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Secret Passages
Welcome to an autobiography from another dimension. A wildly inventive cartoonist begins her imaginary memoir -- exploring the girlhood she never had.
Ever since my cosmic twin disappeared, nothing makes sense anymore. Friends, work, life--well, you get the picture.
For all of five minutes I thought therapy might be the answer. But then I remembered: I'm a cartoonist. Why waste a skilled professional's time when I could just spend 10 years of my life making an autobiographical comic and call it a voyage of self-discovery?
So here it is: the opening chapter of my life. It's 1985 in a small Quebec town called Notre-Dame du Lac. We're going to get to know a little girl who enjoys chatting with the forest (that's me!), a younger brother with demonic tendencies, a tyrannical older brother, and two marvelous parents who may or may not be aliens.
And please, PLEASE, take my advice, dear reader. If you ever find yourself in the midst of an existential crisis, don't make a comic about it. See a therapist instead. Much love!
Ever since my cosmic twin disappeared, nothing makes sense anymore. Friends, work, life--well, you get the picture.
For all of five minutes I thought therapy might be the answer. But then I remembered: I'm a cartoonist. Why waste a skilled professional's time when I could just spend 10 years of my life making an autobiographical comic and call it a voyage of self-discovery?
So here it is: the opening chapter of my life. It's 1985 in a small Quebec town called Notre-Dame du Lac. We're going to get to know a little girl who enjoys chatting with the forest (that's me!), a younger brother with demonic tendencies, a tyrannical older brother, and two marvelous parents who may or may not be aliens.
And please, PLEASE, take my advice, dear reader. If you ever find yourself in the midst of an existential crisis, don't make a comic about it. See a therapist instead. Much love!
184 pages, Paperback
First published February 8, 2022
186 people are currently reading
436 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
April 9, 2022
The author does a surreal fantasy adaptation of her childhood wherein parents are aliens, a little brother's imaginary friend is a demon from hell, and a cosmic alternate universe version of herself has just died. I love the art, the narration, and individual anecdotes, but it starts to seem a bit overlong and meandering. Seeing as it only covers first grade, it ends as if it is but the first volume of a series, leaving a lot of unanswered questions. I do hope to see a follow-up.
April 29, 2024
In an effort to untangle her complicated feelings about the loss of her cosmic twin, author Axelle decides to unspool her life in an off-kilter autobiographical comic.
This is a surreal and funny graphic novel which depicts a year in young Axelle's life as she starts going to school, forms a strange connection with the forest by her home, and begins to suffer in the grip of acute anxiety. The art is both atmospheric and humorous, and I enjoyed the many visits present-day Axelle makes to reinterpret past events and emotions. Axelle's siblings are absolute scene-stealers, and I loved every time they appeared on the page.
However, it's definitely a slow moving story, and while there's some strange elements upfront (alien parents, Tonio's imaginary friend who may be more demonic than imaginary), the cosmic twin and other elements are only briefly shown or discussed. They'll probably be expounded upon in future installments, but in the meanwhile we are left with a lot of questions and very few answers, which made the reading experience of this volume less satisfying for me.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This is a surreal and funny graphic novel which depicts a year in young Axelle's life as she starts going to school, forms a strange connection with the forest by her home, and begins to suffer in the grip of acute anxiety. The art is both atmospheric and humorous, and I enjoyed the many visits present-day Axelle makes to reinterpret past events and emotions. Axelle's siblings are absolute scene-stealers, and I loved every time they appeared on the page.
However, it's definitely a slow moving story, and while there's some strange elements upfront (alien parents, Tonio's imaginary friend who may be more demonic than imaginary), the cosmic twin and other elements are only briefly shown or discussed. They'll probably be expounded upon in future installments, but in the meanwhile we are left with a lot of questions and very few answers, which made the reading experience of this volume less satisfying for me.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
February 9, 2022
3.5 stars.
I love the dynamic and expressive artwork in Axelle Lenoir’s story of her life. Or, at least one year in her life when she was six-years old.
