Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman

Author: Alex Hoffman

  • Review: A Fire Story by Brian Fies

    Review: A Fire Story by Brian Fies

    California has been repeatedly battered by a series of wildfires in recent years, and Brian Fies, author of Mom’s Cancer, had his life upended by the 2017 Tubbs fire. In response, Fies wrote A Fire Story, initially a short piece posted online. This 19-page off the cuff reportage of the incident at the time of…

  • Kickstarter Feature: The Seas

    Kickstarter Feature: The Seas

    I have the pleasure this week of featuring a new Kickstarter project called The Seas, a 49-page anthology by UK-based cartoonist and comics critic Iestyn Pettigrew. Pettigrew has brought together an eclectic group of cartoonists, each contributing 2-4 pages to an anthology that explores the idea of what it means to be human when the…

  • Review: Off Season, by James Sturm

    Review: Off Season, by James Sturm

    James Sturm has had an interesting couple of years as a cartoonist. His latest book, Off Season, was serialized on Slate, starting in September of 2016 and running through the presidential election and its aftermath. While the final compiled version, out this year from D&Q, is cleaned up and expanded, it is a fascinating examination…

  • Review: Harukana Receive v. 1-3, by Nyoijizai

    Review: Harukana Receive v. 1-3, by Nyoijizai

    A few months ago, I stumbled across the Otaku USA review of Harukana Receive, a new-ish sports manga from Seven Seas. The comic attracted some early attention and garnered a 12-episode anime adaptation in 2018. Six volumes are currently on the Seven Seas publishing schedule through 2020, and the fourth volume was just released last…

  • Review: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

    Review: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

    Maia Kobabe’s recent memoir Gender Queer, recently published by Lion Forge, operates in two modes: first as a poignant personal history of growth and self-acceptance and an intimate revealing of eir struggles with gender in modern culture; and second, as a sort of introduction to nonbinary gender identities for cis-gender readers. Let’s start with the…

  • Review: BTTM FDRS by Ezra Clayton Daniels & Ben Passmore

    Review: BTTM FDRS by Ezra Clayton Daniels & Ben Passmore

    Horror as a genre has a long history of addressing systemic injustice and BTTM FDRS falls firmly in that vein. Published by Fantagraphics, BTTM FDRS is the latest comic from Ezra Clayton Daniels and Ben Passmore, two rising stars in the small press comics world. The book stars Darla, a young and talented clothing designer…

  • Review: Ginseng Roots #1 by Craig Thompson

    Review: Ginseng Roots #1 by Craig Thompson

    Craig Thompson has something of a reputation amongst indie comics readers, both good and bad. The first issue of his new serialized comic, Ginseng Roots, comes out this July, and his publisher Uncivilized Books sent a review copy earlier this month. Thompson’s last major literary work, Habibi, continues to leave a sour taste in many…

  • Review: Waves by Ingrid Chabbert & Carole Maurel

    Review: Waves by Ingrid Chabbert & Carole Maurel

    It seems that there’s been an uptick in comics about the intimate period between conception and birth. Waves by Ingrid Chabbert and Carole Maurel is another of these, originally published as Écumes by Steinkis Editions in 2017. Archaia, the Boom! Studios imprint, published the English edition in May this year. The story this time around…

  • Microreview: Rust Belt by Sean Knickerbocker

    Microreview: Rust Belt by Sean Knickerbocker

    Alternative comics has something of a recent tradition of Midwestern down-and-out stories, strengthened by the work of cartoonists Charles Forsman and Noah Van Sciver. Sean Knickerbocker joins that illustrious group with the appropriately titled Rust Belt, a new short story collection from Secret Acres. Forsman is a point of reference in multiple ways; Knickerbocker’s work…

  • Microreview: Chronin Vol. 1: The Knife at Your Back by Alison Wilgus

    Microreview:  Chronin Vol. 1: The Knife at Your Back by Alison Wilgus

    I recently had the chance to borrow a copy of Chronin #1: The Knife at Your Back from my local library. With its neon blue cover, it sticks out, a testament to some smart cover design. In this first part of a two-volume series from Tor Books, veteran cartoonist Alison Wilgus asks a question that…

  • Enemies of the State #004 – This Woman’s Work by Julie Delporte

    Enemies of the State #004 – This Woman’s Work by Julie Delporte

    Enemies of the State is a monthly virtual book club discussion on a recently published comic, featuring a rotating cast of comics critics. Episode #4 of Enemies of the State features commentary on Julie Delporte’s This Woman’s Work, published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2019. This Woman’s Work is Delporte’s third major publication in English,…