#IMWAYR: Blackward!

Hi hi, everyone! I set a goal of reading four graphic novels in the month of August—not terribly ambitious, but considering how chaotic my reading life has been, it's actually a little demanding for me. And I'm halfway there!!! We knocked out Sunhead last week (so good), and then this week, we picked a book very spontaneously and had a great time. So let's talk about it!

Blackward

Written and illustrated by Lawrence Lindell

Young adult/adult · Graphic novel · 2023

Recommended by Earl Dizon

Add it on Goodreads · Preview the illustrations

· · · The publisher says: · · ·

Black, weird, awkward and proud of it. Welcome to the club!

Tired of feeling like you don’t belong? Join the club. It’s called the Section. You’d think a spot to chill, chat, and find community would be much easier to come by for nerdy, queer punks. But when four longtime, bookish BFFs―Lika, Amor, Lala, and Tony―can’t find what they need, they take matters into their own hands and create a space where they can be a hundred percent who they are: Black, queer, and weird.

The group puts a call out for all awkward Black folks to come on down to the community center to connect. But low attendance and IRL run-ins with trolls of all kinds only rock everybody with anxiety. As our protagonists start to question the merits of their vision, a lifetime of insecurities―about not being good enough or Black enough―bubbles to the surface. Will they find a way to turn it around in time for their radical brainchild, the Blackward Zine Fest?

Lawrence Lindell’s characters pop from the page in playful Technicolor. From mental health to romance, micro―and macro―aggressions to joy, our crew tackles everything life throws at them in this heartwarming tale about building a place to belong and the power of community.

· · · · · ·

I saw this book on Earl Dizon's wonderful blog this past Tuesday, and I was like, "I need it right now." So I went to my library website, saw it was in stock at a branch I'd never been to before, and drove over literally the next day to pick it up. And I'm glad I didn't let it fester on my TBR list for who knows how long—it wasn't quite what I expected, and it may not quite ascend to favorite status for me personally, but I also feel like it has a delightfully unique style, and it 100% succeeds at being the book it wants to be!

The characters in this book are absolutely the draw for me—they're just wonderful. Lika, Amor, Tony, and Lala are overflowing with energy and inspiration and quick wit and goofiness and steadfast friendship. They each bring their own style to the table—I skew closest to Lika, who can get a little stuck in her own head. But even characters I didn't expect to resonate with surprised me—Amor, who is fairly self-assured in a way I definitely don't relate to, is also a bit germaphobic, which I definitely do relate to! You totally want to sneak into the book and become part of these four's friend group, or at least give them all big hugs, which they deserve. I love 'em.

I also love the general theme in Blackward that we all deserve a space where we feel safe and part of a broader community. These four friends want to meet new folks and bring those feelings of safety and community to other people like them. They want the club they've started to be a space where people can unwind and not worry about microaggressions, or being the only queer person or person of color in the room, or feeling out of place and left behind. It's a valiant vision, and rarely realized in real life—even in queer community spaces, I often feel like I have seven heads. (Maybe two or three on good days.) I feel like Blackward charts a different path by reminding us that, no matter how long we've spent without a sense of community and togetherness, and no matter how often we've been taught that we don't deserve it, we do deserve it, and we can find it. A hopeful idea indeed!

Blackward is also just a ton of fun as a book. The art is colorful and deeply goofy, with characters' facial expressions getting over- or underemphasized to the degree that any reader will be giggling. And even when these four friends struggle to get their club off the ground, they have a lot of fun together, which sets an ultimately upbeat tone for the story. There's not enough books about underrepresented groups, but then within that, those stories often skew toward the more emotionally intense and vulnerable end of the spectrum. And those books are essential, and wonderful to read—as your resident crotchety post-adolescent, I've got an emotionally intense queer graphic novel to share basically every week. But there's a lot of room on the other end of the spectrum for books that are unapologetically fun and whimsical, and I'm really glad to see Blackward taking up space within that niche.

