92 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ SEPTEMEBER 2, 2019
Review_FICTIONand dead. Most are or were working in
creative fields, and particular attention is
paid to women of color. The opening
chapter on Audre Lorde starts the volume
off strong with nine different portraits
and numerous powerful quotes from her
writing. Writer Judith Butler, photogra-
pher Claude Cahun, model Jenny
Shimizu, and musician Chavela Vargas are
also granted in-depth treatments.
However, not all of the selections are as
cohesive; the chapter highlighting
Brazilian pop
singers, for
example, reads
like a gossipy
magazine.
While some of
these figures
eventually came
out as lesbians,
others actively
denied queer
labels. This raises the question: who gets
to decide if someone is butch? The casual
art style is simple but effective, with
black-and-white figures highlighted by
pink and maroon mid-tones pasted into
full pages or tucked beside sprawlinghand-lettered text—though this intimate
diary effect is somewhat disrupted by the
clashing digital fonts used for titles.
Readers are likely to quibble with Aquino’s
idiosyncratic selection and offhand
commentary, but her admiration for her
subjects shines through in this celebratory
volume. (Nov.)The House
Paco Roca, trans. from the Spanish by Andrea
Rosenberg. Fantagraphics, $19.99 (134p)
ISBN 978-1-68396-263-2
Roca (Twists of Fate) examines grief as
an overstuffed house that the bereaved
must restore, rebuild, and, ultimately, let
go in this touching and pensive ensemble
cast graphic novel. Siblings Jose, Vicente,
and Carla come together to put their fam-
ily’s vacation home in order after their
father dies. They tease, bicker, and sift
through his trophies, garden detritus, and
unfinished projects as they confront unan-
swerable questions: Was their father
proud of their accomplishments? And
what do they want to do with the legacy
they have been left? Roca forces his trio of
protagonists to wrestle with the inscruta-
bility of clues their father left behind,from his sun hat to the cracked and mil-
dewed pool they helped him build as chil-
dren (some remembering loving this
labor, others resenting it). The cool-toned
colors render even the most cozy parts of
the home alien, and Roca depicts the
plants and furniture in more detail than
the cast of characters, creating a remove
that mirrors their father’s distance. In the
end, Roca concludes that grief is an active
process, one each sibling must move
through alone, even as they try to join in
decisions together. Though it doesn’t
close on a tidy moral, the reader is left
feeling that hope lies with the living,
despite the mistakes of the past. (Nov.)Smedley
Jeff McComsey. Dead Reckoning, $26.95
trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-68247-276-7
Outside of Leatherneck circles, the
name Smedley Butler (1881–1940) may
not ring many bells, but this spirited
graphic biography aims to bring broader
acclaim to the gung-ho Marine general
whose service stretched over several wars
and took a late turn into political advocacy.
McComsey (Son of Hitler) uses the framing
device of Butler arriving to speak to the
1932 “Bonus Army”—the Washington,
D.C., protest march by poverty-stricken
WWI veterans demanding bonuses—
only to get sidetracked into trading war
stories and solidarity with the marchers.
Butler lands in 1898 Cuba as a callow
new Marine, then ships out to put down
uprisings in the Philippines and, a couple
years later, the Boxer Rebellion in China.
Later, the lean, quippy, hardboiled Butler
follows the Marines into Mexico and Haiti
for missions whose purpose he does not
question (“I go where I’m told”) and earns
two Medals of Honor. Drawn with dense
sepia-washed tones, McComsey’s larger-
than-life characterizations crackle.
Butler’s Bonus Army speech is a rousing
stem-winder, while a postscript details his
surprising retirement crusade against the
military-industrial complex, when he
published his treatise War is a Racket.
McComsey uncovers a key historical
military figure in this graphic narrative;
but with ripping combat yarns bookended
by shorter-shrift examples of Butler’s
activism, it delivers an overall muddled
message. (Oct.)★ Making Comics
Lynda Barry. Drawn & Quarterly, $22.95 (200p) ISBN 978-1-77046-369-1B
arry follows up Syllabus by again condensing her
celebrated visual storytelling courses into an
instructional book that doubles as a work of art.
Through her signature nimble comics and collage,
Barry provides guidelines for teachers, students, and
aspiring artists. These include pragmatic instructions on
art supplies (Barry recommends keeping them cheap and
simple, and the book itself is drawn on lined notebook
paper), class rules and exercises, and theories about the
nature and value of telling stories in pictures. “There
was a time when drawing and writing were not separated for you,” Barry writes,
assuring newbies that “the most lively work comes from people who gave up on
drawing a long time ago.” Students are told to experiment with drawing with
both hands, to “close your eyes and draw a bacon and egg breakfast,” and to keep
a daily illustrated diary. Gradually, the lessons expand into creating characters,
drawing comic strips, and the mechanics of making minicomics. Barry’s approach
to art instruction is reminiscent of Betty Edwards’s Drawing on the Right Side of the
Brain and the classes taught by artist Marilyn Frasca, under whom Barry studied;
she also builds from Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Practice and Philosophy. But these
lessons from Barry, like her art, capture her own brand of magic: a synthesis of
theory, practice, memory, imagination, and “a certain sort of unlearning.” (Nov.)