Tag Archives: graphic novels

June 17, 2026 · 12:00 pm

Katie Skelly Interview: On Comics and HEAVEN

Katie Skelly, an award-winning cartoonist and simply one of the best comic artists today, has a new graphic novel, Heaven, published by Fantagraphics. We chat about her new book, the inner workings of it all: influences, storytelling observations, fun stuff and serious stuff. Basically, an all-around great conversation. The timing on this spotlight is good too as Katie presents Bad Girl Tarot, a beautiful tarot card deck she has created, all her drawings and design work, currently on a Kickstarter campaign that runs through July 15, 2026.

Katie Skelly

Heaven is, at its core, a good old-fashioned ghost story, with a group of high school girls, and a haunted mansion on a hill. Well, not so much a mansion in this case as a super weird strip club that goes in and out of existence. For more details, just read my review. And I highly recommend that you get your copy so you can see for yourself. There are endless inventive details to savor, starting with those giant upside-down neon heels lighting up the desert night skies.

I like to focus on the creative process and that’s why it’s great to call attention to both Heaven and Bad Girl Tarot. For me, it’s all part of something bigger. In this interview, I ask Katie to share about what she’s thinking about as she creates work. Everyone will answer in a different way. Katie has some very specific passions she can draw inspiration from as well as a very curious mind open to whatever random element that might cross her path. A couple of deep wells of inspiration are horror genre films and manga. If you’d like some insight into the mind of one of our great comic artists, then I invite you to check out our conversation.

At a crossroads.

Heaven is the fourth, and latest, graphic novel by Katie Skelly, published by Fantagraphics. It is only now, with hindsight, viewing all four books together, that we have the luxury of saying they all fit in so well with each other. I suggest as much to Katie. And she agrees. She states: “Well, sure, My Pretty Vampire and Maids find their way into Heaven. And The Agency finds it way into all of them, one way or another.” And thus we begin our chat. It’s important to realize that each book is its own world of hard work and countless problem-solving, years in the making. So, yes, it’s a super big deal to have all of this work look so cool, a beautiful seemingly seamless result.

And with that, I set you lose to enjoy the above video, or audio at various platforms. The video will go up first and is ready as I write this. The audio will load up shortly, after I make a few more tweaks. Anyway, feel free to comment, like and subscribe. Every bit of engagement from you helps.

And just a few more words . . .

A few more things to say about the Bad Girl Tarot campaign at Kickstarter, thru July 15, 2026:

Bad Girl Tarot II is a complete 78-card tarot deck with guidebook created and designed by me, cartoonist Katie Skelly. The goal of this Kickstarter is to raise funds for the first printing of the deck, working towards fulfillment in October 2026. I’m excited to offer backers a special price on Bad Girl Tarot II, plus rewards like original art, stickers, and more as thanks for supporting the project.

The Team:

Katie Skelly: that’s me! I am an award-winning comic book artist with four graphic novels from Fantagraphics, plus the creator of the original Bad Girl Tarot and Bad Girl Oracle. Find more of my work on my website and on Instagram.

Chelsey Caswell: a professional tarot reader with both regular private clients and popular sessions at spots like NYC’s Soho House. Find more about her on her website.

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June 16, 2026 · 1:02 pm

HEAVEN by Katie Skelly graphic novel review

Heaven. Katie Skelly. Fantagraphics. 2026. 100pp. $19.99. (On Sale July 7th, Pre-order now.)

Katie Skelly’s new graphic novel features a cast of cool girls down a foreboding path. These girls are still in high school and, while full of attitude, are short on experience. They can’t help themselves; can’t resist being attracted to something sinister, which seems just out of reach and yet beckons them to draw closer. Skelly once again delivers a work of comics that is an intoxicating blend of sex-positive content and horror genre.

The kids are alright but restless.

This is the fourth Skelly graphic novel published by Fantagraphics: My Pretty Vampire (2017), The Agency (2018), Maids (2020), and now, Heaven. Each title is different from the next in refreshing ways and each shares a spirited sense of experimentation. Skelly draws from various sources, looking for imagery that stands out in terms of style and energy. The idea is to have an image act as a jumping off point, work its magic and keep the narrative moving forward. A lot of that vibe will come from art house films and assorted high-end comics. A comics artist like Skelly picks and chooses this or that image, processes it and makes it her own, like a favorite panel from a comic by Milo Manara or a certain moment from a Dario Argento film.

