Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Mark Oakley is one of those workman creators who puts out terrific work over a long period of time but whom you may not be familiar with, because he’s never had that breakthrough moment. His fantasy comic series Thieves & Kings has been going since 1994. Turns out he’s also been drawing a charming comic called Stardrop for a Nova Scotia newspaper for the past few years, and he runs it biweekly on his website. There’s a book version of […]
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It seems like, every few decades, someone decides that it’s time for another look at Robert E. Howard’s barbarian warrior Conan. Although he first appeared in 1930s pulp stories, I became aware of the character in the early 80s, when the aptly-cast Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined the movie and its sequel. That film also comes to Blu-ray for the first time next week on August 2. This summer, Conan returns in three formats: The Movie Conan the Barbarian opens August 19. […]
Read moreRaina Telgemeier has announced that her next book will be titled Drama, due Fall 2012 from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. They also published her previous book, the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel autobiography Smile. She describes Drama as “about middle school theater geeks, stage crew, putting on a play, love and hate and friendship”. Even if that description wasn’t of interest to me, anything she does is a must-read, she’s that talented.
Read moreI didn’t mean for today to turn into “The World in Digital” in terms of posting, but most of the stories coming out of convention season that interested me related to that area, since it’s a brave new world for the industry. And the biggest issue remains: how much will it all cost? Jim Campbell does a cost analysis of comic creation to argue that digital distributors are taking too big a cut, which requires publishers to sell more electronic […]
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This dynamite concept didn’t quite come together for me, although I’ve been anticipating Mangaman since it was first announced. The idea — a manga-styled character transfers universes to the “real” world, where what he considers normal is perceived as freaky — is terrific and playful, but the execution tries to combine too many elements, and the result winds up short-changing some of the themes. Artist Colleen Doran is certainly well aware of and capable of drawing in the stereotypical manga […]
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As with many of the Warner animation releases aimed directly at kids, this is a bare-bones, one-disc package to keep the price low. (With discounts, the DVD can be found under $10.) In addition to the four half-hour episodes, the only other items are trailers for Thundercats, The Looney Tunes Show, and as the disc starts, a couple of Scooby-Doo projects. (What, no Green Lantern?) That’s a shame, because there’s a lot that can be said about the show, from […]
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Archie Comics has announced that Archie #627, due in November, will be the first part of a four-part storyline guest-starring the 70s rock band Kiss. It’s written by “Archie’s own Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing Alex Segura”; art is by mainstay Dan Parent. The story involves Sabrina the Teenage Witch messing up a spell. Kiss helps the Archie gang save the town from the monsters that result. While Archie may be hoping for the “I can’t believe they did […]
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After the successful five-issue Love and Capes: Ever After miniseries run at IDW, to be collected this fall as Wake Up Where You Are, Thom Zahler has announced on Twitter that the publishing relationship is continuing. Love and Capes: What to Expect will cover the next major milestone in a couple’s life: pregnancy. I can’t wait to see how Zahler handles the possibility of a super-baby! It will run six issues, debuting in 2012. Since this is my favorite comic […]
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