December 18, 2005 Johanna Image Comics Leave a comment

Avigon: Gods & Demons

Avigon is a clockwork creation created by Pulsifer, who looks like a mad scientist but compares herself to God. In supplying her creations to various nobles, she must navigate a complex web of status and competition. Avigon demonstrates the pinnacle of Pulsifer’s creative genius, but to maintain her position in the court, she commits Avigon to battles she doesn’t believe in. In Avigon: Gods & Demons, the clockworks are kept in a pleasure palace, protected from those who would harm […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna Graphix / Scholastic 3 comments

Queen Bee

Chynna Clugston’s never been shy about acknowledging her pop culture inspirations and interests, and in Queen Bee, it’s no different. During the talent competition, lead character Haley sings The Go-Go’s “We’ve Got the Beat”. When trying to figure out how to be popular, Haley watches classic teen movies from the 80s and today. Clugston also mentions Mean Girls a couple of times, which given how similar the plot is, may be too often. Haley is psychokinetic — she can move […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna NBM / Papercutz One comment

How Loathsome

The cover of How Loathsome features an attractive, androgynous figure naked from the waist up with arms wrapped around him/herself. S/he’s wearing black PVC pants, suggesting fetish culture, and appears to be comforting or protecting him/herself from prying gazes. It’s a great summation of the material contained within. The stories by Ted Naifeh and Tristan Crane explore queer life, drug use, goth clubs, and gender experimentation in San Francisco. In the first chapter, Catherine, the narrator, meets Chloe, a “tall […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna DC / Vertigo Leave a comment

Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight

Before Gotham Central, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark worked together on the mystery Scene of the Crime. Jack Herriman is a private eye hired by a woman to find her missing younger sister, who may have become involved with a strange commune-like group. Both she and Jack turn out to have father issues in common; when he was a teenager, Jack was raised by his uncle, a crime scene photographer who helps out on cases. Now, he’s fallen into something […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna Other Publishers One comment

Dead West

The team behind the critically praised Teenagers From Mars, writer Rick Spears and artist Rob G., return with a zombie Western, Dead West. While the men of a Native American tribe are out hunting, a group of whites massacre their village to enforce their claim to the property. A young brave survives and years later takes his revenge on the town, Lazarus, built on the site. Through a ritual sacrifice, he raises the town’s dead, an unthinking mob of zombies […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna Other Publishers 2 comments

Teenagers From Mars

Mars is your typical Southern town. One group of kids are digging up a coffin. When they find a sword, they wind up reenacting fight scenes from Star Wars. Another guy’s ripping off the copy shop with the aid of an underutilized employee. They get away with it because the boss is convinced the kid’s on drugs; aren’t all teens? At the local Mallmart, an employee’s getting chewed out for selling a kid a comic with too much violence; who […]

December 15, 2005 Johanna DC / Vertigo Leave a comment

Sgt. Rock’s Combat Tales

Sgt. Rock’s Combat Tales provides a compact look at a once-popular, now-mostly-forgotten genre: the war comic. These classics from the late 50s were written by Robert Kanigher with art by Joe Kubert, Jerry Grandenetti, Irv Novick, and Russ Heath. The digest-sized book opens with Rock’s “origin story”, a tale of who he was (a boxer) and his determination, the quality that defined him as a person and a soldier. Other stories deal with what it’s like to be a grunt […]

December 13, 2005 Johanna Oni Press / Lion Forge 2 comments

Maria’s Wedding

A year ago, Joseph and Matthew’s wedding split Joseph’s large Italian family. At the ceremony, Joseph’s brother Frankie spoke his mind about the situation, condemning those family members who refused to attend. Now, it’s the next big family gathering, as their cousin Maria is getting married. Frankie’s afraid of the reception he’ll get, but he has to attend to support Maria. Everyone’s warning him not to make another scene. It’s typical of families never to forget incidents like that one, […]

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