#graphic biography

[atthequillsmercy]

Lenni Reviews: "The Murder Next Door: A Graphic Memoir" by Hugh D'Andrade

(Image Source) *This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. At 10 years old, Hugh came home from school to see his friends crying outside their home because they’d discovered the body of their murdered mother. As an adult, he still struggles with the memories and fear. This memoir is mainly about how trauma can affect someone in the long term. It’s very honest and not at all…

[the---hermit]

Emmeline Pankhurst by Mariapaola Pesce and Paola Zanghi

This is a graphic biography about one of the most important activists of the suffragette movement. I will be honest with you, I knew very little about her and reading this made me very interested in learning more. I have a collection of graphic biographies and this was a great addition to it. I loved the illustrations, and the way the story was told. I felt they did a great job at portaying all the complicated relationships especially between Emmeline and her daughters while staying quite neutral. What I mean is the the narration didn't judge who was right or wrong, it just lets you know that they ended up having very different political opinions that ended up drastically changing their relationship. You can see how complicated the situation was but you are in no way told this is bad or this is right, which I really appreciated from an historical point of view. The one thing I didn't like was a present time line following a person researching Emmeline's life fo a thesis of some sort. I can tell that was added to have a chance to add more informations, but it could have been done in a different way because this present time line did not add anything, it only broke the narration here and there. I believe that these kind of additional storylines can sometimes add to the book, but in this case it felt quite forced. Overall I liked the book, and I found it an interesting starting point for further researches.

[queerographies]

[Tomboy][Liz Prince]

Autobiografia narrata per aneddoti, Tomboy segue Liz Prince dalla primissima infanzia fino all’età adulta, esplorando le sue tribolazioni e i suoi desideri – in costante evoluzione – rispetto all’essere femmina, qualunque cosa ciò significhi.

Da bambina e da adolescente, Liz Prince era tutto fuorché femminile: mai in tutù rosa, mai intenta a giocare alle Principesse con le amichette. Ma non si può dire nemmeno che fosse “uno dei ragazzi”, come imparò ben presto a sue spese, quando l’allenatore della squadra giovanile di baseball la esiliò a bordocampo senza lasciarle mai sperimentare il brivido del monte di lancio. Liz stava da…

[sexxvoid]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

No copie, no adapte, solo úsela como inspiración.

⒈ @SEXV0ID /tu arroba.

⒉ ⬮𓊪꯭𐧎𝐒𝐞𝐱⎯⎯劅³⁰

⒊ ■ ?𓐘꯭𐃚⅕

⒋ 〿〿⎯⎯⎯$$ ⁸⁰⁰

[retroreverbs]

Hendrix - A Biography by Chris Welch (1972).

[sprixyn]

yesterday, i brushed my teeth for the first time in weeks.

its not like i'm *depressed*, exactly, i just.. forget, y'know?

life is busy, and i'm busy.

and i'm always rushing from place to place.

there's no time to stand around for *two entire minutes* and *focus* on something other than my phone,

focus on something that's boring like self care or whatever the fuck,

focus on something that doesn't take up all my attention

so that

my thoughts

don't

...

i spat into the drain, and

it was a vibrant pink.

i stared for a moment.

i don't know how long.

that happens sometimes.

i just get...

unfocused.

i don't know.

y'know that camera effect they do in movies

where the focus stays the same

and the background gets further away??

it's kinda like that.

okay so i googled it!

apparently it's a "dolly zoom".

sounds wayyyy more fun than it feels, but the gif on the wikipedia page is pretty neat.

anyways. the point is, i zoned out.

staring at the pink splatters on the bright white ceramic.

and then

my eyes

slowly travelled upwards

to the mirror.

i wanted to know

why it was pink, i guess.

and then when i looked in the mirror,

i just didn't

recognize myself?

i swallowed, hard.

my tongue was heavy, and my throat was dry. that was weird, wasn't it?

hadn't i just

had something wet in my mouth?

something

like

...

no, sorry.

something like...

a toothbrush? yeah, a toothbrush.

where did it...?

anyways,

it tastes minty.

it doesn't taste like i just...

and the world zoomed out again, so fast it almost made me nauseous.

and

in the mirror,

it was

me at 16, staring right back at me with dull grey eyes

big shirt and no pants, the little rascal.

fresh scars all over.

must've been hot that day, i guess.

and... it was

holding a pill bottle

and

those

bright pink pills

were

spilled into my hand.

how strange.

the bathroom got far away again.

everything except for the mirror.

and then

it was

me at 12,

frantically bandaging my arm with a blank expression

and tear tracks on my face.

crumpled up tissues all over the place,

the blood and water turning them a lovely shade of pink.

two people were talking outside the bathroom, muffled voices.

