So the book today is all kinds of things – source of an animated romantic comedy , compared to Seinfeld, a new 2023 collection of the work of the cartoonist behind Wrinkles and The House . What it isn’t, though, is a single thing. Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas doesn’t explain itself. But it…
Formats come with expectations and assumptions – not always warranted, but they’re along for the ride already. For example: Mickey Mouse: Zombie Coffee , a bande desinée by Régis Loisel, originally published by Éditions Glénat in France in 2016 in (waves hands) some format, possibly within Le Journal du Mickey , is laid out like…
Don’t tell anyone, but I think this is a stealth reprint collection. If it were in prose, I might even go so far as to call it a fix-up. Roz Chast is one of the giants of contemporary cartooning, a New Yorker mainstay since the late ’70s and the author of the major memoir Can’t…
When I was a lad, the standard bio-for-young-people format was a small hardcover, heavily illustrated but written in prose, in short, punchy chapters and topping out at maybe a hundred and fifty pages. There were a lot of them: I recall shelves in classrooms and school libraries full of the things, some of them in…
I’m running close to a decade behind reading Peter Bagge’s books – but, the weird thing is, I seem to still be reading all of his books, just with that big time-delay. I have no explanation, and may catch up one of these days: cartooning is time-intensive work, and even someone as prolific as Bagge…
It’s not usual for a creative team to accrete members over time. OK, sure, you can think of bands that got bigger as they got successful enough to add, for instance, a horn section, but those accretions tend to be semi-separate: The Fantastic Desperadoes with the Horns of Doom! People get replaced, of course. But…
This book was shorter than I expected, so today’s post should be quick. Last time around with Jim Benton, I read and enjoyed his all-ages graphic novel Attack of the Stuff but noted that I might be getting to the end of the all-ages bits, leaving only the definitely-for-middle-graders books. (And, don’t get me wrong:…
I admit this is a weird thing I do: I read full books from webcomics that I don’t follow. But I want to argue that it isn’t weird. First, why would I want to read a book of a comic where I’ve read all of the comics already? Well, OK, yes: if you like a…
There aren’t all that many books where the format is an inspired choice – most books are what they are, arranged in the same way as a thousand others much like them. Every so often, you see a novel in epic verse, or a non-fiction book of advocacy that’s basically one big infographic, but those…
First up, I have to answer the question I had when I picked up this book: yes, that tin man. Well, one of those tin men, to be clearer. Justin Madison’s debut graphic novel Tin Man is set in a version of L. Frank Baum’s Oz, and his tin man, Campbell, has the familiar shape…
A.J. Dungo obscures the central theme of his first graphic novel for a long time. The cover copy only hints at it. I have to assume that’s all on purpose. And, to be a fair reviewer, I feel like I should do the same. But know that In Waves is a true story, that it’s…
The most interesting creators are the ones you have to learn how to read. They tell stories their way, making their choices but not going out of their way to explain. And it can take reading a few books to figure that out: not all readers will want to spend that much effort. I think…
We collect personal data via tracking technologies for analytics and marketing. To exercise your right to opt-out of this processing, choose below. Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Cookie Settings
Cookie Settings
We use third-party cookies that help us analyse how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. However, you can opt out of these cookies by checking 'Do Not Sell My Personal Information' and clicking the 'Save My Preferences' button. Once you opt out, you can opt in again at any time by unchecking 'Do Not Sell My Personal Information' and clicking the 'Save My Preferences' button.
