A panel from Simone Lia's Fluffy

Profile: Paul Gravett looks at the work of British cartoonist Simone Lia, whose comic Fluffy chronicles the relationship that grows between a man and a rabbit on a tour through Sicily. Gravett writes:

Lia spins together realistic emotional situations with fanciful, cartoonish playfulness, using diagrams of the thoughts cramming a character’s head, guest narrators like a cheery dust particle and a grouchy piece of dandruff, or “footage” of a little brain cell.

Theory: Shaun Huston discusses comics based on movie and television properties, and how they fit—or don’t fit—with the franchises they are based on:

For both writers and artists working on adaptations of movies and TV shows the challenge is to find a working space wherein one’s own sensibilities can be effectively meshed with the look and feel of the original text and into a book that works for readers. As [Douglas] Wolk implies, this may not be the highest or best expression of art and craft in comics, but doing it well is, in its own way, still an achievement, perhaps even more so because of the mixed reputation of such books.

Review: Kate Dacey writes a mixed review of the first volume of Library Wars: Love and War, a manga about “hot guys who hate censorship but like books, libraries, and butt-kicking women.”

Review: David Brothers has four reasons why he likes Heralds #1—and you should, too!

Advocacy: Ben Morse feels that Young Justice: Sins of Youth has been sadly underrated and unjustly overlooked, so he takes the opportunity to discuss just why it’s so great.

Review: Oliver Ho reads Taiyo Matsumoto’s GoGo Monster, a coming-of-age story that takes a walk on the weird side.

Review: I know that reviews of Daniel Clowes’s Wilson are a dime a dozen, but Michael Buntag’s review sums it all up nicely, so if you don’t have time to read them all, read his.

The consequences of wearing a metal suit (from Windell's Superhero Showcase)

Review: Richard Bruton on Windell’s Superhero Showcase, which “mercilessly takes the superhero ideal out the back and kicks it in the face a few times.”

Advice: Erica Friedman discusses condescending comics, using Tantric Stripfighter Trina and Executive Assistant Iris as exhibits A and B:

It can be argued that publishers only publish what sells, which is exactly why I chose these two specific series. I can pretty much *guarantee* than neither of them sold all that well, if at all. And, instead of investing in something groundbreaking, or heck, something marginally less sad, the publisher said that they approved of this utter crap. I’m all for having comic company execs walk around with signs that say, “Why yes, we ARE condescending assholes.”

She has plenty to say about fans and creators as well. When Erica gets on a roll, she takes no prisoners.

Art critique: Frank Santoro shows some panels from Jonah Hex to demonstrate how photo-referencing is killing comics art.

Review: How do I love thee, Wally Gropius? Ken Parille counts the ways.

Contrast: Sean Kleefeld reviews Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber’s Underground, and he notes that this very (visually) dark book is drawn with a wide-open format, where Lieber’s earlier Whiteout, which is set in Antarctica, has much smaller panels (the opposite of what one might expect). Bonus reading: Kleefeld is temporarily thrown by some curvy women in Dynagirl.

Review: Matthew J. Brady finds Curio Cabinet utterly incomprehensible, and he’s not afraid to say so.

Reality check: Bob Temuka points out that punching people in the head and knocking them out is really quite dangerous. Why haven’t they done a Law & Order about this?

Review: Kristy Valenti takes a dim view of the graphic-novel adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

To Terra

Philosophy: Ed Sizemore writes about the deeper meaning of Keiko Takemiya’s classic sci-fi manga To Terra:

Takemiya’s real concern is the same as the ancient Greek playwrights. She is writing to combat hubris, or extreme arrogance. It’s a belief there are no limits to one’s actions and a failure to recognize there are boundaries to life, which if violated will result in one’s destruction. In the old Greek tragedies, hubris was the downfall of the protagonist. The gods swiftly punished those that dared violated divine law or dared to imagine themselves as equal to the gods. Takemiya isn’t worried about divine law, but natural law. She is writing to warn us against the belief that we can become masters of nature and ourselves.

