GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Falconspeare by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell

By Lisa Gullickson – Warwick Johnson-Cadwell’s Falconspeare taps into our enduring literary fascination with the Victorian Era. The book opens with three skilled monster hunters - Mr. Knox, Mr. Falconspeare, and Ms. Van Sloan - bursting into the private chamber of a bloodthirsty vampire, engaging in fisticuffs, and ending in gruesome, bloody triumph, all while wearing a combined total of 16 layers of clothing. We don’t tie an ascot to go to church, and here is James Falconspeare tussling with the undead with one tucked neatly into his waistcoat while Mary Van Sloan dashes to sanctify the tomb in a floor-length skirt that probably…

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 2022

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Strange Adventures from DC Comics

By Steve Baxi — Recent discourse concerning questions of Truth assumes that it has lost its value, that we are in an unprecedented time where facts and logic have been thrown out the window, and all that matters is how powerful a shared belief is, one that we can will into being our truth despite reality. However, this is not new, this has always been the case. It's hard to grasp the idea of living in a “Post-Truth” society because that would imply we ever lived in a society that valued capital…

Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: December 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: The Swamp Thing, Vol. 1 - Becoming

By Steve Baxi — The last two years have raised severe doubts in humanity’s collective ability to choose hope over darkness, kindness over violence, and freedom over oppression. At every stage, the answer to what makes us human is met with countless examples of the horrors we are capable of and the propagation of our worst ideas. The Swamp Thing - a relaunched series by Ram V, Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer, June Chung, and Aditya Bidikar - introduces a…

Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: December 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Batman and Robin and Howard

By Lisa Gullickson — Damian Wayne has arguably one of the most outrageously comic-book-y origins of any member of the Batfamily. By way of eugenics, he is the rightful heir of both WayneCorp and the League of Assassins. He was intended to be the host body of his Grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul, but now he’s the fifth Robin and a real handful for his dad, Batman. Since the moment of his conception, Damian Wayne has been given every single advantage. Genetically, educationally, opportunistically, financially - all of the cards have been stacked in his favor. For Damian, nothing has been left…

Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: November 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Friday Book One - The First Day of Christmas

By Steve Baxi — In the Letters Pages to Friday, Ed Brubaker joked that the series was a Post-YA story, even though “Post-YA” would simply be “A.” While that’s technically true, I can’t think of a better way to describe this series which functions as an epilogue to years of Young Adult adventures without going quite into proper adulthood. Friday by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martín, and Muntsa Vicente follows former child detective, Friday Fitzhugh (a reference to YA novelist Louise Fitzhugh) as she returns to the small

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: November 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Graveneye by Sloane Leong & Anna Bowles

By Steve Baxi — What makes a house a home? One answer is when you hang up your pictures, when you work on it to create a sense of continuity and identity. It's your home when it can tell your story. A haunted house, then, is particularly interesting because it actively resists your ability to do so. The Conjuring, or Paranormal Activity or any number of haunted house films are set up the same way: an innocent family moves in, filled with hope for their new home, and at every attempt to…

Publisher: TKO Studios
Release Date: November 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Labyrinth by Simon Stålenhag

By Steve Baxi — Young people are often told they are the future, that the world is in their hands. This is of course after the world has already been shaped by the sins of the old. So this is less a gift of the future and more a shifting of the burden. The appeal, then, of young adult fiction and why I think so much of it takes place in the post-apocalypse is that it makes this exchange of worldly duties more honest. Coming of age in a world that’s on its last legs is a feeling we all can intuitively understand, so there’s no sense sugarcoating it. While this formula has wide appeal as something empowering, to me it feels like an untapped well for pure existential horror. The Labyrinth

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: November 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Yummy - A History of Desserts by Victoria Grace Elliott

By Lisa Gullickson — In the kitchen, there are two types of people - cooks and bakers. I am a baker. Cooks are playing gastronomic jazz, tasting and tweaking, reacting and improvising. Cooks live in the moment, always striving for greatness but also enjoying a wide margin of error. Bakers are performing a symphony. There is some room for interpretation, but there are definitely right and wrong notes. Bakers live in the past - relying on experience, understanding a few scientific principles, and a dozen or so rules of thumb…

Publisher: Penguin Random House
Release Date: November 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Destroy All Monsters - A Reckless Book

By Steve Baxi — Aging is relative. Going from 36 to 37, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean your material circumstances change but rather your ability to maneuver in those circumstances. At the same time, leaving your 20s can be a terrifying proposition for the opposite reason: now is the time for you to solidify who you are. How far along the checklist of life are you by this point? When the music stops, where will you sit? In Destroy All Monsters - the third book of the Reckless series by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Jacob Philips - we take a meditative dive into the…

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: October 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Far Sector from DC Comics

By Deidre Freitas — It’s no easy feat to take the Green Lantern Corp and flip it on its head, but N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell and Deron Bennett do all that and more with Far Sector. Between the compelling storyline, a cast of characters that has you questioning every motive, the breath-taking art and perfect lettering, it’s no surprise this series came highly recommended from comic and non-comic readers alike…

Publisher: DC Comics - Young Animal
Release Date: October 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Orcs in Space, Vol. 1

By Lisa Gullickson — “Hey! You got Tolkien in my Star Trek!” “You got Star Trek in my Tolkien!” “Hm… delicious!” Rabble-rousing, blood-seeking orcs accidentally commandeer the StarBleep ship Aarken, and intergalactic hijinks ensue. I was lured into Orcs in Space by the charmingly gross cartooning and the promise of an irreverent, salty/sweet mash-up of fantasy and science-fiction. What I discovered was…

Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: October 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Party and Prey from AfterShock Comics

By Lisa Gullickson — Party and Prey opens in a crowded gay club. The magenta lights illuminate a thick haze of pheromones and confetti. This is a safe space where people are encouraged to be who they are and get what they want - everyone is entwined and smiling. An older man surveys the crowd. He seems excited but also separate and nervous. He awkwardly rebuffs some guys, hurting some feelings even, until a…

Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: October 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: This Is How I Disappear from D&Q

By Deidre Freitas — If I have learned anything from adulthood, it’s that it can be incredibly lonely. Your life has changed, you no longer have a structure like high school or college to let you see friends everyday. Most often, your or your friends move across the country. Schedules get harder and harder to line up, so it can be difficult to see when someone’s struggling. If that wasn’t enough, studies like the University of Alberta’s are showing Millennials and Gen Z are more anxious than previous generations. It’s not hard to see why, with all hesitancy of…

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: October 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: 10 Years to Death from AfterShock Comics

By Steve Baxi — Dim the lights. Sip on your pumpkin latte. Turn on those eerie lofi beats. Spooky Season is officially here and nothing says “spooky” quite as well as murderers, revenge and the innocent people trapped in the middle. In a new prestige one-shot - 10 Years to Death by Aaron Douglas, Cliff Richards, Guy Major, and Dave Sharpe - we’re introduced to all of our…

Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: September 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Whistle - A New Gotham City Hero

By Lisa Gullickson — I understand that just getting by in Gotham City is morally complicated. Known primarily for rampant crime, corruption, and vigilantism, Gotham’s ethical foundation is clearly built on a steep incline. It’s easy to lose your footing. To cling to what feels right is so effortful and backbreaking that it just feels better to let go a little, begin to let yourself slide, maybe even enjoy the easy gravity of it all….

Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: September 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: The Good Asian, Vol. 1

By Steve Baxi — Pornsak Pichetshote is an editor’s writer. Coming up through comics as an editor under Karen Berger, Pichetshote has an uncanny ability to see every gear in the assembly line of a comic, allowing every individual piece to shine without ever losing track of how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Not only is that collective shine apparent in his collaborations, but…

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: September 2021

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Eternals Vol. 1 - Only Death is Eternal

By Keigen Rea — Eternals Vol. 1 - Only Death is Eternal is a book I’m of two minds about. On one mind, it is one of the better musings on the general philosophy of superheroes in recent memory. It’s a book that dissects ideas of heroic sacrifice and the actual cost of it. It is interested in heroes having a fixed, rigid, personality, and both the benefits and drawbacks. Multiple characters embody both of those ideas throughout the arc, and intersect with them in interesting and exciting ways, with the last issue putting emphasis on both themes in a great way, where the Eternals are…

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: September 2021

Graphic Novel Review: Alberto Breccia’s Dracula

By Steve Baxi — From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was in the midst of what was called “The Dirty War,” a military dictatorship that led to thousands of deaths and disappearances in the country, the toll of which are virtually impossible to report accurately. Much of my understanding of these events comes from Antonius C.G.M. Robben’s 2018 book, Argentina Betrayed: Memory, Mourning, and Accountability. According to Robben:By Steve Baxi — From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was in the midst of what was called “The Dirty War,” a military dictatorship that led to thousands of deaths and disappearances in the country, the toll of which are virtually impossible to report accurately. Much of my understanding of these events comes from Antonius C.G.M. Robben’s 2018 book, Argentina Betrayed: Memory, Mourning, and Accountability. According to Robben…

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release Date: August 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: ‘Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?’

By Lisa Gullickson — "Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?" That title reads like a rumor—the condescending familiarity of the nickname; the un-self-conscious, casual grammar. I was taught from a young age that spreading rumors was a sin, but, like many of the venial sins, there is a satisfaction to committing it. Edward Theodore Gein has done something terrible - the kind of terrible that you hate hearing about but get a cheap thrill from telling. It’s monsters like Ed Gein that make rumors an evolutionary necessity.

Publisher: Albatross Funny Books
Release: August 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Butchery by Bastien Vivèst

By Bruno Savill De Jong — To quote Fleabag: Love is awful. It’s painful. It’s frightening. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself. It makes you selfish, it makes you creepy. It’s all any of us want, and it’s hell when we get there. So, no wonder it’s something we don’t want to do on our own. Bastien Vivès’ elliptical comic The Butchery throws readers into the paradox of relationships; a minefield people charge into anyway. One page directly compares love to a “combat jump,” wherein people leap into the “butchery” below…

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: August 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Old Head by Kyle Starks

By Lisa Gullickson — If, under duress, you asked me to name 5 VILFs (vampires I’d like to...y’know), I would have to say Louis as played by Brad Pitt in Interview with a Vampire; Jerry from Fright Night 2011, apologies to Chris Sarandon; Adam from Only Lovers Left Alive, which I haven’t seen, but it’s Tom Hiddleston; Batman from Red Rain because who am I to kick Batman out of bed?; and Blade from Blade II. Where’s Edward Cullen, you may ask? Not in my top 5, but we can negotiate if he brings his new…

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: August 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Rainbow Bridge

By Sean Dillon — Within typical comics spaces that would publish books like Project Patron, A Walk Through Hell, or Her Infernal Descent, there’s a surprising lack of space provided for children’s fiction in the vein of Dav Pilkey or Raina Telgemeier. A tendency to aim towards Young Adult and Adult sections of the library rather than the children’s section. Which is to say, comics for a 7-12 demographic rather than the 13-17/18+. That isn’t to demean the work I have listed, merely to contextualize the presence of Rainbow Bridge within the comics landscape.

