I’m making some changes to this feature. While it will maintain its format of an introduction and three reviews, from here on in, those three reviews will be of books I feel are worthy of winning or at least being nominated for comics industry awards. The best of the best, so to speak. While I’d be ecstatic to present a new “Tony’s Tips” every week, that will be determined by the number of award-deserving books I read.
Let’s get right into the first of today’s reviews...
Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf [Abrams ComicArts; $24.99] was named one of the best books of 2020 by the New York Times, Forbes, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and probably other prestigious publications. It’s also a 2021 ALA/YALSA Alex Award Winner for Teen Readers and Adult Books. It is deserving of all those honors and more.
This 250-page graphic novel is an amazingly-researched and verified account of state-sanctioned murder. I was working for the Cleveland Plain Dealer when this went down and, even so, I was chilled to the bone as I learned things I hadn’t known back then, things covered up by the authorities and the newspaper.
This is a work that demands your full attention. Backderf unfolds the story in incredible detail. He brings that detail to all these characters: students, university authorities, National Guardsmen and state authorities. He cuts through the misinformation spread by the authorities and the media. He brings the horror home, backing up his graphic novel with 25 pages of additional notes. In 1971, I suspected there was something off in the reporting I was reading. In 2021, I now know there was.
Kent State is a must-have for comic art afficionados, for readers interested in contemporary American history and for students from middle school, high school and beyond. It should be in every home, public and school library. It should be taught in history classes. That it deserves comics industry recognition goes without saying. Kudos to a cartoonist who always goes above and beyond my expectations.
ISBN 978-1419734847
I don’t think there’s a comics industry awards category for comics-related novels, but I do believe there should be. Some incredible comics-centric stories are being told in prose and they should be recognized as such.
Hench [A Novel] by Natalie Zina Walschots [William Morrow; $27.99] would be one of my nominees for such an honor. This is the starting point for this character-driven story:
Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?
When Hench opens, she’s a temp. Her first promising assignment puts in the middle of a super-hero/super-villain battle that leaves her seriously injured and without a job. She uses her downtime to look at the effect of super-hero activity on the world. Her conclusions are that the heroes are worse than the villains, and she makes one heck of a case for that.
This leads Anna to a new job working for a villain considered one of the worst. It leads her to new responsibilities for an employer who values her. It’s an intriguing story that challenges the usual “hero good, villain bad” dichotomy. If, indeed, any of the book’s characters can be considered good.
Hench has difficult sequences. If you’re preferred super-hero tales are all black and white with no shades of grey, you probably won’t like this novel. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something edgier that doesn’t debase existing super-heroes, you might enjoy this book as much as I did.
ISBN 978-0-06-297857-8
Invisible Differences: A Story of Asperger’s, Adulting and Living a Life in Full Color by Mademoiselle Caroline and Julie Dachez [Oni Press; $19.99] is the first English translation of a entertaining, informative and remarkable story. In this autobiography, we see the day-to-day life of a young woman with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Marguerite isn’t aware of her Asperger’s until she’s already on her own and in a relationship with a boyfriend who is as clueless as I fear many of us would be in such circumstances and without knowing his girlfriend’s condition and confusion. I didn’t find him to be likeable, but I did find him to be relatable. Many of us don’t know how to react to things that don’t affect us directly.
Marguerite, on the other hand, emerges as someone much more than is apparent as she begins to find her story and her way. Maybe this is a SPOILER WARNING, but I loved reading how she made changes to make her life what she needed it to be.
The overall question Invisible Differences asks is why people don’t understand autistic people. As with so many things, the answer to that question is a lack of knowledge and, in too many cases, a lack of empathy. Knowledge you can get from this uplifting, wonderful comics work. Empathy is something we have to find within ourselves. Both goals are well worth pursuing.
ISBN 978-1-62010-766-0
I hope you enjoyed this new installment of “Tony’s Tips!” While I don’t have a regular schedule for new installments, I will try to do them at least once a month.
I’ll be make with more bloggy stuff soon. Stay safe, stay sane and keep reading comics. After all, for the most part, they’re good for you. See you soon.
© 2021 Tony Isabella
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