Before I get into the books I read last month, let me just make a quick note about the physical store… If you come to shop before like, 3:30pm, there is a LOT of construction going on. We are still open! And I try to keep the door open (at least the drilling seems to be over) but it can be pretty noisy and parts of the sidewalk (next to the gas station) are blocked off. Anyways, that said…
I did a little bit of reading this month… It was a pretty busy month so maybe not as much as usual, but let’s get into the (micro)reviews.
This is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read, hands down. It was extremely profound, and so many scenes will stay with me forever. I am really looking forward to Saeed’s next book, Alive At The End of the World, which comes out in September. I have one copy of this memoir available at the store and hoping to get copies of the new book in time.
Another really phenomenal memoir. Carmen Maria Machado dives deep into her abusive relationship with her ex and describes what feels like a true descent into madness from the gaslighting and emotional (and sometimes physical) abuse from her ex-girlfriend. The story is broken up into very short chapters which all take on their own life and contribute to weaving a very dark tale.
One of my man Ito’s grossest books. It was definitely giving “human centipede.” It was good, of course, as his works always reflect the kind of deranged dedication to meticulous and gruesome detail that only a genius could possess. But wow, gross!
This is a collection of three short stories and in my opinion, it’s possibly some of his best work. The first one in particular really fucked me up!
This is just verbatim a comic version of the show. If you liked the show and want to see it in comics-form, or you want to collect the comics companions, this is for you. There are a few different variants. Kids who weren’t allowed to watch the show, perhaps this is a medium they can engage with that story.
Well I obviously love both Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn so this was one I’ve been meaning to read. It’s really good and has some funny moments. It seems to take place after Ivy has “died” and been “reincarnated” with some fancy Lex Luthor plant or something. But there are multiple Ivys…. Who is the one Harley’s been hanging out with this whole time???? Better read to find out.
I read this because the cover was cute and I love Harley Quinn. I genuinely have no idea what’s going on but seems like half of Gotham (or more??) are vampires????? And Harley is trying to kill them? Bruh I have no idea. But it was fun I guess.
This year’s Marvel Pride! Super cute stories and the intro by Alex Phillips is awesome. Especially loved the historical deep dive into LGBT stories & rep in Marvel characters/stories over the years.
At the beginning of last month we had the release party for this awesome story! I loved it a lot- it is a queer sci fi story. If you liked On A Sunbeam it is similar to that thematically.
I had been meaning to read this one for a while and I’m so glad I picked it up last month. Turns out it is a retelling (almost verbatim!) of an old Superman story from the 40s, which is totally awesome.
If you know me, you know I love Wonder Woman and anything Amazon-related pretty much. This is one of those Wonder Woman adjacent stories. Definitely worth checking out. I really enjoyed it.
This is a cool story. It’s very reminiscent of Black Mirror in a lot of ways – surveillance tech dystopian, etc. It’s only the first issue so there’s a lot of questions here. The art is incredible. I’m looking forward to the next issue.
We’ve been waiting for this one! I have a couple variants in store but of course I picked up the Momoko variant myself. This is (I think) more of an origin story and features young Ororo (Storm). Definitely worth checking out!
I love Young Justice so of course I was going to check this one out. It features Green Arrow and Black Canary as well. There’s some interesting action-adventure stuff and was overall, a fun read. Looking forward to the next installments in this limited series.
This one struck me because of the art style. It’s very different from more common art styles you might see in comics and the way the paneling done also feels very unique. I am not really so sure about the story, though – like I’m not sure I get it. Seems like first and foremost a romance. Kind of sweet. But there’s a lot of other magicky stuff I wasn’t following all too well..
This book was requested by a customer and I got a damaged copy so I thought heck, why not. I’d give it a read. Plus the premise was interesting. It really, in my opinion, shines a light on the transphobic/transmisogynistic gatekeeping in the mental health industry for folks with mental health issues and trauma who are trying to gain access to gender affirming care.
This felt a little like Crowded – if you know that one, the concept may feel somewhat familiar. But this is a much darker, more hard-boiled take on killing for sport. The art is great and I am getting ever more curious about Nina’s backstory. It’s AWA Upshot so I can only get it through Diamond which presents problems if I miss it on the FOC… but I may try to get #2.
Whew, this one sure was a wild ride. Again!! is a do-over story, which I think is a subsection of the isekai genre as it seems to be popular (I’m probably going to take a look at Tokyo Revengers next month since the omnibus just came out)- and I find the premise quite intriguing, but I will say that it doesn’t get REALLY good until vol. 7. The finale was also… hmm. I don’t know how to describe it, but felt somewhat disjointed. There were some parts where I thought could easily have been omitted for a more neatly ended story. But then again, when does high school ever wrap up neatly? In that way I suppose it was effective. Overall though I liked the series a lot and the main cast of characters were fun and relatable.
I think that’s probably it though it’s definitely likely there were a couple other titles I forgot about / forgot to take pictures of. Ah well. Such is life. Definitely recommend coming through to take a look at the current selection – there’s so many great books, comics and manga to browse! Take your time and really sift through all the offerings and please do not hesitate to ask for recommendations if you had a specific genre or creator in mind.