The not-so-glamorous life of a stripper.

The female characters in a Katie Skelly comic appear to know what they want and are determined to get it, prone to leaving mayhem in their wake. They are femme fatales, one way or another. In this new book, they are a clique of cool high school girls. Dolly, at eighteen, the eldest by a few months, sort of leads the pack. When the girls stumble upon Heaven, an urban legend strip club that seems to have a very tenuous hold on existing in the real world, they jump at the chance to find it. Dolly, sent as the trailblazing explorer, walks right up to the front door, and ends up being invited to audition as a dancer. She is in way over her head but that won’t stop her. What’s so appealing about being a showgirl? Well, Dolly, is instantly hooked.

At a crossroads.

Will Dolly regret ever knocking at the door to Heaven? That seems to be a hard yes. Skelly reels in the reader, just like a masterful director of artful horror and as the seasoned cartoonist she is. The artwork is spot on as usual. With just the right amount of linework, Skelly suggests a whole world, inside and out, always daring and inventive. The male gaze is stared down, allowed to co-exist under a well-placed heel to the throat. Sex-positive work is for everyone to enjoy. That said, this work eludes easy categorization and leads the way among contemporary alt-comics. For a wild ride, filled with chills, thrills and dripping with style, you can’t go wrong with Katie Skelly’s latest deep dive into strange realms. Seek this out!

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June 10, 2026 · 8:00 pm

Junction Jones and the Corduroy Conspiracy graphic novel review

Junction Jones and the Corduroy Conspiracy. w. T.C. Pescatore. a. Locogonzales. Markosia. 2026. 220pp. $32.99
Science fiction and noir share a lot in common. For fans of either, or both, genres, it’s easy to roll with a story about a Phillip Marlowe type of detective in outer space. This is such a story and then some. Think of a very offbeat Blade Runner main character in an urban dystopia set in the distant future: Junction Jones, pudgy and bumbling; and his sidekick, Mr. Nibs, a very contentious talking cat. The idea here is that Jones is an escaped bio-engineered laborer who, during his routine scavenging in the multi-dimensional Junction City, stumbles upon the remains of an Earthling that could be the tip of the iceberg to some vast conspiracy. Lots of laser blasts ensue as this odd couple private investigator team must fend off various villainous forces. The art is gorgeous, the writing is crisp, and there’s a lot of fun multimedia narrative twists. This will surely satisfy any reader.
The creative team of Pescatore and Locogonzales come up with their own distinctive stamp on the cyberpunk landscape. They have plenty of tropes to play with in a story where the journey is more important than the outcome. After all, some of our most entertaining stories have this sort of set-up: the clues take on a life of their own, even become more significant than solving the case. This is such a story as it is swimming in clues, coming in all directions: going from the basement of hoarder grandparents, filled with mountains of nothing hiding everything; to the frantic dispatches of blogs in overdrive, also filled with nothing and hiding everything. It’s a world within a world within a world.

Panel excerpt from Junction Jones.

How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Pescatore and Locogonzales know how to dig, dig, dig and invite you to dive in. The deeper and darker the better. Junction Jones was first introduced as single issues with the first issue out in 2023 from Scout Comics and then you add the time it took to create it. I see a page dated 2020. So, all in all, a very noble and ambitious effort this one is. It sort of reminds me of  The Winter Men, written by Brett Lewis and illustrated by John Paul Leon, running from 2005 to 2008, published by Wildstorm, another long, expansive and highly eccentric work that became legendary for its content as well as the circuitous path it took to get out into the world. But, once out, ah, it’s so nice to be out. People like me will keep singing its praises regarding its irreverent style and attitude. And so now I add Junction Jones to that short list of fun and weird comics that speak to me and will speak to you.

Page excerpt from Junction Jones.

