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“The Only Thing That Matters is the Work on the Page”: An Interview with...
In his comics he’s delved into such weighty topics as death, family, marriage, parenting, success, failure, the creative process, and the pleasures of drinking wine. What other major, essential topics...
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Gumballs
Gumballs embodies a different sensibility than most autobiographical comics, and not just because it comes from a trans author. Erin Nations started out by making webcomics, and brings that in-and-out...
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Girl Town
Carolyn Nowak has previously won Ignatzes for Promising New Talent (“Radishes,” 2016) and Outstanding Story (“Diana’s Electric Tongue,” 2017). These categories are apt summaries of her latest book Girl...
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The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest
a work of explication in five acts I. It’s After The End Of The World, Don’t You Know That Yet? To say Sun Ra once said “It’s after the end of the world, don’t you know that yet?” would be a...
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They Called Us Enemy
Ideally, George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy should just be an interesting, compelling memoir detailing a dark, shameful chapter in American history, drawing readers to itself through its narrator and...
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Nocturne: The Walled City Trilogy (Book Two)
Confusion can serve a variety of aesthetic purposes. In cyberpunk, disorientation, dislocation, and neologisms propel the reader into a future of indescribable alienation. High modernist...
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The Book Tour
Andi Watson’s The Book Tour is the first book for adults that the prolific cartoonist has both written and drawn himself in almost 20 years, and during its creation Watson’s ever-evolving art-style was...
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Under-Earth
We start by seeing the sky becoming eclipsed by a closing metal door that becomes increasingly distant until it can’t be seen. From thereon in, Under-Earth is a story of continuing descents, first into...
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The Nate Powell Interview
Nate Powell, Save it for Later, cover Leaning back in his drawing chair, stroking his nearby napping cat, Nate Powell settles in for the longest interview of his career. Part punk rocker, part Southern...
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Dispatches from Comics Camp – A Report from SPX 2022
This past weekend, the Small Press Expo was held in person for the first time since 2019, reconvening in its usual home at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. I attended the...
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The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell (coupled with) The Fate of the Artist
I consider myself to be a reasonable person. In hindsight, reasonable people can chuckle at the boob shouting “Judas!” at Bob Dylan from the cheap seats at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall on 17 May 1966....
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Mary Tyler MooreHawk
And so I have just read a book called Mary Tyler MooreHawk by the cartoonist Dave Baker—with photography by David Catalano and "design, layout, photo manipulation and additional photography" by Mike...
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Ashes
When popular Spanish cartoonist Álvaro Ortiz’s debut graphic novel, Ashes, arrived in English at the beginning of 2023, it was clear to me the book was destined to be featured on many best-of lists....
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The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic: Incantations of the present day
Published by Top Shelf & Knockabout, 352 pages, $49.99. Please note that all spellings of specialized terms below are used as they appear in the work under review. When I was 19 I could predict the...
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Charles Schulz’s Funny Things: An interview with Francesco Matteuzzi and Luca...
In 2023, a comics biography of Charles Schulz was published by Top Shelf, written and drawn by two Italian comic book artists: writer Francesco Matteuzzi and artist Luca Debus. The book was published...
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In Perpetuity
Peter and Maria Hoey are a brother and sister creative team with a striking design ethos. Their latest book, In Perpetuity is beautifully laid out. For example, the book takes place in two different...
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