After a streak of below zero temperatures in Chicago in the midst of the pandemic, I’m feeling the need for some escapism. Fortunately, I’ve got a little bit of warm, pandemic-free Florida weather sitting on my coffee table, in the form of the Sun and Sand Comic Anthology. Sun and Sand was originally set to…
A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup, March ‘21
March is a time for anthologies and yearly fundraising, and Kickstarter and Indiegogo have delivered a host of exciting collaborative projects to my eyeballs. I’ve had my wallet threatened by everything from contemplative autobio to exciting debut issues this month, but I’ve whittled ‘em down for you. Check out this month’s favorites below!
REVIEW: Not the FUTURE We Want, the One We Get
Sometimes you pick up a book knowing full well how it will end. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I picked up the science fiction graphic novel FUTURE, but that didn’t stop me from loving the journey. FUTURE is about the last astronaut on Earth, Murray Mielniczuk, and her wife Kay. Murray…
REVIEW: Shadow Life Is a Heartwarming Look at Life Before Death
My father is in his last days. We know it. He knows it. But gosh is he stubborn about how those last days are going to go. He’s still of sound mind, though his body is failing him, but he’s got enough get up and go left in him to demand that we allow him…
INTERVIEW: Wendy Chin-Tanner on Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology
Poetry is Wendy Chin-Tanner’s first love. In her own poetic work, she calls on the influences of poets such as Audre Lorde, Ai, Sylvia Plath, Vera Pavlova, and Lorine Niedecker. For A Wave New World’s Chin-Tanner, poets are a kind of literary world superhero, because, she says, “they’re always trying to do the impossible —…
REVIEW: Botanical Curses and Poisons: A Fascinating History of Sinister Folklore
Have you ever wondered what deadly nightshade tastes like, and how long it would take to kill you? Or why did they decide to call it mistletoe? Or why violets are so commonly displayed at funerals?
REVIEW: Catalogue Baby: A Memoir of Infertility
This heart-wrenching comics-narrative illustrating one woman’s epic journey towards motherhood is, at turns, also funny and cute. Drawings have a way of taking the sweat out of tragedy, turning it into something more palatable, though still powerful. I drank in Catalogue Baby in a single gulp.
INTERVIEW: Greg Hunter on Seekers of Aweto and Everything Lerner Books Has in Store for 2021
In 2018, Lerner Books published the first English-language translation of artist and writer, Nie Jun’s, called My Beijing, a collection of slice-of-life stories with a sprinkling of magical realism, translated from its original Chinese. This week, Lerner brings us a whole new adventure from Jun that introduces English-language readers to the fantastical world of the…
REVIEW: I’m a Wild Seed Is a Vibrant Journey of Queerness and Self-Discovery
“What does freedom look like for you as a queer BIPOC?” This is the question from a friend that inspired Sharon Lee De La Cruz to write and draw I’m a Wild Seed, a fun, vibrant, and moving exploration of her journey of self-discovery.
Interview: The Beautiful Horror of Natalia Lopes and MystoPress
Natalia Lopes has always wanted to make comics for a living. As of 2019, she has finally begun to live her dream, starting with a successful Kickstarter that that brought the horror anthology Paroxysm to life under Lopes’ MystoPress: “From tales of modern vampires, to the horrifying implications of current events, to the feeling of…
REVIEW: ThirteeN Is A Lucky Find
If there’s one thing I can really appreciate during a pandemic, it’s the idea of employing a full demon summoning circle in order to spend a little quality time with someone.
A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup, February ’21
It’s 2021 and WWAC’s own comics crowdfunding roundup is back, after an admittedly lengthy nap. Lockdown has gone on long enough that my interests are taking a decided turn for the introspective (we all have our escapisms), and Kickstarter this month was happy to provide.