AND MANKIND CREATED THE GODS, graphic storytelling in a very very important cause

AND MANKIND CREATED THE GODS: A Graphic Novel Adaptation of Pascal Boyer’s Religion Explained
JOSEPH BÉHÉ (tr. Edward Gauvin)
Graphic Mundi
$39.95 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: These are some of the most fundamental and enduring questions we have about the mysteries of religion, and they may well hold the key to humankind’s future on this earth.

In this adaptation of Pascal Boyer’s classic work exploring these concepts, Religion Explained, artist Joseph Béhé harnesses the power of comics to provide clear answers to the basic questions about why religion exists and why people believe.

A distinguished scholar, Boyer drew from research in cognitive science, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology to explore why religion exists and why the strength of human beliefs can drive us to be selfless sometimes and, at other times, to be fanatical and intolerant. His erudite book is rich with insight into the endless jumble of ideas that inform religious beliefs and practices across cultures. With detailed, illustrative drawings and carefully adapted prose, Béhé’s graphic novel brings a new perspective to Boyer’s work.

An eminently accessible approach to the notoriously thorny topics of belief, cognition, humanity, and religion, And Mankind Created the Gods is a thoughtful, inspiring graphic novel that will further and broaden the conversation with which Boyer’s book engages.

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

My Review: I feel very sad about this book. It needs explaining all the way from the subtitle, on to the purpose of the project. Plus this is a disaster of time to present something that is not a rah-rah Rasputin-style cheerleadin' on the subject of religion. Even if you've never heard of Religion Explained, you who are not first-timers to my reviews know that there is no way at all (no way in Hell!) I'd review something pro-religion even to dunk on it. Then we come to its length...over 350 pages...and its price...forty dollars. I do not foresee this wonderful, trenchant, tendentious read burning up the sales charts.

Damned shame, that. Look at this stareable art:

I'll happily do my bit here, trying for some interested sympathetic eyeblinks from among my smarter-than-average readers. Y'all give me hope, the numbers who come here to read about worthy, important books about subjects most polite people bury in order not to risk offending some ignorant little twidgee with a keyboard and a grudge against smart people.

So, Religion Explained: its subtitle is "The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought", and that is what it explores. Unlike the idea you'd get from my fondness for the book, it is not a screed against religion. It is a scholarly examination of Belief, as a phenomenon, not as a disorder. (I'm sure someone religious has used its facts to argue that it proves y'all's gawd designed Belief into humanity.) Like all things touching the cultural third rail that is Belief, this book has attracted both support and anger, as its surprisingly unpolemical Wikipedia page shows. It has existed this entire century. It is still in print via Basic Books. I myownself recommend you read it.

Why you should read *this* book, this sequential-art story about its concepts, comes down to the reasons anyone should read a story when seeking knowledge: A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, to quote the Sherman Brothers. I'm so old that I remember hearing Julie Andrews sing it to me in a dark, enormous theater.

So please take this in. Despite swimming against the prevailing social current, despite having one of the most unpleasantly good-for-you subtitles in all of history, despite being in a medium I am not fond of, this story about a book I read almost a quarter-century ago told me something new about Belief. It did it without taking my side. It is a very clear-eyed evocation in story form of the source material's information.

And I still gave it five stars.

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.

LEBANON IS BURNING AND OTHER DISPATCHES, answering "why is this happening?"

LEBANON IS BURNING AND OTHER DISPATCHES
VARIOUS CREATORS (listed below)
Graphic Mundi (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$21.95 trade paper, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Voices from the Middle East on the fight for self-determination.

Essential reading for understanding current events through authoritative Middle East voices from the front lines. Much of the present discourse about the pro-democracy Arab uprisings of 2011 paints a bleak picture of their defeat. But the truth is more complicated, and moments of struggle and inspiration still recur despite the overwhelming odds against the movements’ success.

This collection of short comics documents the political and social unrest in the Middle East during the 2010s in such places as Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, and Bahrain. A collaboration between writer and journalist Yazan Al-Saadi and a lineup of stellar cartoonists from the region—including:

Tracy Chahwan,

Ganzeer,

Ghadi Ghosn,

Omar Khouri,

Sirène Moukheiber,

Hicham Rahma,

Enas Satir

This graphic reportage serves as a witness to an era of counterrevolutionary resurgence in which entrenched powers clashed with the people’s struggle for self-determination.

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

My Review: Precisely what I myownself needed to "get" the reasons the world is on fire again in what we in the US call the Middle East.