I thought this story would move more quickly than it does, but I still enjoyed the near constant arguments and musings of young Axelle and her brothers David and Tonio about the Transformers, Anne of Green Gables, G.I. Joe, and various other properties the kids viewed in cartoons.
Young Axelle is a handful, tormenting her parents and her teacher, slamming the faces of her classmates with balls during dodgeball, staring at the trees in a nearby wooded area near home, hating school, and interjecting her adult self into scenes to comment on younger Axelle and the family dynamic.
Tonio was an absolute scene stealer EVERY panel he was in, particularly when mentioning his invisible friend, Asméöth, and the entity’s bloodthirsty or disturbing desires.
Thank you to Netgalley and to IDW Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.
I love the dynamic and expressive artwork in Axelle Lenoir’s story of her life. Or, at least one year in her life when she was six-years old.
I thought this story would move more quickly than it does, but I still enjoyed the near constant arguments and musings of young Axelle and her brothers David and Tonio about the Transformers, Anne of Green Gables, G.I. Joe, and various other properties the kids viewed in cartoons.
Young Axelle is a handful, tormenting her parents and her teacher, slamming the faces of her classmates with balls during dodgeball, staring at the trees in a nearby wooded area near home, hating school, and interjecting her adult self into scenes to comment on younger Axelle and the family dynamic.
Tonio was an absolute scene stealer EVERY panel he was in, particularly when mentioning his invisible friend, Asméöth, and the entity’s bloodthirsty or disturbing desires.
Thank you to Netgalley and to IDW Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.
May 29, 2022
Loved It so much!
Can’t wait for another one
It’s pretty much a necessity for me now
Can’t wait for another one
It’s pretty much a necessity for me now
November 24, 2023
M’a fait rire tout seul dans le métro toute la semaine!
Un délice !
Un délice !
February 6, 2024
Du vrai GOLD!
J’ai adoré la jeune Axelle et ses questions incessantes pour sa prof ainsi que son journal intime qu’elle faisait dans sa tête. La créativité de l’autrice est incroyable, je suis toujours perturbé par l’ami alias démon imaginaire de son frère Tonio. J’en aurais pris plus et j’aurais aimé que la BD ne finissent jamais.
J’ai adoré la jeune Axelle et ses questions incessantes pour sa prof ainsi que son journal intime qu’elle faisait dans sa tête. La créativité de l’autrice est incroyable, je suis toujours perturbé par l’ami alias démon imaginaire de son frère Tonio. J’en aurais pris plus et j’aurais aimé que la BD ne finissent jamais.
July 13, 2025
C'etait drôle, niaiseux, profond, touchant, intime, chargé. Ça va prendre une relecture un jour. Cette auteurice est tellement brillante! Axelle est une rock star.
Chapitre IV : pour nous c'était le catalogue Canadian Tire.
Chapitre IV : pour nous c'était le catalogue Canadian Tire.
April 17, 2022
If I could give it more stars, I would.
May 21, 2025
4.5 ✨ | c'était du vrai bonbon. on y suit axelle, jeune petite et future punk, qui vit son intégration (pas toujours facile) à sa première année d'école primaire et, en parallèle, sa vie quotidienne en famille. j'ai ri à voix haute à de nombreuses reprises, haha! la force de cette BD est de lire les réflexions d'une enfant avec un langage adulte. je suggère vivement.
énorme mention spéciale aux illustrations en fin de livres par... surprise, je ne les nommerai pas!
énorme mention spéciale aux illustrations en fin de livres par... surprise, je ne les nommerai pas!
June 14, 2025
C'était excellent. Ça vient de détrôner l'esprit du camp pour moi. Ça fait beaucoup de sens que cette bande dessinée ait gagné le prix des libraires 2025 🥳 Je croise fort les doigts qu'il y ait une suite !
March 20, 2023
Humorous, somewhat relatable, but VERY endearing.
