In a pandemic, in a time of unrest, in a world that constantly keeps marginalized people in crisis, how do we imagine an ideal future? How do we look past the obstacles immediately in front of us and consider a happy, queer world? How do we dream? Editor and cartoonist H-P Lehkonen decided to create…
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…
Stage Dreams is the Comic Queer and Trans Teens Deserve
Stage Dreams Mel Gillman Lerner Publishing/Graphic Universe September 3, 2019 A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Three years ago, I interviewed incredible color pencil artist Mel Gillman about Stage Dreams, a young adult graphic novel they were drawing for Lerner Publishing’s imprint, Graphic Universe….
Focus on Comics Scholarship: an interview with Frederik Byrn Køhlert
Routledge will be publishing a series of scholarly texts on “Gender, Sexuality and Comics Studies,” as part of its Focus Collection, which offers quick publication of peer-reviewed work, of a length generally associated with a too-long chapter, or too-short monograph: 20,000 to 50,000 words including notes and references. The editor for the Gender, Sexuality and…
Learn to Be a Supportive Friend with The Breakaways!
The Breakaways Cathy G. Johnson (Writer and artist) and Kevin Czap (Colorist) First Second March 2019 Faith just started middle school, and on her very first day, she joined the soccer team—but not because she’s a confident go-getter. She maybe did it because Amanda, the pretty upperclassman who handed her the clipboard, is really cool…
Cookies & Christ in Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints
When I started writing about religion and literature for my dissertation, I never dreamed that I’d also get to write about comics. I loved comics and knew that they were finally being taken seriously at an academic level, but I still couldn’t connect them to religious studies. That is, until I came across the work…
You Yourself Are an Obsolete Computer: Reading Carta Monir
“Virtual intimacies were failures before the fact. If you had to get online to get it, it couldn’t be the real thing. But what is the real thing, what is real intimacy?” —Shaka McGlotten Before it spirals out into freaky chatroom horror, Carta Monir’s Secure Connect takes the familiar and comforting form of a memoir…
Celebrate Punk Music and Community with Liz Prince’s Be Your Own Backing Band
Be Your Own Backing Band Liz Prince, Hannah Templer (colorist) Silver Sprocket August 2018 Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. There’s an incredibly profound short comic in Liz Prince’s new, now fully-colored comics collection, Be Your Own Backing Band. When Prince’s childhood cat passed away, her family was able…
Jessica Campbell’s XTC69 gives the Middle Finger to Misogyny and Transphobia
XTC69 Jessica campbell Koyama Press May 2018 Sometimes, when I feel buried under a flood of stress both in my personal life and from the general state of the world, I want to consume media that just makes me feel joy. I need to smile and laugh, to step out from under the weight of…
Jem and the Holograms: Dimensions is Girl Power Personified
Jem and the Holograms: Dimensions #2 “Face Off” Sarah Kuhn (Writer), Siobhan Keenan (Artist), Shawn Lee (Letters) “Stargirl” Sarah Winifred Searle (Writer and Artist), Shawn Lee (Letters) IDW December 27, 2017 The newest Jem and the Holograms series is an anthology of stories featuring the eponymous group and their musical rivals, the Misfits. Each issue…
Star Wars Adventures’ Princess Leia: Enjoyable Throwback to the Classic Trilogy
Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny – Princess Leia Elsa Charretier (Writer and Artist). Pierrick Colinet (Writer), Sarah Stern (Colourer), Tom B. Long (Letterer) IDW January 3, 2018 Since 2015, we have had the pleasure of receiving a new Star Wars film every year. This is exciting for established fans who now not only have…
Quarry’s War and the Inescapable Trap of Convention
Quarry’s War #1 Max Allan Collins (Writer), Szymon Kudranski (Artist), Guy Major (Colorist), Comicraft (Letterer), Charles Ardai (Consulting Editor) Hard Case Crime / Titan Comics 29 November 2017 If you’re like me, you may not be overly familiar with Quarry, the series of novels that inspired this comic, or the fact that it has also…
