I know halfway through a miniseries isn’t a great place to start, but this is a good issue that shows off the various themes of this premise well. Thomas Alsop is “the hand of the island”, the home mage of Manhattan. It’s a family job, handed down over generations, but he’s turned his time in the role into a reality show and blog. This issue, written by Chris Miskiewicz, introduces Emma, a British witch friend, and engages in a substantial […]

written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis; illustrated by Brooke Allen There’s some weirdness going on here, since this issue was delayed twice in print, but the digital copy went out to subscribers on time. Anyway, I’m surprised I’m still having things to say about this fantasy girl camper series, but it’s because of the creativity that goes into every issue. And a new crazy imagination monster in each outing. Here, it’s dinosaurs. The girls’ friendship is so realistic and […]

Unfortunately, Steed And Mrs. Peel: We’re Needed #1 (Boom! Studios, $3.99, six-issue miniseries) isn’t a very good adaptation of the original property. Writer Ian Edginton gets the voices right, but the plot, about a village of retired spies, is too reminiscent of The Prisoner, and the art by Marco Cosentino is stiff and choppy, relying on the text to carry the story. Some of the likenesses are good, but sometimes the faces look misshapen or unrecognizable, and the fight scenes […]

The concept behind The Woods is familiar, especially to manga readers. A high school full of students and faculty is transported to a mysterious world? dimension? where they have to quickly learn to work together or die. The best-known example exploring the rapid devolution of society when teens are stranded may be Lord of the Flies, but comic readers are likely thinking of Battle Royale. Although here, the kids aren’t told to kill each other — they just may cause […]

It’s always nice when something much-anticipated turns out to be better than you hoped. Lumberjanes is a strong start to a girls’ adventure series written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis and drawn by Brooke Allen. There are evocations of all kinds of “girls in the woods” victim stories, starting with Little Red Riding Hood, but these scouts are no victims or shrinking violets. When they hear scary noises, they spring into action poses, ready to defend themselves and their […]

I have the sinking feeling that this is another graphic novel, like Asterios Polyp, where the visual hijinks will distract enough people that no one will want to talk about how stereotypical and pointless the story is. The Joyners in 3D is actually printed in 3D, requiring red/blue glasses to read it. It comes with two pair and a cute note about sharing. (The gimmick made review copies particularly difficult for the publisher, who had to send out paper glasses […]

I first looked at this graphic novel because I have a fondness for the mid-90s indy comic of the same name. This Strange Attractors is no relation. Then I was interested by writer Charles Soule’s clear affection for New York City, one of the book’s characters. The premise is that, with enough math and deep understanding, one person can keep the city going by using a variant of chaos theory and the Butterfly Effect. A lot of little actions manage […]

I’m pleased to see that Marjane Satrapi, best known for her autobiographical Persepolis, continues to write and draw stories beyond her own experience. (Too many cartoonists who put out comics from their own lives are expected to continue in that vein instead of branching out.) From telling us about her female relatives to an unbalanced uncle, now she’s moved completely into fable and folktale with The Sigh. With a beginning that will remind the reader of Beauty and the Beast, […]