A Few Good Comics: The Dam Keeper, Spinning and Pashmina

    
November was a good month for youth comics reading for me. Grant there were some duds (Constantine vol. 2, I'm looking at you), but overall they were fairly grand. So here are the ones that rose to the top.

The Dam Keeper by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
A quick flip through and perusal of the cover leads one to believe that this is a simple story with farm animals standing in for people. But don't be fooled! This is one of the darkest dystopians I came across this year.

Pig's father invented and maintained the dam that protects the walled city of Sunset Valley, until one day when he walked outside and gave himself over to the dark mists. Now Pig tries to maintain everything while continuing to go to school without letting anyone know that he is alone. One day his friend Fox and her friend Hippo are visiting when the fog rolls over the windmill that controls the dam and sweeps all three of them over the wall and into the wilds. They survive but have no idea where they are or how to return home.

The first thing I noticed with this book was the atmosphere. The soft edges and overall smudginess lends itself well to a world where the greatest threat is a random fog. Even the characters are kind of muted with some, like Fox, coming into sharp focus at specific times. There is a definite steampunk feel to it and I love that about it. By the end of this first volume the story is shaping up to be deeper and darker than you expect.

Spinning by Tillie Walden
Walden relates six years of middle/high school and the experiences as a figure skater, details her struggles with parents, bullies, and her own lesbian identity. Manga-esque style art using purples with some touches of yellow create an almost hypnotic effect. I really like the use of lots of quiet panels with people but no words and single zoomed in images. Dark panels with yellow light effectively capture the early morning world.


Walden's life is frantic in a quiet, desperate way and her story and style clearly communicate that. Disturbing scenes both affect the reader and reveal the feelings of the author. Her pain and isolation practically leap off of the page at times.

This one was also interesting to me for purely personal reasons. It is set in Austin, Texas at a time I was living there. So, of course, I had to look for familiar things. I used to work near the mall with the skating rink and left shortly before it was replaced by other stores. It was kind of fun to see a familiar place in a comic.

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
Priyanka's mom moved to the United States when she was pregnant and raised her alone, with the help of friends. Now Priyanka is a teen and wants to know more about India, but her mom refuses to talk about it. But a pashmina in her mom's old luggage allows Priyanka to travel to a seemingly perfect India with an elephant and a peacock as her guides.  However, Pri is this the real India or some kind of dream?

This was such a strong book, a great ownvoices book with some striking fantasy elements. I like the art style and the way color is used to represent the two worlds. The characters are amazingly detailed and the plot is well-paced and feels authentic. No one is stereotypical here and the message is fantastic, timely, and needed.

So, have you read any good graphic novels this year? What should I check out?