ALL-NEGRO COMICS: America's First Black Comic Book, wonderful anthology that's a 2025 WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD

ALL-NEGRO COMICS: America's First Black Comic Book
CHRIS ROBINSON (created by Orrin C. Evans)
Image Comics (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$12.99 paperback, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD • The first comic ever created by African Americans, for African Americans.

Three quarters of a century ago, Orrin C. Evans lead a team of cartoonists to create the first comic book anthology of original Black characters created by Black talent, with the expressed purpose of entertaining while rejecting harmful stereotypes and pushing boundaries in the industry. This was only 8 years after Action Comics #1, 6 years after Captain America #1 and a whole 19 years before Black Panther hit the pages of Fantastic Four.

All-Negro Comics #1 should be among those revered moments in comic book history, but the original print run was quickly removed from newsstands and faded into obscurity, remaining largely unknown for 75 years. . . until now.

All-Negro Comics 75th Anniversary Edition (an Eisner Award-winning collection) preserves that history for generations to come, containing All-Negro Comics #1, in full and digitally remastered for clarity, several essays for historical context and contemporary reflection, as well as new stories by Black writers and artists of today, featuring the original characters.

This award-winning volume includes:

• The complete single issue from 1947, digitally remastered! Consistent colors, crisp text, and no damage! • Contemporary comics and prose stories, featuring the All-Negro Comics characters, written by notable Black creators of today • Essays that provide historical and cultural context to deepen your reading experience • A discussion guide and resource list

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I had no inkling (!) this series of comics ever existed. Which is the point of banning and suppressing books: If you don't see yourself in popular culture, you have no reason to think you belong in it. I myownself, standing on an already enormous mountain of white male privilege, was also given the gift of growing up after Stonewall...I know exactly how important it is to see your Self, your identity and looks, your behavior and thoughts, in the culture around you.

I can't even imagine how much more important it is today, and certainly was in the past, to Black children...adults, too, but comics reach both groups.

The Eisner Award has never been given more thoughtfully and necessarily than to honor these groundbreaking creators, ignored far, far too long:

I liked seeing the cover art, just as art, without the usual impedimenta to get in the way of its kinetic design. It's easier to enjoy as art:

In my defense of personal ignorance about this comic book's existence, I offer the fact I never read a comic book in my life until I was almost ten. I got books whenever I wanted, bought for me or from the library, so I never developed the interest or formed the habit. Of course, no one pitched them to me like Orrin C. Evans pitched these comics:

Silver-tongued devil, no?

So your comics maven will enjoy the Eisener winner part, your Black history maven will enjoy the recovered history and the prescience of Orrin C. Evans in doing it at all, and it looks lovely on the tablet if you've got an ereader! Now, enjoy some of Ace Harlem's adventures:

#ReadingIsResistance

DON'T CALL ME DIRTY, manga I didn't hate!

DON'T CALL ME DIRTY (Don't Call Me Dirty #1)
GOROU KANBE
Tokyopop (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$12.99 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: After some time in a long distance sort-of-relationship with his crush, Shouji is crestfallen when weeks of getting ghosted finally result in a confession: his boyfriend just isn't gay.

Having struggled with his sexuality for years, Shouji throws himself into his work to distract himself from the rejection—but when a young homeless man called Hama shows up at the shop, Shouji finds himself curious to learn more about him and, hopefully, befriend him. Attempting to make their way in a society that labels each of them as 'outcasts' and 'dirty,' the two men grow closer.

Together, they begin to find they have more in common than either of them could have anticipated.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: When you're Other in your very bones, you know it early. Othering either becomes your ugly secret, your curse to bear, or your identity. The way some people are Othered for external things over which they have no, or little, control might be crueler...hard to say. In this tale of Othered men coming together in large part because of their shared Otherness, they each learn a wonderful lesson about authenticity.

Becoming your real self is the project of post-adolescent adulthood. Many stay in the imposed selves, accept identities that aren't a great fit because they lack the resources of identity-example to alter what isn't working.

Stories like this one might hit hardest in Japan, although homelessness in the US is pretty marginalized. When Hama receives Shouji's overtures of friendly connection, he's stunned...he's homeless! He's like a stray pet, afraid every caress will turn into a kick. Shouji's need not to be rejected is pretty easy for Hama to meet, albeit with trepidation. Can this turn into more?

