Another selection of graphic novels read in Feb.

 Queenie: Godmother of Harlem by Elizabeth Columba and Aurelie Levy (2023) 160 pages

I was very intrigued by this history. Art in black and white is very realistic. Very traditional and symmetrical panels. The flashbacks to Stephanie St. Clair's childhood all deepen who she was as a person. A shadowy death always waiting for her is a great dramatic device. Astericks appear multiple times leading to a glossary in the back with historical context or translations of French at the bottom of the page. I love when Queenie and Bumpy, her right hand man, are in a movie theater and an indigenous character on screen breaks the fourth wall to address one asterisk right away. He explains a quote by James Baldwin. Black history is violent and often terrifying.

Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed Omnibus by Saladin Ahmed with various artists (2021) 403 pages

This combines volumes 1-3. I had previously read volume 1, which is issues #1-6. The rest of this run by Saladin Ahmed felt like a smooth transition from G. Willow Wilson's series for this superhero. I love the further development of Kamala's family and high school friends. #7-18 had pretty good villains/monsters and fun uses of Ms. Marvel's powers to overcome the obstacles.

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (2023) 443 pages

Second book I've read by Mariko Tamaki. This time she is working with her cousin Jillian Tamaki. Two friends and a new classmate, who are all in their first year of college, have different ways of being tourists in NYC. Over five days I love the way the story moves and how movement is illustrated across the page. The four tone color scheme works well. The relationship drama, the symbolic butterfly, the playfulness is all great and engaging.

Surrounded: America's First School for Black Girls, 1832 by Wilfred Lupano with art by Stephanie Fert (2025) 144 pages

Another great historical graphic novel for Black History Month! I'm not sure who is responsible for lettering, but it was tricky reading this font at times. Especially on my phone screen, but also on a desktop monitor, I had to really squint to make out some of the speech. I loved the way the story was told and the art. I could not find evidence that Stephanie Fert worked on the animated films Wolfwalkers or The Secret of Kells, but her art style reminded me of  those. The beauty of nature, the ugliness of racism, the promise of uplifting education are all explored. Crossing paths with Crandall's School for Girls is a young "feral" boy and a "witchy" woman who offer clever storytelling complications. There are pages with silent action, which work very well. And there are historical tidbits in an Afterword provided by the Crandall Museum.

Erased: A Black Actor's Journey Through the Glory Days of Hollywood by Loo Hui Phang with art by Hughues Micol (2024) 200 pages

This is a fascinating subject. Published in French first and translated. I just don't think the writer and artist were totally successful in delivering on the promise of the story. On one page director Josef von Sternberg, talking about exoticism, describes it as "a great big aesthetic shambles." I think that describes this graphic novel overall. It is trying to do so much tracing racism and politics in Hollywood. Maximus Wyld has Indigenous, African, and Chinese ancestry, so he is given many ethnic supporting roles. He is fictional, but he crosses paths with many real people who worked in Hollywood. He works on many real film projects. I didn't love the black and white art. Maybe the color scheme of the cover should have been used throughout. "Camera" angles change too abruptly and without the most logical flow. The likenesses of famous people aren't always recognizable. And sometimes the pages are too dark and cluttered. Writing-wise I wish there was more of a flow too. It is disjointed in attempting to cover so many faults in the way Hollywood operated. It is not always clear who is speaking, or what text bubbles are thoughts rather than speech. Purely non-fiction sketches of real people and films would probably have been more successful than this amalgamation of one guy linking all these different experiences.

The Harlem Hellfighters

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks with art by Caanan White (2014) 257 pages

This fictionalized historical graphic novel contains some characters that are amalgams and some that are real people. One real life black officer given some focus in the story is jazz band conductor James Reese Europe. Max Brooks explains at the end that he originally wrote a screenplay to tell the story of this African American regiment that fought in WWI. When no studios or producers bought it he eventually turned it into this graphic novel. It is exciting like a good historical movie. Life and death for the soldiers in the trenches and no man's land of France is, of course, gruesome. Racism is faced throughout their training in America and assignments "Over There." The popular song of the period How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm is sung by the soldiers many times, and it got stuck as I heard it in my head. The song takes on special meaning as the men think about how they will be treated when, or if, they return to America. The Harlem Hellfighters fought separately, but under French command, as top American military personnel routinely worked to repress them. The narrative structure of this story kept reminding me of the Civil War movie from 1989 Glory. This regiment in WWI fought valiantly and achieved much that sadly has often not been taught in American history. 

