Subtitled J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb Szilard fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and began trying to convince others of the possibilities resulting from atomic fission and its resulting energy, both good and bad. Throughout the 40s, he and other scientists worked to find the funding and material, especially uranium, for their experiments in the field, all the while arguing over whether the rules of science and publication of data had changed […]

In this collection of “Stories About Women Scientists” (as the subtitle runs), the lives of female scientists are illustrated by talented female artists. Most of the subjects will unfortunately be unknown to the casual reader, which makes the stories even more enjoyable and enlightening. Dignifying Science includes stories illustrated by Donna Barr, Stephanie Gladden, Roberta Gregory, Lea Hernandez, Carla Speed McNeil, Linda Medley, Marie Severin, Jen Sorensen, and Anne Timmons, with a cover by Ramona Fradon and Mary Fleener. All […]

After The Vampire Brat, Mr. Negativity comes next in the series from Batton Lash. It opens with a story where a gambler loses a cursed sarcophagus in a poker game to a casino owner who plans to open it on TV. Flashbacks to a theft in ancient Egypt fill in the back story. Next, Mavis splits into three people in order to handle all the aspects of her life that are overwhelming her. With one working hard, one trying to […]

After Sonovawitch!, the previous Supernatural Law book by Batton Lash, comes The Vampire Brat. He’s a teenager whose supernatural abilities only make his adolescent obnoxiousness worse. The contrast of the classically cool vampire with the obnoxious teenager makes for some amusing moments before the story becomes a parody of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Myrtle the Vampire Hater is a nerd’s nerd who’s being sued for harassing the teenage vampire, and her lawyer strongly resembles Ally McBeal. Unfortunately, the jabs are […]

A cartoonist tells the real-life story of how he and his wife fell in love in True Story, Swear to God: Chances Are…. After meeting at a well-known amusement park, they have to deal with a long-distance romance, with him in California, her in Puerto Rico. Tom Beland’s pages contain simple, cartoony figures that, like good caricatures, capture the essence of the characters. The author is drawn as a regular guy, with open-circle eyes that make him a willing receptacle […]

Following up on the events of Chances Are…, This One Goes to 11 begins with a hurricane threatening Puerto Rico while Tom can do nothing but worry long distance about his girlfriend Lily. He’s taking his stress out on his co-workers and family in realistic portrayals of how people distract themselves from big issues with smaller disagreements, punctuated with asides on problems with the media. Such a tense situation, a matter of life and death, drives the realization of the […]

Sonovawitch!, the next book after Tales of Supernatural Law by Batton Lash, contains the lengthy title story about a man’s mother casting a spell that causes a colleague to fall in love with him. It also features a morality play about a doctor who’s legally enjoined from transitioning his patients and a mob vampire story told entirely through TV screens. A set of stories focus on Mavis the secretary, about her decision on how to respond to her boyfriend’s proposal […]

This series, formerly titled Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre, is easy to sum up: two lawyers represent a variety of monsters in cases ranging from the punny to the parodic. Background storylines, usually involving the cast’s love lives, provide continuity, while their ever-changing caseload deals with established horror conventions, including vampires, zombies, and curses. It’s quite amusing to see how such a factual, evidence-based profession interacts with the vagaries of the supernatural. This collection, first in the series, […]