Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman

Tag: review

  • Review: Mother’s Walk by Lauren Weinstein

    Review: Mother’s Walk by Lauren Weinstein

    Lauren Weinstein’s Normel Person, which migrated to Popula after the closure of the Village Voice, has been a powerful reflection on the state of the world. I’ve been drawn to her work this year, and it was exciting to learn that she would be contributing to Youth in Decline’s Frontier series. Over the last few…

  • Review: A Projection by Seekan Hui

    Review: A Projection by Seekan Hui

    I’m trying to get a little more reading done as we get deeper into the fall convention season. This summer has been tough for me personally, but I’m excited to move into the fall. SPX is just a week away, and a lot of major releases are coming out at that show. (Sadly my backlog…

  • Quick Picks #11 – More Manga

    Quick Picks #11 – More Manga

    Quick Picks is an occasionally written series of microreviews of books I’ve read over the past two weeks. This episode contains 3 manga microreviews.

  • Review: Yellow Light #1 by Raziel Puma

    Review: Yellow Light #1 by Raziel Puma

    I’m glad that there’s a tradition of short story anthologies in comics. In comics you can accomplish a lot in a few simple pages; it’s a medium well suited to the format. The last few years have been great for short story collections, and this year also looks good – we’ve got Carolyn Nowak’s first…

  • Review: Dull Margaret, written by Jim Broadbent and illustrated by Dix

    Review: Dull Margaret, written by Jim Broadbent and illustrated by Dix

    When I heard that Fantagraphics was publishing a graphic novel loosely based on Dulle Griet, the 16th century oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, I was intrigued. Bruegel’s art has always been fascinating to me because of its scope and its sheer chaos. Every painting I’ve ever seen of his work seems packed to…

  • Review: Grip #1 by Lale Westvind

    Review: Grip #1 by Lale Westvind

    I’m used to reading Lale Westvind’s comics in small doses. Her comic Yazar & Arkadaş, which I reviewed last year, was only 28 pages – but it packed a significant punch. Westvind’s work has an intense physicality and her comics are breathtaking in their scope, power, and drama. Earlier this year, Perfectly Acceptable Press published…

  • Review: Perfect Hair by Tommi Parrish

    Review: Perfect Hair by Tommi Parrish

    Today I have the pleasure of publishing a review of Tommi Parrish’s Perfect Hair by noted small-press critic and art collector Shawn Starr. Shawn originally brought my attention to Tommi Parrish’s work, so I’m happy to have host some of his writing here on Sequential State. If you are interested in having your writing published on…

  • Review: Runaway Hearts by Sean Christensen

    Review: Runaway Hearts by Sean Christensen

    I recently picked up a selection of work from Berlin-based publisher Colorama Press. One of the more curious pieces is a graphic novella by Sean Christensen titled Runaway Hearts. Christensen is a part of the performance and zine collective Gridlords, based in the Pacific northwest. Runaway Hearts was published in early 2017 in an edition…

  • Review: Mechaboys by James Kochalka

    Review: Mechaboys by James Kochalka

    James Kochalka is one of a handful of hyperproductive cartoonists working in small press comics. His recent output has rotated between Johnny Boo comics, which target a younger subset of readers, and comics like Superf*ckers Forever, which are more teen & adult oriented. Kochalka’s latest graphic novel Mechaboys is firmly in that later camp. Published in…

  • Review: The Weaver Festival Phenomenon by Ron Regé

    Review: The Weaver Festival Phenomenon by Ron Regé

    When I first started reading art comics, Ron Regé’s work was a cipher to me. I didn’t get what he was doing, and I didn’t really know what to do with it. But there was always something magnetic about his comics – despite not understanding why, I kept coming back to his work. That magnetism,…

  • Review: The Strange by Jérôme Ruillier

    Review: The Strange by Jérôme Ruillier

    There are some books that demand attention – not because they are flashy, or because they are written by a well-known author, but because they describe perfectly the current moment in time. The Strange by Jérôme Ruillier is that kind of book. In The Strange, Ruillier documents the story of an unnamed undocumented immigrant and his journey to try…