
My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book Two
The most anticipated graphic novel of 2024, concluding the story of young Karen Reyes, the most inspiring “monster” in contemporary fiction.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two is the eagerly awaited conclusion to one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the past decade. Presented as the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold.
In Book Two, dark mysteries past and present continue to abound in the tumultuous and violent Chicago summer of 1968. Young Karen attends a protest in Grant Park and finds herself swept up in a police stomping. Privately, she continues to investigate Anka’s recent death and discovers one last cassette tape that sheds light upon Anka's heroic activities in Nazi Germany. She wrestles with her own sexual identity, the death of her mother, and the secrets she suspects her brother Deez of hiding. Ferris’s exhilarating cast of characters experience revelations and epiphanies that both resolve and deepen the mysteries visited upon them earlier. Visually, the story is told in Ferris's inimitable style that breathtakingly and seamlessly combines panel-to-panel storytelling and cartoon montages filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster mag iconography.
Reviews

Jonnie@softmossdog
As stunning as the first volume, but none of the questions left in the first volume get answered. This story deserves an ending, and it doesn't have one. I'm so disappointed I could give it even fewer stars than I have, but I've waited so long to read it that I refuse to believe it isn't at least somewhat worth the wait. The story is of course excellent. The order of the speech bubbles remains indecipherable, but I'm willing to overlook this. I just really, really wish it hadn't ended with all these open questions.