December 20, 2011 Johanna Drawn & Quarterly 8 comments

Hark! A Vagrant

I wasn’t going to bother reviewing Hark! A Vagrant, because really, how many people do you need to tell you that Kate Beaton’s comics are hilarious as well as informative? I am impressed, though, that something so distinctively unique has caught on so widely. If you’d told me that a collection of comic strips based on literature and history, drawn in a pen-and-ink style more reminiscent of mid-last-century editorial cartooning than other popular webcomics, would be one of the hottest […]

December 20, 2011 Johanna Comic News Leave a comment

Best Graphic Novels of 2011

Here’s what I thought were the best graphic novels of 2011, in order, based on what affected, entertained, and enlightened me. For more information on any of the following titles, the links take you to my reviews. Finder: Voice by Carla Speed McNeilI simply adore this series, and yet it invariably makes me feel inferior, because I do not have the language or ability to tell you how incredible it all is. Page by Paige by Laura Lee GulledgeI was […]

December 20, 2011 Johanna Dark Horse 6 comments

Finder: Voice

The first new Finder story in five years — the previous was Five Crazy Women — takes an exponential step forward in the series. Carla Speed McNeil’s work is more astounding and self-assured than ever in this story of identity and gender. In an echo back to the original Finder: Sin-Eater, Finder: Voice revisits one of the cross-breed daughters from that story. Rachel resembles her mother, a Llaverac, one of a clan known for its androgynous beauties. As the story […]

December 19, 2011 Johanna Abrams / Amulet 4 comments

Page by Paige

The story of a young woman finding herself as an artist while adapting to life in the big city has been told before, but never so well or in so graphically interesting a fashion as in Page by Paige. Paige has moved with her parents to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, and she’s feeling lonely and unsure of herself. She misses her friends and a more natural setting and feels she can’t be truly herself in this new situation. […]

December 18, 2011 Johanna Other Publishers One comment

Nelson

A description of the premise, while intriguing, doesn’t do the project justice. Nelson is a multi-creator anthology in which each artist shows us a day in another year in Nelson’s life, from her birth in 1968 to what she’s doing in 2011. Along the way, we see how attitudes and lifestyles change in the UK over the decades, while noticing the patterns that repeat themselves as people grow up, struggling against becoming their parents. It’s a wonderful glimpse of the […]

December 18, 2011 Johanna DC / Vertigo Leave a comment

The Sugar and Spike Archives Volume 1

It’s difficult to review this series, because it’s been so desired for so long that I’m simply thrilled to finally get this reprint. Sheldon Mayer’s classic kids’ series features two toddlers, Sugar and Spike, who speak to each other in baby talk. While they can understand each other, the adults don’t know what they’re muttering about. Often, their conversation involves their amusing misinterpretation of how the grown-up world works. The result is hilarious comedy, beautifully and skillfully cartooned. Bill Schelly’s […]

December 17, 2011 Johanna Other Publishers 3 comments

Mixtape #1 Out in February

Available to order now from Previews is the first issue of a new indy series from Ardden Entertainment, Mixtape, written by Brad Abraham, art by Gervasio and Jok. It’s the story of a group of friends, about to be high school seniors, and the choices they make. Issue #1 takes place at a party on the last Saturday of summer 1990. Jim is giving Adrienne a ride. She spent the summer in London, broadening her horizons and losing a good […]

December 17, 2011 Johanna Vertical Manga Reviews 2 comments

The Drops of God Volume 2

While the technical problems — balloon text collisions, computerized lettering inconsistent with the art, repetitive pages at the end/beginning of chapters (due to its original serialization) — continue from Volume 1, this second volume of The Drops of God improves on the first where it counts, in the story. The tales this time around have plenty of heart. Instead of focusing on dad’s insane will, a plot gimmick that isn’t even mentioned until over halfway through this book, wine genius […]

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