't love him. He meets the beautiful Kimiko, an ailing teenage girl obsessed with movies and mayhem in equal amounts. She doesn't love Tetsuo either, or anyone other than herself. But she needs him. So Tetsuo becomes the man she wants--the monster she wants. He becomes HER FRANKENSTEIN!

Originally published in 1986, Kawashima Norikazu's HER FRANKENSTEIN marks the bizarre and sadomasochistic finale to a cult era in Japanese horror comics. A few years after it was published, the author burned all of his artwork and abandoned Tokyo, never to be heard from again! HER FRANKENSTEIN is the inaugural volume of SMUDGE, a line of pulp, horror, and dark mystery manga, curated and translated into English by award-winning historian Ryan Holmberg.

Ben says: Psychological horror manga from the 80s. A young boy vies for the attention of a sadistic girl by putting on a Frankenstein mask, but falls further into the character than he initially intends. Plenty of camp while still being creepy. Tons of fun!

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

Kim, Chris W.
$22.99
Comics creators Francisco de la Mora and José Luis Pescador's graphic biography, Diego Rivera, explores the passions and contradictions--both human and political--that turned the prolific and brilliant painter into an increasingly universal cultural figure.

Diego Rivera was a revolutionary painter in more ways than one. Attending art school at 11, by his 20s he was counted among the most influential figures of the Parisian art scene of the early 20th century, including Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, and Gris. Rivera's murals, both in his native Mexico and the United States, reflect the contradictory turbulence of his character and times. He met Lenin in Paris, Stalin in Moscow, and offered refuge to Trotsky during his Mexican exile. Meanwhile, his work was commissioned by giants of capitalism: Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. Rivera's indefatigable industry was matched by his zest for life, accumulating hundreds of lovers and four wives--including Frida Kahlo, whose formidable partnership is also one of the great love stories of art history.

This beautifully realized graphic novel tells the story of the extraordinary life and times of an artist for whom myth and reality fused.

"This book is very much a hero's journey, an ode to art, and a vehicle to say something greater about the human condition. In essence, writer Francisco de la Mora and artist José Luis Pescador have concocted a rocket ship all their own to Mars and beyond fueled by the outrageous genius of Diego Rivera." --The Comics Journal

Adieu Birkenau

Adieu Birkenau

Kolinka, Ginette
$24.99
The graphic memoir of Ginette Kolinka, Holocaust survivor, educator, and "ambassador for the memory" of Auschwitz-Birkenau

It is April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Ginette Kolinka arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Her father and little brother are immediately gassed. Ginette is selected as a worker. She survives.

It is October 2020. Ninety-five-year-old Ginette takes advantage of a lull in the COVID-19 epidemic to accompany a group visiting Birkenau one last time. As a farewell, she brings with her a journalist, France Info's Victor Matet, and a comic strip writer, J-D Morvan.

From this trip a comic book is born. Ginette tells of her life before the war, how she discovered she was Jewish, how her family fled Paris before she and her father were denounced. She tells the story of the camp; completely, honestly, without seeking pity. We see her today, how she still shares her story with the world, how she still stands and bears witness.

Ginette tells everything with her trademark liveliness and biting humor. We often laugh, and sometimes we shudder. Because the story she tells is ours, too.

Einstein in Kafkaland

Einstein in Kafkaland

Krimstein, Ken
$32.00

"Clever, charming, amusing, and just plain brilliant. Ken Krimstein is the most inventive graphic biographer on the planet-and certainly the only one who could explain both Einstein and Kafka. A page turner on gravity and relativity!" -KAI BIRD, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus, the biography that inspired the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer

 

From the award-winning New Yorker cartoonist, a graphic narrative revealing the pivotal year in Prague when Einstein became "Einstein," Franz Kafka became "Kafka," and the world changed forever.

 

During the year that Prague was home to both Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka from 1911-1912, the trajectory of the two men's lives wove together in uncanny ways-as did their shared desire to tackle the world's biggest questions in Europe's strangest city. In stunning words and pictures, Einstein in Kafkalandreveals the untold story of how their worlds wove together in a cosmic battle for new kinds of truth.

 

For Einstein, his lost year in Prague became a critical bridge set him on the path to what many consider the greatest scientific discovery of all time, his General Theory of Relativity. And for Kafka, this charmed year was a bridge to writing his first masterpiece, The Judgment. Based on diaries, lectures, letters, and papers from this period amid a planet electrifying itself into modernity, Einstein in Kafkalandbrings to life the emergence of a new world where art and science come together in ways we still grapple with today.

Bryn says: I love quirky literary pairings! It doesn't get better than Einstein and Kafka. With humor and depth, Krimstein explores their personal lives, their shared sense of alienation, and the worlds they were both trying to understand.

Beetle & the Hollowbones

Beetle & the Hollowbones

Layne, Aliza
$12.99
A Stonewall Honor Book

An enchanting, riotous, and playfully illustrated debut graphic novel following a young goblin trying to save her best friend from the haunted mall--perfect for fans of Steven Universe and Adventure Time.

In the eerie town of 'Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity.

