Bring Me The Head Of Susan Lomond by Connor B

subtitled A High School Story.

Ever since Susan Lomond beat Monroe Poole to the top of the Highwater High School Proficiency Listings, Monroe has been obsessed with taking her new rival down. It’s bad enough that Susan is the school’s star quarterback, someone so popular with her classmates that she’s just been elected prom queen too. How dare she take Monroe’s academic place, as well?

And so the evil genius from a long line of evil geniuses hatches a plan to take out this upstart and reclaim her rightful spot atop the academic standings. Trouble is, all of Monroe’s plans keep failing, due to one weird glitch after another. Monroe fumes over her continued failure on her blog, even as she resurrects her recently deceased cousin Nemo and hatches a brand new plan to finally, publicly and triumphantly defeat her nemesis.

But Nemo’s trip back from the afterlife seems to have mellowed him out considerably, or at least has allowed him greater perspective on the human condition. He sees that there may be something more than vengeance motivating Monroe’s obsession, a motivation Monroe herself may not realize or understand until it’s too late…

It took me a while to really get into the groove of this comic, as Monroe’s monomania with her increasingly frantic and outlandish plans can be a little difficult to identify with. Once the book got into the meat of the why instead of the what, however, I was totally on board. Nero and Grandma are the delightfully sane ballast to Monroe’s fervor, and the entire denouement was handled with a wonderful sensitivity that I, in my own heightened state of emotion at present, very much enjoyed.

What I liked most about this quirky graphic novel tho was the way in which gender norms are completely dispensed with, as everyone just wears and does what feels right without worrying about any pressure to conform. If only everyone in the world was allowed to just be: to wear what they like and love whom they love and pursue their own passions without being given specious reasons why not to. Connor B’s imagined universe is a refreshing and nimble take on high school that will hopefully serve as inspiration for any young person having trouble living an authentic life.

Bring Me The Head Of Susan Lomond by Connor B was published February 12 2025 by Silver Sprocket and is available from all good booksellers, including