Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
One of the Vertigo launch titles, Enigma still delivers power and insight today. Michael Smith is a normal man, trapped in routine, who over the course of the book discovers a childhood comic book hero come to life and experiences a sexual awakening. Since it’s written by Peter Milligan, readers won’t be surprised by the surreal way these elements are handled. Michael’s been dreaming about a masked man, a superhero called the Enigma. There’s also a mass murderer called the […]
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The creative team behind Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden — story by Dave Roman; art by John Green — went even wackier with this minicomic series. The tagline says it all: “The ANGST of being a teen — the THRILL of being a boat!” There’s not much more to it. Teen Boat goes to school, has a crush on the new girl, and has to put up with the local bully. Being able to turn into a small yacht […]
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I very much enjoyed watching The Lake House. The premise is intriguing — two people fall in love while living in the same house in different years through their unexplained ability to send notes to each other — and the execution is lovely, with plenty of impressive visuals to get lost in. The house is as impressive as it needs to be for a title character, a glass box on a lake near Chicago, pretending to be open but surprisingly […]
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Dylan Horrocks’ Hicksville opens with a quote from Jack Kirby: “Comics will break your heart.” Horrocks goes on to prove that epigram true, although in an unexpected way. Journalist Leonard Batts is in search of information on Dick Burger, “the most influential comic book creator of [this] generation”, a man whose Captain Tomorrow graphic novel sold millions. Batts visits Burger’s New Zealand hometown, Hicksville, a place where everyone reads comics and discusses them as other people would the weather. The […]
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Subtitled “a queer romance”, this simple soap opera tells of a holiday party where David meets Ethan. They share an attraction and a love of The Simpsons but Ethan isn’t quite what he appears to be. The figures in this minicomic are flat and basic, but the storytelling is quite confident. The first page turn ends on a cliffhanger that’s bound to keep the reader involved, eager to find out more. The next two-page spread manages to keep four threads […]
Read moreSlave Labor takes another step forward with their digital comic sales plan: SLG will be taking what it considers to be the logical next step by serializing Whistles as downloadable-only comics, following with a print version of the comics in graphic novel format being made available to the book trade and direct markets in the late spring. Readers will be able to read Whistles this October, when SLG offers the first issue on their webstore.The issues will cost $0.89 and […]
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I really like Eureka. It’s about a town full of geniuses, where someone rather like Tony Stark (Ed Quinn, playing “Nathan Stark”) runs a secret government research lab. His ex-wife is the top administrative official (Salli Richardson), and she’s attracted to the new sheriff in town (Colin Ferguson), a well-meaning but not-too-smart former US marshal. One of the best parts of the show is the way it plays opposite to prevailing TV stereotypes. The smartest guy in town (Joe Morton), […]
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Recently, a bunch of online commentators have been discussing how Wizard‘s how-to guide objectifies women. At first, all this hoo-hah sounded to me rather like Claude Rains’ character in Casablanca: “I am shocked, SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on in here!” Who doesn’t know that Wizard is targeted at adolescent (in mind if not still in body) males? Of course their view of women is of unknown creatures only to be stared at, because that’s how teenage boys […]
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