Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Making Friends
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.kristengudsnuk.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/kristen-gudsnuks-henchgirl-tackles-young-adulthood.html * http://whatchareading.com/talking-with-the-real-henchgirl-kristen-gudsnuk/#.WcFPbciGNPY
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Comic book writer and illustrator. Sally, band member.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Kristen Gudsnuk is a comic book writer and illustrator, and also performs in the band, Sally. Noting Sailor Moon and X-Men as influences, she writes the webcomic Henchgirl, writes the graphic novel Making Friends, and illustrates the miniseries Modern Fantasy written by Rafer Roberts. Originally from Shelton, Connecticut and now based in New York City, she also illustrates Jen Calonita’s “VIP” series.
VIP
VIP: I’m with the Band, written by Jen Calonita and illustrated by Gudsnuk, features twelve-year-old Mackenzie “Mac” Lowell who can’t believe that she and her mom have been invited to follow Mac’s favorite boy band, Perfect Storm, on a two-month road trip. Along the way, Mac will blog and write in her journal about her amazing experience, her love of lead singer Zander Welling, and the brotherly relationship she has with the other band members. When the boys’ disagreements cause tension in the group, Mac’s comic book alter ego, Mac Attack, helps keep the band together. Gudsnuk provides Mac’s diary entry illustrations in black-and-white panels that chronicle the tour and relationships. In the book’s spot drawings, “Her ambitions to be an artist not only feature in the plot but also in its illustrations,” observed Julia Smith in Booklist. Brenda Kahn declared in School Library Journal, “The diary format and many illustrations will entice fans of Rachel Renee Russell’s Dork Diaries.”
Gudsnuk also illustrated VIP: Battle of the Bands, which finds Mac back on tour with Perfect Storm for the Sizzling Summer Boys tour. The band is at odds with new band Thunder and Lightning, a rip-off of Perfect Storm. Mac must contend with someone who is playing dangerous pranks and writing nasty online gossip about Perfect Storm with information that seems to come right from Mac’s journal. Blogger Mac Attack “appears in comic-book spreads throughout her diary-style confessional,” said Booklist reviewer Julia Smith.
Henchgirl
In 2017, Gudsnuk published Henchgirl, the humorous story of Mary Posa, who is not only the disappointment and superpower-less member of a superhero family, but is also the henchgirl to the Butterfly Gang led by supervillain Monsieur Butterfly. Mary hates her boss and her jerk coworkers, regrets that she doesn’t get health insurance, and can’t seem to be an effective henchgirl. Complications begin when she starts dating bank teller and superhero Fred.
Describing one of the themes of Henchgirl, Gudsnuk told Insha Fitzpatrick in an interview at Geek.com, “The fear that your parents are disappointed in you is something that really motivates a lot of people. Especially when you’re like in your twenties. So, I tried to heighten that …It’s a universal feeling and story that I thought would be fun to explore” in a superhero world. In describing the characters’ ethical spectrum, Gudsnuk told Caitlin Rosberg in a Paste website interview that women are usually omitted from morally ambiguous characters and relegated to being the moral compass. She added: “The conflict inherent in Mary’s situation makes her a more dynamic character, and gives her more opportunity to grow into a realistic character. I try to actively avoid the annoying Ideal Girlfriend character you [often] see …I just like it when there are different types of women, because that’s how reality is!”
Calling the book “always quirky, occasionally touching, and surprisingly dark,” a writer in Publishers Weekly added that as Gudsnuk stitches her ideas into a narrative, the story slows down. Praising the book’s characters, Rocco Sansone commented online at Review Fix that even though some fall into comic book tropes, “the writing on these characters is brilliant. They have lives, likes, dislikes and real world problems.” Sansone called the art decent, but cartoony and lacking.
Making Friends
Gudsnuk followed up with the 2018 Making Friends graphic novel. Twelve-year-old Dany is lost as she enters middle school, her friends are scattered, and she doesn’t fit in. When her family fights over who gets her late aunt’s belongings, Dany is given a sketchbook that turns out to be magical. Whatever Dany draws in it becomes real. At first she draws a handsome anime prince that comes to life and gives her advice. But Dany really just wants a new best friend. She draws a girl she calls Madison who is her friend at first, but there’s no expectation that she’ll stay that way, especially when Madison resents having been created by magic.
“Gudsnuk hits many of the angst-y issues of middle school, including popularity, bullying, family relationships, body image, and fandom,” commented a writer in Kirkus Reviews. “This brief volume accomplishes a hefty amount of storytelling as Dany uses magic to avoid uncomfortable situations,” according to Matisse Moze in School Library Journal. “What makes this graphic novel stand out is how well author and illustrator Kristen Gudsnuk seems able to recall middle school in all its tragedy and glory,” declared a reviewer on Mugglenet.com. Characterizing Gudsnuk’s illustrations as sturdy with added spice from employing anime styles, a Publishers Weekly contributor noted: “Gudsnuk’s powers of imagination will make her plenty of friends.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2015, Julia Smith, review of VIP: I’m with the Band, p. 52; July 1, 2016, Julia Smith, review of VIP: Battle of the Bands, p. 77.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2018, review of Making Friends.
Publishers Weekly, March 20, 2017, review of Henchgirl, p. 62; May 14, 2018, review of Making Friends, p. 59.
School Library Journal, September 2015, Brenda Kahn, review of VIP: I’m with the Band, p. 138; July 2018, Matisse Moze, review of Making Friends, p. 66.
ONLINE
Geek.com, https://www.geek.com/ (October 16, 2017), Insha Fitzpatrick, author interview.
