Superheroes love crossovers. So much so that it’s almost as if the entire industry was built on them. To complete a story arc, customers are often required to purchase several different titles to see if their hero ever defeats that giant evil robot or if they ever buy that puppy from the window.
Continue reading “JLA/Avengers”Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
The final book can’t be classified as a romance, but a cautionary tale about toxic relationships. Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell put together a stark, heartbreaking story about what happens when the person you love isn’t a great person. Laura Dean seems to be the most popular person in school, with whom our protagonist, Freddy Riley, is very much in love.
Continue reading “Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me”Scott Pilgrim
There is a time in most people’s lives, typically in their late teens to early twenties, where they are broke, in constant flux of relationship status, and involved in a scene of sorts (music, art, etc.) If you take that time period and condense it into comic books, you would get Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
Continue reading “Scott Pilgrim”Strangers in Paradise
He loves her. She loves her. She loves him. The modern love triangle is an interesting theme for a reason. There’s built in drama as the audience consistently tries to find out who will end up with who. Include elements of a crime novella and you have Strangers in Paradise.
Continue reading “Strangers in Paradise”RASL
Several years ago, I was working at the “Poultry and Game”, a small shop in the North Market that sold self-described goods. Jeff Smith and his wife and business partner, Vijaya, were regular customers. I had read and loved BONE and, over the course of several customer service interactions, got to know Jeff and Vijaya superficially. Jeff knew I aspired to write comics. One day, Jeff brought in two large books, placed the first on the wobbly corner top table then drew a picture and signed it. The book was RASL. Jeff Smith, an icon in the field of comics, gave signed books to an aspiring comic writer that sold him his chicken. May we all aspire to be as gracious and kind a person as him.
They Called Us Enemy
When studying World War II in high school, I vaguely remember brief mentions of Japanese internment camps, but it was never really more than a footnote in a larger discussion of America’s history. With that tragic oversight in mind, I am glad we have the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy. The book is an insightful look at the events of WWII from someone whose experience was different than those of the people who were in power and those who fought on the front lines.
Bone: Out from Boneville
I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to get to Jeff Smith’s epic, Bone. If you grew up patroning comic stores in the 90’s, like I did, you are probably already familiar with the artwork of Bone. I remember seeing issues and posters of the little bald white cartoon characters set against a fantasy world backdrop on the shelves and walls of my local comic shop. Maybe I was more prone to seeing Smith’s work, growing up in Columbus, Ohio, as that is where he works and resides to this day. But regardless of where you reside, Bone has become an international hit and independent comic book success story.
Nimona
Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson was originally published as a webcomic on Tumblr in 2012 as part of Stevenson’s senior thesis. HarperCollins would go on to publish the graphic novel in 2015. It has since gone on to be recognized for several awards, including being a National Book Awards finalist and an Eisner Award nominee for Best Digital/Web Comic.
Amiculus: A Secret History
Amiculus: A Secret History is the work of writer/ creator Travis Horseman and artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the book was first published in 2014. Described by Horseman as a “lost history of the fall of Rome… from the point of view of Rome’s last emperor, a twelve year old boy named Romulus.” and “[A] mosaic of conspiracy within conspiracy. Bloodshed and betrayal. Tragedy and Loss.” Continue reading “Amiculus: A Secret History”
Dinosaur Arsonist
Dinosaur Arsonist is a clever potentially one-off comic (the backcover promises a return in First Dinosaur on the Moon) written by James Moore with art by Talcott Starr. Through the course of 19 pages we learn the history of a Coelophysis punished by his pack for some unspecified crime, cursed to keep guard over the land should his bones ever be disturbed. Awakened by oil drilling in present day, he quickly absorbs all the knowledge of the past eon for which he has laid buried. He then, reluctantly at first but eventually with great passion, begins setting about his duty to lay waste to those that disturbed his land the only way he knows how: with a flamethrower.