Wizard World Announces 2019 Schedule, Cancels Some 2018 Shows

Last weekend was one of the biggest shows of the Wizard World calendar, Wizard World Chicago. Which means it’s time to be looking at what’s left in their calendar for this year. Back in the spring, Wizard announced the following shows still to come in 2018: September 7-9, Tulsa, Oklahoma September 21-23,...

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Justice League: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights From the History of the World’s Greatest Superheroes

Review by KC Carlson Well, right off the bat, I have to reveal that I’m mentioned in the introduction of this book by Robert Greenberger because I assisted (along with about nine other comics individuals, as well as members of Facebook groups) in nominating specific selections to be considered. Since...

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See Kittens Decide to Run a Construction Company in These Preview Pages

Out next week is Kitten Construction Company: Meet the House Kittens, the first in a charming new series by John Patrick Green. It’s exactly what it sounds like: little cats want to build houses, but no one takes them seriously. The publisher has provided these preview pages to give you an idea of just...

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What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 13

What Did You Eat Yesterday? isn’t my favorite manga series because every chapter has yummy-sounding (or eye-opening) recipes for home-cooked Japanese meals. It’s not my favorite manga because of the relationship struggles and small victories the two leads experience as they deepen their life together....

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A Bride’s Story Volume 9

Following on from the previous book, we continue with the story of Pariya’s engagement in A Bride’s Story volume 9. (That’s her on the cover, expressing her feelings through the symbolism of bread designs in her typically brash manner.) I suspect many readers can identify with her. She cares strongly,...

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Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s

Mystery fans, if you’re interested in learning more about the history of the medium, there’s a super-sized — over 1100 pages! — volume coming out this fall you’ll want to check out. Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s reprints four significant mystery novel launches, plus the inspiration for...

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Freedom Fighters: The Ray

Out on Tuesday, August 28, is the home video version of the DC animated movie Freedom Fighters: The Ray. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray for this review.) As previously announced, they’ve expanded the animated content that ran on the CW Seed into a 72-minute...

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Idol Dreams Volume 5

When it came out last year, I criticized the previous volume of Arina Tanemura’s age-changing fantasy for not giving us enough of the older version of the character. Idol Dreams volume 5, after wrapping up a competition between the singers, which means plenty of glamour shots of the cute girls in pigtails...

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Gotham: The Complete Fourth Season

Review by KC Carlson I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many viewers of TV’s Gotham considered its previous season as possibly a transitional one. The recent arrival here of Gotham: The Complete Fourth Season will most likely emphasize that on my second viewing. My re-watching it on Blu-Ray will provide...

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Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma Volume 25

It’s been quite a while since I tried Food Wars — the last book in the series I read, I think, was volume 16 a year and a half ago. I checked out Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma volume 25 because the publisher was nice enough to send it to me, and at least I could tell what was going on. That’s thanks...

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Shortcake Cake Volume 1

The concept behind Shortcake Cake by suu Morishita (alias for writer Makiro and artist Nachiyan) had promise, but I couldn’t keep the characters straight, because none of them are particularly distinctive. Ten lives two hours away from high school, so she moves into a boarding house to avoid the commute....

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Ao Haru Ride Volume 1

This charming schoolgirl shojo gets its title, Ao Haru Ride, from author Io Sakisaka’s vision of her story as a portrait of the characters on a ride through their youth. That age, according to her, is about feeling overwhelmed most of the time. In Ao Haru Ride, Yoshioka doesn’t like boys, except for...

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Dash Returns After Three Years Away

Dash features a traditional, hard-boiled private eye who happens to be gay. He’s mixed up in a supernatural visitation when a mummy comes to life and a possessed young woman is accused of murder. Writer Dave Ebersole and artist Delia Gable got a strong start on this series from Northwest Press when...

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Witch Boy Sequel Now Available for Order

Coming at the end of October is the much-anticipated sequel to The Witch Boy. Molly Knox Ostertag’s story of a young man who wants to practice the kind of magic only girls are supposed to do resonated with a lot of readers, particularly those wondering about finding their own place in the world. The...

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Exorsisters a Cute Take on Supernatural Danger

Do you like blending Archie-style comics with horror elements (but don’t need to see the characters trying to kill and eat each other, as is going on in the Archie Horror line)? You may want to check out the upcoming Exorsisters from Image Comics. Debuting in October (how appropriate!), this new series...

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Interview: Jeremy Whitley Brings Rainbow Brite to Comics

We live in a time where nothing is forgotten. Your favorite TV show, with enough fans, gets a remake or a reunion. The movie charts are topped with sequels and decades-long-running franchises. And just about anything can be a comic. Coming soon from Dynamite is a property relaunch I never could have...

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Moonstruck Ends Serialization, Moves to Book Releases

This is a trend I support, since reading a good chunk of story all at once, perhaps even with a conclusion, is a much better experience for the busy adult who can’t keep straight what’s happening in serialized comics month to month. And with a fantasy story, it’s a lot easier to sink into an alternate...

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Dark Horse Loses Buffy the Vampire Slayer License

With all the media consolidations going on, it’s been a tough year for Dark Horse. A significant portion of their line is licensed publications, and those have been ending. Star Wars went back to Marvel several years ago, followed by Conan the Barbarian earlier this year. With the acquisition of Fox...

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Gerard Jones Going to Jail for Child Porn

Gerard Jones was a well-known comic book writer for DC in the 90s, with substantial runs on Green Lantern and Justice League Europe, among others. He also created and wrote Prime for Malibu Comics and did the English adaptation for several prominent Viz manga titles, including Dragon Ball and Ranma...

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Dreadful Company

Dr. Greta Helsing, monster doctor, and her friends are back in Dreadful Company, the followup to Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, and this book is better than the first. (You can read it without the first, as well, since only the characters continue, and you’re given what you need to know about them.)...

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Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Volume 8

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju volume 8 handles two major stories of very different moods. First, there’s the aftermath of events of the previous book, where Yakumo collapsed on stage. He’s convinced his age means he’s done performing. Many others try to talk him out of retiring, but...

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My Lady’s Choosing

As the kids raised on Choose Your Own Adventure books grow up, they turn the form into more adult entertainments of the same type. That’s what My Lady’s Choosing is — a pick-your-options story set in the vague milieu of historical romance. You might fight spies with a dashing rogue in Scotland. Or flirt...

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Last Looks

Out this week is a Hollywood-set mystery that puts a green spin on the weirdo obsessive detective type. Last Looks by Howard Michael Gould introduces Charlie Waldo. He was an LA police detective before something bad (but predictable) happened, driving him to live in a tiny house in the woods in solitude....

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Ed Chavez Returns at New Manga Publisher

Ed Chavez, previously marketing director at Vertical, appeared at Otakon this weekend representing new manga publisher Denpa. What little information is available comes from their new Twitter feed, where they list themselves as the “home of Kaiji, Inside Mari, Futurelog, PEZ, panpanya, and Maiden Railways“....

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2018 Harvey Award Nominees Announced; Schedule Changed

A month ago, the new, radically revised Harvey Awards plans were announced. The nominating committee would select a slate for voting by August 1, and the voting would end August 23. The nominees were announced on August 9, instead, and voting closes September 3 just before midnight Eastern time. (That’s...

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