Staff Picks (July): Step Aside, Pops

Explaining Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant comic strip series to the uninitiated tends to go poorly, as it involves words like "history" and "literature." However, there are a ton of reasons why you should read not only her first volume, Hark! A Vagrant, but her newest collection Step Aside, Pops as well. 

Jumping into Kate Beaton's idiosyncratic comic strip collection is an unpredictable fistful of history to the face. Or perhaps it's an arresting impact of literature. Or maybe fat ponies. It's hard to say, really. She will not be contained, and since she's won all the awards, there's absolutely no editor on this earth that would try.

Beaton takes the reader on giggle-snort gallops into realms of knowledge. She'll feed you all kinds of amazing facts about things that happened to famous figures, at speed, with flair and far too much enthusiasm, like a historical, literary pie to the face. You'll find yourself flipping page after page, munching her playful japes like potato chips, immune to the demands of time or reason. Her humor hypnotizes and beguiles. Her pencil capers and cavorts. You will finally find someone else who has the same misgivings about Wuthering Heights as you do! Here is a woman who understands how truly sassy the ancient romans could be! You will no longer be alone to face your fears about our founding father's possible reactions to today's consumer culture! (Benjamin Franklin is all about it. 100%. No worries.) You will experience it all like a glorious 160 page plate of jalapeño poppers: bite-sized and spicy!

—Sarah Martinez

Publisher: Drawn + Quarterly Item Code: JUL151294 Release Date: 09/16/15 SRP: $19.95