Graphic novel review - Godzilla Vs. America: Chicago

 Reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC Okinawa

 Costa, Mike (writer), Ryan Browne (artist, colors) Kevin Knipstein (colors), and Brian Kolek (letters), Tim Seeley (w) Heather Breckel (a), Ezra C. Daniels (w,a,c), and Caroline Cash (w,a,c). Godzilla Vs. America: Chicago. Sherman Oaks, CA: IDW Publishing, 2024.  ISBN: 978-27714-03395. $12.99. https://idwpublishing.com/products/godzilla-vs-america-chicago

 

For any franchise or continuing character, there is a point where fans (or the creators) want that character to be in new surroundings.  To that end, the newest aspect of the popular Godzilla franchise has been re-envisioned as Godzilla versus U.S. cities.  The first in this new series is Godzilla versus Chicago and it features four different stories all written or illustrated by creators with ties to the Chicago area.  The stories all feature an aspect of the visual make up of Chicago.  Given this reviewer’s ties to the Chicago area, I had a great time with a lot of inside jokes.

The first story (of the four total) uses the gimmick of the fan man, a paraglider who often lands in major outdoor events.  The character   Fangoolie, is a nod to the Chicago-based character called Svengoolie, who hosted a TV program showing old horror movies.  In this story, his ill-timed landing at a Chicago football game causes his reputation to be destroyed.  His new job is as a janitor of a Mechagodzilla storage unit located beneath the Pritzker Music Shell and Pavilion, and Fangoolie sees his way to gaining public trust back.  While the story ends horribly for him, the inside jokes for this story are locally recognizable: the concept of “dibs” where someone digs out a parking space in the winter, then calls “dibs” by putting something like a chair out to hold the spot; a cheese grater head worn by a Chicago sports fan, along with the score of the Bears losing to Detroit by a large margin; and a comment on “da East” (in this case, anywhere East of Chicago) and the verbal affectations of Chicagoans.

The second story deals with one of the Chicago train lines, the Blue Line (which technically is the oldest line in Chicago, at least in part), and its run toward Jefferson Park near O’Hare Airport.  This is a subtle nod toward the fact that not all trains run to their terminus.  In this case, the story has Godzilla following close to a blue line train as it goes in and out of the tunnel system. 

The third story arc features Godzilla serving as de facto urban renewal for a poorer neighborhood on the South Side.  The story has an alderman who, when trying to lure Godzilla away from downtown, volunteers his neighborhood to place floodlights to lure the monster. As the story unfolds, the reasons for the alderman’s “offer,” combined with the fact that he lives in the affluent suburbs north of Chicago, show that he is merely looking to quickly get a reason to demolish the area, then sell to developers at a profit.  These stories may not be entirely factual, but they have elements of Chicago politics throughout them. 

The final story, told in green overlaying black and white art, is of a woman who hears of Godzilla’s arrival in the Windy City.  One panel shows the unnamed heroine in a convenience store. As Godzilla threatens destruction, she drinks a questionable energy drink, which is advertised as a Giant Women Energy Drink and soon she is equal in size to Godzilla. When she grabs a giant Chicago flag to cover herself, she notes that it is okay, as she was “born in Uptown, not Naperville.”  Ag phrase native Chicagoans often hear, where a suburb is not considered Chicago proper.  In the end, the giant woman drinks more, becomes large enough to pick up Godzilla and then throws him eastward.  The comment “Screw Indiana” is again one that might seem mean, but it is very common in the area.  The reviewer is not from Chicago originally but did hear a lot of these exact comments at one point or another while living there. 

In all, this comic book is one that combines a lot of local artist talent, art for those who live, or have lived in Chicago, and should serve as a template for the future “location” comics planned in the series.  In all, it was a fun, fast read which combined a familiar character, with unexpected locations. 

Graphic novel review: Failed Notes sa Philippine Politics Vol 1

Reviewed by Karl Ian Cheng Chua, Association of Asian Comics Critics Asia (ACCA)

Anonymous. Failed Notes sa Philippine Politics Vol 1. Publisher unknown, 2026.

 Komiks as political commentary is nothing new in the Philippine scene. Historically, Alfred W. McCoy and Alfredo Roces have curated an interesting volume of 377 editorial cartoons in Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricatures of the American Era, 1900 – 1941 (1985). Outside of editorial cartoons, several artists have experimented and been successful in utilizing the same themes in komiks, such as Nonoy Marcelo’s Ikabod Bubuwit (1970s – 2002) which satirically depicted the socio-political woes for the Philippines and Filipinos by depicting the characters as rats. Pol Medina Jr. and his Pugay Baboy began in 1988 and features obese characters from a neighborhood in Manila who engage in political satire. Despite the shift towards digital media, the genre remains popular with younger artists like Kevin Eric Raymundo whose Tarantadong Kalbo is circulated in his social media for free and compiled as a printed volume. (most of these komiks are in Tagalog and only one of Raymundo’s Tarantadong Kalbo compilation is in English)  

In the last Philippine Book Festival, I chanced upon an interesting work Failed Notes sa Philippine Politics Vol.1 (hereafter referred to as FNPP). This is a compilation of 5 zines dealing with satirical portrayals of political scandals from 2024 to 2026 and written in Taglish, a mixture of Tagalog and English. The format is simple: line art, no colors and basic panels. What is important about the komik is it highlights key political scandals so that readers are able to recall recent events. FNPP no. 1 focused on the issue of Alice Guo, former Bamban, Tarlac mayor, whose Filipino identity is questioned. The zine structured the satire to make readers feel as though they are watching the TV reportage of the scandal, with absurd conversations re-lived.

FNPP no. 2 chose to focus on the impeachment hearings of Vice President Sara Duterte, featuring her misuse of confidential funds. The komik reminds us of the hilarious claim that a “Mary Grace Piattos” was a recipient of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President, considering that the name was obviously made up by combining the name of a popular restaurant and a potato chip brand.  While the main focus of FNPP no. 3 was on the West Philippine Sea issue, the komik shows that it is not biased against just the present administration but also criticized Senator Bam Aquino for practicing Realpolitik by initially declaring himself independent - instead of being part of the opposition - so that he would be given a senate portfolio.  FNPP no. 4 hilariously mocked Harry Roque, the former Presidential Spokesperson of President Duterte. While seeking asylum in the Netherlands, Roque came into conflict with a supporter over his consumption of humba (a braised pork dish) before anyone else had eaten.  FNPP no. 5 ends the compilation by dealing with the updates on the ongoing investigations regarding the flood control scandals. 

What is important with FNPP is that it engages with contemporary political scandals in the Philippines.  The satire made readers remember and feel the event, and the quips felt like we were exactly saying these in response with our exasperation to the absurdity of the events. Furthermore, the volume acts as a physical historical record that chronicled the events as well as the perceived responses by the populace, and hence will function like McCoy and Roces’ work to keep a visual and comical record of our past.

Karl Ian Cheng Chua is Assistant Professor at the Asian Centre, University of the Philippines Diliman, and a member of Association of Asian Comics Critics Asia (ACCA)

Graphic novel recommendation: What Will Be, Will Be by Lê Phan

A recommendation by Quynh Than, Association of Asian Comics Critics Asia (ACCA)

Phan, Lê. What will be, will be. Ho Chi Minh City,  Vietnam: Du But Books, 2025.

Quynh Than is the co-founder and editor of Du But Books in Ho Chi Minh City and the publisher of this book.

 What will be, will be is a graphic memoir by Vietnamese comic artist Lê Phan. At 176 pages, divided into eight chapters, the book follows his journey from a child first discovering what it means to be an artist, to an adult navigating the uncertainties, disappointments, and hard-won lessons of a creative life. Each chapter is inspired by a well-known song and marks a different emotional stage in his path toward becoming a professional comic artist.

