Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
I am touched and honored to have been named “Best Comics-Related Website / Publications” in the Tripwire Awards 2022. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Tripwire Magazine editor Joel Meadows when I visited London last year, and he’s putting out some lovely editions. Thank you to anyone who voted for this site, and thank you to the visitors giving me a reason to keep it going all these years.
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As noted at the end of my DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out review, DC Super Hero Girls: At Metropolis High is the first of a new run of the series that changes the concept, characters, and look to match the TV cartoon. It’s written by Amy Wolfram and illustrated by Yancey Labat. One of the key differences in this second phase of DC Super Hero Girls is that it’s much more conventional in its approach. Half the characters — […]
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After a set of great stories in this franchise, DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out concludes writer Shea Fontana’s run with the characters. There are three major plot lines in this volume, all of which involve classic superhero premises and concepts. A group of Kryptonians have returned, and they kidnap Supergirl without her realizing it, as she’s thrilled to meet others like her. Their goal is to get a secret key to a magic device (in the sense of “advanced […]
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It’s the way the world works. I wrote a survey of all of The Hound of the Baskervilles graphic novel adaptations (for Sherlock Holmes magazine, issue #8, spring 2022), and as soon as I’m done, I find another one. Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles is an “old book by Arthur Conan Doyle” featuring “new doodles by Jack Noel.” Although labeled a “Comic Classic,” I was somewhat relieved to find that this isn’t really a comic. Instead, this […]
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Doughnuts and Doom is one of those modern fantasies for which I’m still looking for a good genre name. You know the kind… Young people work in a coffee shop — but they’re werewolves! Or they work at a call center — but they’re also on a fantasy quest! Or they’re looking to find a purpose in life now that they’re out of school — but they’re also witches! Or they throw a college party — but they’re fairies! It’s […]
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a deluxe edition of Batman: The Long Halloween. In addition to combining the previous two separate releases into one movie, this version is now available in 4K (although there is also a Blu-ray edition). There’s also “added mature content” and a 25-minute “Evolution of Evil” featurette about “the commonalities across the film’s heroes and villains alike” with commentary by clinical psychologist Dr. Drea Letamendi, original comic writer Jeph Loeb, executive producer Butch Lukic, and […]
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Haley loves gothic romance. She only wants to read stories such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. In The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, after she rescues a man from the river on a dark and rainy night, she finds herself in the storybook setting she’s always dreamed of. This graphic novel is written by Shaenon K. Garrity and illustrated by Christopher Baldwin. (I don’t personally care for those types of stories at all, but I could identify with Haley’s […]
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I adored the Heartstopper graphic novel when I read it two years ago. So I was thrilled to discover that the Netflix TV show version is one of the best comic adaptations I’ve ever seen. Heartstopper is all about cute boys in love, and it’s wonderful. It’s written by Alice Oseman based on her own graphic novels and directed by Euros Lyn. It’s incredibly faithful, but not detrimentally so, and the changes it makes — primarily expanding the cast — […]
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