August 13, 2014 Johanna Art Leave a comment

A Comic That Inspires: Erika Moen’s “I Want to Live”

Depression and suicide have obviously been on many people’s minds lately due to Robin Williams’ passing. In thinking about such subjects, Erika Moen, author of the encouragingly positive webcomic Oh Joy, Sex Toy, has created the affecting (I cried) and powerful strip “I Want to Live”. In keeping with her previous project, the autobiographical DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, this comic is heavily revealing. It may be the best thing I read today.

August 11, 2014 Johanna Vertical Manga Reviews Leave a comment

In Clothes Called Fat

Vertical has recently brought several of Moyoco Anno’s manga to our shores, including the historical portrait Sakuran: Blossoms Wild and the biography-inspired comedy Insufficient Direction. Previously, we’ve seen the dark comedy of a woman looking for happiness in Happy Mania, the magical kids of Sugar Sugar Rune, and the savage comments on beauty and popularity of Flowers and Bees. It was reading that last one that made me realize why it is that, while I appreciate Anno’s work, I don’t […]

August 11, 2014 Johanna Art Leave a comment

Just Because We Have Computer Lettering, You Shouldn’t Fill the Page With Text

Coming out on Wednesday from Action Lab Entertainment is the first issue of a new series, Midnight Tiger, by Ray-Anthony Height, co-written by DeWayne Feenstra. This is the first panel on page 3, taking up 2/3 of the page. While a new series and concept needs a certain amount of exposition, this is way too much text to dump on the reader. It’s physically hard to read, with those large caption boxes and dialogue balloons. I haven’t read the whole […]

August 10, 2014 Johanna DCU Original Animation 5 comments

Batman: Assault on Arkham

Out on Tuesday is the newest original animated DC universe film, Batman: Assault on Arkham. How you feel about it will likely be influenced by two key facts about the movie: It’s set in the same world as the Arkham Asylum video game, and it’s badly named, since Batman barely appears. This is a Suicide Squad movie, and some will find that very exciting, while others will be near-disgusted. I fall in the latter category. I liked the original comic […]

August 10, 2014 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Hollywood Superstars

I’d never heard of Hollywood Superstars until I got old buddy Nat Gertler’s press release for the new reprint volume. Turns out that it was an abbreviated (only five issues) series that was originally put out by Epic Comics (a division of Marvel) from 1990-1991. It was a comic before its time. There were no superheroes in it (although various action scenes were included). It was an indy comic that would appeal to general audience readers before they were used […]

August 9, 2014 Johanna Mysteries Leave a comment

Bellweather Rhapsody

I got Bellweather Rhapsody from my local library, and I read it through in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. The publisher describes the book as “full of knowing nods to pop culture classics from The Shining to Agatha Christie to Glee.” True enough. The Bellweather Hotel is a decaying old Catskills resort, the location of a high school music festival that promises great things for the few who stand out there. Alice and Rabbit, twins, are attending […]

August 9, 2014 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Kurt Cobain: When I Was an Alien

I was looking forward to sampling this graphic novel, translated from the Italian, on the life of Kurt Cobain, since I didn’t know much about him beyond his hit songs and his marriage to Courtney Love (who doesn’t appear here). Unfortunately, that lack of knowledge was a detriment, since I suspect the book reads much better if you already know most of the facts about Cobain. If you don’t, as I didn’t, writer Danilo Deninotti doesn’t give you all the […]

August 8, 2014 Johanna DCU Original Animation One comment

Next DCU Animated Movies Announced: Aquaman, More Batman and Justice League

Some short notes on the next planned DC original animated movies, after next week’s Batman: Assault on Arkham, tying into the video games. Next up is Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, described as “the Aquaman origin story”, out in early 2015. That’s the same title used for a comic book storyline facing off against the Ocean Master that ran in Justice League #15–17 and Aquaman #14–16. Aquaman will be voiced by Matt Lanter with Sam Witwer playing Ocean Master. “Sometime […]

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