Publisher: AfterShock Comics - Seismic Press
Release Date: August 2021

COLLECTION REVIEW: Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, Vol. 1

By Lisa Gullickson — To grow up with a sibling is to grow up with comparisons. I am the sensitive one in my family. I cry the easiest, I take things personally, but I am pretty thoughtful and the best gift giver. Of the four of us, my oldest brother is the best at the piano, and my youngest brother is the least likely to be an embarrassment in public. My sister is the smartest one, but I am about an inch and a half taller than she is. In childhood, these distinctions were petty but important. They spoke to our…

Publisher: Oni Press
Release: August 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be

By Deidre Freitas — As a teen, I perfected my own version of the Irish goodbye. Moving around a lot and not expecting to stay in contact with any of my friends, because distance and time were both things none of us expected to be impacted by us the way that it, inevitably, did. And so as the school year ended and I left for the fourth time, moving across the state, I said a half-hearted goodbye to those who saw me leave the parking lot, and radio silence to the rest…

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release: July 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: I Am Not Starfire

By Lisa Gullickson — We meet Mandy furiously dying her roots from their naturally fiery orange to a positively pitch black. In highschool, what was once an innocuous adult-child conversation starter - “what do you want to be when you grow up” - becomes an anxiety inducing and unwelcome probe. As a kid, you could change your answer on a whim and grown ups would laugh. One week it might be “marine biologist” and the next it would be “unicorn,” and both would feel…

Publisher: DC Comics
Release: July 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Everything is Tulip

By Steve Baxi — I consider myself lucky to have experienced at least a few of my formative years before social media. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to notice a seismic shift in human relationships was taking place. Slowly but surely, society’s expectations were changing in dangerous ways. Everyone is Tulip – a new graphic novel by David Baker, Nicole Goux, and Ellie Hall – is a profound study of human identity in the age of social media pressure. For anyone that may not know…

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release: July 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Factory Summer by Guy Delisle

By Zack Quaintance — I have long found the work of cartoonist Guy Delisle to feel abnormally relatable and immersive, which is certainly true of this year’s new graphic novel (via Drawn & Quarterly), Factory Summer. There are, to my mind, two principal reasons for this, both as it applies to this book and to Delisle’s work in a broader sense. This book is relatable from its foundation up due to its subject matter, which seems like as good of a place as any to start unpacking…

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: June 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Onion Skin by Edgar Camacho

By Zack Quaintance — I had an absolute blast reading Onion Skin by Edgar Camacho, a newly published in the U.S. graphic novel that won prestigious accolades after it was first published in Mexico in 2016 (namely, it was the winner of Mexico’s first ever Young Graphic Novel Award). On the surface, this is the story of a pair of unlikely business partners who run a food truck, coming into conflict with established forces once they gain success. Below the surface, as it were, this is a story about…

Publisher: IDW Publishing - Top Shelf Productions
Release: June 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: In by Will McPhail

By Zack Quaintance — I got a pitch to review In, a new graphic novel by New Yorker cartoonist Will McPhail. As sometimes is the case with new graphic novel releases, the book had missed my radar. It happens; finding a centralized resource to track which graphic novels are being published when is a whole job unto itself. I hadn’t heard of McPhail, though I had certainly seen his work, and when I looked into it, I found that I had frequently enjoyed his cartoons.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release: June 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Chartwell Manor by Glenn Head

By Zack Quaintance — Chartwell Manor is a recent graphic memoir from veteran alternative cartoonist Glenn Head. While inherently disturbing — the book details a boarding school whose headmaster was guilty of the sexual and emotional abuse of children, Head himself being a victim — it is also a masterpiece, a staggering and honest work in which a massive talent processes his most difficult memories to find searing poignancy and raise powerful questions. Chartwell Manor spans most of Head’s life, using a bifurcated structure in which the first half focuses on childhood trauma while the second details the aftermath, not just for Head but for others victimized at the school, too.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release: May 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Fictional Father by Joe Ollmann

By Zack Quaintance — The premise of Joe Ollman’s new graphic novel Fictional Father — published in May by Drawn & Quarterly — is a rich one. Ollman’s main character in this book, Caleb Wyatt, is the son of a famous newspaper cartoonist, whose life’s work is an old-fashioned strip about a father and son. The book contextualizes just how famous this cartoonist is — not Charles Schultz famous, but close enough to know all prominent cartoonist and many celebrities — and how his strip has impacted the wider world…

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Release: May 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Billionaires by Darryl Cunningham

By Bruno Savill De Jong — Among other things, the COVID-19 Pandemic has exposed the enormous and widening gulf in economic inequality across the globe. Early rhetoric about “all being in the same boat” quickly dissipated once people realized their lifeboats were barely held together as is, and they still had to venture down the rapids of frontline work while others could wait out on the shore. Although conceived and created before the advent of the Coronavirus, Darryl Cunningham’s new graphic novel, Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful, chronicles the astronomical wealth of three contemporary billionaires: Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Brothers and Jeff Bezos.

