Heading into Fall with Our September Book Club Reads!
Works featuring conspiracies, robots, serial killers, and murderous housewives were among those under discussion this September by members of the Comic-Con Graphic Novel Book Clubs.
Balboa Park
What We Read: The Department of Truth: The End of the World by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds
Summary: The Department of Truth asks, “What if all conspiracy theories could become true, if enough people believed in them?” It follows a team of DoT agents as they seek to tilt the balance of reality back to normal, while they are menaced by a shadowy organization that wants to bring the wildest conspiracies to life.
You Might Like This Book If You Liked: Something Is Killing the Children and The Nice House on the Lake
Next Up: Stray Dogs by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner, and continue our series read of The Sandman with vol. 4: Seasons of Mist.
Chula Vista
What We Read: Descender, vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
Summary: The United Galactic Council are attacked by planet-sized robots, killing billions and questioning the trust of all robots who have otherwise lived harmoniously with their human counterparts. A young companion robot named Tim-21 wakes up 10 years after the “the Harvesting” to a world where AI’s are hunted and destroyed. However, this robot could hold the key to saving humanity, if Tim-21 can survive.
Best Part: This book includes some surprisingly graphic violence, and though somewhat shocked, all members concurred it was excellently drawn splashy art that added to the overall story.
Next Up: Mercy, vol. 1: The Fair Lady, the Frost, and the Fiend, by Mirka Andolfo.
Encinitas
What We Read: The Beast of Chicago by Rick Geary
Summary: Nonfiction account of H. H. Holmes, notorious serial killer active during the Chicago World's Fair in the 1890s. One of a series of true crime books by Rick Geary.
Favorite Thing About the Book: The group appreciated Geary's clarity and matter-of-fact style, including transparent descriptions of the sources of information for the book.
Next Up: House of Penance, by Peter Tomasi and Ian Bertram
Escondido 2
What We Read: Chainsaw Man, vols. 1–2 by Tatsuki Fujimoto
Summary: Denji was a small-time devil hunter just trying to survive in a harsh world. After being killed on a job, he is revived by his pet devil-dog Pochita and becomes something new and dangerous—Chainsaw Man!
Best Moment: The moment Denji became Chainsaw Man from the love of Pochita, who wanted to see Denji's dreams fulfilled.
Bonus: There is an anime series coming!
Next Up: Something Is Killing the Children, vols. 1–3 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edrea
La Jolla
What We Read: Sweet Tooth, vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire, and Animal Man, vol. 2 by Grant Morrison and various artists
Summary: Sweet Tooth is part of a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children who has been raised in the woods in isolation by his father. An inexplicable pandemic struck a decade earlier and continues to kill the population. Sweet Tooth loses his father and is left to fend for himself and take on the life challenges of staying in isolation or venturing into what is beyond all he’s ever known.
Animal Man, vol. 2 moves more and more deeply into the cause of animal rights. But something else is going on: aliens, people disappearing, loss of power, and how Animal Man can handle it all.
What Else You Might Like: Anything by Jeff Lemire
Next Up: Trese, vol. 1: Murder on Balete Drive by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, and
Scalped, vol, 2: Casino Boogie by Jason Aaron, R. M. Guera, and Jock
Mission Valley
What We Read: Lady Killer, vol. 2, by Joëlle Jones, with colors by Michelle Madsen
Summary: Josephine, a 1950s housewife, navigates the seedy world of contract killing.
What We Loved: Joelle's beautiful Rockwell-ian art style gives the same amount of detail to anatomical butchering as it does to the fashions and look of the era.
Next Up: Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edrea
Oceanside
What We Read: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Summary: A story about Nobody Owens, a boy who was raised by ghosts and lived in a graveyard after his family was murdered.
Informative Fact: This book was challenged at a middle school in 2015 due to violent imagery.
Next Up: From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell