RASCAL by Jean-Luc Deglin - TRADE RATING

in

By d. emerson eddy — Let's get one thing out of the way, I am thoroughly biased when it comes to approaching this review, because I love cats. I spent my early years growing up on a farm, so I love all animals, but I really love cats. At any given time there could be ten to twenty of them and I loved every single one of their mewling, furry little faces. I still love cats. And have one currently staring at me expectantly to mention her here. Or she wants food... Yeah, probably that latter. Anyway, I love cats. Which makes reading Rascal by Jean-Luc Deglin (translated by Edward Gauvin and lettered by Tom B. Long), a tale about a woman who receives a cat from her mother, an enjoyable and relatable undertaking. Published here by Top Shelf, Rascal is an English translation of the first book in Deglin's series Crapule, published in French by Dupuis.

Read More

James Bond by Warren Ellis Omnibus - TRADE RATING

in

By Wesley Messer — Amid the multitudes of takes on James Bond over the years, Warren Ellis writing the character seems almost too perfect. I mean, it is Ellis taking on James freaking Bond, one of the legendary spies of our pop culture landscape. The main question I had coming into reading the new James Bond by Warren Ellis Omnibus, however, was, with creatives having adding their own style and flow to the character, just what does Warren Ellis add? That’s what I’m here to figure out today.

Read More

The Red Mother from BOOM! Studios - FULL SERIES REVIEW

in

By Keigen Rea — At a time when there are so many great horror comics, Red Mother doesn’t quite make itself into an essential read, but is still very much worth checking out. The series is about a woman named Daisy, who gets attacked by something while walking with her boyfriend. She wakes up in the hospital, missing an eye as well as her boyfriend. What follows is Daisy dealing with symptoms of PSTD plus a dash of creepy monster added for flavor.

Read More

British Ice by Owen D. Pomery - REVIEW

in

By Bruno Savill De Jong — White is not a color, but the absence of one. It dilutes and covers up cultures which it comes in contact with. Imperialism, therefore, is a blizzard that buries its colonial atrocities against indigenous populations under thick covers of blank snow. It is up to others to melt it away. This is what Owen D. Pomery attempts to convey in British Ice, a well-meaning if shallow tale of a fictionalized remote British Overseas Territory in the Arctic. Even somewhere so distant, colonial resentments bubble beneath the surface, with British Ice surveying the factional divisions of flying a British flag amidst the frozen Arctic wasteland.

Read More

REVIEW: Constantly by gg - (Koyama Press)

in

By Kirin Xin — With a beautiful history of comics released by Koyama Press and Kuš!, gg is a powerhouse known to many a fan of visual storytelling. Debuted officially in 2017, her work presents itself as an artistic delicacy. Soft pinks and greys reminiscent of 1940s French illustrations pool against refreshing whites and crisp lines of black and navy. This simple palette effectively pulls viewers from peaceful mediums to cloistering lows with striking aesthetic contrast.

Read More

TETRIS: THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY - Review

in

By Bruno Savill De Jong — William Blake once wrote of seeing the world in a grain of sand. It is unlikely he was referring to the video game Tetris, but Box Brown’s documentary-comic Tetris: The Games People Play capitalizes on his principle, building outwards from the simple puzzle game to detail its complex history, touching upon developing technology, international relations, and the nature of gaming itself. Everyone recognizes Tetris, but Brown’s book excavates the various threads contained beneath those colorful tetromino tiles.

Read More

Kill a Man Graphic Novel - TRADE RATING REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — Kill a Man is an original graphic novel coming this year from AfterShock Comics, which has done a really underrated job of releasing complete comics stories like this one since its launch a few years back. Indeed, AfterShock has perhaps been at its best when releasing graphic novels and novellas, be it the excellent Garth Ennis/Keith Burns air warfare story Out of the Blue or the very scary and personal The Replacer by Zac Thompson and Arjuna Susini. They don’t seem to get much credit for it, but AfterShock has done a great job with these contained books.

Read More

Kairos by Ulysse Malassagne - TRADE RATING

in

By Zack Quaintance — Kairos by Ulysse Malassagne just got a new North American release and translation courtesy of publisher First Second. The book — which hit our stores this year in a pretty little hardcover that’s smaller than most novels — was first released in Malassagne’s native France as a three-part series. It is, essentially, a subversion of the damsel in distress narrative that has long been so pervasive in fantasy stories.

