Series: Comics

Look Straight Ahead by Elaine M. Will

Over the years, I’ve found that more and more I seek out unique black-and-white comics that, most often, are written and drawn by female creators. And I have a particular interest in any books dealing with mental illness. For example, one of my favorite graphic novels is Ellen Forney’s Marbles, a memoir focusing on her learning to live with bipolar. I was pleased to find recently another book that addresses the topic of bipolar — Elaine M. Will’s Look Straight Ahead.

The House of Secrets written by Steven T. Seagle and illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen

The House of Secrets is a twenty-five issue series that started in 1996 and is written by Steven T. Seagle and illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen. It features a lying, unreliable runaway named Rain Harper; a young girl she takes under her wing named Traci; and a group of musicians, one of whom, Ben Volk, becomes the third central character in the series. Right after Rain and Traci meet, Traci tells Rain a valuable secret: She knows a place to squat where they will be safe.

Light by Rob Cham

I had mixed feelings about Light, a wordless comic by Rob Cham. The artwork is simply beautiful throughout and so part of me wants to highly recommend it for the visual presentation. But issues with the story has part of me pumping the brakes more than a little on that presentation.

The story opens with a black and white image of a diminutive character (whom I’m going to refer to as “Lt” from now on) sitting in a room preparing apparently for an adventure.