The Fire Never Goes Out

April 20, 2020
A scrapbook of diary entries, drawings, illustrated song lyrics, photos, and sticky notes honestly captures the uncertainty of youth in pseudo-real time. Between 2011 and 2019, comics artist Noelle Stevenson created year-in-review blog posts for her online followers, presented and expanded upon here. The years include early and astronomical artistic and professional successes, as she leverages a Tumblr following into a book deal (Nimona) and a Netflix show (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), as well as mental health challenges that ebb, flow, and eventually culminate in an unnamed diagnosis. Depicting herself with a range of hairstyles and frequently with a hole in her center, she documents her spiritual struggles, burgeoning independence, and deep fears, often in the form of gentle letters to her younger self. By conveying key events primarily via generalized summaries—about coming out as queer, workplace burnout, secret projects, troubled relationships, and mental crescendos—Stevenson sometimes undermines her own raw emotion, which is on clearer display where she depicts, for example, discovering that her grandma accepts her sexuality or describes the titular fire as a thing that “lit you up or burned you apart.” Stevenson’s illustrations are sweet, simple, and confident. If the memoir feels a bit scattered at times, so does the experience of youth itself; Stevenson brings unique and endearing insight to the messy process of growing up. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from May 15, 2020
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* In 2011, 19-year-old Noelle Stevenson began her annual tradition of recapping her year through a Tumblr post, illustrating her prose reflections with spot comics. Over the course of a decade, she went on to huge success as a writer and artist, becoming the youngest ever National Book Award finalist, winning Eisner Awards, becoming showrunner for Netflix's She-Ra?and cataloguing her triumphs along the way. Here, those posts are compiled into a memoir of Stevenson's twenties, richly supplemented by additional and often haunting comics that add layers to her self-portrayal. The sum of these parts is a deeply affecting, heart-wrenchingly honest exploration of not just the reality behind her success but also the struggle faced by many new adults to discover themselves. Stevenson lays bare her own struggles with Christianity, body image, romance, independence, isolation, and most crucially, mental health, with her own particular demon being unnamed but described as a fire, eating her alive. Most of the work is fine-lined grayscale floating in white space, including the hand-lettered text, adding to the sense of isolation and encroaching desperation while also deepening the intimacy. This work of pure vulnerability and ultimately hope may serve as a vital lifeline for young fans in need of having their own inner struggles reflected in their heroes. An incredibly brave offering from one of comics' most precious creators.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)