Not rushing into powerful emotions, not having sex right away, not following The Tropes℠ of romantic fiction, are all very appealing ways to build a story between Othered people who each crave similar connections. The artwork is standard manga:

...so you like it already, or you don't. Me, I'm lukewarm. I got past my impatience with sequential-rt storytelling because I very much like the story, and the narrative mode, used here. I know this begins a series. I hope you'll think about it for your young manga-reading queer kid. The message is genuinely positive, without the hypersexualization of many, if not most queer stories.

THROUGH FENCES, graphic novel in the Latinographix series via Mad Creek Books

THROUGH FENCES (Latinographix series)
FREDERICK LUIS ALDAMA (illus. Oscar Garza)
Mad Creek Books
$17.95 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Through Fences follows the ups and downs of Latino kids and young adults in the US–Mexico borderlands:

San Ysidro, Calexico, McAllen, and back and forth across the border. A young girl’s journey north goes wrong, and now she is in a forbidding new place, away from her parents and brother, where she doesn’t understand what the adults in green are saying even as she tries to obey their rules.

Rocky, one of the few white kids in town, stands by and watches as Miguel is jumped by two of his friends. Maggie and her parents are separated at the border in a tragic accident.

Alberto’s son doesn’t understand his Mexican father’s hatred for “illegals” or his work as a border patrol agent. Alicia is a TikTok influencer who doesn’t want to grow up to be a hospital cleaning lady like her mother, but COVID complicates things. Whatever their challenges, the kids, teens, tweens, and adults in these pages are just trying to survive their everyday lives.

Vibrantly illustrated by Oscar Garza, each of these short stories brings a different perspective on the perils of living on the border while brown.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: The stories told here are tough. They're honest, they're emotionally charged, and they do not pander to or play out for the gaze of oh-so-sensitive/delicate fleur wypipo who whine every time anyone tells them the unvarnished truth about what the system their privilege enables them to ignore actually does in their collective name and to their collective benefit.

I don't recommend this for under-fifteens. I do think it's a good idea to give the book to your comic-loving teen nibling/grand boy.

These are indicative of the visual idiom of the entire book. It's intense and kinetic art, it's intense storytelling, and it can't be lightly glossed over or cynically dismissed easily. Young white men in particular could use a dose of this reality. Apart from urging you to get the work in front of all the teenaged white lads you can find, I'm out of polite words to say.

WITCHCRAFT: A Graphic History, Stories of wise women, healers and magic, beautiful book to gift the young Wiccan on your list

WITCHCRAFT: A Graphic History, Stories of wise women, healers and magic
LINDSAY SQUIRE (illus. Lisa Salsi)
Leaping Hare Press
$19.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Discover the enchanting character and story of Biddy Early, the first known witch in herstory as she guides us on a magickal journey.

'Every witch uses her magic differently. I use mine to heal people, while others ...' 'What do the others do!? Are there many different types of witches!?'
'Oh yes! Many ...'

Join Lindsay, a young and curious 19th-century lady, as she meets Biddy Early, the famous 'wise woman of County Clare', and learns all about the magickal arts—from which plants can be used to make healing poultices and potions, to how people dealt with the social and political stigma of practicing witchcraft.

Biddy Early, who lived from 1798–1874 in Ireland, was by no means the first-ever witch, but she was the first to appear on the historical record. Before her, fears and superstitions surrounding practitioners of 'the nameless art' were too strong. It is said that Biddy took an apprenticeship with the 'good folk', sidhe or faeries, when she was very young, and it was from them that she learned her skill as a healer.

Never one to accept monetary payment for the help she offered, Biddy would often swap home-brewed alcohol for her services, which in turn, made her ramshackle cottage in Feakle a hub for the local community. When her little corner of the county drew the attention of the Catholic Church and the local authorities, things became very difficult for this unusual woman…

Encompassing self-empowerment, feminism, dealing with stigma, and eco-spirituality, as well as plant magic, traditions, and green wisdom, Witchcraft: A Graphic History is a fresh take on an endlessly fascinating subject.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I cannot imagine anyone reading one of my reviews really needs telling that magic is a way of understanding the world. It is appealing to younger folk because the evidence all around them shows up the manifest, and manifold, failures of their elders' way of comprehending the world.

The appeal of witchcraft to young women is, in my view, down to its offer of a power unshared by the majority (that works overtime to lock them out of possessing and using more conventional forms of power). As the parlous state of affairs in the modern world needs new and different viewpoints and uniquely nature-centered ideas to escape the dual traps of materialism and capitalism, this book suggests itself as a wonderful corrective.

