Astronauts: Women on the FInal Frontier

Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks are two of the best graphic novel creators who work in the arena of science. They collaborated years ago on Primates, which is one of my favorite books about biology, and here they combine forces again to chronicle the history of women and space flight. They chose to do it through the eyes of Mary Cleave, a veteran of two Space Shuttle flights, which I think gives the whole enterprise a specific and detailed account that makes everything more personal and engaging, even funny at times.

Cleave was involved for a good while with NASA, and so she had all sorts of information about the prerequisites for being an astronaut, the laborious application process, and the intense training program. Along the way, we are privy to info about how astronauts go to the bathroom in space, how they eat, and how they learn to live together in the confinements of their vehicles. I really like how the science here is well balanced with mundane features of space travel. And I got a good look into the workings of the Space Shuttle program as well.

Those looking for general information about women astronauts will also not be disappointed. Even with all the specificity, this book is chock full of other information, including a look at the Soviet space program and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space (in 1963!). It took a long while for the US to involve women as astronauts in the space program, mainly due to sexism and relatively few women trained as pilots or engineers. And we get insight into this era also.

The artwork is very attractive and colorful. This book features strongly rendered characters as well as lots of technical details. Emotions shine through well, and we also get to see all the buttons, gadgets, and other doo-dads in clear fashion. It is a substantive and entertaining book that I could see being used for lots of purposes, in a classroom as well as for a free reading choice for the science-curious.

In addition to their collaboration on Primates, these creators have a sizable corpus of science-themed books. Ottaviani has written a number of great graphic novels about scientific inquiry including ones about the early days of paleontology, the space race, physicist Niels Bohr, women science pioneers, and the biographies Hawking and Feynman. Wicks tends to focus mainly on biological topics like Coral Reefs and Human Body Theater.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. It received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. KR summed it up, "Exhilarating—as well as hilarious, enraging, or both at once depending on the reader." PW remarked positively on Cleave's "colloquial storytelling, humorous observations, and asides are highlights—Wicks and Ottaviani skillfully capture Cleave’s infectious enthusiasm up to the last page." Corey S. Powell wrote, "Its only real shortcoming is that the book leaves you wanting more; fortunately, it ends with a helpful bibliography and list of resources."

Astronauts was published by First Second, and they a preview and much more here.

Batgirl Volume 1: Batgirl of Burnside

Honestly, I have checked in here and there with DC Comics over the past five years. There has not been much attractive about their books since they rebooted into the new 52, and I find most of their books too dreary and depressing to take much stock in, because they seem to have equated gratuitous violence with maturity. But I have heard a lot of good things about this Batgirl book, so I decided to give it a try.

Now, I know Batgirl has a long and convoluted history. This version of the character was created in conjunction with the 1960s Batman TV show, and Barbara Gordon has been a librarian, a congresswoman, and eventually a paraplegic computer genius over the decades. Here, she is re-imagined as a hip 20-something living in the trendy Burnside area of Gotham City. She is still a vigilante, but one who spends her days studying computer science as a university student. So, this book looks at Batgirl as much as a person with a bunch of new relationships and tech-savviness as it does as her playing the superheroine role. Just look at this sequence:

 

 

Overall, I found a lot to like about this book. It was fun, colorful, and it features some good character work as well suspenseful plots. I would not say it's the best superhero comics I have ever read, but it is certainly well crafted and enjoyable. And I did like that it was a very contemporary book. I do not know if it will age well, but in this moment this book is one of DC's top 3 publications (which is faint praise, at least coming from me, sorry). I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who wants to read accomplished and entertaining superhero comics.

The creators behind this book are Cameron Stewart (plot and breakdowns), Brenden Fletcher (plot), Babs Tarr (finished art), and Maris Wicks (colors). Stewart is an Eisner and Shuster Award winning artist/writer who has worked on a number of different comic book series as well as his webcomic Sin Titulo. Fletcher is a veteran comic book writer, and Tarr is an illustrator who is relatively new to comics. Wicks has written and drawn a number of science themed graphic novels. These collaborators speak about their work on this series in this interview.

The reviews I have read about this book cover the full spectrum from praise to dislike. Matt Santori-Griffith wrote that this book "takes the mythos of Barbara Gordon and expands it even further, giving rise to a new chapter in her history," showing that that Batgirl stands alongside Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as one of DC’s premier heroes." Etelka Lehoczky called it "pretty good"  on the whole, especially the artwork and the story's take on digital identities. Dustin Cabeal wrote that he found this book too trendy and wrote, "This Batgirl is written and created based on public opinion and that’s terrible because public opinion shifts all the time"

Batgirl of Burnside was published by DC Comics and they have more info about the series here.