December 18, 2023
J'ai tellement rit à des passages que je me suis étouffée de manière violente
April 26, 2024
Que ce soit par son dessin doux ou par son ton frais, original et parfois sarcastique lorsque l’autrice interpelle son lectorat, Trompe-l’œil est un récit intime à la portée universelle qui nous propose de découvrir le portrait d’une fillette et autrice atypique et remarquable. Une magnifique ode à l’enfance, à la sincérité brute de cette période aux émotions fortes, teinté d’un imaginaire surprenant qui nous emporte sans faillir.
Critique complète sur yuyine.be!
Critique complète sur yuyine.be!
May 27, 2025
It’s hard to review this book since the story is clearly incomplete. It reads more like a volume of collected webcomics, which could account for the pacing issues mentioned in many reviews, although I can’t tell if that’s how it was originally released. (This is also a comic in translation, so there’s always potential to lose some clarity there.) Even so, there are many things I like about this, particularly the scenes between Axelle and her siblings, which are funny and sometimes sweet. I am also really taken by the concept: writing an autobiography of a girlhood that should have been, but didn’t get to happen because the author is trans. However, I’m not sure that concept is very clear in this volume; it’s mostly found in supplementary publishing descriptions and reviews. The art has a simple color palette, but I enjoyed it. There are several clever visuals, like doing reverse shots of the forest when Axelle talks to it, or rendering characters in the background as outlines that don’t register to the character-Axelle as she works through the world in her own head. I’d like to read a second volume if it comes out!
May 1, 2022
This weirdly made me feel seen.
I feel as if I picked this up at the right time. Today, during work, I was so stressed out about having to do everything by myself--if I didn't do it, nobody would. And everytime I sat down for a second I got yelled at. I stress vomited; the way I came to that conclusion was that I felt fine the minute I left. I felt so guilty for leaving though...and that's when it hit me, even though I had been thinking about it, I need to quit.
Reading this book and the author putting themselves in such a vulnerable state made me realize I shouldn't be feeling bad, I shouldn't be worried about everyone for me wanting to leave. I should be worried about myself, my body, and what would make me happy. Something is wrong in the work enviorment if I'm vomiting because of stress.
I highly recommed this, and the only reason that it's 3 stars is because, with graphic novels, unless I am blown away entirely, the highest it can get is a 3. It makes sense in my mind.
I feel as if I picked this up at the right time. Today, during work, I was so stressed out about having to do everything by myself--if I didn't do it, nobody would. And everytime I sat down for a second I got yelled at. I stress vomited; the way I came to that conclusion was that I felt fine the minute I left. I felt so guilty for leaving though...and that's when it hit me, even though I had been thinking about it, I need to quit.
Reading this book and the author putting themselves in such a vulnerable state made me realize I shouldn't be feeling bad, I shouldn't be worried about everyone for me wanting to leave. I should be worried about myself, my body, and what would make me happy. Something is wrong in the work enviorment if I'm vomiting because of stress.
I highly recommed this, and the only reason that it's 3 stars is because, with graphic novels, unless I am blown away entirely, the highest it can get is a 3. It makes sense in my mind.
January 19, 2023
Secret Passages was a very solid four stars for me. I've never read anything by Lenoir before and I don't remember why I picked this up, but I'm glad I did. It's a graphic memoir that covers a year in the author's childhood. It feels emotionally true but it's also surreal (cosmic twins, alien parents) and has a lot of adult-author asides in it—they're more frequent as the book goes on.
Lenoir is the same age as me, which always adds a fun element to memoirs. I loved the art in this book, and I enjoyed the author's voice, too. The book as a whole is funny and charming, and it gave me a bit of a zine vibe, which made for an excellent hit of nostalgia.
The plot meanders a bit (intentionally) and Secret Passages ends like it's the first part in a series. I don't know if it's actually the first part in a series or not, BUT I am going to look for other books by Lenoir and if I see 1986-1987 on a shelf one day in the future, I'll pick it up, too.
Lenoir is the same age as me, which always adds a fun element to memoirs. I loved the art in this book, and I enjoyed the author's voice, too. The book as a whole is funny and charming, and it gave me a bit of a zine vibe, which made for an excellent hit of nostalgia.
