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 Woods Falls Flat On QTPOC Representation
The Woods Volumes 1-8 James Tynion IV (writer), Michael Dialynas (artist), Josan Gonzalez (colorist), Ed Dukeshire (letterer) Boom! Studios When I read the first couple volumes of The Woods last year, I felt that the series had promise. James Tynion IV offered up a plot and world that were fun—Bay Point High School is randomly…
The Beast Tackles the Monster of Climate Change and Big Oil
The Beast Hugh Goldring (Writer), Nicole Marie Burton (Artist), Dr. Patrick McCurdy (Production Assistance) Ad Astra Comix 2017 Oil culture runs deep within Western society and along with that culture runs certain “millennial” anxieties about climate change, the job market, and the institution of capitalism as a viable economic system. The Beast, a graphic novel…
Rebirth Round Up: Everything from December 6
The Rebirth era is over, though my column will remain titled such for alliterative purposes. With the end of the Rebirth branding comes a new cover dress for DC Comics. We see the return of corner boxes, which honestly, is an iconic look. Titles that are canon will have DC Universe branding, while titles that…
Steven Universe: Anti-Gravity is Walking on Air
Steven Universe: Anti-Gravity Rebecca Sugar (Series Creator), Talya Perper (Writer), Queenie Chan & Jenna Ayoub (Artists), Laura Langston with Vladimir Popov & Eleonora Bruni (Colorists), Mike Fiorentino (Letterer), Sara Talmadge (Cover Artist) BOOM! Studios November 7th, 2017 BOOM! Studios’ graphic novel release Steven Universe: Anti-Gravity is as charming and wholesome as its source.
Morte: A Sentimental Journey
Morte Kevin Joseph, D.A. Bishop Source Point Press November 2017 For some readers, the idea of a silent comic is one of very little value: where is the marriage of words and images to create a liminal work of art, halfway between the visual and the literary? If a comic is images-only, doesn’t that take…
Paradiso is a Post-Apocalyptic Breath of Fresh Air
Paradiso Aditya Bidikar (letterer), Dearbhla Kelly (colorist), Devmalya Pramanik (writer), Alex Sollazzo (colorist), Ram V (writer) Image Comics December 6, 2017 Inspired by a road trip, writer Ram V and his architect friend Rajiv Bhakat set off to see historic cities across India. The result is Paradiso, a comic unlike any other. Set in a…
Faith and the Future Force Soared and Satisfied
Faith and the Future ForceIssues #1-4 Ulises Arreola (Colorist), Diego Bernard with Juan Castro (Artists), Jody Houser (Writer), Barry Kitson (Artist), Cary Nord with Brian Thies (Artists), Stephen Segovia (Artist), Dave Sharpe (Letterer) Published by Valiant July 2017 – October 2017 I’m tired of universe-wide hero team-up books. It feels like there’s a new threat to the very fabric…
Oni Watch: Home For the Holidays
The holiday season is well underway, and let me tell you, it really feels like we’ve been dragging our feet to 2018. Now, my family is as conservative as they come. (“Even though they’re Latinx, Azha, really?” Yes, really.) And I wouldn’t have made it through the eight-hour Thanksgiving Family Extravaganza without digging into a…
Shakespeare on the Page: A Better Way
I was recently rereading Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, and found myself surprised all over again by how much I like it, and how well it works. The Manga Shakespeare series, published by Amulet/Abrams in the US & Canada or SelfMadeHero in the UK, uses a “manga” drawing style (but the western left to right reading…
Pashmina: Uncovering Secrets and Self-Discovery
Pashmina Nidhi Chanani First Second October 3, 2017 We’re all familiar with the intricately-patterned Indian shawls known as pashminas. In Nidhi Chanani’s debut graphic novel, published through First Second Books, a pashmina serves as a conduit to a homeland that exists in the feisty protagonist’s imagination before delivering her a sense of clarity – and…
10 Reasons Dark Horse Needs to Finish Releasing 3×3 Eyes
For those of us that came of age during the early anime period of the 1990s, 3×3 Eyes is a name many will recognize on the old fansub VHSes passed around among friends and local anime clubs. Based on the manga of the same name, the anime consisted of seven episodes of an OVA that…
