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Four stories, the two with Violenzia were the best. I love Sala’s creepy sensibilities, but this didn’t do it for me. My library doesn’t carry many more of his books so this may be my last. We’ll always have “Invisible Hands” though, which I’ll link to (again!) for your delectation: youtu.be/n5sP4yRb8Mw

I've read and enjoyed all of Kowal's books. The worldbuilding is considered & smart, and her characters are always horny for each other (often, newlyweds).

Didn't expect a mystery, but this was fun. Initially annoyed by all the cocktail recipes, but she persuaded me to seek out complex flavors of the non-alcoholic variety (my preference). I always learn something from her, including a 5-senses grounding technique.

Her second graphic memoir, it explores her Arabic and Muslim side. A bit more angsty given it was Gharib's teenaged years (and it was the 90s). I love her openness in relating messy family stuff, and cringe at the same insecurity I felt from wanting to fit in with dominant (American) culture.

The colors and panel structure in this book are more varied. It's exciting to see this cartoonist grow.

A local artist I’m lucky to call a friend. I did not expect such a serious and mature story. The art style seems so … innocent. The villages have their own traditions, belief systems, and a shared history that I didn’t follow enough to fully understand. But I know how to load a cannon now, and there are some lovely moments beautifully drawn.

Written like bad streaming TV: mandatory "plot twists" clumsily done, drawing things out artificially, a rushed final episode, and introducing a shadowy character in the last shot to laugh menacingly.

Frustrating, like most Dark Academia books. It’s got some interesting ideas and moments, but the writing doesn’t sustain them. The magic system and world-building are underdeveloped. Is it a rule in this genre that magic users have to be assholes?

By the end, I really liked this. Up until then, it felt a bit YA in how it treated the leads’ feelings for each other. Why draw things out with the whole “not talking to each other honestly” trope? I have nothing against prolonging things, but it needs to be deftly done to not feel cheap. This wasn’t cheap though! I loved these boys. Their marriage (not a spoiler) feels hard-won. Plus, look at that cover. SO gay.

I wanted to read more mysteries. Slowly making my way through The Inspector Armand Gamache series, mostly in winter. This strengthens a sense of continuity between the books and offers history lessons on Quebec; the long-standing tensions between French and English Canadians. If it wasn’t clear before, Gamache is not infallible, and we see the large-scale and deeply personal effects this has on him and others around him.

I love Ben Katchor's line work and style. The observations and point of view in each comic strip are always interesting, but there's a density to them (visually and conceptually) that require a lot of effort from me to parse: architecture, history, urbanity, narrative. I think I used to read them in an alternative weekly a while ago, and that's the kind of reading pace that worked for me: one per week.

Refreshingly simple premise about a dystopian future where people live inside a silo their entire lives. The author wasn’t up to writing the inevitable “action set piece” as compellingly as the quieter parts of the book, and the ending felt a tad rushed, but I enjoyed it. Will read the remaining books in the trilogy. Feels very movie-/TV-ready. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s being adapted.

Always loved Parrish's art: painted panels, odd proportions and perspective. This was kind of a bummer for me, but their art makes me want to break more "rules" with mine.

Most of my nieces and nephews are too old for this now, but I’m always interested in this kind of book to give to other kids in my life. The illustrations definitely make it, and the writing is approachable. There’s another book called “How To Be a Person”.

I saw some of his art online and thought it looked like “Invisible Hands” from Liquid Television, which I LOVED on MTV back in the 90s. Same artist! This didn’t have quite the same level of twisted, creepiness as that animated series, but I was so happy to find his work in comic form. There’s more too.

Someone stitched together all the “Invisible Hands” episodes. The voice acting is 🤌🏽 youtu.be/n5sP4yRb8Mw

A gay Latino returns home to the suburbs for a high school reunion and encounters key people from his past. Narrator alternates between 1st person to describe scenes and 3rd person to analyze social inequities. After a while, it feels a little like the kind of defensive writing people do on social media: it’s not enough to tell a story; you have to demonstrate your grasp of the conditions that led to it.