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It’s a rare occasion that you can use words like sweet, thoughtful, and gentle to describe a science fiction superhero story taking place in a brutal, dystopian urban battleground, but thanks to Sophie Campbell’s Shadoweyes from Iron Circus Comics, that day has arrived. Set in a cluttered and decaying city of the future, Dranac, Campbell introduces […]

Bear, Bird, and Stag Were Arguing In The Forest and Other Stories by Madeline Flores Flores offers three philosophical shorter works that come together well in their examination of knowing yourself, living purposefully, understanding where you stand in the universe, seeing the potential in yourself, and lots of other good things, but without being heavy. Instead […]

Bear, Bird, and Stag Were Arguing In The Forest and Other Stories by Madeline Flores Flores offers three philosophical shorter works that come together well in their examination of knowing yourself, living purposefully, understanding where you stand in the universe, seeing the potential in yourself, and lots of other good things, but without being heavy. Instead […]

For many people, the earliest experience of human loss that pierces their emotions and affects their everyday existence is the death of a grandparent, and that of a grandmother, I have found, anyway, seems to pack a particular wallop. Some grandmothers participate in a kid’s life as a kind of back-up parent, others as a […]

Sometimes it’s better to just give yourself to something rather than to seek out its meaning. Not everything has to have one clear meaning, and in some cases, to bring concrete meaning to a work might mean imposing clarity on something that was not meant to have any. That imposition might actually come off as […]

This collection of short works by Malachi Ward and published by Alternative Comics announces itself with a verbal joke — From Now On is another way of saying the future, after all. Ward’s stories reflect the sensibility of the title, presenting familiar scenarios, but presenting them in an unexpected way that challenges the tropes we’ve embraced […]

This short, spare, poetic, emotionally brutal piece from Cathy G. Johnson and Koyama Press captures the intersection of three lives, and the unlikely self realization that two of them enact on one. The story begins with two punks at a music show exhibiting destructive manners that disrupts the shows and gives them an opportunity for […]

Massachusetts cartoonist Melissa Mendes has a knack for comics that not only center on kids, but present the world from their points of view with an unromantic honesty. Her first major work, the Freddy Stories collection, and her most recent project, the serialized webcomic The Weight both show off her prowess, and Lou, a collection […]

  Koyama Press has just announced its fall line-up and it’s mostly on the adventurous side, with a few sure crowd pleasers. It definitely continues the tradition of excellence from this Canadian publisher with a well rounded slate that touches on all of the most popular contemporary indie comics genres. On tap: CAT RACKHAM by […]

By Nicholas Eskey If you label yourself a “nerd” and wear it with pride, undoubtedly you already follow Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist News. The quick witted comedian and mega-nerd took heads the podcast driven news network for nerds with a wonderful collection of colleagues and special guests, discussing everything from the current state of all things […]

Immensely talented Russian illustrator Roman Muradov has quickly established himself as one of the most complex cartoonists around, both visually and narratively. In Muradov’s hands, the simplest fable can become a massively abstracted exercise that is usually part giddy, part confounding. If you’ve been alienated from his previous work because of this, The End Of […]

  Retrofit Comics has been putting out some of the finest small press comics of recent years and they’ve announced their Spring/Summer 2016 line with Leela Corman, Alabaster Pizzo, Kaeleigh Forsyth, James Kochalka, Paloma Dawkins, Eleanor Davis and Luke Howard so this season should be just as fantastic. They’re running a Kickstarter to pay for printing and artist […]

There’s a lot of news about comics out there, so this is going to be a lot of column. • Faith #1 continues to be a huge hit for Valiant and is now in its FOURTH printing! The new printing hits on March 30th along with Faith #3. Here’s a cover gallery and some interiors. […]

Julia Wertz’s Eisner-nominated Drinking At The Movies, originally from 2010 but here with a handsome reissue from Koyama Press, is renowned for its humorous self-deprecating pile-on. At its root is the suggestion that beating yourself up is probably just part of personal growth. And that’s not just meant to make you feel better, but an […]

Let’s get going with spring book announcements: SPACE, a collection of Robert Sergal’s series ESCHEW. Sergal is an Ignatz Award nominee for Outstanding Comic and a Best American Comics selection, and his comics are short, stark but funny snapshots of awkward interactions, body humor and moment we’d often rather forget. Rod Lott, of Bookgasm writes: […]

You can go for years reading comics and come upon plenty of bizarre works, but at least understand where these are coming from. It’s more rare to hit on one that are more confounding, the ones that make you ask questions like “Where did this come from?” and “Who would do this?” So it is […]

The Weekend Casserole Collection by Kelly Froh Froh brings together a number of short pieces from various sources — anthologies she’s contributed to, some of her own minis, as well as some previously unseen work — Covering incidents from all parts of her life — childhood sleepovers, high school crushes, strangers on buses, work acquaintances […]

In Meags Fitzgerald’s previous book, Photobooth: A Biography, which documented just about anything you ever wondered about photo booths, she went far beyond her central subject, wrapping in segments of autobiography, making it a work about a wider swathe that her more intimate moments exist within. For Long Red Hair she does the exact opposite, focusing […]

The sad clown is a trope that has been well-used in every storytelling media there is, but Whit Taylor’s Up Down Clown from Ninth Art Press takes that trope further than usual. Rather than settling for the simple dichotomy of make-up and merriment hiding gloom, Taylor examines how a mental state might fluctuate with the […]

The Balkan comics anthology š! from kuš! is one of the more challenging delights of the comics world, grafting the sensibility of a contemporary art gallery onto the comics page. It regularly presents challenging and edgy work, often abstract, but with enough show of personality that you can see these are the works of real humans, and it comes in a striking mini-digest format that evokes Little Big Books, adding to its appeal as an object to display.

Robyn Chapman is once again collecting information for her annual Micropress Survey, which is not only a fact filled compendium of the state of very small indie publishing, but a nice zine as well. 2015 is drawing to a close, and you know what that means! It’s time for the 2015 Micro-Press Survey. I use […]

And yet more awesome comics are on the way from Koyama Press, with a particularly fresh line-up of indie comics up and comers. Patrick Kyle is known for his oddball fantasies while Aidan Koch has already gotten attention for her evocative experimental comics. Cathy G. Johnson is a fast rising star with a book coming out from First Second next year and an Ignatz under her belt; while Ben Sears name came up constantly when I asked about emerging male cartoonists. In addition, Koyama Press will put out its first translated comics: What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy, the story of Japanese artist Rokudenashiko (“good-for-nothing girl” or “bad girl”) whose work achives being truly transgressive; the Massive duo of Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins bring this one to English. PLease note, this comic is not about cats. And here's the complete lineup:

In yesterday's discussion of Marvel's new Red Wolf comic and comics journalism, I had talked a lot about other comics by and about indigenous people but cut it from an already lengthy piece. However, in the discussion of whether Red Wolf needs to be supported just because it promotes diversity, I suggested some other options -- please list more in the comments!

It truly is a new Golden Age of comics, not just because of the fantastic output from such publishers as Image, Fantagraphics, Oni, etc., but also because of how many great comics are going unnoticed. The market is brimming with material that has gone largely undiscovered. I experienced that in a big way with Shawn […]

Continuing our look at this fall’s top graphic novels, Koyama Press is reissuing Julia Wertz’s Drinking at the Movies, originally published by Three RIvers press but here reissued with all new material and an intro by Janeane Garaofolo. Wertz’s comic strips are autobiographical, but fearless in their honesty, and forgiving in bringing a light touch to […]