Paste, https://www.pastemagazine.com/ (March 28, 2017), Caitlin Rosberg, author interview.
Review Fix, https://reviewfix.com/ (March 9, 2017), Rocco Sansone, review of Henchgirl.
Kristen Gudsnuk is the creator of the comic series Henchgirl, and the illustrator of the book series VIP by Jen Calonita. In her spare time she performs with the band Sally. Kristen learned everything she knows about art and life from Sailor Moon, X-Men, and Animorphs. She lives in New York City with her supportive dog and loyal boyfriend.
Henchgirl Cartoonist Kristen Gudsnuk on the Perils of Young Adulthood & Supervillain Employment
By Caitlin Rosberg | March 28, 2017 | 11:00am
Art by Kristen Gudsnuk
COMICS FEATURES KRISTEN GUDSNUK
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Henchgirl Cartoonist Kristen Gudsnuk on the Perils of Young Adulthood & Supervillain Employment
From the street cops of Gotham Central to the guards in Black Panther: World of Wakanda, a growing roster of characters often relegated to the background have stepped into the spotlight—folks who often stand behind better-known heroes and villains, but deserve just as much exploration. In the right hands, these stories can be compelling and fun, fleshing out familiar yet under-realized players and adding much needed weight to protagonist-heavy settings. Kristen Gudsnuk, writer and artist of Henchgirl, finds a wealth of narrative buried behind the larger-than-life names that often overpower everyone else on the panel.
Henchgirl.jpeg
Henchgirl nails all the best parts of “becoming an adult” bildungsromans, with a dynamic and diverse cast sorting through 20-something ambiguity. By layering real drama under the high pressure and comedy of a superhero story, Gudsnuk crafts vivid characters and draws readers deeper into her world. The protagonist, Mary, is part of a supervillain’s crew, and struggles with her roommate’s judgment, her family’s rejection, her colleagues’ scheming and a desire to have some sort of romance despite her high-octane life of crime.
Henchgirl is full of visual gags and humor to temper the violence that Mary and her friends face as their story unfolds. Gudsnuk’s skill with characterization and nuanced, unexpected storytelling are complemented by her bright and poppy art style. In advance of Dark Horse’s Henchgirl collection, which bundles the original series plus content never before offered in print, Paste chatted with Gudsnuk to discuss moral shades of gray, the definition of family and moving her work from web to paper.
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Paste: The titular “Henchgirl,” Mary, is one of the few female characters in comics that reads as morally gray. She’s not a bad person, but she does do bad things and she doesn’t always have the greatest motivation. Was it important for you to keep her somewhere in the middle of the ethical spectrum?
Kristen Gudsnuk: I’ve always been naturally inclined toward morally ambiguous characters. And maybe it’s because when the antihero boom happened in pop culture over the past decade, female characters were largely excluded from the excitement and were usually relegated to being the moral compass. The conflict inherent in Mary’s situation makes her a more dynamic character, and gives her more opportunity to grow into a realistic character. I try to actively avoid the annoying Ideal Girlfriend character you see pop up frequently (or her dark reverse, who’s too cool for any trappings of femininity or emotion whatsoever). I just like it when there are different types of women, because that’s how reality is!
Paste: The characters around Mary prove themselves to be pretty flexible when it comes to morality, too, but only as the story unfolds around her. Did you know where everyone was headed when you started, or did the plot and their development evolve as you wrote?
Gudsnuk: There’s a Morrissey lyric that relates perfectly: “Is evil just something you are, or something you do?” I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s something you do, although your actions inform and are informed by your personal character. Henchgirl is mostly lighthearted, but I wanted to explore the toll of being self-destructive—not just on Mary herself (who really self-destructs spectacularly over the course of the book), but also on everyone she interacts with. In a way, her moral turpitude is contagious. I was trying to express something like, We may think we’re only hurting ourselves, but bad decisions radiate outward out of our control. Although I guess good decisions do, too. Who knows?!
I left a lot open to evolve as I was planning, writing and drawing Henchgirl. I had a few points I knew I wanted to hit, but even those changed as I went along!
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Henchgirl Interior Art by Kristen Gudsnuk
Paste: Henchgirl began as a web comic, then was printed in single issues and now as a collected volume. Would you have approached the story differently if you’d started in print?
Gudsnuk: Henchgirl’s pacing has been referred to as “breakneck,” probably because of its beginnings as a web comic. When I started, I was a little overwhelmed with all the crazy ideas I had, and tried to cram a lot into each page. This was because people were reading a page or two a week, and I didn’t want it to be a page or two of someone opening a door or something. I would probably do things a little differently, but it’s so hard to judge! Besides, I got a lot of feedback from readers, so I had the really helpful opportunity to adjust course while still in the thick of it, to see what people are interested in, and even to fill up plot holes that readers pointed out.
Paste: Have you noticed different responses from people reading along online versus those picking up the books? Are people reacting to plot points and changes in ways you didn’t expect?
Gudsnuk: People reading online would give really detailed commentary, whereas IRL readers whom I meet at conventions or who tweet at me are more likely to simply say enthusiastically, “I love Henchgirl!” So far readers on both ends have been really supportive, though.
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Henchgirl Interior Art by Kristen Gudsnuk
Paste: One of the most remarkable things about Henchgirl is the persistent turn away from expected tropes. It would be easier and more familiar to have the book act as a tidy redemption arc, but you frequently steered the story toward more nuanced and difficult outcomes. Was that always part of your plan?
