Tag: Graphic Novel

Full of Myself – Siobhán Gallagher

In this graphic memoir, Siobhán Gallagher takes on body image. We learn about her family, friendships and relationships, and tag along as she navigates her relationship with her body.

It was clear to me as a kid that to be a woman was to be wrong no matter what, and there were so many ways to be wrong!

Siobhán talks about pop culture and the messages she’s received about her body throughout her life.

When you hear something enough, you internalise it. And I internalised the message, “I am not enough.”

As someone who has read fairly widely about disordered eating and body image, I didn’t come away with any new revelations. However, Siobhán’s story is relatable and definitely something younger me needed to hear.

Disordered eating is a serious topic but there were definitely some smiles along the way.

I’ve got a handle on it

And times where I felt called out.

Snacking could fix everything

Something I’m starting to notice more in memoirs is a focus on how difficult things were in the past, then a shift to how much things have improved. While I can empathise with the pain of the past and embrace cheerleader mode when I read about someone being healed/better/more fulfilled than they were, what I really want to know is how they got from A to B.

Most of us are living in the messy in between. We’re looking for signposts to follow or toolbox contents we can test out and adapt for ourselves. I would have loved to have spent more time learning how Siobhán went from disordered eating to acceptance.

I loved the Years in Fashion pages at the beginning of each section. A lot of these brought back fond memories and fashion crimes. I appreciated Schrödinger’s outfit and I’m considering adopting Purple Day Fridays.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic memoir.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Author and illustrator Siobhán Gallagher’s humorous and heartfelt graphic memoir details her journey from being anxious and unhappy to learning to love herself as she is.

“I’m proud of the person I’ve become because I fought to become her.” At the age of 30, Siobhán Gallagher looks back on her teenage years struggling with anxiety and diet culture, desperate to become a beautiful, savvy, and slim adult. As an actual adult, she realises she hasn’t turned out the way she’d imagined, but through the hard work of self-reflection — cut with plenty of humour — Gallagher brings readers along on her journey to self-acceptance and self-love.

Through witty comics and striking illustrations, Full of Myself is a highly relatable story of the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest teenage best friend readers will wish they had had — and the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest woman she becomes.

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Hungry Ghost – Victoria Ying

Colours – Lynette Wong

I always wanted to be gwai. There’s no English translation, but it means good or obedient.

Val’s mother constantly body shames her. She’s been telling her to watch her weight since she was a child. Her message is so pervasive that you don’t really get to know her outside of it.

It’s no surprise, having lived with this message all of her life, that Val internalises it. She is thin but fears becoming fat.

Val has a secret. She has been purging for years.

I always have to try and be gwai.

This is an incredibly difficult read. Val’s mother’s fatphobia and the comments she makes to Val are relentless.

I loved the illustrations. The characters are expressive and Val’s struggle is painfully obvious throughout. Jordan’s personality, in particular, practically jumps off the page. I’d love to read her story.

The colours work so well with the story. There’s a limited, subtle colour palette that I found calming to look at. This was a nice contrast to the stress I felt at times reading the story.

You’re not going to find a magical everything’s all better now at the end of this story but, let’s face it, that wouldn’t have been realistic. Life’s not made of magical fixes. We do get to see growth, from Val at least, so there is hope for her in the pages of her life going forward.

My version of being good is being good to myself.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Valerie Chu is quiet, studious, and above all, thin. No one, not even her best friend, Jordan, knows that she has been bingeing and purging for years. But when tragedy strikes, Val finds herself reassessing her priorities, her choices, and her body. The path to happiness may lead her away from her hometown and her mother’s toxic projections — but first she will have to find the strength to seek help.

This beautiful and heart-wrenching young adult graphic novel takes a look at eating disorders, family dynamics, and ultimately, a journey to self-love.

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Finding the Light – Marian Henley

This was always going to be a difficult read. Marian’s story is both shockingly common and unusual. Marian has survived two rapes, both perpetrated by strangers.

Statistically, one out of every six American women have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, although I’d wager the number is significantly higher. Eight out of ten rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. Source: RAINN.

Marian’s story is heart-wrenching. Be aware that this graphic novel includes some details of the rapes Marian experienced, along with other violence. There’s victim blaming and injustice. There’s also a significant amount of swearing.

Anyone who has experienced dissociation will identify it the first time it’s pictured, well before it is named. The impacts of sexualised violence are explored, as is the courage and resilience of survivors.

I absolutely loved the panels depicting Marian’s relationship with her son, especially as we watch him grow up.

Marian with her son

Marian captures his innocence, as well as the relationship we have with the animals that adopt us, with such purity and heart.

Much like the yin-yang symbol Marian uses to illustrate the revelation she has about being a mother to a boy, the devastation in this graphic memoir sits alongside hope.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Marian Henley’s beautifully illustrated memoir tells an emotionally resonant story about the wonder and redemption of raising a son after surviving extreme male violence.  

