Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer #1 has fun writing, but the art trips it up.
REVIEW: Spider-Man Annual #1 Smells like a Hit
Spider-Man Annual #1is a great package of humor and action, one that will hook readers on this sprawling, multi-issue “Contest of Chaos” event.
Archie Comics Pubwatch: September 2023
Welcome to the Archie Comics Pubwatch for the month of September! I’m Lisa, reporting from a corner booth at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, and here’s this month’s news! In September’s Pubwatch there’s a new Sabrina holiday issue ahead, some exclusive covers, and more!
REVIEW: Childhood Agency and Literary Freedom Break Free in Occulted
I am always checking for new graphic novels from Iron Circus Comics, one of my favorite publishers in the game who consistently bring strange and amazing comics and more. This recent release offers an eyebrow raising yet intriguing premise: it is a graphic memoir of cult survivor Amy Rose’s childhood in the late 90’s. Occulted…
TIFF 2023 Review: The Movie Emperor Hilariously Satirizes the Film Industry and Class Divisions
In The Movie Emperor, a superstar Hong Kong actor decides to experience real life in preparation for a new role. But can he rise above the pressures of the film business and a general apathy towards poverty-stricken people?
VIZ Pubwatch: September 2023
In much of the world, it’s time to go back to school, but the manga publishing machine churns ever onward, never stopping, never slowing down. This month we’re taking a look at the second volume of Until I Love Myself, another shoujo romance, and a Dracula reimagining in which Mina Harker is a champion wrestler!…
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: American Fiction Hilariously Challenges the Commodification of Identity
A down-on-his-luck writer decides to create the most cliché novel possible about the Black experience in the US in American Fiction. But his experiment to indict the literary industry may have ensnared him in a trap instead.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: It’s the Patriarchy Against Love in The Queen of My Dreams
In The Queen of My Dreams, a queer Pakistani-Canadian woman and her once-outgoing mother find their way back to each other after a family tragedy gives them new, unconsidered insights.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Sing Sing Uses Theatre to Fight the Dehumanization of the US Prison System
In this drama, a group of incarcerated people in New York state’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility come together for a shared love of theatre. Doubts, fears, and the unjust prison system they’re in threaten to tear the theatre troupe apart as they prepare to put on their most audacious stage play.
VIZ Pubwatch: Lost June 2023 Edition
Ed Note: This piece was supposed to run in June, but your erstwhile editor missed it. So here it is a little late, my apologies. Happy Pride Month, VIZ fans! To celebrate, I bring you… the heterosexual Goodbye, Eri, a memoir manga by a nonbinary artist, and a manga about Spider-Man. That’s just the way it…
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Mountain Queen Challenges Gender Stereotypes on the Slopes
In Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, director Lucy Walker charts the incredible life story of the Nepalese mountain climber Lhakpa Sherpa and her lifelong love affair with Mount Everest.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Close To You Questions Why We Should Accept Bigotry Just Because It Comes From Family
Sam (Elliot Page) is returning home for the first time since transitioning in Close To You. His hopes and fears for his family reunion are both debunked and validated, especially when he meets his old school friend, Katherine (Hillary Baack).