Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence (2010)

This graphic novel is based on a book of the same name by Geoffrey Canada and is illustrated by Jamar Nicholas. It is a memoir of the lessons learned growing up on the streets of the South Bronx. There is a code that is passed on from older kids to younger kids as they emerge from their families' apartments out on to the street. If they don't adhere to this code the consequences are some form of violence and the older the kid, the more severe the consequences.

As he gets older, Canada finds that the means to defend himself increase in efficiency from the fist to the stick to the knife and to the gun. At first he feels he must carry a gun to defend himself but he eventually comes to the realization that the consequences of using the gun could mean taking a life. He decides that carrying the gun makes it too easy and convenient to shoot someone so he decides to get rid of the gun and rely on less violent ways to survive.

And yet, these are young men who because they are armed feel less inclined to avoid confrontations that could escalate into bloodshed.
The power of the gun is no less intoxicating to them that it was to me. The evidence of their need to carry a weapon for self-defense is made clear to them every day as they talk about who was shot, who was robbed, who was killed.
They are not going to swap their guns just for sneakers, or gift certificates, or small amounts of cash. And unfortunately for us all, many of them have not been raised in the church or with any moral teaching, so the fact that they might end up taking a life is not a persuasive argument for throwing away their guns.

Canada is very involved with the ambitious program, Harlem Children's Zone, so that children can walk to school and the store without fear.

The illustrations in this book are in black, white, and gray and are rough and stark. They add to the fear and intimidation that the writer grew up with.

I highly recommend this book.

My rating: ++++

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale (2010)

An autobiographical graphic novel by Belle Yang, this book reminded me of the books by Pearl S. Buck which also took place in China.

Xuan (translated to Forget Sorrow) is the only daughter of Chinese immigrants. As a typical teenager she was embarrassed by their old world ways and accented English. She had the bad fortune of falling in with an abusive man and went to China to study traditional art, travel, and meet her grandparents. She returned to the U.S. right after the massacre at Tiananmen Square. In order to fix her relationship with her father, she listens to stories of his family.

I love Baba's stories. I want to be able to give voice to people who were forgotten.
Rotten Egg silenced me with his fist when I disagreed. The Chinese government silenced its citizens with tanks. I have a voice in America. I won't waste it.
Rotten Egg has reduced my world to these four walls, but I won't let him waste my life.
I'm going to work with Baba until I put in the last period...and send it out into the world.

Xuan's great-grandfather, his four sons, and the rest of the extended family lived in an enclosure in Manchuria off of the rent of tenant farmers. The story follows them through invasions, famines, revolutions, and intense family politics.

I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in life in 20th century China.

My rating for this book: ++++

Britten and Brulightly (2009)

This graphic novel by Hannah Berry is wonderful. It has a dark, noir quality from constant dark rain and a wonderful voice-over kind of narration you hear in detective movies. Britten is a private detective who prefers to refer to himself as a "researcher". His companion, sidekick, conscience, and friend, Brulightly, is a tea bag. (Take a moment to think about that.)

Britten is hired to investigate a suicide and finds blackmail, intrigue, and incest. This is the book's opening line: "As it did every morning with spiteful inevitability the sun rose."

The story was very convoluted but the serious language and the tea bag had me laughing out loud. This conversation between Britten and Brulightly takes place outside in the rain after being chased up a tree.

Bloody hell!
I know.
Bloody HELL!
I know.
Listen, Fern ... when you jumped
into that ditch ...
I think I ... uh ...
Look I'm sorry: I infused in your
waistcoat.

I highly recommend this especially to newcomers to graphic novels.

My rating for this book: ++++

Stitches (2009)

David Almond has given us his autobiography in a medium he knows well. This graphic novel is an example of how this genre is far from teenaged fluff and kiddy goofiness. This is an adult story that reads like a movie complete with zoom ins and close ups but without Foley sound effects and sound track.

Step inside your mouth with me for a moment, won't you?
Careful on the tongue! It's slippery!
Now, you see down there? Those folding screens over the tunnel of your thoat? Those are your vocal cords. When air flows over them they vibrate like the strings on a cello.
Your vocal cords make the sounds of your voice, your curses and your prayers.
When I woke up from operation #2, I had only one vocal cord, and with only one vocal cord the sound you make is...
ACK

Ironically, one of the family's major problems is a lack of communication. For instance, it was years after this operation before David learned that he had cancer which was caused by his father's dosing him with radiation to try and cure his sinus problems when he was very little.

This was a tough book to read since there were precious little happiness that David enjoyed as a child - namely using his talent to draw cartoons.

My rating for this book:+++

The Savage (2008)

People find different ways to deal with the untimely death of a loved one. This book by David Almond (illustrated by Dave McKean) shows how a boy named Blue deals with the death of his father. A school counselor advises him to write about his loss and he ends up writing a story of a boy who lives like a savage in the woods near his house. The book alternates between the Blue's voice and the story he is writing. His spelling is atrocious but the words make sense if they are pronounced out loud. Mr. Almond comes from England so "football" means soccer and there are other words that are British.

"She laughed and said, 'Will you, now? What kind of job?'

I didn't have a clue, of course.

'One that'll get me loads of dosh,' I said."

This is a very touching and surprising book. I highly recommend it for a quick and satisfying read to practically everyone.

