Ever wonder how we got here? How the Earth was formed, how we human beans popped into existence? There are several versions of the creation myth–you can take your pick when it comes to explaining how we emerged from the Great Black Void: Christian, Hindu, Egyptian, Norse, the list could go on and on. But my favorite has got to be that wacky Greek version, so recently made popular by former middle school teacher Rick Riordan. But forget Percy Jackson, he’s just some johnny-come-lately compared to the dude who made the lightning in the first place, the very first international playboy and rebellious teenager, Zeus. Artist and author George O’Connor provides readers with a crash course in the Greek creation myth, which basically consists of Mother Earth and Father Sky giving birth to some big nasty gods, including Kronos, who wants to keep all the temporal goodies for himself. So every time his wife has a baby, he swallows it so it can’t grow up to challenge him. Eventually his wife gets sick of giving up her babies for dinner, so she hides one. Zeus is raised in secret by hot nymphs (which will explain his later lady-killer ways) and tricks his father into swallowing a poison plant which makes him vomit up all Zeus’s sibs, now fully grown and totally pissed off! What happens next is the story of how Zeus claims his father’s throne with the help of his super sibs (more about them later) and gets the lightning that Percy’s gotta find in couple thousand years. O’Connor’s hyper-kinetic art is old school comic book illustration, full of action, energy and bursts of color. For those of you also interested in more than just a good celestial butt-kicking, there’s also a helpful Greek god family tree in the front and some fun extras in the back, including minor god and goddess profiles and some cool websites you might want to visit. For more Greek superhero action, pair this GN with the new and improved Clash of the Titans.
Category: Graphic Fantastic
Great Graphic Reads for Teens
Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale
The crackerjack team of Hale, Hale & Hale are back with another rootin’ tootin’ graphic adventure of that wild girl Rapunzel and her trouble-making friends. This volume covers the back-story of ‘Punzie’s scheming sidekick, Jack. Before he met Rapunzel out west, Jack made his living swindling chumps in the big city with his partner Prudence, a stylish pixie with a serious attitude and an addiction to fancy hats. He was forced to skip town after a problematic beanstalk, a golden-egg laying goose and an angry giant named Blunderboar made it unsafe to return home to his hand-wringing, bakery-owning mama. After hightailing it west and meeting Rapunzel, Jack knows it’s time to head back home and make things right. Except in his absence, the fearsome giant Blunderboar has set up a corrupt shadow government and taken Jack’s mother prisoner in order to force her to bake his human-bone meal bread. Now Jack and Rapunzel must team up with Prudence and verbose muckraking journalist Frederick Sparksmith III to uncover Blunderboar’s citywide scheme and prove to the people once and for all what a, well, BOAR Blunderboar really is! All the while, Jack is trying to work up the courage to tell Rapunzel how he really feels about her. But will silver-tongued Frederick sway her heart instead? This action-packed sequel is every bit as entertaining as its predecessor, and then some. Jack’s big city, in contrast to Rapunzel’s Wild West, is a bustling technological marvel, which adds a little steam punk to the whole whimsical affair. The imaginative team of Hale to the 3rd power envisions their fantastical teeming urbanity as a magnet for diverse immigrants of every color and creed; from Native and African Americans to fairies and porcine half-men. Thanks to Nathan Hale’s meticulous attention to detail, each full color panel is a little work of art. This GN was so much fun that just writing this review makes me want to read it again! Batten down the hatches and tie up the dirigibles–this is one wild ride.
Gunnerkrigg Court, volume 1: Orientation by Thomas Siddell
Following in the fantasy footsteps of Harry Potter and The Wizards of Waverly Place, Gunnerkrigg Court is a funny, off-kilter graphic novel that chronicles the educational adventures of Antimony Carver, a precocious and rather dry seventh grader. Needless to say, the Court is NOT like other institutes of higher learning. Within days of joining the student body, fiery-haired Antimony befriends a Minotaur (“I prefer to be called Basilâ€), discovers one of her teachers is really a knight, and traps a deadly demon in her stuffed animal. She navigates the peculiar corridors of the Court with her best friend Kat, and together they deal with everything from old-fashioned ghosts and talking shadows to scarlet-eyed mean girls and lovelorn bird boys. When faced with an insurmountable problem, Antimony is never at loss for a solution, whether that involves quickly constructing a winged robot to run an important errand, or blowing up a death ray created by armless space aliens, even though “I can’t help but wonder how creatures without arms could make such a device and tie my friends up.†All the while, Antimony keeps trying to uncover the mysterious origins of her parents, who were former students of Gunnerkrigg Court. But as her mother has died and her father has disappeared, answers are in short supply. While volume one ends with even more questions, this collection of Thomas Siddell’s original webcomic still turns the tired old “magic school†premise on its ear with it’s bizarre manga-esque-looking characters and oddball humor. And I’m not the only one who was wooed by the weirdness: Neil Gaiman called Gunnerkrigg Court his “favorite webcomic†while ALA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee named it to their 2010 Top Ten list.