 

The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (2018) 361 pages

This audiobook on Libby is less than four hours and narrated by the author. It is full of powerful slam poetry. It is a novel, but it feels like it could be a memoir. It has been reviewed on this blog a couple times before. We follow Xiomara Batista, a child of Dominican Republic immigrant parents in Harlem, through her 10th grade year of high school. One of her poems introducing herself repeats the phrase "Pero, tu no eres facil." The first words to describe Xiomara were "You sure ain't an easy one." Through her diary and poetry we get to know her mother, father, twin brother, best friend, boyfriend, and English teacher. I love that she questions her parents' religion. She struggles with the way boys and men treat her now that she has developed curves. She deals with strict parental rules on dating like many teens. Ms. Galiano, the English teacher, encourages her to join poetry club and perform at NYC wide poetry slams. She finds her voice by keeping a diary and writing poetry. The climactic scene with her mother, who goes through her diary and considers the thoughts expressed in her poetry as sinful, gave me a strongly visceral feeling. Thankfully she continues to be empowered by voicing her words through poetry for everyone at the big spring poetry slam to hear.
 

Homegoing

 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) 305 pages

I loved this novel. I listened to the first half as an audiobook then had to switch to print. It is an epic multi-generational saga that in some ways is fourteen separate, but connected, coming-of-age tales. "Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana" on Africa's southwest coast. One stays in Africa and the other is sold into slavery in America. The chapters alternate between Effia's and Esi's descendents. This is historical fiction through a range of historical time periods. The historical details and variety of lived experiences of the African Diaspora are described with such liveliness. There are stories of love, of suffering, of labor, of grief, of colonization, and of discovering a black person's place in the world. 

Bitter Root Vol. 1: Family Business

Bitter Root Vol. 1: Family Business by David F. Walker and Chuck Brown, 160.

The Sangerye family has long specialized in purifying souls to cure the monster created when a soul hates too much. But tragedy after tragedy has struck their family in the last few years, and the few remaining family members are not at all united about what direction the family should take. And when a new type of monster appears on the street of Harlem it may be too much for the scattered remnants of the family to handle.

I think I was expecting some sort of steampunky, jazz age, odd family comic with this cover, but that's not really the atmosphere that it has. This wasn't a bad comic, but the start was sort of slow, and I don't know that it's hooked me enough to continue, although I do love to see jazz age Harlem as a setting. From what people have told me about Ring Shout the concept here sounds pretty similar, so if you liked that one maybe give this one a try.

Real Men Knit

Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson (2020) 319 pages

Kerry Fuller practically grew up in Mama Joy Strong's shop, Strong Knits. Kerry's mother wasn't that nurturing, but Mama Joy had more than enough love and nurturing for this neighborhood girl, and even fostered 4 boys whom she adopted. Everyone around Mama Joy learned to knit, including her boys. Kerry spent her youth pining for Jesse, but avoided him because he seemed only interested in short-term hook-ups.

Fast forward to the present, when Mama Joy has suddenly died. Her four sons are inclined to liquidate her shop and sell the building, but Jesse decides he wants to try to make a go at running the business. Kerry agrees to help him in her spare time. What follows is a dance of sorts, with Jesse and Kerry each attracted to the other, but not in sync.

Perhaps the outcome is predictable, but their yoyoing emotions seemed a bit much for me. Still, it was a fast, enjoyable read.

X

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon  348 pp.

This is an award winning novelized biography of the man who would become Malcolm X. Written by one of his daughters and based on Malcolm Little/El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz's diaries and interviews with friends and family. The book covers his childhood through the teen years to his imprisonment for burglary at age 21 where he converted to Islam and studied the works of men like Marcus Garvey who his parents followed. Appended material expands on his life after prison and his work with the Nation of Islam which he left to create the Organization for African-American Unity. This YA novel is interesting and I learned much about Malcolm X that I did not know. And it fulfilled the last title I needed for the 2019 A to Z Book Challenge. I downloaded the book via Overdrive.