If you’re in the mood to order something completely different from the menu, then Junction Jones is at your service. Think of it as a cerebral guilty pleasure or one of those really strange but cool movies you might find on a VHS tape in a thrift store. Perhaps something like Buckaroo Banzai. If you’re a Jeff Goldblum fan, you must see it. I’m just suggesting this stuff is potent, best read in bed with the lights out and a lone reading lamp for only one hour before bedtime. Think of it as the comic book that David Lynch always meant to create.

Page excerpt from Junction Jones.

And so it goes. Our pudgy fellow with his talking cat get into a whole lot of trouble and who can say if either one of them is any better for it all. But self-improvement is hardly the goal here. Anyway, I can clearly see this is a work of great passion, many years in the making, working at a different level of reality than you and me, which is saying a lot.

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June 4, 2026 · 3:55 pm

Marjane Satrapi (1969 — 2026)

Marjane Satrapi (1969 — 2026)

When the average reader is asked to name any “graphic novel,” it used to always be only one, Maus, a recollection of the horrors of the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman. And then that changed. And another graphic work broke through: Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, a beguiling tale about a young Iranian woman navigating different cultures, following her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution (1978–1979).

For decades, up to the present and beyond, when people are asked to name any graphic narrative, there are only two titles that readily come to mind, and for very good reason. Maus and Persepolis have earned their place in the pantheon of comics and will never be forgotten. It is with great sadness to know that Marjane Satrapi should leave us oh so soon. It’s a real shock. I know comic artists and readers are struck silent at the news.

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir Persepolis was originally published in French in four volumes between 2000 and 2003. It was in 2003 that an English version was first published. Along with a few other select titles, Persepolis led the way in the great new wave of interest in alternative comics by general readers. It was a heady time with great speculation over which comic would be next to gain the spotlight and perhaps even be adapted into a movie. By 2007, there it was, the Persepolis movie! When the turn-over from relatively obscure to superstardom became more and more uncertain in the world of indie comics, there was a shift in focus.

Fast forward to now and we are mourning the death of an exceptional creative person. Marjane Satrapi is now part of history, secure in her place, beloved, respected and at rest in peace. Her work gave us a refreshingly irreverent look into a world unknown to so many.

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June 2, 2026 · 9:30 am

Vidal by Danila Botha book review

Vidal. Danila Botha. At Bay Press. 2026. 120pp. $30.

This is such a beautifully realized work in many ways. It is, no doubt, a grounded, thoughtful and graceful combining of words and pictures. It is one of those narratives that encompasses the world-at-large with its immense joys and tragedy, all within the journey of one individual, one scrappy and dapper man, Vidal Ben Soussan. The creator of this work is Danila Botha, an exceptional writer, having proven herself many times over with an impressive body of prose fiction. This is her first work combining her prose with her own paintings. It is a work full of good sentiment that evokes the quality of an autobiographical work.

The greatest strength to Danila Botha’s new book is in its prose narrative followed closely by her passionate paintings. The plot to this work is following the life struggle of our main character, one Vidal Ben Soussan. Young Vidal grows up in Tiberias (Ottoman Empire and then British Mandate Palestine) and moves to Paris to pursue his art and freedom and gets trapped there during World War II. Botha traces the steps of Vidal’s life with a combination of her poetic prose laid over her paintings that evoke Chagall. The reader goes back and forth between the paintings and the prose that present the life of Vidal Ben Soussan, from his Sephardic upbringing in Tiberias to studies in the Technion in Haifa, his artistic life in Paris, his work with the underground resistance, and his ultimate arrest and time in Auschwitz.

Botha’s family, like the one depicted in this book, are fifth generation Moroccan Jews who grew up speaking both Hebrew and Arabic and coexisting with their neighbors and friends in diverse harmony. There are numerous examples of these all-too-human exchanges. One culture blended into the other in everyday life. For instance, Vidal’s mother, who hated having to go to the market, would curse it in Hebrew and then again in Arabic for good measure.

Vidal undoubtedly offers the reader a wonderful window into history and a rich cultural experience. The question as to where it falls within comics is interesting and worth consideration. I see this work falling within the world of picture books, given that it is a series of paintings with text, while also laying claim to a spot within the world of graphic novels. The spirit of comics and graphic novels is such that all forms, including wordless comics, are welcome while some are going to be more closely related to the traditional sequential comics art form than others: works following the use of panels, word balloons, and various techniques that link words and pictures together. The important thing here is that Botha’s work is very special in its own way. I just offer an observation. She could certainly continue to create other works just like this and blaze a new trail. That’s exciting. The main point is that Botha is creating very compelling work, providing that valuable window of accessibility. It brings to life such subjects as Sephardic Jewish life and the Shoah in ways beyond words and, for that, it is essential. This is an important work any way you look at it.

