Winter/Spring 2024/2025 Selection Survey!
We're trying to figure out what to read for December and beyond!
It’s That Time Again!
We’re coming to the end of our scheduled readings here at the Comics Book Club, so it’s time for another poll! If you’re curious about how we decide on what to read, you can visit the Welcome page or look at the last time we had one of these. The main criteria for a comic’s eligibility are usually that the library have enough physical copies and that it’s available as an eBook or on hoopla.
I’m doing away with the polls for each book this time, as they made the newsletter too long for email and every book got an overwhelming YES vote. Instead, I’m including a link to a public-facing version of the Google form that I use to conduct this survey among official Comics Book Club members!
I’m posting this while we’re discussing Light Carries On by Ray Nadine, so hopefully you’ll see some of what we’ve decided when the next newsletter goes out next Friday. Here are the titles we’ve chosen for this round. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below. What do you think?
Also, this is going live right as the Crime Fiction for Harris discussion starts, featuring
and Chicagoan Sara Paretsky. Check it out! It’s free!(Note: All descriptions taken from the Chicago Public Library’s online catalog.)
A.D.: After Death by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire
Set 825 years after a cure for death is found, this mix of graphic novel and illustrated text captures protagonist Jonah as he ponders the world that deathlessness has wrought, peppered with extended flashbacks to the days before the cure.
Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju, and Ryan Estrada
The gripping true story of a South Korean woman’s student days under an authoritarian regime in the early 1980s, and how she defied state censorship through the rebellion of reading. (This is the book I was referring to in the latest NEWS digest.)
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui
The author describes her experiences as a young Vietnamese immigrant, highlighting her family's move from their war-torn home in 1978 to the United States.
Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal
Doctor’s office waiting rooms, commercials, dog parks, and dating app screenshots capture the experiences and interior lives of the cyclops community, a largely immigrant population displaying physical differences from the majority.
Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson
Lona Steelrose wants to be a pro wrestler, but she's living under the shadow of her mother, the best to ever do it. Everything changes when a wrestling obsessed necromancer asks her to join the grandest pro wrestling tournament of all time, which is also the most dangerous!
Night Fever by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
In Europe on a business trip, Jonathan Webb finds himself wandering the night with a mysterious and violent guide who shows Jonathan a hidden world without rules or limits. But when the fun turns dangerous, Jonathan may find himself trapped in the dark. And what will he do to get home?
Parasocial by Alex De Campi and Erica Henderson
In the middle of the pandemic, a fading genre-TV actor, fresh from his series’ cancellation, collides with an obsessive fan. When she lures him to her home, he’ll have to put on the greatest performance of his life simply to survive until morning. Unless, of course, he’s the real monster.
Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas
Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest honor in their once-great Empire, and as a member of a subjugated people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Aiza must navigate rigorous training under an unyielding general while hiding her background. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that military promises might not include her and that the recruits might be in great danger.
Tender by Beth Hetland
Expectant mom Carolanne appears to be an average woman. But quotidian scenes are periodically interrupted by grotesque nightmares and flashbacks revealing her desperation for a picture-perfect marriage. Her habit of picking at her nails and skin and her pregnancy further twist her relationship with her body before a tragedy pushes her obsessions to a new level.
Us by Sara Soler (translated by Silvia Perea Labayen)
This is Sara and Diana’s love story, as well as the story of Diana’s gender transition. Full of humor, heartache, and the everyday triumphs and struggles of identity, this graphic memoir speaks to changing conceptions of the world as well as the self, revealing that some things don’t have to change.
That’s everything! I’d love to hear any and all feedback (provided we keep it positive around here). Thanks for reading! Leave a comment with your choices or fill out the form. Subscribe if you haven’t already to see how it all turns out!
Night Fever is a great graphic novel. Brubaker and Phillips are always a solid choice.