Villarrubia’s jaunty linework is a comfort-
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Adult
Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine.
By Kelly Sue DeConnick. Illus. by
Valentine De Landro.
2015. 136p. Image Comics, paper, $9.99
(9781632153661). 741.5.
In the not-too-distant future, America is
ruled by paternalistic capitalism, and women
are held to impossibly high standards. That
might sound awfully familiar, but DeCon-
nick and De Landro take it to extremes.
Noncompliants—women who don’t meet
a wide variety of standards—are sent off-
world to the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost,
or, as it is colloquially known, Bitch Planet.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, businessmen,
who go by the icky title of “father,” try to
drum up ratings for a compulsory TV event,
a sport called Megaton. What could be more
alluring than adding some lady inmates to
the mix? Though this sounds like it could
get exploitative, DeConnick and De Lan-
dro never miss an opportunity to shine a
light on sexism, revealing tender backstories
for the characters and showcasing the ugly
language of the men in power. De Landro
expertly uses color to heighten the mood—
noxious greens and yellows subtly highlight
moments of sexist rhetoric, while the pris-
oners are rendered in warmer, more realistic
tones. Hard-hitting and funny, this smart,
thought-provoking comic pulls no punches.
—Sarah Hunter
Captive of Friendly Cove: Based on the
Secret Journals of John Jewitt.
By Rebecca Goldfield. Illus. by Mike
Short.
2015. 168p. Fulcrum, paper, $25.95 (9781936218110).
741.5.
John Jewitt, a blacksmith aboard the
Boston in 1803, finds himself under attack
by the Mowachaht on what is present-day
Vancouver Island. Maquinna, the chief,
shows mercy on John, likely because of his
metal-working skill, and takes him as a slave
instead. Trapped for almost three years,
Jewitt secretly wrote about his struggles
in this true, but likely embellished, story
that forms the basis for the graphic novel.
Many captivity narratives from this period
often reinforce the importance of religion
and cast indigenous peoples in a negative
light, and, occasionally, this is no different,
but Goldfield makes a concerted effort to
show John’s captors as sympathetically as
possible, noting their incredibly troubled
history with white traders, which often
resulted in theft, betrayal, or outright mas-
sacre. Short’s boldly colored artwork focuses
less on detail and more on the clarity of sto-
rytelling, which helps highlight the nuances
of Goldfield’s script. This accessible glimpse
38 Booklist December 15, 2015
able fit for the energy and pace of the story.
into a little-known corner of history might
help illuminate some of the complexity of a
conflict often cast only in black-and-white
terms. —Peter Blenski
Curveball.
By Jeremy Sorese. Illus. by the author.
2015. 420p. Nobrow, paper, $19.95 (9781910620052).
741.5.
It’s sometime in the future, somewhere
vaguely familiar, and people—who look most-
ly like people look today—are in danger from
all the things they created to make life easier.
People have almost completely overconve-
nienced themselves and out-­ programmed
their own ability to create, and some suspect
that analog methods of recording are most
secure. Many of the robots are breaking
down, and the city is experiencing energy
“snaps,” as spectacular to witness as they
are disruptive and dangerous. Ungendered
Avery, a waiter aboard a party ship, is bro-
kenhearted, seemingly forgotten by slippery,
callous, and, of course, alluring sailor Chris-
tophe. Past the intricate lacework of Sorese’s
richly imagined future, earnest stories of love
and friendship emerge: between Avery and
Christophe, Avery and Avery’s roommate
Jacqueline, Jacqueline and a new woman.
Readers will forgive an at-times disorienting
plot for all that Sorese gives them to work
with here, not least his wildly unique char-
acters. Sorese imparts great emotion and
energy with shaded black-and-white draw-
ings, accented occasionally by the vibrating
neon orange that also adorns the book’s edge.
—Annie Bostrom
Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi.
By Anthony Bourdain and Joel
Rose. Illus. by Ale Garza and José
Villarrubia.
2015. 160p. Vertigo, $22.99 (9781401252267). 741.5.
In Get Jiro! (2012), celebrity chef Bourdain
and cowriter Rose told the story of gastro-
nomic samurai Jiro, who manipulates both
sides of a dystopian future’s culinary gang
war. In this prequel, they fill in the backstory
with plenty of blood, severed heads, and raw
fish. Jiro is going against the wishes of his
father, a powerful Yakuza gang lord, by se-
cretly learning the art of sushi. Hounded by
his rapacious, brutal half brother, Jiro finds
himself in the midst of a family bloodbath
that ultimately drives him out of Japan and
into his prescribed future. Though lacking
the zest of the original’s genre mélange, this
prequel tells a swift, grisly tale of secret pas-
sion and family betrayal, cooked in the sort
of gangster stew that Frank Miller perfected
with Sin City. The artificiality of the digital
coloring unfortunately robs the visuals of a
vital solidity, and the depiction of women is
barely short of pornographic, but Garza and
—Jesse Karp
Ghetto Klown.
By John Leguizamo. Illus. by Christa
Cassano and Shamus Beyale.