Mercury by Hope Larson
In 1859 Nova Scotia, shy pioneer teen Josey is thrilled when a handsome stranger named Asa Curry claims he can find gold on her family’s farm, and partners with her father to form a business. Josey is of marrying age, and what better beau could she have than her father’s attractive new associate? But Josey’s mother sees nothing but a flimflam man, and tries to steer both her husband and daughter clear of the silver-tongued prospector. But her efforts are ignored, and Josey’s family ends up suffering a great loss as a result of their tragic brush with Mr. Curry. Fast forward 150 years to fifteen-year-old Tara, who is mourning the loss of her burned down house when her aunt gifts her with a necklace that’s been in the family for years. After wearing the piece of jewelry for a few days, Tara quickly discovers its ability to locate lost objects, especially those of the precious metal kind. Using the necklace, can Tara make things right by recovering a treasure that was buried by evil 150 years ago? Combining fantasy, history, first love and revenge, Mercury is a one-of-a-kind story that you can’t afford to miss. This unique graphic novel about two girls connected through time and space by their shared DNA and a necklace containing a drop of mercury is sure to be a standout of the new year!
Refresh, Refresh by Danica Novgorodoff, Benjamin Percy and James Ponsoldt
“We didn’t fully understand the reason our fathers were fighting. We only understood that they had to fight…We could only cross our fingers and wish on stars and hit refresh, refresh, hoping they would return to us.†Cody, Gordon and Josh all live in the same small town, and all have fathers who are fighting in Iraq. Even as they constantly refresh their computer screens waiting for word of their dads’ safe return, they try to distract themselves from their worry by engaging in their own “fight club,†where they hit each other as hard as they can in an attempt to honor their fathers’ sacrifice by denying their own pain. “If you stepped out of the ring, you lost. If you cried, you lost. If you got knocked out or if you yelled stop, you lost.†Each boy is taking his own emotional knocks, as well. Cody struggles to raise his little brother on his own while his mother works endless factory shifts in order to make ends meet. Gordon suffers at the hands of bullies and longs to use his hunting rifle for something other than shooting deer. Josh’s secret college acceptance letter is his ticket to a better life, but will he use it if it means leaving his best friends behind? One brutal confrontation takes away all choices but one, and suddenly the boys find themselves facing a future that was once improbable but now seems inevitable. This bleak and emotionally raw GN, based on a short story by Benjamin Percy, realistically captures the pain of modern reservists’ families, who are often left in limbo when their breadwinners are sent off to war. Danica Novgorodoff’s gritty unpolished style and earth tone palette help convey the boys’ hopelessness and sorrow, the only bright colors being the red of their boxing gloves and spilled blood. A violent and heartbreaking tale that didn’t leave me feeling any better about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, but maybe that was the point.
Stitches by David Small
If you think your parents are awful, they are probably peaches compared to the folks that raised Caldecott award winner artist David Small. This gut wrenching graphic memoir of selected events from Small’s Detroit-based childhood and adolescence chronicle his survival of his parents’ loveless marriage, a botched surgery on his throat that left him scarred and voiceless, and the burning of all his favorite books by his vindictive mother. Through it all, Small maintained hope through his artwork. His sketchbook became a welcome escape from his chilly home life and silent school days, a portal to another world–just like Alice’s rabbit hole. Small was very influenced by Alice in Wonderland, and even portrays the therapist who ended up saving his life when he was a teen as the benevolent White Rabbit. In spare prose and stark panels, employing images that are startling, dream-like and reminiscent of classic cinema, Small takes you on an insightful and poignant journey through his own personal hell and eventual redemption. In the end Small perseveres, becoming an artist against all odds and with no support from his family. While this book is for everybody, it is especially for the somebody whose family has made them feel insignificant. Because as the inspiring author and illustrator demonstrates in this terrible, wonderful GN, even if you’re Small, you can still walk TALL. If you end up loving this gripping graphic memoir as much as I do, try the equally engrossing Blankets by Craig Thompson. Until then, enjoy this awesome book trailer narrated by the author himself.