Gudsnuk: It’s probably my contrarian nature. Whenever I feel myself drifting into familiar tropes, I have the most fun time trying to think of ways to turn tropes on their head. The difficult thing about crafting stories is that you want them to be enjoyable and fun, so you want some sort of escapism—which is probably where the superhero stuff comes in. And then, when your readers’ guards are down, you trick them into thinking about somewhat heavy subject matter. (Then, if you’re me, you end it with a dumb joke because you’re 30 levels of irony deep.)
Paste: Henchgirl is populated in large part by women. There are tertiary characters who are men, but with the exception of Fred, the core characters are women. Was that an intentional choice from the beginning?
Gudsnuk: I actually joke that my comic doesn’t quite pass the Reverse Bechdel Test. Which was completely unintentional. Because I was thinking so much about playing around with (and inverting) superhero comic tropes, I thought it would be really funny to flout the norm and skip over Mr. Great Guy (a grotesque Batman/Superman pastiche) and his nemesis Monsieur Butterfly’s narratives. I could tell a lot of my webcomic readers were itching to hear more about Mr. Great Guy…but the conceit of Henchgirl is partially that it’s about characters who, in a traditional superhero comic, would be the tertiary characters, seen in a panel or two and then never again.
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Henchgirl Interior Art by Kristen Gudsnuk
Paste: A lot of what drives Mary’s story forward is the conflicting needs of and eventual collision of her biological family with her “logical” families, which is pretty common for people in their 20s. How did you layer the story to keep it grounded in reality without losing the fantastical superhero elements?
Gudsnuk: I wanted to explore that sense of familial disconnect that comes when you get older. When you’re a kid, everything your parents say is Word of God. Then, when you’re older, you realize your parents are just people, for better or for worse. You watch an old video and they’re as old then as you are now, and you try to reconcile the myriad different versions of your parents. I felt like Mary’s personal arc was the bones of the comic, and the fantastical elements would probably collapse into themselves without the structure of Mary’s personal arc regarding her friends, parents and job. But it was also because those were the elements I was most interested in writing about!
Paste: There are a lot of references and Easter eggs tucked away in panels all through the book, from Sailor Moon to Archer to Pokémon. Why did you want to include those?
Gudsnuk: I just throw in references to things I like, if only because they’ve ingrained themselves so deeply into my subconscious. Usually they’re nestled in the background, just a little extra reward for those who read Henchgirl extremely closely.
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Henchgirl Interior Art by Kristen Gudsnuk
Paste: Henchgirl builds on the tradition of recognizable superheroes like Batman and Superman without being beholden to them. How did you balance poking fun at beloved, longstanding characters and tropes without being cruel or mocking?
Gudsnuk: I actually just try not to censor myself, which is hard when people are definitely going to read what you’re writing. And I have always had a pitch-black sense of humor. So I let myself be as mean spirited as I want, but deep down I love Batman and superhero stories so much—a little bit of my wonder and glee keeps my humor from getting too mean!
Kristen Gudsnuk: You Did Not Just Tell Me To Hench!
INTERVIEWS MARCH 31, 2018 CARL 2557 0
I’m here at Garden State Comic Fest with Kristen Gudsnuk, the writer and artist of the hit comic series Henchgirl, published by Dark Horse Comics. She is currently working on a graphic novel for Scholastic Graphix, which is of course the publisher that also publishes Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemeier, so that’s really cool, too. Kristen, I’d like to ask you a few questions for my readers.
Kristen Gudsnuk: Awesome!
Carl: Did you want to become a comic book creator when you were a kid?
Kristen Gudsnuk: I had a lot of random ambitions when I was a kid many of which were like, “I want to be a sailor scout!” “I want to be an astronomer!” But I think, I also did want to be an artist of some sort. I hadn’t really figured out that I liked comics until I was a bit older.
Carl: What comic books did you read when you were a kid?
Kristen Gudsnuk: I got really, really into Inuyasha when I was in about 7th grade, and that was kind of descent into comic books. So, it was a lot of manga from the 90’s: Inuyasha, Sailor Moon – I’m wearing a Sailor Moon shirt, – yeah, it was mainly manga actually. But, a couple of other series, too.
Carl: What comics do you read now?
Kristen Gudsnuk: Nowadays I try to expand what I read. Also, not just comics too, you want to make sure to read all sorts of different mediums. Like prose, so you don’t forget, like, your attention span doesn’t get messed up. But recently I read Super Mutant Magic Academy, which was really good. It was by Jillian Tamaki, and it was like a really fun sort of slice-of-life series that was just little strips about kids in, like, a magic school. That was really neat. And I read American-Born Chinese, which maybe you’ve read; it’s a middle-grade book, and it’s about coming of age and being Asian-American. It’s really interesting.
Carl: Neat. When my dad and I read the description of Henchgirl, we immediately laughed and then started reading it. How did you come up with the idea?
Kristen Gudsnuk: Um, I was watching a lot of Batman: The Animated Series with my boyfriend, because I kind of missed it the first time around, when I was little, and so I watched it as an adult, and I really liked it a lot. And I wanted to make fun of some of the superhero tropes that I saw being used in, like, a lot of different mediums. So, it was partially that and, I also, I started working on Henchgirl because I, I don’t know, I just, like, wanted to express something and I felt like that comic…it’s weird – it’s kind of a metaphor for when you’re older and you’re trying to figure out what you want to do with your life and stuff. She doesn’t exactly know what she wants out of life or how to get it, so, in that way it’s metaphorical so it kind of like, expresses that.
Carl: Have you ever watched the Phineas and Ferb episode where Candace becomes the Dangeraffe and tells her friend to hench? And her friend Stacy says, “Oh no, you did not just tell me to hench!”
