I went into Four Years quite unaware of what to expect beyond just a brief synopsis from the Ignatz Award page and a tweet from creator K Czap. But what I got was a really lovely, well-paced exploration of self growth and friendship through scenes all expertly weaved together with color and movement.
New Colors for Bug Boys and Witchlight Enrich their Stories
I’m a big fan of Czap Books, especially two of their earlier publications – Laura Knetzger’s sweet, slice-of-life series Bug Boys, and Jessi Zabarsky’s emotional, warm fantasy Witchlight. I’ve written about both comics before, but since those initial pieces both books were picked up by Random House Graphic and released to a wider audience. I…
Egg Cream #1 Reckons with Life After the Flood
Egg Cream #1 Liz Suburbia Czap Books and Silver Sprocket February 2019 Alexandria, VA, once served as home to an enclave of unsupervised teens, all living a semi-normal life while awaiting their parents’ return—until a catastrophic flood destroyed most of the town. Ten years later, a television special interviews the survivors, finally making their story…
My Ideal Librarian: A Review of Bug Boys
Bug Boys: Volume 1 Laura Knetzger Czap Books 2015 Critics often ask ourselves how we can approach a review with as little bias as possible. Can you truly be unbiased about a piece that hits on themes related to your own identity? Regardless of how your views fall, I’ll warn you now: this is an…
A Weekend at MoCCAFest
The last time I went to MoCCAFest, it was in the 69th Regiment Armory, on Lexington Ave between 25th and 26th. The building is old and solid, red brick and wood, unique and unmistakable, like the comics I found in it. I came across the show accidentally in 2012 and then returned on purpose in…
Top Indies, Small Press, and Webcomics of 2016
I asked our small press comics fans to tell me not what the best comics of 2016 were, but which ones were their favourites. Here’s what they said: Mattress Stiff With Blood Tom McHenry Self-published There’s something that’s incredibly natural about the cartooning Tom McHenry does in this work—everything flows so seamlessly from one topic to…