We find ourselves, inexorably, moving out of peak Canadian comics events season and into peak US comics events season, with all the attendant pomp and circumstance that such a changing of the guard affords, and so, in order to ensure that you’re dressed appropriately for the occasion in question, please continue to stay abreast of this week’s links, below.
All that is. #1bit #pixelart pic.twitter.com/7twx2ULZkr
— meds - despairing. (@gxndyy) May 13, 2024
This week’s news.
• A month after Embracer Group announced that it would be transmogrifying into three smaller corporate entities , ICv2 this week shared news that the media holding company has recorded a $1.7 billion loss for the fiscal year, following the writing down of various held and divested assets, including Dark Horse, which was written down by around $63 million, although Embracer’s full financial report does cite ‘strong performances’ from the publisher for Berserk and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the closure of Fat Jack’s Comicrypt’s Rittenhouse location, after 48 years of business , with owner Mike Ferrero speculating that Center City rents may have outpriced the retailer following this eviction - the store set up a GoFundMe campaign last year to help cover operating costs following a post-covid slump in sales, which raised close to $24,000, and is currently running a 70% discount clearance sale to shift remaining stock.
• Elsewhere, in comics personnel news, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus announced that CXC board member Will Haupt is taking over as the organisation’s Interim Executive Director, replacing outgoing Interim Executive Director Jay B. Kalagayan, as the tenth CXC festival arrives this September; and Women Write About Comics shared the news that Jenna Ledford is stepping into the role of the site’s Interim Editor-in-Chief, while Nola Pfau is on a leave of absence.
• Comics awards news: The Daily Cartoonist shared the announcement that 2024’s winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Award for cartoons is Peter Kuper, with the awards looking to “honor a free and fair press and celebrate media professionals whose work explores issues of human rights, social justice, and the power of individual action.”
Mark your calendars! After four long years, Comic Arts LA is coming back for 2024! This year’s show will take place December 14-15th at Homenetmen Ararat North Chapter in Glendale. Applications for tables will go up June 1st-24th so look for the link soon.
Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/37WeDYn6oC
— Comic Arts LA (@ComicArtsLA) May 20, 2024
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Frank M. Young reviews the boffo punchlines of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy & Sluggo’s Guide to Life - “The best way to estimate the date of any “Nancy” strip after 1955 is by the size of the text in the speech balloons. The bigger it is, the newer the strip. Bushmiller’s drawings were designed to thwart the worst aspects of web-press printing. It was near-impossible to render his bold, simple black and white unreadable. Many newspapers tried; few, if any, succeeded.”
• Hank Kennedy reviews the delicate balance of Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings’ Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben - “I was disappointed as someone who is less than knowledgeable about this period in history that there were no suggestions on where to go to learn more. It also makes me wonder about the sources of information that Trujilo and Hastings are pulling from.”
AIPT
• Ryan Sonneville reviews the hodgepodge variety of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Volume 1 .
• Collier Jennings reviews the lethargic pacing of Bryan Hill, Stefano Caselli, et al’s Ultimate Black Panther #4 .
• David Brooke reviews the exciting start of Stephanie Phillips, Federica Mancin, et al’s Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1 .
• Lukas Shayo reviews the touching conclusion of Tim Sheridan, Cian Tormey, et al’s Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 .
• Chris Coplan reviews the efficient madness of Landry Q. Walker, Justin Greenwood, et al’s The Butcher’s Boy #1 .
The Beat
• Alexa Skiff reviews the immense creativity of Lynda Barry’s What It Is .
• Joel Savill reviews the enjoyable subversions of Toru Shirogane, Keyyang, et al’s The Kept Man of the Princess Knight , translated by Stephen Paul.
• Hilary Leung reviews the narrative intrigue of Manta Comics’ High Society .
• Zack Quaintance reviews the tremendous artwork of Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins, et al’s The Bat-Man: First Knight #3 .
• Tim Rooney reviews the compelling brawling of Zeb Wells, Ed McGuinness, et al’s The Amazing Spider-Man #50 .
• Jordan Jennings reviews the dull execution of Joe Casey, Paul Fry, et al’s Blood Squad Seven #1 .
Broken Frontier
• Lindsay Pereira reviews the smart ideas of Luke Healy’s Self-Esteem and the End of the World .
• Ellie Egleton reviews the dark suspense of Landry Q. Walker, Justin Greenwood, et al’s The Butcher’s Boy #1 .
• Andy Oliver has reviews of:
- The witty eccentricities of Fred Tornager’s Gunhild Volume 1 .
- The effective juxtaposition of Christopher Twin’s Bad Medicine .
- The raw honesty of Keezy Young’s Sunflowers .
The Guardian
Rachel Cooke reviews the irresistible celebration of Mirion Malle’s So Long Sad Love , translated by Aleshia Jensen.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #139, X-Men: Forever #4, Ms Marvel: Mutant Menace #3, and Weapon X-Men #4.
Kirkus Reviews
Has starred capsule reviews of:
- The faithful execution of Victoria Ying’s adaptation of Paula Danziger’s Amber Brown is Not a Crayon .