Kristen Gudsnuk: I have not seen that yet!
Carl: Oh, it’s really good, you should see it!
Kristen Gudsnuk: I guess I should! That’s funny.
Carl: You started Henchgirl as a web comic. Was it just something to have fun with, or did you plan to do it for a long time?
Kristen Gudsnuk: When I first started it was just for fun. I didn’t really see it going anywhere and, in fact, I had to redraw the first 80 pages or so, because, first of all, I hadn’t figured out how to draw very well yet And also, I wasn’t taking it very seriously, so I had to redo a bunch of it. So, yeah, it did start out just for fun. But the story just kept on getting longer and more, I don’t know, I just kept on having ideas about it, which is always what you want when you are writing. Something that gives you lots of inspiration. So, I just kept rolling with it, until it ended.
Carl: Have you thought about animating Henchgirl?
Kristen Gudsnuk: I don’t think I am the person to do it. But if anyone else were to, if it were a T.V. show or something, I would be totally fine with that. But, I don’t know how to animate so, not me.
Carl: What can you tell me about your work with Scholastic Graphix?
Kristen Gudsnuk: Well, currently I’m working on a project that I’m writing and drawing. The title hasn’t been announced yet, so I won’t say it. But it’s going to be really cool. Middle grade. Graphic novel. Kind of — you might not get this, this cultural reference — but it’s like: Freaks and Geeks meets Sailor Moon. So, it’s kind of about the – the bad part of coming of age… plus magic! You know it’s more of a realistic take. Which is what I was going for because I remember when I was little, I didn’t like stuff that felt like talked down to me, I’d be like “This is for babies!” I liked stuff that had real stakes, so I was trying to do that.
Carl: When is it coming out?
Kristen Gudsnuk: It’s coming out next July. So in a year from now.
[Note – Just 4 more months!]
Carl: Thank you for answering my questions. It was nice to meet you.
Kristen Gudsnuk: Nice to meet you too! Thank you!
Kristen Gudsnuk Talks Inspirations and What Brought Henchgirl To Life
BY INSHA FITZPATRICK 10.16.2017 :: 10:00AM EDT BENWYYATT
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Cosplay Gallery: New York Comic Con 2017, Part 2
I love hidden gems in comics. Henchgirl by Kristen Gudsnuk was a hidden gem that was acquired by Dark Horse earlier this year and has since taken the world by storm. We sat down with the creator of Henchgirl Kristen Gudsnuk at New York Comic Con to discuss Henchgirl, her inspiration for the comic and giggle galore.
Insha Fitzpatrick: Thank you for sitting down and talking with me! For our Geek readers, can you tell us a little bit about Henchgirl and how she came to be?
Kristen Gudsnuk: Yeah! Sure. So, Henchgirl is kind of a comedy series that was collected in graphic novel form by Dark Horse earlier this year. It’s about a girl who works for a supervillain, just because she can’t get a real job. That’s my tagline. Cause it’s exactly what happens. She’s unemployed, living in a superhero world. It started out as a webcomic, but I’d also print up copies and sell them at local shows here in New York. It kept kind of growing and getting bigger then I got picked up by Dark Horse, and they put out my trade.
via Dark Horse
Insha: There are a lot of different themes in Henchgirl. Some of them kind of arrange from dealing with parents to her dealing with friendship issues. For example when Henchgirl steals her friend’s card to break into her job because the gang told her to. Did you mean it to be a common (but unusual) coming of age story in the superhero world as well?
Kristen: When I was writing it, I think I was putting some of my own feelings into it. I think that’s kind of what comes out automatically. My parents aren’t disappointed in me, but the fear that your parents are disappointed in you is something that really motivates a lot of people. Especially when you’re like in your twenties. So, I tried to heighten that by having her parents be superheroes who are disapproving of the fact that their daughter works for a villain and she’s got a sister whose a hero and stuff. It’s a universal feeling and story that I thought would be fun to explore without there superhero tropes.
Insha: What were some of your inspirations? Any movies, music, tv, stuff like that?
Kristen: Oh yeah! There are tons…
Insha: You can just give me some! [Laughs]
via Dark Horse
Kristen: [Laughs] Okay, like Batman: The Animated Series was a big one, and I had just… I didn’t watch that when I was little. I just… it looked too serious! I like funny cartoons. My boyfriend made me watch it as a grown woman, and I was so, so up for it. But then when I was watching it I was picking up on sort of the main tropes of western superhero comics and superheroes [in general]. I wanted to do my own spin on that, either making fun of that or just playing with how those things would really work out. My whole thing is not having things work out for people. [Laughs] Cause I think its funny!
Insha: And it’s more realistic!
Kristen: Yeah! In real life you don’t, like, DO THE THING. In movies, the world is going to explode, except someone saves it in the last second. Just like in real life, that wouldn’t have happened, and everyone would die. I like having a more realistic spin on things. With a darkly cynical bend.
Insha: I think that’s the best thing! That’s what me and a lot of people like Henchgirl more. All of this stuff does happen to her. It’s so bad but ultimately realistic!
Kristen: A lot of fiction lies to you, ya know? They give you anything you want, and obviously, that’s why sometimes we crave fiction so we can live out that version of life where everything is great. At the same time, I always connect with stuff that I feel like “Right! That is how things are!” So, I try to go in the opposite direction from the wish-fulfillment.
via Dark Horse
Insha: Do you have any other inspirations [for Henchgirl] or is Batman: The Animated the MAIN one?