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Release: May 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Poison Flowers and Pandemonium by Richard Sala

By d. emerson eddy — I think my first exposure to Richard Sala's work was the Evil Eye series from Fantagraphics in the late '90s. I don't think I had seen anything quite like what he was doing with both “Reflection in a Glass Scorpion” and “Peculia”, blending some pulp storytelling sensibilities with horror and humor, topped off with a truly unique, exaggerated art style. There was a raw verve to it, reminding me of how I felt when I first saw some Basil Wolverton art, that was instantly captivating. From there, I regularly checked in on his work, being vastly entertained over the years by some incredible work like his contribution to IDW's Little Book of Horror, Cat Burglar Black, Violenza, The Grave Robber's Daughter, and The Bloody Cardinal.

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release: May 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Friend of the Devil - A Reckless Book

By Zack Quaintance — The second of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips straight-to-book market graphic novel series, Reckless, hit earlier this year with the arrival of the aptly-named Friend of the Devil — A Reckless Book. And friends? I absolutely love these graphic novels. I could easily write another 500 words or so about how well-made these comics are, about Brubaker’s understated but clear characterization, about Sean Phillips untouchable noir cartooning (colored here by his son, Jacob Phillips), and about the duo’s finely-honed ability to make crime comics.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: April 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

By Zack Quaintance — Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith is a massive feat of a graphic novel some 35 years in the making, grown from ideas originally born during the artist’s time writing and illustrating the classic anti-military industrial complex Marvel Comics story, Wolverine: Weapon X. For those familiar with Windsor-Smith’s work, Monsters will perhaps most directly read as a grand expansion of the seeds planted within its forebear, epically freed from corporate IP constraints in ways that enable Windsor-Smith to pursue similar questions with a much more intricate and wider brush.

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release: April 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Young Shadow by Ben Sears

By Zack Quaintance — One of the first things that readers are likely to notice about Young Shadow — the new entry in the YA-skewing Double+ Adventure series by cartoonist Ben Sears — is the color palette. The book is set entirely at night (I believe, maybe minus a scene or two taking place at sunrise or sunset), following a young masked vigilante’s work in a futuristic city. Rather than go with more traditional dark and brooding shades of black or blue, Sears makes the choice to give his story a streetlight yellow.

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release: April 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Delicates by Brenna Thummler

By Deidre Freitas — A macabre fascination with death and what it may or may not hold has held the fascinations of writers for centuries. And when we decide ghosts are real, what shapes do they take? Why do they stick around? Is it something they’ve missed in life, or something that holds them over in death? Brenna Thummler’s Delicates shows us ghosts are very real, taking on the classic sheet-like appearance with friendly eyes and small smiles, each with their own unique qualities about them. A sequel to Sheets, it shines in every way…

Publisher: Oni Press
Release: March 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Crossroads at Midnight

By Steve Baxi — I’m of two minds on this collection. On the one hand, I really applaud the skill on display here. On the other hand, I can’t say any of the short stories ultimately worked for me. The tension then is how much skill is really on display when the narrative doesn’t work? Or how much of the narrative is attempting to simply be a vehicle for technical achievements? The Crossroads at Midnight - a collection of five short horror stories by Abby Howard - is…

Publisher: Iron Circus Comics
Release: February 2021

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Reckless Vol. 1

By Jake Owens — There’s just something about pulpy crime comics, right? I was struck by that thought recently while reading Reckless Vol. 1, the first in a series of graphic novels from the veteran crime comics team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. These books all star the same protagonist — Ethan Reckless. Now, I’m about as far removed from a guy like Ethan Reckless as someone can get, but for whatever reason I relished my time slipping into his shoes and exploring his bleak but somehow humane world….

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: December 2020

TRADE REVIEW: Finger Guns, Vol. 1...'the book I wish I'd read as a child'

By Ariel Baska — As a child, I was terrified of my father. Not of him yelling at me, or grounding me, or putting me in a corner. I was afraid that when he drank, I might not wake up the next day. As a child, you know more than others give you credit for. You know when someone, someone you love and someone that loves you, could actually kill you in a fit of drunken rage. But as a child, you don't know how to process that information. It must be your fault. You must have done SOMEthing.

Publisher: Vault Comics
Release: October 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Blue in Green is a rich creative experiment

By Zack Quaintance — Blue in Green — a new graphic novel from writer Ram V., artist Anand RK, and letterer Aditya Bidikar — feels first and foremost like a comic for other people who make comics. By this I mean that from the first page it is an absolute tour de force in comics craft, a book in which it feels like each member of the amply-talented creative team is working to one-up each other. As someone who makes my own comics, I was blown away upon each page turn to see how the writing, artwork, and text would connect and cohere…

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: October 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: I Want You by Lisa Hanawalt

By Sean Dillon — There are times when you can pitch a comic to someone with “It’s X artist doing their thing” and not need to say any more than that. Whether it’s “Grant Morrison is writing a Superman comic,” “Raina Telgemeir is writing about a teenage girl,” or “The Comics Journal is writing a piece about Grant Morrison” you always know what you’re in for. However, while I Want You can certainly be described as “Lisa Hanawalt is doing absurdism with humanoid animals,” it is not what you would expect.

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Release: August 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Daughters of Ys

By Zack Quaintance — Publisher First Second has, to my mind, published the most interesting fantasy comics this year. First came The Golden Age by writer Roxanne Moreil and artist Cyril Pedrosa, an allegory that translated modern issues of class and income inequality (as well as gender dynamics) to a fantasy setting. Next was Kairos by Ulysse Malassagne, which subverted traditional damsel in the distress fairy tales in favor of a meditation on the spiderwebbing nature of violence. And now comes a third book that fits into the publisher’s fantasy subversion trend for the year — The Daughters of Ys by writer M.T. Anderson and artist Jo Rioux.

