A Radical Shift of Gravity - Graphic Novel Review

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By Bruno Savill De Jong — As the first pages of IDW / Top Shelf’s graphic novel A Radical Shift of Gravity remind us, perspective is a funny thing. It begins with journalist Noah Hall interviewing people, finding how “where they were when ‘it’ happened” shapes their entire worldview afterwards. ‘It’ is an inexplicable selective “Shift” in human’s gravitational pull (other objects being unaffected), reducing it to roughly the same as the Moon.

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Excellence by Thomas & Randolph - FULL SERIES REVIEW

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By Ariel Baska — Excellence is real, but Excellence is, to put it simply, excellent. On the surface, Excellence appears to be a story of a father and son set in a magical universe, but more importantly, it’s a story made for this moment - a story about what one does with anger.

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Brandon Sanderson's DARK ONE - Graphic Novel Review

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By Zack Quaintance — Vault Comics — the rising indie publisher putting out the most interesting and literary work in all of monthly comics — is exploring new territory. This, of course, is not unusual for Vault. Nearly every book Vault publishes offers a fresh take on sci-fi or fantasy, be it via a new voice, a new twist, a new approach to well-tread territory, or simply a new and deeper focus on well-done conventions. This time, however, Vault is exploring new territory off the page, doing so with its first full entreaty into the booksellers market, the graphic novel, Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One.

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Undiscovered Country, Vol. 1 - TRADE REVIEW

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By Jacob Cordas — “The American Dream will never---,” our Uncle Sam surrogate shouts before being riddled with bullets. He, of course, stands up in a display of grit and determination that would make the Founding Fathers proud to yell at his assailants, “The American Dream will never die! But you will.” And in that insane moment, I realized two things about Undiscovered Country: 1) I unabashedly love this comic and 2) I have absolutely no idea what this is about.

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Chasin' The Bird - Charlie Parker in California by Dave Chisholm REVIEW

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By Zack Quaintance — One of the first times I was floored by artist Dave Chisholm’s work was when I saw the commissions he posts on his Twitter. As comics Twitter users surely know, artists often post commissions on the platform. In general, they tend to depict a fairly consistent set of obvious characters: the X-Men, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., with some Star Wars, maybe a little Akira, and perhaps the odd choice from Twin Peaks.

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The Plot, Vol. 1 - Vault Comics REVIEW

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By Ariel Baska — Don’t ruin the plot. Don’t ruin the plot. That’s every reviewer’s fear, but I think I’m safe in this case, since the titular family plot is already in ruins, and as to the comic book’s plot, every issue, including the most current one (#5, reviewed here) leaves you off-balance on a spinning wheel of fire - where she goes nobody knows....

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Archie 1955 Trade Paperback Collection - REVIEW

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By Jacob Cordas — My comfort food is Parks and Recreation. When my depression takes over and I can’t imagine any existence that doesn’t involve couch lock, I put on Parks and Rec. And I watch it for hours. It’s soothing. The character’s fundamental kindness and compassion can’t help but make me feel a little bit better. Everything in the show is just a few acts of kindness away from redemption and anyone who rejects that kindness is wrong. It’s comforting in a way I can consume forever.

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Parker: The Martini Edition by Darwyn Cooke - REVIEW

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By Bruno Savill De Jong — After completing a job, Parker undergoes an overwhelming need for sex. Parker (first name not provided) is always composed and monosyllabic, treating his criminal missions with ruthless efficiency and professional determinism, stonewalling against outside interference or desires. But in the aftermath, Parker allows “his emotions the only release he permitted them”, letting the withheld thrills and animalism wash over him, until his lust subsides and he’s ready to resume work. Buried beneath Parker’s ice-cold demeanor and the narration’s straight-plank prose lies a demented rot at his core.

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REVIEW: The Man Without Talent by Yoshiharu Tsuge

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Originally serialized in Comic Baku in 1985-1986, The Man Without Talent follows the semi-autobiographical account of Yoshiharu Tsuge’s attempts to jilt creative disparity and remove himself from society. After quitting his career as a comic artist, the protagonist of the comic turns his focus not to retirement, but to another career: selling rocks out of the Tamagawa River in Chōfu, (which is about as glamorous as it sounds.) As a result, he navigates the everyday struggles of a poverty and lackadaisy-stricken man, from a creeping malaise to growing resentment from family and himself.

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The Lab by Allison Conway - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

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By Ariel Baska — This is a harrowing and relentless debut from Allison Conway, and it follows a newly-minted big-headed biped on a twisted journey through a sinister lab. Notably, the narrative is completely silent of commentary, except for the pathos wrung from our protagonist’s small, pained eyes. Those eyes are the first lights we see in the cross-hatched gray and black nothingness from which the vision of the lab emerges.

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Familiar Face HC - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

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By Zack Quaintance — All of us living right now are undergoing something extraordinary. It’s easy to miss in the moment, but technology has begun to accelerate at an unprecedented, exponential rate. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in human history, and you can tether it to whatever theory you like, with Moore’s Law perhaps being the easiest touchpoint for wrapping your head around this. Another easy touchpoint is to consider that the iPhone was a new product as recently as 2007, and now we walk around tethered to it, our abilities to navigate the world influenced by the debut of new apps, processing systems, and even small tweaks. This, in its simplest form, is what writer/artist Michael Deforge’s Familiar Face HC (published in March by Drawn & Quarterly) is about.

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Ghostwriter by Rayco Pulido - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

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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.

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Eight-Lane Runaways - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

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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.

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BLACK AF: AMERICA'S SWEETHEART - Graphic Novel Review

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By Ariel Baska — Continuing in the universe of BLACK, Volume 1, by the same authors, this story picks up further into a future where Black people with superpowers are taking on the media and the government agencies that see them as a threat to be neutralized or experimented on. Where BLACK was centered on a male protagonist named Kareem aka X, and his discovery of his superpowers and their political implications, BLACK AF: America’s Sweetheart takes a different approach.

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The Cloven Book One - REVIEW - Fantagraphics

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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.

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A Letter to Jo - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

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By Bruno Savill De Jong — For many the past is another country, and war is a different world. WW2 is a thoroughly-documented period, but one fast fading from living memory, remaining unknowable to those not there. Joseph Sieracki adapts his grandfather Lenny’s real-life letter home from the frontlines in A Letter to Jo, a January graphic novel from IDW / Top Shelf. Sieracki does so to revive WW2 from being a historical artifact and illustrate his frontline experiences, becoming a bridge across time and continents. Lenny had only just graduated high school before he enlisted, as well as gotten engaged to Josephine, Sieracki’s grandmother and the letter’s recipient. Like these young men, A Letter to Jo is admirable but also premature, taking readers to the frontlines of warfare, but not crossing beyond them.

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GRYFFEN: Galaxy's Most Wanted Collection - REVIEW

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By Zack Quaintance — The other day I sat down to read Gryffen: Galaxy’s Most Wanted by Ben Kahn, Bruno Hidalgo, James Penafiel, and Sal Cipriano. This book from publisher Starburns Industries Press, had been on my list for some time. I read all 12 issues basically as fast as I possibly could.

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Mitchum by Christian ‘Blutch’ Hincker - TRADE RATING

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By Bruno Savill De Jong — “Don’t be afraid”, a hulking semi-demonic sailor tells a tied-up woman, “We just want to look”. Mitchum is full of such sickly voyeurism, an erratic sketchbook of stories bound together with acts of artists observing and illustrating female models. This collection from French cartoonist Christian Hincker, also known as ‘Blutch’, depicts this feverish and often sexually-charged relationship between artist and image, obsessively attempting to pin down primal urges which quickly slip away.

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