As Christmas bears down upon us, the window of time we have before the shelves are picked clean of respectable gifts keeps narrowing and narrowing— which is why online shopping might be your best bet going forward (Amazon is a life-saver). Buying books will score you brownie points with the bookworms in your life, and now that comics and graphic novels are more mainstream, you might as well expand your buying horizons (either for yourself or someone else).
Are you pulled in by the concept of receiving a mystery box of (usually) themed stuff each month that pays tribute to the things you love? Services like this have been around since 2012, when premiere geek box Loot Crate hit the market. Since Loot Crate’s inception, dozens upon dozens of subscription boxes have sprung up to scratch every imaginable itch: from beauty to candy to officially licensed Disney merch.
Record scratch.
Did I just say officially licensed Disney merch?
Why yes, friend, yes I did.
Of the many branches on the YA family tree, YA fantasy seems to be the most well-regarded by even the pickiest of readers. It’s hard to ignore the way it shapes and affects culture when some of its most beloved gems include Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians. But these days, with so many catchy covers and alluring summaries to choose from, it’s easy for some books to fall by the wayside.
I’ll level with you: most of the fantasy I find myself drawn to isn’t flying off the shelves, and isn’t praised alongside (wonderful) series like Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse or Sarah J. Maas’s books (confession: I’ve never read a SJM book. I’m thinking I’ll wait until her Throne of Glass series is wrapped up to give it a try).
I’m just gonna say it: I love colourful comics.
That’s not a knock at black-and-white comics. Joe Kelly’s I Kill Monsters tore my heart out of my chest and casually line-danced all over it. Rest assured, it returned, but never beat the same. If that sounds a little too intense, check out the classic black-and-white Disney comics which, to be honest, are my life-blood.
I just prefer to open a comic and be drawn in by bright colours. Vibrant whorls and cheerful swirls and perfect palettes can absolutely transform an artist’s landscape and breathe life into a comic, whether you’re dealing with the nearly-psychotropic grimness of Sweet Tooth or the clean, sanitized look of DC Superhero Girls.