Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The easiest way to get me to read something new these days is to tell me how much you were influenced by Sherlock Holmes. (This should not surprise my readers.) I found Sheridan Bell and the Vanishing Beast at the recent “Nerd Made: Madison“, put on by Madison Makers Market. It was kind of an arts and crafts fair for geeks. The author, Em Rowene, had a table and explained to me how the main character here, Sheridan Bell, was […]
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Yellow Cab is a fascinating look at New York City from the perspective of a filmmaker. It’s adapted by Chabouté from a book by Benoit Cohen and translated from the French by Edward Gauvin. Almost ten years ago, Cohen finds himself exhausted. He doesn’t have stories to tell or energy to tell them. In order to try something different, and better understand the NYC culture he’s visiting, he decides to become a taxi driver as research for a movie character. […]
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I enjoyed the third in the Deep Dish Mystery series by Mindy Quigley, Public Anchovy #1, the most so far — because it involved a mixed group of people, some unpleasant, trapped in a mansion overnight. That’s a genre trope that makes it easy to combine drama and mystery and suspense, and the result is a page-turner. The series stars Delilah, a chef who runs a gourmet pizzeria in a Wisconsin lake resort town. The first book, Six Feet Deep […]
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From a recent press release: “Random House Worlds, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, announced today a collaboration with Marvel Entertainment for an adult novel series (World English) carrying on the classic Marvel tradition of “What If…?” storytelling. This officially licensed series reimagines the origins of iconic Marvel heroes and allows readers to discover what can happen when the fabric of reality is altered. Set in their own distinct universes in the Multiverse, each book […]
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Earlier this year I had the chance to meet the author Vicki Delany in Toronto. (The Bootmakers of Toronto, the local Sherlock Holmes society, were celebrating their 50th anniversary by having an event with guests and presentations.) So I thought I’d brush up on her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery series. So far I’ve read the first five, and I stopped to talk about that fifth book, There’s a Murder Afoot, because it’s the best one so far. And the reason […]
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I’d about given up on the original DC animated movies. They’re either stories I already read as comics — and I didn’t feel a need to see the characters move, with added mature content — or they exist mostly for big battles. Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons was a pleasant change by focusing more on character interaction. I liked it a lot more than I expected — although it’s very male, with the only female characters being […]
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I’m thrilled that Warner Archive has been releasing this late 1980s sitcom to DVD. I always liked this show, as I was labeled a “gifted and talented” student in my school days. (Don’t know what to do with smart kids who get bored easily? Give them more work.) It’s about an honors history class in a New York City high school, taught by aspiring actor Charlie Moore (Howard Hesseman). I enjoyed this sitcom, both then and now. Out this coming […]
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I was in the mood for a rip-roaring period adventure, particularly one starring Ralph Fiennes, so I accepted the offer of a free digital copy of The King’s Man. Unfortunately, the movie wound up being deadly dull. (I’d seen the first Kingsman in a sneak preview, when theaters did that, or I knew how to find them. I tried the second, but I couldn’t cope with the level of violence.) The Kingsman concept was never the strongest, but this one […]
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