Ghosted in L.A.

I enjoyed reading Ghosted in L.A. for two reasons: sympathy with the rather haphazard heroine Daphne and curiosity about the supporting cast members. It’s written by Sina Grace and illustrated by Siobhan Keenan. Daphne has followed her boyfriend to college, moving from Montana to Los Angeles, only to...

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Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter

After embarrassing herself on camera as a reporter because of her drinking, the only job Jerri can get at the family TV station is as midnight movie host. The position is open because the previous Count Crowley has gone missing, and a desperate man wants the host’s help with his lycanthropy in Count...

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Bloom

Bloom is a quiet romance/coming-of-age story written by Kevin Panetta with artwork by Savanna Ganucheau. It uses a leisurely pace to tell a familiar tale, made distinctive by the bakery setting and activity of bread making. Ari works in the family bakery located in a coastal town. He wants to move to...

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Super Sons: The PolarShield Project

Super Sons: The PolarShield Project, the first of the DC Zoom titles, written by Ridley Pearson and illustrated by Ile Gonzalez, launched the publisher’s middle-grade readers imprint. It’s a shame that it gives such a poor showing. The book is a muddled mess that won’t appeal to either audience, those...

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Click

Olive has a wide variety of friends — some from class, some on the bus, some in the neighborhood. When it’s time for the school variety show, though, she feels left out, because all her friends have formed their own little groups and acts. In Click, Kayla Miller shows us a different portrait of what...

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Batman: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights from the History of the Dark Knight

Review by KC Carlson Published to tie into Batman’s 80th anniversary, this 304-page hardcover from Chartwell Books, written by Robert Greenberger, possibly has more facts in it than the Bat-Computer! Plus, Batman: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights from the History of the Dark Knight contains much detail...

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Owly: The Way Home (in Color)

I’ve adored Andy Runton’s Owly since I saw it over a decade ago. The first book, The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer, was originally published in 2004, fifteen years ago. It was unique for being wordless and adorable, far from the then-usual material for an indy comic company and creator. The...

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Heavy Vinyl Returns in Graphic Novel Y2K-O!

Heavy Vinyl continues the trend of realizing comics for younger readers are better as graphic novels. The first miniseries (which was titled Hi-Fi Fight Club for its first issue) was collected last year as Heavy Vinyl: Riot on the Radio. It’s written by Carly Usdin and illustrated by Nina Vakueva. In...

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Upcoming Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus Has New Stories

Although it’s a horror manga, which I normally can’t tolerate, I really enjoy The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. The art is wonderfully detailed, the characters are wacky and interesting, and the ghost stories often have a revenge / “twist in the tail” aspect that keeps them interesting. Unfortunately,...

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Whatever Happened to the Atari Force Collection?

Dynamite Entertainment, four years ago, announced a licensing deal with Atari that included art books and comic reprints. Art of Atari came out in 2016. The Swordquest pack-in mini comics were reprinted as Atari Classics: Swordquest in 2017. But the book I really wanted, the Atari Classics: Atari Force,...

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Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight

This substantial history makes for an impressive graphic novel. Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm alternates chapters between the story of the Apollo 11 moon landing (in full color) and topics related to spaceflight (in monochrome). Those latter range greatly,...

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Spell on Wheels, Avant Guards Move to Graphic Novels

Are we seeing the end of the comic book miniseries (at least, outside of the corporate superhero)? Two enjoyable comic series have recently had issues cancelled with the plan of releasing paperback collections instead. It makes a lot of sense to me — who needs the slippery short comics to store, when...

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Ao Haru Ride Volumes 5 & 6

It’s that time of the series by Io Sakisaka — it’s too soon for things to settle down (since the series overall runs 13 volumes), and the first mystery has been revealed, so let’s introduce some rivals for the attention of the members of our core couple. That will provide more chance for misunderstandings...

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Valiant Releases Trailer for Bloodshot, Their First Movie

Like any corporate comic publisher, Valiant really wants to be making movies. Their first film, Bloodshot, opens in February 2020, and the trailer is now available. I previously didn’t know anything about the character, but (and given the name, this shouldn’t surprise me) he looks like a memory-wiped...

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