Two Mini Reviews: Archival Quality and Kim Reaper

Archival Quality, by Ivy Noelle Weir

Archival Quality is a gem of a little comic. Starring Celeste Walden, who has just lost her library job due to a nervous breakdown, the story follows her explorations as archivist in a strange and secretive library. There's a mystery to uncover, one that becomes deeply personal to her as she begins to identify with the ghost contacting her. But these things are harder to investigate when people question your perceptions at every turn, and maybe you question your own.

Delving into the dark history of the treatment of mental illness in America, and reflecting on lingering perceptions and reactions that all people who have mental illness must face, Archival Quality transcends its mystery format to be exploratory and highly relatable. I read it in one sitting and will probably purchase a paperback copy for my collection later in the year when it's published.

I'd also say that this story in itself would be a good text for cultural/literary studies for young people, and it could be well paired with many staples in literature that deal with a narrator that is treated as unreliable or dismissed based on their mental status.

Kim Reaper, Vol 1 by Sarah Graley

This little book is ten thousand percent adorable. The art and style reminds me a bit of the spooky-cute books in the late nineties like Lenore from Roman Dirge and the Nightmares & Fairytales. Granted, the story isn't super deep, and things move fast, but I really enjoyed the fast-paced shenanigans between two girls crushing on each other while dealing with ghouls and reapers and zombies.

Good clean lesbian fun, with little drama. I'll definitely be following this title as long as they're writing it.


I received copies of these titles from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mini Review: Mae Vol 1

Mae (by Gene Ha) is a super entertaining little quest in which the titular character’s sister Abbie reappears after years of being missing, and in the span of a day, ropes Mae into a quest to save their father. They go into a wondrous alternate world, where Abbie proceeds to try to find their father mostly through blunt force, and Mae finds that her skills aren’t entirely useless here, either.

Vol 1 ends after a few failed attempts at rescue, so keep an eye out for volume 2, which won’t drop until January 2019. Until then, the author's website has a sample you can read online for free.

REVIEW: GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS

I’ve been mulling on how to review Girls Made of Snow and Glass for a week.

There have been a lot of efforts over the years to revision Snow White. Add dwarves, subtract dwarves. Make Snow White evil. Give Regina The Queen backstory. The Nightmares and Fairytales comic version has the Queen literally steal Snow’s heart, and Snow becomes a monster who comes to steal it back (then she frolics off into the forest with the animals). Chris Colfer’s Land of Stories portrays the Queen as a tragic figure, a princess who was never saved. Manipulated by the Enchantress to do her will, Evly uses her ruthlessness and determination to try to save the love of her life (and screw anyone who gets in her way). She ends up trapped herself, and Snow ends up sharing her stepmother’s story to the other queens, because there’s nothing else that can be done for her, and understanding is all Snow can give to Evly now.

In Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust does what some fairytale revisionists have tried before: focus on the relationship between Snow and The Queen. However, rather than adding a little development of their relationship to an overall love story about being rescued by a prince, Bashardoust sets the love between Snow (Here, Lynet) and The Queen (Mina) center stage. Following in importance are the relationships with their fathers, and Lynet’s relationship with her love interest, Nadia.