Graphic Novel Resources

Tillie Walden is one of my favorite comics artists, a multiple Eisner Award winning talent and current cartoonist laureate of Vermont. I loved her books Spinning and On a Sunbeam, and I also had the pleasure of interviewing her a few years back as part of The Comics Alternative podcast. I was very surprised to see that she was going to be working on a book based in The Walking Dead franchise, and I bought it a few years ago but only got to actually reading it now. Clementine is based on a character from the franchise's video game series. She is a young woman/teenager who is living in a world over-run by zombies. When this book begins, she is a loner, and she wears a prosthetic leg in place of the limb she lost.  And, as you can see in the except below, she is used to taking care of herself.

Her isolated demeanor gets seriously challenged when she happens up some Amish folk on a trail, and she ends up partnering up with a young man named Amos who is on his way to Vermont as part of his  rumspringa. It turns out it is easier to ride in a wagon than walk all that way, but when they get there, things are not what they expected. I don't want to spoil much, but they end up trying to make the best of things in the cold, harsh winter conditions, and there are many complications and obstacles.

What I think this book does best is use the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse to explore human beings, how they act, and what they are capable of. This is a book with lots of moral and ethical dilemmas that also explores people's relationships to each other and why they may or may not trust them. Clementine and the others are all complex, compelling characters, and watching how they relate, strive to survive, and potentially look out for each other is very engaging. All of this is further enhanced by the expert storytelling and character depictions. This book is a definite page-turner that is tough to put down. Good thing this is the first book of  a trilogy, so I will need to track down the rest of her story.

It can be tough to please the audience of an existing character, especially one that belongs to as large and passionate a fanbase as The Walking Dead. I have no experience with the video game version, and I very much enjoyed this book. Furthermore, all of the full reviews I have read about this book have been positive. In a starred review for Library Journal, Tom Batten summed up, "Walden’s knack for character development and unique perspective result in a tale perfect for diehard fans of The Walking Dead, as well as newcomers." David Harper wrote that the book "finds a singular talent threading a needle, making this graphic novel feel like a Walden original and a natural continuation of this character’s journey."

Clementine, Book One was published by Image Comics, and they offer a preview and more here.

Are You Listening? is a beautiful book about dealing with pain and trauma. At the center is a road trip. 27-year-old Lou is driving across Texas about a year after her mother's death, going to visit her grandmother. On the way she picks up 18-year-old Bea, who is running away from her family. Their trip is mostly silent, punctuated by an occasional question or comment, when they find and pick up a cat. They resolve to return it to its owner, even though the town on the tag is difficult to locate (i.e. so small it's not on any map). Soon enough, they find out this is no ordinary cat. Also, there are dark, mysterious men who want that cat.

What my summary leaves out is what the book is really about, which is coming to terms with oneself and one's life. Lou has not dealt with the grief of her mother's death, which (/SPOILER) is compounded by her not coming out to her when she had the chance (end/SPOILER). Bea is running away because of some prolonged trauma, which she does not want to talk about, and it becomes pretty clear to Lu that she is also a lesbian. Eventually, the fact that these two women spend so much time in a car (and on various accompanying misadventures) they start to reveal what they've kept bottled up to each other. I have to say that much of what they discuss could be triggering, as it touches on deeply personal trauma, but it is conveyed in thoughtful, delicate, and artful manner.
The artwork in this story is one the main reasons this whole endeavor works as well as it does. There is a lot of pain in these pages, and there is also a lot of driving. The faces and backgrounds blend together in visually interesting ways that both propel the story as well as the characters' emotional journeys. The sequential art blend into map features at time, and the book takes on the characterization of a true road story. It is definitely a book more about tone, even if it does feature a riveting and spare plot. I have not read many stories like this one, and it left me with all kinds of feels with the ending.
This book's creator Tillie Walden is one of my favorite comics creators. Even though she is a relative newcomer, she has already racked up a few huge accolades, including the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work for her graphic memoir Spinning (also one of my favorite books of the year). Her second major graphic novel On a Sunbeam was nominated for a 2017 Eisner in the category of Digital Comic (even though it is technically a webcomic). I had the distinct privilege of speaking to her about On a Sunbeam in this interview on the Comics Alternative Podcast.

The reviews I have read of this book laud it for its complexity and artwork. Oliver Sava praised "Walden’s distinct perspective," particular in its way of "blending dreamy visuals with hard-hitting stories about the challenges of growing up." Hillary Brown called it "a good midpoint between Walden’s previous two books. It’s not as abstruse as On a Sunbeam, not as simple as Spinning." Kirkus Reviews summed it up, "A tsunami of emotions—sharp and heavy."