 For readers unfamiliar with Lê Phan, he is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Vietnamese comics. In a local comics scene often shaped by manga-influenced aesthetics, he has long pursued a different visual and narrative path. That difference may have placed him somewhat outside the mainstream at times, but it has also allowed him to build a loyal readership entirely on his own terms. What makes his body of work especially compelling is his refusal to stay still. From mystery and dystopian storytelling to travel writing, childhood memory, and comic strips about life, love, and the strange comedy of being human, each of his books feels like a reinvention. It is almost as if every new project tries to undo the image created by the previous one. In What will be, will be, that process leads him to his most personal form yet: a storyteller willing to turn fully toward himself.

 In terms of plot, What will be, will be does not rely on dramatic twists. Instead, it draws readers in through the truthful rhythm of a life shaped by art. The first half carries the lightness of childhood: mischief, wonder, and the first sparks of obsession with drawing. The second half moves into more difficult territory, as dreams collide with reality and artistic passion is tested by confusion, failure, loneliness, and emotional exhaustion. What emerges is not simply the story of one cartoonist’s career, but the story of someone learning, repeatedly, how to lose himself and find his way back.

What makes the book especially interesting is that it works on several levels at once. It is an autobiography, certainly, but also a meditation on what it means to choose a creative life when it is a choice that rarely stable or well understood. At the same time, it serves as an informal cultural record of a generation of Vietnamese artists who grew up with manga, copied comics by hand, made homemade books, and searched for creative communities through magazines, forums, and small circles of fellow enthusiasts. In that sense, the book is both deeply personal and historical.

 Another strength lies in the contrast between style and subject. Lê Phan uses a simple, light, sometimes almost childlike drawing style to tell a story filled with self-doubt, reflection, hurt, and healing. The effect is powerful. The softness of the artwork makes the emotional honesty of the book hit even harder, without ever becoming melodramatic. Comics here are not just a delivery system for memoir, but the most natural language for memory itself: elastic, playful, fragmented, and emotionally precise.

 This is a book that deserves to be read because it is sincere without asking for pity, and thoughtful without ever becoming heavy-handed. For readers interested in comics, it widens the horizon of what Vietnamese comics can hold. For artists and aspiring creators, it offers not instruction so much as companionship and reassurance that doubt, detours, and even brokenness can become part of one’s language. What will be, will be is a gentle reminder that becoming oneself is rarely a straight road. Sometimes we must lose our way before we can recognize the shape of our own heart. Sometimes we must - as Phan wrote in the book - "gather our scattered pieces, one by one, and trust that they still belong to us". Lê Phan tells that journey with tenderness, humility, and grace, and proves that even the most uncertain path can, in time, lead us back to who we are.

Images from the book can be seen in the review at https://vietcetera.com/vn/gui-nhung-trai-tim-can-dam-dang-theo-duoi-dam-me

Comic book review: Singapore Lords of Veracity by Ye Zhen

cover to #13 on Webtoons

 reviewed by CT Lim, Association of Asian Comics Critics Asia (ACCA)

Zhen, Ye. Singapore Lords of Veracity (Book 14 of the Singapore Hip-Hop Horror comics series). Self-published.

Ye Zhen’s Singapore Hip-Hop Horror is the second longest running comics series in Singapore. The longest is Wee Tian Beng’s The Celestial Zone which started in 1999. The “Mr Kiasu” book series by Johnny Lau and friends was started in the early 1990s, but it had a long hiatus in between books. So Ye Zhen’s comics holds the record for being the second longest running comics series in Singapore. His is different from the others because Singapore Hip-Hop Horror is self-published and self-distributed by Ye Zhen himself. This makes him unique in Singapore comics. He is truly indie.

