Lately, I have been trying to be more conscious of where I purchase goods. I found a black-owned book store based in Virginia called Books and Crannies. I ordered quite a few graphic novels online through their website and it shipped to me relatively fast concerning the current environment. I’m reading comics faster than I can type these reviews, so I wanted to combine three of my most recent comic reads in one post.

Doctor Aphra Issue #1 Written by Alyssa Wong, Art by Marika Cresa and color by Rachelle Rosenberg.

Doctor Aphra is a character in the Star Wars universe introduced mainly through the comics. Doctor Aphra is a morally ambiguous character who served as the chief archeologist for Darth Vader. Throughout various comic runs, she’s either working for Vader or on the run from him.

In this first issue, Doctor Aphra is seen hunting for artifacts on Hoth. As she’s attacked by the Empire, she flees with her new team back to Shadow University in the Outer Rim. As Aphra is drinking at a bar, she’s approached by Detta Yao, a graduate student at the University. Yao tells her about the Rings of Vaale, which grants the wearer eternal life and fortune. Aphra joins the quest for these rare items and chaos ensues.

For the first issue, this comic blew me away. Doctor Aphra seems to be an intriguing character as she’s not necessarily good, but she’s not completely evil either. Her team consists of Lucky (her sniper), Black Krrsantan (a Wookie with a facial scar), Detta, Doctor Eustacia Okka (another archeologist), and robot TA418. Each character has their personality and unique skill set to the team.

I rated this comic 5 stars on Goodreads and I want to read on through the rest of the series.

Eat And Love Yourself by Sweeney Boo

Major Content Warning: Eating Disorders.

Eat and Love Yourself is a beautifully written and illustrated story about a young woman named Mindy. She works as a barista and is usually dragged to go out by her best friend Shae. After a late-night out, Mindy picks up a chocolate bar titled “Eat and Love Yourself”. As Mindy eats the chocolate, she’s transported back in time to see her past lived experiences. It shows where her body insecurities came from and how they’re playing out today.

As stated, there’s a major content warning on reading this graphic novel. This does discuss in detail Mindy’s eating disorder. I read this graphic novel while I was in a good place mentally. The book ends in an uplifting way, but if you’re recovering from an eating disorder, I would recommend proceeding with caution before reading this graphic novel.

Eat and Love Yourself is my top favorite graphic novel I have read in 2020. I related to Mindy a lot with her internal struggles. She’s somewhat introverted and she loves cats. As a side note, her kitty, Jabba is the cutest comic kitty. The artwork is captivating as it changes depending on what Mindy is experiencing. This graphic novel spoke to me as I was in tears by the time I finished reading. I rated Eat and Love Yourself 5 stars on Goodreads.

Waves by Ingrid Chabbert and Carole Maurel

Major Content Warning: Miscarriage, trying to get pregnant.

Waves is a graphic novel about Chabbert’s real story about trying to conceive a child. This graphic novel follows a young lesbian couple as they try to get pregnant. As mentioned by the content warning, things do not go as planned as they do lose the baby to a miscarriage. It shows how she copes with the loss by writing about her experience.

Waves is a graphic novel I want to re-read in a couple of years. My fiance and I discussed having kids in the future, but we aren’t ready yet. Miscarriage isn’t talked about enough as it’s extremely common. There can be a lot of shame associated with miscarriages, and the more miscarriage is discussed, we can take away the shame that’s associated.

I rated Waves 5 stars on Goodreads as this was a heartwarming, relatable graphic novel. Similar to Eat and Love Yourself, I was bawling my eyes out as it’s sad because she suffered a miscarriage, but also how she was able to use her experience to heal herself.

My comics are piling up on my nightstand, so there will be more comic reviews in the future. When ordering books or graphic novels, I highly recommend ordering from a smaller business. If you need a black-owned business to support, check out Books and Crannies. I cannot recommend this online book store enough.