I’ve enjoyed the previous comics I’ve read by Liz Prince, such as Alone Forever. Those were collections of strips, though, short moments of humor or observation punctuated with a certain cynicism. Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir is her first long-form work, in the popular autobiographical comic genre. And it’s fascinating, mainly due to her honesty about her gender struggles. As a four-year-old, Liz refused to wear dresses, preferring baseball caps and sneakers. Her parents were generally accepting; it was schoolmates that […]

Matt Faulkner turned the story of his great-aunt and her daughter’s time in a Japanese internment camp in 1942 into Gaijin: American Prisoner of War, a fictionalized tale of a teen boy’s experiences during World War II. Koji is thirteen at the time of Pearl Harbor, and his adolescence is complicated by the war. His Japanese father is missing, and neighbors, shocked by recent events, react with bigotry and racism. Although his mother is Caucasian, that makes things worse, since […]

Neil Slorance has put together a short, single-issue story about a home computer worker taking the night off to go look at the stars. It’s charming in its tone and straightforward about the need to stay in touch with the wider world. She — although the figure is simplified and almost gender-neutral, so I might be assuming — uses her father’s telescope and ponders her place in the greater world, reminding us of the importance of perspective and family. The […]

Previews orders for this month are due tomorrow, so I wanted to call your attention to a title you might otherwise overlook. I don’t read many indy periodicals any more, but this one was really good, a satisfying single issue with a ton of options for where the series might go next. How I Made the World is written by Liz Plourde and drawn by Randy Michaels. It was one of the final Xeric Grant recipients. It’s the semi-autobiographical story […]

I talked about how enjoyable The Double Life of Miranda Turner was at the beginning of year. It’s been quite the patience-tester since then, since issues #2 and 3 make up one story, and issue #3 just came out today. The comic is written by Jamie S. Rich and drawn by George Kambadais. In this issue, Miranda is figuring out the best way to battle a troupe of theater actors, given super powers, with the aid of her dead sister […]

The digital comic All My Ghosts is hampered by a really extended release schedule. Issue #1 came out last October, and the second issue (of four) is just now coming out. (The artist, Jeremy Massie, has said he aims to release quarterly.) It’s one of Alterna Comics’ ComiXology titles, $1.99 for a 24-page digital “issue”. I’m talking about it, though, because it tackles a relevant, intriguing subject that I haven’t see done in comics, the idea of family legacies and […]

Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, had another comic strip running from 1957-1959. It’s Only a Game focused on sports and games — often golf, bridge, and bowling, pastimes of the suburban 50s. The strip was offered in two formats. There was a single gag panel, run three times a week, in black and white. Those comics were reprinted in 2004 in a compact paperback. As Schulz found that his workload became heavier, Jim Sasseville came on to finish the art […]

Kean Soo’s Jellaby first became a book in 2008 after launching as a webcomic. It was quite popular, but publisher Hyperion let it go out of print in 2010. Now, Capstone has thankfully brought it back. I’m thrilled to see it, since when I first read it five years ago, I somehow missed appreciating the wonder and skill Kean Soo uses to build this world. Often, it’s not you or the book; it’s the blend and the context of when […]