In essence, the series is about the protagonists Skateboard P and Snoop Eastwood (it is hard to call them heroes) fighting aliens and beings from alternate realities. It is not clear why they are fighting so hard, but my reading is that the continuous battles are fights to preserve the indie way of life in Singapore. You can have a name like Skateboard P or Snoop Eastwood and look nothing like any 'normal' Singaporeans, but you still deserve your place in the sun on this island city. The mainstream need not prevail, and we can be who we want to be.

Books 1 to 3 were published in 2007 and launched at the Singapore comic con. I remember seeing a nerdy guy wearing a cap and glasses hawking his books hesitantly with his mother. I was wondering where this guy came from – he was releasing three books all at once! Later he revealed that book 1 was drawn in 2004 when he was studying comics at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Over the years, I have gotten to know Ye Zhen and reviewed his books.[i] In 2018, I interviewed Ye Zhen for Ben Katchor’s Comics and Picture-Book Symposium over Skype.[ii] In 2019, I curated a small exhibition of Ye Zhen’s original comic art. I liken his work to be like outsider art. His efforts of doing it alone and doing it his own way reminds me of Jack Katz’s The First Kingdom.

In this new book, Ye Zhen continues the non-stop battles between Skateboard P and Melissa Preta, and between Snoop Eastwood and Lady Impervious. The action scenes are good and Ye Zhen is experimenting with different sound effects to make them look more dynamic. Like the previous books, the dialogue is peppered with what I call Ye Zhen-isms, which express his views about Singapore and the world:

• Peace just stagnates progress.
  
• Son, I couldn’t do a more poignant declaration of war than that.
• My young lass, in order to get stronger one must risk one’s own life. P chose this voluntarily. I CAN’T stop their fight.
• This will, in short, save your lover’s bacon. If you catch my drift. Hehe.
• I don’t know how I did it. But I’m not one to question heaven’s will.
• P’s girlfriend: There’s more to life than endless fighting P. Just don’t get yourself killed…
• P: Your caresses are all I live for …
• Needless to say, my triggered emotional states further boosted my power. Whether I liked to fight or not was another question entirely.

VROOOOM!

Ye Zhen can do comics fulltime because he does not have to work, although he does some basketball coaching occasionally. He spends most of his time playing basketball. Maybe his life is like the manga, Slam Dunk - if only we can be so lucky. I await eagerly his next book.

Some of Ye Zhen’s comics are free to read on Webtoons at https://www.webtoons.com/p/community/en/u/n9o1n. A short documentary about Ye Zhen by his wife, Atman Lim was made in 2019 and is online at https://atmanlim.com/documentary

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[i]https://singaporecomix.blogspot.com/2017/09/ye-zhens-singapore-pok-kai-zai.html

https://singaporecomix.blogspot.com/2024/07/review-singapore-hip-hop-horror-book-13.html

https://singaporecomix.blogspot.com/2024/07/singapore-hip-hop-horror-book-13.html

https://sgcartoonhub.com/interview-ye-zhen/

[ii] https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/lim-cheng-tju-ye-zhen-april-10-2018-at-7pm/

 

 

Graphic novel review - Godzilla Library Collection, Vol. 6

 reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC Okinawa

Churnow, Bobby (series ed.) and Alonzo Simon (collection ed.) et al. Godzilla Library Collection, Vol. 6.    Sherman Oaks, CA: IDW Press. ISBN 979-8-88724-385-6.  $29.99. https://idwpublishing.com/products/godzilla-library-collection-vol-6

Godzilla is one of the most resilient characters in popular culture. He premiered in a 1954 film, and continued in a variety of other media, from toys, to cartoons, to comic books.  This addition to the Godzilla-verse is a compilation of comics.  This volume compiles three stories: Cataclysm, Godzilla in Hell, and Oblivion.

