A review by jessicaxmaria
Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers

5.0

When I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival in September and decided to go to the panel called "We Need to Talk," about the art of conversation in graphic memoirs, I originally only knew one of the authors, Mira Jacob. However, after the panel I scooped up Erin Williams' COMMUTE and this, Ebony Flowers' HOT COMB. I was not disappointed in any of these stellar works of memoir—and Flowers insightful collection of autobiographical short stories centered on Black women's hair is a particularly arresting perspective. In contrast to Jacob discussing the reasons why she always made the characters in GOOD TALK have the same face (to let the readers explore the emotions via the writing, not told to by the drawings), Flowers focused on the facial features to show emotion, to convey her characters' feelings. The drawings themselves come across as effusive and like they are moving; I learned a lot and laughed, too. I especially loved the last story, 'Last Angolan Saturday,' centered on three friends driving to the beach. At times heavy, at times light, these stories are always discerning of the many layers of processing identity. I highly recommend the collection, and look forward to more of Flowers' work.