By any standards this is a depressing tale. A young Chinese girl’s thoughts are on suicide and the only one she hopes will understand her is an alcoholic artist. Yeah, you know this has to end well. I’m not sure why I didn’t care much for the comic. I like depressing stories about suicide (in …
Tag Archive: YA Lit
Oct 31 2012
Young Lovecraft vol I-II – Jose Oliver and Bartolo Torres
Wonderfully illustrated by Torres in a style similar to Vasquez and Jennifer Feinberg, this comic strip recounts the (should be true, oh, if only) childhood of the misanthropic horror writer Howard Philip Lovecraft. I want to say the stories are filled with outlandish characters and events, but in actuality you tend to take in stride …
Aug 24 2012
Gunnerkrigg Court vol 1-3: Orientation, Research, & Reason – Thomas Siddell
This web comic in print form follows Antimony Carver, a young girl who, after her mother dies and father disappears, is sent to the mysterious boarding school that names the series. Delightfully illustrated with a manga flare, brightly colored, and filled with wonderful characters, the story is a mix of Harry Potter and Lost, but …
May 17 2012
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
In the future we are divided into districts controlled by the decadent in the Capital and must pay tribute for a past rebellion by having a group of teenagers fight to the death in a bizarre arena for amusement. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take the place of her sister and face this almost certain death. …
Mar 02 2012
I Kill Giants – Joe Kelly
Admittedly, I picked up this comic because I thought it was about an adolescent girl from Long Island, who wears bunny ears, plays D&D, and plans to defend her home from…you guessed it: giants. While, technically, this is what the comic is about, it is so much more. JM Ken Niimura provides stetchy B&W illustrations …
Oct 04 2011
The Fourth Bear – Jasper Fforde
What does the return of the evil genius, the Gingerbreadman, have in common with a missing journalist (AKA Goldilocks) and a secret, devastating weapon? That’s for Detective Jack Spratt to find out and you to read all about. Don’t be fooled by the nursery rhyme theme, it is a great and intelligent read.
Jun 28 2011
The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier
Cormier gives a magnificently horrible portrayal of high-school life in his tale of a Catholic school freshman who refuses to participate in the school’s fundraiser of selling boxes of chocolates. Its painful to read as one recognizes the realities go far beyond the mundane teenage world. The next time you want to waste you time …
Feb 12 2011
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith
Definitely a fun idea and there have been comics similar to this one which is the earlier idea of Grahame-Smith before his take on Sense and Sensibility. It tells the true story of the 16th president and how vampires and his secret battles with them shaped his life and actions. Minor problems exist such as …
Feb 03 2011
:01 First Second Books
There are times I feel the graphic novel publishing company First Second is the savior of the comic book medium. They produce high quality publications of comics in book form (in my mind a minor distinction from “graphic novels” which tend to be taller (as distinct from larger) imitating the traditional comic book height and …
Jun 10 2010
Et tu, Jobs? Take Two
Went back to the Apple store as suggested by the tech support operator I had called and the store staff told me that my 4 year old iBook didn’t have the intel chip they were switching to at the time, and that it is my fault for not checking the box before getting a incompatible …
Feb 15 2010
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules – Jeff Kinney
Greg, nerdy middle-schooler, returns along with a brand new diary which he uses to chronicle his misadventures. Short, daily entries coupled with awesomely simple illustrations takes the reader through the hilarious problems (often of his own making) with school, family (especially with his brother, Rodrick), and friends (well, a friend).
Jan 06 2010
Tough Love: High School Confidential – Abby Denson
Denson provides a coming of age, and coming out of the closet, teenage love story in cute B/W drawings that is great for middle schoolers (they like to read about people a little older than they are) as it can teach valuable lessons about themselves and tolerance. My only issue isn’t with the story, but …
Dec 16 2009
A Song of Ice and Fire (book IV): A Feast for Crows – George R. R. Martin
It seems that Martin was writing too much (his books can be used for weightlifting) and divided this into parts IV and V of the series, which kind of annoyed me because he took out the parts of some of my favorite characters to use in V. Still, it was as enjoyable as it was …
Dec 08 2009
Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson
Lia and Cassie used to be best friends until they drifted apart in high school. Now Cassie is dead and Lia has to deal with the guilt of losing her former friend as well as a host of psychological problems such as anorexia and cutting. It’s an intense story, well told, and often hard to …
Nov 14 2009
A Song of Ice and Fire (book III): A Storm of Swords – George R. R. Martin
If one character in this third installment of Ice and Fire (I II) ended this book happy then I missed it. Death, destruction, betrayal on epic scales were the themes within as the seven kingdoms (plus the lands beyond) continue to descend into chaos as a dark force is rumored to gain strength (note: that …
Sep 10 2009
A Song of Ice and Fire (book II): A Clash of Kings – George R. R. Martin
I curse the student that introduced me to the series as I can’t stop reading these 800 page fantasy books wherein the death of a king plunges the land into chaos, made worse by the rise of long forgotten malevolent magic. Martin makes his characters unique and isn’t afraid to make horrible things happen to …
Sep 07 2009
Magic Trixie, Magic Trixie Sleeps Over, & Magic Trixie and the Dragon – Jill Thompson
Thompson presents a delightful children series of a little girl witch and her assortment of classic monster movie friends and they live and learn about life together. The art is a great deal of fun and the world and characters (even secondary ones) are surprisingly developed.
Sep 03 2009
NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society – Michael Buckley
Kids rarely seem to have a problem adapting to the latest changes in technology, which makes them the perfect modern secret agents. When a former popular boy discovers that the geekiest kids in school are actually government agents, he learns quite a bit about how the world truly works: basically that those dorks who always …
Aug 26 2009
Murder at Midnight – Avi
Avi provides another historical fiction book for youngsters explaining that technological revolutions didn’t exactly change the word overnight in this tale of a young servant who must save his master from the machinations of medieval Europe. It’s not his best work, but still fun.
Aug 24 2009
Fade to Blue – Sean Beaudoin
Goth girl Sophie and basketball star Kenny are both going insane–or think they are. Maybe if they discover the secret behind the mysterious mark on their arms, why a popsicle truck is following people around, or the deal with Fade labs they might have a better grasp of their already confusing high school lives. Take …
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