Comics soup and rice

.

Not intentional, but I'm rather pleased that my list of book finished just before and after Comic-Con includes only one book not comics. Perfect. Makes me look like I deserve that PROFESSIONAL badge.

076) I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis and Corey Egbert (et al), finished July 16

I've never read any of these books, original or comicsized, but this one in particular I felt allergic too. I feel like anything 9/11y is apt to be terrible and inappropriate and I hate it.

Which isn't fair, but goes to show how little I, who was over a thousand miles away, have yet to heal from that day.

Lady Steed and I feel we've done a bad job talking to our kids about 9/11 and what it means and why they should care—and that's probably because we're not good at talking about it fullstop.

Enter this book.

I only put it on hold because I learned that the artist is LDS and, well, I'm supposed to be some sort of expert or something.

I was utterly enrapt. I did not want to talk to anyone. It's not a long read but I was deeply connected to the story emotionally. I assume we can thank Tarshis's original novel for this (in her afterward she talks a bit about her reticence to write this story—but this IS history to kids; a bit of history whose [more direct] impact on them they are more aware of than, say the Titanic), but props to Georgia Ball who write the adaptation and the art team. I was moved.

And dang it. I'm making my kids read it.

before and after dinner

077) Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff, finished July 18

This is such a Norman Shurtliff book. Cute animals. Page layouts as from an activity book. High fantasy and high adventure. Everything you expect from him, now from a major comics publisher. And it's high time.

This is a very volume-one kind of book, but it has plenty of odd details and offers opportunity for our understandings of characters to evolve, even in its short page count. It bodes well for whatever comes next. I hope it sells so he can tell us!

on the train

 

078) Epileptic by David B., finished July 19

This is a powerful and difficult book. David B.'s stark imagery as he takes us through his family's struggles with his older brother's epilepsy, through all the bizarre and esoteric pathways his parents in their desperation walked down in their desperation. The black-and-white images are filled with grotesque faces, monsters and ghosts, images of death and battle. He covers family and world history. He engages with fringe religions and diets. The work is dense and thought-provoking.

It's also deeply personal and situated clearly in France, mostly from the 70s to the 90s, and thus a window into a foreign land in a recent time. For instance, it's shocking, as someone from the western states, to hear casual antisemitism, but its place in this story helps me understand Europe and its people better than a paragraph in a high-school history book.

This was originally published in pieces, but here it's not easy to tell where one part ends and another begins. And this compiled volume is bookended by a page of prose on each side by the third sibling. Her second witness and unique voice makes the entire thing even more true and meaningful.

A powerful memoir.


i think three days

079) Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld by Shannon and Dean Hale, and Asiah Fulmore; finished July 30

Delightful. Doesn't do anything new but does old so well.

an evening

080) Fadeaway by E. B. Vickers, finished August 2

I hardly ever read YA lit anymore because so much of it tastes the same. Add this to the list of books I didn't anticipate spending more than ten pages on before returning it to the library. However, anticipation was wrong. I zipped through this book, intrigued by the mystery and the characters. The chronology is scrambled but it's easy to follow.

Mild spoiler alert (and THANK you cover, for not giving this away), but this is a book about the opioid disaster our country's been living through, filtered through the experiences of excellent human teenagers. The book has red herrings that work fine in prose but would be trickier to pull off in a film. (Though Disney+ might as well try serializing it as Star Wars is the novel's favorite allusion.)

Anyway, I really liked it.

three days

081) You're Dad by Liz Climo, finished August 4

We heard Liz Climo speak at Comic-Con which was largely a choice of convenience but one I'm glad we made. Her stuff is funny and smart and sweet. Plus, I appreciated the wise things and funny anecdotes that came out of her Simpsons years.