Publisher: First Second
Released: August 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Two Dead by Van Jensen and Nate Powell

By Zack Quaintance — Two Dead is recent crime noir graphic novel from writer Van Jensen and artist Nate Powell, set in Arkansas post WW II and based on an actual case that Jensen essentially uncovered and wrote about during his time as a crime reporter at a newspaper in Little Rock. Powell — a towering talent who has a stack of comics and literary accolades to his name — drew the book over a period of a few years while working concurrently on work such as Come Again and March, a three part graphic memoir about the life of the late Rep. John Lewis…

Publisher: Gallery 13
Release: November 2019

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Maids by Katie Skelly

By Zack Quaintance — There is an uncanny sense of assuredness within cartoonist Katie Skelly’s new book Maids, a supreme narrative confidence that is present from the start, perhaps even from the dedication, which simply reads To My Sister. Maids — published this month by Fantagraphics Books — tells the true (crime) story of the Papin Sisters. I won’t go into much detail about who the sisters are or what they did, noting that they were French maids entangled in a crime in the early 20th Century. The events in this book will surely be unknown to most readers, although they are of wide enough interest to have garnered their own entry on Wikipedia…

Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release: October 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Titan by François Vigneault

By Zack Quaintance — Titan, a popular French-Canadian graphic novel by Quebeçois creator François Vigneault, is getting a U.S. release next month from Oni Press. The original book was first published in 2017, following five years of work on the project by Vigneault. With that in mind, it’s striking how timely the themes and ideas in the story feel today, especially as applied to the current tumultuous moment happening (seemingly in slow-motion) within the U.S….

Publisher: Oni Press
Release: November 2020

TRADE REVIEW: Ash and Thorn Vol. 1 - Recipe for Disaster

By Keigen Rea — This a fun book about a couple of old ladies fighting monsters and making some friends along the way. For me, it isn’t much more than that, but it also does what it does really well, and again, is super fun. A septuagenarian is revealed to be the new “champion,” the person with the power and responsibility to protect the world from monsters. So there’s some monsters. And a teen sidekick. And baking (wit recipes in the back)! 

Publisher: AHOY Comics
Release: October 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Comic Book Story of Basketball

By Zack Quaintance — The NBA Finals will in all likelihood conclude tomorrow, with The Los Angeles Lakers securing a championship at the end of what has been the longest season in the history of the association. It is, on account of this, a season that speaks to the long history of the league and of the game. It is unique in that outside factors made it a scheduling aberration, yet it is traditional in that the playoffs were played in full, and when the dust cleared, the best player in the world was standing atop the heap wearing one of the two winningest uniforms in the history of the NBA — the Lakers purple and gold.

Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Release: September 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Mueller Report

By Ariel Baska — Hands up, who read all 448 pages of the Mueller Report when it was released last year? Those of you who did, you feel like re-reading it? No? Well, never fear. Regardless of your relationship to the original (and redacted) tome, this graphic novel is an invaluable resource for navigating this moment in our country’s history, while simultaneously providing an enlightening, gripping, and rather hilarious take that fills in missing pieces you never knew you needed. 

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Dracula, Motherf**ker

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…

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: October 2020

TRADE REVIEW: First Knife from Image Comics

By 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.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: October 2020

Moms by Yeong-shin Ma - REVIEW

By 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.

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Release Date: August 2020

Comics Anatomy: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

By Kirin Xin — When it comes to designing characters, especially young adults and teens, for modern-day settings, there’s a certain amount of finesse required to pull them off. Too often in comics, movies, television, young characters feel out of place. Plot-wise they’re in high school, but stylistically they talk like thirty year olds and dress like ten year olds in the 90s. These kid-type caricatures not only fall flat within the story, but also create dissonance between the designs and actual young readers who can’t relate to them.

Publisher: FirstSecond
Release Date: May 2019

TRADE REVIEW: Olympia is a touching and personal love letter to Jack Kirby

By 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. 

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: September 2020

TRADE REVIEW: Cult Classic - Creature Feature

By 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.

Publisher: Vault Comics
Release: August 2020

TRADE REVIEW: The Devil Within

By 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. 

Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Release: August 2020

REVIEW: Be Gay, Do Comics from The Nib

By 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….

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release: September 2020

REVIEW: Slaughter-House Five Graphic Novel

By 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…

Publisher: BOOM! Studios - Archia
Release: September 2020

REVIEW: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

By 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…

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release: August 2020

Cruel Summer HC - TRADE RATING REVIEW

By 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”.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: September 2020

TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Killadelphia Vol. 1

By 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”. Sangster is killed by the residents, leaving his son Jimmy to travel from Baltimore and pick up his case, more out of spite than anything else. Their past bitter relationship grips them like America’s wasted potential.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: July 2020

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Machine Never Blinks

By 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.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release: May 2020

The Winter Cartoonist - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By 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.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release: July 2020

REVIEW: Pulp OGN by Brubaker and Phillips

By 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.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release: July 2020

REVIEW: Eve Stranger, the final book from Black Crown at IDW

By 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. For Eve essentially only exists in the present. She is the result of the E.V.E. Project (standing for “Enhanced Vascular Emissary”, the Director admitting it’s a bit contrived), a genetically-enhanced woman whose unique blood requires a weekly antidote that also eliminates her short-term memory.

