Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game is a baseball manga for people who don’t care about baseball. A tragedy early in the story helps to shape the narrative, but there’s also a good dose of unexpected comedy, and sequences that really make us want to cheer for Ko and his friends as they work toward the goal … Continue reading #813 “Cross Game”: Baseball manga that’s not about baseball (much)

Jonah Lobe, after many years designing characters for video games, has recently turned his attention to comics. He’s the illustrator of Marvel Anatomy: A Scientific Study of the Superhuman, in which we can finally learn just what’s going on inside characters like Wolverine, Venom, and Modok. He’s also on the verge of his first Kickstarter … Continue reading #812 Jonah Lobe on character anatomy and “Quiet: Level One”

On the surface, Sammy Harkham’s Blood of the Virgin is about an editor of b-movies in 1970s L.A. who has greater artistic aspirations, but it’s also rich with unexpected explorations of character and narrative approaches, themes about the creative process, responsibility, and being an immigrant, and Harkham’s best art and writing to date. Over a … Continue reading #811 “Blood of the Virgin”: About much more than filmmaking

Batman meets Italy’s humorous horror icon Dylan Dog in a beautiful three-issue series, originally published in Italian and recently released in English from DC. Tim and Emmet could recommend it on the art alone, but the story gives us a lot to discuss as well, including very rich conversations between characters and an interesting take … Continue reading #810 “Batman/Dylan Dog”: Dark Knight meets Nightmare Investigator

Paul Pate releases his third “Detective Perez” graphic novel, called Autotropolis, a turned-to-eleven detective story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Tim and Jason find a lot to like and not too terribly much to advise on — though of course almost any work can still be improved! Right? Griz Grobus, the latest from Simon … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #237: “Detective Perez: Autotropolis” and “Griz Grobus”

Sure, comics are great for fantastical stories, but they can tell intimate, personal stories as well — or sometimes the personal and the fantastical mix well. Artist and writer Pidge is the creator of the series Infinite Wheatpaste, which employs this method. Avery Hill has just published a collection of the series, called Infinite Wheatpaste … Continue reading #809 Pidge interview: “Fiction is a way to tell the truth”

So many Jack Kirby creations focus on gods, from The Mighty Thor to New Gods; he picked up concepts from myth or elsewhere and made them his. Kirby’s The Eternals makes no bones about where its inspiration came from: Erich von Däniken’s 1968 book Chariots of the Gods?. This week Tim and Emmet discuss the … Continue reading #808 Jack Kirby’s “The Eternals” 1-4: Chariots of the Superheroes?

Clover and Cutlass is a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired fantasy YA comedy web comic by Toby Boyd. Adam joins Tim to discuss. Coiled to Strike is an anthology book from Wildstar Press, featuring numerous artists and writers, focused on the adventures of legendary wild west antihero Emory Graves. Jason joins Tim to critique. Brought to you … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #236: “Clover and Cutlass” and “Coiled to Strike”

Friend of the show Irene Strychalski, former artist of such Marvel titles as Gwenpool and Silk, has been focused on her original title Fiendish, a lushly drawn (and colored, by Carlos Nicolas Zamudio) fantasy story. This week, Tim and Patrick discuss the first two volumes. Also, Tim presents a mini-review of Safer Places by Kit … Continue reading #807 Reviews: “Fiendish” and “Safer Places”

Berserk volume 12 left us at a crucial point: The Band of the Hawk were to be sacrificed so that Griffith can join the Godhand. Horrified, Tim and Kumar moved quickly on to volume 13, which left us… horrified, in a less fun way. Casca is raped, in an unnecessarily long, confusing, and (ick) titillating … Continue reading #806 “Berserk” v. 13 & 14: Is this scene necessary?