#ComicsWednesday: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

When I was a kid I loved Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, but as I got older, I lost my taste for horror. I, however, love the creepy stories in Emily Carroll's collection Through the Woods.

Emily Carroll's beautiful art is what convinced me to read outside of my comfort zone. I'd first encountered her work in a blog where she and Vera Brosgol illustrated historical fashion. I was impressed by the way Carroll could give hints of a person with a personality and a story to tell from just a single image. That ability to capture emotion in her drawings is what takes Through the Woods from good to great.

The stories are creepy and well paced, with a striking use of color. Twisted lines, washes of gray, and deep black shadows with bright pops of color help to create the creepy atmosphere. This book is eerie and haunting, without being the gorefest so common in modern horror, although the red is sometimes blood. Most importantly, readers are given room to imagine what lurks in the dark spaces.

This book is a great pick for anyone who loves classic ghost stories, especially readers who might otherwise avoid contemporary horror. And if you find yourself wanting more, be sure to check out Emily Carroll's website, where she has several other comics available to read.

~Sarah, Adult Services

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#ComicsWednesday: The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson

Gear up, folks, for a #TagTeamComicsWednesday review!

This week Libby and Sarah team up to gush about one of their favorite comic series: The Wicked + The Divine by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Jamie Mckelvie, and colorist Matthew Wilson (plus some notable guest artists along the way).

PLOT SUMMARY

Twelve gods are incarnated as humans every ninety years. They become famous for what they are, treated like the ultimate celebrities. Within two years, all twelve of them are dead. We follow teen and ultimate fangirl Laura as she is given the chance to meet her heroes. Upfront warning: there is violence, death, sex, drug use, and all sorts of things that make this comic very much for adults.

If you’re waiting for the American Gods television series to premiere at the end of this month, The Wicked + The Divine might help tide you over. Likewise, if you’re waiting for The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 5 to hit the library shelves in June, check out American Gods by Neil Gaiman (if you haven't already).

OUR THOUGHTS

Okay, I'm just going to state right up front that avoiding spoilers is going to be SO HARD. But for any readers who have managed to exist on the internet without encountering major spoilers for this series, I do not want to ruin the experience for you. Even though I'm pretty sure Libby and I could fill this entire post with our favorite fan theories and unanswered questions.

SO MANY QUESTIONS. SO FEW ANSWERS. It's one of the best and most frustrating things about this series. If you're a fan of cliffhangers, TW+TD has you covered.

But oh boy, do tiny, cryptic references pay off BIG later on down the line.

Yeah, like “I hope you were paying attention to that random one-liner in the first issue because THAT MEANS EVERYTHING NOW AND NOTHING WILL EVER BE OKAY AGAIN.” I mean, that might be an exaggeration, but that’s how it makes me feel.

Haha. No. You were right: nothing WILL ever be okay again. Don’t get too attached to anyone. This is some Game of Thrones level of say goodbye to your favorites...

Best idea: don’t pick favorites. Easier said than done, but it’s the only way to escape emotional trauma. But before the reader gets the wrong idea, this series is 100% worth the emotional trauma. I think one of my favorite things about this series is the worldbuilding

The worldbuilding starts subtle. This feels like a very contemporary England, with fairly regular people, but they gradually add in the history and depth through bits and pieces and cryptic hints until before you know it you’re signed up for a fictional character’s mailing list.

I knew I wasn’t the only one who signed up for that list. I also learned more about gods and goddesses than I ever thought I would, and I went through a mythology phase as a child, so...

That mythology phase must be a librarian thing ;) But this is some Advanced Level mythology. Some of these gods and goddesses were totally new to me.

The array of gods and goddesses from different cultures, as well as how they interact, is fascinating. UGH, there is so much I want to type in all caps here, but there is only so much flailing we can put on the official library blog.

Okay, sure, but. The characters. How can I not flail when there are such dimensional, human, fallible yet lovable characters? EVEN MIRROR FACE THE AWFUL. Even him. A little.

Daft Punk Is Playing At My Pantheon? I KNOW. I can’t even pick a favorite character to talk about. They are all so realistic while somehow still being otherworldly. I think we have to at least talk about Laura, our POV character.

Laura is right up there in my genuine favs. Not just because she’s the regular human fangirl view to this whole supernatural circus that we’re MEANT to identify with as readers completely new to this universe, but because she has a self-awareness and is just so totally herself.

We identify with Laura right away, but her growth through the series is why I love her so much. She starts out as a fangirl, blogging and tweeting about this Pantheon, but when she meets them, they’re much more human than she expected.

And she handles that, both the excitement of meeting her heroes and the disappointment of their not being quite the people she imagined, so very well. So much better than I would’ve at 18.

This comic is, in a word, intense.

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Staff Review: Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets

I plucked Breaking Wild off the library shelf by chance, while selecting books for a wilderness display. I love stories set in wild places and this one garnered some nice reviews. It's a story of search, survival, and rescue. The book is fast-paced and the plot delivers rapidly mounting suspense. Both main protagonists are women, strong women more than capable on their own in the wild. The novel's backdrop allows author Diane Les Becquets to paint luscious portraits of Colorado's hinterlands, an area she knows well and clearly loves.

The novel is told from two points of view, Amy Raye's and Pru's. Amy Raye is a troubled individual. Happily married, ostensibly, she cannot stop herself from seeking out encounters with strange men on the side, the consequence of an unfortunate childhood event. Her actions torment her and threaten her marriage. To clear her head, she heads off alone with a compound bow to redeem her elk tag. She gets hurt and then lost in a craggy wilderness of ice and snow, coyotes and mountain lions. A massive search effort ensues.

Pru is an agent of the Bureau of Land Management, and she and her dog, Kona, are part of the search-and-rescue team. Pru, whose own past includes plenty of heartache and loss, finds herself unusually compelled by Amy Raye's disappearance. Her diligence and persistence in tracking the woman are unflagging, even after the official search is called off.

We move back and forth between two points of view, one woman's search and the other's efforts at survival, with both women's histories fleshed out as the gripping story moves forward.

I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good, suspenseful read and particularly for readers entranced by nature, in this case the gorgeous but harsh, high desert landscapes of southwestern Colorado.

~Ann, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Primates: the fearless science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani & Maris Wicks

Jim Ottaviani has made a career of taking the lives and complex discoveries of scientists and mathematicians and translating them into accessible graphic novels (with the help of various talented artists). In Primates, Ottaviani worked with Maris Wicks to tell the story of three groundbreaking primatologists: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas.

This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in natural science, women's history, or animals, whether or not you know the difference between a chimpanzee and an orangutan. Ottaviani and Wicks captured some of the difficult realities of scientific fieldwork in remote locations, while giving the highlights of our relatively recent understanding of primate behavior.

While this comic is kept in our children's collection, I'd recommend that parents read this book along with younger readers who might have questions about such difficult topics as sexism, gorilla poaching, and Dian Fossey's death. Though Wicks's engaging, cartoon-ish art helps to keep the tone from becoming too dark, this book is probably a better fit for tweens, teens, and interested adults.

Primates serves as an excellent introduction to the lives and works of three incredible, inspiring female scientists that readers of all ages are likely to enjoy. You'll probably find yourself looking through the provided bibliography in order to learn even more!

~Sarah, Adult Services