Keezy Young

When a troubled teen disappears from his small town, his loved ones go on a paranormal journey to save him from his inner demons.

It’s taken me a while to review this book simply because trying to put into words how amazing I think the author did in showing and handling the character’s mental health struggles was brilliant and impactful. Every member of the group had their own journey throughout this story and each arc felt complete at the end. I appreciated the struggle Noah had between show more religion and his sexuality, I was a little nervous about it going into this, but that turned around pretty quickly.

I’m a huge Hawkeye fan, and the artwork in this graphic novel really reminded me of Matt Fraction’s 2010’s Hawkeye. The art style, color, and texture of the panels gave the perfect amount to make it supernaturally and horror-y at the same time.

Without getting into too much of the storyline due to spoilers, I just want to say that the mixture of what was real and what was only available to the one character was phenomenal and well taken care of. With both the visual and the dense dialog pages, Keezy Young showcases the losing of one’s mind by mental illness more effectively than I’ve seen with a graphic novel in a long time. show less

I loved (loooooooooooved) this graphic novel. I hated (despised?) the sub title. Let's get that out of the way so I can be super excited. See section "UGH!" later in the review for a medium sized rant.

Hamal makes plants grow as a caretaker in a flower nusery. He nurtures the plants and sometimes sings to them. They grow despite the conditions. People trust him to help.

Hamal also cares for the dead. He can see ghosts, speak to ghosts, and befriends them. They do not frighten him, he has show more spoken to them most of his life, even before he knew what they were.

When Hamal meets Taye "Blue" Alvarado, his world axis flips. Blue is dead, nailed by a truck. While his corporeal life ended, Blue found himself suck and he never left the earth. Meeting Hamal struck down his loneliness.

Out of concern for him, Blue is perpetually attempting to talk Hamal into dating beautiful women, being happy, finding love. Hamal however, has already found love. Blue. He loves Blue, utterly and completely.

On a disturbing tangent and with increased frequency, Blue has been stepping out of reality, finding himself walking in an etherial forest of death. The other ghosts Hamal cares for also spend time in the forest, unaware of the cause for their displacement. When a reaper locates Blue in the forest, he advises that Hamal is unknowingly using Necromancy and killing his world. If he doesn't stop, those things he loves may be destroyed and the forest, may consume Blue.

Hamal and Blue need to set the world in balance before it ends.

Holy.. This comic broke my heart. To be spoiler free, I cannot describe how, but it has been a long time since a single page of a comic gutted me and brought me to tears. The characters are so damn genuine, it just hurts.

The artwork in this comic is also something unique. Looking at Keezy Young's website, it is clear that this style is nothing new for the author. There are several web comics and long term projects which share it. I didn't know that I cared for the artistic style, feeling unfinished / hurried. Soon after starting, I embraced it at a genetic level. I came full circle and found myself nostalgicly remembering early Miyazaki work and the even more nostalgic 'Enchanted Journey' from 1984 (city chipmunks moving to a forest).

The Reaper was a real treat. In opposition to the personalities of Hamal and Blue, I was really astounded by the conciseness and Reaper character. Visually and in text, it acted as a wonderful offset...

Simplistic, but deep. This is a highly suggested work to seek out on publication. I will also be digging into the other work Keezy has created.

UGH!
I have a complaint... The subtitle....."A Story about a Gardner and a Ghost".. Fuck that. Why even write that.. It pigeon holes this entire work as being some silly undertaking before anyone even hears the premise. The author's website adds insult to injury by describing "Taproot is about a gardener who can see ghosts, and the ghost who falls in love with him." Both of these dimish the work, clipping key tendons right before a big race.

This is a fragile balance between life and death. It is about Hamal and his link to the ecosystem of his world and his ability to both take and provide. One could easily infer that the term Taproot is referencing Hamal as a central life support for everything that depends on him.

It just irks me, and begins the novel like a gimmick rather than the beautiful thing it really is.

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Disclosure: This Graphic Novel was provided for review purposes by the Publisher. They made no claim that lack of review would result in an unmarked package arriving filled with nervous Gila Monsters. Nor did they thinly veil statements about where a secret stash of anti-venom was located. All of that was in my head, which simply means they need to step up their game! show less

I got this book through the Amazon Vine program to review. This was a well done GLBT fantasy graphic novel about a young man, Hamal, who can speak to ghosts. Hamal finds out that his ability to speak to ghosts is more than just a quirk, it makes him special and it’s up to him to keep things in balance.

This is a sweet little graphic novel. The relationship between Blue and Hamal is tender and endearing (even if Blue is a ghost). I also loved the paranormal tone of the story; there are show more ghosts, Death, and necromancy in here and it is well done.

The illustration is well done and I enjoyed the bright pastel colors throughout.

Overall I was impressed with this graphic novel and hope we get to see more adventure involving Blue and Hamal. This is a sweet little story that has some neat fantasy elements to it and is very well drawn; I enjoyed it alot. show less

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Taproot is the story about Blue and Hamal. Hamal is a florist who also has the ability to see ghosts, while Blue is a ghost himself. Blue has realized, that he's in love with Hamal, and Hamal just might love him back. But strange events start happening to the local ghosts and the town they live in, and it's up to Hamal and Blue to try and fix it. First off, I wanted to say how much I love the art show more style of this graphic novel. It feels warm and cozy and reminds me of the softness that Ghilbi films can have. I also thought the artist's style looked strangely familiar, then I realized I follow this artist on Tumblr! Had no idea they had put out a graphic novel! I also really liked the attention paid to the background of scenes; I feel like a lot of artists try to get away with never drawing backgrounds. (I don't blame them, backgrounds and perspectives are hard!) But I found myself stopping just to drink in all the little details. I also love the design of the town they are in! What a cozy town! The story itself I really liked. A florist who sees ghosts! A ghost in love with a living person! How interesting! However, the pacing felt a little...off? It felt oddly quick to me. I feel like that has a lot to do with having a certain page limit in graphic novels. The scene leading to the ending felt a bit out of place as well? I think it was supposed to be an epilogue of sorts, but it felt more like the story had already ended, but the author said "Wait we still have pages left!". Also, the relationship between Hamal and Blue is so sweet. I could honestly feel the connection between them and the resulting chemistry. I also love that even though they fight, they do reconcile and actually talk out their problems! None of the dumb misunderstandings for no reason! Thank goodness! I do like "Taproot", even though the pacing is slightly off. I'm a sucker for a good queer romance, and this is one of them! show less