Jason Michelitch
The Meandering, Beautiful ‘Artichoke Tales’ [Review]
"Artichoke Tales" is an ambitious new book (out this week from Fantagraphics) by the celebrated cartoonist Megan Kelso. It's a multi-generational fantasy epic about a divided, warring people with artichoke leaves for hair, focusing on the experiences of a single family with ties to both sides of the struggle...
Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen [Review]
Kathryn and Stuart Immonen are the power couple of fun comics, with their separate work on Marvel books like "Nextwave" and the recent "Patsy Walker: Hellcat" miniseries exhaling breaths of anarchic and whimsical fresh air into the often overserious superhero world...
Weathercraft by Jim Woodring: A Long Overdue Trip [Review]
"Weathercraft" is my first Jim Woodring book, which, if you know me and my indie inclinations, is probably shocking. Woodring is such a big name in alt-cartooning or indie comics or lit pics or whatever, that even I can't believe I've never read him before now, especially since it's been my M...
20 Things About ‘Iron Man 2′ [Review]
The following are 20 observations, impressions, and thoughts inspired by the motion picture IRON MAN 2, labeled thematically and arranged to form like Voltron into a whole piece, what might be called a "review".
This review is dedicated to Steve Martin and Fred Schepsi.
Zombies and Madmen: A Picto-Guide Through the Darker Side of Michael Allred
"I, Zombie" #1 hit shelves this week from DC/Vertigo, a new comic that follows the exploits of Gwen, a female zombie gravedigger who, once a month, is driven to eat the brains of one of her corpse clients, and in the process absorbs the memories and last wishes of said deceased, prompting her to solve mysteries and embark on adventures...
Iron Man: A Proud Movie Tradition of Flying Blind
Um...line?
As you probably know, "Iron Man 2" comes out this Friday. So, did you guys all watch that first movie, that "Iron Man" movie? Probably you did, I think, because a lot of people did and you guys are people, and so that works, because of math...
Our Boys: ‘Our Gang’ Vol. 4 and ‘Blazing Combat’ [Review]
In any niche interest, there is a skewed view of history, an ordering of importance based on the people or events that contributed to your cause, your hobby, your particular area of focus. A sort of subject-matter nationalism -- we all have our own George Washingtons and Abraham Lincolns, whether they be named Coco Chanel or Orson Welles...
Soft Outside, Hard Center: High Soft Lisp [Review]
The back cover of the new Gilbert Hernandez collection from Fantagraphics proudly trumpets: "HIGH SOFT LISP is one of Hernandez's sexiest, funniest, and most freewheeling story collections." Frankly, after reading the book, I think the marketing team at Fanta needs to calm down, maybe go outside and get a breath of fresh air, or get hosed down with cold water...
The Swedish Comics Invasion Arrives: ‘120 Days of Simon,’ ‘Hey Princess,’ ‘Troll King’
Foreign art can be inherently enticing for its foreignness. We all look to fiction and art to transport us to another world, another reality, another point of view, but much as memoir and autobiography hold in them a special titillation of getting to see something real and private, art from other cultures brings with it a promise that, no matter how successful the art may be at transporting or
BEST ANIMAL TEAM OF 2009: Beasts of Burden
The ComicsAlliance Superlatives of 2009 continue with the Best Animal Team of 2009: Dark Horse's "Beasts of Burden."
Sorry, Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, but there's only room in my heart for one subhuman supergroup this year, and it is "Beasts of Burden...