This poignant graphic memoir describes the most difficult conversation between a mother and her son — the one about the two rapes she experienced as a young woman. It’s something she always knew she would share with her son, but the process of doing so is harder — and more freeing — than she could have imagined. This difficult but beautiful story chronicles how she overcame trauma and violence to find love and healing as a mother. Drawing on her decades as a professional cartoonist, Henley’s elegant black ink illustrations, trademark humour, and witty writing style shine through even in the darkest moments and tell a story of survivorship, parenting, and hope.

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Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of) – Kathleen Gros

Okay, that was all kinds of adorable. It’s weird, though, because part of me was excited about the changes that had been made to modernise Anne with an E’s story but another part of me wished some of the things I loved about the original remained. I loved the story so much that I’m certain I would’ve felt the same even if it wasn’t about my kindred spirit but if it wasn’t an adaptation (sort of) of her story, maybe I wouldn’t have found it in the first place.

All of that to say, I love Anne Shirley Cuthbert no matter where I find her, the format she chooses to tell me her story or the variations I’ve encountered along the way.

There were changes in this sort of adaptation I was fairly neutral about. For example, Anne doesn’t line up with what Marilla and Matthew expected because they wanted a younger child, not a boy.

I loved that Anne has been through the foster system instead of spending much of her childhood in an orphanage. We need more stories about foster kids that don’t set out to pathologise them. Avonlea is now an apartment building called Avon-Lea and Marilla gets to do something other than housework!

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the way Marilla and Anne’s relationship was portrayed in this graphic novel. It’s so much more positive than any version I’ve come across and it definitely sounds like I want poor Anne to experience the pain of not knowing if she will ever find her way into Marilla’s heart. I don’t. I really don’t. However, one of the things I love about their relationship is that it doesn’t come easy. Being able to witness Anne’s influence on Marilla and her gradual softening is something I look forward to whenever I revisit their story. This Marilla doesn’t have the sharp edges I’ve come to expect and, to be honest, love about her.

I also usually enjoy the struggle Anne has about the clothes Marilla allows her to wear because the payoff is so rewarding. Here, Anne has more agency because she gets to decide for herself what she wants to wear for the first time in her life (absolutely wonderful) but this means the impact is lessened later on when the dress scene happens (kind of disappointing).

Then there was the biggest thing I was conflicted about, Anne and Diana. It’s been so engrained in me that Anne and Gilbert are meant for each other, despite their beginnings, that it’s never even occurred to me that Anne could fall for anyone else. Another of the things I always adore about Anne is her kindred spirit friendship with Diana. Seeing them in a different light took a moment for me to get used to but they won me over. It made my heart go all gooey watching them blush around each other and by the end I was essentially ’Gilbert who?’

No, this is not the story you grew up with. That’s why the ‘sort of’ comes after ‘adaptation’. But it was close enough that I felt like I was reading about the characters I’ve known for decades. And when I thought about the changes that were made to each character, it wasn’t hard to believe that this is who they would be if they were here with us now.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Anne Shirley has been in foster care her whole life. So when the Cuthberts take her in, she hopes it’s for good. They seem to be hitting it off, but how will they react to the trouble that Anne can sometimes find herself in … like accidentally dyeing her hair green or taking a dangerous dare that leaves her in a cast?

Then Anne meets Diana Barry, a girl who lives in her apartment building, the Avon-Lea. The two become fast friends, as Anne finds she can share anything with Diana. As time goes on, though, Anne starts to develop more-than-friends feelings for Diana.

A new foster home, a new school, and a first-time crush — it’s a lot all at once. But if anyone can handle life’s twists and turns, it’s the irrepressible Anne Shirley.

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Secrets of Camp Whatever Volume 3: The Witching Hour – Chris Grine

It’s winter in Nowhere and it’s time for the big showdown. Willow (now with pink hair) and her friends are up against a prophecy, a Big Bad, a Bigger Bad and a storyline that’s darker overall than the first two Volumes.

There’s a siren, gnomes with snowballs and a glorious, evil manticore named Todd who loves cookies. I really like Todd.

Molly gets the extra page time in this Volume that I was hoping for and some characters I thought we’d left in previous Volumes have guest appearances.

We visit a ghostly graveyard. There are ghouls and spirit reapers, which are cuter than their name suggests.

There’s rock throwing, falling and things that go boom.

I love Willow. She’s determined and resilient. Over the course of the series, she’s proven she’s a loyal friend and can pull off whatever hair colour she chooses.

Willow is amazing but my favourite character of the series is Mim. No matter how much time I spend with her it’s never enough.

