Love and Capes is a delightful, light-hearted comic about romance. Described as a “heroically super situation comedy,” it describes the romance between Abby, who runs a bookstore, and Mark, who fights crime as The Crusader. The comic begins at the point when Mark reveals his secret identity to Abby (a smart move since we are spared many “Oh Mark, you’re here, you just missed The Crusader” type antics). The tone is set by the bright, … Continue reading Love and Capes by Thomas F. Zahler →
STOP THE PRESSES. RED ALERT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I have new Intel from the world of comic books, and this is it: In the 1940’s, there was a superheroine named, I shit you not, Pussy Katnip. Pussy Katnip had a voluptuous human body and a cat’s head, which I can only imagine caused a lot of kids in the 1940’s to grow up with some very confused sexual ideas. Here’s a description of … Continue reading Divas, Dames, and Daredevils by Mike Madrid →
Beauties is a one-shot comic by Marguerite Bennett, with art by Trungles and lettering by Rachel Deering. It’s a simply gorgeous art nouveau inspired fairytale that turns the Beauty and the Beast story into a completely fresh parable about love. In this story, instead of the Beast capturing Beauty, Beauty’s father, who has three daughters, captures The Beast. The first daughter makes him a pet. The second daughter makes him a slave. But the third daughter asks … Continue reading Beauties by Marguerite Bennett →
Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet’s Ace Reporter is a very well written, well-researched book by Tim Hanley, who also wrote Wonder Woman Unbound. It’s a fascinating look at comic book culture, how women are depicted in comics, and what happens when a female character is written almost exclusively by men. It’s also a book that pissed me the hell off (because of what the book described, not because of any … Continue reading Investigating Lois Lane by Tim Hanley →
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is an anthology that combines prose writing, illustrations, and short comics by many different authors. All of the entries explore the ways in which women who identify as geeks experience romance. There are countless variations on this theme – some people write about their first crush, some about a divorce, some about how fan fiction shaped the way they talk about sexuality. The general theme is romance but the … Continue reading The Secret Loves of Geek Girls ed. by Hope Nicholson →
Back in November 2015, I reviewed Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. At the time, a lot of people suggested that I read Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner, and I’m so glad they did. Understanding Comics is a wonderful Comics 101 course and Comics and Sequential Art kicks it up to the next level. Comics and Sequential Art presumes that the reader has a working definition of what a comic is and that the reader has … Continue reading Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner →
If the post-holiday doldrums have set in, cheer yourself up by reading Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, the new Marvel comic by Brandon Montclaire and Amy Reeder. In this comic, a brilliant African American tween girl named Lunella tries to use science (Inspector Gadget style) to avoid becoming an Inhuman. The Inhuman thing is part of the new Marvel mythos, but don’t worry about it – the point is that she’s super smart, she’s into … Continue reading Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur by Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder →
The Infinite Loop is a comic book series consisting of six issues. The limited number of issues allows for a single, contained story with a happy ending that should make romance readers very happy. The last issue was released on September 30th, 2015, so you can get that nice satisfying feeling of eating up all the issues at once, if, like me, you’re a comics binger. The comic is a romance between two women, and … Continue reading The Infinite Loop by Pierrick Colinet and Elsa Charretier →
Monstress is a new comic by Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda. It’s a fantasy story set in an alternate version of China in the early 1900s. In this world, humans keep ‘Archanics,’ non-humans, as slaves, and they fear ‘Monstras:’ “unnerving, but harmless, apparitions.” A young woman, Maika, who looks human, has a psychic connection to a supernatural force. She uses this link to try to get revenge on her oppressors – but she might … Continue reading Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda →
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud totally blew my mind. This book is fun and easy to read but so incredibly helpful in showing the reader how comics work. Because the technical aspects of comics work on the reader subconsciously, I was unaware of how much difference can be made by things like the shape and spacing of a panel. This book has enriched my comic book reading life immeasurably. McCloud’s book is a Comics 101 … Continue reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud →
I just read Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine and now I want to run through the mall shrieking, “NON-COMPLIANT! NON-COMPLIANT!” at the top of my lungs. This comic is a huge rush and I adored it. I love comics, but I prefer to binge them rather than read one issue at a time, so I’m a little late to the Bitch Planet party (I was waiting for the first collected volume, which came out in October). … Continue reading Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro →
