Category Archives: Comics

Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio

Posted on by

I’ve heard good things about Girl Genius for awhile, but hadn’t tried it out previously. So I decided to pick up Volume 1 at the library and check it out. It’s a fun read that has an interesting female lead. The only problem I had with the book (or at least my printing of the book) is that chapter one was printed on white background and chapters 2 & 3 had a black background. That made the last two chapter’s art a little muddy and hard to appreciate at times. But it’s a strong introduction that makes me want to read the rest of the story (which you can do online). So, let’s check out the story.

Continue reading →

Kill Shakespeare by Conor McCreery and Anthoy Del Col

Posted on by

Kill Shakespeare is one of those comics that I keep meaning to check out, but never got around to. Finally, I grabbed the first volume and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. It’s kind of like Fables, only with Shakespearean characters. Now, I’m not as up on my Shakespeare as I should be, so I know there are some inside jokes that just went over my head. But it’s an interestingly strange story, so let’s check it out.

Continue reading →

Takio by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming

Posted on by

I hadn’t heard about Takio before I saw it in the library. But when I saw that it was from the creators of Powers (Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming) based off an idea by Bendis’ oldest daughter Olivia, I knew I had to read it. It’s an all-ages superhero comic only with a story that features mostly girls. It’s a great idea for an under served market. So let’s go meet the heroes.

Continue reading →

Captain America movie review

Posted on by

I finally made it to a Marvel superhero movie in the theater. I think the last time that happened was in the first Spider-Man movie. I saw Fantastic Four, Iron Man and the other Spiderman movies on DVD (but did see DC movies in the theater…it just worked out that way). And, truthfully, I really wasn’t interested in seeing most of them in the theater. But, when my friend said he wanted to go see it, a movie night was on. And I will admit that Captain America is now one of my favorite superhero movies, however it really isn’t fair to call it a superhero movie. So, let’s head back to WWII and meet the Captain.

Continue reading →

Dugan Under Ground by Tom De Haven

Posted on by

The final book of De Haven’s Comic Book Trilogy is Dugan Under Ground. This book deals with the end of Derby Dugan during the rise of underground comix. Overall I enjoyed the series, but Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies(my review) is still my favorite of the three. The first and third one are more loosely organized and ultimately don’t deliver the same impact as the second one. I don’t know if it’s the changing narrators or the scope, but they just didn’t resonate the same with me. So, let’s see how the little imp Derby Dugan ends up.

Continue reading →

New Milk & Cheese book

Posted on by

Evan Dorkin just announced great news:

MILK AND CHEESE: DAIRY PRODUCTS GONE BAD HC
On sale Dec 21
B&W/FC, 240 pages
$19.99
HC, 7″ x 10″
A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this deluxe hardcover collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a sh*t-ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don’t judge it—love it! Or else!

 I have the original TPB: Fun With Milk & Cheese, but this is mighty, mighty tempting.

Bloom County Complete LIbrary Volume 4

Posted on by

Volume Four of the complete Bloom County comic is out (it’s actually been out for 2 months, but I’m running behind). Again we have a complete run of the strips (except for one repeat because the original was never published due to some editorial complaint). This is some of Breathed’s finest works with the rise of Billy and the Boingers (nee Deathtongue) and many many swipes at pop culture icons. So, let’s see what’s in this volume.

Continue reading →

The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith

Posted on by

Once upon a time, James Robinson was one of my favorite comic book writers. His Ultraverse series Firearm, about a Private Investigator involved in superhero related crimes, was amazing and his DC series, Starman, was fun and quirky and stood out in a sea of DC sameness when it came out. But, either he changed or I changed, and I lost interest in his work. But, just before he started on Starman, Robinson set out to write a new interpretation of the original DC superheros and what happened to them after WWII. This book, The Golden Age, was an interesting failure, but definitely worth looking into. So, let’s see what happened to our Golden Age heros.

Continue reading →

Mid-Life by Joe Ollmann

Posted on by

There is a reason why Harvey Pekar was celebrated. It isn’t easy to do biographical comics without looking like a complete loser. Pekar had the ability to make you care about the minutiae of everyday life and show us the small successes that keep people moving on. But others didn’t know how to do it that well. It seemed for awhile that every biographical comic read like a bad parody of Peter Bagge. It was annoying to read about early 20s losers who were lost in their lives. And as I got older, it got harder and harder to read and care about it. Joe Ollmann decided to tackle another confusing period of time, the mid-life crisis, in his semi-autobiographical book Mid-Life. The book follows a pair of 30/40 year old people who are at a point in their lives where they can’t figure out which direction they want to jump.

Continue reading →

To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner

Posted on by

I haven’t reviewed much Will Eisner here even though I love his work. The main reason for this is that Eisner’s work is more of an atmosphere than a story. Yes there are characters and they do things, but those are usually secondary to the atmosphere. His stories don’t make you feel like you are reading a story, they make you feel as if you are living them. To the Heart of the Storm is no different. So, let’s see what is in the heart of the storm.
Continue reading →