> GRAPHIC NOVELS
Moms By Yeong-Shin Ma Drawn & Quarterly, 372 pages, $34.95
Stories about middle-aged women, especially in Korean families, don’t usually look like this. Based on the experiences of the author’s mother, this is a wonderfully engaging yarn about a group of women in their 50s who have a ton of problems and are also sick and tired of everything thrown at them all their lives. There are sexual adventures, labour disputes, feckless children, financial woes and more. It’s extremely relatable because the character work is so strong. All their hopes and flaws keep the narrative running, and its power increases when we see how badly people can treat each other. For example, it’s easy to hate Jeongseok, the cheating boyfriend of main character Lee Seyeon, but his behaviour is wildly funny, too, because we’re laughing at him, not with him. D&Q keeps bringing treasures from around the world to Canada. Long may that continue.
Undiscovered Country Vol. 1 By Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Daniele Orlandini and Matt Wilson
Image Comics; 176 pages; $13.50
This is the best elevator pitch I’ve heard in years. In the 30 years since the United States used high-tech shielding to cut itself off from the rest of the world, nobody has heard a word about what’s been happening inside. Now, a select group is invited to visit the U.S., and promised a cure for the pandemic that’s ravaging the rest of the world. Exciting, right? It started pre-COVID, so this passion project involving comic book industry star Scott Snyder, best known for writing “Batman,” and a team of some of comics’ brightest talents, couldn’t have been timed better. In this first volume, collecting issues 1-6, the story isn’t resolved because it’s an ongoing series. But we do get a look at the bizarre American interior, tantalizing plot details and questions about why each visitor was chosen — you’ll leave wanting more.
Wendy, Master of Art By Walter Scott Drawn & Quarterly, 240 pages, $29.95
Walter Scott’s hilarious Wendy comics are back, and just as funny and relatable as ever. Anyone who’s ever wondered if they have imposter syndrome will see themselves in Wendy, an artist building a career despite bringing chaos upon herself on a regular basis. Don’t think this is some light froth like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon: It’s a lot more clever than that. Scott, who gained a Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Guelph, keeps up a high standard of satire by sending his character on a similar course at the “University of Hell” and pointing to the foibles of the art world, while layering in comment about open relationships, recreational drugs, binge-drinking and more. It’s a good old chuckle all the way through but still has depth, continuing Wendy’s character arc and letting her grow.
ABC Monstrosity By Shea Proulx Renegade Arts Entertainment, 90 pages, $19.99
This book isn’t the usual fare for a review column, but it’s just so, so thrillingly bizarre that it’s irresistible. It’s also by a talented Canadian woman who creates beautiful comics on short print runs, working with an indie publisher, and she deserves all the praise we can give.
“ABC Monstrosity” started life as a colouring book for adults, and is now in renewed (not reprinted) form as a fully coloured storybook. It looks like a traditional book of ABCs, starting with an apple, then a banana, a cow and so on. But each object is combined with the previous one, and reminds me of the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, except designing hybrids for children and wanting to use every colour ever seen.
It’s absolutely bonkers. I burst out laughing by the letter D, felt uncertain at K and, having reached Z, I’m unsure what I experienced. But I loved it.