Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
It’s a sign, I think, of how accepted comics for young women have become (in contrast to the bad old days of a couple of decades ago, when comics were superhero stories for young men) that we finally have a horse book. The horse book used to be a staple of fiction for girls. But horses are generally acknowledged to be easier to write about than to draw, which may be one reason it’s taken so long to get a […]
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That’s a joke title, based on people getting squidgy about the coronavirus. But already I’m hearing about people pulling out of the soon-upcoming Emerald City Comic Con because of travel and infection concerns. I went to C2E2 in Chicago, where I had the pleasure of rooming with Brigid Alverson and Heidi MacDonald, who make every show better. Here are some thoughts and experiences. (If you want to hear us talk about some of this, check out the podcast — episode […]
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Review by KC Carlson The fourth season of The Flash was not quite as much fun as the third season but still had some great moments — including the long sequence of episodes featuring Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man (played by Hartley Sawyer — which is also a great superhero secret identity-type name). Yeah, I know that he wasn’t very much like the Ralph Dibny from the comic books at all. But the comic book Ralph barely appears anymore, so […]
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Black Lightning is the superhero show for adults, those who are concerned with more than battles against cartoon bad guys. The 13-episode first season, out on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, is tightly told and full of intriguing ideas. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed here. The opinions I share are my own.) Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) has retired from being Black Lightning to concentrate on being the principal of a […]
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The high point of my DC comics purchases these days is this goofy “kids’ comic” that gets the superhero cast right, i.e. as I think they should be in terms of heroism, entertainment, and good character. Imagine my glee when I saw that the latest “guest star” was the female-focused Birds of Prey. In this story by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela, Batgirl and Black Canary have asked for Velma and Daphne’s help in investigating why huge mythological birds are […]
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Gothic Tales of Haunted Love is Hope Nicholson’s (The Secret Loves of Geek Girls) latest Kickstarted anthology, now available for order through your local comic shop. And it’s a great concept — inspired by the short-run early 70s comic genre of gothic romance, which featured spooky old houses, tragic young women in danger, and the potential of ghosts, a variety of creators have created new stories with today’s attitudes. There are 20 stories included, co-edited by S.M. Beiko, plus some […]
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The Ringo Awards, Baltimore Comic-Con’s award program established earlier this year, have now announced their first set of nominees, assembled through a combination of jury selection and fan voting (which may account for some of the lesser-known nominees). Out of the sixteen categories, seven are creator-based. (See below; the publisher-based awards follow this section.) Those categories have from five to nine people (or teams, in a few cases) listed. They total 52 creators nominated. Of those, ten are women, or […]
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The Judas Contract is one of the most famous DC superhero storylines ever, from a period when The Teen Titans was one of the most popular books coming out. It was highly ambitious, combining fighting a killer cult, with Brother Blood and his followers questions of trust, as a Titan betrays the team insinuations of sex between Nightwing and Starfire (one of the most shocking and memorable points, given the timeframe) the origin of Deathstroke, a mercenary villain out to […]
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