Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The story of a young woman finding herself as an artist while adapting to life in the big city has been told before, but never so well or in so graphically interesting a fashion as in Page by Paige. Paige has moved with her parents to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, and she’s feeling lonely and unsure of herself. She misses her friends and a more natural setting and feels she can’t be truly herself in this new situation. […]
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A description of the premise, while intriguing, doesn’t do the project justice. Nelson is a multi-creator anthology in which each artist shows us a day in another year in Nelson’s life, from her birth in 1968 to what she’s doing in 2011. Along the way, we see how attitudes and lifestyles change in the UK over the decades, while noticing the patterns that repeat themselves as people grow up, struggling against becoming their parents. It’s a wonderful glimpse of the […]
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It’s difficult to review this series, because it’s been so desired for so long that I’m simply thrilled to finally get this reprint. Sheldon Mayer’s classic kids’ series features two toddlers, Sugar and Spike, who speak to each other in baby talk. While they can understand each other, the adults don’t know what they’re muttering about. Often, their conversation involves their amusing misinterpretation of how the grown-up world works. The result is hilarious comedy, beautifully and skillfully cartooned. Bill Schelly’s […]
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Available to order now from Previews is the first issue of a new indy series from Ardden Entertainment, Mixtape, written by Brad Abraham, art by Gervasio and Jok. It’s the story of a group of friends, about to be high school seniors, and the choices they make. Issue #1 takes place at a party on the last Saturday of summer 1990. Jim is giving Adrienne a ride. She spent the summer in London, broadening her horizons and losing a good […]
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While the technical problems — balloon text collisions, computerized lettering inconsistent with the art, repetitive pages at the end/beginning of chapters (due to its original serialization) — continue from Volume 1, this second volume of The Drops of God improves on the first where it counts, in the story. The tales this time around have plenty of heart. Instead of focusing on dad’s insane will, a plot gimmick that isn’t even mentioned until over halfway through this book, wine genius […]
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Derek Kirk Kim’s Same Difference was originally self-published in 2003 (with the aid of a Xeric Grant) and distributed by the now-defunct Alternative Comics. Then Top Shelf picked it up and republished it in 2004. Now, First Second has brought the story back into print in an attractive hardcover edition with a distinctive dust jacket of transparent plastic. (In the book cover, shown here, the fish are printed on the overlay, with the figures on the book itself, giving a […]
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Using the same methods I used last year for the Best Manga of 2010, here are the manga I most enjoyed and anticipated this year. I’m using a highly idiosyncratic definition of “best”, based mostly on what I looked forward to, wanted to re-read, and/or was willing to buy sight unseen. I have a few subcategories, under which I’ve ranked a maximum of five titles, with #1 being best. (Although in no category could I manage to fill out all […]
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While I thought the first book of this series by Shimura Takako was a little slow to get started, this volume realizes the promise of the premise by showing us the daily lives of two teens with complicated identities. Shuichi (a boy who wants to be a girl) and Yoshino (a girl who wants to be a boy) have settled into a pattern of indulging their true selves together. They dress as they want to be treated and visit other […]
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