The first story arc, Godzilla: Cataclysm, centers on a few people living in a post-kaiju apocalypse.  The setting is clearly downtown Tokyo, with the Tokyo Tower in Roppongi as a reference.  The main character of this arc is Hiroshi, a man who has lived long enough to see grandchildren, but one who is clearly haunted by the presence of the kaiju. Life is now a hardscrabble of finding anything to use to live.  As his grandson Araha and his female friend Shiori go out, Hiroshi is haunted by dreams of the kaiju and his interaction with them. 

After an attack by kaiju on a grizzly bear, and a seemingly exponential growth of plants (later determined to be the kaiju Biollante), Hiroshi laments the fact that the villagers are going back towards their old ways of human sacrifice to appease the kaiju, whom they see as gods.  Hiroshi is also haunted by the guilt that he was a part of a kaiju mind-control project aimed at Destoroyah (another enemy kaiju of Godzilla) which subsequentially sparked the wrath of the kaiju.  While the story arc ends with the idea that the kaiju are going to always be here, regardless of the success or failure of some kaiju over others, the arc ends with a blast that sends Godzilla into a hole towards the center of the Earth. One of the more interesting aspects of this story arc was that it is presented in muted colors, symbolizing the pall over the earth in the aftermath of the kaiju fights.

Book two, Godzilla in Hell is told from the perspective of Godzilla as he falls into the middle of the earth.  The story is a comparison to Dante’s Inferno.  The protagonist, in this case Godzilla, is sent to successively lower levels of the underworld, where he continues to fight a series of monsters.  The story is told with minimal expository dialogue.  Mostly, it is what we have always valued most in Godzilla movies: a fight between two (or sometimes more) monsters battling for dominance.  One level of hell involves the spiritual manifestations of people attacking Godzilla, while another features the monster Anguirus as the two fight on a frozen plane of existence.  As a sidenote, one nice artistic touch in the frozen wasteland was a ship with Valdez written on the prow, a clear reference to the environmental disaster of the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska in 1989.

The various fights make for interesting visualizations, especially a battle with red, bat-like creatures who act like piranhas, stripping Godzilla’s skeleton to may make a new, more violent and vindictive monster.  The book ends with a quote from the Buddha: “Better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours.  It cannot be taken away from you…not by angels or demons…heaven or hell.” (p. 225-226).

In Godzilla: Oblivion, scientists are working on a machine to teleport physical items through a temporal port.  The idea here is that a “school in Cambridge, Massachusetts” is working on a machine to propel humanity to a different time or place.  The Japanese backer, Ms. Yamada and her chief scientist Dr. Eli Talbert, at one point realize that the search for scientific truth may mean unethical decisions or horrific outcomes (p. 280).  As with many science fiction outcomes, playing God does open a dangerous hole, through which kaiju like King Ghidorah come into our world. 

There is a series of issues about the ethical dilemmas of achieving unwarranted outcomes.  To that end, there is a discussion of whether to close the portal in favor of putting all the kaiju in one world, while abandoning the other.  There is also a discussion of whether there will be repercussions for using a nuclear weapon against any of the kaiju.  This sort of irony is part of the story arc and how humans might ruin their home area, to move to another world.  In the end, the monsters who have invaded Earth 2, invade Earth 1 and proceed to destroy it.  The story ends with a cliff hanger: have humans really abandoned the Earth to the kaiju?

The stories are all inter-connections of the Godzilla universe.  The setting of the opening arc in Tokyo brings the series back to the Japanese starting point.  The idea of Godzilla having to face his own personal demons in variations of hell is also an interesting take.  Finally, the continual aspects of science and the concept of “can we” versus “should we” is important and timely in this era of AI.  In all, the book is another important addition to the Godzilla comics canon. 