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
Pre-teen Jack feels useless. It’s 1937, and it hasn’t substantially rained on his family’s Kansas farm in over four years. Most folks are starting to wonder if they’ll ever see storm clouds again. The only clouds that come by these days are the deadly black dust clouds that choke the breath out of every living thing, including Jack’s pneumonia-stricken older sister, Dorothy. Jack longs to do more than just wander around town and look after his sisters, but there is very little work to be done on the failing farm. With no way to show his father his worth, Jack is stuck between childhood and manhood, his burgeoning adolescence literally stifled by the dust. Until he sees the pulsing light that sporadically emanates late at night from the Talbots’ abandoned barn. When Jack investigates, he discovers a secret that could save his family and his town if he is brave enough to open a mysterious satchel and believe in the unseen. This is a great graphic read for all ages, with something for everyone within Phelan’s soft edged, sweeping panels. There’s an homage to The Wizard of Oz (and not just the one you know, but the whole amazing series by L. Frank Baum), suggestions of superheroes to come and shadows of former folk heroes who still live in story and song. There’s adventure and mystery, epic battles and small personal triumphs. There’s a sequence concerning a “rabbit drive†that broke my heart, and then a tender exchange between Jack and Dorothy that mended it. All evocatively illustrated by Matt Phelan in muted pencil, ink and watercolor, where smudged clouds hold hints of both promise and menace, and a boy’s expression changes from fearful to determined with just the subtlest change in the direction of the pencil line. Ironically, I started reading this wonderfully atmospheric GN set in the Dust Bowl after enduring one of the rainiest Junes on record. And then couldn’t wait to tell you about it, as this quietly powerful stunner is simply not to be missed.
Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee, illustrated by Sam Hart and Artur Fujita
Sometimes it’s best not to mess with a classic. Instead of adding a bunch of modern bells and whistles, sometimes it’s better to just polish up an old masterpiece and introduce it to a new generation, who will still love it because it’s just that good. That’s the case in this gorgeous GN that chronicles the traditional story of Robin O’ the Hood, the devil-may-care outlaw of Sherwood Forest who robbed the rich to feed the poor, wooed the lovely Maid Marian and was the scourge of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Although there are several versions of the Robin Hood myth, the author tied his adaptation as closely as possible to actual historical people and events, making me forget throughout the reading that Robin Hood, like King Arthur, didn’t exist in real life (though some scholars claim these folk heroes may have been based on a combination of real people whose stories have been lost over time). Whatever the origin, I was swept away by this romantic medieval re-telling, in which Robin of Loxley returns home to England from the Crusades where he had been fighting at King Richard’s side to discover his father, the Earl of Loxley, has been murdered and his lands usurped by the crooked Sheriff of Nottingham and his henchman Sir Guy of Gisburn. Determined to avenge his father’s death, Robin joins the gang of outlaws led by John Little in Sherwood Forest and entreats the people of Nottingham to stand up against the corrupt Sheriff and his men. Things get more complicated when King Richard is taken hostage by his enemies and a ransom is demanded of the English people. Richard’s weak and conniving brother, Prince John (who is in league with the Sheriff) makes a show of raising the money by taxing the poor people of Nottingham, but is really sacking it away to bribe local nobles into helping him throw Richard off the throne! Robin Hood begins to steal the tax money, giving a portion back to the people and saving a portion for the king’s ransom. This pisses off the Sheriff, who arrests Robin’s love Marian for treason and threatens to hang her unless Robin surrenders! Plus there’s an archery contest, several daring escapes, a couple of bloody sword fights, some hand to hand combat and lots and lots of disguises and various subterfuges. The panels feature dark figures brilliantly back lit by rich jewel tones that convey mood or character (for example, Robin most often emerges from emerald green forests, while Maid Marian rises from royal purple shadows). The effect is ominous and gritty, adding weight to a myth that feels more and more like actual history with each passing page. Corpus bones, this is a cracking good graphic read!
