Just a quick update; the next few weeks are going to be slightly erratic in terms of updates, due to being the process of moving across town… Especially since everything is being packed up, of course.
Hopefully the site will be back on a regular update schedule sooner rather than later, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from moving in the past, it’s that moving never happens as you expect.
Thanks for your patience!
By Sonny Liew
128 pages, color
Many years ago, I first encountered Sonny Liew’s comics thanks to a Xeric Grant funded comic called Malinky Robot: Stinky Fish Blues. It was inventive and entertaining, and instantly made Liew a creator that I would plan on watching out for in the future. He’s gone onto a lot of great comics since then (like My Faith in Frankie, Re-Gifters, and an adaptation of Sense & Sensibility) but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Malinky Robot. With the release of Malinky Robot: Collected Stories and Other Bits, now you can get a chance to see just why he’s a creator whose work I’ll always keep an eye out for.
Continue reading “Malinky Robot: Collected Stories and Other Bits”
Written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí
Art by Jordi Bernet
144 pages, black and white
Published by IDW
Jordi Bernet is one of those artists whose work I admire every time I see, but whom I rarely encounter. With IDW publishing a series of reprints of Torpedo, a European comic about an Italian killer-for-hire, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl and see a lot more of Bernet’s art in one fell swoop. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was just how brutal Enrique Sánchez Abulí’s scripts would be.
By Chester Brown
288 pages, black and white
Published by Drawn & Quarterly
It’s been eight years since Chester Brown’s last graphic novel (a collection of his biographical mini-series of Canadian political leader Louis Riel), and his work has always been wide ranging, but had you told me that his new book would be about Brown’s experiences with prostitutes I wouldn’t have believed you. On the surface it sounds like a crass, flippant subject. What Paying For It actually delivers, though, is a thoughtful and interesting examination on the life of a john and on prostitution in general.
Written by Doug Murray and Frank Cho
Art by Axel Medellin
28 pages, color
Published by Image Comics
There’s something rather odd in my head about Doug Murray (best known for writing Marvel’s war comic The ‘Nam) and Frank Cho (best known for his buxom blondes and comic strip Liberty Meadows) writing a comic together. The two come from such different pasts, in terms of comics, that 50 Girls 50 #1 became a "must read." Not because I was necessarily dying to read it, but rather because I wanted to see just what a synthesis of the two together would end up looking like.
Written by Brian Azzarello
Art by Eduardo Risso
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the best thing about DC’s Flashpoint mini-series event isn’t the main story itself, but rather all of the Elseworlds-esque mini-series that are spun out of it. One of the most promising ones just from the announcements was Batman: Knight of Vengeance, thanks to it reuniting Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso, Patricia Mulvihill, and Dave Johnson. And now that it’s out? Well, it’s quite frankly exactly what you would expect from the creative team of 100 Bullets.
Continue reading “Flashpoint: Batman: Knight of Vengeance #1”
Written by Mark Andrew Smith
Art by Armand Villavert
40 pages, color
Published by Image Comics
There are times when the description of a book and the reality of it don’t match. Take, for example, Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors. A comic about future villains learning how to be evil sounds like it could quite easily be dark and mean and overly violent. It’s a reasonable assumption to make. Then you pick up a copy of Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors #1 and the reality? In a word: adorable.
Continue reading “Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors #1”
By Mitsuru Adachi
376 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
I’m normally not into reviewing a series again right after tackling the previous release. So after reviewing Cross Game Vol. 1-2, I figured it would be safe to wait a few volumes before bringing it back up. But by the time I was done with Cross Game Vol. 3, I was so struck by the direction of the series that I found that I couldn’t wait any longer. In short, I feel like Mitsuru Adachi gets just as frustrated at other long-form series as I do, and took steps here to show that he’s not going to fall into that same trap.