Keeping in mind that the focus on joy here is an objectively wonderful thing, I will say nevertheless that I personally did want a little bit more emotional intensity in the story. Which I think would make it a different book, and not what Lawrence Lindell set out to create—hence my point that this book 100% succeeds at being the book it wants to be. I think what tripped me up a little is that I didn't get a strong sense of our four main characters' thoughts and backstories and inner worlds. We do get these delightful panels of their morning and evening routines (loved those), but I liked these friends so much, I wanted more! The publisher's description calls them bookish, and they plan a zine fest, but they never end up talking about books or zines at all. (Which I noticed after coming off a graphic novel where the main character talks about books all the time. Now that's my vibe!) I also think more of these characters' inner worlds would show readers why they consider themselves weird—to me, they seemed like pretty darn normal queer folks, honestly! I also felt that one character's experience with mental health struggles was a little surface-level, and similar to how other graphic novels portray that experience.

The last little critique I'll mention is that this book's humor and upbeat nature, combined with a fairly unstructured plot, mean the book kind of breezes by. I was drawn back each day by the characters and the warmth of the narrative, but there wasn't the kind of propulsive force that pushes me through a lot of books. Again, I think that's a personal preference, and I believe many readers will be delighted to find a story that doesn't feel like a stressful, what-if-what-if-what-if kind of book! But I think this book's style is worth noting if conflict within a story is usually what keeps you turning the pages.

Blackward isn't quite as morose and emotional as my usual graphic novel fare, and that did catch me a little off-guard. But at the same time, I think this book opened my eyes to an entirely different vision for what a graphic novel can be. This story feels the way its main characters' hangouts feel—friendly and chill, as if you could just keep talking at the restaurant indefinitely, or turning the pages indefinitely, and stay in that sense of connectedness forever. Blackward is a story by and for queer people of color, and I'm glad it exists—and publishers better put out books that follow in its footsteps. And I have a feeling those books will learn a thing or two from how this story creates joy and hope—through silliness, compassion, and bonds of friendship and community. I hope you get a chance to explore what this book has to offer.

Another thing:

OH MY GOSH Y'ALL!!!!!!

It is the eighth anniversary of Completely Full Bookshelf!!!!!

I literally almost forgot to mention it. I was trying to remember what happened last week (still can't remember), and opened my calendar, and saw my reminder for my blogiversary from this past Wednesday! Wow.

How crazy that I've been blogging since 9th grade—this blog has followed me through high school, college, and now grad school, and thankfully the quality of my reviews has improved over time! (I'd prefer you don't poke around in the early archives too-too much, but if you insist, here's a link to my first blog post ever, about When You Reach Me. Once a Rebecca Stead fan, always a Rebecca Stead fan.)

I'm so glad to have built connections with so many wonderful bloggers over the years—I've known some of y'all for a minute now! And I'm so grateful to have this space to ramble about books and what they mean to me. This is one of the rare places in the world where I can say exactly what I'm thinking, and you all make that happen—and that's been an outlet that's sustained me through thick and thin for quite a long time now.

I'm very excited to mark this anniversary with you all—here's to more years of blogging to come!!

The Kidlit Lovers' Meetup!

Last thing before we conclude our post—I want to remind y'all about the third Kidlit Lovers' Meetup! I like to think this is my version of forming community in the world, like our protagonists in Blackward are trying to do! The meetup is scheduled for:

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

4 - 4:45 PM Pacific / 5 - 5:45 PM Mountain / 6 - 6:45 PM Central / 7 - 7:45 PM Eastern

RSVP here >>

As always, this is a chance for folks to meet other book bloggers and readers, and talk about books, blogging, reading, and more! I'll have discussion questions prepared to keep the conversation going. And it's designed to be very low-stress—even if you're as chronically introverted as I am, my goal is for you to still feel welcome and enjoy yourself!

You can RSVP for the meetup here, or learn more about the meetups here. Feel free to email me at completelyfullbookshelf [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions.

I really hope to see you there!

That's everything I've got this week—I hope joy finds you this week, wherever you are, and whatever you're up to! ✨✨