Welcome to Litsy!

Cute graphic novel about a half-coyote, half-dog cowgirl who goes on adventures with her horse.

A beautiful graphic novel with quick wit.

A feminist twist on the Western genre, this is Hanawalt‘s first longform #graphicnovel narrative. Her anthropomorphic characters are cleverly done, although I feel a bit squicky about the wolves-with-feathers Indigenous group. I‘m also not keen on revenge stories, which this is. Hanawalt has such panache, however, that I was charmed in spite of my qualms.

Looking back in Goodreads, I see that I‘ve enjoyed Hanawalt‘s work less and less with each successive book. I love her art and appreciate her subversive sense of humour, so I still look forward to seeing whatever she does next.

There are aspects of Hanawalt‘s portrayal of Indigenous people that make me uncomfortable, but I like this scene a lot. A reminder to check your assumptions.

#endpapers ❤️
You probably can‘t see details, so I‘ll highlight a few. Top centre: an arrow pointing to a house “This guy owes me money.” Top right: “Oh! ‘Fall Colors.‘” Lower left: the Red Mountains, the Orange Mountains & the Purple Peaks. Hanawalt is a genius with colour in her comics.
The back endpapers are great too, but they reveal the final scene of the narrative, so I won‘t show them here.

While this is impossible to actually know, this book feels like such a portal into Hanawalt's humor, personality, and interests - at least what's on display from her other works (books as well as BoJack Hoseman) and her podcast Baby Geniuses. So it was interesting to read a book that felt so familiar, and yet is entirely different from her other work due to the Western genre.

Great author reading last night in San Francisco!