Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The cover claims 3,856 possibilities in this “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style comic by Jason Shiga, and I can believe it. Unfortunately, the introduction to Meanwhile warns us “most will end in doom and disaster” (also like the CYOA novels) and only one path will “lead you to happiness and success”. On the bright side, that means lots of re-read and play value as the reader tries to figure out the best choices. Jimmy winds up in a mad scientist’s laboratory […]
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It’s sad to note that something as charming as this modern fairy tale for girls was such a complete failure in the U.S. I’ve been ordering the U.K. editions online so I can have a matched set in the cute digest size, with all the neat design touches: glitter highlight on the pastel cover with matching colored shading inside. There are four titles in the series by Andi Watson, starting with The Haunted Teapot. The Haunted Teapot, in addition to […]
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This extraordinary volume, first in a series, is impressive in both content and sheer size. It’s the same shape as the traditional newspaper comic page from its original era, making it humongous by current standards. At 12″ x 16″, you’ll need a table or other flat surface to enjoy it, and it’s a wonderful feeling to be totally taken in by the color pages filling your entire field of vision and beyond. Polly and Her Pals is a strip revered […]
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Or, as the subtitle has it, “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl”. The important piece there is the last, because what makes this graphic novel by Barry Deutsch so remarkable is its combination of folkloric adventure with the authentic, respectful portrayal of that particular culture. Mirka chafes against the knitting and other homecrafts in which her stepmother Fruma aims to train her. She’s an agressive, argumentative back-talker, too smart for her own good and her place in a traditional […]
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Cartoonist Lora Innes does an excellent job balancing both halves of her story in the first volume of The Dreamer: The Consequence of Nathan Hale. When we first meet the lead character, Beatrice is waking suddenly from a sexy dream about kissing a Revolutionary War soldier. At high school, she’s trying out for the play and wondering about going to the upcoming Halloween dance, but when she sleeps, she’s another person, helping the brave Alan Warren fight against the redcoats […]
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It astounds me that such a creative, well-done comic strip as Tatsuya Ishida’s Sinfest is available daily for free. Such accomplished, high-quality work is well worth paying for — which can be done by buying this collection, and you get the bonus of comics in more permanent print form. I’ve called Sinfest “the best webcomic out there“, and I stand by that judgment. Nothing else combines such beautiful cartooning with such insightful observations and wide-ranging humor. Ishida can draw cute […]
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This, my favorite European comic, combines painted art, an American noir influence, and anthropomorphized characters to explore the seedy side of humanity. Blacksad is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido. John Blacksad is an old-fashioned private detective, trenchcoat, reserved demeanor, and all. He also happens to have the head of a black panther. That’s nothing unusual — everyone in these stories is an animal, often reflecting their character. The police detective is a German shepherd, for […]
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Two recent Archie storylines have gotten them some press outside of the traditional comic sources. The first uses President Obama and Wannabe Palin to make some kind of point about appropriate and inappropriate campaign strategies — but I think it was really just to get an interview at The Huffington Post. The two-part story runs in Archie #616 (out now) and #617 (due February 8 — quite a wait!). The variant cover (shown below portrays the politicos as superheroes, with […]
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