Category: Other Publishers

Story by Richard Starkings, Joe Casey, and Ladronn
Dialogue by Richard Starkings and Joe Casey
Art by Ladronn
36 pages, color
Published by Active Images

When Richard Starkings came up with a mascot to appear in the ads for his lettering company ComiCraft, he invented the hippopotamus private investigator Hip Flask. I don’t know if he knew just then what would eventually happen to Hip Flask, but most people were surprised when Starkings announced that Hip Flask would get his own comic. What started out as a joke turned out to be one of the most gorgeous books on the market, with an equally thoughtful story. Now that’s a pleasant surprise.

Continue reading “Hip Flask: Elephantmen”

By Ray Friesen
24 pages, black and white
Published by Don’t Eat Any Bugs Productions

I’m not quite old enough to remember when the “Perils of Pauline” movie serial ran in movie theatres during the 1930s, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating it. Each new installment had another crazy adventure for Pauline and her scientist father, ending as always on a bigger and better cliffhanger. We may not get the serial adventure in movies these days, but we do still get something just like it in comic books. When reading Ray Friesen’s comic RQW, all I could think is that a serial of this in the front of all of a studio’s movies aimed at teenagers would be a tremendous success.

Continue reading “RQW #1-3”

By Michael Jantze
48 pages, black and white
Published by TheNorm.com Publishing

I don’t think it’s any small coincidence that more and more comic strip artists are using the comic book market to collect their strips. There’s a real crossover in terms of audiences these days, and self-publishing isn’t the anathema in comics that it is in the book industry. More importantly, it gives the creator a real freedom they might not get with other companies, making sure it’s presented however they want it. That’s definitely the case with Michael Jantze’s The Norm, which he’s managed to make even funnier the second time through… without changing a thing.

Continue reading “Norm Magazine #1”

By Paul Pope
96 pages, black and white
Published by Horse Press

There are some things that only happen once every couple of years. Cicadas burrow out from under the ground. An ex-roommate of mine willingly decides to wash the dishes. The United States has a presidential election. And, most happily of all, Paul Pope releases a new issue of THB. And unlike the cicadas, some things are actually worth the wait.

Continue reading “Giant THB 1.v.2”

By Joann Sfar
32 pages, color
Published by Simon & Schuster

It wasn’t until I read NBM’s publishing of Dungeon that I first encountered Joann Sfar’s creativity. Sfar was working together with Lewis Trondheim on the project, though, so I really hadn’t seem a solo work by Sfar at all. Thankfully, someone at Simon & Schuster seems to have discovered Sfar since we’re now getting his Petit Vampire series brought into English in the form of Little Vampire. This is one bloodsucker you’ll want in your home.

Continue reading “Little Vampire Does Kung Fu!”

Written by Shane L. Amaya
Art by Bruno D’Angelo
48 pages, black and white
Published by Terra Major

What is it about the samurai era of Japan that entrances so many people? Maybe it’s the code of honor that was famously practiced during that time. Maybe it’s the weapons and battles of the time period, so similar yet different from our own. Maybe it’s the myths and legends of Japan that often go hand-in-hand with this earlier time. In the case of Lord Takeyama, writer Shane L. Amaya doesn’t seem to take any chances and uses all three to great effect.

Continue reading “Lord Takeyama”

Edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly
48 pages, color
Published by HarperCollins

There’s a stronger relationship between illustrated children’s books and comics than most people consciously realize. Both of them involve a series of images that, coupled with text, tell a story. The only real structural difference is that children’s books usually employ narration boxes instead of word balloons, and comics use panels much more often than children’s books. Still, the overlap between the two is pretty strong, and maybe that’s what Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly had in mind when they invented their Little Lit series, with children’s books and comics creators coming together to form an anthology of stories for both children and adults.

Continue reading “Little Lit: It was a Dark and Silly Night…”