Kristen: Oh there’s like a bajillion! [Laughs] I was watching New Girl, which is totally underrated, very funny show. I was like, yeah! Well, the mashup is like this roommate, sitcom-ey vibe and these ridiculously low-stakes plots happening with them. Artistically a lot of people say my stuff looks like Scott Pilgrim. I see it too probably because I kept those books all the time. Bryan O’Malley draws so simply, but really really well. Almost as if he’s distilling things down to their essence.
Insha: Both of you have the same writing style too cause the main focus is always on the characters and their situations. There’s so much happening, but you build on character, and each is important. It’s engaging. That’s something you and Bryan do well too.
Kristen: Oh! Well, thank you! [Laughs]
Insha: You’re very welcome! [Laughs] Is there anything else you’re doing right now?
Kristen: I have some stuff coming out sometime next year. I’ve got some projects that haven’t been announced yet, but I’m working on something with Dark Horse, and I also have something with Graphix. It’s going to be so cool! They’re both going to be really awesome so next year more stuff!
Insha: That’s AMAZING. Can you tell our readers where they can find you? Social media, website, etc.?
Kristen: I usually just use Instagram and Twitter. I’m @henchgirl_comic on both of them.
Henchgirl is out now in trade paperback. You grab your copy here.
Kristen Gudsnuk is a comics writer and illustrator. She got her start with the webcomic Henchgirl, which was later published by Scout Comics in single issue and Dark Horse Comics as a collection. Her newest works include the middle grade graphic novel Making Friends, from Scholastic Books, and Modern Fantasy, a miniseries from Dark Horse (written by Rafer Roberts). Gudsnuk also illustrated the VIP series by Jen Calonita, published by Little, Brown. Originally from Shelton, CT, she now lives in Queens, NY with her boyfriend and dog.
Gudsnuk, Kristen: MAKING FRIENDS
Kirkus Reviews. (May 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Gudsnuk, Kristen MAKING FRIENDS Graphix/Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $24.99 7, 31 ISBN: 978-1-338-13922-8
Making friends is tough in a new school; could a magical notebook be the answer?
Seventh grade is not beginning well for Dany; her two besties are not in any of her classes, and not only is she having a tough time making new friends, she is also being bullied. One day, Dany inherits an unusual sketchbook from her recently deceased great-aunt. While sketching her favorite evil prince from the beloved anime Solar Sisters, she discovers that anything she draws in the notebook becomes real. Dany then creates for herself the perfect best friend: Madison Fontaine, a trendy new girl from New York City who is knowledgeable about trends, sassy, and fun. However, Dany soon learns that even if you tailor-make your own BFF, how you treat them still matters. This charming graphic novel features full-color, manga-inspired illustrations and a breezy plot that blends wish fulfillment and fantasy with an approachable and contemporary storyline. With a broad brush, Gudsnuk hits many of the angst-y issues of middle school, including popularity, bullying, family relationships, body image, and fandom, creating appeal for a large swath of readers. Main character Dany is white and seemingly comfortably middle-class, as is her creation, Madison. Secondary characters offer a bit more inclusivity, portraying different races, ethnicities, and orientations.
A nifty pastiche of middle school matters. (Graphic fantasy. 7-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gudsnuk, Kristen: MAKING FRIENDS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A538294031/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ea408c9c. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A538294031
Making Friends
Publishers Weekly. 265.20 (May 14, 2018): p59.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Making Friends
Kristen Gudsnuk. Graphix, $24.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-338-13922-8; trade paper $12.99 ISBN 978-1-338-13921-1
Dany's first shock comes while drawing idly in a sketchbook that she's inherited: her drawing of Prince Neptune, a favorite anime character, springs to life from the page. Apparently, the sketchbook can make anything that she draws real. Adrift in middle school, insecure Dany is thrilled to realize that she can create a cool best friend who won't scorn her, but she forgets to give her creation, Madison, a credible backstory. Injecting fantasy into an angsty school-life story allows Gudsnuk (creator of the Henchgirl series) a wealth of plot twists. Dany learns the ropes of middle school with help from a loyal, funny friend, Tom, while grappling with the implications of Madison's free will and her own new abilities. Gudsnuk's sturdy cartooning gets added spice from Prince Neptune's anime world as well as elfin mini-characters who make snarky asides: "adios, muchacho," one says to the defeated Prince after he fails to take over the world during a school pep rally. Gudsnuk's powers of imagination will make her plenty of friends, too. Ages 8-12. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Making Friends." Publishers Weekly, 14 May 2018, p. 59. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A539387489/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=863e13ca. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A539387489
VIP: Battle of the Bands
Julia Smith
Booklist. 112.21 (July 1, 2016): p77.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
VIP: Battle of the Bands. By Jen Calonita. Illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. July 2016. 320p. Little, Brown, $16.99 (9780316259774); e-book, $9.99 (9780316259767). Gr. 3-6.
Mac is back on the road with her favorite band, Perfect Storm. Unfortunately, the Sizzling Summer Boys tour isn't going well. For one thing, PS has to share the stage with newcomers Thunder and Lightning (total PS rip-off!), who have stolen a PS song to use as their first single. Animosity runs high, and prank wars ignite between the two bands, but soon private information about PS begins appearing online--posted by a mysterious "Bad Kitty." Compounding the backstage drama are Mac's continued crush on PS guitarist Kyle and her realization that everything Bad Kitty writes seems ripped from the pages of Mac's journal. Mac knows she must unmask the vengeful blogger to save her beloved band's reputation as well as her own. As in VIP: I'm with the Band (2015), Mac's cool alter ego, Mac Attack, appears in comic-book spreads throughout her diary-style confessional. Calonita nicely captures the extremes of tween emotions, with appropriate squeals, swoons, and tears. Friendship and loyalty take center stage in this enjoyable addition to the VIP series.--Julia Smith
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Smith, Julia. "VIP: Battle of the Bands." Booklist, 1 July 2016, p. 77. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A459889140/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1b2f9865. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459889140
VIP: I'm with the Band
Julia Smith
Booklist. 112.5 (Nov. 1, 2015): p52.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
By Jen Calonita. Illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. Dec. 2015. 336p. Little, Brown, $17 (9780316259729). Gr. 3-6.