- The vivid expression of Rescue Party: A Graphic Anthology of Covid Lockdown , edited by Gabe Fowler.
- The factual fun of Lindsey Leigh’s The Dark! Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves .
- The distinctive imagination of Emma Hunsinger’s How It All Ends .
- The searing emotions of Jen Wang’s Ash’s Cabin .
- The affecting exploration of Magnolia Porter Siddell and Maddi Gonzalez’s Tiffany’s Griffon .
Multiversity Comics
• Ryan Fitzmartin reviews the charming world of V.P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill’s Blood City Rollers .
• Elias Rosner reviews the underwhelming frustrations of Stephanie Phillips, Federica Mancin, et al’s Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1 .
• Christopher Egan reviews the poor choices of Sean Lewis, Valerio Giangiordano, et al’s Monolith #1 .
• Matthew Blair reviews the fascinating visuals of Darcy van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, et al’s Precious Metal #1 .
Publisher’s Weekly
Has capsule reviews of:
- The meditative minimalism of Aidan Koch’s Spiral and Other Stories .
- The impeccable linework of Yamada Murasaki’s Second Hand Love , translated by Ryan Holmberg.
- The hefty hilarity of Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions, and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995 .
- The diverting bounty of Lawrence Wood’s Your Caption Has Been Selected: More Than Anyone Could Possibly Want to Know About The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest .
- The warmhearted resonance of Eddie Ahn’s Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice .
Solrad
Hagai Palevsky reviews the intimate vulnerability of Aidan Koch’s Spiral and Other Stories .
The inaugural Nashville Comic Arts Festival, presented by Vanderbilt Libraries, Nashville Public Library, and Wakeup Comics, takes place Saturday, September 14th, 2024 at Vanderbilt Central Library! pic.twitter.com/EJ07zobKYN
— Nashville Comic Arts Festival (@nashcomicfest) May 21, 2024
This week’s interviews.
AIPT
Chris Coplan chats with Josie Campbell about My Adventures with Superman , the success of its animated source material, and the characters making the leap from the small screen to the page.
Charleston City Paper
Chloe Hogan speaks with Gavin Shelton about uncle Gilbert Shelton’s work, and the retrospective exhibition ‘Poddy Rules the World’.
Forbes
Rob Salkowitz talks to Emil Ferris about My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 , the story’s evolution, drawings leading the way, and future projects.
The Guardian
Neil McRobert interviews Emil Ferris about My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 , childhood lycanthropy, and paternal inspirations.
ICv2
Milton Griepp presents a two - part conversation with Dynamite Entertainment’s Nick Barrucci about the current state of the market, and distribution diversity.
Multiversity Comics
Chris Cole talks to Jeff McComsey about Little Black Book , four issue trilogies, the allure of the small town crime genre and generational stories, and Pokémon jealousy.
Print
Steven Heller chats with John Kelly about dummy , the origins and growth of the zine, design that complements not competes, and what to expect from issue two’s focus on the Air Pirates.
Publisher's Weekly
Brigid Alverson talks to Molly Knox Ostertag about The Deep Dark , the book's darker first draft, the development of its characters, and challenging yourself creatively.
Sunday Star-Times
Virginia Fallon interviews Arthur Whelan about Dust , the joys of traditional media, working in the pub , and the creative freedom of independent publishing.
Vulture
Mark Yarm speaks with Emil Ferris about My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 , unexpected success, past lives, and promoting the book after settling a lawsuit from publisher Fantagraphics.
again, wish I had Norman Rockwell chops, but alas pic.twitter.com/RWDAV6Ar2J
— lee gatlin (@neilaglet) May 22, 2024
This week’s features and longreads.
• Here at TCJ , Shea Hennum writes on Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt, and Henry Flint’s recent Judge Dredd story “ A Better World ” and the extent to which the story successfully engages with the real-world concepts behind defunding and dismantling police forces - “Moving visually and dramatically from irony to sincerity, invoking real-world developments but refashioning them in a divergent world with divergent values, operating in a realist (if not always realistic) register to depict a world that is often punctuated by the unreal, Judge Dredd asks we read it metaphorically and literally at the same time.”
• Also for TCJ , as RJ Casey bids hello and goodbye to further Arrivals and Departures , this month having read Jasper Krents’ Magnet Head , Sara McGrath’s Garage Girls , and Owwi Lee’s Cawmet - “When’s the last time you looked at some clouds? Or gave your old friend a call? Underrated springtime activities, for sure. Maybe you can do something like that after you read this column. Then you can tell your old friend, “I read this great column today.” A real conversation starter!”
• Finally for TCJ this week, Michael Dean writes in remembrance of Starhead Comix founder Michael Dowers, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 73, with further tributes presented from Dowers’ friends and peers - “Dowers closed Starhead in 1999, taking the opportunity to get an Associate of Arts Degree from Seattle Central Community College in 2001, but continued to be a conduit for aspiring comics creators through the even-smaller-scale Brownfield Press and in his role as editor for Fantagraphics’ Eros line.”
