Come sistahs…we book club!

Ahh…book clubs. Do you belong to any? I used to be terrified of them and the idea of expressing my opinions in a group setting about a book and possibly sounding stupid or being laughed at was enough to make me breakout into cold sweats and keep me from seeking out this type of experience. Luckily for me, however, I found my Goldilocks book club (it’s juuuuuust right).

For the last five-ish years, I have been attending the Lady Legion Book Club hosted by Zeppelin Comics in Benicia, California. Each month we read 1-2 graphic novels and meet the second Thursday of the month for an insightful, respectful, and entertaining conversation about the books, authors, artists, and the deeper meanings behind the works. Lately the meetings have been virtual, but that makes them no less valuable. 

This book club has become part of my routine and plans every month. I introduce as many ladies as I can to the club and encourage them to join (including my sisters). This month, however, Katie and I will not be able to attend because of a trip (yay for things beginning to open up again), but we wanted to still offer our recommendations (because this month was a “free” month and everyone is bringing along what they have been reading) through this blog post to share with the book club members as well as anyone who stumbles across our blog. In either case, welcome!

Katie, Megan, and I are going to share our reviews in the next few paragraphs. We want to reiterate that comics are for EVERYONE. Here are some books that we have been loving.

From Julia: Reading this book was a different experience for me because I read it on a computer in an eBook version. I typically enjoy holding real books, but I am happy to report that the art from this book looked just as beautiful on a screen as it did on paper. It was the art on the cover of the book that originally drew me to the book: a tall, dark cat in a trenchcoat smoking a cigarette – it was giving me big Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon vibes and I was not disappointed! This book is a collection of five stories, plus a couple mini stories, that were translated from the original Spanish publications. Blacksad initially came out in the early 2000’s and was first published in English last year with this collected volume. The stories take place in the 1950’s and there is a lot of political and racial tension that still feels alarmingly relevant today all set against a film noir type style backdrop. Highly recommended in either physical or digital formats – however you can get your eyeballs on this one I think it’s worth making the effort.

From Julia: This series caught my attention because I was wondering if it was a manga take on the Peter Pan story. It is not, but that did not lessen my enjoyment of this HORROR series. I might be weird, but this children’s librarian really loves creepy stuff and this series so far is checking all the boxes: mystery, gruesome secret, tension, and precocious kids. When the twist was revealed in the first chapter, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor (for real). This series ran from 2016 until 2020. The chapters are collected into 20 volumes – I am getting ready to dive into volume three. Thank you Benicia Public Library for having these books available! Again, making the effort to find these books is well worth it. I also just found out that the first season of the show is available on Netflix, which makes me quite excited and will be checking that out presently – if it’s half as good as the books, it’s going to be a fun ride. 

From Megan: This was a wonderful birthday gift from Julia! Not only was it super informative about the Guerilla Green movement, but the illustrations were also beautiful. The Guerrilla Green movement has been in existence for centuries and is essentially gardeners practicing civil disobedience. Their motto is to plant food everywhere there is dirt–without waiting for permission from the powers that be. Ophelie Damble’s writing style is witty and sarcastic but also packed full of historical and scientific information. I also love that this is a stand alone book–I don’t have to commit to an entire series which is very overwhelming to me about comic books. That’s not to say that this is the only book out there about the Guerilla Green movement! Damble included many references to other books and resources available to learn more about the history of this movement as well as how to get involved in it. 

From Katie: “What can we draw out of this moment, when words fail us?” The first sentence of the introduction to this anthology poignantly captures the mission of this book. It is a collection of short comics curated by Publisher, Graphic Mundi. All created between April 2020 and October 2020 in response to a call for stories. These 60+ comics serve as a sort of time capsule for 2020, covering such topics as isolation, loss, inequality, uncertainty and many others we can all relate to. A portion of the proceeds from this book has been donated to The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) which supports comic book shops, bookstores and their employees who have been impacted by the pandemic. All the comics were donated to this project by their creators. This was a cathartic read for me as we start to see signs of recovery from The virus. I don’t see myself reading it again in the near future but I am comforted to know that years from now I can reach for these pages when words fail to describe the experience that has been this COVID-19.

We hope that you enjoy one, or all, of these recommendations. If you do go out looking for these books, consider either supporting your local library or comic book shop – or a mixture of both. If you have recommendations of your own, please put them in the comments. Let’s keep reading, sharing, and repeating!