It's all in the gestalt between art, ideas, and words. The entire experience illuminated my frustrated sense of "what the hell happened to set this horror into motion again?"

Cheery little bagatelle it is not. A great way to offer your older teen or twentysomething giftee a handle on why the world is ablaze with rage...again...it very much is.

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.

FEMINIST COMIC BOOK MEMOIRS: SHRINK: Story of a Fat Girl & BALD

SHRINK: Story of a Fat Girl
RACHEL M. THOMAS
Graphic Mundi
$24.95 trade paper, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Derided by her high-school peers for being overweight, Rachel finally found a sense of purpose and belonging in a promising career as an EMT—that is, until her body got in the way.

Shrink is a work of graphic medicine that depicts the emotional and physical realities of inhabiting a large body in a world that is constantly warning about the medical and social dangers of being “too fat.” This smart and candid book challenges the idea that weight loss is the only path for a fat person and encourages the reader to question the prevailing cultural and medical discourse about fat bodies.

Seamlessly weaving the most current research on the fatness debate with her own experiences of living in a fat body, Thomas lays bare society’s obsession with size and advocates for each of us to push back on body weight bias and determine what’s right for our own health and well-being, both physical and mental.

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

My Review: I spent a lot of my life "fat" and had to endure much verbal abuse for it.

The struggles in this graphic memoir were all too familiar to me, and I do not mean the ones about dieting.

I mean the comments...whether well-intentioned or just meant to be slyly insulting in that un-call-out-able way so many passive-aggressive or simply unpleasant people enjoy so much...that freely pepper even the simplest conversations. I mean the looks of horror or disgust aimed one's way by strangers. I mean the earnest, ill-informed "advice" about eating from medical professionals, or goddesses please protect us from such malevolence, dietitians *shudder* with their irrelevant portion-control mantra.

I mean the perpetrators of The Whale. I mean you, every time you've said something off-handedly about how big a celebrity has gotten, and what a shame it is because they were so hot before. Or how funny it was that time Courteney Cox put on a fat suit to be young, fat, unattractive Monica on Friends.

Stop it. If you need a reason (other than not being a jerk), read Rachel's story. She lived it, and came out of the experience with a fine education, a clear eye, and an academic career about social issues like this. If a young giftee of yours, especially but not exclusively a girl of a vulnerable age, is struggling with weight as a social issue, this is a good resource to offer; not a gift, unless specifically requested, though.

Even if it's just a sensitization exercise for you, or another person in your young soul's ambit, it's a very worthwhile gift to share with them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


BALD
TEREZA ČECHOVÁ (illus. Štepánka Jislová; tr. Martha Kuhlman with the author)
Graphic Mundi
$21.95 trade paper, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Tereza never thought she would go bald before her boyfriend did. She couldn’t imagine being unable to sweep her hair up in a ponytail or to style it in other ways. But when she lost all her hair in just a couple of months due to alopecia, her perspective on relationships and work—and above all, herself—radically changed.

Navigating the particular trauma of female hair loss, Tereza comes to terms with her new reality with humor and self-reflection in this prize-winning graphic memoir featuring eye-catching art by Štěpánka Jislová.

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

My Review: Generations ago, I knew a young woman from Puerto Rico who, during the year we were acquainted, steadily lost her hair to alopecia. It was the first time I'd every heard of the condition. As the weeks went by, I'd stop in the bodega and chat while buying the little thises and thatses one always needs but aren't important enough to trek to the biffer, cheaper store to get...plus it was a chance to catch up on the happenings.


Mostly to get an earful from my young friend about how the people in the neighborhood were horrible to her, accusing her of having ringworm, mange, and...given the time, this made some sense...AIDS. Those were mean and awful things to say. They made her angry.

What hurt her was her family calling her "pelón"..."hairy guy"...and laughing about it. I was appalled, but felt unable to do anything but be blandly comforting of tone, and listen to her. In the end, she bought a wig and got a new job, and we lost contact.

I will never, ever stop regretting I didn't say to her then what I say on a daily basis to my male-pattern baldness: "It's just hair."

It's only a big emotional deal because people around you make it one. Tereza takes us on a very, very pink-tinted trip with her as she learns the realities of hair loss from alopecia, which are interesring to me; what will mostly interest others, I suspect, is the shocking amount of emphasis placed by others on women's hair.

Want to radicalize your young feminist? Hand over this startling deep meditation on how effectively women are indoctrinated into their value being that of face. And hair. No ruse is more effective than drilling into a young woman that her role is to be beautiful, and woe betide her if she falls short. The stupidity of this offends me, but it should infuriate all of us.