GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Alberto Breccia's Dracula
Alberto Breccia’s Dracula is a classic for good reason. The storytelling on display here is earnest, almost like laughing with a friend as you air out your troubles.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Butchery from Fantagraphics
Like the relationship it depicts, The Butchery somewhat disappointingly does not lead to something substantial. But those sweet pieces of nothing that it renders were still lovely in their own right. Our full review…
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: It's Not What You Thought It Would Be
‘I keep returning to the same thought: I’ve never read a graphic novel quite like this one, and I wish I had had something similar as a teen.’ —Deidre Freitas reviews It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be by Lizzy Stewart.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Chartwell Manor by Glenn Head
Chartwell Manor is a new powerful and disturbing graphic memoir from cartoonist Glenn Head, who shares the story of his time as a child at a boarding school run by a predator, as well as the impact of the resultant traumas.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Poison Flowers and Pandemonium by Richard Sala
Poison Flowers & Pandemonium is not just a beautiful final testament to the joy, weirdness, and humor found in Richard Sala's work, but a tribute to many of the elements that inspired him.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith is 35-plus years in the works, a massive pen-and-ink graphic novel that takes an intense look at the lives of individuals dominated by the pull of global conflicts.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Young Shadow by Ben Sears
Young Shadow, with its interesting visual choices mingling with poignant social consciousness applied to old tropes, is a book that feels like the next evolution for YA comics about crimefighting vigilantes.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEWS: The Grande Odalisque, a surprisingly-poignant caper comic
The Grande Odalisque blends such comedy beats and grand action into a very effective – and by the conclusion, surprisingly poignant – crime-caper comic.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Maids by Katie Skelly
By Zack Quaintance — There is an uncanny sense of assuredness within cartoonist Katie Skelly’s new book Maids, a supreme narrative confidence that is present from the start, perhaps even from the dedication, which simply reads To My Sister. Maids — published this month by Fantagraphics Books — tells the true (crime) story of the Papin Sisters. I won’t go into much detail about who the sisters are or what they did, noting that they were French maids entangled in a crime in the early 20th Century. The events in this book will surely be unknown to most readers, although they are of wide enough interest to have garnered their own entry on Wikipedia.
Read MoreGRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Machine Never Blinks
By Bruno Savill De Jong — A major and vague question is how are we to engage with the world? Do we stand upon our own principles, or negotiate compromises from living within society? Is the cost of living in a state an obedience to it? These are the dilemmas evoked by The Machine Never Blinks, an informative if dense history of societal surveillance told through graphic novel.
Read MoreThe Winter Cartoonist - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW
By d. emerson eddy — The history of comics is a fascinating subject. From execution of form―dating back to early pictographs from our ancient ancestors to modern digital comics―to the interpersonal lives of the creators―their ups and downs, successes and failures―with everything in between. It's interesting to see how the medium has changed and adapted over both the decades and to the demands of different countries and cultures. Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Paco Roca (he just won this year for Fantagraphics publication of The House) delves into the history of Spain's burgeoning comics scene following the Spanish Civil War in The Winter of the Cartoonist.
Read MoreGhostwriter by Rayco Pulido - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW
By Kirin Xin — Hotshot detectives. Gangsters in sportscars. Guns. Booze. Dames. That’s what most people would think of when visualizing the word ‘noir,’ not a housewife-centric 1940s radio program. However, in Fantagraphics upcoming OGN, Ghostwriter by Rayco Pulido, that is the exact start of a deceptively simple mystery that creeps up on you, knife in hand.
Read MoreEight-Lane Runaways - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW
By Bruno Savill De Jong — Coming across a “manned kite to the moon”, the runners of Eight-Lane Runaways ask if he could scout for the train-lines where they will rendezvous with the rest of their group. From his overhead view, we can see the geometric clusters of tennis courts, people log-vaulting to make firewood for the orphanage, and the curving pathway that runs through these dense environments. Such aerial views are common in Eight-Lane Runaways, overlooking the unique blueprints of the delightfully absurd world which unfolds through Henry McCausland’s fantastic graphic novel. The flowing running-track hosts eight runners, who in their travels encounter an arm-repair workshop, and algebra dog, a juice factory (which features an ultimate juice-drink that includes “every fruit ever discovered”, including the poisonous ones), and a bush which looks just like their friend Tomás.
Read MoreThe Cloven Book One - REVIEW - Fantagraphics
By Zack Quaintance — The Cloven: Book One has a great first line, a great first page, and a great first opening sequence…and this work just evolves from there, keeping the level of graphic sequential storytelling quality high throughout. It is, perhaps, fitting that the book reads as rapidly and smoothly as it does, given the nature of the subject matter. On its surface, The Cloven: Book One — out July 28 via Fantagraphics from writer Garth Stein and artist Matthew Southworth — is the story of a new type of humanity, in which individuals essentially have goat-like traits (furry hind legs, hooves, hard heads) and are being ostracized by the wider world in turn.
Read MoreJ + K by John Pham - Trade Rating
By Zack Quaintance — The first quality one is likely to notice within the new Fantagraphics book J + K by John Pham is the work’s striking aesthetic. Printed in three fluorescent pantone inks, J + K achieves a singular palette that is at once washed out and pastel-futurist. This pairs quite well with Pham’s linework, which itself walks a rarely-seen line between simple character cartooning and casual geometric patterning, evocative of an artful extrapolation of a classic video game. I’m entirely unsure whether I’ve ever seen a book quite like J + K, purely on the surface visual level.
Read MoreThe Rough Pearl by Kevin Mutch - Trade Rating
By Zack Quaintance — The Rough Pearl is a new graphic novel from cartoonist Kevin Mutch, who roughly a decade ago won the prestigious Xeric Award for his first book, Fantastic Life. That earlier work was set in Winnipeg, Canada, where Mutch himself is from. It took place in the early 1980s, and it involved punk rock, quantum mechanics, and a protagonist who begins to question his own sanity.
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