Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood

 

Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood by Lonnie Mann (2024) 256 pages

Lonnie recounts growing up in a strict Orthodox family. He's the youngest of three brothers, and he tries to be everything his parents want because of the turmoil that his older brothers put his parents through in their teenage years. But later, when when Lonnie realizes he is gay, he's torn between religion and his own autonomy: in Orthodox Judaism, being gay is not acceptable.

This graphic lit memoir is well-drawn and a fast read. Lonnie, his family, and his friends are realistically depicted. I learned a bit more about Orthodox Jewish traditions through this insider's view.

The Graphic Canon, Volumes 1-3

 

The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1-3 edited by Russ Kick, adapted from works by various authors, with art by various artists (2012) 1600 pages

There are some works included in this literary canon by people of Afro, Latino, and Asian descent. Some graphic adaptations of classic works are more successful than others. I'll try to keep this blog entry short by offering only a few highlights or critiques for each volume.

Volume 1

I had previously read three excerpts from Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's graphic Action Philosophers!. It was a pleasure to revisit these entries. I especially liked the adaptation of Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things." There was also a great adaptation of a Noh play by Hagoromo. The adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West was fun. And I enjoyed the satire of Swift's Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal." 

Volume 2

There were too few actual graphics for adaptations of three Grimm fairy tales, three Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, and five Edgar Allan Poe short stories/poems. There was an intriguing adaptation of The Mortal Immortal, something Mary Shelley wrote other than Frankenstein. This volume of 19th century literature has a mix of very short and very long works. Many were visualized too minimally. Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll are perhaps over-represented. Still I loved the visuals merged with the rhyme for Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Volume 3

I caught two outright errors presented in the biographical introductions to two author's works in this volume. What others might the editor have missed? It is amusing mixing Kafka's The Metamorphosis with Charles Schulz's Peanuts. The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wildred Owen is given haunting graphics of the horror of WWI. There are excerpts of two graphic adaptations of James Joyce's Ulysses, yet it still remains difficult to fully understand. Hemingway's article "Living on $1,000 a Year in Paris" nicely illustrates the 1920s. "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke offers radical graphic design of text with no images, but is still touching. A Robert Crumb adaptation of Sartre is frustratingly left in French with only a summary of the plot translated in the intro. "The Voice of the Hamster" by a teenaged Thomas Pynchon was very funny. I counted a full fifteen entries that gave a single page to convey a work. This is too minimal. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but not tens of thousands of specific words contained in most novels. These minimalist entries did not draw me into wanting to read the original works.

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.

Kent State: four dead in Ohio

 

Kent State: four dead in Ohio / Derf Backderf, 279 pgs.

Totally aware of the basics about this event, I learned a lot from this dense graphic novel that covers the events leading up to the deadly shootings at Kent State.  It is difficult to read and not wonder how this ended up happening...but as you read you get different perspectives.  It all kind of comes together as a situation where many things spiraled out of control.  If you make decisions about others without communicating or having any ability to see their perspective, it is easier to see how tragedy can result.  The author is not super forgiving towards the leaders but also gives us a lot of background on them.  How do we prevent this type of thing?  Based on things happening today, it seems like we have not learned many lessons since Kent State.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

 Wake by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez, 208 pages.

This work of graphic non-fiction follows both Dr. Hall as she does historical research on the titular women-led slave revolts and speculative versions of the revolts themselves. It is the generally accepted wisdom that women had only a secondary role in slave revolts, and that they certainly didn't lead them. Hall digs deep into the historical record to challenge this belief. 

This was an interesting account, although it definitely left me wanting more. When Hall says hidden, she isn't kidding. The fact that this is non-fiction means that everything isn't always wrapped up neatly, and it feels like even by the end of the book there are more research dead ends than actual history, making much of what is set in the past more like hints and reasonable conjecture. However, the switching between the past and the modern day made for some very powerful visuals about the ways that the past is still influencing the present. 

An age of license

 

An age of license: a travelogue / Lucy Kinsley, 198 pgs.

The author has a fantastic opportunity to take a European trip that is mostly paid for as a book tour.  Side trips with friends and family round out the tour, including exploring a relationship with a Nordic dude.  The drawings are fantastic and the meandering trip is well documented.  Enjoyable on several levels.

The magic fish

 

The magic fish / Trung Le Nguyen, 229 pgs.

This is a beautifully illustrated book that features a young boy who is figuring out who he is and how to tell his parents.  He still reads with his folks and they enjoy fairy tales from various world cultures.  The stories within the story are so beautifully done it is worth looking at this book just to enjoy the masterful transitions and art.  I wasn't expecting this to be so good.

Delicates

 

Delicates / Brenna Thummler, 316 pg.

Marjorie Glatt is back.  She is still working with the group of ghosts living in her family’s laundromat. Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, which shifts her attention away from the family and Wendell, her best ghost friend.  This makes Wendell unhappy. 

Eliza Duncan is a bit of an outcast at school. She’s an avid photographer, and is interested in finding and photographing ghosts maybe because as an oustider, she feels like a ghost herself. 

Marjorie must soon come to terms with the price she pays to be accepted by the popular kids. Is it worth losing her friend, Wendell? Is she partially to blame for the bullying Eliza endures?

Delicates helps us see what it feels like to fit in, and how it feels to those who don't. 

My Alcoholic Escape from Reality

 

My Alcoholic Escape from Reality / Nagata Kabi, 133 pgs.

Kabi is a bestselling author and illustrator of two other manga memoirs.  Here she tells of her scary brush with pancreatitis and the hospital stay it precipitated.  How drinking became something she did to cope with her day, her work, her loneliness and how difficult it was to stay on the wagon.  In fact, despite a long hospital stay that involved a LOT of pain, she went back to drinking against the advice of her doctor, albeit at much smaller quantities.  A fair amount of this book is disturbing but probably relatable for a lot of people.

