Odessa

The artwork is stunning and the worldbuilding is pretty developed for such a short graphic novel. In a post-apocalyptic world where an earthquake has destroyed civilization, a seventeen year old girl sets off to find her long lost mother. Eight years ago her mother abandoned Ginny, her two brothers, and her father and hasn't been seen since. When Ginny receives a package in the mail from her mother - it's the first news they've had that she's alive. She sneaks out in the night to try and find her, only to discover that her two younger brothers have tagged along for the journey. They realize how different and unsafe it is the closer they get to the coast. Rival gangs, swindlers, cannibals, and more await them. Exciting and unique. The only thing I didn't love was the ending. Is there going to be more? Is this a series? I need answers!  

Valentine

Wow. That's a gut punch. Raw, gritty, and profound. It made me feel l just read some Appalachian noir. Set in West Texas during the late seventies; a fourteen year old Hispanic teenager is brutally and horrifically raped and assaulted and it tears the small town of Odessa apart. For many of the Bible thumping, good ol' boy residents, that young boy (who works in the oil fields) is innocent until proven guilty. Besides she was asking for it! For Mary Rose the woman who found poor Gloria, bloodied and barefoot after crawling across the desert to escape the man who brutalized her, it's insane that anyone could place blame on the girl. She's only fourteen, she's a child! Told in alternating perspectives from different women in the town; this story will captivate, enrage, and haunt readers. Wonderful storytelling!