were they angry? what were they saying?

i feel scared.

i listened close,

straining my ears

and

before i could think

the bathroom zoomed away again

and

it was

me at 6,

locked into the bathroom

since my door didn't have a lock

and i wanted to be alone

and

i was

crying so hard i couldn't breathe, because

i just didn't understand what i was doing wrong, and

i didnt understand why i was bad, and

that badness made people yell at me, or

why them hugging me hurt, when it was

just because they loved me, and

i was supposed to be grateful, or

why everything was so loud and bright, and

why the clothing i used to like, i just couldn't

wear anymore, because

it was rough and had tags,

but they didn't understand, so i had to

lie and say i just liked leggings, or

why i was

never good at being a girl.

why i was never like the other girls.

and why

i have to try harder, for it to work.

i have to

wear skirts, and

make the right faces, and

be shy, and

sit still, and

follow *all* the rules.

...

even if i

don't understand what the rules are, and

they scare me, and

i just don't understand, i don't

i don't

please, don't

i'm sorry, i don't

i didn't mean to

...

i just didn't make a very good girl, is all. and

there was something else...

oh. right.

my favorite color was green,

but i had to like

the color

pink.

...

.....

.......

and when i wake up on the unforgiving tile floor,

i am cold, and

my ass hurts like all hell.

must've sat on my tailbone, i guess.

my whole body is weak and shaking, and

my stomach feels weird. everything feels pretty weird, honestly.

and my back aches

like i'd been leaning over something all day, or walked a few miles.

i blink.

hard. and

i can see a constellation inside my eyelids.

it's beautiful.

and

i get up, and

i look in the mirror, and

i'm half afraid of what i'll see,

half burning with curiosity.

but

it's just me again.

and

my gums are bleeding.

and

it's pink.

[joonassildre]

New graphic novel - "Värviline Mägi"/"Colorful Mägi". Estonian first modernist painter, Konrad Mägi, lived quite a colorful life and put his experiences and visited places into his art. I put his life between covers. (2023, Konrad Mägi Sihtasutus)

[cinemaobscura]

My Friend Dahmer (2017) dir. Marc Meyers

[welldonekhushi]

The Maharaj

Introducing you all, the Maharaj from my comic "The Legend of Ratangarh"! He is a ghastly entity, who seeks revenge over those who wronged over him in the past.

The Maharaj's strength is unmatched for some reason. It's unbelievable to a normal human being for him to gain such abilities. His name and history is quite unknown, like his existence among other people. But, it seems like the village Ratangarh is somewhat connected to his presence.

THEME SONG

STRENGTH AND ABILITIES:

Being a ghost, he is equally blessed, and cursed by the purpose and supreme abilities he's bound to, depending on the vengeful energy. He summons his powers through a spell, called "Blessing Of The Paranormal" which activates the following abilities:

Royal Blood: The King's abilities include creating clones from his own blood. The drops of blood that fall on the ground, and turn into multiple clones at the same time.

Death Blade: With his trusty sword, the King is able to eliminate multiple targets at once with his sharp blade, through tremendous speed, reflexes. His presence also becomes invisible in the process, and can kill a group of thousands or more with this ability.

Bite of Death: Not a spell to be cast, but the King is able to feast on other's flesh as a source of regeneration. Even if the King cannot possibly die, he takes up a monstrous form to eat the flesh of his enemies, as a signature to haunt their dreams or remind them of their untimely death under his hands.

Super Speed and Reflexes: The King is able to sense threats, even from a far distance, and dodge them accordingly, and is able to react even quicker than a normal human being. The abilities he achieved were abnormal in nature after his death, something unachievable to a normal human being itself.

[atthequillsmercy]

Lenni Reviews: "The Girl That Can't Get a Girlfriend" by Mieri Hiranishi

(Image Source) *This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. Meiri is an awkward college student with bad luck in love and desperately wants a girlfriend. When her search leads her to Ash, Meiri believe she’s finally found her dream girl only for it not to turn out like she hoped. This is Meiri’s journey through love, loss, and healing. Told with honestly and plenty of self…

[half-a-life]

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. This collection is representative of the artistic production and the taste of art enthusiasts in Antwerp, Belgium and the Northern and Southern Netherlands since the 15th century.

James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic group Les XX.

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪

[nitewrighter]

Okay Superman: Space Age is definitely in my top 5 Superman comics of all time.

[smokefalls]

When you land in hell, you need the will to survive. You need something like a lifeline that’s connecting you to hope. So that you don’t go crazy. So that you can keep breathing when one day feels like ten years. When basic instinct takes over instead of reason, maybe you need to believe in a concept like love to bear everything.

Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Grass (translated by Janet Hong)

[lakecountylibrary]

Read -> Reading -> To-Read: Black History Month Graphic Novel Round Up

Check out these awesome graphic novels reader's advisor Ashley has been picking up for Black History Month!

Read: Kindred by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy

This graphic novel was adapted from the book Kindred by Octavia Butler. This story more recently has also been made into a TV series for Hulu. In this twisted tale, Dana is living in the 1970s when she begins having dizzy spells shake her to the core. These dizzy spells lead to her waking up in the 1800s helping a boy who she refers to as “Rufe.” While Dana is not sure what brings these spells on at first, she has an even harder time time trying to figure out how to make it stop.

Ms. Davis: A Graphic Biography by Sybille Titeux de la Croix, art by Amazing Ameziane

The story of Angela Davis is filled with resistance and unwillingness to accept unfair treatment and judgment. She is infamous for being a part of the FBI's Most Wanted List in 1971 due to an incident that occurred where she was accused as the main conspirator.

Reading her story as a graphic novel does not take away the seriousness of her story. I appreciate that the book provides explanations of key events; that is helpful if you are only hearing about some of the events for the first time, as I was. This book was a random find but it sent me down a research hole that made me want to learn more, and that is what any good book does.

Reading: Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound by Dave Chisholm

Miles Davis was an extremely talented musician. He thought outside of the box when it came to his music, so it is fitting that this graphic novel tells his story in an eclectic way.

The story begins as Miles has just gotten a piece of life-altering news in 1982. From there, he reminisces and begins telling his origin story. The artwork and illustrations of this graphic novel are beautiful. The colors truly jump off the page and speak to you, as clear as the words do. The funky art and the insight of Miles' fascinating yet tumultuous life make this book a true learning experience that explores the cool world of jazz and many of its legends.

To-Read: Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History by C.L.R. James, adapted by Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee

This graphic novel details the Haitian Revolution led by Toussaint Louverture. This graphic novel is based on the play by C.L.R. James, produced in 1936. If you love history, and revolutions, this graphic novel my pique your interest.

See more of Ashley's recs

[jenni3penny]

FEBRUARY 2024: READING LIST

Lavender House, Lev AC Rosen: 4.50/5.0 Fiction & LGBTQIA+, 274pgs

Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done, 3.75/5.0, Schechter & Powell: Graphic Novel & Biographical, 224pgs

Heartstopper: Vol. 2, Alice Oseman: 3.50/5.0, Graphic Novel & LGBTQIA+, 320pgs 

Moloka'i, Alan Brennert: 3.75/5.0, Fiction & Historical, 416pgs

Vanessa and Her Sister, Priya Parmar: 4.50/5.0, Fiction & Biographical, 384pgs

Wit, Margaret Edson: 3.75/5.0, Play & Literary, 85pgs

Selected Letters of Vanessa Bell, Bell & Marler: 4.25/5.0, Autobiographical & Literary, 593pgs

Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher: 4.0/5.0, Fiction & Fantasy, 243pgs

The Sisters’ Arts, Diane Filby Gillespie: 4.0/5.0, Biographical & Literary, 376pgs

Snapshots of Bloomsbury, Maggie Humm: 4.25/5.0, Biographical & Literary, 240pgs 

There Is Always Universe, Tiffany Aurora: 3.0/5.0, Poetry & Literary, 102pgs

Blue Horses, Mary Oliver: 3.50/5.0, Poetry & Literary, 96pgs

The Cassandra, Sharma Shields: 3.75/5.0, Fiction & Historical, 304pgs

Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss: 3.50/5.0, Fiction & Historical, 152pgs

Canto for a Gypsy, Martin Cruz Smith: 3.25/5.0, Fiction & Thriller, 176pgs

***

MOST ENTERTAINING: Vanessa and Her Sister & Lavender House

LEAST ENTERTAINING: Canto for a Gypsy & There Is Always Universe 

PAGES PER FEBRUARY: 3,985 (+94)

PAGES YTD: 7,876

[pandemoniumfm]

☆ –– Walking through the picturesque streets of Cardinal Hill, you find Morgan Love, the 41 year old mechanic at Romano's originally from Cardinal Hill. Living alongside them in such a small town, you know that they're bubbly and indiscreet, but what you might not know is that they are a human, and that they’re hiding something… ― ryan gosling, gay, cisman, and he/him.

stats

full name: morgan love nicknames: love birthdate: march 13 birthplace: cardinal hill age: 41 gender: cisman pronouns: he/him romance: gay occupation: mechanic at romano’s fears: thunder, bees likes: cars, walks, old music, cooking faceclaim: ryan gosling

links (to be added)

playlist

open starters

all threads 

musings

bio

tw: manipulation, death, depression

Coming from a long line of witches, Morgan was the only child of James and Leah Love, a young couple who were, despite their age, already known to be powerful witches.

