There are good mash-ups, and there are great ones, ones that make you wonder “how terrific! why haven’t I seen this combination before?” Megan Rose Gedris’s Spectacle is great, combining life in the circus, steampunk touches, a ghost sibling, and a murder mystery. Anna is the practical twin, creator of a steam-driven conjecture engine that can predict future events using statistics to 78% accuracy. Ironic, then, that she tells fortunes, knowing that they’re trickery. Kat is the twin liked by […]

Angel City #5 is packed with action, gearing up for the conclusion next issue. Dolores’ attempt to solve her friend’s murder takes a back seat to staying alive, as crooked cops and gangsters sent by studio bosses are both after her for not shutting up and leaving well enough alone. (No matter the era, someone always wants the strong women to sit down and be quiet.) As the issue opens, she’s been framed for someone else’s murder, sending her fleeing. […]

Ares & Aphrodite is the graphic novel equivalent of a beach read, a romance set in Hollywood with plenty of spicy tricks and sparkly back-and-forth dialogue. If this was a movie — and sometimes it reads as though it wants to be — it’d be a classic romantic comedy. Will Ares is a successful divorce attorney, which means a lot of people dislike him. His most recent client is Evans Beatty (a terrific name choice to evoke an aging Hollywood […]

Thanks to the publisher, I got a chance to read an advance digital copy of Angel City, an upcoming six-issue miniseries from Oni Press. It’s written by Janet Harvey — whom I had the pleasure of working with at DC Comics many years ago — and drawn by Megan Levens (Madame Frankenstein). And it’s a lot of fun! Here’s the official description: Introducing ANGEL CITY, a hard-boiled 1930s noir starring Dolores Dare, previous Hollywood hopeful and current enforcer for the […]

Space Battle Lunchtime is a new eight-issue miniseries from Oni that’s kind of a flagship, since it was the first project they acquired from their new open submissions process. Written and drawn by Natalie Riess, it’s the story of an Earth girl swept up into an intergalactic cooking competition. That’s a concept that will interest many readers, particularly those who love the wacky juxtaposition of everyday hipster life — Peony breaks the rules by baking her own recipe treats for […]

After a checkered publication past, Elk’s Run has returned in digital serialization before the hardcover debuts in November. Issue #1 is out today at ComiXology. As written by Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Bunker) and illustrated by Noel Tuazon (The Broadcast, Family Ties: An Alaskan Crime Drama), the mysterious atmosphere I remember (from the first go-round) permeates the story. A group of teen boys living in a small West Virginia town chafe at their parents’ controlling attitudes. They hang out at […]

As they’ve been doing recently, Oni Press is serializing the upcoming graphic novel Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad through ComiXology ahead of release date. The full book will be out in late June, and this week chapter 2 (of 6) becomes available. It’s written by Jeffrey Burandt and illustrated by Dennis Culver, and it’s the story of a rock band, led by Liz, and all with cute nicknames, as shown here: They’re preparing to compete in a Battle of […]

As the second storyline of Ted Naifeh’s Princess Ugg concludes in issue #8, this may be the last for a while — but it’s a high point to pause on. First, issue #7, which sets up a number of interesting plot twists. In previous issues, Ulga and her fellow princesses have been kidnapped. Her bravery has won over many of the others, who finally see her in a context where her “savagery” has a purpose and a value. The prissy […]