Passing

Passing / Nella Larsen, 122 p. 

December's selection for the Reading the Classics book group is an intriguing novel of the Harlem Renaissance.  Irene Redfield lives a comfortable, secure life as a socially prominent Harlem physician's wife.  While visiting family in Chicago, she bumps into childhood friend Clare Kendry.  Clare, like Irene very light-skinned, is married to a white man who is unaware of her African American origins.  Clare and Irene's lives become entangled in ways that are damaging to both women.  This slim story is rich with ambiguity and layers of meaning, and, for some readers, will undoubtedly be a window to an unknown world.  There are apparently plans for a movie version soon; in the right hands this could be a fantastic film.

The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window: a Novel / A.J. Finn, 427 p.

I loved being completely engrossed in this disquieting and creepy novel.  Anna, formerly a successful child psychologist, is stuck in her house, with a severe case of agoraphobia.  She entertains herself with DVDs of Hitchcock and other old suspense films, lots of merlot, and by watching her neighbors.  When a new family moves in across the park, Anna sees something terrible through their parlor window. At least, she might have seen something terrible.  The real and the imagined are very hard to tease apart here, and suspense builds to a satisfying conclusion.  If occasionally the reader can see some of the surprises coming, it doesn't detract from an excellent reading experience. 

Behold the Dreamers / Imbolo Mbue, 382 pp., read by Prentice Onayemi

A timely and well-told tale, this is the latest Oprah pick, as well as the selection for September for the U City Book Group.  Jende Jonga is a Cameroonian immigrant to New York who lands a job as chauffeur to a high-level executive at Lehman Brothers in 2007.  He and his wife and son feel that they may finally be on the path to security when the economy collapses and their entwined relationships with Jende's employer and his family threaten their situation.  Although the plot of the novel holds few surprises, and the wealthy Edwards family who employ the Jongas are superficially drawn, I loved the story of Jende and his family.  Believable characters and a balanced and humane view of the immigrant experience make this a worthwhile read, and the audio is a pleasure.

Dope Sick

Dope Sick by Walter Dean Myers  185 pp.

Jeremy Dance, known as Lil J has lived a rough life in Harlem with his alcoholic, pill using mother. He's 17 years old, abusing drugs, and small time hustler who finds himself in a drug deal gone bad. After his partner Rico guns down an undercover cop, Lil J holes up in an abandoned building where he finds the mysterious Kelly who controls a television that shows scenes of Lil J's past and possible future. Seeing what is on the screen leads Lil J to a cathartic analysis of his life. But who is Kelly? Is he real? An angel? A devil? A god? Whoever he is, his affect on Lil J is thoughtful and dramatic.

Here in Harlem

Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices by Walter Dean Myers  88 pp.

I have to be in a certain mood to read an entire book of poetry at one sitting. This book is so good I couldn't put it down (and subsequently overslept the next morning-but still made it to work on time). Myers, who has written so many award winning juvenile books, was inspired by Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology. The result is a collection of poems about his hometown of Harlem. Each is written in the "voice" of a different person: a church deacon, English teacher, student, salesman, hairdresser, boxer, mechanic, etc. The only person who appears more than once is "Clara Brown" whose "Testimony" is in six parts. Also included are vintage black & white photos of Harlem residents. It is a book for reading, re-reading, and savoring.

These poems give a flavor of Harlem in the days of the Cotton Club, rent parties, and jazz. Some are humorous, some touching, others sad. At least one, the story of a soldier, newly returned home who was attacked and blinded in the assault, is based on a true story. While all are excellent, I admit to liking some a lot more than others.

In "William Riley Pitts, 42: Jazz artist" a man laments the death off his young son:
"Sometimes I sit and wonder
What the boy could have been..."

And "Delia Pierce, 32: Hairdresser" who gossips while claiming she doesn't:
"And I could say something about them
But I'm not the kind to talk behind nobody's back"

My favorites are "Betty Pointing, 64: Clerk" who still loves her husband of forty-six years:
"He asked me why I smile when I say 'I love you.'
I don't know why I smile--I just do."

and
"Mali Evans, 12: Student":
"I'd like to be old one day
Like Mrs. Purvis with her gray
Hair like a halo around her black face..."