The plot meanders a bit (intentionally) and Secret Passages ends like it's the first part in a series. I don't know if it's actually the first part in a series or not, BUT I am going to look for other books by Lenoir and if I see 1986-1987 on a shelf one day in the future, I'll pick it up, too.
December 17, 2024
Genuinely this was bonkers. I adored the art style and the memoir was charming. However, I feel hella cheated based on the premise I was shown versus the actual book content. It was kinda slow and the ending didn’t feel…like an ending? Idk. It wasn’t bad and the art and sheer creativity of the way Axelle Lenoir chooses to tell her story definitely won me over in the end.
February 18, 2023
My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:
https://youtu.be/Er8CmUBLAkA
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/Er8CmUBLAkA
Enjoy!
March 19, 2023
Not your typical memoir.
November 28, 2023
J'ai ri très fort à plusieurs reprises.
July 4, 2022
Secret Passages follows the author, Axel, as she starts first grade. Throughout the book she plays with her brothers, talks to the forest, and (mostly) listens to her parents. I really loved the surrealism in the book. She portrayed her parents as aliens and her little brother had an imaginary friend that's a demon. Overall, I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The story was interesting and the artwork was fantastic! I can't wait to read more from this author.
December 5, 2025
December 2025
Re-reading because I can and because Louise, or in my case, Rhonda, isn't here to tell me to "branch out and try reading new things" ( ). And this book is exactly what I needed today. I'm only a few years older than our enigmatically spicy little heroine (I was in 3rd grade in 1985-86), so I totally get the dark humor of something only a fellow Gen-Xer could've penned. And it's just as funny the second time around. Maybe more so.
Not kidding. There were points when I had to put the book down and walk away. Not because I wasn't into it, but because it was too much... too much... And I needed to catch my breath.
🤣
Please see my 2022 review for details: ⬇️
May 2022
To anyone who has ever played the Ultra Advanced Hardcore Demi-God Catalog Game... this one's for YOU!!
Ok...so here we have an autobiographical graphic novel (say that five times as fast as you can) about a sweet, Disney-eyed little girl's first year of school. You may be thinking, "Awww" and having fond, sunshiny memories about your own first year of school. Memories that have obviously been sugar-coated by the passage of time, all the rough edges smoothed away. But wait...
This little girl...
Her parents are actually aliens who've kidnapped her and forced her to attend the hellish realm that is First Grade where she'll be submitted to homework, creepy bus drivers, and having to miss The Flintstones.
Her little brother's imaginary friend is a demon who knows WAY too much and forces him (her brother, not the demon) to sleepwalk and speak in tongues at night.
And then there's the forest behind her house that's obviously haunted.
Oh yeah...AND it's the mid-80s, which introduces us to a whole other level of Weird of which kids today can't even begin to fathom. Probably. Consider acid wash, mullets, and Michael Jackson actually being a reputable and parent-approved musical artist for youngsters to obsess over. Plus... no YouTube/Tik-Tok, no social media, and no smart phones (if you were lucky, you had Pong). Kids actually had to use something called I-M-A-G-I-N-A-T-I-O-N if they wanted to be entertained. Weird times, man... Weird!!
Thankfully, there's always Dodgeball.
Anyway, I loved this story. Little Axelle and her observations and ways of interacting with her world were hilarious! I was reminded a bit of Lilo from Lilo and Stitch...with maybe a pinch of early-era South Park mixed in to keep things extra cheeky. Not sure I quite got the bit about the cosmic twin, but perhaps that which was hinted at will be fleshed out in the sequel. Will there be a sequel? I hope so. I want to know what horrors and tediums Second Grade holds.
I wouldn't recommend reading this at work, though... unless you want to share with the class/coworkers why you're literally laughing out loud (and not just the typed "lol" that people tack onto things that aren't really all that funny). Honestly, one of the best things about being a librarian is getting to read at work. Because of course one has to preview books as they come in so as to know what they're all about. And if you get sucked into a reading rabbit hole... Well, that just happens sometimes.
