Rusty Brown

Rusty Brown
by Chris Ware
Pantheon Books, 356 pp.
Rating: Not Rated

Chris Ware’s latest work, Rusty Brown, is a collection of separate but interconnected tales depicting the lives of three residents in a small Midwestern American town. The work bares all the hallmarks of Ware, ranging from an obsession with minutiae of everyday life, the painful loneliness of modern existence, and his signature blue-print like page layouts. The result is a deceptively simplistic looking comic, which carries a deeply powerful emotional punch as we watch the various character live, love, lose, and stumble their way through their everyday lives.

The Little Blue Kite

The Little Blue Kite
Written by Mark Z. Danielewski, art by Regina M. Gonzales
Pantheon Books, 96 pp.
Rating: Not Rated

From Mark Z. Danielewski and Regina M. Gonzales, comes the illustrated children’s (??) book, The Little Blue Kite! Perhaps best known for works like The House of Leaves and Only Revolutions which push and pull at the novel form through visual layouts, and structure of a text, Danielewski now turns his skills towards the illustrated children’s book format. Through a combination of surprisingly expressionistic artwork, and a story that can be read in three different ways, Danielewski and Gonzales lead readers through an emotional story of loss, letting go, and finding’s one place in the world which can be read and enjoyed by readers of all ages.

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1
by Gengoroh Tagame, Translation by Anne Ishii
Pantheon Books, 352 pp.
Rating: Not Rated

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 tells the story of Yaichi, a divorced, single parent who works from home as he raises his daughter, Kana. Following the death of his estranged brother, Ryoji, Yaichi finds his life changing as he opens his home to his brother’s widowed husband, Mike. From Gengoroh Tagame comes a thoughtful look at family and prejudice in Japan.