Erika Moen has self-published the first collection of her webcomic DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary (NSFW link), collecting her strips from 2006-2008. Although there are plenty of webcomic diary strips, this one is like none other. First, it’s remarkably bawdy and explicit. Erika is not shy about dealing with bodies, her own or others, and physical functions like sex or farting. Her portrayal of these are both funny and honest. You’ll know from the first few strips […]

The horror Western Strangeways: Murder Moon combines cowboys and werewolves in a moody tale faithful to both genres. Seth Collins is taking the stagecoach to the frontier town of Silver Branch in response to his estranged sister’s plea for help when the vehicle is attacked by a giant wolf. The sheriff keeps rumors down and the town under his control by lying about what happened, but the wolf always leaves at least one survivor to tell the tale, suggesting a […]

I don’t remember how I found Lucy Knisley’s art journal. As soon as I saw it, though, I knew I needed to read more of her work. Her style is so cool. She does slice-of-life material for the most part, punctuated with unique pop culture references, but in a lovely, clear line style with a vibrant sense of color. Radiator Days contains two years’ worth of her comic strips, over 300 pages of sketches, observations, comic journals, and stories. Although […]

Jay Hosler continues his impressive streak of graphic novels that make science fun. Clan Apis told us of the life cycle of a bee. The Sandwalk Adventures used a mite in Charles Darwin’s eyebrow to explain evolution. But Optical Allusions may be the weirdest yet. Developed in part with a National Science Foundation grant, it’s the story of how Wrinkles the Wonder Brain searches for a lost eye and learns all about the science of vision and eyeballs. Each chapter […]

Issue #45 guest-stars the Toxic Avenger in a Tromaville comic crossover. I’ve never seen those movies, so I can’t speak to how faithful it is, but with “Toxie” on trial for being a public nuisance, the two properties blend well. After being a town hero, Toxie finds that the people have turned on him in a story narrated by “Judge” Lloyd Kaufman (real-life Troma President and jack-of-all-trades). Turns out that it’s really all a plot by an evil developer wanting […]

Ah, this makes me happy. Love and Capes #8 is more great romantic superhero comedy from Thom Zahler. I was laughing from the cover, where Darkblade shakes down the artist to get featured on the cover. As the issue opens, Abby is having a hard time letting her sister Charlotte go study in Paris. Abby’s got her own concerns, though, as she’s planning her wedding to Mark, aka the Crusader. It’s the little things that make this so funny to […]

Released this week was The Martian Confederacy, a new sci-fi adventure graphic novel written by Jason McNamara (First Moon, Continuity) and drawn by Paige Braddock (Jane’s World). It’s set on Mars in the year 3535, but this isn’t a shiny happy future. It’s Mars as trailer park. Think of the grimy bar that shows up in Star Wars or Serenity, and then envision a planet like that, where even the air is controlled by a corporation. Boone’s a scrappy guy […]

I haven’t read Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series of novels, but In Odd We Trust, an original graphic novel prequel co-written and illustrated by Queenie Chan (The Dreaming), makes me interested in seeing more. The young man strangely named Odd Thomas is a genius pancake maker who can also talk to ghosts. (Think a male Ghost Whisperer, only the ghosts he sees don’t speak.) He lives in a small California town, almost a character in itself, where he’s accepted as […]