After the Gold Rush #1, #2, #3 Miles Greb, art by Isaac Ka Ryssa
After the Gold Rush #4 Miles Greg, art by Elli Puukangas
Review by Maxx

It's been a while of looking at the ATGR books on the shelves and the guilt of not having actually read them finally got to me. When they were brought it I flipped through them and loved the covers. I'm glad we have 4 issues now. The story starts off a bit rocky for those of us that didn't follow the webcomic. I like a story that doesn't feel the need to explain everything to the reader, but I felt like I was left guessing for the first two issues. ATGR follows Scout as she crash lands back on Earth after having only known life in a colony on Titan. Miles Greb notes in the back of the issues that all attempts have been made to make the stories scientifically accurate and invites questions or corrections. I enjoyed #4 the most, the story finally is taking on more of a plot than just chance encounters and characters beyond Scout develop depth. I also enjoyed the cleaner lines of Elli Puukangas work and hope that we get to see more in following issues. 

Definitely recommended for the scientists in your life - young and old. This book is appropriate for all ages.

Review by Jacob B, teen reviewer
Book: Iceland is Niceland by Joan Chao

I found this comic to be well-written. I honestly loved the cute way it was drawn. Also, the colors in the whole comic were done beautifully.

Reviewer: Jacob B, teen reviewer
Book: Baggage Claime by Levi Hastings

I thought this one was drawn very beautifully and the images of animals and scenery were spectacular. The stories are great - fun, cute and heart-warming.

Book: Catboy by Benji Nate (Silver Sprocket)
Reviewer: Lucy L, teen reviewer

Catboy has a wonderful, whimsical art style and the stories are adorable. Even though the book seems silly from the outside, it actually has a lot of real-life stories hidden within. Not to mention a lot of really cute outfits.

Book: The Wizard 2 by Brandon Lehmann
Reviewer: Madison C, teen reviewer

This book is the good kush. It is about a magical wizard with powers beyond those of you and me, but it is honest and relatable all the same. If you're looking for a funny book with love, ants, magic and soul-stealing fiddle battles, this is the one.

Book: How to Make a Man Out of Tin Foil by Barry Deutsch
Reviewer: Shop Assistant Sean

This is a story of a boy that goes to summer camp and he doesn't like the things the other kids do. He isn't 'normal' says the counselor. I like that I identified with the protagonist. Anybody that likes superheroes will like this book. 

Review by Maxx.
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A surprisingly deep, absurdist romp through human history and the creation of the universe from the perspective of – yes, that’s right! – a bag of those faux-Italian “Milano” cookies. Without giving too much away, let’s just say when I first read it I gasped out loud at its sheer audacity.

The deeper you get into the narrative, the more fervently you race to see what happens next. And by the end, you can’t quite tell if you should be laughing or crying. This slight tome was drawn by post-apocalyptic sci fi nut and local Dune enthusiast Eli Tripoli (@eltripol, elitripoli.com), also author of “Me and the Muad’dib” as well as the series “Auto Mica”, and was co-written by Andy Gill, filmmaker and Kirkland native. I have personally bought this book several times just as an excuse to read it again, even though “I’ll always remember...”

Review by Maxx

Confusing Costume is as colorful and exciting as a trip to the Goodwill bins in SODO: it’s fascinatingly weird, deliberately confusing, and has a little something for everyone. Part feminist propaganda, part autobiographical scrapbook journal slash fashion look book, its stated goal is: “Let’s liberate fashion!”

What I like best about Confusing Costume is that it outlines the way the author has come to understand fashion, and invites the reader to invent their own looks as one’s own unique form of self expression. Unlike the world of mainstream capitalist fashion that tries to make everyone look the same by spending money you don’t have on disposable factory-made garbage, Cora Lee paints a picture of fashion that is collaborative, fun, and, well, liberating!

One of my favorite concepts from the book is that the dress-up play we engaged in as children should be our approach to getting dressed as adults. We should aim to arrange outfits that please ourselves aesthetically and emotionally, as a way to externalize the complexity and beauty of our souls.

While most of the zine is a fashion manifesto, there is also a “Coloring Pages” segment featuring the artist’s rad fashion illustration, as well as a sweet mixtape in the back! It also has a really fiery section that beseeches men to wear skirts as a way to break down the gender binary that reads like a recipe from the anarchist cookbook.

If you’d like a taste of what the book is like, go ahead and follow @butterbeanbun before coming by to check out Lee’s entire oeuvre in our shop!

Shop Assistant Sean recently read Outfoxed by Dylan Meconis.

​He's still going through a phase where he loves foxes, so this one really caught his eye. This is great story for a mature child reader (as our 10-year-old SAS could be categorized) and still appeals to adults. Here is what SAS has to say:

"It shows a useful moral, that you can't force someone to love you, no matter what you do. I love the art and book itself. The art is unlike most that I see in comics." 

Pick up a copy today at Push/Pull, made available to us by Emerald Comics Distro.