Both came from prominent witch families that had been around in Cardinal Hill for several generations and shared a love for their craft, so when the young couple got their little boy they were determined to make him the greatest witch ever known to mankind.

Growing up morgan was taught all there was to know about being a witch, ever since he was a small boy his family made sure he knew the history by heart and was ready for what was expected of him in the future.

The couple, all smiles and smooth talking, were outstanding at forming connection with others. Happy to throw in a couple of compliments to get people wrapped around their finger. Connections were everything, this was something they had taught Morgan very early on in his life.

“Choose your friends wisely,” his parents would tell him. “Power and knowledge are everything.”

It was with those connections that they were able to get some of the best mentors to teach their young boy about being a witch. Next to their own teachings, they wanted the boy to be able to learn not only from their family, but other prominent families in their community as well.

And Morgan loved learning about the craft, sucking everything up like a sponge soaking up water. At night, he would dream of how much he would be able to accomplish once he gained his powers. Do all those great things his parents kept talking about, help people, form connections with other witches and teach them about their craft just like he had been taught.

Yet, once the time came around for the boy to start showing signs of his witch status, they never came. Morgan Love, only son of the prominent Love family, was a human.

His family was not happy with this outcome, forcing the young boy to keep his human status a secret from everyone and the young boy did.

During his teens his family would still teach him as if he were a witch, expecting the teen to still study his spells, but no matter how much he tried, nothing ever happened. Everything he had been working towards for his entire life was all for nothing and every time his grandmother taught him a new spell, which he had to repeat for her, he saw the disappointment in her eyes.

Of course, it didn’t stop there. His mother and father started avoiding him more and more, while still making sure to mingle with the witch population as they always had, smiles and all, pretending to be so proud of their protégé son and how well he was taking to his magic studies.

It was lonely, during the day, Morgan would learn useless spells, he would never be able to use these anyway, but still he tried his best and made sure he remembered every single one. This was all he’d worked towards; he didn’t know what else to do.

It was when the male turned eighteen that his family asked him about his plans for the future, marriage, starting a family, what were his plans? He didn’t know. All he’d ever known was right here, it wasn’t something that had ever crossed his mind.

But his grandmother had thought about it, long and hard and had come up with a list of young prominent witches of which she knew were more than eager to marry into their family, be it because they were power-hungry, or because they wanted to be known by others.

Morgan, young and stupid, listened to his grandmother and followed her ever demand. Meeting up with several of the young witches his grandmother had so kindly introduced him to, he soon realized this was not going to work. Despite this his grandmother decided to try one more time.

Taking the boy with her to several witch gatherings, she gave him the freedom to meet a witch in his own time and only several month later, that’s just what happened. Morgan had fallen in love.

A boy only several years later had caught his eye, and it just so happened that they had hit it off fairly easily, his grandmother was more than pleased with this, especially after later learning the witch in question was none other than Femi Makuto, a witch from a family that was slowly rising to power in their small community.

It didn’t take long for the pair to get closer, easily falling for one another and before they knew it their families had already planned the wedding.

Morgan was on cloud nine, his husband-to-be was the perfect man, kind, loving and man was he hot. His only problem was that his husband was convinced he was a witch, as did everyone else, and a powerful one at that.

Marriage was good for Morgan, the young couple slowly building a life together, but it was getting more difficult to keep his husband from finding out about his true nature and Morgan wanted nothing more than to tell him. When he confessed this to his family they shut him down completely. He was not to tell Femi anything, ever.

All the man could do was swallow his words and nod. What his family wanted was law, this much he had been taught very early on in his life.

Morgan had several more years with his husband before the man was taken from him, the event leaving the man heartbroken and traumatized. With his husband gone and no other means to life, the man moved back in with his family, who were quick to tell him he could just marry another witch.

His family kept him in their claws for near a decade after his late husband’s death. The man having been blamed by his late husband’s family for what had happened, while his family claimed it was his own doing and Morgan had nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile Morgan felt more than lost, he had lost his purpose in life, again and his family was still pressing for him to remarry. Did they not understand that he couldn’t? When his husband died, so did his ability to fall in love again, his husband had taken all his love with him to the other side.

It took several years of depression and being played like a pawn before Morgan realized something was not right. What was he still doing here? Was he really going to live the rest of his life being played by his family in their monopoly of fancy dinners and fake smiles?

And so, after lots of preparation and planning, it was on an early and cold autumn morning that Morgan left his family’s mansion at the edge of town and never turned back.

Now, several years later, Morgan has built a life for himself, finally feeling able to fully process the loss of his late husband and opening up to connect with others again.