Staff Pick of the Week 3/14/18

• Comic: Eternity Girl #1 by Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew
• Staff: Julie

I’m already a huge sucker for Gerard Way’s Young Animal Line so it was no surprise that I enjoyed the heck out of Eternity Girl #1. Liew’s vibrant brush work combined with Visaggio’s story of an unhinged superheroine trying to get her life back on track is just the comic Young Animal promised me. The comic and character were actually introduced during the recent Milk Wars crossover event and subsequently got me pumped for the series. Using an entirely new character, Eternity Girl is giving us the horror story that is silver age superheroes that’ve been given powers thru government experimentation, been brought back to comics every other decade in an attempt to give that person a good storyline, and then cast away again once they’re outlived their usefulness. Superheroes are always fading in and out of the limelight and Eternity Girl is literally fading in and out of her reality (not to mention attempting to end her life over and over again to no avail because what character ever actually dies?). This series is getting into superhero mental health much like Black Hammer and Mister Miracle does, so I’m extremely excited what this comic is going to do next and hope it can stand the test of comic book time.

Staff Pick of the Week 3/7/18

• Comic: Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu
• Staff Member: Julie

So this book was actually one of our book club nominees and I really wish it had won because it’s a fantastic look at a huge group of different women who led amazing lives. The book is broken up into small chapters, each profiling a different woman – everyone from Josephine Baker to Wu Zetian. Bagieu’s previous books, Exquisite Corpse and California Dreaming were already great comics about strong, intriguing women and Brazen takes that framework and profiles every cool lady rebel you’ve never heard of because all too often history favors the men over women. I love that she profiles women dead AND living- women still fighting for equality in their fields, women still not as well-known as their male counterparts, and women who simply couldn’t take it anymore. I think this is an excellent purchase for this month (Women’s History Month!) and a book that will hopefully teach you a thing or two about why women rock this world.

Staff Pick of the Week 2/14/18

• Comic: Giant Spider & Me: A Post Apocalyptic Tale, Volume 1 by Kikori Morino
• Staff Member: Julie

So I’m a sucker for a cute cooking manga but this one takes the CAKE! (SORRY) Giant Spider & Me blends the cooking theme with a healthy dash of post-apocalyptic sadness. There’s been a rash of really good post-apocalyptic manga as well (Girls Last Tour, I Am Hero, The Girl From the Other Side) and this happily joins the ranks as an adorable girl-meets-horrifying-monster tale. The girl, Nagi, lives alone in the woods outside of a sunken city where she meets Asa, a curious, monster spider who loves her meals and joins her on day-to-day activities. Nagi’s still a little scared of her companion as Asa doesn’t seem to be a normal spider whatsoever, but the friendship is still developing and I’m sure there will be a lot more volumes to spin the yarn (dammit I did it again).

Staff Pick of the Week 2/7/18

• Comic: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Kieron Gillen and Kev Walker
• Staff Member: Liz

If you love Indiana Jones but sometimes wish he were a little less good and a lot more female, I need to talk to you about Doctor Aphra. The second volume of Kieron Gillen and Kev Walker's Star Wars comic about a very morally dubious archeologist comes out today, and it's the perfect time to start in on this series. Chelli Lona Aphra is an archeologist in the way that a mattress store jingle is a song. She's all about making money. Technically, she is a doctor and she knows what the heck she's doing, but she's only really concerned with the profit that her discoveries yield, not studying or preserving the precious objects she finds. Somehow, though, Doctor Aphra is a deeply likeable character. She's competent, funny, and exciting. Plus, she's the leader of a crack team made up of two murderous droids (think R2-D2 and C-3P0 but with homicidal tendencies) and a former-gladiator Wookiee that she's indebted to. The Doctor Aphra series is fun, fast-paced, and feels like a Star Wars book without requiring much knowledge of the Star Wars universe to enjoy it. Pick this one up now!

New Black Panther Window!

At this point, we're counting down the days until Black Panther hits theaters, and we want even the most casual of passers-by to know where our priorities are at right now. Luckily, we've got a brand new window display to do the job!

Staff Pick of the Week 12/28/17

• Comic: The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
• Staff Member: Julie

This painful first autobiographic work by Thi Bui has been praised all year and I'll continue to do just that right here. Bui draws a very stark and detailed look into her parents' union in Vietnam and their eventual departure to the U.S. with their children in the 1970s. The Vietnam War was beyond catastrophic for everyone involved but here we get a chance to see the Vietnamese side struggling to make sense of it while desperately seeking refuge.

Bui's storytelling wavers between timelines throughout the story, but with no confusion and a tight sense of what kind of story she wants to unfold. She weaves her parents' story, her early upbringing, and her current relationship with her family into one book that pays great attention to each part.  It is so exceptional that she is able to convey an entire family’s output of experiences into a beautifully rendered graphic novel. This book is a must read for anyone curious about the immigration, war, refugees, or just family dramas.

This comic has been out for some time this year, but if you haven't gotten the chance to read it yet, I highly recommend checking my favorite non-fiction book of the year.