Dredd on Blu-ray January 8

Dredd is an extremely violent science fiction action movie that is also very faithful to its comic source. For fans of either genre, it’s worth watching. Comic fans will also appreciate the mini-documentary on the source material included in the home video release. Judge Dredd was created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra in 2000 AD in 1977. In a nice touch, that’s the very first of the end credits, before even the actors’ names appear. The movie is faithful […]

Read more

Bloodhound Coming From Dark Horse

Remember Bloodhound? No, you don’t. I didn’t, even though it was one of my favorite DC titles coming out at the time. There were 10 issues from 2004-2005, about a prisoner working with the FBI to track those with superpowers although he wasn’t similarly gifted. It was written by Dan Jolley with art by Leonard Kirk & Robin Riggs and covers by Dave Johnson. This was a period, just before Identity Crisis and the rise of Dan DiDio, where DC […]

Read more

Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature

Catchy subtitle, isn’t it? Unfortunately, the book doesn’t quite live up to two-thirds of it. It’s a great picture of the life Ruth Krauss (noted children’s book author) and Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon, Barnaby) had together, but the FBI bit turns out to be some files due to the couple’s politics, and the last part isn’t explained fully enough for someone not already familiar with the field. However, as the first biography of either of them, it’s […]

Read more

Noelle Stevenson’s Illustrated Year in Review

What a story! Noelle Stevenson has posted an illustrated look back at 2012. In that year, she went from someone who “hadn’t made a comic longer than four pages” to having a book deal with HarperCollins for her webcomic Nimona. She also, last year, interned at BOOM! Studios, drew some terrific movie satire cartoons, went to her first San Diego Comic-Con … and turned 21. My gracious. That’s a year to brag about for anyone, let alone someone so young. […]

Read more

Peter David Has Stroke on Vacation; Some Thoughts on Stroke Recovery

I have been unsure whether to talk about this, because the news hit very close to home and every time I think about it, I tear up. On Sunday, noted comic writer Peter David posted that he had had a stroke that affected his vision and caused him to lose control of the right side of his body. Long-time readers will recall that my husband KC had a mini-stroke almost four years ago. Every time I hear news like this, […]

Read more

Dick Tracy on Blu-ray

Dick Tracy was released on Blu-ray last month. I saw the movie when it came out, and I was impressed by the cast. I also liked the limited palette, with only a few shades of bright colors used to give the movie a comic-strip look. For instance, early on, a set of oil barrels are red, green, and yellow, and suits are similar crazy shades — emerald, purple, and so on. It looks like someone spilled their crayon box all […]

Read more

Best Graphic Novels of 2012

Here’s what I thought were the best graphic novels of 2012, in order, based on what affected, entertained, and enlightened me. For more information on any of the following titles, the links take you to my reviews. This may be the first time in years that I’ve managed to review all of the titles I’m recommending before this list was due! Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney Drama by Raina Telgemeier Friends With Boys by Faith Erin […]

Read more

The Infinite Wait and Other Stories

The Infinite Wait and Other Stories is Julia Wertz’s followup to Drinking at the Movies, her collection of autobiographical comics about moving to New York. Her art style hasn’t changed, although here it’s often more ambitious in the contents of her panels, with more detailed backgrounds and complex staging. She still draws herself with spaghetti arms, saucer eyes, and helmet hair, though, which provides a comfortable familiarity. What’s different is how she’s framing her stories. This book has three “comic […]

Read more
1 390 391 392 393 394 608