Review: Christopher Allen reviews Tim Hensley’s Wally Gropius, which mimics the style of Harvey comics and relies on a lot of sight gags: “I think the way to approach the book is as a lavish, frequently funny, if superficial, joke.”

Review: Tucker Stone, on the other hand, immerses himself in Jim Woodring’s Weathercraft, which he finds anything but superficial.

Review: It’s good news for readers when Chris Sims hates a book, because it gives him an excuse to perform one of his trademark vivisections, as with this takedown of Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #3.

Auteurs: You know, there’s something awesome about reading a critique of The Wizard of Id in French. Loleck analyzes the humor of the long-running strip at du9.

M.K. Reed's Cross Country

Indy comics: Johanna Draper Carlson reviews a handful of self-published comics at Comics Worth Reading.

History: Jason Thompson takes a look at the early days of manga publishing and the creator Ippongi Bang, who drew rebel manga and liked a good party, too.

Quickies: Top Shelf recently brought over not one but four Swedish graphic novels. Not sure where to start? Rick Marshall has quick looks at all four, ranked in his order of preference.

Art comix: Charles Hatfield is pleasantly mystified by Blaise Larmee’s Young Lions, a wispily drawn story about conceptual artists.

Previews: The reader is the winner every time when Paul Gravett plays the Previews game.

Review: Greg McElhatton reads the graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and concludes that you can stretch a joke too thin.

Politics: I don’t follow DC’s non-manga lines closely enough to be able to intelligently evaluate Rob McMonigal’s claim that the company is regressing into a white-male bastion, and I won’t go there with the Tea Party logic, but I’m including this link for discussion purposes. One could argue the opposite, that they kept CMX going long after they probably should have killed it, but I think that CMX, like Minx, could have been a success if anyone outside the immediate circle of editors had acted like they cared.

Criticism: Domingos Isabelinho launches his new column at The Hooded Utilitarian with some musings on criticsm, wondering, “What twisted mind picks up the scalpel after love?” and then puts Pierre Duba’s Racines under the microscope. Also at HU: Noah Berlatsky, ever the contrarian, turns in a rare negative review of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster.

Satsuma Gishiden: Blood, guts, and civil engineering

Review: David Welsh analyzes the first volume of Satsuma Gishiden, which combines extreme violence, political maneuvering, and public works projects to good effect.

Review: Rob Vollmar on all seven volumes of Oishinbo, which is not your typical shonen-battle cooking manga:

Often, Yamaoka and crew will help a struggling business turn around by showing them the error of mishandling a vital ingredient to their menu. Even if only patiently explaining how minor differences in procedure or food quality can effect a given dish, Oishinbo reveals its most important function; namely, holding a sustained and very personal dialogue between writer and audience about the nature of food and our relationship to it.

Review: Tom Ewing discusses the Image series Phonogram:

For one of the friends I lent Phonogram to, the phonomancy parts crystallized “the indie-teen conviction that indie people are magically better at feeling music than other people are.” What would it be like, Phonogram asks, if listening to your special music actually did make you special?

The answer, Ewing concludes, is “It would suck,” but how he gets there makes interesting reading.

Religious studies: R.C. Harvey checks some cameos by God in various comic strips and concludes that the funny pages reflect society’s casual attitude toward Him.

Fandom: Dante only had nine circles of hell, but Matt Blind manages to tease out ten levels of fandom.

Review: Larry “El Santo” Cruz analyzes the Zuda comic Bayou and finds there is much to recommend it despite the annoying interface.

Underrated: Ben Morse explains what he loves about X-Men 2099, even if no one else sees it.

Mythology: At Myth and Manga, Akemi has a brief look at the Japanese folk tale that Masashi Kishimoto borrowed for Naruto.