2015. 192p. Abrams ComicArts, $24.95
(9781419715181). 741.5.
Actor, writer, and playwright Leguizamo
gives readers a “warts and all” view of his
life in this brutally honest graphic memoir
adapted from his Broadway show. From his
earliest days Leguizamo struggled to find
his path but always used humor and per-
forming as a way to connect and establish
his worth. Even as his career took off, Le-
guizamo fought against relentless self-doubt
that almost sabotaged him several times over.
Eventually, through honest self-examination
and acceptance, Leguizamo was able to har-
ness that conflict and transform it into an
acclaimed performance piece. Leguizamo’s
antics and intense experiences translate well
to the page. Done entirely in a gray-scale
palette, the artists heighten the emotional
drama with heavily shadowed passages and
large climactic panels. While the storytell-
ing feels rushed at times, Leguizamo is at
his best when he strips away the entertainer
and lays himself bare, owning up to his mis-
takes without self-pity or judgment. Though
Leguizamo has matured, this insightful and
engaging memoir still offers plenty of youth-
ful edginess. —Summer Hayes
Hitler.
By Shigeru Mizuki. Illus. by the author.
Tr. by Zack Davisson.
2015. 296p. Drawn & Quarterly, paper, $24.95
(9781770462106). 741.5.
Living legend Mizuki shifts from his
Showa series on the history of Japan to
the life, times, and death of the vagabond
would-be artist who, through improbable
twists of fate, became humanity’s chief ar-
chetype of evil. Mizuki’s technique is to
trace lifelike settings from photos against
which he plops caricature main characters,
an effect that, at first, is rather sickening, as
the young Adolf ’s yowling face, complete
with bull-snort blasts from his nostrils,
looks disfigured alongside realistically de-
picted background characters. After readers
acclimate, they will find themselves hanging
on as Mizuki’s point-by-point biography
speeds through, with dizzying complete-
ness, almost everything: the Beer Hall
Putsch, niece Geli’s suicide, the invasion of
Poland, and onward. Except for the near-
total exclusion of Holocaust details (an
introduction posits justifications, but still it
feels off), it’s an impressive, cogent, encyclo-
pedic feat, even if it comes at the high cost
of characterization. Still, when Mizuki nails
a caricature—­Rudolph Hess’ Easter Island
glower or Joseph Goebbels’ rubbery fright
mask—it’s worth a thousand words. Despite
www.booklistreader.com
all flaws, this is singular, and your collection
should have it. —Daniel Kraus
Injection.
By Warren Ellis. Illus. by Declan Shalvey
and Jordie Bellaire.
2015. 120p. Image Comics, paper, $9.99
(9781632154798). 741.5.
As in Authority and Planetary, Ellis—­
comics’ acid-tripping genius—once again
pits a team of complex characters against
the menace of a mind-warping idea. Given
the sheer mass of his writing, an intelligible
summary is best rendered in the scribe’s own
words: “building something to accelerate the
future,” a British think tank injects a “non-
biological, non-physical consciousness” into
the heart of the twenty-first century, caus-
ing “the founding science behind ancient
folklore” to “leak” into our world. Luckily,
Ellis is adept at building engagingly tor-
tured souls (particularly women) and tight
action into this massive scope. Shalvey,
meanwhile, proves up to the task of visual-
izing the human toll these depleted people
must pay. The artists also bring a graceful
and absolutely crucial clarity to Ellis’ density
of language, ideas, and scene changes, both
spatial and chronological. At the climax,
the aforementioned non-biological, non-
physical consciousness makes it clear that this
volume is only the tip of the metaphysical
iceberg. Sure to send a particularly cerebral
brand of reader off on a delightful head trip.
—Jesse Karp
YA: Sci-fi- and espionage-loving teens
who don’t mind wading through a thicket
of intense ideas will find a wonderland
here. JK.
Manabeshima Island Japan: One Island,
Two Months, One Minicar, Sixty Crabs,
Eighty Bites and Fifty Shots of Shochu.
By Florent Chavouet. Illus. by the
author.
Dec. 2015. 144p. Tuttle, paper, $19.95
(9784805313435). 741.5.
Japan has more than 4,000 islands, but
French comic artist Chavouet found that he
had only visited 2 of them. So he decided to
spend a summer on a small but accessible is-
land in the Inland Sea, Manabeshima. His time
there is marked by small adventures—finding
a place to stay, visiting a shrine, watching a
play at the community center, learning the
names of the many kinds of fish—all of which
he records in this rambling but intriguing
journal. There isn’t much of a linear narrative,
which sets just the right tone for this travel
story, as Chavouet is content with simply
letting life happen. His softly shaded colored-
pencil artwork is often humorous—he draws
himself with a bulbous nose and puts silly eyes
on the various sea creatures—but it can be
both luminously beautiful, especially when he
draws landscapes, and highly detailed, as on
the pull-out map of Manabeshima included
in the back of the book. This loving portrait
of island life will enchant readers as much as
www.booklistonline.com
Chavouet was obviously charmed by Mana-
beshima. —Snow Wildsmith
YA: Teens whose love of manga and
anime has led to an obsession with all
things Japanese will enjoy this look at a
more subdued side of Japan. SW.
