2024 Favorite Things: Books, Comics, Picture Books
My top choices are in bold.
Books:
Sadly, I did not read much at all in terms of novels, non-fiction, comics, or even picture books. My Top 3 in this category are:
- The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
- The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
- The Sign of Four Spirits by Vicki Delany
- A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind by Burgess & Constantine
Novels and Non-Fiction
| You Don’t Have to Do It Alone by Mark Nepo | St.Martin’s Press | full review |
| Killer Triggers by Joe Kenda | Chirp | Kenda’s memoir that is worth revisiting if you were a fan of his TV show, Homicide Hunter, or if you’ve never heard of him. |
| The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai | G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin RH | full review |
| All is Not Forgiven by Joe Kenda | Chirp | For Joe Kenda’s fiction, I didn’t expect an international plot to come into play with a local murder. It is graphic in detail, something Kenda fans might not be used to because of his TV persona. |
| The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman | Atria Books | full review |
| The Sign of Four Spirits by Vicki Delany | Crooked Lane Books | full review |
| Empowered Aging by Ellen Saltonstall | Emerald Lake Books | full review |
| From Potter’s Field by Patricia Cornwell | Scribner | A 1995 Scarpetta book with technology dated from the time like the police carrying pagers; however, one crux of the plot is an advanced AI system built by a 21-year-old student (Kay’s niece Lucy). There’s just enough of the medical details to show Scarpetta’s brilliance as a pathologist without the language being dull lecture. This isn’t a “whodunit” because the entire time, the investigative teams knows who they’re after. The mystery lies more in motive and how certain pieces of the puzzles fit together as one larger puzzle. Marino is character who is homophobic and knows deep down, he’s kind of loser with his own marital and girlfriend problems. As an early Scarpetta book, I hope he evolves. This was also during the AIDS crisis when protocols for medical staff were newer and progressing, but as with any pathogen, characters have to worry about bloodborne diseases. |
| The Secret History of the Rape Kit A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy |
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House | full review |
| A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind by Dr. Ann Wolpert Burgess and Steven Constantine | Grand Central Publishing | One of my favorite non-fiction books ever because I’m a huge fan of Ann Burgess. |
Comics & Picture Books
My Top Picks in Comics and Picture Books are:
- Goblin volume 2
- Breaking the Chain: A Guard Dog Story
- Heart to Heart: A Conversation on Love and Hope for Our Precious Planet
- Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames
- A Haunted Girl
- Deja Ross Speaks to Freaks
| She’s Running on Fumes by Dennis Hopeless (w), Tyler Jenkins (a), Hilary Jenkins (watercolors), Hassan Otsmane-Elhauo (L), Heather Antos (ed) | Comixology Originals | A 1980’s rural crime thriller inspired by real events in Dennis Hopeless’ life. His mother really did start a chop shop with a junkyard owner named Corn Dog and his father was a lifelong criminal. The art is incredibly unique with a sketchy marker style reminiscent of kids making their own comics in notebooks. Watercolors are rare these days in comics and Hilary Jenkins proves they work well. Otsmane-Elhaou has narration boxes that do look like they’re torn from notebooks. He also gets loose with balloon style having ways to show change in speaking voices like smooth curved balloons attached to squiggly ones. |
| Godzilla Valentine’s Day Special by Zoe Tunnell (w), Sebastian Piriz (a), Rebecca Nalty (c), Johanna Nattalie (l), David Mariotte (e) | IDW | cute one shot about a couple meeting while the monsters are in the background |
| Alpi the Soul Sender created by Røna | Titan Manga | a young girl has the power few has witnessed in person–she can “valedict” spirits from magical beasts that cast their souls back to Heaven. If these spirits are not treated, they spread a curse which burns and can make the land untenable. |
