Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Like an episode of a good television serial, the latest edition of Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama may not be outstanding or unique, but it is entertaining in a fashion consistent with the series overall. (The most recent entry in the series I’ve reviewed was volume 11.) First comes the conclusion to the last case from the previous book. I do wish that they would divvy up the chapters better, or more prominently label the books — I would have […]
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This slim volume is a great companion to the Box Office Poison phonebook. BOP! More Box Office Poison reprints Alex Robinson’s short stories from the SPX anthologies (there was a piece in each volume from 1997-2001), Private Beach #4, and the color special published by Antarctic. It also contains Robinson’s 24-hour comic and a new story showing how Caprice’s friends deal with her ex-boyfriend. Since most of these were written as stand-alone stories instead of chapters in the bigger graphic […]
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The immensely talented Stuart Immonen (Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman: Secret Identity, Nextwave) doesn’t draw sketches at conventions any more, and he’s not too fond of attending shows, either. This self-published mini-paperback collects his fifty reasons why, reprinting four-panel strips that originally ran as webcomics. Comic artists and their fans often have a love/hate relationship. The new eight-page introduction puts the strips into that context, explaining that these experiences, weird as they might seem, aren’t terribly unusual on the convention circuit. […]
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Following up on yesterday’s reactions to Tokyopop’s online exclusives, here are two more and some further thoughts of mine. Dorian goes into more detail on why retailers make decisions to carry the manga they do and how this might start a declining spiral for the company: [Tokyopop has] always been a bit of a nuisance to deal with, from an ordering and budgeting angle. They put out too much at once, their section in Previews is a mess, and now […]
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I was going to post a pointer to the ICV2 interview with Tokyopop about why they’re now selling certain series online only, but I left to get dinner and the blogverse sprung into action without me! Christopher Butcher (link no longer available) tosses off a quick burst of anger over Dragon Head being pulled from retail stores, promising more commentary to come. Dave Lartigue (link no longer available) expresses his displeasure to Tokyopop, pointing out Moving to web-exclusive removes this […]
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Many fans have long requested that comic publishers consider selling digital versions of their comics online at reduced prices. Now Slave Labor is leading the way. … Only 69 cents per comic! Just go to our webstore and choose “Downloadable Comic Books” from the drop-down menu at the top, and you can choose from The Super-Scary Monster Show #1-3 and Emo Boy #1-2 (Emo Boy #1 is available as a PDF as well as a CBZ). We will be adding […]
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In comparison to Alec: The King Canute Crowd or Alec: Three Piece Suit, After the Snooter is a more modern work, more in keeping with the Eddie Campbell of today instead of decades ago. The most obvious difference is the dropping of the Alec psuedonym — Campbell’s now Eddie, raising kids and publishing for himself (an endeavor he seems to have since stopped, with his former website gone and Amazon listing his books as coming from Top Shelf instead of […]
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Alec: Three Piece Suit collects three short books previously published as Graffiti Kitchen, Little Italy, and The Dance of Lifey Death. I very much appreciate the way Campbell includes a brief publishing history of his work on the indicia page. Knowing when he drew the stories and when and where they first appeared helps put his autobiographical work in the appropriate context of the times. These were all drawn between 1983-1993 and were originally published from four-six years after their […]
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