Read More

Sweet Heart by Gilbertson, Iaquinta - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — If I can recall correctly (always a big if), I read the first issue of Sweet Heart more than a year ago, before this horror series from writer Dillon Gilbertson and artist Francesco Iaquinta was picked up by publisher Action Lab. At that time, I was right away struck by how this was a well-crafted horror comic, but more than that, it was a well-crafted horror comic that engaged in quite a bit of mythos and world-building.

Read More

Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salty Sea - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — I am, I must admit, somewhat of a neophyte when it comes to European comics. This is not deliberate, to be sure, and I’ve certainly enjoyed the few experiences I’ve had with European comics, specifically thinking here of The Incal by Jodorowsky and Moebius. But I do have to note that those experiences have been too few.

Read More

Lost Carnival: Dick Grayson Graphic Novel - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — Like a high-wire performer navigating the tightrope in the circus, The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel pulls off a delicate balancing act that thrills along the way and maneuvers deftly to its destination. For the uninitiated, Lost Carnival is the newest offering within DC Comics’ burgeoning line of comic stories for young readers. Like the rest of the line — the highlights of which include Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, and Teen Titans: Raven — the book takes a familiar DC Comics character, repurposing them for a new generation with a new modern OGN aesthetic.

Read More

Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — Year of the Rabbit is a new graphic novel from writer/artist Tian Veasna, based on a harrowing true story he lived through as a child. That story is his family’s struggle to survive/flee the reign of the violent Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, following that group’s seizure of power in 1975. What emerges is a memoir comic of sorts that does not quite feel like a memoir comic. Instead it reads as a tense and harrowing story of escape, dotted with devastating-yet-important notes from a history largely unknown to many in the United States.

Read More

J + K by John Pham - Trade Rating

in

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 More

Batman Universe Hardcover - TRADE RATING

in

By Zack Quaintance — The Batman Universe Hardcover found its way into my hands just before the COVID-19 crisis and quarantine began, taking a long path to get there. The history is that it was part of a DC Comics initiative a couple of years back (has it been that long? wow) to get superhero comics outside of comic shops and into Wal-Marts. To do this, the publisher created a series of 100-page giant comics that retailed for $4.99, consisting mostly of new-audience friendly reprint material...and a handful of new stories, one of which was Batman Universe.

Read More

Department of Mind-Blowing Theories - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — Department of Mind-Blowing Theories is the new book from cartoonist Tom Gauld, a poignant and often hilarious storyteller who in this work has turned his ample talents toward the bite-sized and satirical. The book is a compendium of single-page cartoons done for New Scientist, and, as such, they entirely skew that profession. It’s not a linear story of any sort, but, then again, that’s probably not want anyone is expecting when they pick this book up.

Read More

Quarter Killer from ComiXology - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — Quarter Killer is now my third experience with a book from ComiXology Originals, the content publishing arm of the industry’s dominant digital comics platform. I’ve enjoyed both of the other series from the imprint quite a bit — those being The Black Ghost and Afterlift — and as a result, I came into this one with relatively high expectations. Those expectations, friends, were not just met — they were wildly exceeded.

Read More

History of the Marvel Universe Treasury Edition - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — The History of the Marvel Universe Treasury Edition is a stylish book. It is in effect the collected edition of a six-part miniseries Marvel released last year. Written by Mark Waid with art by the top-tier team of Javier Rodríguez (who does the pencils and colors) and Álvaro López (who does the inks), the book’s frame is a conversation between Franklin Richards and Galactus at the end of time. Through this frame, it details as its name implies, all the major happenings in The History of the Marvel Universe.

Read More

Sports is Hell by Ben Passmore - REVIEW

in

By Zack Quaintance — During the past decade, there has rightly been a mounting examination of the problematic role football plays in society, with America’s most popular sport (and most profitable sports industry) weathering increased scrutiny. Football and the NFL have taken criticisms for a host of problems, ranging from the severe brain damage wrought upon many who play it to the way the billion dollar industry is based on a game that fosters a violent tolerance of aggression, greed, racism, and more.

Read More

The Rough Pearl by Kevin Mutch - Trade Rating

in

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.

Read More