• A brace and a half of features from The Beat , as Brandon Schatz and Danica LeBlanc share the experience of having your store closed by flooding in a new edition of The Indirect Market; Arpad Okay reflects on the academic writings to be found in Desgregating Comics edited by Qiana Whitted, and Ryan Holmberg’s translations of Kazuo Inoue’s Bat Kid and Eiichi Fukui’s Igaguri: Young Judo Master ; and Greg Espinosa writes in remembrance of artist Max Fellwalker , cover illustrator for the original run of Men in Black comics, amongst other titles, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 57.
• For the Yomiuri Shimbun , Kanta Ishida writes on the passing of Akira Toriyama , who died earlier this year at the age of 68, and the legacy of works Toriyama left behind, besides the cultural monolith of Dragon Ball.
• Over at The Guardian , Leyland Cecco reports on the controversy surrounding the student graphic novel Rocking Spurs: The Anti-Bullying Tour , an adaptation of KD Beckett’s novel Rocking Ten , which is seen by Canada's Métis groups as undermining their history and sovereignty.
• From the world of open-access academia, Closure’s tenth issue brings with it a trio of English-language papers, including Ananya Saha’s essay on visual narratives that engage with the topic of aquatic crises and the degradation of marine ecosystems; Chris Gavaler’s paper on communicating race in comics and the contrast between the ambiguity of observation and the precision of reading; and Jon Holt and Teppei Fukuda’s translation of Natsume Fusanosuke’s 2023 feature ‘ An Extremely Personal Take on the History of Manga Studies ’.
• For the Australian Feminist Law Journal , Sarouche Razi, Anne Macduff, and Kirsten Hoffman reflect on their creation of the graphic novel Once Upon a Time in Australia: Conversations About How Our Me Too Movement Exposed the Troubles with Truth in Law , which is a response to the failings of the legal system and institutions to address gendered violence.
• Paul O’Brien’s cataloguing of the villains of Daredevil continues, over at House to Astonish , as this edition floods the chamber with The Torpedo.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist , as presidential debates and trials , feet in the mouths of kickers , and the death of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi all made the news.
VIDEO: Volleyball is flying high in Japan thanks to a hit manga.
'Haikyu!!', which centres on school volleyball teams, has sold more than 60 million copies since 2012, been turned into a popular anime TV series and, more recently, a successful movie. Off the page and screen,… pic.twitter.com/ta2yjVmbty
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 22, 2024
This week’s audio/visual delights.
• Something old and something new from Thick Lines , as Sally Madden and Katie Skelly released a previously enPatreon’d episode of the podcast to the general listening public, featuring a discussion of Kyoko Okazaki’s Pink and spoilers which should be avoided on book covers; and a TCJ co-editor co-conversation between Sally Madden and Chris Mautner about which comic has the best villains, and Jim Davis trivia showdowns.
• Tegan O’Neil and Claire Napier served up a fresh pail of Udder Madness from the Patreon pasture, this time out discussing the Marvel/Top Cow crossover event to end all crossover events, 1997’s Devil’s Reign , not to be confused with Marvel’s 2022 crossover event to end all crossover events Devil’s Reign , as more comics trivia is posed, thawing comics publisher politics of the 90s is recalled, and Weapon Zero cliffhangers remain a-hanging.
• As May’s bumper crop of Canadian comics festivals closes out for another year, you can experience some of 2024’s Toronto Comics Arts Festival virtually , with video recordings of the digital arm of TCAF’s programming, including creator and publisher spotlights and panel discussions.
• Brian Hibbs was joined by Megan Brennan for the latest meeting of Comix Experience’s Kids’ Graphic Novel Club , as they spoke about Magic Girls: Kira and the (Maybe) Space Princess , having fun playing with tropes, full-cast character designs during lockdown, and high school tv show favourites.
• David Harper welcomed Third Eye Comics’ Steve Anderson to this week’s episode of Off Panel , as they spoke about Free Comic Book May, what’s shifting units and what isn’t, and the general outlook for retail in the current economic climate..
• For Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come , Calvin Reid spoke with Sara Gómez Woolley and Sandy Jimenez about the City University of New York’s Art of Visual Memory class in graphic memoir, the anthology Comics As a Second Language that its students produced, and the growth and evolution of the graphic memoir genre.
Between issues of KAYA, I'm going to be taking on my all-time favorite superhero in a series of covers for ACTION COMICS. #superman #actioncomics #dccomics #dccomic #superhero #comicbooks #art #superheroart #comicbookart pic.twitter.com/K3w9TArbXw
— Wes Craig (@WesCraigComics) May 21, 2024
No more links this week, although it is a 5 Friday month, and so May is not done with us just yet.
maybe you can help me understand somethin pic.twitter.com/v860KarD6n
— Caroline Frumento (@beebooties) March 15, 2024
The post 3rd Eye Landslide – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal .
All Rights Reserved Book Blog