| A Haunted Girl by Ethan & Naomi Sacks (w), Marco Lorenzana (a) | Image Comics | If I recommend one comic to make sure you order right now, it’s A Haunted Girl. The book places content warnings at the beginning and in the media summaries for major depressive disorder and suicide. Ethan and Naomi Sacks are a father-daughter team that wrote the book together after Naomi went through her own downward spiral with major depression. Main character Cleo is 16, coming out of in-patient care, and trying to get reacclimated to high school in this horror story. Cleo is Asian-American which I also find important to the story because #depression was once considered “a white woman’s problem.” Each issue also contains important information from doctors and organizations about finding help. Tagline: A terrifying and yet inspirational tale inspired by the real-life mental health struggles of the writers. |
| Rat City #1 by Erica Schultz (w & L), Zé Carlos (a), Jay David Ramos (c), Fco Plascenia (c), Marcelo Iozolli (c) | Image Comics | I clicked Rat City without realizing it was one of yours or that it was Spawn. I never read any, never saw the movie. I heard a woman might be getting the curse/magic. Maybe that’s something else? Anyway I was excited to read it instead of skipping something unfamiliar. I like Bloodshot so this was like a touch of that plus demons. I like the narration and Peter; and then the voice-mail from Rhys made me curious. Bam – excellent cliffhanger! |
| Goblin v1 (reread) by Eric Grissom and Will Perkins | Dark Horse | When book two was coming out, I had to go back and read book one again because I loved this world so much. |
| Goblin v2 by Eric Grissom and Will Perkins | Dark Horse | heartwarming as expected; their stories hit hard when it comes to family/chosen family. Please support this book! Read the acknowledgements where the creators genuinely share their vulnerabilities & gratitude. |
| Deja Ross Speaks to Freaks by Lisa Naffziger | TopShelf/IDW | Absolutely loved everything about this middle grade OGN where a girl sets out to be a citizen scientist during her family’s vacation. She plans to interview and research as many cryptids as possible. The wrong kind of people notice her work and it endangers the creatures. Deja and her brother Amari have to be creative to undo the harm of proving that cryptids are real. |
| Mittens Space Pilot #2 by Greg Moquin (w), JR Harris (a), color flatting Lucky 33 Comics, JR Harris & Corey Riggs (l) | SeerNova Comics | I guess I never read the first issue but I backed this on Kickstarter or backed something else and got it as a bonus. I love the art and monochromatic blue palette. Mittens is a moody cat being with a special object in his possession. A pug being offers to help as long as they break a human out of prison. He’s the man who can fix Mittens’ crashes spaceship. So everyone of the trio is making deals with each other while they’re on the run. |
| Bear Pirate Viking Queen by Sean Lewis & Jonathan Marks Barraveccha | Image Comics | Full review posted: The message that empires come with evil intentions has always been relevant. |
| Endless 1 & 2 by Curt Pires & Rockwell White (story issue 1), Diana Nguyen (a), Mark Dale (c), Micah Myers (l); Curt Pires & Jacoby Salcedo (s), Mark Dale (c), Micah Myers (l) issue 2 | Comixology Originals | Henry Quan is living a life of poverty and trying to pay for his mother’s nursing home when he “dies” and wakes up in NYC in the late 1980s. When he dies again, after living a rewarding life in NY, readers get to wonder where issue 3 will take him. |
| Convert by John Arcudi (w), Savannah Finley (a), Miguel Co (c), Michael Heisler (l) | Image Comics | A failed space mission leaves Orrin Kutela as a lone survivor on a strange planet where everything is poison |
| The Last Case of Deven & Taylor by Kat Calamia & Phil Falco (w), Maurico Mora (a), Danny Faubricio Sànchez Chavez (c), Lettersquids (l) | Kickstarter / Lifeline Comics | Deven & Taylor are best friends who begin sleuths as children, but as they become teens, the public finds them more of a nuisance than help. Taylor doesn’t expect anything to tear ever tear them apart. Unfortunately Deven breaks the news that he got accepted into a different college than she did. This issue makes readers wonder if Taylor has a personality disorder; if her level of sadness is realistic; if she’s obsessive; and if she’s willing to do anything to keep Deven in town with her. |
