I’m still not sure if Ben Sears intends his comics to be all-ages (or, more specifically, most-ages, for tweens and up), or if it’s a by-product of the stories that he tells. Either way, I’d say his books are OK for tweens, mostly, if that’s something you care about. Young Shadow & the Watchdogs is…
I came into this book with almost no expectations, and was happily surprised – it’s a taut, smartly-paced crime thriller in a lived-in SF universe. I’ll try not to spoil what turns into a twisty plot with a lot of revelations, but keep that in mind. Bridge Planet Nine is Jared Throne’s second full-length graphic…
I’ll probably be short here – my time is limited this morning and my old instincts in writing about mysteries (from doing reader’s reports for a decade and a half for bookclubs) is to explain everything in order, using every character’s name prominently. And that is, frankly, a lousy model for writing about mystery stories,…
Matt Kindt has been making stories about spies since the beginning of his career – but he’s found a new take this time. Spy Superb has a title that echoes his early success Super Spy (and its loose Lost Dossiers follow-up), and that is definitely intentional – but Kindt is substantially less serious this time…
The publisher describes this graphic novel as a thriller, but I’d put it solidly in noir – that may seem needlessly nitpicky, but if you’re the kind of reader who has strong opinions on the location of the border between mystery and thriller, it may be helpful. It’s written and drawn by Rina Ayuyang in…
When last we left the Mystery Teens of Tackleford, at the end of The Case of the Missing Piece , they had mostly stopped solving mysteries, and two of the core girls, Lottie and Shauna, had just fallen out. That’s what the title refers to for this final collection: not the supernatural menace that threatens…
I feel like I did this already, but that was a decade ago, so maybe I need to do it again. Also, and probably more importantly, the last time I talked about this book, it wasn’t actually available at my end of the Pacific at all, which made my praise slightly beside the point for…
Sometimes a creator’s different instincts and plans don’t always play nice with each other. For example, a costumed-hero story has certain standard tropes: the hero can always leave the bad guys tied up with a nice note for the authorities and the reader knows that means justice has and will be done. But if the…
Thirteen years ago, I saw this book for the first time (in an earlier edition). I was fairly late: it was published in comics form several years before that, but I did have the slight disadvantage of being on the other side of the world. I was impressed then; I’m equally impressed now. The Trese…
If you are me, you will have noticed that this post is not tagged “I Love (And Rockets) Mondays,” and that it is not appearing on a Monday. If you are not me, you did not notice and do not care. But that tiny, silly issue of nomenclature is at very central to this book…
In December I (foolishly) jumped into the latest Nate Heller detective story, Better Dead, by Max Allan Collins. This book has nothing to do with the Holiday Season. This book has nothing to do with making oneself better or preparing for the New Year’s challenges. In fact, this book is so enthralling it distracted me…
via Someone familiar was a Mystery Date model. – Album on Imgur.
