Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Giulio Macaione makes his US comic debut in Alice: From Dream to Dream, a beautifully illustrated graphic novel about forced empathy, having to learn more about others whether we want to or not. That’s a skill that needs more emphasis these days. Alice and her family have moved back to Cincinnati from Chicago after her father lost his job. She’s forced to share a bedroom with her older brother, which is a problem. Alice shares the dreams of those she […]
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The local news team is preparing viewers for a coming snow storm. When meteorologist Stormin’ Norman gets fed up with the vapid host and his “joke” about cold weather disproving global warming, he lets loose a ton of knowledge about how weather works. Science Comics: Wild Weather: Storms, Meteorology, and Climate is written by MK Reed (Science Comics: Dinosaurs, The Cute Girl Network) and illustrated by Jonathan Hill (Americus). It’s the character interplay — and their simplified, expressive designs — […]
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Giant Days remains one of my favorite ongoing comics, and these days, that’s bittersweet. I want Susan, Esther, and Daisy to keep having college adventures for a long, long time, but time won’t stand still for them. Creator John Allison has them growing up and preparing to venture into the “real world” — or he has the world infringing on their university bubble. Giant Days #48 is illustrated by Allison, who normally writes. To my eye, that makes everyone look […]
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The Science Comics line is a wonderful marker for quality educational comics, and who better to teach about The Brain than a mad scientist? Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine is written by Tory Woollcott and illustrated by Alex Graudins. Fahama is helping her crazily determined younger sister sell cookies door-to-door when she stumbles into the lair of Dr. Cerebrum, an ambulatory brain in a jar. To keep him from removing her head, she asks him questions, learning […]
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Lorena Alvarez has followed up her beautiful Nightlights with this sequel. Hicotea: A Nightlights Story goes with Sandy, the young artist in the first book, on a school field trip. To what’s almost a literal field — they’re in nature, down by the river in the wetlands. There, Sandy has a fantastic journey into a glorious museum found inside a turtle’s shell. It’s a symbolic way of indicating just how much knowledge there is out there, how even shells or […]
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Katie O’Neill, author of The Tea Dragon Society, returns with a graphic novel bound to satisfy her audience. Aquicorn Cove has the same beautifully colored images, the same confident, sometimes wordless storytelling, similar relationships with unusual creatures, and a corresponding message about the necessity for balance with nature. As you can see in the preview pages below, Lana and her father have come to visit her Aunt Mae in a coast-side town cleaning up after a substantial storm. Lana’s mother […]
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In Sheets, Marjorie is trying to keep the family business, a laundromat, together. Her mother passed away, and Dad has mostly checked out. She has to cope with self-centered customers and a pushy, smarmy neighborhood businessman. Then the ghosts appear. The spirits all look like the classic children’s image, white sheets with a rounded top for a head. But they go to support groups to try and accept how they died, and their world is notably less colorful than Marjorie’s. […]
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As regular readers know, I’m a huge fan of Rick Geary’s work. His precision linework and fascination with famous murders and infamous people make for compelling reading. There have been nine stories told in his series A Treasury of Victorian Murder, which can be found in two volumes, Compendium 1 (including classics Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes) and Compendium 2 (with Lizzie Borden, Lincoln’s assassination, and three other tales). Then he moved a bit forward in time with seven […]
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