Obsessed with Comics

Exclusive Advance Preview: NINJA-K #11

Written by CHRISTOS GAGE Art by ROBERTO DE LA TORRE Cover A by KANO Cover B by LEO COLAPIETRO Ninja Programme Variant by ROBERTO DE LA TORRE

NEW ARC! NEW JUMPING-ON POINT! “FALLOUT” – PART 1!

The Coalition may have been defeated…but the mission’s not over yet! Now, Ninjak must use all the super-spy skills at his disposal to save Gilad from the clutches of his friend’s erstwhile nemesis, the Dying…

ICYMI — Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 7/20/18 to 7/27/18

This feature was originally posted at Your Chicken Enemy. Go there for more great small press comics coverage.

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM * Dominic Umile reviews Carol Tyler’s FAB4 MANIA: A BEATLES OBSESSION AND THE CONCERT OF A LIFETIME which “communicates the…

Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

Machete Squad could have been a great graphic novel. This 160-page memoir details the story of Brent Dulak, a US medic sent to Afghanistan to patch up wounded solders and civilians at a remote outpost located near the town in which the Taliban were born.

Dulak’s story has a brutal honesty that drives his frantic narrative. The book opens with a chaotic scene in which all the medics at a mobile…

We had a great chat with sandwich expert @DanielElkin about small press comics and how the medium is covered.

While some may see Marvel and DC as the end-all-be-all of the comics industry, it is not a universal sentiment. Small press and independent comics have been a constant for the medium for nearly as long as Superman’s existence. Self-published comics and zines ere punk rock on paper, pushing the medium beyond the limits of what readers can think possible. Unfortunately, few comics websites place a…

Exclusive Advance Preview: HARBINGER WARS 2: AFTERMATH #1

We are excited to bring you this EXCLUSIVE advance preview from Valiant Comics.

Written by MATT KINDT Art by ADAM POLLINA Cover A by RAÚL ALLÉN Cover B by LEWIS LAROSA HW2 Icon Variant by FELIPE MASSAFERA

The Valiant Universe will never be the same!

The power’s back online and the fighting is over…but who are the real victors of HARBINGER WARS 2, and what was truly lost in the carnage? For those…

ICYMI — Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 7/13/18 to 7/20/18

This feature was originally posted at Your Chicken Enemy. Go there for more great small press comics coverage.

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM * Alex Hoffman on MECHABOYS by James Kochalka, calling it “an uneven comic that tries to be dumb funny, but ends up just being…

Fandom Needs to Chill the Fuck Out

The 2018 edition of Comic Con International just wrapped, and there were a lot of news to come out of it. Some of it was great (Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp on Green Lantern), some was bad (what the fuck was that Titans trailer?), and some was interesting (Uncanny X-Menis coming back… creators TBD). But in addition to news regarding more content for comic, movie, and television fans to digest,…

Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

Out of Nothing is one of the most emotionally affecting graphic novels I’ve read in quite some time, and I’m having trouble explaining why it touched me so deeply.

Written and illustrated by British artist David Locke with the writing help of David Blandy, this graphic novel from Nobrow Press chronicles the history of mankind. We follow a bright and curious blue-skinned emissary as she travels…

Singles Going Steady 7/18/2018 – Tasty Treats

There’s nothing better in the heat of summer than to hear the familiar tune from the Ice Cream Man. Also, Archie and the Bright Knight team up for a rollicking good time. Can the same be said for stories of magic, rocketships, and massacring ancient clans? Let’s find out!

Ice Cream Man #5 (Image Comics)

W. Maxwell Prince (a) Martin Morazzo (c) Chris O’Halloran

Arguably the best issue of this…

The Bittersweet Comfort of Millar and Capullo’s REBORN

Recently, my aunt passed away after a 20 year, on-and-off battle with cancer. She fought this vicious, unrelenting force for much of her life while maintaining the ability to make those around her light up with laughter. We all experience grief in different ways. For myself, I picked my copy of Reborn off my bookshelf and begin to just flip through it. I didn’t read the words, choosing to instead…

Review: ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #1 is a Fun, Promising Start that Risks Disappointment

Everyone’s favorite web-slinger is back out with yet another new #1 issue (how many have there been now?). The issue features writer Nick Spencer — many readers will have negative memories of him from his work on Secret Empire — and artist Ryan Ottley — many readers will be excited about from his work on Image Comics’ Invincible.To give a full review will require spoilers. Don’t worry, I’ll give…

ICYMI — Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 7/6/18 to 7/13/18

This feature was originally posted at Your Chicken Enemy. Go there for more great small press comics coverage.

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

* Sam Ombiri has been reading and re-reading GANGES 4 by Kevin Huizenga, leading him to write “There’s an aspect of this…

Stan Lee Addresses the Passing of Steve Ditko

With the news last week that the legendary Steve Ditko had passed away, the comics community saw an outpouring of adoration for the man who helped to bring Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Question, and many other beloved characters to life. Tribute artwork was posted on social media by artists including Jim Lee and Gabriel Hardman. Others shared stories of how Ditko’s work had inspired them or…

Singles Going Steady 7/11/2018

There’s a lot of books out this week that I wanted to write about, so we’re dragging this feature out of storage. A new creative team for Amazing Spider-Man! Flash #50! An Archie finale! Books from Image! It’s a big week, so let’s dive in.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Marvel Comics)

Nick Spencer (a) Ryan Ottley & Humberto Ramos (i) Cliff Rathburn (c) Laura Martin

If you still have a sour taste in…

Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

Eddie Campbell is one of my favorite cartoonists. His work has been a delight to me since I discovered it, even before he illustrated the sublime From Hell. So every new Campbell book is a real treat for me.

Bizarre Romance, released through Abrams ComicArts, represents a new phase in Campbell’s life. It’s a collaboration with his new wife Audrey Niffenegger, perhaps best known for her…

Review: ‘The Furnace’ is a Fascinating Graphic Novel of Ideas and Relationships

The Furnace, the new graphic novel by Prentis Rollins from TOR Books, is a fascinating science fiction novel of ideas and of relationships. It’s about the human cost of technology and the ways in which new inventions continually invade our sense of mental well-being. It’s about the way we treat prisoners as invisible, as nonhuman actors barely worth a flicker of attention.

But most of all, The…