All throughout July we’re crowdsourcing an Extra Eisners Reading List from comics journalists and critics. Most weekdays throughout the entire month, we’ll post a new pick we would have liked to have seen nominated for an Eisner. There are so many great comics right now, we’d love to see the Eisners expanded to honor that and diversify the pool of work honored by the industry. Also, as critics and journalists, we are not entirely sure we get a vote (the rules are unclear) — so this is the next best thing.

Today’s pick comes from Lisa Gullickson of the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast…enjoy!

Anyone who knows baking knows that part of making a delicious, mature, yeasty loaf of bread is that once the dough has doubled in size, it needs to be knocked back before it can be shaped and baked. It’s a process called ‘proving’ the dough, and that’s where we meet Ari at the beginning of Bloom. He’s moody and angsty in a way that is generally formless and cannot be contained. He’s inflated with childish ideas of how his adulthood should take shape and feels confined by the expectations of his immigrant parents. He wants to try and hack it with his garage band in the big city, but his dad has visions of Ari taking over the family bakery in their small, seaside town. It takes a summer meet-cute with culinary student Hector for Ari to let go of the future that kid-Ari would think is “cool” and begin to envision a life that would make him genuinely happy.

I think Bloom would be in perfect company alongside Colleen AF Venable’s Kiss No. 8 and Mariko Tamaki’s Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me as an Eisner Nominee in the category of “Best Publication for Teens.” Writer Kevin Panetta and artist Savanna Ganucheau have clearly not lost touch with their inner blossoming tween-ager who is excited but maybe a little nervous to begin dating. Everyone who has ever had a crush knows that love can make you feel weird and act like a doofus, and young people need models that are both realistic and aspirational. Ari and Hector’s love story provides the kind of heart-throbbing melodrama the romance-curious reader demands, while sparing them the after-school-specialness that is sometimes imposed on youth who are just beginning to explore their sexuality. 

There is a lot of yucky stuff that goes into making a loaf of bread. It’s hard work, it’s messy and sticky, and most of the time you’re not really sure how it’s going to turn out. Bloom is like a freshly baked, golden loaf of sourdough bread. It’s warm, inviting, and ultimately an incentive to get through the awkward phases so you can enjoy the good stuff. -Lisa Gullickson

Lisa Gullickson is part of a number of pop culture podcasts, including the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast.

Bloom
Writer: Kevin Panetta
Artist: Savanna Ganucheau
Publisher: First Second
A thoughtful and endearing gay YA romance set in a bakery. Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band, if he can just convince his dad to let him quit their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away his days over rising doughs and hot ovens. But in the midst of interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easy-going guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of breads, love begins to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn't ruin everything.

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Check out the official Eisner Nominations for 2020.