Twelve-year-old Mac can't imagine anything more amazing than seeing her all-time favorite band, Perfect Storm, in concert. But then her mom announces that she has gotten a job as Perfect Storm's tour manager, and the two of them will be joining the boys on the road for a couple of months. Let the manic texting and hyperventilating begin! Despite starting off the tour on the wrong foot, hanging out with the band is a dream come true, and as Mac gets to know the boys, her longtime crush on Zander starts shifting in another direction. Calonita captures squealing tween-girl excitement perfectly in this diary-style novel, but she makes sure being a fangirl isn't Mac's only M.O. Her ambitions to be an artist not only feature in the plot but also in its illustrations, as spreads from her comic book Mac Attack (home to her cool, confident alter ego) join the book's spot illustrations. Middle-schoolers won't likely identify with being on tour, but Mac's crushes and obsessions will strike a familiar chord.--Julia Smith
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Smith, Julia. "VIP: I'm with the Band." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2015, p. 52. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A434514500/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6c79f435. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A434514500
I'm with the Band
Publishers Weekly. 262.39 (Sept. 28, 2015): p89.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
I'm with the Band
Jen Calonita, illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. Little, Brown, $17 (336p) ISBN 978-0-
316-25972-9
Calonita (Flunked) targets Directioners and other boy band devotees with this effervescent first book in the V.I.P. series. Twelve-year-old Mackenzie Lowell and her two best friends live for the band Perfect Storm and are dying to see them in concert. Mac also loves drawing comics about her alter ego Mac Attack, who is part of a crime-fighting girl band (Gudsnuk, creator of the Flenchgirl webcomic, provides exuberant comics sequences and spot illustrations throughout). Mac's dreams of someday marrying her Perfect Storm crush, Zander, become just slightly more plausible after Mac's mother announces that she has been asked to manage Perfect Storm on tour, and Mac will be coming along. While Mac's embarrassment over a poster and poem she created for the band and a conflict within Perfect Storm provide tension, the real meat of this diary-style story lies in the behind-the-scenes details of life on tour, as well as Mac's relationships with the band members as she gets to know them as real people.
Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Dan Mandel, Sanford]. Greenburger Associates. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"I'm with the Band." Publishers Weekly, 28 Sept. 2015, p. 89. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A430498365/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0d69ea01. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A430498365
Henchgirl
Publishers Weekly. 264.12 (Mar. 20, 2017): p62.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Henchgirl
Kristen Gudsnuk. Dark Horse, $17.99 trade paper (319p) ISBN 978-1-50670-144-8
If the cast of Girls found themselves in the Marvel universe, you'd have something like this debut graphic novel. Always quirky, occasionally touching, and surprisingly dark, this book follows Mary Posa, a superpower-less disappointment to her superhero parents, who works as a henchgirl for super-villain Monsieur Butterfly. While Mary's concerns and anxieties will be familiar to any young 20-something struggling to get by--making rent, dealing with relationships and workplace friction--it all happens against the backdrop of a completely ridiculous world filled with time travel, astral projection, and strange superpowers, like the ability to spontaneously produce carrots. The first few issues of Henchgirl, drawn in a charming style somewhere between Scott Pilgrim and Steven Universe, have a delightful and spontaneous energy, but as the series progresses, Gudsnuk begins stitching her ideas into a narrative and things slow down a bit from the sparkling opening. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Henchgirl." Publishers Weekly, 20 Mar. 2017, p. 62. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A487601788/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=849d1deb. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A487601788
GUDSNUK, Kristen. Making Friends
Matisse Mozer
School Library Journal. 64.7 (July 2018): p66.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* GUDSNUK, Kristen. Making Friends. illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. 272p. Scholastic/Graphix. Jul. 2018. Tr $24.99. ISBN 9781338139228; pap. $12.99. ISBN 9781338139211.
Gr 4-7--While her family bickers over who gets what from their late matriarch's belongings, 12-year-old Dany comes into possession of her grandmother's sketchbook. Dany draws the portrait of a prince from her favorite anime series into the notebook, and, to her surprise, the character's head comes off the page and starts giving life advice. Dany decides to draw herself a best friend, whom she names Madison, to help mitigate the horrors of middle school. Unfortunately, not only does Madison resent Dany for her seemingly frivolous existence but the prince's cruel advice might not be what Dany is looking for. This brief volume accomplishes a hefty amount of storytelling as Dany uses magic to avoid uncomfortable situations but must contend with unintended consequences. She struggles with loneliness at school, bullies, and her dysfunctional family while simultaneously working out her relationship with Madison, all rendered in a visual style taken right out of a Cartoon Network show. The supernatural elements blend seamlessly with the everyday situations. Toward the end, the title references "magical girl" media (a manga and anime genre), making it a likely hit with reluctant readers and fans of these works. VERDICT Making Friends is the Scott Pilgrim for the tween-age set, perfect for any younger readers' graphic novel collection.--Matisse Mozer, Los Angeles Public Library
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Mozer, Matisse. "GUDSNUK, Kristen. Making Friends." School Library Journal, July 2018, p. 66. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545432395/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=48617d38. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A545432395
Calonita, Jen. VIP: I'm with the Band
Brenda Kahn
School Library Journal. 61.9 (Sept. 2015): p138.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
CALONITA, Jen. VIP: I'm with the Band, illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. 336p. ebook available. Little, Brown. Dec. 2015. Tr $17. ISBN 9780316259729.