The artwork drew me to the first Volume and has helped keep me engaged throughout the series. The human characters are expressive, the magical creatures are imaginative and I love the colour palette.

I’m definitely tempted to start calling out random words to garden gnomes to see if I can reanimate them.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After former camp leader Clarence P’sketty Tooter is freed from a hypnosis spell, he remembers everything, including that pesky pre-teen Willow and her scrappy friends. But most importantly, he remembers the ancient mystery surrounding Nowhere’s sleep-away camp. Now, Tooter seeks revenge against Willow and her friends, and inadvertently awakens a long-dormant evil which seeks to destroy the world in the epic conclusion to the Secrets of Camp Whatever trilogy.

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Secrets of Camp Whatever Volume 2: The Doors to Nowhere – Chris Grine

It’s been two months since Willow attended Camp … Whatever, where she participated in the usual summer camp activities. Like sneaking out of her cabin with her friends to solve mysteries and spending time with a vampire, gnomes and other magical folk.

Now her friends are helping her celebrate her thirteenth birthday. There’s Violet. One of her roles in this Volume is reminding us why we all need to be reading more books. There’s Emma, who has a secret. And there’s Rand, a werewolf.

Elric gifts Willow her great-great grandmother Rose’s spell book before he mysteriously disappears. Willow has Rose’s book in her possession for a good few hours before it’s stolen and taken through the swirly pink portal in her lounge room, which I promise wasn’t there a minute ago. Naturally, Willow follows the thief. I would have too.

It’s a good thing her friends are there to help her investigate and be on the lookout for anything weird.

Willow learns that sometimes wishes do come true, whether you really mean them to or not. There’s a secret meeting, a troll, a wishing well and a forest frog. Toast is there as well. Oh, and an invisible pixie-corn.

We learn more about the prophecy that we first heard about in Volume 1. I’m expecting an action packed conclusion.

We didn’t get to spend anywhere near as much time with Molly as I would have liked but hopefully she’ll get more page time in Volume 3.

I enjoyed my second read of this graphic novel much more than the first. The first time I read it, it had been so long since I’d read Volume 1 that I’d forgotten too much about who was who and what Willow and her friends had experienced at Camp … Whatever. This time I read them back to back, which helped immensely.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When twelve-year-old Willow went to her weird new town’s even weirder summer camp, she didn’t expect to get caught up in an ancient mystery involving forest-dwelling vampires, living garden gnomes, and other completely bonkers creatures most people would never believe exist. Now she’s not only involved, she’s marked — too close to the heart of an ages-old quest for power and control than she should be, and too concerned about her new friends and the dangers they face to let them go it alone. With the help of a spell book and her scrappy crew of camp friends, Willow is about to step through a doorway to magic and discovery that will change her world forever. 

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Unfamiliar Volume 2 – Haley Newsome

In the first Volume, we met our four witchy friends and their familiars: Planchette and Winston the rabbit, Pinyon and Ari the pigeon, Babs and Marlow the cat, and Sun and Petra the lizard.

In this Volume, Planchette’s home is still very much haunted. One of our witches attracts the attention of the Faerie King and becomes possessed (temporarily). There’s also a wedding to plan. For a ghost.

There’s friend protection frittata, a floating lake and a visit to a profoundly evil forest.

We meet a doctor who would do anything for love and Death, who is a lot cuter than I expected.

The story didn’t always flow quite as well for me as the first Volume did but I absolutely loved the time spent focusing on Sun, who has an opportunity for her curse to be removed.

I really like the artwork and the colour palette. My favourite illustrations tend to be those that announce new chapters. Chapter Seven was the standout for me in this Volume.

I’d recommend reading the first Volume before diving into this one. I’m keen to continue reading this series.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Based on the hit webcomic, Unfamiliar Volume 2 continues the exciting witchy adventures of Planchette and her new friends, Pinyon, Sun, and Babs.

More magical mayhem ensues as Planchette and her new witch friends try to help a ghost bride rest in peace. Join them as they work together to handle a blackmailing Faerie King, a possible new romance, and an overnight camping trip in a profoundly evil forest. 

Unfamiliar is bursting with offbeat charm, a vibrant cast of teen witches, and hilarious familiar sidekicks. Set in an intriguing magical world, this series is a hit with fantasy readers of all ages.

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Phoebe and Her Unicorn #18: Unicorn for a Day – Dana Simpson

I devoured the first 15 Phoebe and Her Unicorn graphic novels and then experienced a unicorn drought. I was relieved to find this one, quickly followed by the horror of realising I’d missed two collections entirely.

Now I’m all caught up and as a reward I was granted references to Ghostbusters, Scooby Doo and Jaws. I’m not sure if the target audience will be familiar with all of these but I was happy to find them here.

