Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Every so often, a superhero comic reminds me that they can still come up with interesting ideas to explore. Valiant’s Secret Weapons gave me the kind of genre book I enjoy: a mismatched team of people with wacky powers figuring out how to get along. It’s written by Eric Heisserer and illustrated by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martin. The Willows was a secret location where a crazy rich guy parked those with superpowers he thought were losers. He activated a […]
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The collected edition of the digital comic series DC Super Hero Girls: Past Times at Super Hero High will be available in comic shops on September 27, in bookstores October 10. As written by Shea Fontana, the concept is simple, but there are entertaining touches throughout, illustrated by Yancy Labat, Agnes Garbowska, and Marcelo DiChiara. Liberty Belle (an old favorite of mine) is the teacher taking a group of superhero kids on a time-traveling field trip to study dinosaurs. Batgirl […]
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I’ve come to realize that the appeal of Lumberjanes for me is rarely what happens in any given issue — and sometimes, as with the mermaids, I don’t care that much for a particular plot — but instead, the cute little moments that honestly bring a smile to my face are my favorite bits. Issue #39 is part three of a story written by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh and illustrated by Ayme Sotuyo that began in issue #37, about […]
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Thank goodness KC pays attention to these kind of things, because I didn’t realize that this hardcover collection is “continuing directly from the Legion of Super-Heroes Archives“. Sadly, don’t expect quite that level of quality from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Volume One. It reprints Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #234-240, the 10-page Legion story from DC Super-Stars #17, and All-New Collectors’ Edition C-55, the infamous wedding tabloid (where Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad get married), but it […]
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As long-time readers know, I’m not a big fan of the illustrated diary book format. There’s nothing wrong with kids reading them, but I don’t care for them being promoted as comics. Terri Libenson’s Invisible Emmie does something fun with the concept, though. It combines the illustrated diary format with comics to contrast different approaches to middle school. Emmie is a regular, everyday kid. She’s not popular, not an outcast, just quiet, and she likes to draw. Going to school […]
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After making his name with the award-winning Essex County, cartoonist Jeff Lemire moved in the last decade to superhero work for corporate publishers. (His latest books for Image, Plutona, and Dark Horse, Black Hammer, have combined both superhero genre conventions and his focus on small character moments in a hybrid of his past efforts.) With Roughneck, though, he’s returned to the closely observed tales of Canadian country life that first brought him to attention. Derek Ouelette was a star hockey […]
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Samaritan: Veritas #1 is a followup to The Tithe, an eight-issue 2015 series that’s part of a bigger world Matt Hawkins is building. And you’ll find out about them if you read this first issue, since there are footnotes, that unloved comic-book helper, included. Don’t get me wrong, this works perfectly well as a stand-alone, but there are more stories an interested reader can explore, much the same way the superhero universes used to work. (Hawkins calls it the Edenverse, […]
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The latest digital comic featuring the DC Super Hero Girls (following Past Times at Super Hero High) has particular interest for comic fans. Out of the Bottle has released five installments so far, each 20 screens for 99 cents. In this story, written by Shea Fontana (who’s done the other DC Super Hero Girls comics), Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Katana, and Harley Quinn are making their own comics in Ms. Moone’s art class. Katana envisions a moody, Batman-like crime story where […]
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