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May 24, 2026 · 1:15 pm

CLOUD TOWN by Daniel McCloskey graphic novel review

Cloud Town. Daniel McCloskey. Abrams. 2022. 224pp. $24.99 hardcover. $14.99 paperback.

Daniel McCloskey is a comics artist on the rise, offering comics with a strange and fun bundle of energy. He has created an interesting body of work that stands out among all-ages content. The flagship title is his graphic novel, Cloud Town, published by Amulet, an imprint of Abrams. In this book, the reader is in for a wild ride, an evolving world that began with the fanciful notion of an island encased in a cloud, near a rip in the universe. If you are a fan of the offbeat, like the misadventures in Stranger Things, then this middle-grade graphic novel about best friends, giant robots, and monsters from another universe is for you.

The key to any good work of science fiction, fantasy, or any work of fiction for that matter, is a hook. There needs to be a way to hook in the writer as well as the reader. In this case, we’ve got two very compelling main characters. Pen is a fighter. Olive is a scholar. Between the two of them, these two teenage girls will make their way through high school. Pen fights off the bullies. Olive makes sure they both make good grades.

Pen and Olive!

And that’s just for starters. This high school is part of an island village floating along inside a cloud, near a crack in the universe that is vulnerable to the entry of an assortment of monsters, hobgoblins and all-around nasty critters. And there you have it. McCloskey has created a world where anything and everything can happen and he’s just the kind of comics artist who can deliver on such a promise.

Cloud Town defined in a nutshell.

I think McCloskey must be drawing and thinking comics all the time. He has a very expressive line, with a very determined style, something you get over time as you pursue your passion. It’s this dedication to his craft that brings his characters to life. You need to be able to buy into the characters and the premise very quickly if you want to sustain that magical reading experience. I see that happening here. There’s a certain amount of controlled chaos that wins me over. I can’t tell right away what is happening, as I flip through the pages, but I can sense that the narrative is moving along well, there’s a specificity at play, this is adding up, it will be be worthwhile. And it is. The characters fly off the page.

As I suggested at the beginning, McCloskey is a busy cartoonist. Since his debut graphic novel, he has been adding to his Cloud Town world, known as, Friends in Stormy Weather, and the second part will be available soon.

Friends in Stormy Weather, Part 2

In fact, a Kickstarter campaign in support of Friends in Stormy Weather, Part 2, is coming up. For more details, just go here. And you can keep up with the Cloud Town/Friends in Stormy Weather saga here.

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May 17, 2026 · 1:00 pm

Poem Strip by Dino Buzzati comics review

Poem Strip. Dino Buzzati. Translated by Marina Harss. New York Review Comics. 2026. 224pp. $22.95.

There’s a certain sense of freshness to Dino Buzzati’s Poem Strip, a work of comics originally published in 1969, while also carrying its own particular baggage. That fresh look and feel is the one-panel-per-page format which can be a good approach. Originally titled, Poema a fumetti, it is a graphic narrative that “modernizes” the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It has been translated into English and the latest edition is now out by New York Review Comics. It’s great to have a new edition out, for many reasons. There’s as much to learn as there is to admire. I think two things can be true at the same time: here is a significant work; and here is something we might push back on just a bit.

The original Italian, Poema a fumetti.

Buzzati, at 63, was entering the later stage of life when he created this book which is ultimately a meditation on mortality. This is Buzzati, known mostly as a novelist (The Tartar Steppe), leading the charge. For his first and only foray into comics, Buzzati floods his work with a sea of provocative and disturbing images of women, like a drunken Surrealist. Given that Buzzati did not have a background as a cartoonist, the years or decades of thinking in those terms, it’s not farfetched to say he might have made some overzealous rookie missteps. He pressed his foot down hard on the pedal, that much is certain. With a lurch, by accident or not, this moved a lot forward.

