English language
Published Feb. 14, 2017
My Favorite Thing is Monsters
by Emil Ferris
5 stars
(2 reviews)
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the debut graphic novel of Emil Ferris. It portrays a young girl named Karen Reyes investigating the death of her neighbor in 1960s Chicago. Ferris started working on the graphic novel after contracting West Nile virus and becoming paralyzed at age 40. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for writing and began the graphic novel to help her recover in 2010, taking six years to create 700 pages. The graphic novel draws on Ferris's childhood growing up in Chicago, and her love of monsters and horror media. The process of creating the work was difficult, with Ferris working long hours and living very frugally, and publishing met setbacks such as Ferris needing to find a new publisher and the first volume's printing being temporarily seized en route at the Panama Canal. The first volume was published by Fantagraphics on February …
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the debut graphic novel of Emil Ferris. It portrays a young girl named Karen Reyes investigating the death of her neighbor in 1960s Chicago. Ferris started working on the graphic novel after contracting West Nile virus and becoming paralyzed at age 40. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for writing and began the graphic novel to help her recover in 2010, taking six years to create 700 pages. The graphic novel draws on Ferris's childhood growing up in Chicago, and her love of monsters and horror media. The process of creating the work was difficult, with Ferris working long hours and living very frugally, and publishing met setbacks such as Ferris needing to find a new publisher and the first volume's printing being temporarily seized en route at the Panama Canal. The first volume was published by Fantagraphics on February 14, 2017. The graphic novel won the 2017 Ignatz Award for "Outstanding Graphic Novel" and three 2018 Eisner Awards, and was nominated for a 2018 Hugo Award. The French edition won the ACBD's Prix de la critique and the Fauve D'Or at the 2019 Angoulême International Comics Festival. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters has received critical acclaim and is considered by many critics to be one of the best graphic novels of 2017. A related freebie that Ferris created for Free Comic Book Day was also nominated for a 2020 Eisner Award.
