Katie Cook’s Three Favorite Comics and a Comic About Libraries, a guest post

Trying to list your three favorite books is like choosing a favorite dessert. 

There are too many variables, too many varieties, too much everything to whittle something down to three. 

Question anyone who can list their one favorite movie, book, or dessert. It means they haven’t embraced that there is both cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies in this world. Or maybe just don’t trust anyone that doesn’t like cheesecake. That’s a #protip, right?

First, I guess I have to start with a vague blanket of just Calvin and Hobbes. I devoured it in newspaper form every morning at the breakfast table as a kid, waiting with my soggy cereal for my mom to get ready for work before she could drop me off at Latchkey. But I didn’t mind. I had read the comics section of the Detroit Free Press that morning and sometimes still had it tucked under my arm when I was dropped off at school at 5:45AM, with the wit and wisdom of Bill Patterson to keep me company. Even as an adult looking back through any of his collected works, I can’t believe a man of such talent walks among us. 

Next, and the is a big one, is Bone by Jeff Smith. 

When I was younger — teen, tween-ish? – I really through long-format comics were just for superheroes. I stuck to newspaper comics, Archie, some of the little manga that was making its way into translation at the time. But then there was Bone. 

Bone showed me that you could also use comics to tell a story that was epic and fun while having an art style that was… not necessarily simple. Never that, as Smith’s art is deceiving at times in that simplicity can sometimes showcase the most complicated little touches. After reading Bone, I knew I could draw the kind of story I wanted to tell, and without having to draw Batman. 

I could try and pick something really edgy for the last comic… but I think it’s the simple, clever fun of The Monster at The End Of This Book, by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin. 

The art is the clear, bright anguish of a MUPPET who is trying desperately to be helpful while also dealing with his own tensions and anxiety. It’s an interactive book without the trappings of pop-ups or lift-up tabs. This book is a short whirlwind of an adventure that makes us connect with a flailing Grove – and in that final turn of the page, that high anxiety moment of How Is This Going To End… 

And then it does. 

And you’re relieved for yourself and for that flat little picture of Grover who, over the course of 24 short pages, has become your friend. 

I think these three picks are my cheesecake (plain, no sauce. I want to enjoy the flavor of the cake and the crumble of the crust), a piece of dark chocolate (something to savor), and a chocolate chip cookie pie (my favorite thing my mom makes during the holidays). Ask me sometime about my thoughts on Fig Newtons and perhaps I’ll tell you about why I love Terry Pratchett. 

AND NOW….

Here’s a comic Katie created for us about her relationship to libraries. Her mother was her school librarian! (Click on each panel to embiggen!)

Meet the author

Katie Cook is a comics creator whohas written and drawn comics for Marvel, Disney Publishing, Boom! and many other publishers. She is the creator of the Nothing Special webcomic on Webtoon, which is now an original graphic novel with Ten Speed Graphic. The second installment in the series, Nothing Special, Volume Two: Concerning Wings, will go on sale this October. 

About Nothing Special, Volume Two: Concerning Wings

Follow Callie, Declan, Lasser, and Radish as they embark on a new adventure in the second installment of the hit Webtoon series Nothing Special, featuring new, exclusive behind-the-scenes material from the inimitable Katie Cook.

“Smart, sweet, and totally original, Nothing Special is sure to captivate.” —Sarah Andersen, New York Times bestselling author of Fangs, Sarah’s Scribbles, and Cryptid Club

After defeating her neurotic wood nymph mother, all Callie wants to do is help her dad with his magical antique shop, tease Lasser about his newfound romance novel addiction, and—most important—spend time with her boyfriend, Declan. But when Declan’s injured fairy wing starts shooting sparks and causes him to collapse in pain, Callie decides to take matters into her own hands and find a way to heal him.

She knows where to start, at least—with her dad’s boring friend, Professor Larkspur, who in addition to serving the grossest cup of tea in history, is a fairy himself and incredibly knowledgeable about his kind. Armed with new information, Callie, Declan, Lasser, and Radish set out to find a fairy healer. But what starts as a simple four-day journey to visit a particular enclave of fairies ends up becoming a much more profound exploration of not only what Declan is, but exactly who he is to the fairies….

The second installment of Katie Cook’s Nothing Special collects the first 25 chapters of Season 2 of the webcomic and features exclusive behind-the-scenes content.

ISBN-13: 9781984862853
Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date: 10/22/2024
Series: Nothing Special Series

Filed under: Guest Post