Perspective: Erica Friedman, the newest contributor to The Hooded Utilitarian, introduces herself:

My perspective is that I do not read comics like most women, nor do I read comics the same way men do just because I’m a lesbian. I don’t like big breasted female characters with tiny waists AND I don’t like sunken-chested, sparkly lads, but I do like strong women. I have this utterly weird belief that comics don’t owe us reality in situation, but they do owe us realistic portraits of people acting consistently within the rules of the world portrayed in the story.

Kobato: Cute or subversive?

Review: The latest CLAMP manga to make it to the U.S., Kobato, struck me as unbearably sweet, but Kate Dacey theorizes that it’s really a clever parody of the entire moe genre.

Nomenclature: Helen McCarthy recounts the attempt of manga creator Shotaro Ishinomori to change the way the word “manga” is written in Japanese by changing the first character from one that means “random” or “involuntary” to one that means “a large number,” suggesting the infinite possibilities of manga. The change never took.

Ass-kickin’: Chuck Norris, eat your heart out. Ty Templeton lists seven comics creators with serious testosterone cred, through strength, courage, or just plain size (oh yes, and talent). (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

Fanzines: Ken Meyer, Jr., has another lengthy and fascinating post about an obscure fanzine up at Comic Attack; this time he looks at Graphic Illusions, which had exactly one issue—but what an issue!

Review: R.C. Harvey takes a look at IDW’s reprint of the classic Life With Father newspaper strip.

Review: Guest reviewer month continues at Trouble with Comics with Tom Spurgeon‘s look at The Early Morning Milk Train.

Blackest Night #8

Capes and tights: Wow, here are two posts in one weekend about what’s wrong with superhero comics! Charles Hatfield picks up Blackest Night but just gets tired thinking of all that continuity, while PC Weenies creator Krishna Sadasivam picks up three new comics and finds none of them is accessible to new readers.

Meta: Jeet Heer gives his candidate for worst comics criticism of the 21st century. It’s short so go, read, laugh.

A day at the museum: Erica Friedman visits the exhibit on Garo, the alternative manga magazine, at the Center for Book Arts in New York, and she brings along manga creator Rica Takashima, who adds context and commentary.

Dear Diary: Brian Heater reviews Snake Pit 2009, the latest volume in Ben Snakepit’s long-running diary comic. It sounds like Snakepit, who has been doing this for almost 10 years, is growing weary and may bring it to a close at the end of this year.

Review: Paul Gravett presents a thorough analysis of Daniel Clowes’s Wilson, once he recovers from the book’s incidental resemblance to a British children’s annual.

Review: Jim Rugg reviews Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza at Trouble With Comics, which is showcasing an intriguing mix of writers in their Guest Reviewers Month:

It is not a happy story to read. But it is a remarkable comic, a graphic novel in every sense of the phrase. The strength of images in the hands of someone who knows how to wield that power is rare.

Review: NY Times critic George Gene Gustines reviews James Sturm’s Market Day:

Mendleman has the soul and vision of an artist. He constantly observes, absorbs and converts the chaos of life around him into patterns for his rugs. In one early scene, as day begins to break, Mendleman sees “a sliver of pink framed by the gray earth and clouds,” which he imagines, and Mr. Sturm depicts, as a simple rug.

Omaha the Cat Dancer—the last great porn comic?

Commentary: Shaenon Garrity mulls over the question of why comics creators and publishers can’t make money selling porn. (Worth a click for the Phil Foglio side trip alone.)

Analysis: Lauren Davis on high school life, as depicted in T Campbell’s Penny and Aggie:

And even though Penny and Aggie is supposed to represent something akin to a real high school, it still exists in a fantasy universe. It’s a Joss Whedon version of high school, sans the vampires: everything is a little brighter, the dialogue is sharper, and just about everyone is redeemable, if not actually redeemed.

