The first new Finder story in five years — the previous was Five Crazy Women — takes an exponential step forward in the series. Carla Speed McNeil’s work is more astounding and self-assured than ever in this story of identity and gender. In an echo back to the original Finder: Sin-Eater, Finder: Voice revisits one of the cross-breed daughters from that story. Rachel resembles her mother, a Llaverac, one of a clan known for its androgynous beauties. As the story […]

They’re billing Green River Killer as a “true-crime comic”, but that’s misleading. Where this story really shines is in its portrayal of a working police detective frustrated by the length of time it took to catch a Seattle serial killer. Writer Jeff Jensen is better known as an entertainment reporter, but here, he tells the story of his father Tom, who investigated the Green River Killer in Seattle for twenty years. The GRK, Gary Leon Ridgway, is attributed as “the […]

I’ve enjoyed the recent issues of the Usagi Yojimbo series I’ve sampled, so I was eager to try the latest collection. Fox Hunt is the nearly unbelievable 25th in the series, although it’s smartly not numbered as such — that way, it doesn’t turn off new readers like me, and it stands alone just fine. The volume reprints issues #110-116 of the comic series by Stan Sakai along with the Usagi piece from MySpace Dark Horse Presents #18. The stories […]

There aren’t enough mysteries in comics — I’m talking about actual whodunnits, not violent crime sprees or suspense thrillers — so it was a pleasure to stumble across this small gem. “Murder at the Inn” is part two of two, revealing the killer of a traveling paper dealer knocked off at the end of #139, but it’s not essential to have read the previous issue to enjoy this one. You’re given the cast of characters at the beginning of this […]

A new three-part storyline pits the samurai rabbit against the Red Scorpion Gang of thieves. The color covers (by Tom Luth) are so pretty that I sometimes wish the interior wasn’t black and white, although it does show off the skill of Stan Sakai’s storytelling. There’s something universally attractive about the story of a lone fighter, always traveling, who stands by his own code of what’s right. An early scene, where Usagi, defeated enemies splayed around him, faces off with […]

The earlier Guild miniseries got me watching the web series, so you’d think I’d be interested in the followup one-shots that explore various characters. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, since I’ve found the two so far to be slightly disappointing. They don’t tell me much new about the characters, and since the characters tend to be unpleasant verging-on-stereotypes anyway (especially without the mitigating charm of the actors’ performances), I regret spending more time with them in print. Even though The […]

It astounds me that such a creative, well-done comic strip as Tatsuya Ishida’s Sinfest is available daily for free. Such accomplished, high-quality work is well worth paying for — which can be done by buying this collection, and you get the bonus of comics in more permanent print form. I’ve called Sinfest “the best webcomic out there“, and I stand by that judgment. Nothing else combines such beautiful cartooning with such insightful observations and wide-ranging humor. Ishida can draw cute […]

This, my favorite European comic, combines painted art, an American noir influence, and anthropomorphized characters to explore the seedy side of humanity. Blacksad is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido. John Blacksad is an old-fashioned private detective, trenchcoat, reserved demeanor, and all. He also happens to have the head of a black panther. That’s nothing unusual — everyone in these stories is an animal, often reflecting their character. The police detective is a German shepherd, for […]