Stray Dogs - Tony Fleecs and Trish Fornstner

 

Title: Stray Dogs

Author: Tony Fleecs and Trish Fornstner

Publisher: Image Comics, 2021 (Paperback)

Length: 144 pages

Genre: Adult; Graphic Novel, Horror

Started: December 13, 2021

Finished: December 13, 2021

Summary: 

From the back of the book:

Meet Sophie, a dog who can't remember what happened. She doesn't know how she ended up in this house. She doesn't recognize any of these other dogs. She knows something terrible happened but she just...can't...recall...Wait! Where's her lady?

A heartbreakingly adorable suspense thriller by My Little Pony comic artists Tony Fleecs and Trish Fornstner.

Review:

I first saw this recommended on TikToK a while back, and I'm always up for a gritty graphic novel that isn't superhero related. And boy, does this ever deliver on the horror and suspense. The cute art style is deceiving, this is some pretty disturbing stuff. 

The story opens with Sophie being brought by a man to a house full of dogs and she can't remember how she got there. The other dogs show her the ropes and talk of the master who saved them from their previous homes. Sophie is still on edge, and it isn't until the master wraps Sophie in a scarf that she remembers why. The master is actually a serial killer, her lady was one of his victims, and he collects his victims' dogs as trophies. The other dogs don't believe her (they also don't remember their old lives) until Sophie urges them to explore the areas of the house they aren't allowed in, where they find photos of their previous owners and other mementos from past killings. Now that the dogs know the truth, how are they going to escape from the master?

This book is a perfect example of graphic novels pushing the limits of their genre and what is typical of it. Again, the cutesy art style is deceiving here because this book is definitely not for children. It's not overly graphic or gory (in my opinion), but trigger warning: the content does show flashbacks to the murders, and some of the dogs suffer injuries and death at the hands of the master in the second half of the story, so sensitive readers are going to want to pass on this one. If you can handle the sensitive content it's a great, gripping story that does end happily for the most part, and coming from the perspective of the dogs is wonderfully creative. 

I purchased this edition, which has a gallery at the end of all the variant covers from each issue in the series.

This one is my favourite though:

Recommendation: 

If you're in the mood for something gritty and new, or if you ever wondered what would happen if Don Bluth made a horror movie, give this graphic novel a read. If you can't handle movies/stories where the dog gets hurt or dies, then you'd better pass on this. 

Thoughts on the cover:

I much prefer the original cover (image at the top of the review) to my special edition copy cover (middle image). The original is more unsettling compared to the special edition, which feels more juvenile. 

The Secret Garden on 81st Street - Ivy Nicole Weir and Amber Padilla

 

Title: The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Graphic Retelling of The Secret Garden

Author: Ivy Nicole Weir and Amber Padilla

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2021 (Paperback)

Length: 250 pages

Genre: Children's/Young Adult; Graphic Novel, Classic

Started: December 8, 2021

Finished: December 8, 2021

Summary:

From the back of the book:

Celebrate 110 years of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden with this vibrant, contemporary graphic novel retelling!

Video games and tech are loner Mary Lennox's main source of entertainment and "friends" in her Silicon Valley home. But when her parents are killed in a tragic accident, Mary's life is uprooted to New York City to live with an uncle she barely knows and, to her surprise, keeps a gadget-free home. Looking for comfort in this strange, new reality, Mary discovers an abandoned rooftop garden and an even bigger secret in an upstairs bedroom: her cousin, Colin, who struggles with anxiety. With Colin's help and that of a new friend named Dickon, Mary works to restore the garden to its former glory while also learning to grieve, build real friendships, and nurture growth - both in nature and in herself. 

Review:

The Secret Garden was my favourite classic children's book growing up (plus I had the benefit of the gorgeous 90s movie version coming out around the same time as I was reading it), so I was instantly drawn to this one. 

I've always wondered how to properly update classic stories like this for a modern audience (especially considering the colonialism usually present in stories written by British authors from the time) while also addressing issues that modern children would be less likely to understand, like how Colin in the original book could've been bed-ridden and unable to walk due to a suspected illness he didn't even have. This retelling not only addresses those concerns and creates a successful transition to a modern setting, it also retains the message of the original quite well. 

Mary Lennox is the child of workaholic parents in the tech sector in Silicon Valley. She attends school online, gets all her food delivered, and barely gets to interact with her parents at all. When her parents die in a car crash, a surprisingly unemotional Mary is taken to New York City to live with her uncle Archie, his assistant Mrs. Medlock, and their tenant, Martha. Since her uncle doesn't keep a lot of technology in his home, Martha routinely kicks Mary out of the house to go to the nearby museums and galleries. On one of these trips outside, Mary meets a cat named Robin who belongs to Ben, the owner of the local bodega and friend of her uncle and his late husband, Masahiro. Mary learns about Masahiro's passion for plants and gardening, and his rooftop garden that Archie shut away after his husband's death. With the help of Ben and Martha's little brother, Dickon, Mary takes on the task of bringing the garden back to life, discovering the existence of her cousin Colin along the way. 