History: Ryan Holmberg writes about the origins of the Japanese underground comics magazine Garo, which actually was a children’s magazine in its early days:

There were articles instructing kids in how to protest and how to petition the government. There was also a manga instructing kids in judo, which is interesting in relationship to the material on neighboring pages, a kind of multifaceted, ideological and physical training of children for martial combat against the right-wing social values, the military-industrial complex, and monopoly capitalism.

Overkill: Chris Reilly reviews A Home for Mr. Easter, which is about a troubled high school girl who finds the Easter bunny. Keep that in mind as you read the following:

I have to admit that I usually despise female-empowerment in genre fiction, not because I want my women weak, but because their power is usually bestowed upon them by a middle-aged male creator and tends to ring false. Frank Miller’s women are a perfect example: their “girl power” is usually being bizarre prostitutes who fight the hulking men on dark streets (streets that really only exist in superhero comics and Mickey Spillane novels) with swords and swastika earring’s that double as throwing stars. That’s not empowering a woman; that is a retarded male-power “fantasy” of how great it would be if all strong women were hookers, drop-dead gorgeous, didn’t charge their cool clients and had blood soaked adventures with them. Even Gilbert Hernandez whose strong women I love, all have tits like they were shot in the back by a pair of major cruise missiles.

Review: Gavin Lees discusses Kate Beaton’s Never Learn Anything from History, and he takes it seriously, too:

Her pared-down characteristic style makes the strip seem almost effortless, but the apparent simplicity belies some very subtle abilities with storytelling and page design. In her strip about the Shelleys’ marital strife, the dance of the characters from one panel to the next beautifully reflects the strains of their relationship, with Percy seemingly pushing Mary away from the top tier to the bottom; and the subtle shift in dynamics as their position in the penultimate panel is echoed by Byron and Shelley in the last. In a climate where Dinosaur Comics is somehow popular, it’s a refreshing touch of artistry.

Review: Richard Bruton reviews Bryan Talbot’s Grandville, which looks like a strong contender for Weirdest Comic of the Year.

Review: Kate Dacey reviews the first volume of Kingyo Used Books and wonders if it’s a propaganda device to get adults to keep reading manga.

Review: Greg McElhatton looks at Crogan’s March and is surprised—and pleased—by Chris Schweizer’s mix of grimness and humor.

Castle Waiting

To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Flashlight Worthy blog asked ten bloggers (male and female) to nominate their favorite comics by and about women. The range and quality of the list is a reminder that talent knows no gender—or genre: the nominations include Jessica Abel’s La Perdida, Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting, Alison Bechdel’s The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, and Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters.

If you’re reading this column, you’re probably hip enough to know that all manga does not feature big, sparkly eyes, but in case you missed that memot, Paul Gravett has an explanation and lists six worthy series that don’t have a sparkly eye in the bunch.

Sean Gordon Murphy sets snobbery aside to look at the good points of house styles.

Suzette Chan explains how Faith Erin Hicks tweaks the tropes of boarding-school stories in The War at Ellesmere.

Kate Dacey mulls over the dilemma of being a feminist and a yaoi fan in her review of Hinako Takanaga’s Little Butterfly.

Carlo Santos takes the second volume of Alice in the Country of Hearts as seriously as anybody is going to, and he does some nice analysis of how the book relates to its inspiration, Alice in Wonderland.

Robert Greenberg expresses his disappointment in Eric Liberge’s haunting tale of the Louvre, In the Odd Hours at ComicMix.

Tom Horgen takes a look at Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Matthew J. Brady takes a spin throuh Jason Shiga’s choose-your-own-adventure book Meanwhile at Warren Peace Sings the Blues.

Sean Kleefeld finds some early sequential art—on plates!

