Book picks similar to
Operation Margarine by Katie Skelly


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Batman: The Killing Joke


Alan Moore - 1988
    Looking to prove that any man can be pushed past his breaking point and go mad, the Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. After shooting and permanently paralyzing his daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl), the Joker kidnaps the commissioner and attacks his mind in hopes of breaking the man. But refusing to give up, Gordon maintains his sanity with the help of Batman in an effort to beset the madman.

Poorly Drawn Lines: Good Ideas and Amazing Stories


Reza Farazmand - 2015
    Embrace it.A bear flies through space. A hamster suffers a breakdown. Elsewhere, a garden snake is arrested by animal control and jailed for home invasion, while a child marvels at the wonder of nature as worms emerge from the ground and begin looking for vodka (as they always have). These are common occurrences in the world of Reza Farazmand’s wildly popular webcomic, Poorly Drawn Lines. Traveling from deep space to alternate realities to the bottom of the ocean, this eponymous collection brings together fan favorites with new comics and original essays to share Farazmand’s inimitable take on love, nature, social acceptance, and robots.

Pride of Baghdad


Brian K. Vaughan - 2006
    In his award-winning work on Y THE LAST MAN and EX MACHINA (one of Entertainment Weekly’s 2005 Ten Best Fiction titles), writer Brian K. Vaughan has displayed an understanding of both the cost of survival and the political nuances of the modern world. Now, in this provocative graphic novel, Vaughan examines life on the streets of war-torn Iraq. In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad in a desperate struggle for their lives. In documenting the plight of the lions, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD raises questions about the true meaning of liberation – can it be given or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity? Based on a true story, VAUGHAN and artist NIKO HENRICHON (Barnum!) have created a unique and heartbreaking window into the nature of life during wartime, illuminating this struggle as only the graphic novel can.

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1


Emil Ferris - 2017
    Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Full-color illustrations throughout.

Postal, Vol. 1


Matt Hawkins - 2015
    A place where, despite its inhabitants, no crime is allowed. Local postman Mark Shiffron has Asperger's, and through his peculiar eyes we see a town struggling to keep its fragile peace, a town on the constant brink of chaos. When a murdered woman's body is found on Eden's main street, Mark's need to solve her crime leads him into darkness and truth about the town he's known his entire life and the hidden realms of his own psychology. Co-writers BRYAN HILL & MATT HAWKINS work with newcomer ISAAC GOODHART to take an unflinching look at the cost of justice and the price of redemption through a tale set in the murky soul of America's heartland. Collects POSTAL #1-4.!

I Never Liked You


Chester Brown - 1994
    For the new 2002 definitive softcover edition Brown has designed new layouts for the entire book, using "white" panel backgrounds instead of the black pages of the first edition.

Rat Queens #1


Kurtis J. Wiebe - 2013
    This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!A new ongoing series from PETER PANZERFAUST’s KURTIS J. WIEBE and featuring a gorgeous incentive cover by SAGA’s FIONA STAPLES!

Rusty Brown


Chris Ware - 2019
    A sprawling, special snowflake accumulation of the biggest themes and the smallest moments of life, Rusty Brown literately and literally aims at nothing less than the coalescence of one half of all of existence into a single museum-quality picture story, expertly arranged to present the most convincingly ineffable and empathetic illusion of experience for both life-curious readers and traditional fans of standard reality. From childhood to old age, no frozen plotline is left unthawed in the entangled stories of a child who awakens without superpowers, a teen who matures into a paternal despot, a father who stores his emotional regrets on the surface of Mars and a late-middle-aged woman who seeks the love of only one other person on planet Earth.

The End of the Fucking World


Charles Forsman - 2013
    streaming to follow soon thereafter). Originally released to critical and public acclaim in 2013, Charles Forsman’s graphic novel debut follows James and Alyssa, two teenagers living a seemingly typical teen experience as they face the fear of coming adulthood. Forsman tells their story through each character’s perspective, jumping between points of view with each chapter. But quickly, this somewhat familiar teenage experience takes a more nihilistic turn as James’s character exhibits a rapidly forming sociopathy that threatens both of their futures. He harbors violent fantasies and begins to act on them, while Alyssa remains as willfully ignorant for as long as she can, blinded by young love.

