Mixed Myth by Robin Meyer

Mixed Myth

Mixed Myth is a parody of every fantasy trope you can name. Is the main character, Keeva, a half-elf? She is indeed, but the other half is goblin, and since goblins and elves are mortal enemies, family reunions are awkward. Does Keeva have a drunken sidekick? Yes she does, and he's a literal nightmare, a demon horse named Puck. Does Keeva meet an attractive stranger? How did you know? Aidan is a half-selkie werewolf assassin who quickly gives up his mission to kill Keeva as impossible. 

Keeva is a firebrand, seizing the day and all the explosive phoenix eggs she can find, as likely to blow something up as she is to save world. Unfortunately, saving the world just became her responsibility, so along with Puck, Aidan, and Tamit (a sphinx so mysterious she can barely remember her own name), they set out to save the world from a fate so dramatic you'll be shocked-- shocked! The plot is intricate and brilliant, the characters are deep, and the wit is biting. 

Mixed Myth is available online.

Appeal: Fantasy, parody, good female characters, elves, puns

Art: Grayscale, detailed, flowing, fantastical

Text: Humorous, dramatic, ironic

Other: Robin Meyer's other projects since Mixed Myth's completion include Metrophor and Real Life Fiction.

Meyer, Robin. "Mixed Myth." mixedmyth.comicgenesis.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

Safe Havens by Bill Holbrook

Safe Havens

Samantha Argus, 26, is the foremost expert in genetics at Havens University and perhaps in the world. In fact, she's cracked the code that lets ordinary humans transform into any living thing at the drop of a hat and has cloned a few dodos back to life. The world isn't quite ready for this knowledge yet, though, so she keeps it under wraps while she works as a dorm RA, professor, and researcher. But life isn't all boring-- her fellow RA is a talking cat, her husband's overseas agent is a time traveler, and her late grandmother can talk to her from heaven through any reflective surface.

Safe Havens began life as a syndicated comic strip in 1988, set in a daycare called Safe Havens. The characters have aged in real time and are having children of their own now. Dave Hamper grew into a professional basketball player and Samantha's husband; Thomas Volant is a Cirque du Soleil performer married to a mermaid, with a trapeze-swinging, half-fish son; and Bambi is a famous singer with plans to travel to Mars.

Safe Havens is available online at safehavenscomic.com. The first comic posted online is from October 2010.

Appeal: Science fiction, puns, black representation, anthropomorphism, adult relationships

Other: Bill Holbrook also writes Kevin & Kell, an anthropomorphic comic strip, and On the Fastrack, a strip set in the technology offices of Fastrack, Inc. Some characters from On the Fastrack appear in Safe Havens.

Holbrook, Bill. "Safe Havens." safehavenscomic.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella by Justin Pierce

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella

Wonderella is a terrible superhero. She drinks, she ignores crises, and she'll endorse anything for a buck. This send-up of superheroes sees Wonderella fighting the likes of Hitlerella and Jokerella (or not, depending on what's on tv), failing to save her sidekick Wonderita from peril, and causing more problems than she solves. Readers who enjoy Wonderella will also enjoy R.K. Milholland's Super Stupor.

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella is online at nonadventures.com. Read from the beginning here.

Appeal: Superheroes, irony, parody, science fiction, humor

Art: In the style of paper cut-out cartoons like South Park or Monty Python. Parodies superhero designs

Text: Mature, non-sequitur, allusions to current events

Pierce, Justin. "The Non-Adventures of Wonderella." nonadventures.com. Web. 4 May 2014.

Aya by Marguetire Abouet and Clément Oubrerie

Aya

Aya is a serious-minded 19-year-old living in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s. It's a time of prosperity for the country, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Aya tries to give her friends good advice and resigns herself to helping them manage the fallout of bad choices. In this first book of six, for example, Aya helps her friend Adjoua raise her newborn son as they try to prove his paternity so that Adjoua's boyfriend will marry her. Aya joins in the parties, and the gossip around her but always with an eye toward her future. This is a realistic, funny, soap operatic story about middle-class life from a talented storyteller.