Then there's twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who's caught in between. She'd rather skip being homeschooled completely and spend time with her best friend, Blob Glost. But the mall is getting boring, and B.G. is cursed to haunt it, tethered there by some unseen force. And now Beetle's old best friend, Kat, is back in town for a sorcery apprenticeship with her Aunt Hollowbone. Kat is everything Beetle wants to be: beautiful, cool, great at magic, and kind of famous online. Beetle's quickly being left in the dust.

But Kat's mentor has set her own vile scheme in motion. If Blob Ghost doesn't escape the mall soon, their afterlife might be coming to a very sticky end. Now, Beetle has less than a week to rescue her best ghost, encourage Kat to stand up for herself, and confront the magic she's been avoiding for far too long. And hopefully ride a broom without crashing.

Macanudo: Welcome to Elsewhere

Macanudo: Welcome to Elsewhere

Liniers
$24.99
In the spirit of Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Krazy Kat, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) uses a shifting cast of children, talking animals, imaginary monsters, sensitive robots, occasional elves, and anthropomorphized objects to perform gags, philosophize, muse on nature, and engage in surreal, artistic flights of fancy. With delicate, calligraphic pen work and understated watercolors, the comic skips lightly from style to style and subject to subject, as Liniers allows his imagination and observational humor free reign. Jokes about domestic life, imagined scenarios of historical figures, Cthulu showing up to Tinder dates, characters simply enjoying a pastoral sunset, the puncturing of pop-culture stalwarts: Macanudo is a boundless canvas for its author's humane and delightfully off-kilter view of the world, in a way few comic strips have ever even attempted.

Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Macanudo steadily gained popularity around the world, appearing in US newspapers since 2018. Welcome to Elsewhere is the first of a series of volumes collecting Liniers' groundbreaking strip.

Andrea says: This book will make you feel good. Henrietta is one of my favorite cartoon characters. She loves to read, and she loves her cat, and her imaginary friend. Take a trip to a magical land with Liniers.

Raised By Ghosts

Raised By Ghosts

Loewinsohn, Briana
$18.99
Set in the author's own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of self-worth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships.

Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana's first-person class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations and overt sentimentality, preferring instead to underscore the idea that sometimes acceptance and love can be communicated through quiet, everyday moments and close family bonds.

Boy, the Horse, the Fox, and the Mole

Boy, the Horse, the Fox, and the Mole

Mackesy, Charlie
$22.99

From the revered British illustrator, a modern fable for all ages that explores life’s universal lessons, featuring 100 color and black-and-white drawings.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole.

“Kind,” said the boy.

Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book based on his famous quartet of characters. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse explores their unlikely friendship and the poignant, universal lessons they learn together.

Radiant with Mackesy’s warmth and gentle wit, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse blends hand-written narrative with dozens of drawings, including some of his best-loved illustrations (including “Help,” which has been shared over one million times) and new, never-before-seen material. A modern classic in the vein of The Tao of Pooh, The Alchemist, and The Giving Tree, this charmingly designed keepsake will be treasured for generations to come.

Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Mackesy, Charlie
$32.99

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From Charlie Mackesy, the New York Times bestselling author of the internationally beloved tome, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse, comes a companion book to the Academy Award(R) winning film adaption--now streaming on Apple TV+.

A journey, in search of home...

This beautifully hardcover edition of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse celebrates the work of more than a 100 animators across two years of production-with Charlie Mackesy's distinctive illustrations brought to life in full color with hand-drawn traditional animation and accompanying hand-written script.

"I made a film with some friends about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse--their journey together and the boy's search for home. I hope this book gives you courage and makes you feel loved." Love Charlie x

This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America

This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America

Mahdavian, Navied
$25.95
"With light and airy illustrations, Mahdavian tackles these complex themes with humor and wit."
--NPR, Books We Love 2023

NPR BEST BOOKS OF 2023 ● NEW YORKER BEST BOOKS WE'VE READ IN 2023A gorgeously illustrated and written debut graphic memoir about belonging, identity, and making a home in the remote American West, by New Yorker cartoonist Navied Mahdavian.

Before Navied Mahdavian moved with his wife and dog in November of 2016 from San Francisco to an off-the-grid cabin in rural Idaho, he had never fished, gardened, hiked, hunted, or lived in a snowy place. But there, he could own land, realize his dream of being an artist, and start a family. Over the next three years, Mahdavian leaned into the wonders of the natural Idaho landscape and found himself adjusting to and enjoying a slower pace of living. But beyond the boundaries of his six acres, he was confronted with the realities of America's political shifts and forced to confront the question: Do I belong here?

Mahdavian's beautifully written and unflinchingly honest graphic memoir charts his growth and struggles as an artist, citizen, and new father. It celebrates his love of place and honors the relationships he makes in rural America, touching on dynamics like culture, environment, and identity in America, and even articulating difficult moments of racism and brutality he found there as a Middle Eastern American. With wit, compassion, and a sense of humor, Mahdavian's insider perspective offers a unique portrait of one of the most remote and wild areas of the American West.