It Was the War of the Trenches

Peter Richardson discusses why World War I did not capture creators’ imaginations the way other wars have, and he accompanies his discussion with a beautiful counterexample, a sample from Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches, upcoming from Fantagraphics next month. (via Journalista)

Craig Fischer has a decidedly mixed review of The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion, but then halfway through he goes roaring off into a digression on one of Hal Foster’s possible influences, Olive Beaupre Miller’s series of children’s books titled My Bookhouse. For good measure, someone just sent Ben Towle a set. (I had these as a kid, and they are lovely.) For more about Foster, see Ng Suat Tong’s recent post at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Tom Crippen, who is no Sarah Palin fan, cries foul nonetheless on Oliphant’s cartoon showing her postcoital encounter with a moose, pointing out that it probably reveals more about Oliphant than Palin.

Vom Marlowe reviews vol. 1 of Song of the Hanging Sky, a lovely manga with a quirky plot and a few perplexing translation problems.
Brian Heater thinks Jason’s Almost Silent is a good choice for graphic novel newbies.

Frank Santoro reviews Gipi’s Garage Band at Comics Comics.

Also at Comics Comics: Jeet Heer posts some loosely related notes on John Stanley.

Larry Cruz explains why video game webcomics are a good thing at The Webcomic Overlook.

Sean Gaffney reviews D&Q’s latest Yoshihio Tatsumi release, Black Blizzard.

Super-cute bacteria from the Moyashimon anime

Biochemist/manga adaptor Lianne Sentar looks at three manga series that get the science right (well mostly) and are still entertaining.

Noah Berlatsky thinks he has settled the question of what is and isn’t a comic once and for all, and he makes a pretty good case, but the commenters manage to have a lively argument anyway.

Librarians Eva Volin and Robin Brenner discuss all 10 volumes of Emma, and they jump right in with a discussion of full frontal nudity.

Jog takes a look at the many forms and uses of the thought balloon, which, despite an editor’s admonition to Stephen King, is far from dead. Scott McCloud adds his two cents as well. Related: Chris Sims explains exactly what’s wrong with the lettering in the Twilight graphic novel.

Sean Kleefeld explains why he prefers comics to television: It’s an individual voice as opposed to a collaboration.

At Manga Bookshelf, Melinda Beasi convenes a bloggers’ roundtable on the first two volumes of Banana Fish.

Rob McMonigal re-reads the first volume of Christy Lijewski’s RE:play and decides he was right the first time.

Greg McElhatton shares his thoughts on American Vampire #1.

David Welsh discusses the narrative techniques that make One Piece so addictive.

Larry Cruz reviews the long-running webcomic Rice Boy.

The Art of Jaime Hernandez

• Tim Holder offers an initial critique of the upcoming Art of Jaime Hernandez book, which results in a flurry of great comments from book designers, critics and the editor of said book. Easily one of the most informative and insightful comments threads in months, if not years. (Also: L&R fan Marc Sobel offers his thoughts.)

• Along the same lines, Jeet Heer offers an old review of Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz.

• Marc Singer talks about why he included Maus in his comics class, and how his students reacted to it.

• Responding to an earlier essay by Jeet Heer (there he is again) on cartoonists’ mid-life crises, Gary Groth offers his own thoughts and posts an essay he’d written on the topic several years ago. (part one, part two, and part three).

• The Hooded Utilitarian recently wrapped up a lengthy roundtable discussion on Likewise, with author Ariel Schrag chiming in at the end. You can read the whole thing by going here.

• Charles Hatfield reports on a recent exhibit featuring R. Crumb’s Genesis adaptation.

• Likewise, Diana Tamblyn reports on a recent show of Seth’s work in Ontario.

• Ken Parille breaks down a page from a Casper story so you don’t have to.

• Sara Boslaugh reviews Copper by Kazu Kibuishi.

• Paul Gravett looks at the work of Baron Storey.

• Bill Sherman calls the Lewis Trondheim’s third entry in his Little Nothings series “thoughtful and amusing.”

• Finally, Richard Bruton says Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile is “almost guaranteed to engross and entertain anyone who picks it up.”

