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 MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The past month has been rough. I think any human occupying this odd world we’ve found ourselves stuck in would agree. The coronavirus pandemic has, in a word, been awful, owing to fears and threats that range from health to economics. Yesterday, however, I found myself blissfully unaware of the fear and threats for the better part of an hour. For that, I can thank Friday.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I don’t know how I got this in my head, but I was under the impression that Afterlift — a new digital-exclusive release from ComiXology Originals — was a horror comic. This is most certainly owing to my own inability to parse the marketing material. Anyway, this comic is something so much more than just rideshare driver has a scary night.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — No One Left to Fight was one of the breakout books of 2019. I was fortunate enough to review a couple of the single issues (#3 here, #5 here) for the site during its run, but I was excited about eventually reading it in trade format. I wanted to see what held up when it’s read so closely together, and what new things I could pick up.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — It’s an interesting thing to review a two-decades-old comic in 2020 that envisioned the future...and got a good many things right. But that’s where I found myself this weekend with Paul Pope’s remastered 100 Percent, which is essentially a collection of five comics that were released in 2002 and 2003 by the classic-yet-now-defunct DC Comics imprint, Vertigo. The book has now been remastered and released by Image Comics, hitting shops in early March before the virus outbreak. And these comics are set in a sci-fi, cyberpunk future that Pope actually created with his work a few years prior to that even, via 1999’s Heavy Liquid.
Read MoreThe Phantom Twin is about a pair of conjoined twins around the turn of the 19th Century. The first act of the book is essentially spent getting to know the pair of them as they navigate their world of appearing in old-timey circus freak shows, for lack of a better word to describe it.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The Black Ghost, Hard Revolution Vol. 1 is a new digital-only series from ComiXology Originals, which is the publishing platform for the Amazon-owned digital comics platform that is a clear number one in the space, at least in terms of platforms for accessing major North American direct market comics. I suspect that, like many readers, the ComiXology Originals books were something I’d been hearing about for a while…
Read MoreBy Toren Chenault — The Black Hammer Universe is filled with superheroes. When it debuted in 2016, it was clear from solicits that writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston wanted to change superhero comics with Black Hammer. And that’s exactly what they did. I worked at a comic book shop for most of 2018 and part of 2019. The first Black Hammer trade was one of the books I sold the most. I would pitch it to comic readers and say “Imagine if Watchmen expanded into a full-blown universe. But was a bit more modern.” And that would work most of the time. But to be honest, most of the sales came from people who had never heard of the title or read any of Lemire’s other work.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — If you’ve ever engaged in serious Beatles fandom (and even if you haven’t but just like a good crazy theory), chances are you’re aware of the Paul is Dead theory. Essentially, this idea posits that during the 1960s, Paul McCartney died in a car accident, and he was replaced by a look-a-like so as not to disrupt the Beatles absurd fame and profitability. The label and whoever else was in on it, and the other Beatles knew but were unable to really tell anyone, so they peppered (heh) clues to the Paul is Dead theory in their songs.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — “What in the world is going on at the abandoned X-Mansion?” It’s a line of (on the nose) dialogue that gets delivered on the second page of Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1, and it’s also this book’s pitch/concept/mission statement. You know what? It’s also an effective one, one of those superhero comics ideas that make you immediately wonder why you hadn’t already been wondering about what was going on at the X-Mansion now that all the mutants were on an island.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I had been looking forward to the newest X-Men comic — Hellions #1 — since the book was first announced, and in a way, I feel like I’m still looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I read the comic this morning, but Hellions #1 had a lot of setup to do. So much so that it felt like one of those first issues that doesn’t really get our plot moving, instead having a team-building checklist to accomplish before it can introduce storytelling elements like character motivations, dilemmas, threats, and larger goals.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The first thing that jumped out at me right away about Road to Empyre - The Kree/Skrull War #1 — which as the name suggests is paving a road to Marvel’s forthcoming major event, Empyre — is that it’s well-built to orient new readers. Now, I don’t think that anyone off the street (even those who have a cursory knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) could just jump in here, but it’s friendly to those of who who have read around some of the titles that seeded what’s going on here.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — I want to preface this by saying that going into this review, I knew very little about Hundred Wolves. The thing about books from publisher Vault Comics, however, is that it’s pretty rare for me to dislike one. My shop preorders them for me automatically, so I really don’t read much about their books in advance aside from a Tweet here or there.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Once and Future is back! One of my favorite monthly comics makes its return with #7 this week. The first arc was incredible with an incredible mixture of amazing characters, scary monsters, intense action sequences, big twists, and some of the best art around. So, there’s a lot to live up to as we set out on a new arc for this book. Also, this has been an incredibly terrible month for, you know — everyone, so there couldn’t have been better timing for this to reappear.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — I have no idea how I started reading Crowded. Seriously. I think Matthew Rosenberg may have recommended it on Twitter, and I picked it up from there? Regardless, I’ve been around since the book launched. It’s a brilliantly unique book with one of the sharpest character dynamics in comics. Now, we get to look at #12, which in a year-plus is the first time I’ve reviewed the book for some reason!
Read MoreBy Hussein Wasiti — Declan Shalvey has slowly morphed into a jack-of-all-trades over the course of the past couple of years. He’s done everything from draw interiors, providing covers and variant covers, as well as writing his own comics. Savage Town, his first foray into writing for the OGN format, was an interesting story but something about the cultural uniqueness of the comic held it back from being an accessible, evergreen crime story. His second OGN, Bog Bodies with artist Gavin Fullerton, colorist Rebecca Nalty, and letterer Clayton Cowles, is instantly more accessible, more human, and provides a tragic tale of redemption set against the moonlit backdrop of rural Ireland.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — In Gene Luen Yang’s new graphic novel, Dragon Hoops (out now from publisher First Second), the writer/cartoonist makes two of the book’s foundational ideas clear from the start, from the first page and the very first panel. Said first panel features Yang’s likeness talking directly to the reader, telling them I’ve hated sports ever since I was a little kid. Especially basketball, and then we cut to young Yang trying to catch a pass and getting a handful of jammed fingers.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The Eisner Award winning team from Giant Days — writer John Allison and artist Max Sarin — have returned with a new series from publisher BOOM! Studios. If you are unfamiliar with Giant Days, first and foremost — shame on you. That book was arguably one of the best modern slice of life comics, certainly within the direct market, before it came to an end last year. It was a hilarious take on a group of friends in college, and I loved it. It’s well worth checking out, but don’t just take my word — it has the prestigious awards wins and critical love to re-enforce any strong recommendation.
Read MoreBy Toren Chenault — Bang! #2 is another example of writer Matt Kindt (joined here by Wilfredo Torres) excelling at telling a story within a story...within a story. With this comic, we’re reading a story from the creative team, while the people in the story are experiencing it as well, but they are also a part of a story, one they don’t seem to have control over. I know it sounds wild, but this actually isn’t something Kindt is new at. And it’s not something entirely alien to fiction writing, especially comics.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Outlawed #1 is billed by publisher Marvel Comics as “an event one-shot.” It’s a big comic, one that sets up a shared storyline slated to run in April through two of Marvel’s existing teen comics — The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales Spider-Man — while setting up the launch of two more — New Warriors, and Power Pack … both of which are five issues mini-series — and the re-launch of Champions.
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