Cbr16bingo Pride (Emil Ferris is bisexual and several of her characters are LGBTQIA2S+)
Book 2 of My Favorite Thing is Monsters (MFTIM) finally dropped this year, 7 years after Emil Ferris’ outstanding and much acclaimed debut graphic novel. As ever the art is stunning — colorful ballpoint pen on lined notebook paper with amazing detail and homages to horror comics on every page. MFTIM is 10-year-old Karen Reyes’ story of events from spring and summer of 1968 in Chicago. It’s the story of her family’s past and of the suicide (or murder) of her neighbor Anka Silverberg, a Holocaust survivor. Much of Book 1 was devoted to Anka’s background, but Book 2 focuses on Karen’s family and the secrets she is only just learning about them.
In Book 2, Karen and her older brother Deeze are on their own, and it seems that Deeze has made a deal with their mob boss landlord in order to stay out of Vietnam and keep Karen safe. Jack Gronan is a powerful man who has the Chicago police in his back pocket even while he sits in prison. In Book 2, we learn how and why Deeze became entangled with Gronan, and it has to do with Karen’s absentee father and a dark family secret. Karen, an expert eavesdropper, gradually learns some of the truth about her family, but as she investigates further the death of Anka, she finds herself in terrible danger.
Book two brings back some of the characters from Book 1 as well as introducing new ones. Franklin/Francoise, Karen’s school friend, is here and we learn more about his history, particularly how he came to have such horrible scarring on his face. Sandy makes a brief appearance with a short explanation of her history. Deeze’s friend “the Brain” has an important role in Book 2. The Brain is a political activist whose criticism and suspicion of “the system” influence Karen and her new friend Shelly. The racism, cop corruption and political activism/violence of 1968 Chicago are woven into this volume. Karen meets Shelly in the bathrooms at the art institute and they become fast friends and more. Karen’s budding lesbianism is further investigated in Book 2.
There clearly must be a Book 3 coming. THERE MUST BE! Because this volume ends with a cliffhanger and we still don’t know what happened to Anka. Unfortunately, based on this piece, Book 2 might be the end? I really hope not. A bit more of Anka’s story was revealed here, along with a retelling of the story of Judith and Holofernes. Clearly, the idea that sometimes you have to do terrible things for the greater good is a theme that is going to be coming up, and we already know that in Nazi Germany, Anka made a deal with a powerful man tied to the Nazis to save herself and a handful of others from the camps. If matters of sex and sexuality make you uncomfortable, then MFTIM might be a difficult read. I am completely drawn into this story though and will be very disappointed if Book 2 is the end.