Writer Christos Gage has done it again with this new run. He does an amazing job of making these well-known characters and their challenges relevant to today’s concerns. Instead of having them refight old battles, he’s putting them in involving situations that the reader can find scary in deep, substantial, mature ways. In the previous issue, a dragon attacked San Francisco, causing terrible destruction and loss of life. This issue explores the government response — which includes forced registration for […]

We’re firmly into the mystery here in Resident Alien: The Man With No Name #2 (of 4), but it’s the subtleties of the character interaction that I enjoy most about the series. A downtown building has burned, and the firefighters discover that the ruined warehouse was probably a meth lab. As the investigation continues, we get some crisp scenes between the authorities and some of the sketchier inhabitants of the area, doling out bits of information and characterization. Peter Hogan […]

Dark Horse has sent out advance review copies of Resident Alien: The Man With No Name #1, which will be on sale in comic shops on September 14. It’s the fourth installment of the series written by Peter Hogan and illustrated by Steve Parkhouse, and I quite enjoy it. The concept is simple, but full of charm. “Harry” is actually a stranded telepathic alien, but he’s settled in as a retired country doctor. However, odd things keep happening in Patience, […]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #28 is smack in the middle of the final storyline for this “season”. “Own It” began in issue #26 and concludes with #30 in August. In it, the vengeance demon D’Hoffryn has captured the book of Vampyr, making him super-powerful and capable of rewriting the rules of reality. Of course, the series will conclude with a battle for the fate of the world, but it’s the character work that makes me call this an […]

Ten years ago, Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called “How to Talk to Girls at Parties“. Set in the 1970s, it’s narrated by a teen boy being taken to a party by his more experienced, charming friend, and most of it is a monologue about how uncomfortable the narrator feels about almost everything. (Very appropriate for the age!) Girls are alien to him, in every sense including the literal. The appeal of this story is the language, glorious in […]

I have never before seen a graphic novel that so beautifully captures what I enjoy about watching 1940s movies. The New Deal is a rich-vs-poor caper set in 1936 at the New York Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Jonathan Case (Green River Killer, Dear Creature, Batman ’66) isn’t doing a purely retro piece, though, since he also incorporates class and racial distinctions that we’re much more aware of now. The time period allows Case to draw gorgeous settings and time-period fashion, but […]

Peter Bagge returns to historical biography. I enjoyed his Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, but Founding Fathers Funnies takes a much different approach: short tales of 5-8 pages with little respect for the subjects. Instead of focusing on historical events, the well-known milestones take background to showing famous men arguing with or sniping at each other. Bagge’s loopy, snaky lines lend themselves well to caricature. His goal is to humanize these historical figures, to demonstrate how their “big personalities… […]

With the success of Lumberjanes, we’re seeing more comics with girl teams, a trend I welcome. Zodiac Starforce takes its influences from the manga-style magical girl group, such as that seen in Sailor Moon, but layering it with American schoolgirl life. There’s a twist here, as written by Kevin Panetta and illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau — the team has broken up, split apart after defeating a villain and now pursuing normal lives. Except, of course, that trick never works, and […]