Sheets

 

Sheets / Brenna Thummler, 238 pgs.

Marjorie is just a kid, 13, but she is basically running the family business because her dad is suffering from depression after the death of his wife.  She is also going to school and suffering all the teen problems that come with trying to fit in.  Wendell is a ghost who makes the laundry his evening place.  He is trying to help but instead makes problems.  A local businessman wants to buy the building.  Can Marjorie keep it together or is everything doomed?

The butchery

 

The Butchery / Bastien Vives, 85 pages.

Young people in love but with the lens focusing only on some small situations. Showing them brushing their teeth together, walking hand in hand, laying in bed together.  But when it ends, the pain and problems are very real.  This is a sketchbook of many minor moments that may end up being more important than we realize. Nice art work. Few words.

Onion Skin

 

Onion Skin / Edgar Camacho, 158 pgs.

I was thinking the title would be a hint of a layered story but instead, it is difficult to parse what is supposed to be a flashback, an alternative story line, and what is supposedly happening.  A young couple decides to fix up a food truck to travel around and live out their dreams.  When they accidently get on the wrong side of a gang, their truck is damaged and they are out for revenge.  I think this is the story line that we are supposed to see as "true."  Perhaps there is just a little too much confusion for me to appreciate all of this. 

The secret to superhuman strength

 

The secret to superhuman strength / Alison Bechdel, 240 pgs.

Who doesn't love a good secret?  Alison Bechdel seems to tell a lot of secrets in her books.  This one does seem to get at the secrets...perhaps the meaning?  She tells of her lifelong obsession with fitness and how that fits into enlightenment...and how is doesn't.  This would have been worth the read if it just tracked the crazy fitness fads for the last 50 years or so.  The way in weaves in philosophical insights and theories makes it another fantastic foray into the award winning author/artists brain.

Gloriana

 

Gloriana: 3 Glenn Ganges comics / Kevin Huizenga, 117 pgs.

Every comic here depicts something fairly mundane.  It is every day life but we get a little glimpse inside the thoughts of some of the characters.  I like "The Groceries" the best.  A couple is putting away the groceries and thinking about their futures.  They share their thoughts and it seems so cool.  The art is superb.

My Brother's Husband, Vol. 1

 My Brother's Husband Vol. 1 by Gengoroh Tagame, 352 pages.

Yaichi is a stay-at-home single dad in Tokyo, raising his daughter Kana. The action of this book starts when Mike Flanagan, his estranged brother's Canadian husband, comes to stay with them after his husband Ryoji's death, hoping to see all of the places his late husband told him about. Yaichi isn't sure what to make of Mike, and had never met him before he showed up on their doorstep, but Kana instantly falls in love with her cool foreign uncle.

I was expecting a really cute little manga (just look at that cover), but this book was heavier than I expected. Which isn't to say that it's not also very cute at times (Kana is a treat), but a lot of the manga also focuses on Yaichi unpacking both hos own personal prejudices and the prejudices of modern Japanese society. Beyond that, the story is very interested in looking at what is passed on to future generations, and all of the many ways that process can go. It's a book with a lot of heart, even if it's not always fluffy, and I am definitely planning on reading the next volume.

Outer Darkness: Volume 2

 

Outer Darkness: Volume 2: Castrophany of Hate / John Layman and Afu Chan, 144 pgs.

Continuing on the mission, the spaceship Charon faces a lot of setbacks including aliens hauntings, sorcery and hatred.  This leads to a lot of fighting, backstabbing and scheming.  In other words, an awesome ride.  Captain Riggs is perhaps the only thing that brings the crew together.  They all agree that they hate him and want him gone.  This isn't kept from him.  Everyone is plotting or supporting someone else's plan, it is sometimes hard to follow. You always get the basic meaning...everyone wants the captain gone.  Chan's artwork is fabulous.

Outer darkness

 Outer Darkness: Vol 1: Each Other's Throats / John Layman & Afu Chan, 152 pgs.

Captain Rigg is testing out his new crew and ship, learning who can be trusted and who is going to cause him problems.  A power struggle is inevitable and sure enough, there is one.  Now they are dealing with some sort of occult influence and being thrown off schedule for the mission that nobody knows the details of.  I really didn't think this was going to be my kind of thing but it was.  Fantastic art and a story that reminds me a bit of a Star Trek episode.

The case of the missing men

The case of the missing men / Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes, 300 pages.

Fans of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys will like the vibe of this odd graphic novel that tells the story of a small town with big issues.  People are going missing, others are being murdered but the cops don't seem to be on the case.  A high school detective club starts looking for one particular missing man and finds many others.  What is happening in Hobtown?  Only a group of crazy kids can solve this mystery but at the same time, they are dealing with their own teen-age and hormonal issues.  I had a hard time following this at times and I can't say the art elevated my experience. Maybe this one was just too odd for me.

 

Long Story Short

 

Long Story Short: Mr. Fish and friends turning famous books into cartoons / Mr. Fish, 140 pgs.

I had really high hopes for this.  Perhaps I'm just not smart enough but I've read a LOT of the books featured here and often did not really "get" the cartoon.  Perhaps it is only me, the art is interesting, I just didn't always see the connection.

Snow, Glass, Apples

 

Snow, Glass, Apples / Neil Gaiman and Collen Doran (art), 88 pgs.

What if the story of Snow White is a little wrong.  What if the step mother was just misunderstood?  What if Snow White wasn't really the innocent?  This beautiful graphic novel is told from the step mother's viewpoint.  The art here is absolutely stunning.  Just gaze at that cover and imagine how much is inside.