The New Deal.
By Jonathan Case. Illus. by the
author.
2015. 112p. Dark Horse, $16.99 (9781616557317).
741.5.
Frank, a young bellhop at the Waldorf Asto-
ria hotel, scrambles to stay one step ahead of
the game in this richly layered tale of decep-
tion and thievery in 1930s
Manhattan. Mostly content
to skim a little off the top
from the Waldorf ’s richest
guests every now and then,
Frank finds himself in over
his head when Theresa, a
maid at the hotel and the
object of his flirtations, is ac-
cused of theft. When they find a hidden cache
of valuables, the stakes are suddenly sky-high
and neither of them is sure whom they can
trust. Loads of fun and full of surprises, this
mystery delivers top-notch storytelling with
a delicate exploration of race, class, and un-
written social codes that cement it firmly in
the era. Case’s gray-scale illustrations perfectly
capture the 1930s, from the ultraglamorous
socialites to working-class apple vendors on
slushy Manhattan streets, and many of his
characters, Frank in particular, are drawn in
a style reminiscent of ’30s era comics. Case’s
keen eye for detail provides an authentic his-
torical setting, while unusual angles and a
range of panel sizes heighten visual interest.
Exceptional in both vision and execution,
this will have broad, enthusiastic appeal.
—Summer Hayes
Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa
Luxemburg.
By Kate Evans. Ed. by Paul Buhle. Illus.
by the author.
2015. 144p. Verso, paper, $16.95 (9781784780999).
741.5.
Brilliant economist, charismatic speaker, an-
ticapitalist revolutionary—Rosa Luxemburg
was an outspoken member of the socialist
movement in Europe and a representative of
Germany’s Social Democratic Party. In this
graphic biography, Evans follows Luxem-
burg’s life from her early childhood in Poland,
where she was introduced to the works of Karl
Marx, through her years as a radical leftist and
fervent believer in Social Democracy, to her
assassination, in 1919, during the German
Revolution. Extensive passages from her let-
ters, books, and other writings illustrate her
actions and help define her political philoso-
phy, making the book as much an explanation
of socialist theory as it is a biography. Evans’
black-and-white art is full of movement and
emotion, despite being a book featuring talk-
ing heads, and her storytelling is a clever mix
of humor, pathos, politics, and the horrors
of war. Published in collaboration with the
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung–New York Office,
the story definitely leans to the left, but that
doesn’t detract from this compelling account
of a strong, independent woman who never
deviated from her beliefs. —Eva Volin
Things to Do in a Retirement Home
Trailer Park: . . . When You’re 29 and
Unemployed.
By Aneurin Wright. Illus. by the author.
Dec. 2015. 320p. Pennsylvania State Univ., paper, $32.95
(9780271071121). 741.5.
In Wright’s memoir about living with his
father during the latter’s last months, he wears
a blue bull’s head; his dad, a rhino’s. The real
blue bull, or nilgai, the largest Asian antelope,
isn’t endangered. The real red or Sumatran
rhino is nearly extinct. The colors analogically
indicate, then, a young, vital man and an old,
dying one. The son is like the bull-headed Mi-
notaur of Greek myth, living in a labyrinth of
feelings and memories rather than stone. His
father, an independent architect with a huge
ego and temper to match, who has alienated
wife and children, is like the rhino, close to ex-
tinction. In contrast, Wright’s mother, sister,
and girlfriend have their own women’s heads,
though a malevolent monkey materializes
whenever the former spouses meet. Draw-
ing himself with superhero muscles, his dad
similarly in flashbacks, and the women more
naturally, Wright gives mythical resonance to
the gritty everyday realities, memories, and
charged fantasies he depicts, not the least of
which is the strained relationship between fa-
ther and son. —Ray Olson
Young Adult
The Dreadful Fate of Jonathan York: A
Yarn for the Strange at Heart.
By Kory Merritt. Illus. by the author.
2015. 128p. Andrews McMeel, paper, $9.99
(9781449471002). 741.5. Gr. 8–11.
Jonathan York has found himself alone in
a strange wood that gets stranger as the sun
sets. He thankfully runs into a group of trav-
elers seeking rest at an inn, but in order to
get a room, each traveler must pay the inn-
keeper with a story. In Chaucerian manner,
each guest rattles off a comically dark tale.
Unable to produce a story of his own, Jona-
than is kicked out and must fend for himself
in the forest—cleverly shifting the story to a
fractured fairy tale. Merritt’s artwork is spot-
on and, in a style reminiscent of Gris Grimly,
paints this dismal but silly world with exag-
gerated monster features and gothic set pieces.
He easily rides the fine line between morbid
and ridiculous; in one instance, showing an
ice-cream maker filled with dogs being made
into a delicious desert by a handful of cheery
monsters. Merritt has made a sweet Tim
Burton–­style book with a lot of heart . . .
when it’s not too busy trying to rip it out of
your chest. —Peter Blenski
December 15, 2015 Booklist 39
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without
permission.