What We’re Reading: December Round-Up
Today’s What We’re Reading features our staff picks for December. Perhaps you’re looking for gift ideas for a reader in your life, or maybe you’re looking for unique inspiration for your own holiday wish list. Whatever your gift desires, there is something here for many different types of readers. We’ve gathered a superhero comic book collection, a unique handmade, letterpressed book of poems, a thriller featuring a potential female psychopath, and a collection of over 40 writers and artists from Minneapolis. Happy reading and gift-giving, folks.
Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and friends (Marvel Comics, 2013-2014)
Reviewed by Aaron
Young Avengers is every teen self-discovery road movie. There’s the rich kid (Hawkeye), the transfer student (Marvel Boy), the orphan (Hulkling), the surprisingly normal one (Wiccan), the rough one (Ms. America Chavez), the nerd (Prodigy), and the troublemaker (Loki). There are pop culture references, smooching, and vengeful exes. There is a pounding drive to keep away from parents. But it’s not ’cause parents just don’t understand. No, it’s because parents are A COSMIC HORROR INVADING FROM A FASCISTLY PURE PRISON DIMENSION.
Young Avengers is every superhero vs. cosmic horror comic. There is an evil dystopia dimension. There is a beautiful utopia dimension. One would not exist without the other. Everyone has a chance to see what they’d become if they gave in to their base impulses, but they’re equally haunted by their good and selfless actions. Their travel is literally powered by imagination, and love literally saves the day. Also: aliens, time travel, magic, lasers.
Young Avengers is a dance mix with 16 tracks. It’s not subtle, and it revels in its lack of subtlety. It runs from lo-fi to hi-fi and back again, and it mixes oldies with pop chart-toppers. It’s a karaoke cover of Marvel Comics, and it’s better than the original version.
(Young Avengers came out as 15 individual issues and has been collected in three trade paperbacks: Style > Substance, Alternative Cultures, and Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space.)
every-blest-thing-seeing-eye by Heid E. Erdrich (MN Center for Book Arts, Winter 2016)
Previewed by Wren
If you’re looking for a unique holiday gift for an art and/or poetry fan in your life, this is a great option. The Minnesota Center for Book Arts annually selects a Winter Book, and every-blest-thing-seeing-eye by Erdrich is this year’s 2016 pick. It’s a new collection of poems, focusing on art and the viewing of art—especially from the perspective of an Ojibwe poet as a curator. The book itself is a work of art, being handmade and letterpress printed. It was designed by Jeff Rathermel and Todd Thyberg, with illustrations by Jim Denomie, Aza Erdrich, Eric Gansworth, Dyani Whitehawk, Louise Erdrich, Andrea Carlson and Jonathan Thunder.
If you’d like to see the book in person (and get it signed by Erdrich), there is a Winter Book celebration at 7 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (Soho Teen, November 2016)
Reviewed by Cassidy
I pre-ordered this book way back in May, after hearing Larbalestier speak on a panel about “writing killer women” at a feminist sci-fi and fantasy convention. Larbalestier mentioned the extensive research she had done on female psychopaths and serial killers for her upcoming book, and I was instantly hooked. My Sister Rosa focuses on seventeen-year-old Che Taylor, who is convinced that his ten-year-old sister is a dangerous psychopath. In between calculus, boxing classes, and maybe getting his first-ever girlfriend, Che must figure out how to stop Rosa before she gets someone hurt—or worse. A hybrid thriller and coming-of-age story, this book draws its power from scares that look inward, not outward. It’s an intensely psychological book that will leave you reeling for days after.
