I’m not saying it’s a new thing, I am saying it’s a now thing. Knockoffs! Bootlegs. But ones that are done legally, right there in your face, by the big boys. Maybe we should call them pastiches but “pastiche” feels like a sustained study rather than the premise-snatch-&-run-your-own-way I feel like I’m seeing a lot…
Valiant’s Secret Weapons are Sensible Shortcuts and Condensed Character
Secret Weapons #0: Nikki’s Story does something very cute with its panelling. I’ve been saying this since the previews: it’s doing something very cute. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be something worthwhile or just a natty little gimmick.
I Guess We Still Need to Talk About Chris
This is a late, technical rebuttal: Chris Sims was never accused of sexual harassment by Valerie D’Orazio. I wrote the bulk of this piece soon after this Mary Sue piece re-lit the fuse on the old Catherine wheel and then forgot about it under the pressure of the season. Emma Houxbois, contacting me prior to…
The Perfect Squirrel Girl Shirt And Other Stories
It’s gift-guide season, and all through the house, we’ve got presents wrapping while we scream “what else??” The listicles listing the things we could buy make us ponder and wonder and start to ask why— Is it worth it to buy things all branded and fine? Are Pop Vinyls worth much when they lose Christmas…
IR$: A Serious-Minded Economy-Law Action Comic
IR$ Bernard Vrancken and Stephen Desberg Cinebook (English Translation), 2008 IR$ is a Belgian comic book about an American tax inspector, translated to English for the British market by Cinebook. A comic about a tax man. Wild, right?
BOOM! Bar: Every Detail Covered
Eight offerings from BOOM! this week—three licensed, five creator-owned. Of the licenses, only one (Adventure Time/Regular Show #5 of a six-issue mini from KaBOOM!) is a single issue; Planet of the Apes Archive and Sons of Anarchy (both BOOM! Studios) both see their volumes two, with the former being in hardcover and the latter soft….
BOOM! Bar: Caylo’s Last Bunch
This week, of Wednesday the sixth (just passed), Lumberjanes volume seven is released and Armory Wars keeps on keepin’ on. As for the rest of the licensed fare: Corissa, stalwart of the BOOM! Bar Adventure Time beat, has this to say of KaBOOM!’s issue #71 : Adventure Time #71: Double Troubles Part 2 is a…
The Best Thing I Didn’t Know About Valerian & Laureline
It’s that they love each other. Valérian and Laureline is a french-language comic, originally published over six decades (the late 1960s through the first ten years of the 21st century), and in English currently by Cinebook. They put out single-volume books as well as bonanza compendiums; I’ve only, so far, read three of the former….
The Metabarons: A Rape Comic
Content warning: you don’t want to know any of this. A rapist’s comic, about rape, is discussed and pictured herein. If you visit the Wikipedia page of Alejandro Jodorowsky, you will be able to see that he has claimed himself a rapist. Here’s a section of the quotation with this claim, from a promotional interview…
BOOM! Bar: License to Misbehave
Hahahaha, I’m so smart. This week’s BOOM! Bar requires almost no input from me, your host! Except for all that behind-the-scenes organisational hell… but that’s normal. I’m counting it a win. Why am I home free this week? Because everything’s but the below’s already assigned! Hurray for long-term planning! The week of Wednesday the 29th…
Showtime: It’s Magic, There Is No Trick
Showtime Antoine Cossé Breakdown Press September 2017 This comic does such a good job of simulating the wanderings of an engrossed but unanchored mind that is back engineers the relaxation of sensory deprivation into your reading body. Your brain is tricked so thorgouhly into accepting the dream that it does some of the work of…
BOOM! Bar: Some Gain, Some Lag
The week of Wednesday the twenty-second of November, BOOM! releases eleven titles, eight of which are licenses. Two of the latter are softcover collections: The Deep and Dark Crystal v.1 (hardback) each collect four issues, though The Deep is one finished story and Dark Crystal an ongoing venture. Of the creator-owned books, Giant Days is…