Micrographica


Renée French - 2007
    A mob of tiny rodents live la vida loca, led by the trash-talking bully Moe and his trash-talking sidekick Preston. Add in Nubbins, the big guy; poor, sweet crapball-lovin' Aldo and a rotting corpse turned playground, and you'll never find a more moving affirmation of traditional values. Inspired by a bald bird sighting while the author was wandering Hunter's Hill in Sydney, Australia, this book is pure weirdness - just what Renee French fans dream of. With guest drawings by Jim Woodring, Penn Jillette, Dean Cameron, Dylan Williams, James Gunn and more.

Blood Stain, Volume 1


Linda Šejić - 2016
    Chemistry major, Elliot Torres has been unable to keep a steady job and eventually accepts a job by a rumored mad scientist Dr. Vlad Stein. Humorous hijinks ensue as their collaboration becomes epic.

Southern Bastards, Vol. 1: Here Was a Man


Jason Aaron - 2014
    When you're an angry old man like Earl Tubb, the only way to survive a place like this...is to carry a really big stick. From the acclaimed team of JASON AARON and JASON LATOUR, the same bastards who brought you Scalped and Wolverine: Japan's Most Wanted, comes a southern fried crime series that's like the Dukes of Hazzard meets the Coen Brothers...on meth.

Sabrina


Nick Drnaso - 2018
    Rate your stress level from 1 to 5, 5 being severe. Are you experiencing depression or thoughts of suicide? Is there anything in your personal life that is affecting your duty?When Sabrina disappears, an airman in the U.S. Air Force is drawn into a web of suppositions, wild theories, and outright lies. He reports to work every night in a bare, sterile fortress that serves as no protection from a situation that threatens the sanity of Teddy, his childhood friend and the boyfriend of the missing woman. Sabrina’s grieving sister, Sandra, struggles to fill her days as she waits in purgatory. After a videotape surfaces, we see devastation shown through a cinematic lens, as true tragedy is distorted when fringe thinkers and conspiracy theorists begin to interpret events to fit their own narratives.The follow-up to Nick Drnaso’s Beverly, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Sabrina depicts a modern world devoid of personal interaction and responsibility, where relationships are stripped of intimacy through glowing computer screens. Presenting an indictment of our modern state, Drnaso contemplates the dangers of a fake-news climate. Timely and articulate, Sabrina leaves you gutted, searching for meaning in the aftermath of disaster.

Bookhunter


Jason Shiga - 2007
    The excitement is fulfilling. The year is 1973. A priceless book has been stolen from the Oakland Public Library. A crack team of Bookhunters (aka. library police) have less than three days to recover the stolen item. It’s a race against the clock as our heroes use every tool in their arsenal of library equipment to find the book and the mastermind who stole it.Will the detectives catch this scoundrel? Find out in Bookhunter, the greatest comic of the new millennium. What a roller coaster ride of excitement! What an unexpected twist takes place! Do not begin Bookhunter unless you are prepared to finish it in one sitting.

The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.


Jaime Hernández - 1989
    After the sci-fi trappings of his earliest stories (as seenin Maggie the Mechanic, the first volume in this series),Hernandez refined his approach, settling on the more naturalisticenvironment of the fictional Los Angeles barrio, Hoppers, and the livesof the young Mexican-Americans and punk rockers who live there. Acentral story and one of Jaime's absolute peaks is "The Death ofSpeedy." Such is Jaime's mastery that even though the end of the storyis telegraphed from the very title, the downhill spiral of Speedy, thelocal heartthrob, is utterly compelling and ultimately quitesurprising. Also in this volume, Maggie begins her on-again off-againromance with Ray D., leading to friction and an eventual separationfrom Hopey.(Note: A number of these stories, including a whole cycleof wrestling stories starring or co-starring Rena Titañon, were notcollected in the hardcover Locas.)