Sequential State – Page 27 – Independent comics criticism, interviews, reviews, and commentary

Sequential State – the comics criticism archive of Alex Hoffman

Review: For as Long as it Rains by Zviane Part of the Pow Pow Press Kickstarter, For as Long as it Rains is one of the publisher’s first English offerings; it and a series of 5 other books were released for the first time in English at TCAF this year. For as Long as it…

July 10, 2015
Review: mini kuš! #33 – BFF by Marie Jacotey

Kuš! komiksi sent over a new set of minis in mid-April, and I’m just now getting around to reading them. I’m running quite a bit behind – I haven’t even gotten to most of my TCAF haul yet. This latest batch has some intriguing work, including BFF by Marie Jacotey. Like all mini kuš, BFF is a 28…

July 8, 2015
Quick Picks #3 – Bugs and TCAF

Quick Picks is an occasionally written series of microreviews of books I’ve read over the past two weeks. Here’s a selection of books I’ve been thinking about over the last two weeks. Last of the Sandwalkers by Jay Hosler A recent release from First Second, Last of the Sandwalkers features a family of extraordinary beetles as they…

July 1, 2015
Review: The Oven by Sophie Goldstein The Oven is a book I’ve written about briefly in the past – starting out as a serialized black and white comic in the Maple Key anthology, it was published earlier this year by AdHouse as a 2 tone black, white, and orange perfect bound book with orange gilding.…

June 29, 2015
Review: Shoplifter, by Michael Cho It seems like the last week of June is the week where I talk about books that focus on people who are displaced or struggling; on Monday I reviewed Noah Van Sciver’s Saint Cole, and today, Michael Cho’s debut graphic novel Shoplifter, a 96 page two-tone comic from Pantheon about…

June 26, 2015
Review: LYDIAN, by Sam Alden Sam Alden is known for beautifully rendered graphite comics (for examples, check out my reviews of Alden’s Wicked Chicken Queen from Retrofit Books retrofitcomics and It Never Happened Again from Uncivilized Press uncivilizr ). But for a little over a year, Alden has been using low-resolution full-color pixel art as…

June 24, 2015
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…

June 22, 2015
Pointers #2

I’ve been running a lot of reviews recently, and I thought I’d take a break and point you towards some webcomics I’ve been reading recently: Snarlbear by Natalie Riess is a webcomic about a girl called Snarlbear who has been transported to the strange and oddly dangerous Rainbow Dimension. I think has recently hit its…

June 17, 2015
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…

June 15, 2015
Review: The Nature of Nature by Disa Wallander Humanity has a strained relationship with the natural world. We marvel at its complexity and its beauty, but we are afraid of its wildness and its brutality. And for all that we understand about the natural world, there’s still more to learn. This quest for more information…

June 12, 2015
Review: Inaction Comics Anthology no. 1 – productivity, edited by Kimball Anderson with editorial assistance by MJ Robinson Inaction Comics no. 1 is an anthology collecting the work of 12 cartoonists into a 100-page perfect bound book that studies, fights, and comes to terms with the concept of “action” or “doing.” Edited by Kimball Anderson,…

June 10, 2015