Graphic novel review - MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories

 reviewed by Lizzy Walker, Wichita State University

John B. Allen, Robert Venditti, and Andrea Mutti, with cover art by Rob Prior. MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories. Emeryville, California: Ten Speed Graphic, 2024. 208 pages, $24.99 978-1984863423. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/742533/mrballen-presents-strange-dark-and-mysterious-by-stories-by-mrballen-illustrations-by-andrea-mutti/

 

            Former Navy SEAL and renowned storyteller John B. Allen, known as MrBallen online, has entertained audiences with his unique and conversational narration style, with a focus on the weird and unexplained on his YouTube channel. He also developed two podcasts: MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious, and MrBallen's Medical Mysteries. In MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories, Allen, adapter Venditti, and artist Mutti turn nine of Allen's tales from his popular YouTube channel into a collection of tales of the macabre.

            While all of the stories leave their mark, there are a few that stand out. Allen relates what tragedies befell a number of people who ventured into "The Valley of Headless Men," located in the Nahanni Valley in the Northwest Territories. The allegedly haunted valley is plagued by strange and horrifying events. Those who venture in to search for and reclaim the dead often find grisly scenes, and headless bodies. Nobody knows what is in the valley, but some whisper about white demons, waheela, or something else. Allen shares various stories of tragic events, such as accounts of gold prospectors who never make it out of the valley, a group of hunters in 1926 where one of the party, Annie Laferte, goes missing, and a strange creature is scene stalking the forest later; and other tragedies that happened along the years.  

            "Thorns" tells of Elsa, who became a camp counselor in 2012, and had fond memories of the camp as she attended it herself as a child. The first night at the camp in her new role, she is tormented by a horrific nightmare, expertly illustrated in a simple red, black, and white color pallet by Mutti, where strange men are forcing a crown of thorns over her head in front of an angry crowd. As she screams in pain, vibrant blood drips rivulets down her face. When she wakes up, she finds her head aching and her hands are covered in blood.

            "What I Saw in My Room Still Haunts Me" is a personal story of Allen as a teenager when he sees something enter the room where he and his friends are staying in New Hampshire. It happens three nights in a row, culminating in a message for his friend's mother, a recent widow.

In "The Beast of Gévaudan," Jacques is endlessly bullied by other children for being a sensitive soul. He dreams of following in his uncle's footsteps and joining the clergy, but his village earns a living by farming and tending livestock. Children had been found killed in the pastures and fields, mangled viciously by what villagers initially thought was a wild animal. However, with the pattern of killings, they eventually come up with supernatural theories for the murders. From that point, the children responsible for tending the sheep ventured out in groups, one such being Jacques, his brother Jean, the ringleader of the former's bullying, and a few others. One of the boys suggests that Jacques, an expert storyteller, relay something to pass the time, which he does. Unfortunately, the focus is pulled away from the flock as the story starts to get good. Jean is taken by the beast. Now, Jacques must decide: face his fears or run away like the other children.

"Make It Rain," set in 1983, follows Don Decker who is on furlough from a jail sentence to attend his late grandfather's funeral, not out of affection, but as a way to get out of his cell for a short time. He hated the man, and his ire raises as he listens to the well wishes and grief pouring from the other funeral goers. After he leaves the services when he sees the corpse move and look in his direction, Don becomes haunted, perhaps possessed, by the dead man.  

            Other stories included in this collection are "La Mussara," in which some friends out on a hike visit an abandoned Spanish town with a strange past; "Bells Canyon," where a businessman spends what he hopes to be a relaxing stay in the woods away from the bustling city turns into a few nights of terror; a group of Green Berets face a sinister, legendary creature in "The Kandahar Giant," and a Russian hunter becomes the hunted in "Cat and Mouse."               

As mentioned, Allen has a conversational and personal way of telling a story, something which New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Venditti succeeds in conveying this adaptation. Mutti's inclusion of Allen's likeness at points in the stories emphasizes the storyteller's intrusion, albeit welcome, in the narrative.

Mutti's distinct and realistic artwork is fitting for this collection.    

The book includes a location map where the stories take place, a section of recommendations for further reading for each story, and short biographies of Allen and Mutti, as well as information on Ballen Studios.