Science Comics

First Second is celebrating their tenth anniversary with a bang, introducing a new series called Science Comics. Each volume has a different focus, and they have some top notch creators lined up for these titles. The first two just came out, and they contain lots of information, vocabulary, and features that make them ready for classroom use. Also, they take different approaches to their storytelling and I found them both great in different ways.

The first one I read was Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean by Maris Wicks. I had read and enjoyed her prior book Human Body Theater as well as her collaboration with Jim Ottaviani Primates, and they were both excellent. This one focuses on marine biology, obviously, and I was impressed by two things off the bat: the bright, expressive, info-rich artwork and the gentle narration provided by a bespectacled bony fish.

As you can see the artwork is gorgeous and engaging, and I really enjoyed the balance of information and vocabulary text and images with playful imagery and asides that add a dash of humor to the proceedings. Wicks is an excellent artist and storyteller, and her chops are on display throughout.

As you can see this book contains lots of facts about coral reefs, but it also gets into other territory like ecology, climate change, and environmental factors that affect marine life. I think it would have been impressive to simply detail as much as this book has about underwater plants and animals, but it goes the extra mile to place all of these organisms in a larger context. I am glad to see how it engaged in serious issues that involve the future of planet Earth in thoughtful and documented ways. Overall, it is quite exceptional how the narrative, exposition, and artwork range back and forth from simple to complex as the author entertains and explains throughout the book.

The reviews I have read about this book have been glowing. Johanna Draper Carlson concluded, "I had no idea there was so much to know about coral reefs. While obviously targeted at the educational market, this comic is a good read for all ages." Sarah Stevenson wrote that "I personally learned a lot, was reminded of knowledge I hadn't thought about in a while, and enjoyed myself in the process." Kevin wrote, "Unlike some content-area graphic novels out there in the world (and I have read more than my share) that seem thrown together to make a buck off the graphic novel movement, Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean seems more like an act of love by someone who is deeply immersed in the ocean." Let's hope Maris Wicks has lots of oxygen with her, if that is the case (Smile).

There is a part of me that thinks that books about dinosaurs are pretty easy to sell. Just pack them full of pictures of the wide array of these reptiles and the rest takes care of itself. I certainly read my share of such books when I was young, and I loved them. Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers is smart in that it engages in such displays of dino-diversity, but it goes far beyond simply showing beautiful pictures of these prehistoric creatures. What really impressed me is how much if focused on the science and archaeology of dinosaur discovery, going in historical fashion over how these and other creatures were discovered, theorized, and studied over the past centuries.

Like the coral reefs book, this one also went into a much broader context of science, and in different areas summing up the state of science during different time periods. I was especially taken with this feature as it shows readers how science and theories change and evolve over time. The book really confronts many potential controversies and confusions head on, but it also dramatizes the constantly revised view about dinosaurs as scientists debate how they lived, ate, and whether or not they were warm-blooded or had feathers.

I think that it is difficult for a book like this to make an impression about a well-covered topic like dinosaurs, but it manages to do just that with extensive research and an excellent synthesis of multiple fields and studies. It will change how you look at birds, or at least I know it has for me. Those cute feathered things might just be tiny decedents of velociraptors. And the book also puts a human face on those who have studied these "terrible lizards." That parade of strong personalities is as engaging as all the facts and beautiful pictures.

The collaboration here between MK Reed and Joe Flood is seamless and rich. I very much enjoyed their prior book, The Cute Girl Network, and I am happy to say that they are maybe more adept at nonfiction as they are at fiction. There is certainly a lot of ground covered in this book, and there was much I found new, exciting, and interesting.

The reviews about this book were more mixed, though I have to say that I felt I enjoyed it just a tad bit more than the corals reefs volume. Johanna Draper Carlson felt that it tried to tackle too much and wrote, "There’s a lot more history, a lot less animal study than one might think here. And this book needs its own annotation guide!" The folks at The Comics Alternative called it "a great non-fiction graphic novel that entertains and instructs. It can also be enjoyed by a wide range of ages, giving younger readers a great, fun look at dinosaurs, and providing older readers with the history of dinosaur research and discovery."

Both volumes of Science Comics were published by First Second and you can find previews and much more here (for Coral Reefs) and here (for Dinosaurs). I feel these are both excellent books and an auspicious start to this series. I am eager to see the future volumes, which include books on bats and volcanoes.