My rating for this book: ++++

Caliber (2009)

The artwork of Garrie Gastonny and the story by Sam Sarkar go together to make this retelling of the Arthur and Merlin tale an amazing book. Set in the old west, Excalibur the sword becomes Caliber the six-shooter (don't you just love the pun?) and Merlin the magician is a shaman named Jean Michel. Arthur is Arthur and accidentally discovers that he is the only one able to use Caliber. He goes on to fight evil always standing up for the law, never giving in to feelings of revenge.

The artwork is positively stunning. The glossy heavyweight pages help make the detail stand out vividly. The only warning I have for readers is the graphic violence. However, the story and the era it is placed in were violent so it is to be expected.

I recommend this to all graphic novel fans and to readers looking for an interesting twist on an old story.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Tale of One Bad Rat (1995)

This is a fabulous graphic novel which portrays a young girl who runs away from an abusive household and how she finds herself with the help from, of all people, the author Beatrix Potter. Bryan Talbot is the British author-illustrator who has created this story which takes Helen to the streets of London where she falls in with a group of homeless kids. She finds that one of the unfortunate effects of abuse is being unable to form relationships and ends up running away from them, too. She ends up working in a pub for an older couple in the countryside where Beatrix Potter was inspired to write and illustrate her books. The rest of the story is a satisfying one of self-realization and eventually confronting her parents in order to begin the healing process.
I think anyone who has suffered abuse might find hope in this book and I highly recommend it. The only warning about this book is the heavy use of unfamiliar cockney slang in the street scenes.
My rating for this book: ++++

Agnes Quill - An Anthology of Mystery (2006)

It seems to me that some of the graphic novels I have read have would be good bridges to encourage graphic novel fans to also read novels. This one, though, would introduce readers who have not tried graphic novels to a whole other world of books.
Agnes is a teenaged detective who has inherited the ability to see and communicate with spirits. "Did grandfather feel these spirits as strongly as I do now? I never considered how spirits have a physical presence, but I guess they really do."
She takes most of her cases for pay but some she takes to help spirits who can't pay her. In one case, she tracks down the legs of a man who was the victim of a magic show gone bad. He knew they were still around somewhere and needed Agnes' help to find them. With assistance of a spirit named Beatrix she tracks them down to a maniacal robot who is controlling a boy to collect body parts for him. This could be a very dark storyline but Agnes truely cares for the spirits and is generous with her help.
I highly recommend this book to graphic novel fans and to readers who haven't enjoyed one yet.
My rating for this book: +++++

Murder Mysteries (2002)

If a stranger offers to tell you a story, you may end up learning a lot more than you bargained for. In this case, a young man waiting for a flight to his home country, England, is asked for a cigarette in exchange for a story. Having just returned from a disturbing encounter with a woman from his past, he gives the old man a cigarette and listens to a story of angels and murder. But these are not cute little angelic angels. One of them, named Lucifer (familiar?), charges Raguel with the task of learning who murdered another angel named Carasel. Raguel interviews angels to learn who were the last ones to see Carasel. Along the way we get an idea how things such as Love and Death may have come into existence and why.
I found this novel a bit disturbing since it involved touchy topics of religion and sex but I had to read it to the end to find out how it ended.
My rating for this book: +++

Pedro and Me (2000)

Judd Winick, the author and illustrator of this graphic novel, agreed to be a participant in the MTV series The Real World in 1994. He roomed with Pedro, a smart, funny, attractive young man who is HIV positive. Pedro has devoted much of his time to speaking to kids in school to educate them about HIV and AIDS. By accompanying him to these events, Judd learns about aspects of the disease and he becomes aware of the stigma suffered by its victims.
"I'm open-minded. I got that way because of my parents. They weren't hippies, just decent and reasonable loving people. You didn't have to be a weenie liberal like me to accept someone like Pedro."
It's amazing how wrapped up you can get in a story, even if it is in graphic novel format. You read the words and then pause to study the characters faces and the emotions there. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
My rating for this book: +++++

The Dark Horse Book of the Dead & Hauntings

These two graphic novels are anthologies of stories written by different authors. Of course, the thing I love about short stories is that if one story doesn't appeal to me, I can skip it and go on to the next one. Each book has a story featuring Hell Boy, who helps humans by fighting demons from the underworld. Not all the stories are drawn, some are straight text but are terrific as well. The stories I liked the most were written by Evan Dorkin with art by Jill Thompson. They feature dogs and cats! My favorite, though, is the one featured in Hauntings called Stray. It opens with dogs howling to call "the wise one" to help them figure out how to fix a haunted dog house. One of the neighborhood cats gets involved and even becomes the main event in releasing the spirit haunting the house. This story was, at the same time, scary, funny, and a little sad.
These books will appeal to readers of scary stories as well as readers of graphic novels. If you have never read a graphic novel before, this might be your entry into a new world!
My rating for these books: ++++

The Arrival

Don't you love to find something truly fantastic before all the critics tell you it's fantastic? Not too long ago I was visiting our neighborhood bookstore with my daughter and my friend and I were perusing the teen books when I noticed a tall, thin hardcovered book called The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I opened it up and didn't move until I was through it. There is not a single word in this book but it tells the familiar story of a man who has to leave his family and move to a new country to make a living. The wonderful thing about this book is that you really understand what it feels like to arrive in a new place where everything is foreign to you.
In this book, when the man arrives at his destination, he is confronted with fantastic and unfamiliar animals and architecture. Even the words are in an alphabet totally unfamiliar to him (and us). All through the story he meets people who are helpful even though they can't speak his language. Eventually he is able to find a place to live and a job and in the end he brings his family to his new country. The story goes full circle when he helps another new arrival.
You can find this book in our graphic novel section.
My rating for this book: +++++