December 6, 2022 Johanna Marvel, Other Publishers One comment

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet (Folio Society Edition)

The Folio Society is a London publisher of upscale books that’s celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. (I found out about them because they put out a slipcased set of very attractive hardcovers for Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.) They aim to release beautiful collector’s editions of classics; they succeed, based on the ones I’ve seen, although their books are limited, can be tricky to find if you don’t buy them when they’re released, and expensive. But that […]

December 5, 2022 Johanna Abrams / Amulet, Marvel Leave a comment

Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book

Know a Marvel fan? Want something unusual to impress them? Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book is exactly what you need. There are six spreads, one each for Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and cosmic characters, and two for the Avengers. They are full of information boxes and “interactive elements”, as the promo has it. That means doors with character profiles or mini-pop-ups with changes. Just about any character you know from the movies has a short background […]

December 4, 2022 Johanna Abrams / Amulet Leave a comment

Let’s Make History! Create Your Own Comics

Instead of a new installment in the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, this year we got a related book, one that encourages kids to make their own comics through a wide variety of art and storytelling activities introduced by the continuing characters of that series. Let’s Make History! Create Your Own Comics starts in with a challenge. Actually, two. First, the reader is encouraged to draw their own splash page, before an explanation page tells them “YOU will be drawing, […]

November 5, 2022 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Missing Martian

Sherlock Holmes stories are hard to write. Getting that blend of mystery, adventure, and deduction right, particularly in another period, is tricky. Even more particularly when it comes to comics, since comfortable scenes of friendly interactions between Holmes and Dr. John Watson, or incidents deducing a new client, are conversational, not visual. I suspect that’s why so many Sherlock Holmes comics, especially those set in the Victorian period, tend to be mashups. Holmes vs. Dracula, or Mr. Hyde, or Lovecraftian […]

October 26, 2022 Johanna Andrews McMeel Leave a comment

Heart Takes the Stage: A Heart of the City Collection

The comic strip Heart of the City, created by Mark Tatulli, debuted in 1998. In 2020, the strip was passed to Steenz, and the little girl named Heart went to middle school. This volume, Heart Takes the Stage, is the first collection of Steenz’s strips. I was curious to read the collection because I’d never heard of the comic (as I stopped reading the newspaper several years ago), and I liked Steenz’s work on Archival Quality. Plus, the idea of […]

October 11, 2022 Johanna Other Publishers One comment

Asylum

You know what we don’t have enough stories about? Good friends. That’s why I loved Asylum, that, and the nerd culture setting. The graphic novel is written by Greg Means, illustrated by Kazimir Lee, and published by Tugboat Press. Allen and Zekia are best friends. (Before you start thinking When Harry Met Sally, it’s not like that. He’s straight and she’s gay.) She’s a nationally ranked player of Asylum, a competitive card game, and he helps with the demos on […]

September 29, 2022 Johanna DC / Vertigo Leave a comment

DC Super Hero Girls: At Metropolis High

As noted at the end of my DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out review, DC Super Hero Girls: At Metropolis High is the first of a new run of the series that changes the concept, characters, and look to match the TV cartoon. It’s written by Amy Wolfram and illustrated by Yancey Labat. One of the key differences in this second phase of DC Super Hero Girls is that it’s much more conventional in its approach. Half the characters — […]

September 28, 2022 Johanna DC / Vertigo One comment

DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out

After a set of great stories in this franchise, DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out concludes writer Shea Fontana’s run with the characters. There are three major plot lines in this volume, all of which involve classic superhero premises and concepts. A group of Kryptonians have returned, and they kidnap Supergirl without her realizing it, as she’s thrilled to meet others like her. Their goal is to get a secret key to a magic device (in the sense of “advanced […]

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