Thank you, Gina, for the review copies!

Human Body Theater

Human Body Theater is quite a show. It chronicles a whirlwind tour of the human body conducted by your emcee, a human skeleton. Along the way it gets at all kinds of information, including a brushing up on basic biology,

to a tour of bodily functions,

and a catalog of body parts and systems.

As you can see from the excerpts, the artwork is clear, detailed, and very well rendered. in addition, I really enjoy the humorous elements of the book. I think it would be very easy for this content to be overly precious or cutesy, but I feel the balance between funny, facts, and grossness helps keep the proceedings from being saccharin. Perhaps the worst thing I can say about this book is that it is ultra-dense with information, and it can be a lot to take at once. I certainly found it more digestible (ha!) to read in small chunks. Still, I found the humor winning and the content quite compelling and well researched. If I were a biology or anatomy teacher, this book would be required reading.

Maris Wicks has drawn one of my favorite graphic novels of 2013, Primates. She has also created a number of comics and minicomics, including Yes, Let's. She blogs about her work and also has a tumblr.She talks about the genesis and work on this graphic novel in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been very positive. In a starred review for the School Library Journal, Steven Engelfried called it "delightful and enlightening. Publishers Weekly summed up that it was "brilliant adjunct reading for biology students and the terminally curious." Kirkus Reviews called it "a grand show" but also added that "it’s a lot to take in at one sitting."

Human Body Theater was published by First Second, and they have much information and a preview available here.

Thank you, Gina, for the review copy!

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

Primates is a  melange of three biographies of female scientists joined by their research interests in the great apes and the roots of their academic work. All three all began getting their funded projects through Louis Leakey, a huge figure in the search for the ancestry of humankind. He felt that women were especially suited for scientific work beyond men because of their patience and ability to perceive differently. He also had a wandering eye, which complicated his marriage and also perhaps led to some of the attention and opportunity he gave this trio.

Me Tarzan, you Jane.

Regardless of their work's geneses, all three ended up doing pivotal and important work on primates, their behaviors, their biological workings, and also protecting the animals and their habitats. Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees, discovering much about how they lived and used tools. This last finding was especially important to Dr. Leakey's work and it is playfully portrayed in the book:

Look ma, no hands!

Dian Fossey studied gorillas and found them gentle and noble herbivores, not at all like typical media depictions as monsters like King Kong.

Does that look like a monster behind her?

She was the expert on gorillas when she was alive and their most strident defender against poachers, which led to her untimely demise. Her work goes on via The Gorilla Fund.

Biruté Galdikas's work on orangutans was also groundbreaking, though she was frustrated at times by their rather lackluster lifestyle:

As with the others her stories focus on her experiences roughing it in the jungle and also dealing with relationships with other people in such settings.

Primates is the creation of writer Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks. Ottaviani has written a number of great graphic novels about scientific inquiry including ones about the early days of paleontology, the space race, physicist Niels Bohr, women science pioneers, and the more recent biography Feynman. Wicks has drawn a number of comics and minicomics, including Yes, Let's. She blogs about her work and also has a tumblr. This article sheds more light on both of their takes on this book.

I was especially taken with Wicks's clean and simple linework as well as her use of sound effects and other conventions to convey meaning in economical and effective manner. For instance, this page where Fossey first encounters gorillas is ripe with atmosphere:

Musk and screaming: not scary at all.

Because of the brevity of the book, volumes of research and decades of work are deftly distilled into a small space. Nevertheless, this book serves as an excellent introduction into the work of Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas that could inspire further reading or study of other primates (there's all kinds of further resources listed, too). I am especially struck by how well it demonstrates connections between the seemingly disparate fields of anthropology, archaeology, and zoology. This book is as much about how science works as it is about the works of specific scientists.

Reviews of the book I have read have been positive. Carl Zimmer of The New York Times expounded on the work of these women and praised this volume as " the kind of book that can produce new scientists" because of how it captures the joy and work of discovery. Kirkus Reviews summed up that it "provides an accessible introduction to Goodall’s, Fossey’s and Galdikas’ lives and work." Tasha Saecker at Walking Brain Cells called it "a stellar pick for school libraries and public libraries that will have children learning about scientific history without even realizing it."

Primates is another excellent graphic novel from the fine folks at First Second. They provide previews and a lot more here.

A big thank you to Gina for the preview copy!

And a big thank you to Ottaviani and Wicks, who I met at HeroesCon this past weekend for signing my copy of this book. They are super nice and talented!

Social patterns of primate scientists