Author: Jillian Tamaki
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
From Goodreads:
The New York Times and New Yorker illustrator Jillian Tamaki is best known for co-creating the award-winning young adult graphic novels Skim and This One Summer—moody and atmospheric bestsellers. SuperMutant Magic Academy, which she has been serializing online for the past four years, paints a teenaged world filled with just as much ennui and uncertainty, but also with a sharp dose of humor and irreverence. Tamaki deftly plays superhero and high-school Hollywood tropes against what adolescence is really like: The SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep school for mutants and witches, but their paranormal abilities take a backseat to everyday teen concerns.
Science experiments go awry, bake sales are upstaged, and the new kid at school is a cat who will determine the course of human destiny. In one strip, lizard-headed Trixie frets about her nonexistent modeling career; in another, the immortal Everlasting Boy tries to escape this mortal coil to no avail. Throughout it all, closeted Marsha obsesses about her unrequited crush, the cat-eared Wendy. Whether the magic is mundane or miraculous, Tamaki’s jokes are precise and devastating.
SuperMutant Magic Academy has won two Ignatz Awards. This volume combines the most popular content from the webcomic with a selection of all-new, never-before-seen strips that conclude Tamaki’s account of life at the academy.
I've read some of this as it's been posted online but I'm really looking forward to the hard copy (as with Noelle Stevenson's Nimona). I really like Jillian's art, it's expressive and sometimes adorable (like Marsha there on the cover) and always awesome. Also Jillian's characters, they're dry and sharp and witty and existential like only teenagers can be. And with new strips at the end? I can't wait to read this. :)
Great pick. This is the first that I've heard of this one but I love comics.
ReplyDeleteKrystianna @ Downright Dystopian