Publisher: IDW Publishing - Black Crown
Release: July 2020

A Look at Bitter Root, the New Eisner-Winning BEST CONTINUING SERIES

By Ariel Baska — The Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series this past weekend at SDCC at home was given to a series that is endlessly rich in storytelling, and imbued with the power of history and allusion - Bitter Root. Make no mistake. It is one hell of an action-packed story that draws you into the fray from the word go, and flies from frame to frame, almost popping off of the page with Sanford Greene’s animated style. At the same time, the series is very intentional about interweaving into a monstrous mythology with a monstrous history only now emerging in the consciousness of the zeitgeist…

Publisher: Image Comics

REVIEW: Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg

By Kirin Xin — Obsession. Sensibility. Politics. Romance. Longing. Betrayal. If you asked any diehard comics fan to pick a title sporting all of these things, they likely wouldn’t first point to a work by 1800’s English poet and novelist Charlotte Brontë. And for understandable reasons….

Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Released: March 2020

REVIEW - Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes

By 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.

Publisher: IDW Publishing / Top Shelf Productions
Released: June 2020

March: Book One - CLASSIC COMIC OF THE WEEK

By d. emerson eddy — The United States lost a civil rights leader and all around political hero in Congressman John Lewis on Friday. He was one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders who helped change the landscape of America. By all accounts, he was a good man, a kind man, beloved by his colleagues and constituents, who fought tirelessly for equality, equity, and to ensure that every citizen is afforded their human, political, and constitutional rights under U.S. law. All with a humility and determination that is only ever exhibited by the best of us. If anyone can be said to have been righteous, it was John Robert Lewis.

Publisher: IDW Publishing / Top Shelf
Release: August 2013

Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics - Graphic Novel Review

By 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.

Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Release: July 2020

A Radical Shift of Gravity - Graphic Novel Review

By Bruno Savill De Jong — As the first pages of IDW / Top Shelf’s graphic novel A Radical Shift of Gravity remind us, perspective is a funny thing. It begins with journalist Noah Hall interviewing people, finding how “where they were when ‘it’ happened” shapes their entire worldview afterwards. ‘It’ is an inexplicable selective “Shift” in human’s gravitational pull (other objects being unaffected), reducing it to roughly the same as the Moon. Some view this seismic shift as a harmless whimsical development, an alteration that adds some levity to their ordinary routine….

Publisher: IDW Publishing/Top Shelf
Released: June 2020

Excellence by Thomas & Randolph - FULL SERIES REVIEW

By Ariel Baska — Excellence is real, but Excellence is, to put it simply, excellent. On the surface, Excellence appears to be a story of a father and son set in a magical universe, but more importantly, it’s a story made for this moment - a story about what one does with anger.

Publisher: Image Comics

Brandon Sanderson's DARK ONE - Graphic Novel Review

By Zack Quaintance — Vault Comics — the rising indie publisher putting out the most interesting and literary work in all of monthly comics — is exploring new territory. This, of course, is not unusual for Vault. Nearly every book Vault publishes offers a fresh take on sci-fi or fantasy, be it via a new voice, a new twist, a new approach to well-tread territory, or simply a new and deeper focus on well-done conventions. This time, however, Vault is exploring new territory off the page, doing so with its first full entreaty into the booksellers market, the graphic novel, Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One.

Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: November 2020

Chasin' The Bird - Charlie Parker in California by Dave Chisholm REVIEW

By Zack Quaintance — One of the first times I was floored by artist Dave Chisholm’s work was when I saw the commissions he posts on his Twitter. As comics Twitter users surely know, artists often post commissions on the platform. In general, they tend to depict a fairly consistent set of obvious characters: the X-Men, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., with some Star Wars, maybe a little Akira, and perhaps the odd choice from Twin Peaks….

Publisher: Z2 Comics
Release Date: September 2020

Undiscovered Country, Vol. 1 - TRADE REVIEW

By Jacob Cordas — “The American Dream will never---,” our Uncle Sam surrogate shouts before being riddled with bullets. He, of course, stands up in a display of grit and determination that would make the Founding Fathers proud to yell at his assailants, “The American Dream will never die! But you will.”  And in that insane moment, I realized two things about Undiscovered Country: 1) I unabashedly love this comic and 2) I have absolutely no idea what this is about.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 8, 2020

The Stringbags - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Mike Donachie — There are two Garth Ennises writing in comics, or so it seems. They manifest as one man, but his body of work is split like divergent timelines. There’s the iconoclastic, hilarious, riskily near-the-knuckle work of Gross-Out Garth, as seen in books like The Boys or Hitman, and there’s Sentimental Garth, who writes wonderful war stories in books such as the DC Vertigo title War Stories or the Avatar series, er, also War Story.

Publisher: Dead Reckoning
Release Date: June 24, 2020

Extra Eisners - BEST TEEN PUBLICATION - Bloom by Panetta & Ganucheau

Anyone who knows baking knows that part of making a delicious, mature, yeasty loaf of bread is that once the dough has doubled in size, it needs to be knocked back before it can be shaped and baked. It’s a process called ‘proving’ the dough, and that’s where we meet Ari at the beginning of Bloom. He’s moody and angsty in a way that is generally formless and cannot be contained. He’s inflated with childish ideas of how his adulthood should take shape and feels confined by the expectations of his immigrant parents.

Publisher: First Second
Release Date: March 4, 2020

Best Graphic Novels of 2020 (So Far)

By Zack Quaintance — This week marked the official halfway point of the year, and, as such, we’re pausing to take stock of the Best Graphic Novels of 2020 (So Far). We are (arguably) in a new golden age for graphic novels, with publishers such as First Second, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, and even Scholastic publishing an unprecedented number of fantastic graphic novels on an annual basis. This year has been no exception, and it’s our pleasure today to take a look at the best books of the first six months…enjoy!

