Category Archives: Graphic Literature

Alison Bechdel’s Spent

Best selling graphic novelist Alison Bechdel’s Spent is a laugh-out-loud example of autofiction at its best, tackling serious topics of our present moment while poking fun at herself and her milieu, the world of aging Boomer leftist (mostly) lesbians in … Continue reading

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Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader’s Fogtown

Joseph Thompson wrote this review for Sleeping Hedgehog. Pulp fiction and pork rinds have a lot in common. Both leave one feeling a bit greasy after consuming. They are neither the healthiest part of a regular diet nor the terror … Continue reading

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The Brothers Grimm and T.A. Dockray’s Grimm’s Grimmest; introduction by Maria Tatar

So you want read a nice, pleasant story with a happy ending to your daughter as she drifts off to sleep? Let’s see what offered up in Grimm’s Grimmest… Hmmm… There’s the story of the woman who decapitates her stepson, … Continue reading

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Masufumi Yamamoto’s The Manga Guide to Relativity

J.J.S. Boyce wrote this for Sleeping Hedgehog. Ohmsha’s Manga Guide series – with expert English translations courtesy of No Starch Press – has consistently shown its ability to do everything an introductory textbook aims to do, achieving maximum interest and … Continue reading

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Gail Simone’s Villains United

I mentioned at the end of my review of two of Gail Simone’s Secret Six collections that I was “going to lay hands on a copy of Villains United — I want the back story on this bunch.” Well, I … Continue reading

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Gail Simone’s Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation, and Secret Six: Unhinged

Gail Simone’s “Secret Six” is actually the third superhero team under that name. The first two were really, truly heroes; this group, not so much. They are, in fact, all bad guys from the DC Universe, some recycled from other … Continue reading

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Frank Tieri, J. Calafiore, and Jack Purcell’s Batman: Gotham Underground

The problem with a story arc like Gotham Underground is that, by itself, it doesn’t really get to go anywhere. Instead, it’s tied into and supports the continuity of a larger limited series/crossover event/superhero throwdown, and as such what happens … Continue reading

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Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens’s Nightwing: Year One

The words “Year One” when applied to the title of a DC Comics series carry with them tremendous responsibility. Batman: Year One was a seminal event in superhero comics, and a worthy bookend to The Dark Knight Returns. Robin: Year … Continue reading

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smoky man & Gary Spencer Millidge’s Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman

I have a confession to make up front, one that’s not likely to endear me to this book’s intended audience: I’m not a huge Alan Moore fan. Sure, I adored the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series and early Swamp … Continue reading

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Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales, and Michael Bair’s Identity Crisis

Every year on my dad’s birthday, I include in his gift a complete comic mini-series, in graphic novel form, of some old favourite of his from either the DC or Marvel universes. Like me (and most men who were once … Continue reading

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