Frogcatchers

August 1, 2019

A man dreams of a small boy hunting for frogs in a shallow creek, then awakens in a hotel room with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. Someone has pinned a dead frog to the door of the room beside his. The hotel is surrounded by water, seemingly inescapable and abandoned save for a small boy who drags the man into the basement and hints that they are in terrible danger from a malicious enemy called the Frog King. If Lemire's (Gideon Falls. Vol. 2: Original Sins) sketchy illustration style seems simple at first glance, a close reading reveals that he's actually purposefully creating a sense of fragility that matches his characters' mental states, as they search for meaning in their mysterious new home. VERDICT Readers familiar with the themes that the prolific Lemire routinely explores might find the twists and turns here a tad predictable, but the author tells his story with such passion and empathy for his characters that it's hard not to get swept up and genuinely moved by the ending nonetheless. [Previewed in Ingrid Bohnenkamp's Graphic Novels Spotlight, "Mass Appeal," LJ 6/19.]

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 5, 2019
Eisner Award–winner Lemire (Sweet Tooth) hooks the reader with a mystery in this slim, dreamy fable in which a man wakes up in a hotel room with no memory of how he got there. This scene is preceded by a seemingly unconnected one of a boy catching frogs, who sees an IV drip in the water, which segues into a series of strange images that include a chest X-ray. Together, these passages telegraph, rather unsubtly, the crux of the narrative. The man’s subsequent encounters with the frog-catching boy at the hotel and his attempts at avoiding the dreaded Frog King provide more clues. The man and the boy dodge the agents of the Frog King, enter his forbidden chamber, and escape out the window. Lemire’s scratchy lines and bursts of color in the “real world” add a visceral quality to this meditation on coping with mortality. The book’s puzzle structure points rather obviously to the pay-off; but more affecting is how Lemire simply depicts the man coming to terms with regrets and his fate. This cathartic reverie is carried off with striking visual themes, if sometimes with a heavy hand. Agent: Charlie Olsen, InkWell Management

September 15, 2019
Lemire is one of comics' most popular and prolific writers, responsible for works ranging from the superhero epic Black Hammer to the fantasy-tinged family saga Royal City, which he also illustrates. Amid these ongoing series, he occasionally finds time for smaller, more intimate projects, such as this pensive, enigmatic story. Awakening from a dream of a boy catching frogs under a viaduct, an elderly man finds himself in a hotel room with no memory of how he got there. Entering the hallway, he sees a frog nailed to the door of the room across the hall. As he explores the hotel, he encounters a young boy who warns him not to enter the mysterious room. But when the pair are pursued by sinister, unworldly figures, the man is convinced that their only escape is through the foreboding doorway. The events grow even more peculiar from there, leading to an ending that's a moving?if telegraphed?reflection on mortality. Lemire's wispy, casual illustrations add to the dreamlike air of this quietly haunting tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)