Teen Titans: Year One by Amy Wolfram, illustrated by Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe
At first it looks like the kids don’t stand a chance in this action-packed GN about the origins of the Teen Titans. One day, without warning, ALL the JLA superheroes go super-villain, and their adolescent partners have to band together to figure out what’s made Batman and Co. go so, well, batty. The Dark Knight’s skinny sidekick Robin heads up a team of knock-kneed, pimply faced powerbrokers on the cusp of puberty: Aqualad, who’s scared of his own wetsuit; Wonder Girl, who’s a little too busy crushing on the boy band of the moment to fight crime; Speedy, who’s trying to grow up in the towering shadow of the Green Arrow; and finally Kid Flash, who wishes Robin would just take the backseat and let him lead the Titans for once! These five teens couldn’t be more different but they have to figure out a way to work together for the greater good, all while suffering through the usual adolescent woes of insecurity, jealously, and voice changes. Once they get those messy emotions under control, the rest is easy! Well, sort of. Short and sassy, this lil’ GN tickled me to no end with its’ “mini-me†depictions of my fav superheroes as anxious, body-conscious teens who just want to be as popular as their name-brand, muscle-popping mentors. A fun comic romp for all ages. (Collects issues #1-6)
The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim
Dashing young Duncan is either a handsome knight trying to win the heart of a princess by relieving the dreaded Frog King of his head, OR just another downtrodden teen trying to get by in the projects of Oakland, as his depressed mom dates one jerk after another. Greedy Gran’Pa Greenbax is either a latter day Scrooge McDuck-like animated TV star, OR just a little freshwater frog who’s been used and abused by cruel humans. Meek Janet is either a stately Nigerian princess, OR just another cubicle-dwelling office drone. No one is quite who they seem to be in this lushly illustrated, full-color collaboration between two of the best author/illustrators in the comic biz. But no matter what their circumstances, each character manages to discover hidden stores of bravery, hope and optimism that help clear away the dark clouds of anger, fear and pride. And what is the Eternal Smile? Well, it’s either the face of God or a hole in the ceiling, and the only person who can decide that is YOU, dear reader! Award winning authors and illustrators Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim will both blow and bend your mind with these three quirky, offbeat Twilight Zone-meets-Pushing Daisies short stories about love, life and the power of the imagination. I didn’t even have to get to the last page to know that what I was holding in my hands was pure graphic novel gold.
French Milk by Lucy Knisley
In this charming graphic memoir, twenty-two-year-old artist Lucy Knisley narrates her trip to France with her mother in photographs and drawings. Lucy is about to graduate from college, so her parents spring for the ultimate graduation present: a six week trip in the spring of 2007 to Paris where she and her mother will stay in a rental apartment and sample all the City of Light has to offer. In many ways, this is a typical travel memoir: Lucy lists and draws her everyday experiences, including all the yummy French food she consumes (she estimates having eaten at least 60 croissants and a “metric ton of chocolate mousse” during her stay) and the rich, thick whole French milk she drinks constantly. But what makes this lil’ blue graphic novel special are the very intimate and emotional details of Lucy’s life that are tucked in and around all the sketches of museums and cafes. She unselfconsciously chronicles the fits of depression she falls into when she thinks about leaving the security of school behind, her lusty longings for her boyfriend, and all the times her mother gets on her last nerve. She confesses her doubts that she’ll ever make it as a cartoonist and shares her self-loathing about her “fat American feet” that don’t fit into the sleek European-sized shoes. Lucy is on the scary cusp of adulthood, and even the delights of Paris can’t ease those growing pains. Lucy’s antics will make you chuckle and sigh in recognition, especially if you’re living through that anxious time in your late teens or early twenties. And it was the perfect read for me, as I embark on my own first trip to Paris today! Because of the length of my stay and the jet lag I’m sure to suffer on my return, please don’t expect a new post from me until the end of the month. So au revoir mes amis until then!
Death Jr., Vol. 2 by Gary Whitta, illustrated by Ted Naifeh
They say Death never takes a holiday. But he will need to plan for retirement at some point, which is why he decides to set up Death Jr. with an internship at Terminal Industries for the summer. DJ’s not sure what he thinks about this, especially when all his friends, including the charming empty-eye-socketed Pandora, the armless, legless Seep and the brilliant Siamese twins Smith & Weston, are heading off to summer camp. He’s even more disappointed when he discovers that dear old dad intends for him to start from the bottom—the sub-basement bottom. DJ is assigned to work under Mr. Cracy (as in “Bureaucracyâ€) who is in charge of collecting, collating and filing all the paperwork of the dead. The job is boring, but it keeps DJ out of trouble—until he tries to fill Death’s shoes and finds himself at the center of a corporate take-over, with the bitter Mr. Cracy leading the charge against his dad. Meanwhile, Pandora and Co. are finding that summer camp is not exactly what they expected, and are all too eager to come home and help DJ win back his dad’s job and reputation. This creative re-imagining of Death as a harried suburban dad and his son as just your everyday middle schooler with girl problems was funny and punny in equal measure and sure to please everyone from your bratty little sister to your high school librarian. A spooky treat for all ages! And if the lil’ bonehead makes you chuckle as much as he made me, make sure to go back and check out Death, Jr. (Volume 1).
