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Based on Jomny Sun’s popular tweets, this delightfully simple and precious graphic novel follows a young “aliebn,” Jomny, as he first visits Earth and learns about life on our planet, including making friends, making art, and being yourself. Everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too is a soothing balm for the tired soul, sure to get you to smile and immediately force the book into a friend’s hands.
Tag Archives: graphic novel
Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat! Vol. 1: Hooked on a Feline by Kate Leth (2016)
All up-to-date on Marvel Netflix TV shows like Jessica Jones? Want to get into the comics but are too intimidated to dive in? Get your toes wet with Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat! Volume 1: Hooked on a Feline. The canon is completely separate from the Netflix shows, but still super enjoyable nonetheless. It’s great to see a different side of Jessica’s bestie, Patsy, as well as meet more super friends!
Kate Leth’s comic is ridiculously newcomer-friendly, lighthearted, and all around a good time. For people who do want to dive in further, when the comic refers to other issues, it provides you with the name and the number of the issue it is referencing! Easy peasy! The entire series is available now: check out volumes 2—Don’t Stop Me-Ow— and 3—Careless Whisker(s)— today. Go grab them, kitty-cat!
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (2013)
Lucy Knisley’s graphic memoir about growing up with a mom who is a chef and a father who is a food-snob will trigger memories of favorite foods, of cooking successes and failures, and of times spent sharing meals (delicious and not so delicious) lovingly prepared by someone for us.
Relish is recommended for those who live to eat!
Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson (2015)
Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley are teen lumberjane scouts at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, where they spend the summer learning valuable skills like knot-tying, archery, and battling supernatural creatures. As the girls start running into monsters and brainwashed boy scouts, they realize things at camp may not be what they seem and begin to investigate.
Comic fans will recognize the names Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Faith Erin Hicks, and Shannon Watters and know this is not a series to be missed. Lumberjanes is full of fantastic female characters and references to powerful women (often using phrases like “Oh my Bessie Coleman!”), fun dialogue, and intriguing mysteries. Lumberjanes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 collect issues #1-8, but if you’re like me and simply can’t get enough, you can check out newer issues through Hoopla or eReadIllinois.
Harley Quinn: Hot in the City by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner (2014)
Everyone’s favorite psychopath with a heart of gold is back! This time in her own solo comic series, Harley Quinn has broken up with Mister J. She’s out on her own and ready for action. Follow her adventures in the city as she wreaks havoc on its citizens with the best of intentions (ranging from saving animals from euthanasia in an animal shelter to landing a job in a nursing home as a counselor). Check out Harley Quinn: Hot in the City today. Hang on tight, you’re in for a wild ride!
March. Book Two by John Lewis (2015)
Written in a graphic novel format, book two of U.S. Representative John Lewis’ autobiography, March, begins with President Obama’s first inauguration, and then quickly flashes back to the Nashville, 1960 diner and movie sit-in campaign. When he was 23 years old, Lewis became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He also participated in the dangerous and deadly Freedom Rides into the Deep South, and spoke at the historic March on Washington. Lewis recounts the internal struggles of the civil rights movements, such as the pressure he received to change his March on Washington speech as well the challenge to nonviolence approach that groups such as the Black Power movement posed.
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon (2014)
Gerard Way and Shaun Simon’s piece is not your run-of-the-mill graphic novel; its story chronologically takes place after My Chemical Romance’s album: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. That’s one of the best parts about it! Since its precursor was a music album, as you are reading through it, there are references to MCR’s lyrics and you can actually hear what some characters are intended to sound like. As you’re reading Dr. Death-Defying’s lines, his voice appears in your head like magic. It’s a surreal experience to have when you’re reading a graphic novel that doesn’t have a TV or movie adaptation!
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is a great read for anyone who is (and even isn’t) a My Chemical Romance fan. It makes a wonderful accompaniment to Danger Days but stands on its own as well with no pre-knowledge of the music. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young girl who was previously under the protection of the Killjoys. After their deaths in Danger Days, she struggles to find her place in the unforgiving world she was left in. Why were they protecting her? What was it about her that made them so willing to risk their lives? In The Fabulous Killjoys, the reader finds the answers that they are seeking and so much more.
The Motherless Oven by Rob Davis (2014)
I grabbed this quirky graphic novel on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. Rob Davis’ The Motherless Oven contains a story of friendship as three teens go on an adventure to solve the usual mysteries of life. Can someone escape their assigned death day? Where did Scarper’s robot father go?
It was the world building in this book that intrigued me the most though. Why on earth does it rain knives instead of water? Read this on a day you are FEELING WEIRD. Or ready to feel weird. Or weirder than you already feel.
The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins (2014)
Welcome to Here, a perfectly egg-shaped island, completely isolated. Everything Here is perfect and peaceful, with all of the houses identical and no competition between neighbors. All of the men in Here are clean shaven, except Dave who is bald, save for a single hair on his chin that resists both plucking and shaving. One day, the hair begins to grow and grow, until Dave has a full beard, which just keeps getting bigger and bigger, until the size of it is making daily life on Here difficult, not to mention the beard is proclaimed on the news as a “portal to Hell.”
Beautifully illustrated in a black and white minimalist style, The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins is a well-considered and hilarious satire of normalcy and keeping order.
Seconds by Brian O’Malley (2014)
Katie’s restaurant has been doing really well, but it no longer feels like hers with all of her original staff gone. Looking for a new adventure, she plans on opening a second restaurant, but things are moving pretty slowly and she keeps wondering if she should have chosen somewhere else to build. When one of the waitresses in her current restaurant is badly injured, Katie is visited by the resident house spirit, who gives her the power to restart her day and give her a second chance. The rules are simple: 1. Write your mistake, 2. Ingest a mushroom, 3. Go to sleep, 4. Wake anew. The spirit gave Katie only one mushroom, but when she finds more beneath the floorboards, she tries to reset all her mistakes, including her restaurant location and her last break-up, but things get out of hand quickly.
The art in Seconds is adorably unique and fun, with lots of dynamic and entertaining characters. I greatly enjoyed Katie’s story and the mythology behind the house spirits and their connection to space-time, giving this book both a supernatural and science fiction feel. Readers of Brian Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series should also look closely – there’s a few Easter eggs hidden in the panels for them!