I'm quite enamoured of the art. YMMV on that score, but I hope anyone reading this is already on board with the truth that seeing one's self and one's identity in the mirror of the past is deeply healing and invaluably enriching and validating.

As a #Booksgiving gift, I hope you'll agree that this is a worthy goal. As an object to possess, a book to put on the coffee table, this is a statement of your belief in, and faith offered to, a way of understanding the world through a woman's eyes. Positive gynergy emanates from this book in a glorious nimbus.

Trade some treasure and some time for this peace-spreading book.

DEATH COMES FOR THE TOYMAKER, Vol. 1 is a really Gothic take on Santa that I liked a lot

DEATH COMES FOR THE TOYMAKER, Vol. 1
DAKOTA BROWN (illus. Ryan Cody)
Magma Comix
$19.99 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Death comes for us all. But for Gil the Toymaker, the visit is an eternal tragedy!

Every year the holiday gift giver visits children all over the world on a special night, but Gil’s immortality comes at a cost. Forced to do the work of Death, carrying a list of ready-to-harvest souls alongside his naughty and nice lists, Gil gives toys AND takes souls all in one night! But as the Toymaker reflects on the relationship he’s had with Death for several millennia, an associate reveals a scheme that may just put an end to Death’s contract (and, perhaps, Death himself!)

An epic twist on the traditional Christmas legend from writer Dakota Brown and artist Ryan Cody, for fans of original tales featuring familiar characters from mythology & folklore like Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or Bill Willingham’s Fables!

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: It's #Booksgiving, so I man up and look through publishers' options for gifting to the comics fans on all y'all's lists. I usually enjoy it about as much as dentistry...and I am *mortally*afraid* of the dentist...but am occasionally pleasantly surprised. Those are the ones y'all hear about.

Like this really interesting take on the Spirit of Giving that my mother sold me on after I figured out that Santa was Dad in a weird suit in 1965. It takes the idea of personified Death, which is one of the few things in the Pratchettverse I really like a lot, and applies it to the idea of ritualized gift-giving.

total Hogfather vibes, no?

I'm not sure I really *got* the art, in that it seemed to me to be more somber than really called for in the story itself.

There's something...elemental...that I resonated with in these panels, however, so in the end I landed on a solid, happy four-and-a-half stars for a story that gives new heft to a deeply commercial holiday.

Have a teen giftee who's got an anti-capitalist 'tude? A seriously Goth kid not into the whole "ho-ho-ho" and "holly-jolly christmas" b.s.? Here's them a story that agrees with their world-view. It might also excite them to get curious about ancient myths and legends, which can only be a good thing. It's one I would buy for myself, and only misses five stars because it feels like it left off but didn't end.

That being a feature not a bug in sequential-art storytelling, I record it purely as an explanation not a cavil.

GUSTAV AND HENRI: Space Time Cake!, middle-grade fun and silliness from Australia

GUSTAV AND HENRI: Space Time Cake!
ANDY MATTHEWS (art by Peader Thomas)
Red Comet Press
$14.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Opposites attract in this humorous illustrated graphic novel series about two best friends.

Meet Gustav and Henri. This is their book.
It's a bit about friendship and a lot about snacks.

They love doing normal things together, like:

finding a lost shuttlecock – IN SPACE!
returning an overdue library book – 100 YEARS AGO!
or making cakes – IN THE BATH!
You know, completely normal things.

Join them for 100% of your recommended daily intake of adventures, escapades, and capers – all in one book!

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I know, I know...what is happening here?! This oldster suddenly does comic book reviews? And yes, I grant you it is weird to see me reading, let alone reviewing, this middle-grade genre of material still less this format for delivery...but there are grandchildren in this world. They need books. We need to know what is in the books before we give them to the kids.

So here we are.

The Dramatis Personae. Where we will be going.

What it will look like.

Sweetly silly, this is just on the bubble of comic book and graphic novel. It is definitely middle-grade in its story and style. I think it would amuse and entertain a seven or eight year old with some challenge in the reading of it, but nine and up might be less enraptured unless they have a silly sense of humor. There are puns and fun galore. You might need to explain some Aussie stuff to US or Canadian kids. I myownself think that is a feature not a bug. Good for kids to relate to those whose culture is different but language is not!

I was very pleased to see this activity sheet, though for my money I say copy it and make it clear the kids are supposed to use the copy not the book.

Cute, fun, funny, and very good messaging about friendship as well as coping constructivelu with conflict. Anyone with appropriately aged giftees, here is a different and good #Booksgiving gift.