Shatter the UniverseBy Diana Ma316 pages/Abrams Amulet/$19.99 The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers has always been a mystery to me. I understand the concept, but found the initial series, when imported to the USA by Saban, cheap with bad storytelling. But those colorful costumes and theme of unity and power proved irresistible in the 1980s. The…
Mike Mignola seems to be settling into his “Lands Unknown” for an extended stay; that’s a good thing for those of us who enjoyed the light touch and quirky bits of folklore – not to mention the pure joy of storytelling evident throughout – that he brought to the first “Lands Unknown” book, Bowling for…
We Are Pan By Andre Frattino, Yasmin Flores Montañez, and Fabi Marques184 pages/Top Shelf Productions/$19.99 One of the best parts of mainstream publishers widening the breadth of graphic novels now available for readers of all ages. One of the hottest categories seems to be creating nonfiction, exploring memoir, and little-known tidbits of history. I was…
Disney Descendants: A Lost RevengeBy Kalynn Bayron and Asiah Fulmore176 pages/Abrams Fanfare/$16.99 Fairy tales require a suspension of belief, a willingness to accept the impossible as possible. It gives us a sense of wonder that magic is real. Tapping into that, Walt Disney adapted these fairy tales for modern-day audiences with charming animated musicals and…
Talking fast and being whip-smart got you noticed at the turn of the century. Aaron Sorkin set the pace with The West Wing, but it met its match on October 5, 2000, when the WB invited us to visit Stars Hollow, CT (population 9,973), and stay a spell. The Gilmore Girls was unlike any dramas…
The Awakening of RokuBy Randy Ribay279 pages/Amulet Books/$21.99 I was once again invited to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender with the most recent offering in their Legends series of young adult novels. After previously entering this world, with no prior knowledge, with City of Echoes, I am now tasked with evaluating Roku’s story,…
First up: I know I missed one. In between the original Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy and this book, there was Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy: Disco Fever, which is unavailable from any library near me, digitally or physically. (In fact, none of the nearby libraries seem to have any of the Laser Moose books…
Naomi Nowak published three graphic novels in the Aughts – I missed the first one, Unholy Kinship, but covered the second one, House of Clay, for ComicMix at the time. And now I’ve finally found my way to the third book, 2009’s Graylight . At the time, I referred to her as “a cartoonist resident…
Everyone has one book in them, they say. Usually the “how I got here” story – whatever was unique or special or striking about childhood or life in general. I don’t think that’s dismissive; I like to think of it as celebratory: everyone can make at least one work of art, if they put in…
Charley Butters is probably dead. He was a painter in his mid-life during the later 1950s, so by the time of this 2015 graphic novel – set, as far as I can tell, basically contemporaneously – he would have been at least in his eighties. But there are two more books in this series, so…
Most lives don’t have a specific story. People do things, they live and die, and it doesn’t form any particular shape. Famous people are more likely to have stronger story elements – there’s at least a rise, possibly a fall, probably phases or eras – but that only means better raw materials for a biographer….
MegalopolisBy Francis Ford Coppola, Chris Ryall, & Jacob Phillips160 pages/Abrams ComicArts/$25.99 While curious, I did not go to see Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. I had read about the trouble shoot, the confused critics, and the box office doldrums, and never got around to it on streaming. Thankfully, Abrams ComicArts has provided us with a graphic…