Anyway, this little giftbook for dads is good. Typical giftbook stuff but her cartoons elevate it.

one sitting

082) Meanwhile...A Comic Shop Anthology, finished August 5

This is kind of the perfect Kickstarter anthology. It's all stories "about" comicbook stores. Some are very literal, some are scifi, some barely touch on the topic. It's the lack of "right answer" to what a comicbook-store story should be that allows the artists to try so many different things. Some of the stories are bad, many are underdeveloped, and a few are excellent. Which is great. I hope all the artists here grew, and will now find further attention. Good luck to them all.

two days then another day later on

PREVIOUSLY THIS YEAR

===========================================================

 2024 × 10 = Bette Davis being Bette Davis

001) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 1
002) The Complete Peanuts: 1977 – 1978 by Charles M. Schulz , finished January 6
003) The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman et al, finished January 10
004) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 17
005) Touched by Walter Mosley, finished January 19
006) Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer, finished January 20
007) Evergreen Ape: The Story of Bigfoot by David Norman Lewis, finished January 24
008) What Falls Away by Karin Anderson, finished February 1
009) Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 3
010) Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished February 3

 A few of my favorite things

011) Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, finished February 3
012) The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, February 9
013) Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke, February 10
014) A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz by Stephen J. Lind, finished February 10
015) 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Joseph M. Spencer, finished February 10
016) Dendo by Brittany Long Olsen, finished February 11
017) The Ten Winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards, finished February 12
018) The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life edited by Andrew Blaune, finished February 17
019) Do Not Disturb Any Further by John Callahan, finished February 17
020) Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke, finished circa February 19
021) 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Terryl Givens, February 24

 

Let's start with the untimely deaths

022) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished February 28
022) Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke, finished February 29
023) Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, finished March 4
024) Millay by Edna St. Vincent Millay, finished March
025, 026) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished March 6, 8
027) Murder Book by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, finished March 11
028) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
029) The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby, finished March 15
030) Karen's Roller Skates by Ann M. Martin and Katy Farina, finished March 18

 

Four comics could hardly be more different

031) The Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman et al, finished March 18
032) The World of Edena by Mœbius, finished March 23
033) Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith, finished March 23
034) Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished March 23

 

Jacob says be nice and read comics

035) Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction by Deidre Nicole Green, finished March 24
036) Starter Villain by John Scalzi, finished March 27
037) Mister Invincible: Local Hero by Pascal Jousselin, finished March 30
038) The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, finished March 30
039) Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh, finished April 1
040) The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell, finished April 5  

 

Eleven books closer to death

041) The Stranger Beside Me: Updated Twentieth Anniversary Edition by Ann Rule, finished April 9
042) Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy, finished April 13
043) Enos, Jarom, Omni: a brief theological introduction by Sharon J. Harris, finished April 25
044) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, finished April 27 
045,046,049) The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht, finished April 29, 30; May 3
047) The Children's Bach by Helen Garner, finished April 30
048) No. 1 with a Bullet by Sehman/Corona/Hickman/Wands, finished May 2
050) Over Seventy by P. G. Wodehouse, finished May 7
051) The Happy Shop by Brittany Long Olsen, finished May 16
052) Shades of Fear, finished May 21
053) Love Poems in Quarantine by Sarah Ruhl, finished May 21

 

And a vibrator makes it five dozen.....

054) The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, finished May 25
055) Mosiah: A Brief Theological Introduction by James E. Faulconer, finished May 26
056) Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirstin Bakis
057) 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 1
058) Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder, finished June 4
059) Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 6
060) The Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 8

 

And with Ursula, 69

061) The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty, finished June 10
062) Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham, finished June 11
063) Mulysses by Øyvind Torseter, finished June 11
064) Between the River and the Bridge by Craig Ferguson, finished June 12
065) Cranky Chicken by Katherine Battersby, finished June 12
066) Mile End Kids Stories by Isabelle Arsenault, finished June 12
067) Tiny Titans: Field Trippin' by author, finished June 14
068) Brief Theological Introductions: Alma 1–29 by Kylie Nielson Turley, finished June 16
069) Words Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula K. Le Guin, finished June 16

 

Numbers 70 through 75

070) Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth by A. O. Scott, finished June 17
071) Alice, Let's Eat by Calvin Trillin, finished June 20
072) My Lovely Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly, finished June 21
073) Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre, finished July 9
074) The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, finished July 11
075) Best. Movie. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery, finished July 16