Are You Listening? was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and much more here. I think this book definitely would appeal to a YA audience, though it does feature some heavy traumatic content that may affect less mature readers.

On a Sunbeam was originally published as a webcomic (still available to read online in its entirety here), and it is a fantastic science fiction comic experience. It features two narratives, one set in the present that follows a group of outer space archaeologists/restoration experts as they travel from job to job, documenting and repairing abandoned sites across the galaxy. The second one is told through the eyes of Mia, one of the space archaeologists, about her days in boarding school and of her first love with a classmate named Grace. Fifteen years separate the narratives, but the past still has a massive influence on the present.

I do not really want to delve more into the plot, as I feel it will not be done much justice with a recap, but I will tell you about my three favorite characteristics about this book. First, it is a piece of science fiction but it is more in the vein of fantasy/science fiction, as the future here is not cold and stark but rather more warm and organic. The spaceships resemble giant flying goldfish, and the interiors more like giant cathedrals or castles. I love the kind of world-building used throughout the book, which  you can see from this excerpt:
Second, although this is ostensibly a sci-fi tale, it is more about people's relationships to each other than influence of scientific invention on people's lives. And my third point follows from those relationships, in that the characters in this book are fully rendered both in terms of the art and their roles in the story. They are bold, nuanced, and complicated. They really left their impression on me, and this is a book that has been in my mind long after reading it.

This book's creator Tillie Walden is one of my favorite comics creators. Even though she is a relative newcomer, she has already racked up a few huge accolades, including the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work for her graphic memoir Spinning (also one of my favorite books of the year). On a Sunbeam was nominated for a 2017 Eisner in the category of Digital Comic (even though it is technically a webcomic). You can learn more about her work on this webcomic/book in this interview I helped conduct on the Comics Alternative podcast.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly concluded that "this masterful blend of science fiction–inflected school drama, road trip, and adventure is nothing less than marvelous." Kirkus Reviews called it "An affirming love story full of intriguing characters and a suspenseful plot." Caitlin Rosberg summed up, "It’s hard to imagine Walden continuing to put out books at the pace she’s had for the past three years, but comics are richer for it, and hopefully there’s many more years to come of her beautiful work."

On a Sunbeam was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more information about it here.

Spinning is a beautiful, spare, and painful book. It is an autobiographical memoir about a young girl growing up, with one of the few constant things in her life being competitive ice skating. Also, from about the age of 5, she has known that she is gay, though she does not tell anyone for fear of being rejected or worse.

Much of this book takes place in skating rinks, but it is mostly about a search for identity and acceptance. Tillie has a few friendships, though they get disrupted when her family moves from New Jersey to Texas, where ice skating is a rarer and less popular thing. Tillie has a rough relationship with her family. She is a twin, though she does not seem especially close to her brother. He appears only sporadically in the book. Her father is a jokester who usually ends up taking her to early morning practices, but their conversations are merely functional. Her mother seems distant and moody, and what we see of her makes her seem prickly at best. 
Although she is "good" at skating, Tillie does not seem especially fond of it. She seems to be going through the motions over 12 years, skating and competing but really looking for something else. She is searching for some connection, whether it be a friend or mentor. Ironically, because she feels sad and alone, she takes part in a sport where she has to go off frequently and be alone. And cold, it's also cold out on the ice.

Author/artist Tillie Walden is the creator behind this book. Only 21 years old, she already has been nominated for two Eisner Awards, won two Ignatz Awards, and also published three other graphic novels, including The End of Summer, I Love This Part, and A City Inside. She also is working on a webcomic, On a Sunbeam. As I hope you can tell form the excerpt above, Walden's storytelling is beautifully understated. She uses a lot of negative space and very strategic dialogue to great effect. Tillie the main character appears lonesome for much of this book, and that loneliness is reflected in the artwork. Her isolation also leaves her ruminating, and I feel that is also reflected in the storytelling, as it is very calculated and thoughtful. For those interested, you can learn more about Walden's life and work in this article or this interview. I really enjoyed this interview, too.

All of the reviews I have read about this book say it is stellar. Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review and summed it up as "A quiet powerhouse of a memoir." Publishers Weekly also gave it a starred review and called it "A haunting and resonant coming-of-age story." Booklist also gave it a starred review (3 for 3 here!) and reviewer Sarah Hunter concluded, "A stirring, gorgeously illustrated story of finding the strength to follow one’s own path."

Spinning was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more here. I feel that this book would be appropriate for most YA readers. It features mature themes, and there is one instance of sexual violence, but I feel it will resonate with many adolescent readers.