Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
As she did in her previous book, Gemma Bovery, Posy Simmonds here sets the plot of a classic novel in the modern day. This time, it’s Far From the Madding Crowd (another one I haven’t read). Glen Larson, an American professor (although he doesn’t really sound like one), has come to Stonefield, a country retreat for writers. He’s aspiring to create a novel. Beth runs the place while her husband Nicholas works on his latest mystery. She’s a wonderful, helpful […]
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Posy Simmonds has taken the plot of Madame Bovary and re-imagined it in late 90s France, using her characters to comment on dissatisfaction, emotional manipulation, and culture clash. As Gemma Bovery opens, Raymond Joubert, local Normandy baker, tells us that Gemma Bovery is dead. He then narrates her life through reading (and translating, since he is French and she is most definitely English) her stolen diaries. His voyeurism infects us all; we want to know how and why she died […]
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This paperback is my latest lead exhibit in the argument for collections being better reading experiences than miniseries. When the five issues of Hellcat were running monthly, I had no idea what was going on. Writer Kathryn Immonen wasn’t hand-holding the reader (refreshingly), so I quickly got lost with the time gap between issues. Reading Patsy Walker: Hellcat all at once, I was impressed and entertained with a story about Patsy in Alaska, helping find the missing heir of a […]
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The new Magic Trixie book, Magic Trixie and the Dragon, is simply outstanding, the best yet! First off, there’s an awful lot going on. I’m okay with having a minimum of plot so long as there are plenty of amazing Jill Thompson pictures to look at, but that’s certainly not the case here. Trixie’s grandmother Mimi takes her to the circus/carnival, where she falls in love with the dragons and wants one. Of course, she can’t have one, even though […]
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Rick Geary continues his Treasury of XXth Century Murder series with Famous Players, covering “The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor”. This murder case, long an unsolved mystery, took place in 1922 Hollywood, where moving pictures were just settling into being an industry. William Desmond Taylor was a director for Famous Players, the most prestigious studio of the time, and actress Mabel Normand was the last person to see him alive. When Taylor was found dead, suspicion fell on young […]
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The newest book by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, Embroideries) continues to explore Iranian culture through her deceptively minimal illustrations. Chicken With Plums tells the story of her great-uncle, an accomplished musician who decides to die. Nasser Ali Khan plays the tar (a lute-like stringed instrument), but after his instrument is destroyed, he gives up interest in life. Set in 1958, the story explores the eight days he lasted, as he thinks about his family, his life choices, and what brought him […]
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David Mack brings his long-running series full-circle in Kabuki: The Alchemy with a mind-bending conclusion. Kabuki, formerly an assassin, has escaped from the institution where she was being kept in Metamorphosis and is seeking the mysterious friend who helped her, a woman she’s never seen. But as the character says to the reader early on, “All you need to know is that there is a scar on my face, I’m starting a new life, and I have a friend who […]
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Jamie S. Rich (Love the Way You Love) and Joelle Jones (Token) team up again for an old-fashioned private eye yarn in You Have Killed Me. It’s something of a change of pace, since their previous book together was the romance 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, one of my best books of 2006. A woman from Tony’s past has just come back into his life. Her sister, his ex-fiancee, is missing, and she needs the detective’s help, in spite […]
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