Essex County Vol.1: Tales From the Farm ~ Jeff Lemire

This is a bittersweet coming of age tale about Lester, a ten year-old who still wears a superhero mask and cape. After his mother dies, Lester moves to his Uncle’s farm in Essex County, Ontario. Neither of them, knows quite what to do with the other. Lester’s only friend is Jimmy Lebeuf, former NHL hockey player. Jimmy shares Lester’s two passions: hockey and comics. Lemire does a wonderful job with these characters. You can’t help but love them. What they say about a picture being worth a thousand words seems to hold true with Lemire’s sparse drawings. He seems to say more with a look or an image than all of the dialogue in the story. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

French Milk ~ Lucy Knisley

This is a fun travel diary – comic book style. Lucy Knisley is an art student/cartoonist who will be graduating in a few months. During her winter break, she spends a month in a Paris apartment with her mom. This diary captures all the angst of a young woman who is worried about how she is going to make it in the real world as well as all of her Paris adventures. It’s the details that make this book fun. After reading this book, you may find yourself on the internet wondering just how much it would cost to rent an apartment in Paris. I love her descriptions of the neat little shops and all the things she buys. She goes to the kitchen store Dehilleron at least three times! And of course there’s the food and her obsession with french milk.