tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36542463219632809072024-02-20T14:58:45.964-05:00Things I LikeToo many on-line reviewers focus on the negative. All they do is complain about stuff they don't like. This blog is about the things I do like.thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.comBlogger3106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-37337507236731608262020-01-01T14:48:00.000-05:002020-01-01T14:48:05.217-05:00Bad GirlsWritten by Alex De Campi
Art by Victor Santos
I think that Alex De Campi must be one of the most underrated comics writers in the business. She rarely writes the same kind of book twice, and has shown great diversity and originality in her output, demonstrating equal skill at depicting dystopian science fiction in Smoke, riveting teen relationships in No Mercy, spy thrillers in Maydaythingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-8284904056682783082019-12-24T21:04:00.000-05:002019-12-24T21:04:55.260-05:00The Pitiful Human-Lizard Season 4: Setbacks
Written by Jason Loo, Fred Kennedy, and Meaghan Carter
Art by Jason Loo and Meaghan Carter
I've been reading the Pitiful Human-Lizard's adventures in a few different formats over the last few years. First, I bought some of the self-published comics directly from Jason Loo at TCAF, and then when the book was picked up by Chapterhouse Comics, I enjoyed getting them from my local comics thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-59081229270210701162019-11-19T21:10:00.000-05:002019-11-19T21:10:46.036-05:00SentientWritten by Jeff Lemire
Art by Gabriel Walta
I've yet to be disappointed with an offering from TKO Studios, the up and coming publisher that offers their books as both a trade paperback and as a handsomely slipcased six-issue miniseries.
I was pleasantly surprised last week when I got my copy of Sentient, one of their second wave books, in the mail last week, having given up hope of it arriving thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-64762642813376924752019-08-13T17:14:00.002-04:002019-08-13T17:14:24.265-04:00The 7 Deadly SinsWritten by Tze Chun
Art by Artyom Trakhanov
Coloured by Giulia Brusco
The 7 Deadly Sins is the third TKO Studios book that I've read and loved (out of three). I was immediately attracted to this book because I've become a big fan of Russian artist Artyom Trakhanov (Undertow and Turncoat were both brilliant).
This story is set in Texas in 1867, and focuses on life along the thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-24786961958597179092019-07-31T22:26:00.002-04:002019-07-31T22:26:46.584-04:00SaraWritten by Garth Ennis
Art by Steve Epting
Colour by Elizabeth Breitweiser
TKO Studios is two for two with me now, as I found Sara to be as impressive as Goodnight Paradise.
In Sara, Garth Ennis returns to the Second World War, looking this time at the female Russian snipers deployed to slow the Nazi advance into Russian territory in 1942. The group of women, all of whom have thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-64862193595823746602019-07-09T21:21:00.003-04:002019-07-09T21:21:21.498-04:00Goodnight ParadiseWritten by Joshua Dysart
Art by Alberto Ponticelli
Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli collaborated on one of my all-time favourite Vertigo comics, Unknown Soldier. In their telling, they shifted the general idea behind the classic character to war-torn Uganda, and gave us one of the freshest and most interesting war comics I've ever read. After that, Dysart made himself the thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-59698892041103901072019-05-26T16:23:00.001-04:002019-05-26T16:23:19.763-04:00Walkby Paul Tucker
When you grow up in a place, and stay there for any length of time, you begin to have all sorts of associations and random memories of it.
In Walk, a comic self-published by Paul Tucker, who is currently killing it on Black Mask's Nobody Is In Control, he goes for a 4.4 kilometre walk from his house in St. John's Newfoundland to the comic story and back.
Each page shows a thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-36382476371539183762019-05-25T22:53:00.001-04:002019-05-25T22:53:24.007-04:00TetWritten by Paul Allor
Art by Paul Tucker
I'd thought about getting Tet when it was first published by IDW as a miniseries, because I'm a big fan of stories set during the Vietnam War, but held off because the creators, Pauls Allor and Tucker were unknown to me. Recently, Tucker started working on the Black Mask series Nobody Is In Control, and I was intrigued by his Paul Azaceta/Tommy Lee thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-62571786507071855442019-05-20T18:06:00.001-04:002019-05-20T18:06:49.809-04:00Sobekby James Stokoe
It's been way too long since we've seen James Stokoe do his thing. Sure, there was that great Aliens four-parter he did last year, but there's something that makes a creator-owned book a little more special.
