Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late '60s Chicago, My Favorite
Thing Is Monsters Book Two is the eagerly awaited conclusion to the most
acclaimed graphic novels of the past decade. Presented as the fictional graphic
diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved
and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while
the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. In Book Two, dark
mysteries past and present continue to abound in the tumultuous and violent
Chicago summer of 1968. Young Karen attends the Yippie-organized Festival of
Life in Grant Park and finds herself swept up in a police stomping. Privately,
she continues to investigate Anka's recent death and discovers one last cassette
tape that sheds light upon Anka's heroic activities in Nazi Germany. She
wrestles with her own sexual identity, the death of her mother, and the secrets
she suspects her brother Deez of hiding. Ferris' exhilarating cast of
characters experience revelations and epiphanies that both resolve and deepen
the mysteries visited upon them eariler. Visually, the story is told in Ferris'
inimitable style that breathtakingly and seamlessly combines panel-to-panel
storytelling and cartoon montages, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster
mag iconography.