 

Graphic Novel Review: We Are Pan

reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC-Okinawa

Andre Frattino (w), Yasmin Flores-Montanez (a), and Fabi Marques (colors).  We are Pan.  Sherman Oaks, CA: Top Shelf Press, 2026.  $19.99/26.99 CAN. ISBN978-60309-592-1.  https://idwpublishing.com/products/we-are-pan

History often makes for exciting stories in any media, be it film, books, or comics.  Unusual or underreported history is even more engaging - if done properly.  To this end, Top Shelf (an imprint of IDW) presents the story of Operation Pedro Pan, a large joint Catholic / US government mission to rescue children from the newly formed socialist country of Cuba in 1959.  This graphic novel gives a voice to those children who went through an airlift from Havana to Miami, then were dispersed to other areas of the United States. 

As Alex Segura noted in his foreword, the reasons for any sort of historic event such as a mass evacuation often misses the “why” – in this case, the human element which drives people to take desperate measures to get their children to a safe location.  Segura also mentioned that as he was writing, elements of the US government were “push{ing} the boundaries of democracy – as citizens, legal residents, and children, are taken off the streets by masked agents, and as the checks and balances that supported our freedoms wither away.” (p. 4).

The story follows the lives of several children growing up in Cuba from Christmas of 1958, when the country was run by Fulgencio Batista, through his overthrow by Fidel Castro (January 1, 1959), then past the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.  The main characters are from a variety of socio-economic stations, while many are simply young children just being kids. They expound on their goals in life, and politics seem far away. However, the threats of the socialists coming to power changes the simplicity of their lives, and the children must focus on serious threats. 

Following the laughably failed attempted overthrow of Castro, the need to get children out of the country became more pressing for their parents.  Further complicating matters, the government forced many teens to join the Conrado Benitez Brigade, a Communist youth group set up to indoctrinate teens into its new ideology.  Some female members were sent to the country to teach literacy skills to the farmers, only to be taken advantage of by those same farmers.  For Antonia’s parents, who constituted the upper class of Cuban society, this fear of her being sent away drove them to get her out under any circumstances.  This theme plays out throughout the story.  The fear of indoctrination even drove one musician, Sebastian, to join the Cuban revolutionary guard in the hopes of being able to get his son Wilfredo out.  His father’s dreams for him take on a fearful tone, as young Willie turns into a miniature Fidel Castro. 

Other teens must deal with different problems.  Eugenio, another youth from a middle- or upper-class family, is offered a scholarship to study in Prague.  Not only is this dream destroyed, but his own sexuality must be stifled in this new society.  One simple line of dialogue recalls a real case of the era. Eugenio and his brother are discussing art, and Eugenio notes that he does not want to go to America because all the good artists draw comic books.  This seemingly insignificant line recalls the real-life scenario of Antonio Prohías, a Cuban cartoonist who was threatened with arrest for cartoons critical of the Castro regime.  He defected to the US and eventually presented his work to editors at MAD Magazine.  His most famous series for the magazine was the wordless “Spy versus Spy” satire of the Cold War.

When the children can get to America, via an audacious plan brought to life by Father Bryan Walsh, a young Catholic priest in Miami, they must adapt to a new life, often without the support of their families.  This plot device may seem contrived, but it is part of the essential story line.  As Father Walsh noted, these children must deal with not only the trials of youth, but they now live in a new country with unfamiliar surroundings.  The story also goes into issues of loss and violence.  Rosa sees a friend executed in the street while in Cuba, and when she and her boyfriend Cesar try to escape through Havana Airport, he fights with the guards so she can escape.  Later she hears that Cesar was executed for his actions.  Some of the children are reunited with family, such as Eugenio and Juaquin, and Willie, but Antonia’s mother suffered greatly before arriving in the US. 

