Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman

Tag: review

  • Review: Saint Cole by Noah Van Sciver No singular artist captures the dysphoria of modern blue collar life like Noah Van Sciver. His latest book, Saint Cole, is 116 pages of black and white comics about a guy named Joe working as a server at a pizza chain. Joe is stuck in a service industry…

  • Review: Black River by Josh Simmons Author’s note: The contents of this review may be triggering due to discussion of both physical and sexual violence. There’s been a “recent” uptick in post-apocalyptic literature, from the resurgence of the zombie flick and revival of the Mad Max franchise to YA stories like The Hunger Games and…

  • Review: FLOCKS #1-4 by L. Nichols, from Retrofit Comics (#1) and Grindstone Comics (#2-4) I’m in the midst of what’s turned out to be a multi-week holiday that officially ends the day after the United States’ Memorial Day, so apologies for the sparse updates. I’ve been working through some of my TCAF spoils, and some…

  • Review: Heaven’s Dream Town! A VR RPG by Wren McDonald We’re a week away from TCAF, and I couldn’t be more excited about that – getting out on a convention floor means discovery, new cartoonists, new comics, and the thrill of finding something new and unique. Wren McDonald’s work is also a recent discovery, fueled…

  • Review: Lemon & Ket by Natalie Andrewson We’re getting closer and closer to TCAF – expect a “to buy” list coming in the next few days or so. In the meantime, I’m trying to get my hands on books that premiered at MoCCA and won’t be readily available at the Canadian show. PEOW! Studio came…

  • Review: Last Man: The Stranger by Balak, Michaël Sanlaville, and Bastien Vivès As manga continues to become a larger part of comics in the West, it’s no surprise to see manga-influenced comics becoming more and more the norm. We’re starting to see this already as manga-reading kids are growing into comics-making adults. Last Man is…

  • Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz Vol. 1 by Natsumi Ando This week is a week of manga reviews at Sequential State; the next on the pile is Natsumi Ando’s Let’s Dance a Waltz, a 3-volume shojo series originally published in Kodansha’s Nakayoshi manga anthology. Ando is known best in the United States for her titles…

  • Review: Your Lie in April Vol. 1 by Naoshi Arakawa Kodansha USA has licensed a few “off the beaten path” comics in the past 12 months, and next week, one of those titles sees the light of day. Your Lie in April, a title from Monthly Shounen Magazine, is a music-based manga; the category doesn’t…

  • Review: Frontier #7 – SexCoven by Jillian Tamaki If I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – as far as indie comics goes, 2015 may very well be remembered as the year of Jillian Tamaki. With This One Summer receiving the Caldecott in February, Tamaki has had a great start to the year. And…

  • Review: Mowgli’s Mirror by Olivier Schrauwen

    Review: Mowgli’s Mirror by Olivier Schrauwen

      One of the first books to be sent out as part of RetrofitComics 2015 subscription is Olivier Schrauwen’s Mowgli’s Mirror, a book previously published in both Spanish and French.  Clocking in at 44 pages and at a BD-sized 10×12”, the book feels more substantial than previous Retrofit floppy comics, which have all been lovely…

  • Review: BORB by Jason Little Comics convention season has officially begun with RIPExpo two weekends ago and MoCCA coming up in this weekend; the latest comic on my docket is a MoCCA 2015 debut from Uncivilized Books, Jason Little’s BORB. Clocking in at 98 pages of black and white comics drawn in a style reminiscent…