In this low-key graphic novel, Adam Sacks follows a fish from birth to death. The fluid lines of Salmon Doubts are printed in a very dark blue, and the grey and light blue colors create an underwater feel. Most of the fish are happy just being part of the group, following their instincts and letting others make decisions. Henry doesn’t fit in; he’s something of a loner. Henry finds it hard to talk to the other fish, which disappoints him, […]

I’m no fan of zombie comics, but this one caught my attention favorably due to the odd combination of elements in the premise. In 1958 Los Angeles, Igor Vorlic (as in Frankenstein) and Renfield (as in Dracula) are struggling private detectives, serving a community of monsters and zombies hanging around the movie community. Just as the main characters are best known for supporting bigger stars, they work with those left around the edges of Hollywood. Their client is the ghost […]

Clan Apis is the biography of a honeybee. It’s educational, as you might guess, but it teaches more than biology facts. Each chapter of the story also illustrates a life lesson as well as being wonderfully entertaining. I never thought I could care so much about, or learn so much from, a bee. The story opens with a bee’s version of the creation of the universe, which turns out to be a tale an older bee, Dvorah, is telling Nyuki, […]

Waterwise by Joel Orff is an experience to lose yourself in. The protagonist is drawing his ex-girlfriend by the side of a lake. His sketch builds slowly, in companionship to his thoughts of her as he realizes that their relationship is truly over. Then an old friend, a girl he had a crush on when they were younger, breaks his reverie. Orff’s style is dense and primitive but strong in its skill. It’s brilliant at establishing mood on a wordless […]

I originally read these two creepy stories by Sandy Jarrell as a minicomic, but both are now available to read online. The first, Don’t Play, the Game’s Not Safe, is about a bunch of kids trying to scare each other with trance-like games. This story does a fabulous job of realistically capturing kids playing around with the unknown, imagining grisly fates for each other. The art, pacing, expressions, and shading are all great, and the writer knows just when to […]

Destined Love is a cool little meta-superhero comic set in the late 60s by Sandy Jarrell with Vance Sumner. It blends Astro City-like superhero daily life and real cultural history in the format of a nurse romance. It’s an ambitious project that could go wrong so many ways but doesn’t. Annie meets the superhero Bastion of Freedom while treating one of the people he’s recently saved, and they have dinner together. She’s curious about his relationship with one of his […]

This gorgeous painted graphic novel uses humanoid animals to create a crime story with all the atmosphere of a classic noir film, complicated by the more modern concerns of racism and hate crimes. Blacksad: Arctic Nation is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido. Blacksad is a panther private eye investigating the case of a missing child against a background of color-inspired harassment. A group of white-skinned and -furred animals make up a Nazi-like group that preaches […]

Smut Peddler #3 is a minicomic anthology of tasteful but titillating erotica. 48 pages of diverse sex-inspired stories for adults for only $5! I’m the Submissions Editor (which means that the folks who do all the real coordination and assembly work — Trisha L. Sebastian, Sean Bieri, and Carla Speed McNeil — ask me what I think during the selection period, and I’m quite honored to participate). That means this is NOT a review! This is me telling you why […]