Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Andi Watson’s Little Star continues in the slice-of-life vein of his works Breakfast After Noon and Slow News Day. (The characters from BAN even make a cameo here; Rob’s a stay-at-home dad and Louise has a second on the way.) It’s the character-driven story of a father coming to terms with life choices: balancing work and home, buying the right house, and raising a child. Daughter Cassie is old enough to talk, and she’s beginning to develop her own personality. […]
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Young Hannah Marie is afraid of monsters, so her older cousin Jimmy has promised to take her trick-or-treating this Halloween. She’s excited about going out with the big kids for the first time even though they’re not happy about having to wait for her. They decide to scare her to make her go home, but the tables are turned when Hannah meets her Scary Godmother and her monster friends. Scary Godmother is a witch in a black tutu, purple- and […]
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Steady Beat is a fascinating blend of a wide variety of elements and influences: teen romance, manga, and political drama. Sixteen-year-old Leah has grown up in the shadow of her big sister Sarai. Even when Leah scores an important goal during the school soccer championship, her glory is short-lived, as her varsity captain sister is coaching. To be fair, Sarai gives Leah a chance to demonstrate her skills and responsibility, but Leah gets distracted by a discovery that will change […]
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Trevor Schalk was an aviation millionaire who was murdered 25 years ago. Before his death, his hypnotherapist tried to make it so he’d remember his previous life in his next. Now, an up-and-coming closeted actor thinks he has Schalk’s memories, and aspiring private eye Amy Devlin is hired to find out what’s going on in Past Lies, a mystery graphic novel written by Christina Weir & Nuncio DeFilippis and drawn by Christopher Mitten. The situation allows for the dynamite line […]
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I knew the concept of Borrowed Time going in — a reporter goes to the Bermuda Triangle and returns to find his life changed and his girlfriend missing — and I thought it had potential. Unfortunately, this first book of a planned series pretty much establishes just that, and the reader is required to take a lot on faith. I very much appreciate Oni trying new things: in this case, attempting to establish a format for the serialized graphic novel. […]
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Volume 11 is a great place to sample the Case Closed series by Gosho Aoyama, since this volume contains three complete cases and the solution to a fourth, with no cliffhangers. The first chapter shows boy detective Conan concluding a case from the last book. Like many of his stories, it’s Encyclopedia Brown-like — if you can find the single wrong item or recall the obscure knowledge that forms a clue, you’re well on your way to solving the case […]
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Stuck Rubber Baby tackles two of the most challenging struggles America has faced over the past half-century: equal rights regardless of race and regardless of sexual orientation. Like author Howard Cruse, Toland Polk is a white boy growing up in Alabama during the 1960s, and this novel covers his coming of age during the civil rights movement. As he observes and experiences the fear and justice of that time, he also comes to accept that he’s gay, sending him through […]
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As a big fan of Tramps Like Us, I would love to see more manga aimed at women, not girls. Publishers Weekly points to an upcoming title that sounds very promising, Kiriko Nananan’s Sweet Cream and Red Strawberries from Central Park Media. (Strangely, although PW says it’s out this month, I can’t find information on the book on CPM’s site, and Amazon has no release date listed.) MangaBlog also noticed the article and adds some comments about pricing and library […]
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