“Cerebus: High Society”

November 7, 2018

“The comic Cerebus is well known among a certain segment of the comic-reading community for all the wrong reasons. Dave Sim, the creator/writer/artist/publisher of Cerebus, is notorious as a sexist misogynist with controversial views on the proper role of women in society and, for that reason, many potential fans of Cerebus boycott the series while knowing little of its contents, depriving themselves of one of the great achievements in comic art…”

“High Roads”

October 17, 2018

“Like an Indiana Jones movie where the eponymous hero is replaced by four bumbling misfits, High Roads grabs hold of you and swiftly propels you, happily entertained, from its humble beginning to its epic ending.

High Roads is the story of four strangers—an American soldier, Hitler’s former American mistress, a diminutive British actor, and a disgraced Japanese kamikaze pilot—during the waning days of WWII, as they band together in pursuit of a piece of appropriated Nazi treasure…”

“Longshot Comics”

October 3, 2018

“Each of the two twenty-four-page issues of Longshot Comics are graphic novels in their own right. Longshot Comics—not to be confused with the Marvel Comics character “Longshot”—was a two-issue miniseries published by Slave Labor Graphics starting in 1995. Each issue consists of three-thousand-eight-hundred-forty panels spanning an unlikely twenty-four pages. That’s one-hundred-sixty panels per page. If one were to spend one second on each panel, each issue would take just over an hour to read…”

“8-Opus Wrecks”

September 19, 2018

“As I stood in my local comic-book store leafing through The Myth of 8-Opus: 8-Opus Wrecks for the first time, I briefly wondered if I held in my hands some recently discovered, long lost, Jack “King” Kirby masterpiece. Creator/writer/artist Tom Scioli is probably best known from his art duties on the Image Comics series Godland … but, not recognizing his name at the time, I believed 8-Opus Wrecks must be by a different artist—both pretenders to Kirby’s throne, but in 8-Opus Wrecks I believed I had found a more suitable heir—due to the difference in the art’s quality between the two titles…”

Don Simpson's "Megaton Man"

September 5, 2018

"Megaton Man by Don Simpson is akin to what would happen if Rick Veitch and Ben Edlund teamed up on The Tick ... [It] is an intelligent parody of the many different superhero tropes that have evolved out of American comic-book culture—the ridiculous physiques, the pointless and endless physical battles, the ludicrous secret identities and origin stories, the obligatory unrequited love, the superhero teams and team-ups, and MacGuffins of immeasurable power..."

"Infinite Vacation"

August 25, 2018

"Infinite Vacation is clever. Example: If there are an infinite number of universes encompassing every possibility, then there must be one universe where there are no other universes. That inspired notion is one of several that run through an otherwise straightforward caper about singular love and infinite murders..."

"Squadron Supreme"

January 9, 2018

"The 1985, twelve-issue, Marvel Comics miniseries Squadron Supreme is striking for its focus on ideological struggles that are too often used in other comics as flimsy pretexts to justify elaborate battles and epic fist-fights. Rather than paying lip-service to ideology, in Squadron Supreme the ethical dilemmas facing a super-team are front and center when—following the destruction of most global infrastructure and systems of governance—they decide to take responsibility for rebuilding, and improving, society for the good of mankind as they see it..."

"Black Hole"

November 18, 2017

"Black Hole by Charles Burns is a naturalistic narrative—tinged with elements of the “body-horror” genre—about growing up, the insecurities, uncertainties, and dramas of life as an American teenager, and the dangers of unprotected sex—specifically, running the risk of mass deformity from a disease referred to as “the bug” which seems supernatural in the way it deforms its victims. The tone of the art—with its hard blacks and stark whites—lends drama to even the lulls in the narrative and heightens the feeling of the supernatural and the spooky..."

"Mesmo Delivery"

September 20, 2017

"Originally self-published in 2008, then reprinted by Dark Horse in 2010, Mesmo Delivery—Raphael Grampa’s fifty-two-page first foray into comics as both writer and artist—is not for the faint of heart or the squeamish and may traumatize those with a weak constitution. That having been said, its execution is masterful. It has but the merest plot necessary to justify a gruesome bloodbath, and that bloodbath is simply to justify inventive scenes of balletic violence..."

"Strontium Dog"

September 6, 2017

"The four-issue, 1985, Eagle Comics miniseries Strontium Dog by Alan Grant (writer) and Carlos Ezquerra (illustrator) is about the origin and formative years of a mutant bounty-hunter named “Johnny Alpha” during a revolution in a post-nuclear-war world where the land has been irradiated, and those mutated by that radiation are treated as subhuman, becoming the victims of violence and persecution. Strontium Dog, though apolitical, is not without a point to make regarding government oppression and prejudice—though the point made is not a new one..."

"Omega: The Unknown"

August 12, 2017

"Omega: The Unknown (2007) is unconventional. Its superheroes range from a homeless disoriented mute in a blue costume—known as “Omega"—to a purple-garbed attention-whore with no real abilities other than taking credit that’s not his, milking press coverage, and wielding a few high-tech gadgets—called “The Mink.” ... This may lead one to imagine a fairly typical comic, but Omega: The Unknown (2007) is strange in ways I can’t begin to describe because to spoil the surprises would be to diminish their impact if not their strangeness. Let’s just say the Mink’s giant severed hand grows legs and wreaks havoc on the city..."

"Automatic Kafka"

July 23, 2017

"Automatic Kafka was “written to give the average superhero fan cold sweats, nervous conniptions and night terrors;” it is a comic “written on handfuls of things swallowed late at night” according to writer Joe Casey in an endnote to the first issue. A nine-issue DC/Wildstorm miniseries from 2002 written by Casey and illustrated by Ashley Wood, Automatic Kafka is the story of the eponymous washed-up former superhero android—and current junkie—Automatic Kafka and his estranged former teammates—the “$trangers”—but, despite what the cover-text claims, this is not a superhero comic..."

"All-Star Superman"

June 23, 2017

"All-Star Superman ... is a modern classic and is arguably among the great Superman stories of all time: a dying Superman performs twelve miracles, preparing the Earth for a time when he will no longer be around to protect it. Superman’s longevity as a character and cultural icon is precisely due to his ability to inspire stories such as these, ones that can buck nearly a century of history to remain fresh and relevant in a world already familiar with all its attendant tropes, yet do so without altering the core of the character and what he stands for..."

"Two Brothers"

June 6, 2017

"Two Brothers, a 2015 Dark Horse graphic novel written and drawn by twin brothers Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, is, aptly, a tale of two brothers—twins—but is not autobiography, owing its inspiration to the work of Brazilian author Milton Hatoum. It is an affecting naturalistic tale chronicling a family’s evolution through the decades—from the courtship of the matriarch to the adulthood of her twin sons and only daughter..."

"Stray Toasters"

May 21, 2017

"It is difficult to be critical of Stray Toasters—not for lacking flaws (of which there are many), but, rather, because it was both written and illustrated by the amazing Bill Sienkiewicz—an artist whom, when at the top of his game, can go toe to toe with any other artist working today—whose long and illustrious career should not be besmirched with a lackluster assessment of a work he had sole control over. But, sadly, Stray Toasters is lackluster..."