Nonfiction how-to graphic novel, written by C. Spike Trotman and illustrated by Diana Nock, and published by Iron Circus Comics in 2012, as well as a pair of associated sequels. It is subtitled "The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less." The basic idea here is a friendly instruction guide on how to survive and thrive without spending a fortune, either because you're trying to save money and live frugally or because you've suffered an economic downturn.
This is all told to us through the interactions of a couple of young friends. Penny is a brunette wearing a kerchief -- she's down-to-earth and savvy on all the ways there are to save money. Her dog, Nickel, is mostly around for sight gags and getting into trouble. Penny's friend is Millie, a blonde with a desire to live the good life -- and almost no ability to control her money. Penny, Millie, and Nickel are all drawn like old-fashioned cartoon characters, with rubber hose limbs, four fingers, and pie-slice eyes.
As the first book opens, Millie is living on her own for the first time and has already gotten herself into financial trouble -- and she resists making any changes to her lifestyle because she thinks her creature comforts are necessities. Luckily, Penny is available to help her with tips on how to save money without living like a pauper.
There are a couple introductory sections, followed by the major chapters, covering housing, food, fashion, health, transportation, entertainment, education, and emergencies. Whaaaat?! Are poor people allowed to have good food, entertainment, nice clothing, health care, education, or decent housing?! Well, yes, actually, they are, no matter how sad it makes Republicans in Congress! We presumably want people undergoing financial hardship to be able to get their heads back above water, right? To do that, they need somewhere to live, they need healthy food, they need professional clothing. And because we're not fucking monsters, we want them get health care, a good education, and entertainment options so they don't spend all their time wallowing in their own misery.
Anyway, the chapters generally follow the two friends as they go about their day with Millie bewailing the impossibility of managing her money or doing without her luxuries, and Penny offering advice on how Millie can get her finances under control. Some of these are simple common sense solutions, like taking advantage of consignment stores. Some are more involved, either because they're more complex procedures (sewing on a button) or because they're things that most people never have to learn how to do (how to make your own laundry detergent from scratch).
I could never come close to listing all the money-saving tips in this book -- and the book does a much better job of presenting all that information than I ever could. The organization of everything is excellent, and the conversational tone of the writing means it's much easier to absorb the info. But shout-outs to the most useful chapters, like "Emergencies," which has incredibly useful advice for what to do and what not to do when things get really bad -- when your car gets repossessed, when you get evicted, when you just can't pay your bills, and on "Food," which is an incredibly information-dense chapter, covering everything from kitchen equipment to basic cooking terms to foraging and gardening to seasoning a skillet. And there are also plenty of recipes for food that's easy, delicious, and inexpensive.
The book does have some weaknesses. First, it's designed almost entirely for people who live in cities and suburbs. There will still be helpful tips for people living in rural areas, but much of the information is designed for areas that have lots of resources for lots of people. Second, the book was published way back in 2012, and some of the information is dated and could become even more dated as the years pass. For example, the book says that 30-40% of your income should go toward housing -- but housing is a lot more expensive now and getting more expensive all the time! The chapter on health care also includes plenty of information on applying for the Affordable Care Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and Medicaid, and as of late 2024, Republicans in Congress are making noises about getting rid of all three. There are also references to various websites, which may or may not exist anymore.
Still, the book is incredibly useful and informative, even with those quibbles. I'd recommend it for anyone looking to make improvements in their financial situation -- it would also make a great gift for a new graduate of high school or college. And frankly, with the upcoming Trump administration and its allies talking favorably about wrecking the global economy, it's a great time to get a refresher on how to spend less money and still live a fairly happy and comfortable life.
There were two sequels to this book. First was "Poorcraft: Wish You Were Here," subtitled "The Tightwad's Guide to Travel." It was written by Ryan Estrada and illustrated by Diana Nock, and published in 2014. This one focuses on international travel on a budget, including efficient packing, logistics of arrival, finding affordable accommodations, dining, and entertainment, shopping without breaking the bank or any laws, staying safe and avoiding scams, and even how to live and work abroad. This book is primarily useful if you plan on taking overseas vacations; it's still got lots of ways to save money, but won't be as useful if you don't have enough scratch to take international trips.
The other sequel was "The Poorcraft Cookbook" from 2021, written and drawn by Nero Villagallos O'Reilly. It starts out with a nice introduction -- over 70 pages long -- of fun interactions between Penny, Millie, and Nickel, and lots of advice on grocery shopping -- how to shop at dollar stores, restaurant supply stores, and discount outlets, how to buy in bulk, most useful spices -- as well as how to properly clean and maintain your kitchen.
Most of the book -- almost 150 pages -- is recipes! This includes lots of basics -- bread, sourdough, pancakes, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, BLTs, macaroni and cheese, tuna salad, spaghetti, soups, pound cake, chocolate chip cookies, coffee, tea, rice, pot pies, and more -- and it also includes lots of other food, too, because variety is the spice of life, even if you're trying to save money. So we also get pizza dough and sauce, huevos rancheros, shakshuka, banh mi, onigiri, fish curry, bechamel, tofu, kimchi, chilaquiles, stir fry, and much more.
Only two minor quibbles with this book. First, there's a good table of contents, but I wasn't fond of the organization. There are sections for breads, breakfast food, cookies, soups, beverages, and alcoholic beverages, but lots of other recipes are mixed together fairly scattershot. Also, the recipes are illustrated with the artist's black and white illustrations, but those aren't always useful for giving you an idea what the finished product is supposed to look like. There's a reason many cookbooks feature color photographs of recipes -- partly so you can get a good idea of what you're supposed to end up with, and partly to make you say, "Gee, that looks delicious, let's cook it!" I also feel like some of the recipes could use a little description to let you know what you're making. I had to go online to find out what ghee, kimchi, okonomiyaki, and tian were. But again, these are only minor quibbles about an excellent and enjoyable cookbook.
This is another book I think would make a wonderful graduation gift -- not just for the recipes but also for the grocery shopping and kitchen maintenance advice.
All three of these books are fun to read and very educational -- and right now, saving money is more important than ever. Even better, the books themselves are very affordable. The first two books are available on the Iron Circus website for just $10 each in softcover, and the cookbook is $16 if you get it as a spiral-bound hardcover. Go pick 'em up!