Bald Knobber by Robert Sergel

(2018, Secret Acres) If you are thinking of the wholesome rural music and laughter of Branson, Missouri's Baldknobbers Jamboree, think again, because this book instead revives the legacy of the Show Me State's infamous Show Me How to Lynch a Criminal vigilantes of yore, who wore scarier masks then the KKK, but were ostensibly committing less hateful hate crimes. So...the surviving photo of this group's mask is super crazy, which makes it understandable why it would inspire this chilling work of chiaroscuro clean line comix, and why the bullied school-shooter-to-be protagonist would look at these rogue justice seekers as heroes. Domestic messes, cat turds, and horizontal stripes all culminate in a jarring snapshot of our terrible times, while reminding us that the past sucked as well.