Cairo by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by M.K. Perker
What do a smart-aleck drug smuggler, a female Special Forces Israeli solider, an idealistic American college student, a disenchanted Lebanese teenager, and a cynical op-ed columnist in the modern day city of Cairo have in common? Easy! They are all searching for (whether they know it or not) an enchanted hookah pipe that contains a benevolent genie who has the power (“We don’t pull things out of thin air, we manipulate probability.â€) to make all of their dreams come true. The only obstacles in their way? A drug king-pin-turned-magician (who bears a striking resemble to Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil), the horned cousin of the benevolent genie who may or may not be Satan, and their own inability to work together as a team. If they can figure out how to do THAT, well, there just might be hope for peace in the Middle East. Funny, busy, and endlessly inventive, this stunning GN mixes faith, politics and fantasy in a way I’ve never seen before. The only thing I can think of that comes close is one of my favorite fantasies from ’08, The Dragons of Babel
The Astounding Wolf-Man: vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard
My favorite superhero has always been Wolverine. So imagine my surprise and delight to discover this new wolf on the block! Cosmopolitan CEO Gary Hampton is attacked by a wild animal while on a routine camping trip with the wife and kid. He awakens from a coma to find that he has been bitten by the werewolf bug. Unlike traditional howlers, Gary can change into a powerful wolf man each night at will. He only loses control of himself once a month when the moon is full, so he takes special precautions to make sure that while under the lunar influence he doesn’t eat his family. He is mentored by Zechariah, a turtleneck wearing Sean Connery-esque vampire, who teaches him how to harness his powers and hooks him up with some sweet superhero gear. Soon Wolf-Man is taking a bite out of crime and loving every minute of it. Until the night where he meets up with a pack of his own kind, who tell him that Zechariah isn’t what he appears to be and that Gary shouldn’t trust him. Who is Zechariah? And what does some dusty old vamp want with a virile wolf-dude anyway? I love Jason Howard’s angular, sharp, square-jawed style, even though he takes a little too much joy in splashing the blood around whenever Wolf-Man raises a ruckus with some baddies. Still, despite the gratuitous gore, I really dug this story of a struggling superhero trying to find his way when no one will tell him the truth. The Astounding Wolf-Man has an impressive pedigree, penned by none other than the zombie-rrific Robert Kirkman, author of the awesomely awful The Walking Dead
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
Deep sea divers. Little leaf men. Suburban water buffalo and lost dugongs. Giant mechanical penguins and getaway cars filled with turtles. All these arresting, ingenious images and so much more await the lucky reader who enters Tan’s whimsical world of “Outer Suburbia.†Not quite a graphic novel, not quite a picture book, this strange amalgamation of pictures and prose (some only a page long) reads like a collection of colorful and creative detritus Tan discovered in the crooked corners of his superior imagination that he then picked up, dusted off, and polished into small, perfect gems. “Eric,†which chronicles the adventures of a small exchange student who marvels at the complexity of his host’s home, will immediately bring to mind Tan’s gorgeously wrought The Arrival, his wordless homage to the immigrant spirit. Others gently emphasize themes of hope, peace and bravery in the face of adversity. Like “Alert But Not Alarmed,†where a neighborhood finds a way to humorously re-purpose the missiles the government requires them to keep in their backyards. 
Or “No Other Country,†where a family, fed up with the dry, arid environment of their new home, discovers a lush hidden courtyard that exists only in that sweet geographical spot, giving them cause to appreciate a place they used to loathe. In this celebratory season where I am part of a community that often argues over competing holiday symbols, I was especially moved by “The Nameless Holiday.†Here, Tan describes in both words and pictures a holiday that moves around the calendar and is characterized by everyone choosing the object they love most. These treasures are then left hanging on the television antenna as an offering for a giant reindeer, who carefully carries them away, making the participants feel special and chosen instead of regretful and sad. Depending on how you feel or where you are when you open this wonderful tome, the stories will seem sad, happy, hopeful or tragic. But they all share one thing in common—they are born of Tan’s unique and singular vision and therefore are simply not to be missed.