I always liked how The Secret Garden talks about grief, loss, and healing in a way that kids can understand, and that message isn't lost in this retelling, in fact, I think this edition handles it even better than the original did. Both Mary and Colin are profoundly affected by parental death. Mary can't properly grieve the loss of parents she didn't feel close to, but craves unconditional familial love. Colin is traumatized by witnessing the death of his father, Masahiro, in his garden, and suffers from panic attacks if he tries to leave his room since  his idea of a "safe space" has been upended. The adults in the story are cognizant of the trauma of both children and are highly attuned to giving them what they need to begin to recover and rebuild their lives, and they talk about things with the kids in an honest way that they can understand. It makes for a wonderfully emotionally intelligent story. This is especially prevalent when Mary witnesses Colin having a panic attack and responds poorly to it, to which Colin's therapist meets with Mary to explain what he's going through in a way that Mary can understand to allow her to be more sympathetic to her cousin's needs. 

I also love how diverse this retelling is in so many ways. Mary is biracial, Archie and Colin are black, Masahiro is Japanese, Ben is hispanic, and Martha is drawn with a larger body shape. There's also the nice LGBTQ family portrayal of Archie, Masahiro, and Colin. Even Mrs. Medlock has been softened here and, while still protective of Colin, her motivations are much more understandable and relatable. 

Recommendation:

A wonderful modern retelling brimming with emotion, empathy, and diverse portrayals. Definitely worth the read if you want to introduce this story to a younger generation of readers. 

Thoughts on the cover:

Nice showcase of the art style, and the colour palette is pleasing. 

Her Name Was Margaret - Denise Davy

 

Title: Her Name Was Margaret: Life and Death on the Streets

Author: Denise Davy

Publisher: James Street North Books (Wolsak & Wynn), 2021 (Paperback)

Length: 295 pages

Genre: Adult; Nonfiction

Started: November 30, 2021

Finished: December 4, 2021

Summary:

From the publisher's website:

Margaret Jacobson was a sweet-natured young girl who played the accordion and had dreams of being a teacher until she had a psychotic break in her teens, which sent her down a much darker path. Her Name Was Margaret traces Margaret's life from her childhood to her death as a homeless woman on the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. With meticulous research and deep compassion author Denise Davy analyzed over eight hundred pages of medical records and conducted interviews with Margaret's friends and family, as well as those who worked in psychiatric care, to create this compelling portrait of a woman abandoned by society. 

Through a revolving door of psychiatric admissions to discharges to rundown boarding homes, Davy shows us the grim impact of deinstitutionalization: patients spiralled inexorably towards homelessness and death as psychiatric beds were closed and patients were left to fend for themselves on the streets of cities across North America. Today there are more than 235,000 people in Canada who are counted among the homeless annually and 35,000 who are homeless on any given night. Most of them are struggling with mental health issues. Margaret's story is a heartbreaking illustration of what happens in our society to to our most vulnerable and should serve as a wake-up call to politicians and leaders in cities across Canada. 

Review:

I came across this book through helping to organize a local charity event (Purses for Margaret) through work. We were lucky to get the author, who also founded the charity, to come to speak at the event. A few people attending had already read her book and I couldn't say no after hearing such glowing recommendations, especially since I don't often get to read books about issues happening in my own city. After reading, I can add my own glowing recommendation for this book. It is so human and speaks to such a vital issue that I honestly think everyone should read it. 

The author, Denise Davy, was working as a journalist for the Hamilton Spectator in 1993 when she came across a homeless woman named Margaret at the Wesley Centre while doing research for her articles on homelessness in the city. Intrigued by Margaret's story, the author was granted access to Margaret's massive medical files from the local hospital and began piecing together the puzzle of how she came to be homeless in the first place. 

This book traces Margaret's life from her childhood in Barbados and Antigua as the oldest child of Canadian missionary parents, her onset of mental health struggles at sixteen, admission to psychiatric hospitals in Cambridge and Hamilton beginning at age seventeen, decades of cycling between the hospital and inadequate boarding homes, to her eventual descent into homelessness until her death in 1995 at the age of fifty-one. This book is incredibly well-researched, the author truly did her homework in this regard. She interviewed not only Margaret's estranged family members, but also hospital workers, friends from the shelters, and various people who encountered Margaret in the city. Peppered in between telling the story of Margaret's life the author also gives historical context on psychiatric care and the process of deinstitutionalization, the reason many people like Margaret with severe mental illness are so vulnerable to homelessness in the first place. 

I already knew much of what the author discusses, but having an actual person's story attached to something always makes more of an impact, and Margaret's story proves that the people we see on the streets could just as easily be you or me, or someone we know and care about. It's for this reason that we need to advocate for better mental health care in our country, as well as proper, affordable housing with support structures in place for all people to live with dignity. 

Recommendation:

This book serves a need to have the interwoven story of mental health, affordable housing, and homelessness told with a human face. It needs to be read, and its messages advocated in every city if we truly want to call our society civilized and humane. 

You can buy the book from the publisher's website here: Wolsak and Wynn - Her Name Was Margaret

If you'd like to visit the author's website you can do so here: Denise Davy

Thoughts on the cover:

I love the black and gold colour scheme paired with Margaret's photo, it makes for a compelling cover.