Re-reading because I can and because Louise, or in my case, Rhonda, isn't here to tell me to "branch out and try reading new things" ( ). And this book is exactly what I needed today. I'm only a few years older than our enigmatically spicy little heroine (I was in 3rd grade in 1985-86), so I totally get the dark humor of something only a fellow Gen-Xer could've penned. And it's just as funny the second time around. Maybe more so.
Not kidding. There were points when I had to put the book down and walk away. Not because I wasn't into it, but because it was too much... too much... And I needed to catch my breath.
🤣
Please see my 2022 review for details: ⬇️
May 2022
To anyone who has ever played the Ultra Advanced Hardcore Demi-God Catalog Game... this one's for YOU!!
Ok...so here we have an autobiographical graphic novel (say that five times as fast as you can) about a sweet, Disney-eyed little girl's first year of school. You may be thinking, "Awww" and having fond, sunshiny memories about your own first year of school. Memories that have obviously been sugar-coated by the passage of time, all the rough edges smoothed away. But wait...
This little girl...
Her parents are actually aliens who've kidnapped her and forced her to attend the hellish realm that is First Grade where she'll be submitted to homework, creepy bus drivers, and having to miss The Flintstones.
Her little brother's imaginary friend is a demon who knows WAY too much and forces him (her brother, not the demon) to sleepwalk and speak in tongues at night.
And then there's the forest behind her house that's obviously haunted.
Oh yeah...AND it's the mid-80s, which introduces us to a whole other level of Weird of which kids today can't even begin to fathom. Probably. Consider acid wash, mullets, and Michael Jackson actually being a reputable and parent-approved musical artist for youngsters to obsess over. Plus... no YouTube/Tik-Tok, no social media, and no smart phones (if you were lucky, you had Pong). Kids actually had to use something called I-M-A-G-I-N-A-T-I-O-N if they wanted to be entertained. Weird times, man... Weird!!
Thankfully, there's always Dodgeball.
Anyway, I loved this story. Little Axelle and her observations and ways of interacting with her world were hilarious! I was reminded a bit of Lilo from Lilo and Stitch...with maybe a pinch of early-era South Park mixed in to keep things extra cheeky. Not sure I quite got the bit about the cosmic twin, but perhaps that which was hinted at will be fleshed out in the sequel. Will there be a sequel? I hope so. I want to know what horrors and tediums Second Grade holds.
I wouldn't recommend reading this at work, though... unless you want to share with the class/coworkers why you're literally laughing out loud (and not just the typed "lol" that people tack onto things that aren't really all that funny). Honestly, one of the best things about being a librarian is getting to read at work. Because of course one has to preview books as they come in so as to know what they're all about. And if you get sucked into a reading rabbit hole... Well, that just happens sometimes.
December 16, 2021
I read the first 30 pages or so of Secret Passages and thought what am I reading? Should I keep going? But as soon as the author appeared just to rip on her own comic I became more intrigued & I really liked the inclusion of that throughout the book.
I liked the adult perspective of the author telling her childhood story & then communicating with her childhood self at times in certain scenes that felt appropriate to speak with your past child self. I really loved this dual perspective of her childhood memories and adult reflections intertwined.
This graphic novel is very imaginative, quirky, and funny. The illustrations vary a bit in style & are all very well done. The pop culture references which are a large part of any 80’s/90’s childhood were done so well. The adult humour thrown over childhood nostalgia was clever and had me laughing. It was also a bit nostalgic to read and think about being a kid again, playing outside with siblings, anticipating the day when the huge Sears Christmas catalogue would arrive every year, having to go to dreaded school all the time, overthinking literally everything until you had weird nightmares, and talking to trees, yeah, who hasn’t?
I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun read. It did feel a little slow going and a bit anticlimactic but if this is going to be an ongoing series, which it seems like it will be, I’m so in & can’t wait to read more from Axelle Lenoir. The author seems to not give an eff & does her own thing and that’s truly metal! I love it! In the meantime, I’ll be checking out some of her other work.
Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the adult perspective of the author telling her childhood story & then communicating with her childhood self at times in certain scenes that felt appropriate to speak with your past child self. I really loved this dual perspective of her childhood memories and adult reflections intertwined.
This graphic novel is very imaginative, quirky, and funny. The illustrations vary a bit in style & are all very well done. The pop culture references which are a large part of any 80’s/90’s childhood were done so well. The adult humour thrown over childhood nostalgia was clever and had me laughing. It was also a bit nostalgic to read and think about being a kid again, playing outside with siblings, anticipating the day when the huge Sears Christmas catalogue would arrive every year, having to go to dreaded school all the time, overthinking literally everything until you had weird nightmares, and talking to trees, yeah, who hasn’t?
I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun read. It did feel a little slow going and a bit anticlimactic but if this is going to be an ongoing series, which it seems like it will be, I’m so in & can’t wait to read more from Axelle Lenoir. The author seems to not give an eff & does her own thing and that’s truly metal! I love it! In the meantime, I’ll be checking out some of her other work.
Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 16, 2024
« Tu trouves pas ça étrange que papa et maman ont la même couleur de peau que Yoda » (Lenoir, Axelle. Passages secrets, p.39)
Sincèrement un des personnages les plus attachants de la bande dessinée québécoise, la petite Axelle avec ses grands yeux, son petit grain de beauté sur la joue et son hypersensibilité m’a conquise dès les premières cases. Tout de ce personnage m’a donné envie de la connaître davantage. Sa naïveté, ses réflexions, son humour et sa manière de plonger dans son imaginaire la rendent que plus sympathique malgré tout ce que son entourage puisse en dire!
Sincèrement un des personnages les plus attachants de la bande dessinée québécoise, la petite Axelle avec ses grands yeux, son petit grain de beauté sur la joue et son hypersensibilité m’a conquise dès les premières cases. Tout de ce personnage m’a donné envie de la connaître davantage. Sa naïveté, ses réflexions, son humour et sa manière de plonger dans son imaginaire la rendent que plus sympathique malgré tout ce que son entourage puisse en dire!
November 29, 2021
The first part of a well-drawn, very slow-moving, graphic novel memoir. It's the first collected part of an ongoing series, not a standalone, which I didn't realize going in. I really enjoyed the art, the humor, the stark differences between the affects of adult and child Axelle, the family relationships, and particularly loved the youngest brother. I think people who are already familiar with this author and their works might have more well-founded expectations and a better response to this, I'm not sure. Going in completely cold, it's quite slow, and since I don't know anything it's unclear what I'm meant to guess is real, metaphorical, or completely fictional—and since it turns out to be just the earliest intro, it's hard to tell yet if such a distinction is even important.
March 21, 2022
I really enjoyed this, it was so funny and heart-wrenching and awkward and just all those strong kid emotions, and wow. I'm glad I got to meet 6 year-old Axelle and her family, and eavesdropping on her first grade year was nostalgic and a bit terrifying (in a good way), and so relatable - I may not have had the same experiences exactly, but Lenoir captures that dark magic weirdness of childhood, that sense of something going on that you can't quite understand, rather like the feeling I got from Bradbury's Dandelion Wine. I'm not good at explaining things, but this slice-of-life story, the first part of a memoir-of-sorts, was beautiful and mysterious, and I felt it all, and I can't wait for the next volume!
#SecretPassages #NetGalley
#SecretPassages #NetGalley
April 10, 2022
I've enjoyed some of Axelle Lenoir's previous books but I couldn't get into this one. The art still has some whimsical fun to it but it's overly wordy and tends to ramble, depicting a year in time but never having a real arc to its plot. It jumps around a lot and despite some funny moments I found it difficult to relate to the characters.
Read
August 13, 2023MOMMIE I WANT DAVID To DIIIIIIIIE
Read
August 24, 2022This is written like a memoir, with the adult Axelle depicted on page looking back at her childhood.
