In 2014, Rachael Smith funded her graphic novel House Party through Kickstarter in only four days. The speed of funding suggests she has more than a fan or two who believes in her talent as a comics creator.
Review: Chainmail Bikini
Chainmail Bikini Hazel Newlevant (Editor), Various artists Fall 2015 Chainmail Bikini is an anthology centered on the experiences of women gamers. Video games, tabletop games, card games—they’re all covered in this book, with points of view on how alienating, connecting, frustrating, and wondrous gaming can be. The book was funded with Kickstarter, and includes over 40 artists….
Coming of Age: Finding Direction in Lucy Knisley’s “An Age of License”
An Age of License Lucy Knisley Fantagraphics October 2014 An Age of License is a travel journal written by Lucy Knisley that details her trip around Europe in the fall of 2011.
Review: March: Book Two – A Bigger, Longer Walk
If you have recently heard Congressman John Lewis speak, than his voice will probably play in your head while reading this: confident, with the pacing of someone trained in the clergy, weathered with experience. If you haven’t heard him speak, his intonation will still ring out as you read through his speech from the 1963 March on Washington,…
Hip Hop Comics You Should Check Out
Universal’s music biopic, Straight Outta Compton, has made over $100 million so far at the box office and to celebrate, we’re looking at comics about hip hop or created by hip hop artists. Check ’em out!
5 Takes on Island #1
Island #1 Ed. Brandon Graham Image August 2015 How do you decide who reviews a comic when half your staff is reading it? You open a Google Doc and make it first come, first served.
Fail Better: Fake Geek Girls BE YOU
When I was younger, I bought into the Fake Geek Girl thing pretty hard. I didn’t know anybody who observably read comics, nobody at all, and to get into my local comic shop I had to take this journey: Down an alley of dilapidated commerce, turn right, into another small alley where you can see…
Stan Lee’s Graphic Memoir Gets October 6th Release Date
Stan Lee’s graphic memoir, Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir, which will be published by Simon & Schuster, has just been given a U.S. release date of October 6th. Lee, who will turn 93 this December, released the following statement in conjunction with the release date: “As Marvel just celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary, I thought…
Do Not Read In Public: Let’s Talk About Sex (In Comics)
Content Warning: Discussion and depiction of sexuality. So I’m just a girl in a comic book store. I’m aimlessly walking around, letting my gaze go from cover to cover, waiting for something to catch my eye. I glance over a shitload of caped crusaders, lots of skintight catsuits, a couple of combat action sequences. Nothing really…
A Year of Sex and Revelation: The Wild Oats Project by Robin Rinaldi
The Wild Oats Project Robin Rinaldi Doubleday Canada March 17th 2015 Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. What if for just one year you explored everything you’d wondered about sex, but hadn’t tried? The project was simple: An attractive, successful magazine journalist, Robin Rinaldi, would move into a…
Canada Reads: A Persistent Memory, In Defense of Ru by Kim Thuy
This year the theme of Canada Reads is “What is the one book to break barriers?” Some of our writers decided to join in and defend some of the short listed titles. Ru Kim Thuy Random House Canada “When I left this country 18 years ago, I didn’t know how strangely departure would obliterate return:…
Compulsive Reading: Some Notes On How We Read Mental Health
Megan Purdy asks the questions in this round table discussion responding to several comics tackling mental illness, and its resultant behaviours. Sara Lautman’s comic Some Notes on Compulsive Hair Pulling is beautiful and affecting. The comic is about Lautman’s struggle with trichotillomania: how she got her diagnosis; how she deals with it; how she relates,…