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A review by youraveragedave
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Emil Ferris is such a talent. In this book we met a girl who feels more comfortable as a monster (werewolf), Karen lives in Chicago in the mid 60s with her mom and brother and a cast of strange people in her building. She's navigating friendships, first love, family strife, sickness, and the murder of her neighbor. This is all conveyed not only through words, but also through drawings.
This graphic novel is a great feast your eyes. The cross hatched drawings are gorgeous, using mostly blue, black, and red ink presented on ruled spiral notebook paper. From drawing the world around, to copying masterworks from the Chicago Museum of Art, to cartoony pieces to show where Karen is emotionally, Emil is just fantastic.
Plus we get this heavy backstory of the murdered neighbor who was a Holocaust survivor.
There's an excellent exploration of grief when Karen's mother gets sick and her brother Deeze also has a traumatic past that shapws his character.
It kind of ends on a cliffhanger, but the sequel is coming out May 2024 (so glad I didn't have to wait 7 years like some people).
This graphic novel is a great feast your eyes. The cross hatched drawings are gorgeous, using mostly blue, black, and red ink presented on ruled spiral notebook paper. From drawing the world around, to copying masterworks from the Chicago Museum of Art, to cartoony pieces to show where Karen is emotionally, Emil is just fantastic.
Plus we get this heavy backstory of the murdered neighbor who was a Holocaust survivor.
There's an excellent exploration of grief when Karen's mother gets sick and her brother Deeze also has a traumatic past that shapws his character.
It kind of ends on a cliffhanger, but the sequel is coming out May 2024 (so glad I didn't have to wait 7 years like some people).