By Ariel Baska — From the first pages of this rather abrasively titled book, the palette of textured blue and gold, with sumptuous fabrics and Gothic-fonted German, immediately let me know I was in for a visual treat. Though from the title, fin-de-siècle Klimt references in a decadent Viennese setting were not what I was expecting.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — A key moment in First Knife is when the futuristic techno-organic cyborg asks Mari, a high-priestess of the Yanqui tribe who recently rebooted it online, what year it is. She replies, “Year 432, Oh Fallen Star”. Actually, it is the 33rd Century, but following several cataclysm events humanity has reverted to a more primitive state. The post-apocalypse from Mad Max has endured so long ‘civilization’ has re-emerged similar to Conan the Barbarian fantasy, the future becoming the past. Chicago has devolved into clay-brick area of Shikka-Go, overtaken from the Yanqui tribe by the warring Hudsoni slavers.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — Moms opens on a street fight between two middle-aged women. The graphic novel is rarely this dramatic, but after Soyeon and Myeonghui began arguing over text messages, it quickly spills over from the virtual to the physical. Soyeon wonders “How did my life turn out this way?”, and Moms next proceeds to show the build-up to this undignified brawl, the daily struggles that chipped away at these average women until they exploded. It shows Soyeon’s early arranged marriage, their financial strain and her husband’s gambling, up until her current divorced status. In Korean society she has extended her ‘usefulness’, and is seen as toiling away as a cleaner, while her adult son still lives at home.
Read MoreBy T.W. WORN — With everything going on in the world recently, nothing has brought me as much badly-needed mirth as Nicolas Petrimaux’s Gunning For Ramirez. This comic was such a joy that I read it twice before I even considered what I would be writing in this review. I then read it a third time to get the following, but hopefully the idea of me reading it three times in a row is enough to convince you to purchase a copy outright.
Read MoreBy Jacob Cordas — I’ve said a lot of terrible, fucked-up shit that I regret but the statement that will haunt me for the rest of my life is when I told my mother with the utmost confidence, “You already beat it once. You can do it again.” She was dead only a few months later. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever said. It was just the most wrong.
Read MoreBy Ariel Baska — As an ardent fan of John Bivens’s work on Spread, how could I pass up an opportunity to check out his new work on Cult Classics: Creature Feature? In this work, he applies his unique style to a tale of the town of Whisper, where the same aliens who wiped out the dinosaurs happened to submerge a mysterious capsule.
Read MoreBy Ariel Baska — The dark shadows of this horror story threaten even the most innocuous of frames as a loving couple stumbles back drunkenly to their Filipino home. Even as they fool around, the divisions between the two women are subtle but immediately apparent, as one remarks disparagingly, “Americans!” and the other indicates expressions of jealousy.
Read MoreBy Jacob Cordas — Queer culture has often had a contentious relationship with comics. Our existence being there in metaphor, but as an unstated one. We were treated to stories that hinted at our truth or stories that leaked from editorial boards showing how close we nearly got.* In the last few years we’ve had gay characters pop up here and there in the mainstream but even they have often been sidestepped and ignored. Sure, there were indie comics you could try to find or the rare big name that was dedicated to more progressive representation - but it never lasted.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I have read Kurt Vonnegut’s seminal anti-war novel, Slaughter-House Five, maybe five times, making it the novel I’ve re-read the most in my life. I read it the first time in high school. I read it again in college when I went through a counter-culture 1960s literature fascination. I read it in my early 20s when I first started to write my own prose fiction, wanting to study Vonnegut’s use of distinctive voice, and I read it again with my wife soon after, who’d never read the book herself. I’ve read most of Vonnegut’s other novels, too. Vonnegut and his work are, quite obviously, something I enjoy.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — During the Cold War, Berlin was a microcosm of a divided Europe. Nestled within the Communist controlled East Germany, the capital city of Berlin was itself divided up by the Berlin Wall, separated into Western and Eastern sections. This small pocket in the Iron Curtain meant East Berlin was an intensely monitored area by the Stasi, secret police who watched and interrogated its citizens to keep them from ‘deviation’. Strange Skies over East Berlin follows Agent Herring, an ex-CIA American undercover in the Stasi, who is helping certain desperate citizens to flee to the West.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — Partway through Cruel Summer – a collected storyline from the most recent volume of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ critically-acclaimed Criminal – juvenile delinquent Ricky Lawless harasses some police-officers out of repressed frustration. As Ricky feels, the narration informs us, “this was when Ricky Lawless felt most alive… When he was running from trouble he had caused. Running from consequence… You existed in the breeze and the laughter and the chase. Not knowing if you would make it or not. Yet never feeling more free”.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — Philadelphia was one of America’s foundational cities, home of the Liberty Bell and where Independence was first proclaimed. Aside from the pun-title, it is the perfect location for Killadelphia, which tells a story of the American Dream turning into an undead nightmare. Philadelphia is now shown as a corrupt and crime-infested place, detective James Sangster observing “Hell Hall”, once prosperous low-income housing ruined through the crack cocaine epidemic, “a cold reminder of what could have been”.
Read MoreBy 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 MoreBy 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 MoreBy Benjamin Morin — The prestige of a new Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips OGN should instantly capture any reader’s attention. Their collaborations on series such as Criminal and Kill or Be Killed, alongside several OGNs such as My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies and Bad Weekend, have earned their place among some of the greatest works in the crime comics genre. Pulp is no different, as the creative duo deliver an exceptional entry into their ever-expanding repertoire of standalone graphic novels. As a relative neophyte to their works, this book served as my first foray into Brubaker’s seedy underbelly of society, and I found all the praises well-deserved.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — The narration in Eve Stranger is in the second person. It opens the comic telling the protagonist “your name is Eve Stranger. You wrote these words last night. You don’t remember”. So, the narration is also in the first person, a diary from a past version of Eve to update her ‘present’ self (alongside the audience) of her current circumstances.
Read MoreComics and classic literature — while both equally worthwhile forms of written entertainment — don’t always mix well. Flowery language that makes a novel immersive and delicious to the mind and ear can be cloistering and congestive when adapted into spoken panels. Or alternately, it is completely watered down and made lackluster alongside imaginative graphics competing for the reader’s attention. Neither is very palatable.
Read MoreBy Bruno Savill De Jong — Over 30 years later, the events in Tiananmen Square still hold a powerful resonance. Those widespread protests seem particularly resonant given the current resurgence in support for Black Lives Matter. Even if Tiananmen Square’s demonstration are not exactly comparable, they still function as an important cautionary tale. Often the protests are only remembered for their tragic end, when the Chinese government violently dispersed the gatherings and continued to eradicate them from their official history. But in Tiananmen 1989, Lun Zhang, with assistance from journalist Adrien Gombeaud and artist Ameziane, provides a first-hand account of the inner-workings of the protests, detailing the political tensions within Beijing as youthful hopes for reform were dashed against the hardened and uncompromising state.
Read MoreWonder Woman: Tempest Tossed — a recent release from DC Comics growing line of books for YA and middle grade readers — is easily one of my favorite comics this year, which was a delightful surprise, because I’m not a huge fan of Wonder Woman…and I am so, so, so, so tired of origins. In fact, most of my enthusiasm for this title deflated when I learned that it was an origin story. It was still an instant buy, however, with Leila Del Duca on line art, but it definitely slipped down the read pile. Of course, I was extremely wrong, and I am delighted to be.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I have read a strong majority of the books about the life of Jack Kirby, perhaps the most prolific and original comics creator who has ever lived, or certainly who has ever moved within mainstream American comics industry spaces.
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