| Huge Detective #1 by Adam Rose (w), Magenta King (a) | Titan | unique concept and method of taking a classic noir and turning it into a fairy tale style. |
| Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine by Scott Snyder (w), Jamal Igle (p), Juan Castro (i), Chris Sotomayor (c), Tom Napolitano (L) | Dark Horse | I was interested at the first panel. Subject of great inventors all having a special pet. Panel 4 “Pets help you dream bigger.” Love that. Snyder is specific in almost a formula about his page turns which fits in well in a story about inventions that require precision and looking ahead. (Full review) |
| My Neighbor Necromancer #1 by Dillon Gilbertson (w), Jason Piperberg (a/L),Luca Romano (c) | Kickstarter | Apparently I read this, but I don’t remember. |
| Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #1 by Gerry Duggan (w), John McCrea (a), Mike Spicer (c), Joe Sabino (L) | Image Comics | Set in Boston, a mastermind named Dead Eyes who is always masked, puts together a crew to rob the mafia to recover the stolen Gardner Museum paintings. Dead Eyes / Martin uses the money he steals in a modern Robin Hood way – to help pay medical bills. There is a young woman named Megan who uses a wheelchair. It’s unclear if they’re a couple or family in another way. Gorgeous art with heavy inking. There are bright vibrant spot colors used against subtle, dull backgrounds. Absolutely beautiful visually. |
| Back to Fairtaylia by Jorg Alberts, Roland Heep (w), P.R. Dedelis (a), Mike Post (L), various colorists | Invader Comics | Sort of the vein of fairy tales for adults, but not quite. It’s more like if that old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon had a lot of adult language and jokes. Excellent adventures and battles. Surprisingly charming MLP “power of friendship” in each issue. A couple twists especially at the end of volume one. Looking forward to more. |
| Devour (from It Happened on Hyde Street) created by Maytal Zchut & Leila Leiz, Alex Sinclair (c), Rob Leigh (L) | Image/Ghost Machine | A triggering one-shot from Ghost Machine’s horror series, It Happened on Hyde Street. Devour takes a stab at the women of one family who have passed down, not a genetic trait, but the voracious myth that being thin is the answer to happiness. Diets don’t work. On Hyde Street, Miss Goodbody has an solution she’s happy to pedal to unsuspecting customers who can’t imagine the evil within the products. Lily only wants to make her mother and grandmother happy by losing weight to meet their skeletal beauty standards in time to fit into her wedding dress. The art features excellent homages to 1983 music, fashion, and VHS aerobic workout tapes before leaping through time to the present day. Lily is beautifully rendered as a (white) woman with curves and black hair contrasting her mother’s (probably dyed) blonde hair and bone thin figure. Though women of color and men aren’t shown in this family’s story, they have equally faced pressured to meet certain unattainable ideals. |
| Girl Rebels by various creators | Titan Comics | simplified stories but well worth reading about these real life heroes |
| Cats Just Know by M.H. Clark (w), Emily Taylor (a), Bailey Vega (ed) | Compendium Inc. | sophisticated folk art, collage style of cats with simplistic observations about appreciating daily life from cats’ perspectives. An overall message that life is simply better with cats. |
| Dogs Just Know by M.H. Clark (w), Emily Taylor (a), Bailey Vega (ed) | Compendium Inc. | same as the description for the cat book only with dogs |
| Oliver and the Lost Flame by Isaac Alexander | Amazon | I discovered Isaac Alexander’s picture books because I love his crafting channel on YouTube. |
| Olive and the Wally Bat by Isaac Alexander | Amazon | |
| Heart to Heart: A Conversation on Love and Hope for Our Precious Planet by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and art by Patrick McDonnell | Harper Collins | full review |
| Breaking the Chain: A Guard Dog Story by Patrick McDonnell | Abrams | full review |
Related 2024 Faves:
Documentaries
TV
Movies
Podcasts/Vlogs
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.