This month, I’m taking a look at AfterShock Comics, which describes itself as “a creatively driven comic book publisher led by a team of highly accomplished, life-long comics professionals and entertainment specialists.” When I chatted with managing editor Christina Harrington, she explained that the company wanted “to tell stories that’ll make your skin crawl, that’ll…
Superman Year One: A.K.A. Ah, Just What Superman’s Origin Needed, Some Rape
Superman: Year One #1 Mark Doyle (editor), Danny Miki (inker), Frank Miller (writer), John Romita Jr. (artist), Alex Sinclair (colorist), Amedeo Turturro (associate editor), John Workman (letterer) DC Comics June 19th, 2019 Is there anyone in comics more infinitely frustrating than Frank Miller? One of the most iconic, notorious, and lauded creators in the industry. A man…
Batman: Rebirth #72: Let’s Break The Bat!
Batman: Rebirth #72 Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer), Jorge Fornes (artists), Mikel Janin (artist), Tom King (writer) DC Comics June 5th 2019 Spoiler warning: discussion of plot points follow Tom King and his team return to form to tie up loose ends, and carry Batman: Rebirth into its third act with issue #72.
Trans Girls Hit The Town is Too Real
Trans Girls Hit The Town Emma Jayne Diskette Press April 2019 Yesterday, while out with some friends, I found myself starting to spiral. We were hanging out in a department store, laughing at absurdly expensive articles of clothing, and as amusing as it was, I was suddenly struck with the pernicious idea that none of this…
Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5: Resistance is Futile … Against Q
Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5 Alexandra Alexakis (Colours), Elisabetta D’Amico (Artist), David Messina (Artist), David Tipton (Writer), Scott Tipton (Writer), Neil Uyetake (Letters) IDW Publishing 12 June, 2019 Having angered the powerful wormhole prophets in the previous issue, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5 sees Q and his fellow immortal beings task their hapless…
Cemetery Beach Only Dips its Toes into Deeper Water
Cemetery Beach Warren Ellis (writer), Fonografiks (lettering and book design), Jason Howard (artist and book design) Image Comics June 11, 2019 In Cemetery Beach, Warren Ellis presents an often brutal, bleak, and technologically-filled world (so not exactly a hundred miles from our own). The story explores themes Ellis has embraced in his previous work: absolute…
You’ll Want In On This House Party: AOC and the Freshman Force: New Party, Who Dis?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force: New Party, Who Dis R. Sikoryak, Nick Accardi, Travis Hymel, Micah Myers; Sherard Jackson; Marguerite Dabaie; Kit Caoagas, K. Lynn Smith; Josh Blaylock; Peter Rostovsky; Dean Haspiel, Christa Cassano; Pat Shand, Larry Watts, Jim Campbell; Sam Wells, Liz McArthur; Hoyt Silva; Jill Thompson; Jeffrey Burandt, Sean Von Gorman, Paul…
Alice at Naptime: Peace Within the Chaos of Baby
Nine years ago, Shea Proulx discovered the same thing many parents discover: having a baby often means setting aside your work and creative goals. She also discovered that the tiny, fragile piece of her soul that she’d just produced could shape her creativity into something new. One of many pieces of advice tossed at new…
Previously on Comics: It Has Been 0 Days Since a Comics Creator Put A Foot In Their Mouth
Hello again, Kate here to get into the fun stuff that happened in comics last week. Spoiler: It was not fun. Some cool things were announced, and you can hear about them later, but first: Monday started off with the counter for a comics creator saying something offensive on social media and digging themselves deeper…
Underwhelmed with Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale
Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale Deron Bennett (letterer), Isaac Goodhart (artist), Jeremy Lawson (colourist) and Lauren Myracle (writer) DC Ink (a DC Comics imprint) May 1, 2019 Content Warning for mention and depiction of child abuse. In March 2015, I hosted a Gotham Academy roundtable featuring five book bloggers. We discussed their limited experience with comics,…
Dead Kings #5 Finally Rests
Dead Kings #5 Lauren Affe, Thomas Mauer, Steve Orlando, Matthew Dow Smith Aftershock Comics May 29, 2019 For its full five-issue run, Aftershock Comics’ Dead Kings has told a story that’s equally about war and about redemption, and the book’s final issue completes that story with a practically pitch-perfect ending. Set in the fictional Thrice-Nine, the…
Titan Comics PUBWATCH: June 2019
June is often the month of celebration of dads, grads, and weddings, and there’s much to celebrate from our friends at Titan Comics.