Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late 1960s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is fictional 10-year-old Karen Reyes’s graphic diary, filled with B-movie horror and pulp-monster magazine iconography. Karen tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, a Holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to the neighbor’s life in Nazi Germany, we discover how the personal, political, past, and present converge. Rendered in a kaleidoscopically and breathtakingly virtuosic visual style that combines panel sequences and montage, Ferris’s draftsmanship echoes the drawing of Otto Dix, George Grosz, and R. Crumb. The screen rights for My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, a revelatory work of striking originality, were purchased by Sony Picture Studios within a month of its publication.
Moderated by Kristi McMillan, adult programs manager.
