January 26, 2019 Johanna Other Prose Leave a comment

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh is a cute teen romance with a substantial message. If you’ve been enjoying the Sex Education TV show, this should be your next read, because there are a lot of similarities. Lacey, Evita, and Theo are the best of friends in their senior year of high school in North Carolina. They dream of attending a music college in Boston together, but then the school’s mandatory abstinence-only “healthy life choices” […]

January 21, 2019 Johanna First Second Leave a comment

Science Comics: Rockets: Defying Gravity

The Science Comics series is generally outstanding, but Rockets: Defying Gravity by Anne Drozd and Jerzy Drozd is one of the best. An exciting subject is made understandable though our charming hosts, a series of educated animals with connections to space exploration. The first chapter (as you can see in these preview pages) covers physics, or as it’s put, “What Makes Rockets Go?” Lewis the pigeon tells us of early experiments in hilarious fashion, calling a wooden, steam-powered bird his […]

January 14, 2019 Johanna Comic News One comment

Faith Erin Hicks’ New Book May Seem Familiar — An Interview

It’s been a great pleasure for me to follow the work and career of Faith Erin Hicks. I love her style, and she’s done some terrific reads over the years — The Nameless City trilogy, Friends With Boys, The Adventures of Superhero Girl, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong. I’m eagerly anticipating her upcoming Pumpkinheads, written by Rainbow Rowell, coming this fall. After that, there’s another “new” book — but long-time fans will recognize it. First Second will release One Year […]

January 14, 2019 Johanna TV News Leave a comment

Boys TV Show May Be Better Than the Comic

Once upon a time, it would have been unthinkable to me not to prefer the “original” version of a comic adaptation. But now, after we’ve gotten some highly entertaining Marvel movies that streamline too many years of continuity into more approachable stories, and a cartoon version of Batman that’s more fun than anything in the comics, I’m rethinking that approach. I suspect that’s going to be particularly true of the upcoming Amazon TV version of The Boys. The comic, by […]

January 14, 2019 KC NBM / Papercutz Leave a comment

The Beatles in Comics!

Review by KC Carlson People tend to forget that the Beatles (as a group) were only together for 10 years and only recorded together for eight. But once they got started, they composed and recorded more than 200 songs, and at least 12 albums, throughout the 1960s. (The album count is a little dicey, since many of their albums in England differed from their albums in America in both content and number of songs.) John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, […]

January 13, 2019 Johanna Comic News One comment

Bolivar Sequel Announced

I really enjoyed Sean Rubin’s Bolivar, a charming picture book/graphic novel about a dinosaur living under the radar in New York City. Now comes word that a follow-up is coming in November 2019. Bolivar Eats New York is labeled a Discovery Adventure, exploring New York through the food of its boroughs. Sybil learns that Bolivar only likes corned beef sandwiches, so she informs him that he’s been missing out on one of the great attributes of New York City and […]

January 13, 2019 Johanna Manga News Leave a comment

Congratulations to Kodansha on 10 Years!

This year, Kodansha is celebrating 10 years of publishing manga in English. For the “10 Years of Kodansha Comics” event, every month, they will spotlight a classic series. The January title is Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, first published by Kodansha in October 2009. They have since released a hardcover Akira 35th Anniversary Edition Box Set, which won Eisners last year for Best Archival Collection/Project — Comic Books and Best Publication Design. It’s the story of motorcycle gangs in the post-apocalypse […]

January 12, 2019 Johanna Comic News Leave a comment

My Condolences to Friends and Family of Batton Lash

Word is trickling out through friends who would know that Batton Lash has passed away from brain cancer. The always-dapper Lash was the author and artist of Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre, later renamed Supernatural Law, since 1979. He stuck with it through comic strip, issues, webcomic, and waxing and waning movie interest, finally moving to Kickstarter to put out book collections. He ran Exhibit A Press with his wife Jackie Estrada, who is administrator of the Eisner […]

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