Gr 4-6--For tween patrons who idolize boy bands and are looking for some G-rated romance, this fun confection narrated by 12-year-old Mackenzie Lowell is just the ticket. Mac, an artist and budding graphic novelist spends much of her free time with her BFFs, drooling over the newest up-and-coming boy band Perfect Storm. The girls are bummed after spending the afternoon trying to score tickets to Perfect Storm's concert by calling in to a radio station. Mac's publicist mom saves the day by scoring VIP tickets. Mom's coolness factor skyrockets when she's hired to be the band's publicist, requiring her to travel with the band for a month--and Mac's going with her! This is Mac's chance to catch the eye of lead singer Zander, her crush. Perhaps he'll take her to the spring dance? But there are ups and downs on the tour including an accident involving Green Dragon soda, pranks, a rich mean girl, Zander's fickleness, and Mac's blossoming friendship with Kyle. There's a lot to like in this series starter: Mac's voice, snippets of her graphic novel, the authenticity, the humor, and the pacing. VERDICT The diary format and many illustrations will entice fans of Rachel Renee Russell's "Dork Diaries" (S. & S.) but should be appealing to a wide audience and will have tween readers eager for the next installment.--Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ
Kahn, Brenda
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Kahn, Brenda. "Calonita, Jen. VIP: I'm with the Band." School Library Journal, Sept. 2015, p. 138. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A427423746/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0993bf57. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A427423746
Graphic Novel Review: “Making Friends” by Kristen Gudsnuk
JULY 31, 2018
Seventh grade isn’t off to a great start for Dany – she’s starting middle school, none of her friends are in her classes, and she has to listen to her family argue about what to do with Great-Aunt Elma’s belongings. But when Dany discovers that a sketchbook she inherits from Elma brings anything she draws to life, things take a turn for the interesting.
The first thing Dany brings to life is the disembodied head of one of her favorite anime characters (she didn’t know he was going to come to life when she only drew his head). Once she understands the sketchbook’s power, she decides to draw an awesome new best friend, Madison. Dany loves spending time with Madison and wants to share the power of the sketchbook with her… but how do you tell your best friend that they’re not technically real?
I absolutely loved Making Friends – it’s silly and heartwarming and magical, all at once. What makes this graphic novel stand out is how well author and illustrator Kristen Gudsnuk seems able to recall middle school in all its tragedy and glory.
Lots of middle school stories zero in on the difficult parts of middle school, like trying to be “cool” or drifting apart from your friends, but while Gudsnuk gets those right on the nose, she also doesn’t neglect the fun of middle school. I have two 13-year-old little sisters, and the disembodied head of an anime character is exactly what would appear in any sketchbook for the first time. Watching this kernel of truth grow and mature in Gudsnuk’s reality is pitch-perfect, right down to the Sailor Moon-esque battle royale near the end of the story.
But as entertaining as this side plot is, Making Friends is not about anime; it’s about friendship, of course. Madison’s journey to self-realization and how it impacts her relationship with Dany, along with Dany’s navigation of her relationships with her “real” friends, is charming and compelling. This was a super fun graphic novel, and I highly recommend it!
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Scholastic, for review.
Tags: Kristen Gudsnuk, Making Friends, Sailor Moon, Scholastic
Henchgirl Review: Brillant
March 9, 2017 Rocco Sansone Books & Comics 0
A villain is nothing without his henchmen. These are the guys that do all the dirty work, get beat up by the hero and get paid peanuts. There really is no reason why any of these guys should get their own stories. Kristen Gudsnuk had other ideas and came up with just that with “Henchgirl,” a story about a lackey that has a lot of great things going for it.
Mary Posa is the typical henchgirl in the Butterfly Gang. She, however, wants to change her life around by finding a real job where she can pay taxes. Her life takes an insane turn when she meets Fred, a bank teller/caterer/superhero and her superhero parents come back into her life. Not to mention her life goes from bad to worse after these events.
The story is quite entertaining and Mary is a great character. We learn a lot about her in that she’s just a normal person who just wants to make money (even when her superhero parents come back into the picture.) The thing that makes her believable is that, even with all the superhero stuff going on, she feels like a real person.
In fact, every character has a ton of characterization. Yes, they do fall into certain tropes (the billionaire playboy who’s a superhero and even a magical girl) but the writing on these characters is brilliant. They have lives, likes, dislikes and real world problems.
There is also some clever comedy to be had here. The character with the tragic backstory starts telling it and then gets cut off, the magical girl’s transformation takes so long the bad guys almost escape and the billionaire being almost suicidal. These are things common in comics and Gudsnuk spoofs them well.
While the story is excellent, the art is decent. The art is of a cartoony style which does fit the style, but it does seem a little lacking. While it does its job of conveying character emotion, the character designs and backgrounds do seem to not pop out that much. The characters do fare a lot better, but the backgrounds just blend into each other.
“Henchgirl” is a brilliant take on what would happen if the story focused on a henchman. The story is great with likable characters and art that may not be on par with the story, but it does its job.