Sobek is a one-off comic, with a gold foil cover, that centres on the Egyptian crocodile god. A boat piloted by three acolytes travels to Sobek's home to let himthingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-25413248493548495082019-05-20T12:33:00.000-04:002019-05-20T12:33:00.968-04:00The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Some Heart Leftby Jason Loo
I've been a fan of Jason Loo's Pitiful Human-Lizard since I first sampled it at TCAF four years ago, buying the two issues on offer at that time. I immediately fell in love with the way Loo portrays Toronto in his comics, and also enjoyed his everyman approach to superheroics.
Lucas has been doing his best to become a hero for our city, despite the fact that he's not really thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-3956767566753857522019-05-12T10:36:00.001-04:002019-05-12T10:36:07.857-04:00Pope Hats #6by Hartley Lin
Pope Hats is one of those books that I most associate with TCAF, the Toronto Comics Arts Festival, as I think I've bought every issue so far at the festival. Much of Pope Hats's previous issues were recently collected in the graphic novel Young Frances, and the book's creator, recently did away with his pen name, Ethan Rilly, and embraced his own name, Hartley Lin.
This thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-87030287706276076242019-05-12T10:04:00.003-04:002019-05-12T10:36:23.736-04:00Ginseng Roots #1by Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson, best known for his blockbuster graphic novels Blankets and Habibi, has returned with a serialized comic book called Ginseng Roots, which is about his childhood growing up in Marathon Wisconsin, the one-time centre of American ginseng production.
As a kid, Craig and his brother Phil worked through the summers alongside their mother, picking weeds and caringthingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-40612086677416703602019-01-01T13:06:00.001-05:002019-01-03T16:19:00.520-05:00Best WishesWritten by Mike Richardson
Art by Paul Chadwick
I consider Paul Chadwick to be one of the best straight-up comics artists in the business, so of course I wanted to read Best Wishes, his collaboration with Dark Horse president Mike Richardson.
This is a slightly odd magical realist series about work and relationships in New York City. An old and ornate fountain is moved from Italy to New thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-50530658132602823462018-12-16T10:23:00.001-05:002018-12-16T10:23:47.209-05:00My Heroes Have Always Been JunkiesWritten by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
There is no better partnership in comics today than the one between Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Their collaborations are always great to read, and push the boundary of whatever genre they choose to work in, be it crime, horror, or any combination of the two. They are probably best known for their crime book, Criminal, which they are thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-40307735692998310542018-11-18T09:35:00.001-05:002018-11-18T09:35:34.247-05:00The Terrible Elizabeth Dumn Against the Devils in Suitsby Arabson, adapted by James Robinson
One of my favourite things about Image Comics is the way in which they will seemingly randomly put out a comic with little fanfare that has the ability to completely brighten one's day. I'm not familiar with the work of the Brazilian cartoonist Arabson (except to notice that his name is starting to pop up on the variant cover circuit), but the Paul thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-42494406885567346762018-08-11T12:25:00.002-04:002018-08-11T12:25:30.574-04:00Nanjing: The Burning Cityby Ethan Young
I have always loved war comics. Unlike war movies, they often allow space to understand characters, and while many of them are steeped in easy cliché, there are a lot more that try to dig into the strength of character it takes to survive military conflict.