GoGo Monster

Number 5 is a strange work that reflects both Tekkonkinkreet and GoGo Monster. A schizophrenic collision of vicious playfulness and loose introspective beauty. At some point in each of his stories Matsumoto begins to pull you through a series of seemingly unrelated hoops, usually at an intense climatic moment when the characters are at a psychological breaking point. What slightly deviates in Number 5 is that the narrative hardly ever relaxes into a rhythm of storytelling for long. The entire book is a challenging ride that you have to hold onto constantly to not get thrown off track. But there are many pages of easy flowing action.

• Derik Badman and Thought Balloonist Craig Fischer engage in a great, lengthy discussion on the recent Abstract Comics anthology. Fellow TBer Charles Hatfield offers his own thoughts on the book here.

• Jog reviews two recent maga: Biomega and All My Darling Daughters. It’s worth checking out just to read his synopsis of the former.

• For the past week, David Welsh has been taking an in-depth look at one of the great uncompleted (at least in the US) manga, Sexy Voice and Robo, and has been asking friends and fellow bloggers to offer their own thoughts on the book in something he calls the “Manga Moveable Feast.” Rather than single any particular essay out I’d say just head to David’s site and start scrolling down.

• Not to be outdone on the manga front, Matthew Brady is spending a good deal of time talking about manga this month, including One-Pound Gospel and Black Jack.

• I don’t think I ever linked to this article by Seth on the “Quiet Art of Cartooning” before, did I? While you’re at it, check out this related post by Ken Parille on the art of Pete Morisi.

• Sandy Bilus recommends the latest Best American Comics collection.

• Rob Clough lists his favorite comics of last year, and the best comics of the past decade.

• Noah Berlatsky keeps on biting the hand that feeds him.

• David Ferraro calls The Troublemakers “good pulpy fun.”

• Johanna Draper Carlson continues to find 20th Century Boys to be worth her time.

• Finally, if you happen to speak French, the magazine 9eme Art has updated and expanded their Web site.

I would posit that even though there are far more comics being published now, there are no more truly great comics being produced now than there were at the beginning of the last decade. If you discount the constant stream of reprints and international offerings, new English-language comics are about as good as they’ve ever been, it’s just that there are more of them. In fact, because of the market’s rapid expansion, actual average quality has plummeted. It’s not a question of having abandoned critical standards in order to gain popular market share: comics never had critical standards. What we have done now is to adopt the standards of the larger book market.

• Andrei Molotiu has been blogging up a storm at the Abstract Comics site, examining how classic, mainstream comic book artists have incorporated abstract shapes and forms into their work. Here he is talking about Steve Ditko; and here he is talking about Frank Miller. You’ll want to read both pieces.

Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons

• Jeet Heer makes the case for Gahan Wilson: “For all their morbidity and ghoulishness, Wilson’s cartoons affirm the value of cherishing life.”

• While we’re on the subject, The San Francisco Chronicle’s Laurel Maury really likes that new Wilson collection as well.

• Neil Cohn looks at a type of visual shorthand in comics he calls “action stars.”

• Matthew Brady reviews The Squirrel Machine: ” It’s a compelling, fascinating journey through an often creepy and always striking world.”

• Cory Doctorow examines Goats II: The Corndog Imperitive: “Rosenberg continues to walk the razor-edged line between silly and dumb, and does not slip onto the dumb side.”

• Nina Stone compares reading Not Simple to having a date with Eeyore. Ouch.

• The Mindless Ones’ Botswana Beast and Zom look at recent issues of Starman and Spider-Man, respectively.

• The Forbidden Planet’s Richard Bruton doesn’t care much for horror comics, but he liked The Abortion.

• Finally, Ryan Sands shares his opinion on a few books he’s been reading lately.

xxxHolic

• Are we in danger of a Webcomics sensory overload? That’s the question Abhay Khosla asks in his own inimitable fashion. (Warning: this post is a bit of an image-heavy memory hog.)

