Jeremy Love's Bayou is an interesting exploration of Reconstruction-era Southern culture, through the lens of an Alice in Wonderland twisting of tales. Lee Wagstaff, a young girl of color, encounters a butterfly winged spirit of a boy whose body she is recovering from the bayou after a lynching, and from there watches her white playmate get eaten by a monster. She goes through the proverbial looking glass to bring her friend back and save her father, who is accused of kidnapping and killing her friend. Love examines the complexities of racial oppression and the difficulties faced by people of color through the folk lore and fairy tales of the Deep South and blending of early rock and roll and jazz music. Love's artwork is colorful and vivid, rich in tone and nearly popping from the page. Decidedly worth a read.
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