Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Out this coming Wednesday is the latest issue of Giant Days, the college series by John Allison (writing) and Max Sarin (art). It’s the end of the first year of school, and as storylines wrap up, the girls are facing the prospect of change. There’s a scandal with someone selling papers to students and the question of whether their falling-down dorm will survive another year. As always, the appeal of the series to me is how expressive the characters are, […]
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Out next Wednesday is a digital one-shot anthology collecting three spooky tales written by Marguerite Bennett (Bombshells) and atmospherically illustrated by Varga Tomi. The high point of Ghastly Tales is the first story, “Koi”. Set in ancient Japan, it’s about love gone wrong and revenge with a twist. The art is wonderfully atmospheric, and although at core a horror story, it’s more in the mind than on the page (although there is some blood). It’s mostly narrated, poetically, adding to […]
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Review by KC Carlson I think that my favorite thing about TV show DVD/Blu-ray box sets is that I can watch the shows when I want to and at the frequency that I want to. Like this set of Gotham season two I’m currently working my way through. I hated watching this series live on TV last season. They’d spend five or six episodes building up a huge head of atmospheric steam and have several great storylines or subplots headed […]
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Out tomorrow is Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season, collecting the latest season of the granddaddy of the current DC TV universe. When the show started, I found it new and fresh, even if it was a bit too dark compared to my preferred superhero approach. Now, though… The Flash is more fun, Supergirl more hopeful and inspiring, Legends of Tomorrow more adventurous and imaginative, and Lucifer sexier, so I’m not as driven to watch Arrow any more. That’s a good […]
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I enjoyed greatly the first Asperger’s Mystery by E.J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen, The Question of the Missing Head, and its detectives, Samuel Hoenig and Ms. Washburn. The second, The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband, wasn’t as successful, in my opinion, so I wondered what I’d find in the third, The Question of the Felonious Friend, out next week. It’s as fun as the first. Samuel has Asperger’s Syndrome, which makes his narration particularly interesting, his observations alternately pointed and […]
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While watching DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete First Season, I was reminded just what a terrific era we live in for filmed superhero comic entertainment. With the time travel and the reincarnated cast (everyone but the villains on the team have come back from the dead at least once) and the drama-filled teamups and the TV-universe-building crossovers, this is the most comic-book-like show out there. And a testament to just how far special effects have come, that flying heroes […]
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DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year is the first — but likely not the last — original animated movie starring the redesigned teen girl versions of DC female heroes and villains. As a branding program, DC Super Hero Girls has been successful. They found an underserved niche — girls and their parents/adult friends who wanted heroic models for them — and made the most of it. That required redefining some of their best-known characters. For example, Harley Quinn […]
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I had fun binge rewatching the first season of Lucifer. In large part that was due to the lead character, as played by Tom Ellis. His devil is ballsy and funny in his lack of restraint. He’s an irrepressible, dapper British gent in a suit who loves sex and is good at it. He isn’t hiding anything but is disturbingly obvious about his drives and wants and expects others to be the same. It’s a twisted kind of honesty, which […]
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