Would you look at that; I had a day off and I decided to spend it writing another Holiday Gift Guide article for you lost souls looking for the perfect holiday gift for the comics fan in your life. Well, that and getting a haircut; my roots don’t stay this shade of chestnut on their own!
You know the drill. Please check your local comic shops before caving to the pressure of convenience and shopping with the Great Satan (Amazon). In the coming years your local comic shop is going to be needing your help now more than ever.
With all that in mind, I wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite small press graphic novels from this last year. Batman and Spider-Man are going to get along okay, I’m sure, but comics are not a monolith. If you see something that really does it for you, tell a friend! Or write an article about it. Supporting creators is surefire way to keep comics interesting.
Earlier this year an advance review PDF for the newly colorized first volume of Hobtown Mystery Stories: The Case Of The Missing Men hit my inbox and I knew immediately I had to talk with the creators responsible for it…and I did! There’s a whole podcast about it.
But that’s not what we’re here to talk about! Since getting that review copy I tracked down the black & white editions of the first two volumes as well as the recently released color versions from Oni Press. Here’s the blurb for Volume 1:
Welcome to Hobtown, a charmingly bleak village (Population: 2,006) and an easy place to get bored if you don’t make your own fun.
Hobtown Regional High’s top girl, Dana Nance, runs the Teen Detective Club—a registered after-school program that makes it their business to investigate each and every one of their town’s bizarre occurrences including pagan secret societies, psychic assaults, and possible “wee man” sightings. Their small world of missing pets and shed fires is turned upside down when real-life kid adventurer and globetrotter Sam Finch comes to town and enlists them in their first real case: the search for his missing father. Something strange is going on, and no one in Hobtown will talk about it. It turns out Sam’s dad is the sixth man to go missing this year. The rot runs deep in Hobtown, and it’s up to the teen detectives and associates to stay alive long enough to crack the Case of the Missing Men!
Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes have remixed the vibe of Twin Peaks, The X-Files, The Hardy Boys, with a dash of Wes Anderson and distilled it into something perfectly unique. It’s a phenomenal reading experience and I cannot wait for the next four volumes of the series.
The Effects of Pickled Herring: A Graphic Novel
I may not being one of the “chosen people” but I think I’ve chosen another great graphic novel to recommend. Eh? Eh? That would’ve killed in the Borscht Belt…
Anyways. Here’s the blurb:
The Effects of Pickled Herring by Alex Schumacher is a poignant coming-of-age graphic novel. As 12-year-old Micah Gadsky and his spirited sister Alana prepare for their dual bar and bat mitzvah, they grapple with a family secret that unravels their understanding of faith and identity. Micah’s introspective nature and Alana’s outgoing spirit collide, leading them to confront the complexities of growing up, and ultimately, the enduring power of familial bonds.
I’m not sure if I should label this as “sponsored content” or not since I have an original piece by this book’s creator (and previous podcast guest) Alex Schumacher hanging over my wiring desk. This is your occasional reminder that I can be bought but it makes it so much easier when I like the book.
Sure, you could give this as a Hanukkah gift but the coming-of-age story at the core of this book is a universal one that’s fit for anybody. As a decidedly non-religious person myself, I found this book an absolutely fascinating insight into a culture different than what I grew up with.
