Adult
Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 2: The Second Bakery Attack, Samsa in Love, Thailand.
By Haruki Murakami and Jean-Christophe Deveney. Art by PMGL.
Apr. 2024. 128p. Tuttle, $19.99 (9784805317679). 741.5.
Three Murakami short stories are adapted into graphic format in this second volume of Manga Stories. In “The Second Bakery Attack” (originally published in 1985), a newlywed couple awakens in the middle of the night famished and with little in their home to eat, then decides to reenact the husband’s earlier offbeat bakery robbery. In “Samsa in Love” (originally published in 2013), a newly human man awakens in an empty house with no memory of his life, but he is forced to interact with the woman who arrives to fix a broken lock. In “Thailand” (originally published in 2000), a Japanese doctor spends some relaxation time in Thailand after a medical conference but learns from a spiritualist that she is holding on to past events that could harm her. While the first two stories are quirky and amusing, the last is more reflective. The illustrations are muted and textured, with a raw and somewhat unrefined quality suitable to the unsettled characters. This is an excellent introduction for anyone who wants a taste of Murakami, but manga readers should know that this does not follow the typical manga format. —Suzanne Temple
Heavyweight: A Family Story of the Holocaust, Empire, and Memory.
By Solomon J. Brager. Art by the author.
June 2024. 336p. William Morrow, paper, $25.99 (9780063205956). 741.5.
A writer struggles to reconcile their Jewish identity with survivor’s guilt within the context of a mysterious great-grandparent’s past in this introspective visual memoir. Solomon Brager has listened to Oma Ilse and her family stories of ex-husband and former boxer Erich Levi’s rabble-rousing ways and heroic exploits during the Nazis’ reign of terror. The deeper Brager reaches into Erich’s past, the more questions they have about the intersectionality of historical artifacts and ethical responsibility, of those who avert their gaze unless touched by exigent circumstances. A slow, emotional buildup develops when Brager’s haunting and mesmerizing scavenger hunt through the annals of memory reveals the ugly cracks in humanity’s desperate attempts at survival. Initially, art serves a secondary function to a narrative grounded in theoreticals. As their families seek safe passage through Nazi Europe, Brager’s washed images, blurred lines, and shifting foci mirror their interrupted lives, personal things lost, and the silent reckoning whose impact continues to reverberate with future generations. Brager writes, “I need to understand that we can both be victimized and be complicit in violence.”—Nancy Powell
The Man from Maybe.
By Jordan Thomas. Art by Shaky Kane.
May 2024. 104p. Oni, paper, $17.99 (9781637154090). 741.5.
In a bleak postapocalyptic landscape, a masked man and his friend are hired to escort and guard a group on a journey to claim territory it has purchased. At the same time, a space transport crewed by dinosaur-like aliens and carrying dangerous cargo crashes on the planet. As a result, a dangerous substance and an infected alien are unleashed, resulting in a deadly attack and a hunt to contain the danger and exact revenge. To further complicate events, an evil and ruthless corporation is trying to gain as much control as it can. This