Into: Minneapolis (Into Quarterly, December 2016)
Previewed by Wren
As a bit of a disclaimer, I’ve been working with the creators of Into Quarterly through my day job at The Loft Literary Center. The Loft and Into Quarterly are co-hosting the launch party for Into: Minneapolis on Fri, Dec 9 at 7 pm (at the Loft). That said, I am falling madly in love with this publication and its work. Into Quarterly is a “city-inspired literary and arts journal.” The founders visit different cities, search out writers and artists to contribute work that serves as a time-capsule portrait of their city, and publish this diverse work in a sleek, beautifully designed book. The Minneapolis edition is full of top-notch writers: Danez Smith, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Bao Phi, Matt Rasmussen, Kao Kalia Yang, Sarah Stonich, and so many more. The launch event will feature readings from the book, and a panel discussion between selected writers and visual artists about how the idea of “home” affects their work and identity. Consider it another unique gift idea for those who love Minneapolis, art, and words.
What We’re Reading: The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3
The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson (Image Comics, February 2016)
If you’ve been sleeping on The Wicked + The Divine, I’m going to have to ask you to take a quick break to hop on Amazon and order the first three volumes stat, because y’all. Y’all. This series.
Do you ever pause in the middle of reading and have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re awake, because there’s no way something could possibly be that good? That’s how I felt reading The Wicked + The Divine.
At this point, I’m assuming you’ve returned from the Amazon homepage and your book-laden package is on its way, so I’ll digress from the smothering love and attempt to continue this review as objectively as possible.
The basic premise of The Wicked + The Divine series is this: every ninety years, twelve gods (taken from mythologies all around the world, with character designs based on modern pop-stars) are reincarnated as teenagers. They live a life of glamor and celebrity for two short years, and then they vanish. In modern-day Britain, the gods are back, but this cycle, it’s different: someone is killing them off one by one and pitting the survivors against each other. When Lucifer (the one and only) is accused of murders she claims to have not committed, seventeen-year-old Laura (a human), is the only one who believes her. Laura’s determination to prove Luci’s innocence sweeps her up into the turmoil of magic and betrayal.
Laura and Inanna (a god. yes, he’s loosely based off of Prince, in case you were wondering.)
The first thing that, for me, sets this comic apart is the cast of characters. Particularly in recent years, comics have been pushing more and more against the defaults of cis/straight/white/male, and The Wicked + The Divine is no exception. About 85% of the characters are people of color, including Laura, our protagonist, and most of the gods. I can’t think of a single character who is straight. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a trans woman of color who gets her own compelling and well-developed storyline which is not related to her being trans?! Y’ALL.
The characters are edgy. They’re real. Laura smokes and does drugs and lies to her parents. And, bonus, none of the female characters are ever objectified in their designs. Sure, they’re allowed to be sexual, but their agency is made clear: they’re there to be characters, not poorly-designed porn.
The Morrigan, a terrifying creature. But damn, that character design.
The story is told in rotating perspectives, but it never feels choppy. The authors manage to balance the intricate backstories of each of the gods with fast-paced plot progression. The designs of all of the characters are cohesive while still maintaining their own flair (and, for the gods, a unique color palette that appears whenever we’re visiting their domain). While there are over a dozen characters who you could call the “main” characters, it never feels overwhelming, or like I need to create an Excel document just to keep everyone’s names straight (I’m looking at you, George R. R. Martin). I fell in love with each of them over and over again.
Until, of course, they died. This book does not hold punches. It’s unafraid to kill off protagonists, antagonists, main characters, and fan-favorites. By the time you reach volume three, you’ve been led to love a handful of gods… who then are killed without warning or preamble. We’ve all read a book that felt a little too boring, a little too safe, because you knew the author would never kill off anyone you were supposed to like. The Wicked + The Divine is not that book. I found myself racing through volume after volume, completely unable to predict what would come next or who would be left standing on the final page. Suspense, it turns out, comes at a cost, and that cost is everyone you love.
In this third volume, Laura (who has been our guide since the adventure began) is absent, and the reader is left alone to grapple with this world of gods and monsters, truths and lies. Taking away the “relatable human” trope is a gamble, but it’s a risk that I think earned a high reward. None of the gods are reliable narrators, and without Laura’s instincts to guide us, it becomes a much more intimate reading experience. Who do you choose to trust? Who do you choose to love?
What books have you read lately that break the mold?
