[...] Congratulations to Steve Bryant, who’s been working on his pulp heroine Athena Voltaire for 10 years now. She began as a webcomic in 2002, and in print, the stories went through two publishers before now landing at Dark Horse. (I’ve reviewed a previous collection.) [...]

[...] by Harold Sipe and Christopher Sebela, art by Lee Leslie, Image Comics, $16.99). I enjoyed the previous collection, and I liked reading the first couple of issues reprinted here, but when I knew I wanted to follow [...]

[...] burned-out monsters of Screamland return in this series. This time, instead of satirizing the celebrity culture of Hollywood, the [...]

[...] found Screamland, a 2008 take on how famous monsters would handle retirement in Hollywood, a pleasant discovery when [...]

[...] Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny, Black Bottle Press, FEB11 0808, $10, April 27 [...]

[...] The Adventures of Unemployed Man [...]

[...] Mathieu at Ich Liebe Comics comics digs us, too:http://ichliebecomics.blogspot.com/2010/12/sixsmiths.htmlJohanna Carlson Draper of Comics Worth Reading was less [...]

Rivkah, yes, it’s very well-done. Lots of imagination in the character design, too.

Ah, okay. Now that you mention it, the ones without “buy this book” that you didn’t seem to like were monthly comics.

re: “Which ones in particular do you think I was sending a mixed message on?”

Shadrach Stone seemed to be a pretty miserable reading experience for you based on the review. And you did’t seem too keen on Sixsmiths either but in that review you point out that the humor just isnt your thing. With Shadrach Stone I think the only positive thing you say about it is that it has “intriguing moments”. I don’t have a horse in this race, I haven’t read any of them. But I have read reviews of yours and bought stuff on your recommendation because in superhero stuff (which is predominantly what I buy, knuckledragger that I am)you seem to like a lot of the same things I do.

I just thought it was odd based on what you wrote about Shadrach Stone that you’d recommend buying it. :)

Whether or not I personally cared for some of these books, I do want to talk about them, because as you say, many won’t get seen unless people look for them and seek them out. Which ones in particular do you think I was sending a mixed message on? I know Forget Sorrow, for example, was not a good book for me, but I’m not part of the target audience, really, and I wanted to acknowledge that.

In general, the only reason a review wouldn’t have “buy this book” would be if Amazon didn’t have a listing for it (it was a periodical, for example, or a very small press release).

I’ve never heard of the Athena Voltaire series (or any of these for that matter with the exception of Dapper Men and unemployed man) but the cover has an “Airboy” quality to it.

Although I have to admit that I’ve never seen any of these in my local comics shops with the exception of Unemployed Man.

Just a question though…a couple of these you seem kind of “lackluster” about but you recommend them. Is that because you think they have a broad appeal even if you yourself don’t like them? Or are the reviews just heavier on the cons than the pros? Just curious because I’ve seen reviews here that don’t have the “buy this comic” line underneath.