Ethan Young's Nanjing: The Burning City, is a very effective war comic. It focuses on two Chinese men, a Captainthingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-51380938847336592972018-08-01T16:18:00.001-04:002018-08-01T16:18:23.090-04:00Violent Love Vol. 1: Stay DangerousWritten by Frank J. Barbiere
Art by Victor Santos
I will admit that I hadn't been very impressed with the work of Frank J. Barbiere up to this point. It's not that I thought he was a bad writer, it's just that nothing that I'd read by him had really clicked for me, and I was pretty indifferent to seeing his name on a project. I do like Victor Santos's art though, so when I saw that thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-36028819609341950092018-07-31T20:11:00.001-04:002018-07-31T20:11:32.512-04:00Displaced PersonsWritten by Derek McCulloch
Art by Anthony Peruzzo
There are just so many good graphic novels out there that it's almost impossible for them to make enough of a splash. I don't remember ever seeing this 2014 album-sized book being solicited by Image, but did see it on a sale table a while back and figured, because of writer Derek McCulloch's Gone to Amerikay OGN, I'd give this a chancethingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-77929074519894995672018-07-23T21:45:00.001-04:002018-07-23T21:45:19.057-04:00Sally Heathcote SuffragetteWritten by Mary M. Talbot
Art by Kate Charlesworth and Bryan Talbot
I'll be the first to admit that I knew almost nothing about the struggle to gain women the vote in Great Britain. I'm a little more familiar with the Canadian struggle, which to my knowledge, was neither so protracted, nor so bloody.
In Sally Heathcote, Suffragette, Mary M. Talbot uses a fictional character to thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-71567248852411291892018-07-13T22:30:00.002-04:002018-07-13T22:30:37.106-04:00The Private EyeWritten by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Marcos Martin
When Brian Vaughan and Marcos Martin started serializing The Private Eye on their website, panelsyndicate.com, I started to read it there, and loved it, but my deep aversion to reading books online left me downloading chapters but never actually getting around to reading them. Luckily, the series was eventually printed as this lovely thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-9386093174494572772018-07-06T17:36:00.002-04:002018-07-06T17:36:37.930-04:00The PervertWritten by Michelle Perez
Art by Remy Boydell
I was a big fan of Island, the comics anthology edited by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios that Image put out a few years ago. Each issue was guaranteed to have something interesting in it, but one strip that really stood out to me was one about a transgendered sex worker by Michelle Perez and Remy Boydell.
I was pretty happy to see that strips thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-29533903303228760742018-05-20T11:09:00.002-04:002018-05-20T11:09:29.357-04:00The Grave Diggers Union Vol. 1Written by Wes Craig
Art by Toby Cypress
I love Wes Craig's artwork, especially on Deadly Class, but when I saw that this new series was being published by Image with him writing, and the consistently interesting Toby Cypress drawing, I was intrigued, but also decided to tradewait the book, as I've been trying to cut down on my pullfile list. Last week, Craig was at TCAF, so I was happy tothingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-59306128556483754002018-05-20T09:40:00.002-04:002018-05-20T09:40:58.793-04:00Brass Sun Vol. 1: The Wheel of WorldsWritten by Ian Edginton
Art by INJ Culbard
I became a fan of INJ Culbard's work when he drew The New Deadwardians, one of the last good Vertigo series, and I've always been aware of Ian Edginton's writing, enjoying things like his Hinterkind series, also at Vertigo. When Titan started publishing Brass Sun as a miniseries, it looked interesting, and then I came across this beautiful thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-21531979240481103952018-03-04T11:12:00.002-05:002018-03-04T11:12:29.557-05:00Get NakedWritten by Steven T. Seagle
Art by Mads Ellegård Skovbakke, Fred Tornager, Thorbjørn Petersen, Sim Mau, Rebekka Davidsen Hestbæk, Emei Olivia Burell, Andrada-Aurora Hansen, Erlend Jhortland Sandøy, Ingvild Marie Methi, Thomas Vium, Christoffer Hammer, Aske Schmidt Rose, Silja Lin, Angelica Inigo Jørgensen, Tina Burholt, Hope Hjort, Bob Lundgreen Kristiansen, Cecilie "Q" Maintz Thorsen, Patricia thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654246321963280907.post-38605346489290768312018-02-24T12:42:00.002-05:002018-02-24T12:42:39.194-05:00GeniusWritten by Steven T. Seagle
Art by Teddy Kristiansen
Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen are a favourite comics pairing of mine, almost on the same level as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, if not as prolific. They've worked on some incredible comics together, such as House of Secrets, It's a Bird..., and The Red Diary, but I somehow never learned about Genius, this slim graphic novel thingslikeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073151829696396635noreply@blogger.com0