Grown-up Graphic Novels to Seek Out!

Even for the decidedly bookish, it can be tough to stay current with new grown-up graphic narratives from small publishers! Here are four gems out this season that are worth having on your radar. Checked Out by Katie Fricas is out today, May 20th; Second Shift by Kit Anderson, and George Takai’s next graphic memoir It Rhymes with Takei are coming out in early June; and I Ate the Whole World to Find You by Rachel Ang came out in April. Whether your taste is unsettling magical realism or inspiring progressive memoir, there’s something for you here!

Checked Out by Katie Fricas, published by Drawn and Quarterly, tells the story of Lou, 20-something and living her best queer life in New York City, juggling dating, an interesting job at a private library, and working on her passion project of writing an epic graphic novel about Cher Ami, a heroic pigeon of World War II.

The bright, vibrant art has a lot of character, in a style that kind of reminds me of some of Kate Beaton’s earlier sketchier stuff, but with more magic markers.

As someone who has been a grown up already for a … while …. I don’t always love stories of disaffected 20-somethings finding their way in life. But Lou is a wonderful character and we get to see her interacting with her friends in really affirming ways, and with New York City in a lot of fun scenes. I recommend Checked Out if you like stories about weird jobs, NYC, cartoonists figuring things out, and/or pigeons.

I was immediately excited to hear about Second Shift by Kit Anderson because I find her earlier graphic narrative, Safer Places, really beautiful. That one was a group of connected stories with lush, immersive pages of art.

Second Shift, in contrast, tells tone sustained story of Birdie Doran, on a far planet, processing some material for a corporate boss. Bored by the bleak environment, Birdie employs the virtual reality settings offered to her by the Station AI for “adventures.” Around the edges, though, are signs that Birdie might be at risk.

This premise gives Anderson a lot of opportunity to offer us gorgeous and wild art, and we feel for Birdie as she starts to figure out what’s going on but also wants to stay in denial. Recommended if you like stories that make you question reality, and/or trippy science fiction art. Second Shift by Kit Anderson comes out June 5 from Avery Hill.

The team who worked on They Called Us Enemy; George Takei, Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger; have joined forces once again for It Rhymes With Takei!

It Rhymes With Takei picks up when They Called Us Enemy leaves off, with preteen George first starting to get interested in acting, and in boys, and takes us through his adulthood to now. Throughout his life, Takei’s career and political activism and civic involvement have all be informed by both his identity as an Asian American, and his identity as a gay man.

In addition to the fun scenes with his Star Trek costars, I was really interested to learn about Takei’s architecture studies and his work towards establishing better public transportation in Los Angeles. It was also illuminating to see how his social media savvy fits into a long history working on political campaigns. Recommended for anyone who appreciated They Called Us Enemy, or who likes George Takei generally, or stories of 1960s-2010s politics and Hollywood. It Rhymes With Takei comes out (heh) June 10th from IDW&Top Shelf.

Ooooh, I Ate the Whole World to Find You by Rachel Eng is a weird one. I was drawn in by the spooky cover, where it looks like spilled spaghetti may be merging with viscera. Then I read that it was enthusiastically recommended by Carmen Maria Machado, one of my favorite authors, and was sold.

I Ate the Whole World to Find You has connected stories, many of which are tied to food in some way, and which convey people yearning for connections with one another … or yearning to be free of those connections. I was unsettled, in a really appreciative way.

Recommended for people who thrive on mess and ambiguity, and/or who want to think about how a feminist surrealism manifests in the comics form. I Ate the Whole World to Find You by Rachel Eng came out on April 8th from Drawn and Quarterly.