A shaggy dog, or bull in a china shop.

Remember, Buzzati was primarily a novelist. He was not attuned to the comics medium. The narrative plods along. And he loads up on images sourced from what appears typical sources, fashion magazines and porn. What I’m seeing is image after image of deer-in-the-headlights poses of women, mostly nude, acting as “assistants” to our hero, Orfi, as he descends into the underworld. The images reach their crescendo with a depiction of a nude woman strung up like a pig on a fire pit. Pretty nutty stuff. Good? Bad? Genius? What I surmise is that the subtext, or real driver to this work, is of an older man looking back with regret as old age stands in the way of any further carnal desire met at youth’s fever pitch. That reasoning would tie things up rather well. I’m not against this book at all. I don’t really see it as a masterpiece, per se. I do see it as a shaggy dog, or a bull in a china shop, that zigzags its way through. And that’s a great thing in and of itself. At the end of the day, you can still say that Buzzati made a contribution, laid some of the countless groundwork toward comics art that pursues more mature themes. We do want more weird comics, especially well thought out and well designed weirdness.

Ostensibly, this is a modern retelling of the ancient Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orfi is a hipster musician; Eura is his girlfriend who is abducted by supernatural forces. Orfi searches, pleads, begs, even sings, his way to Eura. A bargain must be struck with the captors, as the myth would have it. If Orfi can leave with his beloved Eura without looking back at his captors, they are free to go. Otherwise, as the legend would have it, no dice. That’s the elevator pitch, so to speak. The reality, once you’re committed to reading, is a lamenting over old age and the end of any further lustful adventures.

Dino Buzzati revels in this lamenting. It’s an eternal dance with death. No matter how enticing or alluring, each of the maidens depicted are already dead, at peace with their fate. The bright day will inevitably give way to the infinite night.

This is a new English translation by Marina Harss. Her contribution is a wonderful compliment to this work: very natural, always moving the narrative, or poetry, forward. The slowest section in the book is a number of pages devoted to Orfi’s lyrics as he sings for Eura’s release. It’s enjoyable and I believe the Harss version saves it.

From sex to death.

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice, with a decidedly mod retelling, and regretful ode to lust and mortality, is what it is or was what it was. This new edition invites you to see for yourself. Unfortunately, there is no introduction or afterward or anything to guide the contemporary reader into this work. It would be wonderful to have such a written piece to accompany this most intriguing forerunner to the world of mature comics art.

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May 10, 2026 · 10:00 am

THE SHADOWER graphic novel review

The Shadower. Peter & Maria Hoey. Co-written by C.P. Freund. Top Shelf Productions. 192pp. $19.99.

Comics scholar Scott McCloud has offered up a number of ways that we will read/experience comics in the future. For me, all the future I need happened when ComiXology invented the panel-to-panel reading format known as, Guided View. This reading feature, around for over a decade now, zooms in on elements on a comics page, mainly the text, allowing the reader, by the tap of a finger, to quickly and efficiently progress through a work of comics. I don’t think this is the best way to read comics (print is ideal) but it has its place given certain limitations of reading digital comics on a static page, primarily a PDF. I mention this because, the comic I’m reviewing now is a perfect example of a comic that not only works well with this technology but seems to be meant for it as this quirky reading feature seems to showcase the unique rhythm and pace of the work by Peter & Maria Hoey.

The sibling creative team of Peter & Maria Hoey have perfected their crisply delineated storyboards-come-to-life style of comics for decades with each work seeming to outdo the previous effort. You read one of their comics and, propelled along by Guided View, it is a truly immersive experience as the panels seem to take on an animated life of their own. While reading it in print remains ideal, it’s nice to know that it adapts well to a tech version and that has to do with its finely detailed and edited style and substance.

While Hoey comics readily bring to mind some elaborate storyboard presentation for a classic Hitchcock film, the decidedly cool characters also make me think of spooky marionettes on a stage giving off a vibe of being objects that are being observed rather than actors inviting the viewer in. So, there’s definitely that going on which is endlessly fascinating and enchanting; and that’s because, as much as you feel that distance, you can’t help but be drawn in.