Comics Anatomy Charity Commissions: FROM HELL

By Harry Kassen — Hello everyone and welcome back to Comics Anatomy. To those who read last month’s article: thank you, and I hope you found it interesting. Last month was a request based on a giveaway I ran last year (very overdue) and this month begins the Comics Anatomy Charity Commissions. For this article I’ll be writing about From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, as requested by fellow critic Sean Dillon…

The Plot, Vol. 1 - Vault Comics REVIEW

By Ariel Baska — Don’t ruin the plot. Don’t ruin the plot. That’s every reviewer’s fear, but I think I’m safe in this case, since the titular family plot is already in ruins, and as to the comic book’s plot, every issue, including the most current one (#5, reviewed here) leaves you off-balance on a spinning wheel of fire - where she goes nobody knows....

Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: March 4, 2020

REVIEW: The Man Without Talent by Yoshiharu Tsuge

By Kirin Xin — Originally serialized in Comic Baku in 1985-1986, The Man Without Talent follows the semi-autobiographical account of Yoshiharu Tsuge’s attempts to jilt creative disparity and remove himself from society. After quitting his career as a comic artist, the protagonist of the comic turns his focus not to retirement, but to another career: selling rocks out of the Tamagawa River in Chōfu, (which is about as glamorous as it sounds.) As a result, he navigates the everyday struggles of a poverty and lackadaisy-stricken man, from a creeping malaise to growing resentment from family and himself.

Publisher: New York Review Comics
Release Date: January 28, 2020

Archie 1955 Trade Paperback Collection - REVIEW

By Jacob Cordas — My comfort food is Parks and Recreation. When my depression takes over and I can’t imagine any existence that doesn’t involve couch lock, I put on Parks and Rec. And I watch it for hours. It’s soothing. The character’s fundamental kindness and compassion can’t help but make me feel a little bit better. Everything in the show is just a few acts of kindness away from redemption and anyone who rejects that kindness is wrong. It’s comforting in a way I can consume forever….

Publisher: Archie Comics
Release Date: June 2020

Parker: The Martini Edition by Darwyn Cooke - REVIEW

By Bruno Savill De Jong — After completing a job, Parker undergoes an overwhelming need for sex. Parker (first name not provided) is always composed and monosyllabic, treating his criminal missions with ruthless efficiency and professional determinism, stonewalling against outside interference or desires. But in the aftermath, Parker allows “his emotions the only release he permitted them”, letting the withheld thrills and animalism wash over him, until his lust subsides and he’s ready to resume work.

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: April 2020

The Lab by Allison Conway - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Ariel Baska — This is a harrowing and relentless debut from Allison Conway, and it follows a newly-minted big-headed biped on a twisted journey through a sinister lab. Notably, the narrative is completely silent of commentary, except for the pathos wrung from our protagonist’s small, pained eyes. Those eyes are the first lights we see in the cross-hatched gray and black nothingness from which the vision of the lab emerges. 

Publisher: Top Shelf/IDW
Released: June 17, 2020

Fire Power Prelude OGN by Kirkman and Samnee

By Hussein Wasiti — Some spoilers below I guess. Not sure how much I can reveal at this point. Anyway, you will never find me happier than when I’m reading a comic from artist Chris Samnee and colorist Matthew Wilson.

Publisher: Skybound/Image Comics
Release Date: July 1, 2020 

Familiar Face HC - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Zack Quaintance — All of us living through this moment are undergoing something extraordinary. It’s easy to miss within the day-to-day, but technology has begun to accelerate at an unprecedented, exponential rate. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in human history, and you can tether it to whatever theory you like, with Moore’s Law perhaps being the easiest touchpoint for wrapping your head around it. Another easy touchpoint is to consider that the iPhone was a new product as recently as 2007, and now we walk around tethered to the devices, our abilities to navigate the world influenced by things as small as the debut of new apps, new processing systems, or even small interface tweaks.

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: March 4, 2020

Ghostwriter by Rayco Pulido - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Kirin Xin — Hotshot detectives. Gangsters in sportscars. Guns. Booze. Dames. That’s what most people would think of when visualizing the word ‘noir,’ not a housewife-centric 1940s radio program. However, in Fantagraphics upcoming OGN, Ghostwriter by Rayco Pulido, that is the exact start of a deceptively simple mystery that creeps up on you, knife in hand.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release Date: August, 18, 2020

Eight-Lane Runaways - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Bruno Savill De Jong — Coming across a “manned kite to the moon”, the runners of Eight-Lane Runaways ask if he could scout for the train-lines where they will rendezvous with the rest of their group. From his overhead view, we can see the geometric clusters of tennis courts, people log-vaulting to make firewood for the orphanage, and the curving pathway that runs through these dense environments. Such aerial views are common in Eight-Lane Runaways, overlooking the unique blueprints of the delightfully absurd world which unfolds through Henry McCausland’s fantastic new graphic novel.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release Date: July 7, 2020

BLACK AF: AMERICA'S SWEETHEART - Graphic Novel Review

By Ariel Baska — Continuing in the universe of BLACK, Volume 1, by the same authors, this story picks up further into a future where Black people with superpowers are taking on the media and the government agencies that see them as a threat to be neutralized or experimented on. Where BLACK was centered on a male protagonist named Kareem aka X, and his discovery of his superpowers and their political implications, BLACK AF: America’s Sweetheart takes a different approach. 

Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Release Date: January 31, 2018

The Cloven Book One - REVIEW - Fantagraphics

By Zack Quaintance — The Cloven: Book One has a great first line, a great first page, and a great first opening sequence…and this work just evolves from there, keeping the level of graphic sequential storytelling quality high throughout. It is, perhaps, fitting that the book reads as rapidly and smoothly as it does, given the nature of the subject matter. On its surface, The Cloven: Book One — out July 28 via Fantagraphics from writer Garth Stein and artist Matthew Southworth — is the story of a new type of humanity, in which individuals essentially have goat-like traits (furry hind legs, hooves, hard heads) and are being ostracized by the wider world in turn.

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Release Date: July 28, 2020

A Letter to Jo - GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

By Bruno Savill De Jong — For many the past is another country, and war is a different world. WW2 is a thoroughly-documented period, but one fast fading from living memory, remaining unknowable to those not there. Joseph Sieracki adapts his grandfather Lenny’s real-life letter home from the frontlines in A Letter to Jo, a January graphic novel from IDW / Top Shelf. Sieracki does so to revive WW2 from being a historical artifact and illustrate his frontline experiences, becoming a bridge across time and continents. Lenny had only just graduated high school before he enlisted, as well as gotten engaged to Josephine, Sieracki’s grandmother and the letter’s recipient. Like these young men, A Letter to Jo is admirable but also premature, taking readers to the frontlines of warfare, but not crossing beyond them.

Publisher: IDW Publishing / Top Shelf
Release Date: January 22, 2020

GRYFFEN: Galaxy's Most Wanted Collection - REVIEW

By Zack Quaintance — The other day I sat down to read Gryffen: Galaxy’s Most Wanted by Ben Kahn, Bruno Hidalgo, James Penafiel, and Sal Cipriano. This book from publisher Starburns Industries Press, had been on my list for some time. I read all 12 issues basically as fast as I possibly could.

Publisher: Starburns Industries Press
Collection Release Date: TBD

Mitchum by Christian ‘Blutch’ Hincker - TRADE RATING

By Bruno Savill De Jong — “Don’t be afraid”, a hulking semi-demonic sailor tells a tied-up woman, “We just want to look”. Mitchum is full of such sickly voyeurism, an erratic sketchbook of stories bound together with acts of artists observing and illustrating female models. This collection from French cartoonist Christian Hincker, also known as ‘Blutch’, depicts this feverish and often sexually-charged relationship between artist and image, obsessively attempting to pin down primal urges which quickly slip away.

Publisher: New York Review Comics
Release Date: June 3, 2020

British Ice by Owen D. Pomery - REVIEW

By Bruno Savill De Jong — White is not a color, but the absence of one. It dilutes and covers up cultures which it comes in contact with. Imperialism, therefore, is a blizzard that buries its colonial atrocities against indigenous populations under thick covers of blank snow. It is up to others to melt it away. This is what Owen D. Pomery attempts to convey in British Ice, a well-meaning if shallow tale of a fictionalized remote British Overseas Territory in the Arctic. Even somewhere so distant, colonial resentments bubble beneath the surface, with British Ice surveying the factional divisions of flying a British flag amidst the frozen Arctic wasteland.

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 2020

920London by Remy Boydell - REVIEW

By Kirin Xin — Sharpie fumes. Striped hair extensions. MCR. Gloomy bear. Neon black humor in the face of existential angst. ‘Wow… Google analytics is really going to clock me for looking up all this emo kids stuff…’ That was my first thought while reading 920London by Remy Boydell.

Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: June 10, 2020

Everything Vol. 1 - TRADE RATING REVIEW

By Gabe Gonzalez — “If you don’t find it in the index, look very carefully through the catalogue.” …this quote comes at the start of Everything #5, the first season finale of one of the most interesting and abstract titles put out by Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint. That quote comes at the beginning and expertly speaks to what the entire story is about. If you need to ejaculate every time you lay down to sleep, if you need an infestation of ants, if you need an illness, or if you need a paint chip-driven hallucination — The Everything shopping center has it all!

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics - Berger Books
Release Date: May 26, 2020

TRADE RATING: Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

By 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.

Publisher: First Second
Release Date: March 2020

Henchgirl is a superhero parody about taking control of life

By Danielle L. — The comic Henchgirl first came to my attention in 2015 or 2016 through the YouTuber Aaron Bishop, who is also known as Professor Thorgi, and the premise seemed interesting enough that I decided to seek it out and give the series a read. It’s a book that has stuck with me, so much so that today I’d like to take a closer look at some of the things it has to say about the superhero genre, which it seems determined to parody.

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 29, 2017

TRADE RATING: ROADQUEEN features a compelling story of love and motorcylces

By Danielle L. — Last month as part of Trade Rating, I wrote about the 2017 Kristen Gudsnuk comic, Henchgirl. Today I’ve decided to change things up a bit, and so I’m going to be writing about manga. Specifically, the manga I’ve chosen to discuss today is Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love, which is both written and illustrated by Mira Onga Chua.

Publisher: Seven Seas
Release Date: October 2019

Best Graphic Novels of 2019

By Zack Quaintance — Last year, I swore that I would spend 2019 reading more graphic novels from the publishers like FirstSecond, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, etc...and you know what? I did. As a result of surprisingly moving to Washington, D.C., in the middle of the year, I also attended Small Press Expo in September, where those aforementioned publishers rule the day.