I was also given the gift of a new favourite Marigold look. Her Big Puppy Dog Eyes of Persuasion spell gives her manga eyes. I love manga eyes! Now I want her to always have a mohawk and manga eyes.

Phoebe hypnotises Marigold. Sort of. Phoebe and Marigold discuss insecurity. Marigold is more expressive than usual.

Marigold discovers the downside of forgetting spells and Phoebe discovers the downside of healing magic.

Phoebe and Marigold decide to swap lives, like that horror movie The Unicorn Who Humiliatingly Debased Herself.

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Dakota solves a mystery with some help from Marigold and Max looks up from his phone (briefly). The new kid at school reminds Phoebe of someone.

Phoebe’s parents, who deserve more page time, find out that a previously beloved TV show has not aged well. Marigold teaches Phoebe about the Big Bang Theory, the theory, not the TV show.

We meet Glorpie, who is adorable and needs to find their way into future collections.

I’ll be on the lookout for the next collection so there aren’t any more unicorn droughts in my life.

Thank you so much to Edelweiss and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Being best friends with a unicorn is truly incredible, as 9-year-old Phoebe Howell knows from experience. But what would it be like to actually trade places with a magical unicorn for a day? As it turns out, it’s much harder than it looks! Phoebe’s botched muffin spell turns the sky plaid. And things aren’t any easier for Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, who has no idea how to hold a pencil. In this new collection of Phoebe and Her Unicorn comics, the friends also meet a three-eyed flying creature named Glorpie and encounter an enigmatic ghost. With magic, discoveries, and even a bit of drama, there’s never a dull moment in Unicorn for a Day.

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Phoebe and Her Unicorn #17: Punk Rock Unicorn – Dana Simpson

Okay, so Marigold with a mohawk isn’t something I thought I needed in my life but now that I’ve seen it, I want her to keep this look forever.

Other than the awesomeness that is punk Marigold, we meet a bunch of new unicorns, including Prince Aspirational Arrogance, whose presence we absolutely need to bask in.

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Phoebe explains nerdiness to Dakota.

I’m a nerd. Everything I SAY is a nerdy thing to say.

We discuss whether graphic novels count as books. Let me clear this up for you… they absolutely do.

Marigold’s distraction hat is very distracting. And definitely more tasty than her contemplation hat.

There’s a portal to a dark reality. A really dark reality.

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Phoebe tries out for the school play and Marigold embraces her inner snail. Phoebe ups her procrastination game.

Phoebe goes to music camp and Sue is there. I love Sue!

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Phoebe’s concentration face is one of my new favourite things. She’s so relatable.

There’s also a plot twist.

After feeling like I was going over old ground in the last collection, this one felt fresh and new and sparkly. I’m not entirely sure why a nine year old needs to be having their first kiss but other than that weirdness, I loved this collection.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Phoebe Howell and her unicorn best friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, are headed to music camp for the summer, where they form a punk rock group with fellow campers Sue and Stevie. Marigold also discovers a portal to a parallel dimension where she and Phoebe come face-to-face with the dark and sinister versions of themselves. Throughout their magical and musical adventures, the best friends learn about the value of friendship, following your heart, and rocking your hardest in this sparkling new collection of Phoebe and Her Unicorn comics by award-winning author Dana Simpson.

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Phoebe and Her Unicorn #16: Unicornado – Dana Simpson

Now that Marigold has been hanging out with her human, Phoebe, for so long, Phoebe’s home is now a magical sylvan glen. This means there’s pixies and sometimes Phoebe will be able to understand the deep philosophical squarks of birds.

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There is a downside to this, with the distinct possibility that it’s going to take longer to receive their pizza delivery.

Max looks up from his phone long enough to play chess with Phoebe. Phoebe and Marigold explore a corn maze.

We go back to school with Phoebe, and human and unicorn dress up for Halloween. Phoebe and Marigold discuss tail ornamentation and resolutions. Phoebe goes to her first school dance. Sort of.

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I always look forward to catching up with Phoebe and Marigold. Max and Dakota made a couple of appearances each and Phoebe’s dad managed to sneak in a dad joke.

There weren’t as many chuckles for me on this collection. They can’t all be favourites, though. I’m still enjoying the series as a whole and am interested in finding out what’s next.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A new school year means many things for nine-year-old Phoebe Howell and her unicorn best friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. They prepare for a school dance (lame!), meet new friends (ghosts and gnomes and goblins, OH MY!), and even experience a rare supernatural phenomenon called a Unicornado! In fact, sometimes things get almost too magical. Marigold’s presence attracts pixies, talking birds, and a sphinx, turning Phoebe’s house into a magical sylvan glen. And Marigold even briefly transforms Phoebe into a goblin. Whether they’re trick-or-treating, singing showtunes, or casting new spells, every day for Phoebe and Marigold is an adventure thanks to the power of friendship.

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