This batch features the immigrant experience and the era of grindhouse movies, a teenage apocalypse, tales from a manga artist who started drawing in her 40's, a WWII slice of life, and a graphic novel of familial difficulties.
BLOOD OF THE VIRGIN HC
(W) Sammy Harkham (A/CA) Sammy Harkham
Set in and around 1971 in Los Angeles, Blood of the Virgin follows an immigrant film editor named Seymour who is desperate to make his own movies. Without money or clout, he has no choice but to spend his days slumming it for the worst and most exploitative production company in town. When Seymour is given the chance to make a film of his own, his unbending principles and relentless drive violently clash with an industry that rewards everything but these traits. As Seymour's blind ambition pushes the movie along, his home life grows increasingly fraught.
Using the film's production as a means to spiral out into time and space, Harkham creates an epic novel that explores the intersection of parenthood, 20th-century America, sex, the immigrant experience, and the era of grindhouse movies. Like a kaleidoscope, Blood of the Virgin shifts and evolves with each frame, allowing the reader to zoom out and see that at its core, this book is about the making of a man. MAR231771
Why this caught my eye:
Caught this New Yorker article a bit ago and love thee Grindhouse focus.
ITS ONLY TEENAGE WASTELAND TP
(W) Curt Pires (A) Jacoby Salcedo, Mark Dale
In the first days of the apocalypse, a group of high school boys may be the last alive in the city. When his parents go out of town for the weekend, Mexican-American high schooler Javi decides to throw a party-one that'll launch him and his buds into popularity! Or at least get them noticed by some girls. But no high school party goes off without a hitch. Javi can only watch as his friend takes a beating from the school bully, but then-BAM! The apocalypse has the worst timing. With few survivors-and even fewer sane ones-Javi and his friends will have to learn to survive together, and mend the fallout from the last party before the end of the world.
Collects It's Only Teenage Wasteland #1-4.
APR231358
Why this caught my eye:
Love the set up for what sounds like a solid teen drama.
OFFSHORE LIGHTNING GN
(W) Saito Nazuna (A/CA) Saito Nazuna
Nazuna Saito began making comics late. She was in her forties when she submitted a story to a major Japanese publishing house and won an award for newcomers.
Offshore Lightning collects Saito's early work as well as two recent graphic novellas "In Captivity" (2012) and "Solitary Death Building" (2015), both focused on aging and death.
APR231391
Why this caught my eye:
I may be late to the party and this is a re-solicit, but it's worth checking out the preview art here.
BOOT BLACK HC GN
(W) Mikael (A) Mikael
Spring, 1945: the war leaves only death and destruction in its wake. To escape the horror of the present, Al, an American soldier, the only survivor of his unit, immerses himself in the memories of his New York life. Son of German immigrants, born in the United States, he was not yet ten years old when, in one night, under the approving eyes of anti-immigrant Americans, he lost his parents and his home in a terrible fire. Turning his back on his origins, Al has no choice but to live on the streets; he becomes a Bootblack, a shoe shiner. New York offers no future for the poor, Al understood that. He is therefore determined to earn more money, whatever the means. But he does not imagine, at that point, that the war which threatens will soon give him an appointment with his past...
APR231703
Why this caught my eye:
Art looks great and I'm into the time period, check out previews here.
BIG UGLY GN
(W) Ellice Weaver (A) Ellice Weaver
Work, health, family - Mel feels like her life is just circling endlessly as she begins to renew her relationship to her brother in this vibrant graphic novel. Mel isn't going anywhere - except to work every day. But when she offers the spare room in her apartment to her struggling brother, everything she loves and hates about wanting to live up to the expectations of her family becomes part of her every day again. It turns out that even as adults, living with your sibling brings back the dynamics of tween rivalries. As Mel tries to rebalance things with her brother, she navigates how to offer help to someone who doesn't want to need it.
APR231229
Why this caught my eye:
Weaver's art style drew me in, you can check out some preview shots of the book here.
That's it for this batch, we'll check out some manga on the next round!
Comments