The story is one of immigrant’s resilience, loss, and adaptation to a new environment.  The graphic novel also hits upon issues that are of discussion and concern in the US even to this day.  In the afterward, it was noted that one of the Pedro Pan interviewees had a negative attitude towards those coming to America in 2026 by “illegal” means.  This comment is indicative of the differing views held by immigrants to the US.  To that end, the graphic novel has succeeded in bringing to light a lesser-known aspect of history and its relation to the current day.

Graphic Novel Review: Socrates by Francesco Barilli and Alessandro Ranghiasci

Reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC Okinawa

Socrates by Francesco Barilli (w) and Alessandro Ranghiasci (a).  Miami, FL: Mad Cave Productions, 2025. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Socrates/Francesco-Barilli/Becco-Giallo/9781545821671

Any historically-based graphic novel must walk a fine line between known facts, re-creations for storytelling or effect, and the need to balance a compelling story with engaging art.  When one then includes a significant historical figure and a discipline that is often considered “deep” - such as philosophy – the likelihood of problems is compounded.  However, the story of Socrates is one that works to meld these issues into a story which sheds light on the famous philosopher that also has resonance in today’s world.

A translation of the original Italian version Socrate, which was released in 2019, also contains a historical forward by Stefano Cardini, explains the events in which we enter the story.  Socrates was brought up on charges of not recognizing the old god, as well as corrupting the youth of Athens. This was in the aftermath of the Thirty Tyrants uprising (abetted by Sparta).  The actual reasons for Socrates’ arrest and trial were probably due to jealousy and divisions within Athenian society.

One of the biggest issues with a biography of Socrates is that he did not write anything down. Much of what is known about his philosophy comes from his most famous student, Plato. Why he never wrote anything down is not discussed or speculated about in this book.  Plato’s version of his oratory skills are clearly demonstrated in the script, and the creators of this graphic novel worked to make a flowing story arc with narration and conversations borrowed from later written works. 

The story starts directly with the trial.  As the trial is taking place, chapter sections go back to past memories or aspects of Greek gods; instances in the past are presented in black and white, while the sections about Greek gods or lore are illustrated to look like a Grecian vase artwork.

Much of Socrates view on the issues of the world are applicable not only to his Athens, but still today.  One of Aristotle’s biggest complaints was that no matter what their status, everyone he talked to considered themselves an expert on a variety of subjects. He personally thought that “the wisest is he who knows he knows nothing.” (p. 29). He also noted that while many people may feel that laws benefit everyone, the prevailing truth was that the strong always dominate the weak, be it in nature or in a society of laws.  Reportedly, Socrates even predicted his own arrest and trial due to people around him.  To that end, Socrates noted that rather than being driven by power or money, he wanted to live his life pursuing the truth.  “Not to have riches or honor but to seek wisdom and truth” (p. 55) was an aspect of Socrates’ creed for a just life.

Socrates’ trial was one in which the true motives of those who opposed him or his ideals (or were simply jealous) were brought to light.  The nature of the charges was disputed through logic and reason, yet made no difference in the end.  His sentence was one of three options: exile from Athens, a monetary fine (which many of his disciples were willing to pay) or death by poison, in this case hemlock. Socrates argued that he was too old to live in exile, especially with his wife and children still in Athens, nor was he rich enough to pay any sort of fine imposed upon him.  He accepted death, and this story is relayed in a simple, yet almost dreamlike manner. 

The entire book is under 150 pages, while the last part is a section that deals with the historical basis of both the story itself, as well as discussing the art. Rough sketches are included to give insight into the process.  One passage stood out in this section, and it seems especially apt in today’s climate; Barilli writes, “a free and rigorous intellectual always makes those who hold power, in whatever way it is exercised, uncomfortable.” (p. 139).  As so many institutions of higher learning, let alone politicians, are questioned for their rigor, or lack thereof, this story from 2,500 years ago still serves as a guide for good moral governance and living.