The Hoey siblings have created this sort of magic many times, often favoring a gritty and melancholic landscape, the sort that gumshoe detectives follow. One recent example comes from their ongoing Coin-Op series. See our review here. In Issue 10, a man and a woman, cogs in a vast bureaucracy, must confront the authorities that enslave them if only they can discover how they are controlled while they sleep. And, if you can’t escape your dreams, then heaven help you in attempting to find peace in the afterlife in Hoey’s In Perpetuity. Just dazzling stuff: otherworldly and close to home.

The Shadower is another delicious Hoey offering: a tightly-woven tale about Nadia, a lonely and directionless young woman who lives in a small flat with her mother. They inhabit a world of great intrigue, similar to East Berlin, circa 1960. It is a grim city life after a massive civil war that has left everything in a high-tension tizzy of various districts just barely tolerating each other’s existence. Nadia happens to be a promising drama student. Then, one day, a secret agent enlists her to impersonate a girl named Miriam, a waitress, for a week in order to gather intel on a rival district kingpin. All very convoluted cloak and dagger stuff. The primary thing here is that Nadia suddenly finds herself stepping into a pivotal role, something she’s not sure she’s totally capable of seeing through.

The book begins with a seemingly esoteric, yet powerful rallying cry by Montaigne: “Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself!” It is lifted from the collection of essays on how to live a worthwhile life and is certainly pertinent to our story. Will Nadia be able to give herself completely over to being someone else and still be able to remain true to herself?

We all take on roles in life and we must live with the consequences. Are we living our best lives? Or are we caught in a web of compromises and artifice? Why do we do what we do? Is there a greater purpose or is it all a game? These are the sort of questions that Nadia must grapple with. In the course of this story, Nadia grows into her role only to find her role is sinking much deeper roots into her than she ever anticipated. And it only gets worse as the stakes continue to rise. Quite a fitting scenario for this creative team who are no stranger to offbeat noir fiction. The Hoey golden touch is in full swing. This is a comic that can mesmerize.

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May 3, 2026 · 9:57 am

James Hilger Interview: On Treeboy and Comics Craft

“If I could easily describe it in a few words, I wouldn’t have put it into words and pictures. (Basically,) Treeboy is about obsession, loss and looking for family out there in the vastness of the void.” That is James Hilger’s response to my asking him what his new book is about. What a perfect answer. It’s a heart-felt answer without any of the irony we too often need to slog through in the worlds of contemporary media, whether it’s fiction, film or comics. Hilger knows about all three of these creative arenas. He’s been making headway in each and it is, Treeboy, his debut graphic novella, that he can point to with pride and anticipation for how it is received in the world. Well, I’ve received it quite well. During the course of our conversation, I did my best to emphasize to James that he’s heading in the right direction. He has created something special and worthwhile, hitting on the mark the very qualities so many of us hold dear in the comics medium, keeping to the high standards of the sequential art tradition.

I find James Hilger to possess a steadfast integrity. That’s the best way that I can cut to the chase and say it. He is someone who is compelled to tell stories, sometimes in prose, sometimes in film and sometimes in comics. In our conversation, making sure to circle back when needed, I asked him more than once to describe how he came to create comics. As you’ll find out, whether you view this interview on the Comics Grinder YouTube channel or listen to it on another platform, Hilger is the real deal, not one to provide quick and snappy answers but, rather, to wrestle with ideas and then finally offer up this or that observation. It seems to me that Hilger was drawing and thinking about comics all along. Life happens. You take on this responsibility, take on this creative project, and before you know it, you are coming back to that graphic novella that’s been brewing for a few years.

There’s nothing brash or snappy about James Hilger. He’s a guy who loves what he does. He creates excellent comics. I only see a bright future ahead for him. I can’t guarantee immediate success or fame and fortune but I feel confident that he will continue to reap the rewards of creating honest work. And, if that’s happening now, which it is (you must read Treeboy), and a consistent pattern emerges, then things will undoubtedly progress: more doors will open; more people will take notice. These sort of things happen and take on a life of their own. The work is its own reward and you go from there. I’ve been part of this world of creativity for quite some time now and I know it when I see it. I see Hilger embarking upon a decided literary comics path which is a more challenging climb but one that holds out the promise of something truly rewarding and purposeful. Hilger has begun that climb.

