April 22, 2021 Johanna Tokyopop Manga Reviews Leave a comment

Chéri, My Destiny!

Chéri, My Destiny! LOOKS like a cute food manga about two young men falling for each other while making sweets, but by the time we reach the final chapter (of four) in the story, it’s well earned its Mature (18+) rating. Sakura manages a shop that sells Western-style chocolates and desserts near a confectionary that sells Japanese-style treats. Sakura gets competitive, so he checks the other place out, where he sees that they’ve got lots of young female customers. Sakura […]

April 6, 2021 Johanna Other Prose Leave a comment

The Cocktail Companion

This thorough “guide to cocktail history, culture, trivia, and favorite drinks”, as the subtitle has it, is comprehensive. It’s full of useful and interesting information — maybe too much. It’s a shame that the presentation isn’t as professional as the content. The Cocktail Companion by Cheryl Charming is laid out as though it was printed from web pages. It’s a larger-sized paperback, and it’s a chore to read. Given the page width, columns would have been preferred to the full-width […]

April 6, 2021 Johanna Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Leave a comment

Act

Olive, the plucky heroine of Kayla Miller’s Click and Camp, returns in Act. It’s a timely story, as so many young people are becoming more socially and politically aware. She participates in her school elections and navigates some tricky political waters, and it’s thrilling to see her awareness open to the struggles of others. Like so many people, Olive gets involved in politics when she discovers an issue that matters to her. Her class goes on a theater field trip, […]

April 5, 2021 Johanna Television Reviews Leave a comment

Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season

I have done myself, and you, a disservice, by watching Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season several months ago (it was released at the end of January), making notes, and then neglecting to write them up while I still remembered the details of the show. (The studio provided a review copy.) Now, the main recollection I have of these nine episodes is that I’m glad they got me to watch the first season of the show, because it’s a refreshingly […]

April 5, 2021 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

The Sign of the Four

Sometimes, I am very grateful for the opportunities I’ve had. I was recently on an episode of Comic Beat Insider where we talked about The Extraordinary Adventures of Adêle Blanc-Sec. The other guest was Ian Culbard, an artist whose work I was unfortunately unfamiliar with. When I looked him up later, I discovered that, among other graphic novels, he’d done versions of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, adapted by Ian Edginton. (He’s credited for that work as I.N.J. Culbard.) Just […]

April 4, 2021 Johanna Other Publishers 2 comments

Violet Holmes and the Agents of H.I.V.E.: Adventures of a Teenage Detective

Violet Holmes and the Agents of H.I.V.E. Volume 1: Adventures of a Teenage Detective is a graphic novel about Sherlock Holmes’ daughter. It’s got a lot of reasons to recommend it, although it’s a pretty bad comic. I am going to try and avoid using that unwieldy title again, to start. Violet Holmes is one of the early publications from Orange Pip Books, started in 2019 as a division of the longer-established MX Publishing, which puts out Holmes-related books, both […]