Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales is the umbrella title for a series of anthologies edited by Kel McDonald. (And isn’t that a great title? So fun to say!) Each volume — there have been three so far — is themed after a particular region, so together, they cover folklore from around the world. What I like about them is the high quality of the content. The stories are substantial, which means they have plenty of space to develop (even if, […]

One of the benefits of a digital-only publisher like Europe Comics (particularly one republishing works that already have a track record, but in English) is that they can experiment with a wider range of story types and subjects. Aude Picault’s Limited Edition has strong appeal to a market under-served by traditional American comics: the adult woman. It’s the story of Claire, an over-thirty French woman who wants to find the right guy and settle down to raise a family. Most […]

The best thing about Valentine, by Vanyda, is that it foregrounds the experience of a teenage girl as worth viewing. The worst thing about it is that absolutely nothing happens. There is no story here. Valentine is a teenager in school. She hangs with her friends and goes to a party where one of them gets sick. Her big accomplishment is walking by the house of the boy she crushes on. Just because something is realistic or true to life […]

I have just found a completely different type of comic, and it is just what I needed after wrapping up a busy week before a holiday. Ambient Comics by Nadine Redlich is a collection to induce meditation and quiet observation. Each page has six panels showing an object as time passes. For example, as shown here, the shadow of a stick moving through the day, or a banana aging. Some — such as the house on fire or the field […]