Appeal: Ivory Coast, Africa, family relationships, adult relationships, drama, humor, high school plus

Art: Caricature, cinematic

Text: Conversational, vernacular, argumentative

Other: Aya was originally published in French. The comic was adapted into an animated film in 2012, co-directed by the authors.

Awards: Aya won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book in 2006, the Children's Africana Book Award in 2008, and several Glyph Awards.

Abouet, Marguerite. Oubrerie, Clément. Dascher, Helge. Aya. Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly ; 2007. Print

W Juliet by Emura

W Juliet

Ito Miura wants to be an actor. She's in her high school's drama club, and puts her family training as a martial artist to good use on stage. Makoto Amano wants to be an actor too, but as the only son in his family, he is obligated to run the family dojo. Makoto's father will only allow Makoto to become an actor if he can use his acting skills to successfully impersonate a girl for the two years remaining until high school graduation. 

Naturally, Ito finds out Makoto's secret on the first day of school. Now Ito and Makoto have to hide all sorts of secrets from friends and family, especially after they start dating! Together they must work hard to become better actors and to avoid the obstacles that block their path. This is a touching, realistic, and humorous look at family relationships, working toward a dream, and dealing with uncertainties and insecurities about the future.

Appeal: Action, intrigue, family relationships, theater, drama, high school girls, first relationships, romance, humor

Art: Clean lines, grayscale, character-focused, emotional

Text: Conversational, intimate

Other: W Juliet was originally published in Japan from 1999 to 2003. It has also been adapted into a series of drama CDs.

Emura, William Flanagan, and Mark McMurray. W Juliet. San Francisco : Viz, 2004. Print.

Johnny Hiro: Half-Asian, All Hero by Fred Chao

Johnny Hiro: Half-Asian, All Hero

Johnny Hiro loves his girlfriend Mayumi and tolerates his job at a sushi restaurant, but the monster that breaks through their apartment and takes Mayumi sort of puts a cramp in his style. So do the ninjas that try to steal the fine lobster he scored from the fish market. And the ronin that accost Johnny and Mayumi at the opera. Johnny's style consists mostly of frantically trying to survive, whether his current problem is assassins, rival restaurateurs, or his doubts about life in the big city. Through all of this Johnny and Mayumi lean on each other for support, and get a little help from the ubiquitous Mayor Bloomberg.

Appeal: Adult, adult life, kaiju, making it in the big city, humor, adult relationships

Art: Black and white, fine detail, dynamic

Text: Narrative, philosophical

Other: Johnny Hiro was included in The Best American Comics 2010.

Chao, Fred. Johnny Hiro: Half-Asian, All Hero. Richmond, Va. : AdHouse Books, 2009. Print.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

Charlie captains the basketball team, tries to hide from his cheerleader ex-girlfriend, and avoids his mom's phone calls. His next door neighbor Nate leads the robot club, drives Charlie crazy, and tends to bite off more than he can chew. When the cheerleaders pit an unknowing Charlie against Nate in the race for class president, the competition escalates until it all ends in disaster for both the robot club and the cheerleaders: as punishment, the principal takes away all funding for both groups. Now the robotics club and the cheerleaders must team up to reach their goals, and they drag a reluctant Charlie along for the bumpy ride. It is available online at nothingcanpossiblygowrong.com.

Appeal: Humor, high school, good female characters, friendship, robots, cheerleaders

Art: Bold lines, expressive postures, gray scale

Text: Conversational, dramatic. Teenager dialogue, lots of arguing.

Other: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong was originally serialized online, and was printed in 2013.

Awards: Faith Erin Hicks won a Joe Shuster Award for Favorite Creator - English Language Publication in 2008 for her work Zombies Calling.

Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse by Art Baltazar and Franco

Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse

This kid-friendly take on DC Comics' younger heroes takes place at Sidekick Elementary, where Robin and Starfire hang out with their friends, form a super pet club, and feud with rivals from the villains' elementary school across town. Characters reference and parody current events in the DC universe in addition to having their own adventures. Kid Flash races other speedsters only to be distracted by friends. Robin tries on a new costume and new name, but no one recognizes him. Everyone dresses up in special outfits for pink day, where our heroes celebrate all things pink.

Appeal: Kids, DC Comics, superheroes, humor, animals

Art: Caricature, bold, bright

Text: Punny, simple

Other: Art Baltazar and Franco work for DC Comics, and have also collaborated on the kid-friendly Itty Bitty Hellboy and Superman Family Adventures.

Awards: Tiny Titans won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids in 2009 and 2011.

Baltazar, Art. Franco. Tiny Titans Vol. 01: Welcome to the Treehouse. Place : DC Comics, 2009. Print.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis

The first volume is the author's memoir of her childhood in Iran, just before and after the revolution in the 1980s. Marji was a little girl during the Iranian Revolution, living through several years of war, watching as her freedom to play and learn was curtailed by the religious government. Her family was educated and liberal, and constantly discussed current events, feeding her interest in politics, social class, gender, and religion. Marjane leaves Iran for Austria at the end of the first volume. In the second volumes, she details her disappointing years in Europe, used by a boyfriend, abused by her landlady, alienated by Western culture, and her later return to Iran. Humorous, heartfelt, and biting.

Appeal: History, Iran, female narrator, humor

Art: Dark black and white cartooning, subtly expressive

Text: Political, sharp, reminiscent

Other: Persepolis was originally written in French,  Marjane Satrapi has written another comic about her adult life in Iran, Embroideries, as well as a fairy tale comic, The Sigh. Satrapi wrote and directed the animated film adaptation of her comic in 2007.

Awards: Satrapi has won three Angouleme awards for Persepolis, the Coup de Coeur, the Prize for Scenario, and the Best Comic Book Award, in 2001, 2002, and 2005, respectively. The animated film won several awards of its own.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York : Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return. New York : Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

A memoir about the omnipresence of food in the author's life, from her earliest memories to her early adulthood. Knisley's parents worked as caterers, and she was raised in a variety of food-focused settings influenced by her father's gourmand tastes and her mother's back-to-the-earth lifestyle. The rich color enhances the humorous depictions of a life-long fascination with food. The story of Knisley's childhood vacation in Mexico with minimal parental supervision is particularly funny. Recipes illustrated as comics separate the chapters.

Appeal: Female narrator, mother-daughter relationships, food, cooking, memoir

Art: Bright, colorful, ligne claire

Text: Enthusiastic, conversational, descriptive, narrative

Other: Knisley was born in New York and graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has written another memoir, French Milk, about living in Paris with her mother.

Awards: Relish won an ALA/YALSA Alex Award in 2014. It had a starred review in Kirkus Reviews.

Knisley, Lucy. Relish: My Life In The Kitchen. New York : First Second, 2013. Print.

Blondie by Chic Young

Blondie

A gag-a-day strip about middle-class white family in America. Hapless husband Dagwood provides much of the slapstick humor at work and at home, where wife Blondie and children Alexander and Cookie provide the rest. Dagwood is always late leaving the house, colliding with the mailman on his way out the door, gets fired every month (hired back immediately), and eats enormous sandwiches as a midnight snack. It is available online at Blondie.com.

Appeal: Slapstick humor, family life, all ages, kids.

Art: Clear lines, cartoony, constant throughout the strip's run.

Textual style: Short exclamations, some humorous irony.

Other: Chic Young grew up in St. Louis and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He drew Blondie until his death in 1973.

Awards: The National Cartoonists Society's Billy DeBeck Award (later renamed the Reuben Award) in 1948. Blondie was one of 20 comic strips commemorated in the USPS Comic Strip Classics stamp series in 1995.

Young, Chic. 25 Years With Blondie: A Silver Anniversary Volume. New York : Simon And Schuster, 1958. Print.