December 31, 2010 Johanna Comic News 7 comments

Best Graphic Novels of 2010

Here’s what I thought were the best graphic novels of 2010, 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. Castle Waiting Volume 2 by Linda Medley — Exceptionally illustrated fantasy revolving around everyday life among a stunning cast of unusual characters who make their own unusual family in an abandoned castle. Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson — Gorgeous […]

December 28, 2010 Johanna Manga News 8 comments

Best Manga of 2010

For the purpose of this post, I’m using a highly idiosyncratic definition of “best”, based mostly on what I looked forward to and enjoyed re-reading. (This year, given the economy, I also considered whether I’d buy series volumes sight unseen, whether I was entertained enough to feel they were worth gambling the money on.) I have a few subcategories, under which I’ve ranked a maximum of five titles, with #1 being best. Links take you to reviews of the titles. […]

December 27, 2010 Johanna Dark Horse 2 comments

Blacksad

This, my favorite European comic, combines painted art, an American noir influence, and anthropomorphized characters to explore the seedy side of humanity. Blacksad is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido. John Blacksad is an old-fashioned private detective, trenchcoat, reserved demeanor, and all. He also happens to have the head of a black panther. That’s nothing unusual — everyone in these stories is an animal, often reflecting their character. The police detective is a German shepherd, for […]

December 25, 2010 Johanna Archie Comics 2 comments

Archie’s Latest Headline Grabbers: Death and Politics

Two recent Archie storylines have gotten them some press outside of the traditional comic sources. The first uses President Obama and Wannabe Palin to make some kind of point about appropriate and inappropriate campaign strategies — but I think it was really just to get an interview at The Huffington Post. The two-part story runs in Archie #616 (out now) and #617 (due February 8 — quite a wait!). The variant cover (shown below portrays the politicos as superheroes, with […]

December 24, 2010 Johanna Comic News One comment

Medical Comic Conference: Graphic Medicine June 2011 in Chicago

Brian Fies, the talented author of Mom’s Cancer, passes along the following event news: The second international conference on Graphic Medicine will be held June 9-11, 2011, in Chicago. I was a keynote speaker at the first conference in London last June and thought it was terrific — interesting, fun, and potentially important. The concept is that cartooning and medicine have some interesting overlap that can benefit both. Think of work like Our Cancer Year, Stitches, Epileptic, Cancer Made Me […]

December 23, 2010 Johanna Manga News Leave a comment

Tokyopop Officially Announces Print-on-Demand Store

I noticed in early November that Tokyopop was selling print-on-demand volumes, at which point an editor from that company said “there will actually be a major announcement of this program when we’re ready to officially announce it.” Now appears to be that time — Tokyopop sent out the following press release. TOKYOPOP, the country’s leading independent manga media company, Baker & Taylor Inc., the world’s largest distributor of physical and digital books and entertainment products, and e-commerce solution leader MashON, […]

December 22, 2010 Johanna TV News Leave a comment

Young Justice Creator Responds to Criticism — Boys Are Tradition

Via DC Women Kicking Ass comes a link to Greg Weisman’s response to fans who criticized Young Justice‘s premiere for being so boy-heavy. A fan wrote in: I expect that the women will have a lot more to do in the episodes to come, but I still find it profoundly problematic to introduce the characters in such an unequal manner. I believe there are too many men in the world as it is who see women as mere supporting players […]

December 22, 2010 Johanna Dark Horse Manga Reviews 3 comments

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Volume 9

As was the case with volume 7, volume 9 starts with an exploration of fandom. A young idol, a girl famous for being cute, is finding creepy possessed dolls in her apartment. She assumes they’re being left by obsessed fans, but when the toys move on their own, that suggests something more. The best part of this story is how involved Kereellis gets. That’s the alien puppet, channeled by Yata, who reacts in a protective fashion toward the dolls. Of […]

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