After embarrassing herself on camera as a reporter because of her drinking, the only job Jerri can get at the family TV station is as midnight movie host. The position is open because the previous Count Crowley has gone missing, and a desperate man wants the host’s help with his lycanthropy in Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter. Her sarcastic vamping is a hit, which illustrates one of the comic’s strengths. As written by David Dastmalchian, the dialogue is punchy […]

There’s plenty of science fiction in comics, particularly if you lump many of the superheroes in that genre, but it’s rare to find science fiction (in any medium) that deals with religion, particularly one that does it well (as opposed to using it as a cliche). Invisible Kingdom, written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Christian Ward not only does this, but it does so gorgeously. It’s clear that the world we’re shown here has been well-thought-through, with the […]

Bad Luck Chuck caught my attention due how interesting the premise was. It kept my attention by wrapping the concept in intriguing layers of story. It’s written by Lela Gwenn and illustrated by Matthew Dow Smith. Chuck Manchester has really bad luck. Like “the building burns down around her” bad luck. So she’s made a business, “Disaster on Demand”, out of it, hiring herself out as, for example, an untraceable arsonist. She’s just been hired to bring a daughter back […]

Here’s where it all ends. (At least, I assume, for a while.) Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning #4 is the last Dark Horse Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic after a twenty-year run. And, as expected, it’s a lovely finale. The slayer legacy is in danger from a crazed boy from the future who’s assembled a demon army. There’s a huge battle, full of characters from all over the Whedonverse (Fray, Angel, Faith, Illyria, throwbacks to classic TV […]

Well, that was disappointing. I had high hopes for translating a beloved TV show to comics, but there were so many things about this issue that didn’t work for me. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Comic #1 was written by Harold Buchholz, Joel Hodgson, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, and Mary Robinson. The wrapper segment art is by Todd Nauck, with the old comic parody art by Mike Manley. First, I didn’t realize how much I appreciated the introductory […]

The latest Resident Alien miniseries, An Alien in New York, wraps up here in unexpected fashion. But then, that’s always the case with this ongoing series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. They take the unusual road in their story of a marooned alien learning about humans. His life didn’t go the way he expected, obviously, and neither did that of the previously stranded alien he’s just found out about. Raoul wound up in the New York art scene, and […]

I always enjoy reading a new installment of Resident Alien. It’s a strong, simple concept — an alien, marooned on Earth, tries to live an undiscovered life as a retired country doctor, until the neighbors in the small town he’s settled in start incorporating him into their lives. This usually involves revealing and solving some kind of crime. Why I like it: There aren’t enough mystery stories in comics (as opposed to thrillers), for one thing, so this series scratches […]

Usagi Yojimbo is a samurai rabbit, a ronin wandering old Japan in an historically faithful world where the characters just happen to be animals. His stories run the gamut, with gifted cartoonist Stan Sakai hitting all kinds of emotional beats. This issue starts a particularly ambitious run, a seven-issue story called The Hidden about the persecution of Christians in the country. It’s the end of the sixteenth century, and the land is run by feudal lords. There’s a text page […]