Review: ‘The Interview’ examines the nature of meaning
I write a lot about contemporary art, and one of the areas that I find so many people get hung-up about is meaning. That is, the specific meaning of a specific piece of art,...
Review: Cathy Malkasian’s latest dark parable ‘Eartha’
You’re not likely to come out of a Cathy Malkasian book without being spooked by something you can’t quite put your finger on even though it lingers and gets you a little bit down....
San Diego’s Little Fish Comic Studio Is Educating A New Generation of Fans, Artists,...
In recent years, more teachers and librarians are finally recognizing the educational appeal of comic-books. Yes, we the fans have known of their artistry, their (mostly) great writing, and the sheer enjoyment they illicit,...
Review: Kristen Radtke’s autobiography captures the big picture in the small frame
I am often torn about autobiographical comics. Not whether they should exist or not — of course people should create the comics they are moved to create — and not about the level of...
Eleanor Davis and Christina Tran win the annual Cartoonist Studio Prize
Slate and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the winners of the fifth annual Cartoonist Studio Prize.
In the print category, Eleanor Davis won for Libby’s Dad (Retrofit and Big Planet Comics) which won much praise among people...
Review: You’ve got to fight for your right to make art!
Though it’s tempting to pronounce the atmosphere in James Albon’s Her Bark And Her Bite as retro or even nostalgic, timeless might be the better word. It pulls from a fantasy version of an...
Review: Max Andersson unpacks a family nightmare in ‘The Excavation’
Underneath the surreal nightmare presented by Swedish cartoonist Max Andersson and despite the dream logic to so much of the action in The Excavation, there’s a truthful core that many of us can take to heart....
Review: Emil Ferris beckons the monsters into the light of day
It’s fair to say that Emil Ferris’ sprawling My Favorite Thing Is Monsters — volume one of a two volume work — came out of absolutely nowhere for many people. Ferris is a Chicago-based...
Review: You’ll want to visit ‘The Obscure Cities’
The second English language volume in French/Belgian team Benoit Peeters and François Schuiten's The Obscure Cities series, this was recently revived through a Kickstarter campaign by Alaxis Press, but IDW has partnered with them to complete the...
Reviews: Gfrörer, Wiedeman, Gennis look to the past
Laid Waste by Julia Gfrörer
This excruciatingly sad novella has Julia Gfrörer examining the horror of being a survivor, in a way that manages to be uplifting at the end, while not betraying the heaviness...
Review: Hard truths in ‘Soft City’
To take Soft City at face value, there are some very simple lessons to learn from Norwegian artist Hariton Pushwagner. Everything is the same. There is no one thing. Life is not an adventure. In...
Review: Cyril Pedrosa captures the hidden human web in Equinoxes
The girth of Cyril Pedrosa’s Equinoxes — 336 pages — implies narrative complication, but what unfolds is really as simple as the title suggests. An equinox is a matter of universal symmetry, of darkness...
