The Avant-Guards was my answer to a friend asking the question of whether there was any American comic that could be described as sports yuri (which is manga about girl-girl attraction). It’s written by Carly Usdin (Heavy Vinyl), illustrated by Noah Hayes (Wet Hot American Summer), and this collection reprints the first four-issue storyline. (There are 12 issues planned in total.) The dynamic go-getter Olivia is determined to create a basketball team at her all-female drama school “The Georgia O’Keeffe […]

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 […]

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 […]

Giant Days #46 does something that’s surprisingly hard to do: tell a stand-alone story as part of a long-running series that’s satisfying on its own while faithful to the appeal of the title. Writer John Allison and artist Max Sarin have been working on Giant Days for most of the run, so that’s not surprising. What did surprise me was how geek-focused but affectionate this issue was. As shown in these preview pages, Susan has decided to find out who’s […]

To attract fans of the boys-love sports series Check, Please! and Yuri!!! on Ice, Boom! has released a manga-like comic about competitive boys at a fencing academy. Fence Volume 1 is written by C.S. Pacat and illustrated by Johanna the Mad. Nicholas is the scrappy, disadvantaged up-and-comer with natural talent and insufficient training. In his first tournament, he faces off against Seiji, a well-accomplished prodigy. Six months later, they’re roommates at the same boarding school, both there to try and […]

The first volume of Fence is now widely available, so it seemed like a good time to check in with the continuing series. As created by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad, it’s the story of a group of boys on an elite high school fencing team. Nicholas has talent but not enough training and not the right family background. Seiji has all the advantages and is inhumanly talented. They’re roommates. The last few issues have focused on various showdowns […]

It seems lately that there’s been a mini-boom in books about how great New York City is. For the adults, there’s Roz Chast’s Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York and Julia Wertz’s Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City; for the kids, there’s the TOON book Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure and now Sean Rubin’s Bolivar. Only this one has a dinosaur! Bolivar is an eight-foot-tall grey dinosaur living in New […]

Goldie Vance volume 4 marks a few turning points in the retro-flavored series about a teen detective. This is the first volume to not be previously serialized, and it’s the first not written by series co-creator Hope Larson (although she gets a story credit). It’s also not drawn by original artist and co-creator Brittney Williams (who does provide the cover), but volume 3 was drawn by someone else as well. Volume 4 is written by Jackie Ball (who co-wrote volume […]