I have been seeing Pumpkin Heads  - a gorgeous graphic novel by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks - all over bookstagram this month, and last week I finally caved and bought it.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years...

What if their last shift was an adventure?

Unicorn of Many Hats is the seventh volume of comics featuring Phoebe and her best friend, unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. The stories are sweet and fun, with a Calvin and Hobbes kind of feel. Marigold Heavenly Nostrils 'helps' (mostly) Phoebe navigate a bunch of issues kids are familiar with - like  the end of the summer holidays,tricky social and friendship issues at school, and having embarrassing parents. I loved seeing Phoebe's parents in this volume - I think her dad is really funny. I also really enjoy the way Marigold's questions show how ridiculous our world can be - poking fun in particular at the internet and technology.


For anyone joining in with the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge in 2018, this one ticks off a couple of prompts:
4. A comic written and drawn by the same person
15. A one sitting book
18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image

Unicorn of Many Hats is available now. Phoebe and her Unicorn comics are suitable for kids, from middle grade or even earlier, and I think they are a lot of fun for grown-ups too. It is also worth noting that I don't think it really matters whether you have read any of the other volumes of this series - I think you could (and should) just pick up any volume and enjoy it.

xo Bron

***Unicorn of Many Hats***
On Goodreads
Genre: Comics (All ages)
Source: I received a free ebook through NetGalley, but ended up borrowing this one from my local library.
Read it if you love: Smart, fun, all ages comics
Find Dana Simpson here

 

Free Comic Book Day is an annual, international event where some of the major comic publishers put out special comics which you can pick up for free at your local comic store (you can see some of the titles we picked up in the photo above). As well as the free comics stores might celebrate with fun stuff like appearances from superheroes (A was totally starstuck when she met the Flash last year!), facepainting, and inviting customers to dress up for prizes.

 

Lumberjanes and Gotham Academy - this one is a kind of a cheat, since in one shot I get two talk about two series I've enjoyed and a comic I'm looking forward to! These are both fantastic all ages series, with strong female characters. Lumberjanes is about kids at a summer camp who get caught up investigating all kinds of weird goings on. Gotham Academy has the same weird bits, but set at a boarding school in Gotham (of the Batman universe). Both of these have kind of a Scooby-doo vibe, and some great character depth. This particular trade is a cross-over between the two series and I'm sure it's going to be really cool.

 

Faith - to be honest I know very little about the details of this series, but I have heard good things about it from a bunch of places, and the idea of a plus-sized, female superhero really appeals to me (like Ms Marvel, the idea of a non-typical/traditional female superhero is just too good to go past) 

 

Wires and Nerve - this is a bit different to the other comics in this post, and is something that the wonderful guys at our local comic book shop ordered in especially for me. Wires and Nerve is the latest installment in the Lunar Chronicles series - a series of four novels (plus some novellas and a book of short stories, I think) which are fairytale retellings set in a dystopian future. The books are amazing, but I haven't read the last novel yet (it is long, and I want to reread the earlier books first). This book is fantastic - the artwork is amazing, and it is beautifully put together.

Those are just a few of the comics/graphic novels I've been excited about over the past few months (there is another one I want to share here - March  a non-fiction series about the US Civil Rights Movement in 1960s - but it made such an impression on me that I want to give it a post if its own) - I hope it has inspired you to check out your local comic book store!

Bron x