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Soliciting Multiversity: The Best of the Rest for September 2021

By | July 2nd, 2021
Posted in Columns | % Comments

September offers a wide range of titles, something that’s bound to appeal to everyone from the reader searching the darkest insight into the human psyche to those who just want a fun romp through a familiar setting. Take a look!


1. If I Could See All of My Friends Tonight

Cover by Hope Larson

Hope Larson concludes her Eagle Rock Trilogy with this new graphic novel. It sounds a little like Josie and the Pussycats, where our central character tries to keep her individuality and creative sparks amidst a corporate environment. It sounds a little Hannah Montana, where she also struggles with balancing her home life and professional world. But this is Hope Larson we’re talking about, so the book is bound to be delightful.

All My Friends
Written and Illustrated by Hope Larson
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

From New York Times-bestselling and Eisner Award-winning creator Hope Larson comes All My Friends, the final standalone book in a middle grade graphic novel trilogy about friendship, family, and music. Middle-schooler Bina has everything she’s ever wanted. She has new friends and a new band whose song is about to be featured on her favorite television show. But being in the spotlight is hard. When Bina and her band are offered a record deal, Bina is thrilled. Her parents are not. Now, Bina is barely speaking to her mom and dad. To make matters worse, Bina and her best friend, Austin, are still awkward around each other after their failed first date. This is the story of how Bina finally figures out how to blend the various parts of her life together to make the perfect melody. Available in softcover and hardcover editions.

2. That Island Life

Cover by Kokonasu Rumba -- Japanese Cover

This manga spin-off of the wildly popular video game claims to explore the lives of your animal neighbors when you’re not playing. This is of course for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, after the nicening of the Animal Crossing franchise. I didn’t visit my island for about nine months and my residents were all quick to bring that up to me, so I don’t know if they had much going on except peeking in my house. (I got angry that I had to pay Tom Nook to bring in more residents, even though it was his plan for his island dreams and he asked me to do it in the first place. Jerk ought to have been paying me.) I’ve seen a lot of fun fan comics and interstitials around the internet, so if Kokonasu Rumba can bring that same energy to the title, I’m sure this will be a delight. Anyway, bring back Mr. Resetti.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Vol. 1: Deserted Island Diary
Written and Illustrated by Kokonasu Rumba
Published by Viz Media

Join your favorite villagers from Animal Crossing: New Horizons for all-new adventures in this official manga!

What do the villagers of Animal Crossing: New Horizons get up to when you’re not around? Find out all about their antics in this hilarious manga filled with goofy gags and silly stories! Plus, read comics that highlight each villager, as well as get tips and tricks for playing the game in a special bonus section.

3. Demonic Ennui

Cover by James Turner

James Turner’s cartooning leans into the ovular character designs and bright colors that imply it’s for a much younger audience. But it’s also a lot of fun and I’d like to see how he brings his talents to this silly and potentially more intense story.

The Book of Maggor Thoom
Written and Illustrated by James Turner
Published by Amaze Ink

On the dark and shadowy surface of a living black hole resides one Maggor Thoom, demon. After endless eons of success as the star employee of the Insanity Acquisition Department, he has lost his passion and purpose. Yet he knows all to well that those who do not drink the Antediluvian Kool-Aid are soon fed to the ravenous Maw. To save himself from annihilation, Mr. Thoom sets off on a desperate journey of self-discovery: he flees The Void and seeks help on a small, blue orb known as Earth. Unfortunately for Thoom, his arrival is detected by the Archon Hunters, an organization dedicated to protecting the world from eldritch horrors such as himself. Immediately two crack hunters are dispatched from headquarters. Their task: hunt down and terminate with extreme prejudice the potential World Destroyer.

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4. Caught In-Between

Cover by Natasha Donovan

A deeply felt, modern narrative, about a group of indigenous peoples who are denied entry both to the United States and Canada because they claim Blackfoot citizenship. It’s like The Terminal, except from the point of view of people whose world was stolen from them, people who were colonized, killed off, and cast aside yet treated with abject derision. Expect powerful moments, both externally and interpersonally.

Borders
Written by Thomas King
Illustrated by Natasha Donovan
Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers

From celebrated Indigenous author Thomas King and award-winning Métis artist Natasha Donovan comes a powerful graphic novel about a family caught between nations. Borders is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other. Borders explores nationhood from an Indigenous perspective and resonates deeply with themes of identity, justice, and belonging.

5. Finding Self

Cover by Quentin Zuttion

In Catherine Castro and Quentin Zuttion’s graphic novel, a young man finally finds the vocabulary that helps him come to terms with his identity and explain the world around him. This is set to be a moving yet painful experience, but one that hopefully helps others find their own agency. Or, at least, helps people understand the dilemmas and pain trans people undergo in an effort to be true to themselves.

Call Me Nathan
Written by Catherine Castro
Illustrated by Quentin Zuttion
Published by SelfMadeHero

Born as biologically female, Nathan spends his formative years facing questions without answers, social ostracism from his peers, and incomprehension from his family-because from as early as he can remember, he knows he has been born in the wrong body. But, as his family comes to recognize, a physical identity is harder to change than a piece of clothing or a haircut. So from the moment he is at last supplied with a professional term for his self-diagnosis-“gender dysphoria”-he is able to leave behind his complicated psychological history, the challenges of his self-harming, and his struggles with sexual identity, and begin the difficult process of claiming his true self.

6. Civil War Land in Bad Decline

Cover by Dash Shaw

Here we have Dash Shaw’s historical Civil War epic. Meticulously researched, it tells the story of a young man who leaves the Quakers and gets wrapped up in the Civil War. Shaw’s process remains fascinating, a collage method of materials that make for some of the most interesting-looking comics on shelves.

Discipline
Written and Illustrated by Dash Shaw
Published by New York Review Comics

During the Civil War, many Quakers were caught between their fervent support of abolition, a desire to preserve the Union, and their long-standing commitment to pacifism. When Charles Cox, a young Indiana Quaker, slips out early one morning to enlist in the Union Army, he scandalizes his family and his community. Leaving behind the strict ways of Quaker life, Cox is soon confronted with the savagery of battle, the cruelty of the enemy (as well as his fellow soldiers), and the overwhelming strangeness of the world beyond his home.

7. A Leap Off the Screen

Cover by Stuart Immonen

Kathryn and Stuart Immonen bring their experimental and innovative Instagram comic, “Grass of Parnassus,” to print through Adhouse Books. It’s a story with every conceivable idea thrown into it and blended together, handled with the care and precision of the veteran Immonens. I never read the Insta original, and the account they posted it under no longer exists, but I hope it’s wilder than anything I could have imagined.

Grass of Parnassus
Written by Kathryn Immonen
Illustrated by Stuart Immonen
Published by Adhouse Books

Join a huge cast including angry space techs, anxious energy workers, obsequious ramen robots, suspicious arcade owners, snack-driven vat-grown bears, and correspondence school druids in this backstage adventure aboard a malfunctioning flying space rock. G of P is the legendary Immonens at their breakneck best. This slip-cased volume expands the highly experimental story as it originally appeared online and includes over 50 pages of supplementary material.

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8. Tricky Jinx

Cover by Karl Kesel

Karl Kesel and David Hahn bring the con-artist story to the superhero genre. Their past work has been a delight and there’s no reason to think this will be anything otherwise.

Impossible Jones #1
Written by Karl Kesel
Illustrated by David Hahn
Published by Adhouse Books

Explosive first issue! The grin gritty origin of comics’ newest sensation! A thief gets powers, is mistaken for a superhero… and runs with it! With no intention of giving up her criminal ways, mind you! (With these powers? You crazy?!) All she has todo is fool all of the people all of the time! It’s not impossible – it’s Impossible Jones! Full throttle thrills by Karl Kesel (Harley Quinn) and David Hahn (Batman ’66).

9. Wide Open Open Wide

Cover by Ariela Kristantina

Bristling with anger and crackling with vengeance, this comic from journalist Jude Ellison S. Doyle and artist A. L. Kaplan finds a woman turning into the monster society believes she her to be. It’s a miniseries, which only implies this title will be hurtling toward a violent, brutal, and tragic conclusion. Strap in.

Maw #1
Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle
Illustrated by A.L. Kaplan
Published by BOOM! Studios

What happens when one woman becomes the real monster society has always made her out to be? Dragged by her sister Wendy to a feminist retreat on the remote island of Angitia, Marion Angela Weber hopes to gain some perspective and empowerment… that isn’t at the bottom of a bottle. But everything is horribly derailed after an assault on their first night there. The violent encounter awakens something in Marion she never imagined, triggering warped mutations in her body, and awakening a hunger she can’t bring herself to name. When the townsfolk react with suspicion and violence, what unforgivable act will transform Marion into the very monster they’ve made her out to be? A provocative five-issue horror series by award-winning journalist and opinion writer Jude Ellison S. Doyle (Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power) and artist A.L. Kaplan (Full Spectrum Therapy) that explores the anger of women trapped by society’s expectations and the reclamation of power through collective rage, perfect for readers of Redlands and Something is Killing the Children.

10.  Into the Woods

Cover by Mari Ahokoivu

Mari Ahokoivu’s cartooning is moody, evocative, and gorgeous, dark like a nightmare, except when it’s bright and colorful and exploding with joy. Therefore, it’s exciting her 400-page comic, “Oksi” is being translated from the Finnish. Originally released in 2018, it contains elements of Finnish fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction, all filtered in and delivered in this fluid, brushy art. It look magnificent.

Oksi
Written and Illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu
Translated by by Silja-Maaria Aronpuro
Published by Chronicle Books

Poorling is a little bear. She’s a bit different from her brothers. Mother keeps their family safe. For the Forest is full of dangers. It is there that Mana lives, with her Shadow children. And above them all, Emuu, the great Grandma in the Sky. From the heart of Finnish folklore comes a breathtaking tale of mothers, daughters, stars and legends, and the old gods and the new.


That’s it for this month! Let us know what you’re interested in in the comments below.

Misato Peace Sign


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Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

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