Category Archives: Graphic Literature

What’s New for the 4th of December: Ursula Le Guin fiction, Ragnarok and beyond, Jack’s favorite reading place, Nordic traditions, chocolate and other matters

English autumn mornings are often like mornings nowhere else in the world. The air is cold. The floorboards are cold. It is perhaps this coldness which sharpens the tang of the hot cup of tea. Outside, steps on the gravel … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Commentary, Film, Food and Drink, Graphic Literature, Music, Stories | Comments Off on What’s New for the 4th of December: Ursula Le Guin fiction, Ragnarok and beyond, Jack’s favorite reading place, Nordic traditions, chocolate and other matters

Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night/Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi’s Brightest Day, Vol. 1

Blackest Night and Brightest Day mark another DC “crossover event” in which pretty much everyone gets reinvented. These have become almost a requirement in superhero comics, I suspect because of the periodic necessity of reconciling the various universes occupied by … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night/Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi’s Brightest Day, Vol. 1

Grant Morrison’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne

Batman has probably been rethought and retooled more than any other superhero, and The Return of Bruce Wayne, a six issue mini-series here collected in a hardback edition, gives us an extended reconstruction as Wayne works his way through history … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Grant Morrison’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne

Tony Bedard and Kevin VanHook’s Oracle: The Cure

You don’t really need tights and a cape to be a superhero. You don’t need super strength or mutant abilities. You don’t even have to have your body surgically or chemically altered. (Willingly or otherwise.) Mind, these things don’t hurt, … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Tony Bedard and Kevin VanHook’s Oracle: The Cure

Mike Mignola and John Bryne’s Hellboy: The Library Edition, Volume One

The volumes in this format, six as I write this look at the first one, look larger than they actually as they’re nine inches by twelve inches. The covers are black matte finish with gold lettering on them. Rather classy … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Mike Mignola and John Bryne’s Hellboy: The Library Edition, Volume One

Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Absolute Edition

I don’t own many of the Absolute Editions because a) they cost a lot, and b) there’s very few other graphic novels I believe warrant this approach such as the Absolute Edition of the Planetary series that was written by … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Absolute Edition

Jack Vance and Humayoun Ibrahim’s The Moon Moth

At risk of dating myself, I remember Jack Vance’s “The Moon Moth” from its first publication in Galaxy magazine. (I admit it — I was a science fiction geek, with subscriptions to Galaxy, Analog, and The Magazine of Fantasy and … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged | Comments Off on Jack Vance and Humayoun Ibrahim’s The Moon Moth

Futaro Yamada and Masaki Segawa’s Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, Vols. 1-5 (trans. David Ury)

Basilisk is Masaki Segawa’s manga adaptation of Futaro Yamada’s 1958 historical novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls. It counts mostly as “historical fantasy,” and as rendered in the manga version, the story line is fairly spare while the “surround,” the visual … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Futaro Yamada and Masaki Segawa’s Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, Vols. 1-5 (trans. David Ury)

Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith’s The Chronicles of Conan, Vol. 1: The Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories; The Barry Windsor-Smith Archive: Conan, Volume 1

Once upon a time there was a young English illustrator who wanted to draw comics. He wanted to draw comics badly enough that he came to America with little more than the clothes on his back and a sheaf of … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith’s The Chronicles of Conan, Vol. 1: The Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories; The Barry Windsor-Smith Archive: Conan, Volume 1

Roy Thomas, et al., The Chronicles of Kull, Volume 1: A King Comes Riding and Other Stories

Before there was Conan, there was Kull! At least, so we were reminded on any number of covers of comics featuring stories about Robert E. Howard’s Kull, the spiritual forerunner of Conan. Kull was arguably the most important of Howard’s … Continue reading

Posted in Graphic Literature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Roy Thomas, et al., The Chronicles of Kull, Volume 1: A King Comes Riding and Other Stories