Child Axelle:
•has a younger brother with a demon named Asmeöth for an “imaginary” friend
•has two aliens for parents
•is scared of a lot of things; one thing that chronically scares her is the forest near her house
•repeatedly stares into the forest, and talks to it about how much it scares her
•doesn’t like school, like her teacher, understand anything that her classmates do, or understand why she has to go to school
The art is fun and the narrative is quirky. But I don’t think this is so much a story as it is a bunch of vignettes…that are perhaps meant to coalesce into something meaningful? The author includes some description of the anxiety she experienced as a child, and dissociative-like feelings that she started experiencing in childhood and which persist into her adulthood. But those aspects of the book didn’t connect to the silly hijinks that she would get into with her siblings and the rest of the “normal” (for lack of a better word) childhood experiences she described. The “cosmic twin” element is barely touched on, and isn’t depicted until the very last pages. That seems to indicate that there will be a sequel but there isn’t really an established story to develop further. I would’ve liked the surreal elements to actually tie into the rest of the story. As it was, they seemed like disjointed ideas that were fun but which didn’t actually serve a purpose.
Child Axelle:
•has a younger brother with a demon named Asmeöth for an “imaginary” friend
•has two aliens for parents
•is scared of a lot of things; one thing that chronically scares her is the forest near her house
•repeatedly stares into the forest, and talks to it about how much it scares her
•doesn’t like school, like her teacher, understand anything that her classmates do, or understand why she has to go to school
The art is fun and the narrative is quirky. But I don’t think this is so much a story as it is a bunch of vignettes…that are perhaps meant to coalesce into something meaningful? The author includes some description of the anxiety she experienced as a child, and dissociative-like feelings that she started experiencing in childhood and which persist into her adulthood. But those aspects of the book didn’t connect to the silly hijinks that she would get into with her siblings and the rest of the “normal” (for lack of a better word) childhood experiences she described. The “cosmic twin” element is barely touched on, and isn’t depicted until the very last pages. That seems to indicate that there will be a sequel but there isn’t really an established story to develop further. I would’ve liked the surreal elements to actually tie into the rest of the story. As it was, they seemed like disjointed ideas that were fun but which didn’t actually serve a purpose.
January 24, 2022
Oh, dear. This pretty little graphic novel is autobiographical ego-maniacal half-a-fun. In some 200 pages or so, we get rumblings of a girl who (as a comics character) doesn't care about other people in any way, which brings us to a conclusion that she doesn't really care about her readers, including myself. She just goes on and on about pretty unimportant stuff that goes in six year olds life. Because, you know, this autobiographic novel covers only two years of her life.
Axelle draws very skillfuly and visually it's really pleasant (in lack of a better word). There are many tiny gags on each page that can keep you preoccupied in a way of writings on the wall of the bathroom stall while you pee, that is. As for the narrative, I felt quite entertained by her little brother Tonio and his imaginary friend, mildly entertained by the catalogue bit and barely entertained by one-liners. The rest was a snooze fest, which may be or may seem important to Axelle Lenoir, but i couldn't care less. Here's a taste of your own medicine, Axelle! Can we get a Tonio spin-off?
Would I feel enthusiastic for the sequel? Hmhmhm. Yes? Maybe? If she gets a better editor? I wish her luck. And I want to thank Top Shelf and NetGalley for free digital copy that provided me an opportunity to write all these (mostly mean) words.
Axelle draws very skillfuly and visually it's really pleasant (in lack of a better word). There are many tiny gags on each page that can keep you preoccupied in a way of writings on the wall of the bathroom stall while you pee, that is. As for the narrative, I felt quite entertained by her little brother Tonio and his imaginary friend, mildly entertained by the catalogue bit and barely entertained by one-liners. The rest was a snooze fest, which may be or may seem important to Axelle Lenoir, but i couldn't care less. Here's a taste of your own medicine, Axelle! Can we get a Tonio spin-off?
Would I feel enthusiastic for the sequel? Hmhmhm. Yes? Maybe? If she gets a better editor? I wish her luck. And I want to thank Top Shelf and NetGalley for free digital copy that provided me an opportunity to write all these (mostly mean) words.
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