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juushikaI've been wanting nothing but books since the calendar rollover. Maybe I could attribute that to the influx of year's-best roundups, not that it's compelled me to work on my own; maybe it's just the sense of ~potential~ although that's rarely something I attribute to New Year's. Been reading a lot, regardless. Including checking to see what's new to me in Silver Sprocket's catalog since I discovered them last year. There's a lot!
Title: Electric Cowboy
Author: Ansel Kite
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2025
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 556,625
Text Number: 2089
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: A short but ineffably dense comic about someone traversing their lover's memory. It demands multiple readings but remains somewhat opaque even then. Is that a flaw? Every page is doing something, often every word, but the sketchiness makes it an effort to close read; but that reading is rewarding, both puzzle-like and intuitively emotional; but, after that work, I don't want to still be grasping. A little cleanup or a few extra pages might not have gone amiss. I love it anyway, particularly the tone, moving fluidly between wonder and horror, love and betrayals. This is particularly impressive as a debut, and reaffirms my admiration of Silver Sprocket as a publisher.
Title: My Body Unspooling
Author: Leo Fox
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2024
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 556,655
Text Number: 2090
Read Because: reading the publisher/fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: Leo Fox is absolutely Doing Something, and I like it. The length of this perforce constrains it; it's almost a poem, an extended metaphor, figured in Fox's distinctive drippy, trippy art. But I jive with its meditation on the body/mind relationship, the frustrations and needs of corporeality, even if I'd like a stronger reunion, more concrete and justified.
Title: Leftstar and the Strange Occurrence
Author: Jean Fhilippe
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2023
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 90
Total Page Count: 556,745
Text Number: 2091
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: A creator of worlds finds his work faltering, so goes in search of aid. A debut graphic novel in clean, wobbly monochrome, functioning as a metaphor for creative work (engaging in, finishing, what do creators owe their creations) in unsurprising ways, structured as a fantastical travelogue. That's not a combo that works for me—it's cute, millennial, whimsical vibes, very feel-good, and I don't agree with the conclusions of the running metaphor. But the majority of that is an issue of personal taste; I can see this working well for others.
Title: Electric Cowboy
Author: Ansel Kite
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2025
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 556,625
Text Number: 2089
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: A short but ineffably dense comic about someone traversing their lover's memory. It demands multiple readings but remains somewhat opaque even then. Is that a flaw? Every page is doing something, often every word, but the sketchiness makes it an effort to close read; but that reading is rewarding, both puzzle-like and intuitively emotional; but, after that work, I don't want to still be grasping. A little cleanup or a few extra pages might not have gone amiss. I love it anyway, particularly the tone, moving fluidly between wonder and horror, love and betrayals. This is particularly impressive as a debut, and reaffirms my admiration of Silver Sprocket as a publisher.
Title: My Body Unspooling
Author: Leo Fox
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2024
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 556,655
Text Number: 2090
Read Because: reading the publisher/fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: Leo Fox is absolutely Doing Something, and I like it. The length of this perforce constrains it; it's almost a poem, an extended metaphor, figured in Fox's distinctive drippy, trippy art. But I jive with its meditation on the body/mind relationship, the frustrations and needs of corporeality, even if I'd like a stronger reunion, more concrete and justified.
Title: Leftstar and the Strange Occurrence
Author: Jean Fhilippe
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2023
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 90
Total Page Count: 556,745
Text Number: 2091
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: A creator of worlds finds his work faltering, so goes in search of aid. A debut graphic novel in clean, wobbly monochrome, functioning as a metaphor for creative work (engaging in, finishing, what do creators owe their creations) in unsurprising ways, structured as a fantastical travelogue. That's not a combo that works for me—it's cute, millennial, whimsical vibes, very feel-good, and I don't agree with the conclusions of the running metaphor. But the majority of that is an issue of personal taste; I can see this working well for others.