‘Henchgirl’ a frequently absurd, lovingly detailed, absolutely essential work
‘Henchgirl’ a frequently absurd, lovingly detailed, absolutely essential work
Required Reading is DoomRocket’s love chest, where each week one of our contributors goes crazy over a book they just can’t seem to get enough of. This week, Arpad recommends the collected edition of ‘Henchgirl’, a particularly awesome supervillain satire from Kristen Gudsnuk and published by Dark Horse Comics.
'Henchgirl' TPB is available now from Dark Horse Comics
Cover to ‘Henchgirl’ TPB. Art by Kristen Gudsnuk/Dark Horse Comics
By Arpad Okay. Make no mistake, Henchgirl is something you haven’t seen before. Kristen Gudsnuk has a dozen irons in the fire, every piece coming together to forge something thoroughly beguiling. Henchgirl didn’t meet my expectations so much as blow them away. There is a quality, a depth, secreted within these pages that I haven’t come across in a long time. How? By being more down-to-earth than you could expect from something so unrelentingly goofy.
Be they magic girl, mannequin, or mariposa, the characters of Henchgirl are all utterly human, with human flaws. Everybody in Crepe City has some kind of super-power. Your roommate. Your co-worker. Your mom and dad. But their peccadillos aren’t magnified to show you how normal they are. The flaws that humanize them are slight. Their pleasures are everyday, not hyper-normal, not striking. Just real. Cream cheese on a bagel. The city is a cartoon, a pun a minute, but the population keeps it grounded. And, over the course of the book, they change. Not because of the crazy stuff that happens in each chapter, but because real people grow up.
In Henchgirl, the well from which Gudsnuk draws is bottomless. There are heists and rescues, brushes with the apocalypse, the occasional time travel paradox. There are movie nights and catering jobs. Petty squabbles, alcoholic binges, gunplay. The internet is surfed. People get decapitated. The mundane and the supernatural mix, and not in the Mystery Men way we are accustomed to. Henchgirl is a kitchen sink book. And yet, it all holds together. You connect with their lives, and the relationships that blossom mean something. When the tragedy and comedy of the day to day hits them hard, it hits you, too. When the hero goes amoral and excels at it, it makes you wonder — if someone gave her a real job without any red tape, wouldn’t she be just as good at that? What’s really keeping the Butterfly Gang from reaching their full potential… evil, or banality?
Interior pages to ‘Henchgirl’. Art by Kristen Gudsnuk/Dark Horse Comics
'Henchgirl' TPB is available now from Dark Horse Comics
Not that Henchgirl is as heavy handed as its underpinnings. If anything, it’s breezy. It’s frequently absurd. Gudsnuk writes whatever the heck she wants into this book, and man, she loves throw-away gags. Little jokes fill every corner, every T-shirt and billboard, every menu, every website. More wordplay with butterflies and crepes than you can imagine; they don’t drive the story, but they certainly reveal themselves in the deep read.
Sometimes it’s straight satire: Batman and Sailor Moon both get the business. Some of it is unpredictable. The girl who shoots carrots from her veins serves them as cake. Even the gore is played the Gudsnuk way: a villain gets popped like a balloon, an eyeball is dunked in a champagne glass, and you just have to laugh.
Kristen Gudsnuk is a comic book Frank Sinatra. She writes how she wants. She draws how she wants. She does it her way. The aesthetic for Henchgirl ranges from a Hutch Owen, dyed-in-the-wool indie vibe to Lum Invader — sleek, but without all the boobs (Gudsnuk speaks directly to different female body types and experience). She ramps up the detail to pull off Ren & Stimpy-level comedic beats and plays with dutch angles like Billy Wilder. Every aspect of making a comic, Kristen Gudsnuk has mastered with such subtlety… it’s almost easy to miss. Henchgirl is sequential art for the sequential artist, but sweet and heartfelt and silly enough for any and everybody else. Put this casual masterpiece on your shelf, people, and then start watching for whatever Gudsnuk does next.
Dark Horse Comics/$17.99
Written and illustrated by Kristen Gudsnuk.
Edited by Shantel LaRocque.
Design by Brennan Thome.
The superhero genre really isn’t a genre anymore; like a dragon or a spaceship, it is simply a signifier that we’ve departed our familiar reality for stranger shores. There are superhero mysteries, romances, comedies, and horror stories, and current pop culture is saturated in them. However, they all tend to get lumped together, especially if they’re being told in comic form. To stand out, you have to be showing a new side of things.
Enter Henchgirl, the story of Mary Posa. Mary isn’t just part of a supervillain’s gang, she’s a twenty something struggling to pay rent, she keeps an eye out for her erstwhile boyfriend whose body becomes a mannequin when he astral projects, and she’s the oldest daughter of two of the city’s most famous superheroes.
Writer & Illustrator Kristen Gudsnek does an excellent job of creating a character that is very relatable to anyone struggling to find their identity, especially those people who feel like the black sheep of their family. Some of the plot twists are very extreme and unexpected, especially the inclusion of the magical girl trope character about midway through this volume, but Gudsnek establishes the world of Crepe City as fairly absurd at the beginning, so they don’t seem too jarring in the story’s context. The background artwork is technically excellent with a somewhat faux-naive character style, and really fits the goofiness of the characters and occasional heaviness of the plot.
The thing that truly sets Henchgirl apart is that Gudsnek successfully combines the twenty-something slacker dramedy a la Laggies, Girl Most Likely, and The Lifeguard. This is definitely worth a read for anyone that’s a fan of finding yourself, dealing with parents, and the occasional time-travel mishap.