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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…
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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…
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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…
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Review: The Perineum Technique by Ruppert & Mulot
My introduction to Ruppert & Mulot as comics creators was through Barrel of Monkeys, published by Bill Kartalopoulos through Rebus Books. Barrel of Monkeys was formalist and experimental, and so I expected something of the same with The Perineum Technique, their new release from Fantagraphics. What I got was a book that mimics the structure…
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Review: Witch Hat Atelier v.1 by Kamome Shirahama
Comics are magic, aren’t they? That’s less of a question, and more of a realization; Comics have a profound power over those who read them, shaping their mental process, causing delight, and dread, wonder, and horror. I’ve devoted a lot of my life to the magic of comics, and I’m grateful for that. Art-making calls…
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Review: The Scar: Graphic Reportage From The U.S.-Mexico Border by Andrea Ferraris and Renato Chiocca
Andrea Ferraris’ recent collection of graphic reportage, The Scar: Graphic Reportage From The U.S.-Mexico Border, starts with an image of a wave, luxuriously illustrated with graphite. Throughout the book, that wave crashes into the dry sandy earth of the region, a metaphor for the current humanitarian crisis at the border (a crisis seemingly manufactured for…
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Review: Saint Young Men #1 by Hikaru Nakamura
It’s not often that I review digital-only comics, but I’ll make a concession for Saint Young Men #1, a long-running slice of life comic from Kodansha Comics. This book is officially available to purchase in English as of yesterday, but has been running in Kodansha’s anthology Morning 2 since 2006. This is the works’ first…
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Review: Letter to Survivors by GÉBÉ
Given recent political maneuverings and dire climate catastrophe, it feels like the dim haze of the apocalypse is just around the corner. GÉBÉ’s 1982 comic Lettre aux survivants has been recently translated and published in English as Letter to Survivors by New York Review Comics, and this book was originally published at a time when…
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Review: Gleipnir vol. 1, by Sun Takeda
Let’s be blunt and call it like it is; a lot of the manga published in the United States is really horny. And a lot of comics, especially shonen and seinen manga, are pretty violent. The combination can be particularly egregious at times; such is the case with Gleipnir, a furiously horny comic about a…
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Enemies of the State #003 – The Song of Aglaia by Anne Simon
Enemies of the State is a monthly virtual book club discussion on a recently published comic, featuring a rotating cast of comics critics. Episode #3 of Enemies of the State features commentary on Anne Simon’s The Song of Aglaia, published by Fantagraphics in 2018. The Song of Aglaia is the first major release of Simon’s…
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Review: New Life, by Xavier Betaucourt and Yannick Marchat
I’m doing a 180° turn this week, writing about a graphic memoir I loved and then immediately reviewing a book I found unreadable. Part of Humanoids’ Life Drawn line, New Life is a 128-page softcover published in late January 2019. New Life details Xavier Betaucourt’s life after getting a divorce in the middle of a…
