A Hundred Thousand Worlds

A Hundred Thousand Worlds is a new literary novel aimed at con-goers, or at least those who know of such things. It’s the story of Valerie Torrey, former star of a cult sci-fi TV show; her son Alex, obsessed with words; and Brett Kazan, artist of Lady Stardust, a small press comic series. Brett and...

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Secret Smithsonian Adventures: The Wrong Wrights

I fully support the idea of educational comics, but it takes a high level of skill to do them right. The instructional material can’t take over the enjoyment of reading, or they wind up dry, boring, and overly didactic. I feared that the new Smithsonian Books line of graphic novels risked falling into...

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Breaking the 10

An intriguing concept is ruined by no conclusion or resolution in Breaking the 10. Sean Michael Wilson has a habit of this — his The Story of Lee came out in two volumes, four and a half years apart — so I wish I hadn’t fallen for it again, but I think prospective readers should be aware that this partial...

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Lumberjanes #25-27

After battling dinosaurs, horned blizzard wolves, fighting mermaids, pirate selkies, hallucinatory flowers, and cake decorating, it’s become clear that anything, no matter how exaggerated or imaginative, is fair game for the Lumberjanes to encounter and eventually win over. This newest storyline, though,...

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #28

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #28 is smack in the middle of the final storyline for this “season”. “Own It” began in issue #26 and concludes with #30 in August. In it, the vengeance demon D’Hoffryn has captured the book of Vampyr, making him super-powerful and capable of rewriting the rules of...

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Michael Sheen to Make Movie of Green River Killer

Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex, Tron: Legacy) plans to make his directorial debut with an adaptation of Dark Horse’s true-crime detective story Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case. Green River Killer is the story of Jensen’s father Tom, who spent 20 years investigating this case of “the...

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Jem and the Holograms: Dark Jem

I haven’t checked in with the Jem and the Holograms comic in a while, although it’s an engaging retake on the rock-and-roll Cinderella story, with plenty of soap opera to keep fans reading the continuing series. The first storyline was collected as Showtime, introducing the characters that make up the...

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The Black Feather Falls

Ellen Lindner gives us a spunky adventuress, globe-trotting and clue-hunting, in The Black Feather Falls, a 1920s London-set mystery. Tina Swift has come to England from the States, and she’s working as a shopgirl. One morning, she sees the police discover a body, a man beaten to death on the streets....

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DC Superhero TV Shows DVD Release Schedule

August brings plenty of great binge-worthy TV to home video, with the following release dates for DC Comics-inspired shows: Supergirl: The Complete First Season, 20 episodes, will be available on August 9. The winner of the 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, Supergirl stars Melissa...

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Viz Manga Available Through Digital Library Service

Want to borrow Viz manga titles for your e-reader? OverDrive is the leading digital distribution platform for libraries, “supplying the industry’s largest catalog of eBooks, audiobooks, streaming video, and periodicals to 34,000 libraries, schools, and retailers worldwide, including 90 percent of all...

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Justice League vs. Teen Titans

The latest original DCU animated movie is Justice League vs. Teen Titans, and it does what it says on the tin. It also tries to do more, which is admirable, but I thought its reach exceeded its grasp. There’s just too much in this movie for it to be called a success, although a lot of what they were...

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Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout Announced

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced a new entry in their Lego DC Comics Super Heroes direct-to-video movie line. Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout has an adorable concept. Batman (Troy Baker) needs a vacation, so Nightwing (Will Friedle) and Batgirl (Sarah Hyland)...

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Chainmail Bikini: The Anthology of Women Gamers

Chainmail Bikini: The Anthology of Women Gamers, edited by Hazel Newlevant, is dedicated to capturing the experiences of female gamers, whether engaged in video games or tabletop role-playing. As with any anthology, the quality here varies widely, but even as a non-gamer, I found a number of thought-provoking...

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Goldie Vance #3

Some readers were concerned about the actions of girl detective Goldie Vance in the first issue. Goldie “borrows” a car in the course of an investigation, and there was consternation over the lack of consequences for her. Well, this is the time to remember that the story is four issues long, since this...

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How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Ten years ago, Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called “How to Talk to Girls at Parties“. Set in the 1970s, it’s narrated by a teen boy being taken to a party by his more experienced, charming friend, and most of it is a monologue about how uncomfortable the narrator feels about almost everything. (Very...

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DC Super Hero Girls Come to DVD

Warner Bros. Animation has announced that the DC Super Hero Girls, the branding program with toys, dolls, and books featuring younger, cuter, more covered versions of DC female heroes, will have a movie released in August. DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year is due out August 23 on DVD with an earlier...

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Next Resident Alien Title Announced

Resident Alien is one of those consistently entertaining comic series that doesn’t get talked about because it isn’t flashy and event-driven — it’s just a good read with suspense and interesting characterization. As written by Peter Hogan and illustrated by Steve Parkhouse, it’s about an alien, stranded...

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Batman: The Killing Joke Cartoon Gets Theatrical Release

Well, it’s a one-night-only special, but Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Fathom Events will be running the upcoming original animated film Batman: The Killing Joke in selected US theaters on Monday, July 25, 2016, at 7:30 and 10 PM (local time). The “social screening event … will include exclusive-to-the-evening...

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Gillman Takes As the Crow Flies to Iron Circus Comics

C. Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Comics is having a year that’s a giant leap forward, expanding from self-publishing terrific books like Smut Peddler and Poorcraft to putting out really great works by other people. She handled printing the collection of the well-regarded webcomic The Less Than Epic Adventures...

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Vera Brosgul’s Next Books Announced

Publishers Weekly has announced that Vera Brosgol, author of the impressive coming-of-age ghost story Anya’s Ghost, will be publishing three books with Macmillan Children’s Books. Of most interest to me is a middle-grade graphic memoir, Be Prepared, “that recounts the author’s time at a Russian Orthodox...

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The Manga Guide to Regression Analysis

The latest in this line of educational comics is The Manga Guide to Regression Analysis. It’s written by Shin Takahashi, the author of The Manga Guide to Statistics, one of the earliest of similar works translated over here, with art by Iroha Inoue. Never have I seen such an adorable way to learn higher-level...

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Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma Volume 12

Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma volume 12, story by Yuto Tsukuda and art by Shun Saeki, finally brings us to the cooking competition finals, a challenge that began in volume 6. Because the judges couldn’t pick a winner in the semi-final competition in the previous book, for the first time, there will be...

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Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 Made Me Cry

KC was sorting through some boxes of comics and pulled out Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 (cover-dated June 1999) because it’s more than just a cartoon-look-inspired adventure. I’ll tell you why. But first, since personalities will be so important to understanding what the story is really about, it’s...

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Josie and the Pussycats Relaunch Series Announced

To go along with new #1s and storylines for Archie and Jughead (and soon, Betty & Veronica), Archie Comics has announced an all-new Josie and the Pussycats series, launching September 28. The comic will be set in “the New Riverdale”, along with the other series mentioned above. Co-written by Marguerite...

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A Kickstarter Worth Supporting, Particularly for Medical Memoir Readers

Tyler Page is tackling a fascinating subject in Raised on Ritalin: A Personal Story of ADHD, Medication, and Modern Psychiatry, a graphic memoir that will also be of interest to those who enjoy comics about medical topics. In addition to his own experiences being on drugs for ADD for much of his life,...

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