by Noah Van Sciver
Noah's meandering memoir of childhood adventures – and traumas – and then connecting the dots between these childhood events and his later, adult preoccupations and the process of personality formation.  Growing up in a (Mormon) family of eleven(!) – mom, dad, eight siblings and himself (although the oldest sibling is not present here, having married young and gotten out of there) – certainly colors his childhood experiences with an outlier status, at least when situated among his fellow comics makers (excepting, of course, his older brother, Ethan), and likely most comics readers as well.  One Dirty Tree is a 116 page, full color, hardcover that contains over 100 pages of insightful, engaging and entertaining comics storytelling, for the most part using the six-panel grid; yet another fine Noah Van Sciver production.
retail price - $19.99  copacetic price - $16.75 Thelonious Sphere Monk and Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) had one of the most unique friendships in the history of jazz music, and it is the center around which this graphic novel is woven.  While Monk's career began over a decade before he met de Koenigswarter – at which point he had already recorded his most important compositions –  their relationship spanned the final three decades of Monk's life and career, and makes a great story.  And that story is, while greatly simplified here, told with an élan which evinces an obvious passion for the material on the part of its creator, Youssef Daoudi.  There are more great comics sequences of jazz performance between two covers than any other work we can think of.  In addition to the innumerable portraits of Monk at rest, dancing to the music of the spheres, and in performance, there are portraits – mostly in performance – of a vast swath of his cohorts, including Bird, Diz, Miles, Trane and many others.  And, reading this will have you pulling out your Monk discs and giving them yet another listen (or two, or three...), which in and of itself is enough to recommend it.  Monk!
retail price - $24.99  copacetic price - $21.75