I welcome you to visit us at the Comics Grinder YouTube channel and Subscribe, Comment and Like. Every bit helps us continue to do what we do. Thank you.

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April 28, 2026 · 9:00 pm

Treeboy by James Hilger comics review

Treeboy. James Hilger. Self-published. 38pp. $11.

Once I started, I couldn’t put down this comic. We live in a world where we are constantly putting down one thing in favor of the next thing, and then the next thing after that. Well, I was hooked, compelled to read on, and so I did. James Hilger brings a lot to the table, the kind of set of tools that will serve any cartoonist well: a lot of reading; a lot of observation; and a lot of wisdom. I’ve been reading a book on Chester Brown and his comics, with the delicate line and the morbid originality, kept coming to mind as I read Hilger’s graphic novella. It’s longer than your typical comic book at 38 pages and certainly far more substantial, encompassing an in-depth look at one person’s struggle for meaning. So, yeah, a bona fide graphic novella, one that kept me inspired and intrigued.

If you’re looking for a literary comic, this is it.

Based on his social media activity, I see that James Hilger is passionate about prose fiction and filmmaking along with comics. To my way of thinking, that’s a terrific creative trifecta, as each medium informs and helps shape the other in the creator’s pursuits. Clearly, Hilger has a very strong visual and verbal sense. He’s working off what some of the great cartoonists from the alternative scene of the last thirty or forty years have built, people like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns,  but I don’t cringe at any of his work, thinking he’s just lifting from this or that comics artist. Hilger has allowed himself the time to digest and process and offers the reader his own refreshing take. Hilger dives in with his own anti-hero, one unsure lad named, Alvin Leif Limoncello. And, as bullies and insensitive clods are prone to do, they find a weak spot and take aim. Alvin, due to his quirky middle name, will henceforth be known as “Treeboy.”

Alright, well, originality is one thing. But I’m not suggesting to avoid climbing the same mountains. You just can’t help it, nor would you want to, really. I’m referring to a grand ole coming-of-age tale, with the earnest young person in search of meaning, who thinks meaning can be found in a soul mate. In this case, Hilger takes the traditional route of boy idolizes girl–and later learns from his miscalculations. Getting back to originality, Hilger has come up with a number of new wrinkles to the classic set-up, stuff that surely Clowes and Burns would approve of.

From what I can tell, Hilger is into pursuing his comics the old school way. Everything appears to be physically drawn, all analog, hand-drawn, including the lettering. Perhaps, as a writer, and I’m assuming he gravitated to drawing while focusing on writing, Hilger took up making comics in much the same way that aspiring cartoonists commonly pursued it in the past, just by setting down some paper and picking up a pen. There’s beauty in simplicity, a more direct approach, I think. If it turns out he uses an iPad and Procreate, hey, I still feel it’s all about the mindset. Looking over his work, I imagine someone excited about crafting a truly sound and coherent story and seriously finding the best ways to combine words and pictures. Comics are a lot of things but they’re not always simple. Often, it is a complex endeavor and it helps to come from a multi-discipline background.

A dream girl epiphany.

When Alvin, aka Treeboy, first sets his eyes on his dream girl, it seems to be the portal into another world he’d always been looking for. By the time he has this epiphany, already pushing thirty, he has all but given up on his ideals. But one fateful visit to a McDonald’s drive-thru sets him on a whole new course. If this beautiful and flawless maiden handing him his greasy purchase would connect with him, then all is not lost. There is suddenly hope in the world and that is exactly what Alvin intends to make his own. That is until things don’t go according to plan. Tragic stuff and Hilger knows how to spin that into wonderful storytelling.

Well, it is a pleasure to share with you an outstanding new comic on the scene. It is literally something new. It recently came out, available through comics festivals, and now set up with an online shop. I’m thrilled about Treeboy with its old soul heart and fresh new spirit. So, just to reiterate, this is a one-shot full story with a full-bodied beginning middle and end. It feels like something totally out of left field and that’s a good thing. As Hilger states on his social media: “Treeboy is an intensely personal journey through my growth rings–from acorn to firewood.” Alright then, that makes total sense!

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