Category: Other Publishers

By Jason Shiga
144 pages, two-color
Published by Sparkplug Comics

I don’t really understand how Jason Shiga’s mind works, but I’m always impressed. His comic Fleep was a brilliant mathematical puzzle combined with the ultimate locked-room mystery of a man trapped inside a phone booth encased in rock, and in some ways it’s one of his more standard creations, with books like Meanwhile and Hello World being interactive creations with a myriad of possibilities. When I saw that his new book, Bookhunter, was a pretty standard story I was prepared to be disappointed. What I got, though, was anything but disappointment.

Continue reading “Bookhunter”

By Jeff Smith
32 pages, black and white
Published by Cartoon Books

It’s probably safe to say, these days, that Jeff Smith can do just about whatever he wants in comics. His first major series, Bone, was a massive success in both the self-publishing world as well as being picked up for color editions by Scholastic Books. Now, having finished a long-promised Shazam! mini-series for DC Comics, Smith could have certainly taken his new project to any published he wanted. Instead, he’s returned to self-publishing and in a serialized format. And somehow, that seems like just the right approach.

Continue reading “RASL #1”

Adapted by Rick Geary
Based on the novel by Charles Dickens
56 pages, color
Published by Papercutz

I remember as a child reading some of the original Classics Illustrated books at my library. It’s a simple but brilliant concept, adapting classics of literature into comic books, as a way to get younger readers exposed to great works in a slightly easier fashion. There have been a number of incarnations over the years, and the latest is Papercutz’s line, kicking off with Rick Geary’s Great Expectations. And in terms of a first book for the line, I can’t help but think that the choice is a little odd.

Continue reading “Classics Illustrated: Great Expectations”

Written by Steve Parkhouse and Alan McKenzie
Art by John Ridgway
168 pages, black and white or color
Published by Panini Books

People who know me well can easily name my favorite two forms of entertainment—comic books and Doctor Who. With all that in mind, you’d think that with all of the various comic book version of Doctor Who out there, I’d be a happy camper, right? The reality, of course, is that just like most other media tie-in comics, the end result can be hit-or-miss at best. With Panini Books reprinting the comic strips to appear in Doctor Who Magazine over the years, though, I can say that there’s one reprint in particular I was overjoyed to see, and that’s Doctor Who: Voyager.

Continue reading “Doctor Who: Voyager”

By Patrick McDonnell
208 pages, black and white & color
Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing

There are times when I look at the newspaper comic strip pages and just groan at how many uninspired strips continue to limp on, churning out one lifeless joke after another. There’s always a ready antidote, though, in the form of Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts. I wouldn’t dare to go so far as to say it’s the only strip of interest these days (there are a handful of other good ones out there), but I will say that it’s not only the best one out there, but even in the heydays of newspaper strips it would still be at the top of the list.

Continue reading “Mutts: Animal Friendly”

Adapted and penciled by Phil Foglio
Inked by Tim Sale
Based on a book by Robert Asprin
240 pages, color
Published by Airship Entertainment

In 1985, I’d only recently discovered comic books. One of the first ones I bought, though, was Myth Adventures, an adaptation of Robert Asprin’s novel Another Fine Myth. At the time, I thought it was one of the funniest things I’d read in years, eventually making me rush out and buy Asprin’s Myth series because I just couldn’t wait for another issue. And while at the time I thought that Phil Foglio’s rendition of Asprin’s novel was fantastic, many years later I’ve always wondered how well it would hold up to a re-reading. Foglio seems to have decided to call my bluff, then, with a complete collection of all eight issues finally available again.

Continue reading “Myth Adventures”

By Ken Dahl, Alec Longstreth, Laura Park, Julia Wertz
40 pages, black and white
Published by Tugboat Press

Concluding the look at Greg Means’s anthology comic Papercutter is, interestingly enough, an issue not edited by Means. Unlike Papercutter #4 or #5, Papercutter #6 was guest-edited by Alec Longstreth. For a book that defined its identity in part by stories and creators that Means liked and wanted to commission, having someone else in charge of an issue of Papercutter made me wonder if the overall tone of the comic would change. And while I think this issue was a little different, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Continue reading “Papercutter #6”

By Liz Prince, Bwana Spoons, and Kazimir Strzepek
32 pages, black and white
Published by Tugboat Press

When I initially read Papercutter #4-6, the Greg Means-edited anthology comic, I figured I would just review all three issues at once, devoting a small amount of space to each issue. It wasn’t until I sat down that I realized that each issue really deserved its own review; the works on display here are just that strong that you can’t dismiss them with a single sentence in passing. In the case of Papercutter #5, I think Means continued to find the balance he struck in #4, with a good mix of styles and creators. I didn’t think a apocalyptic fantasy story would fit alongside a story of a relationship being born, but Means proved me absolutely wrong.

Continue reading “Papercutter #5”

By Vanessa Davis, Sarah Oleksyk, and John Porcellino
32 pages, black and white
Published by Tugboat Press

It used to be that every time you turned around, a new anthology comic was launched. The anthology as a comic book series can work well as a showcase for both new and existing talent, and having to only fill 32 pages (on average) per issue means you can launch new publications regularly. These days, anthologies seem to be more graphic novels (like Flight or Kramers Ergot) than single issues of comic books; I think it was the usage of the older format that initially lured me towards Tugboat Press’s Papercutter. The creative line-ups looked strong, and by the time I was done with the three issues I’d read, I was filled with a renewed hope that the anthology comic book can still survive.

Continue reading “Papercutter #4”