Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman

Month: January 2019

  • Enemies of the State #001 – Follow Me In by Katriona Chapman

    Enemies of the State #001 – Follow Me In by Katriona Chapman

    I’m really pleased to announce a brand new project co-sponsored by Sequential State and our esteemed colleagues over at Your Chicken Enemy, entitled Enemies of the State. Enemies of the State is a monthly virtual book club discussion on a recently published comic, featuring a rotating cast of comics critics. Episode #1 of Enemies of the State features…

  • Review: Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt

    Review: Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt

    Lisa Hanawalt has a lot of talent as a short story writer. Her first two books, My Dirty Dumb Eyes and Hot Dog Taste Test established her as a cartoonist with a knack for finding humor in everyday objections and expressions, and as a person whose work borders the fluorescent and the surreal. But I…

  • Review: An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya

    Review: An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya

    An Invitation from a Crab is a recent release from Denpa, a new manga publisher helmed by Ed Chavez. Chavez is well respected in the English-language manga market and has a reputation as a tastemaker from his time at Vertical Inc, another small manga publisher. Denpa has already made a name for itself through its…

  • Review: Red Winter by Anneli Furmark

    Review: Red Winter by Anneli Furmark

    Some books demand to be reviewed. This is certainly the case with Anneli Furmark’s period drama Red Winter, set in 1970s Sweden, where a secret affair between a young man named Ulrik and an older woman named Siv ricochets around a small northern community. Red Winter is Furmark’s first comic to be published in English,…

  • Review: Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak

    Review: Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak

    It is about time that Carolyn Nowak has a collection of her work. Having won two Ignatz awards and plenty of critical acclaim (including from this critic), Nowak now has her first collection, titled Girl Town out from Top Shelf at the end of 2018. Girl Town is a collection of short stories, starting from…

  • Review: Dark Angels of Darkness by Al Gofa

    Review: Dark Angels of Darkness by Al Gofa

    Dark Angels of Darkness is a comic that’s been floating around my house for a few months now. I can’t seem to get it onto a shelf – that’s a good sign in my book-cluttered home. The comic is a recent release from Peow Press, and it’s a selection that falls well into their wheelhouse.…

  • Review: Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu #1

    Review: Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu #1

    IJapanese pop culture has been obsessed with a type of storytelling called isekai over the last few years, and it’s become a pervasive part of the manga landscape. The word isekai (異世界, lit. ‘different world’) has come to represent a wide swath of fiction with escape as their central theme. These are transportation or reincarnation…

  • Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: The Complete List

    Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: The Complete List

    Individual Write-ups: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Full List Ley Lines #14: Skin to Skin – Jia Sung (Czap Books & Grindstone Comics, 2018) Cry – Yang Cong (Paradise Systems, 2018) We Come From A Desert – Gloria Rivera (self-published, 2017) Fluorescent Mud – Eli Howey (2dcloud, 2018) Bad Friends – Ancco (Drawn &…

  • Comics That Challenged Me In 2018: Part 4

    Comics That Challenged Me In 2018: Part 4

    Welcome back, dear reader! Today is the last installment of The Comics That Challenged Me in 2018. I hope you found the list interesting – let’s get right into the last five books. 2018 List Write-ups: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Full List The Mouse Glass– Anna Haifisch I’ve got a lot of artists…

  • Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: Part 3

    Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: Part 3

    Welcome back, dear reader! Hopefully you’ve had a good weekend and are ready to jump back into the Comics that Challenged Me in 2018 – if this is your first look at my annual year-end wrap up, please head back over to parts 1 and 2 to check the first 10 entries in the list.…

  • Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: Part 2

    Comics That Challenged Me in 2018: Part 2

    We’re back today with the second of four posts of the Comics That Challenged Me in 2018. What were your thoughts about the first five books? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter. The first part of the list had some fantastic books, and so does the second. Let’s…