• The Hooded Utilitarian folks are doing another roundtable discussion. This time it’s on Clamp’s xxxHolic series, with special guests Adam Stephanides and Katherine Dacey chiming in.

• The illustrious Marc Singer seems to have returned to blogging once again, with an essay on Scott McCloud’s Making Comics that originally ran in the International Journal of Comic Art.

• Dan Nadel looks at what made Alex Raymond special.

• My, what a big pocketbook you’ve got there Richie Rich!

• The AV Club does their monthly round-up of notable comics, including Daybreaker, Pim & Francie and The Talisman.

• Speaking of round-ups, let’s note that Tucker Stone’s Comics of the Weak feature is back and running full throttle.

• Shaenon Garrity gets all nostalgic for Wizard magazine’s hey day. OK, not really.

• Both Johanna Draper Carlson and David Welsh recommend All My Darling Daughters. Welsh also takes a look at the work of Natsume Ono over at CR.

• Finally, John Seven enjoyed the first volume of The Unwritten more than I did.

Asterios Polyp

• Domingos Isabelinho reviews Asterios Polyp. Well, OK, he doesn’t really, but really more of a commenting on the various reviews the books have received so far. Still, it’s an entertaining read.

• Ng Suat Tong has, with the help of folks like Frank Santoro, Noah Berlatsky and others, has put together a list of the “Best Online Comics Criticism” of 2009: “These writers have helped make comics a slightly more interesting place to inhabit for readers like myself, ensuring that the conversation doesn’t end the moment a comic is consumed or half-digested by the reader.”

Some familiar, as well as unexpected names, dot the list. Additional commentary is promised to follow.

• One thing I haven’t linked to, but really should have, is Andrew Weiss’ great “Nobody’s Favorites” series, where he looks at utterly forgettable comic book characters. His latest take on DC’s two-issue adaptation of Robotech.

• Over at the Savage Critics: Brian Hibbs looks at some recent releases; David Uzumeri takes DC to task; and Douglas Wolk savages Siege and then wonders whatever happened to the Marvel Zombie?

• If that’s not enough Wolk for you (and how can it possibly be?), he also reviewed Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary for Barnes and Noble’s Web site.

• Over at the Comics Journal: Shaenon Garrity reviews The Eternal Smile; Rich Kreiner reviews last year’s Humbug collection; and Rob Clough reviews mini-comics by Darryl Ayo and Aaron Cockle.

• Stephen Weiner on Alec: The Years Have Pants: “[It] should be treated like the wines that Campbell comes to appreciate: slowly sipped and savored.”

• Craig Fischer takes a long, hard look at Alan Moore’s new Dodgem Logic magazine.

• At the Comics Reporter: David Welsh gives a preview of notable manga for 2010, while Tom Spurgeon reviews the first issue of The Aviatrix.

• Matt Brady read Al Columbia’s Pim & Francie and now has trouble getting to sleep.

• Finally Katherine Dacey provides an in-depth examination of the first six volumes of 20th Century Boys.

Shonen Jump

• Chris Butcher is biting our style doing a round-up of the 10 manga that changed comics, and if you’re interested at all in examining how we got from there to here you should definitely read it. Here’s part one and two and three, with more to come soon. (by the way, I’m totally kidding about the style biting.)

• Martyn Pedler looks at Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo’s Shade the Changing Man for Bookslut. That’s a series that doesn’t get nearly enough attention IMHO.

• Nina Stone reviews the first volume of the Luna Brothers’ The Sword and makes me feel kind of dirty.

• Scott Cederlund says Footnotes in Gaza “may be Sacco’s most fascinating work to date.” (btw, nice site upgrade Scott.)

• Shaenon Garrity reviews Acme Novelty Library #19 for reals this time and offers a rather interesting critique that I’m not entirely sure I agree with (the supporting cast in the ongoing Rusty Brown story seems to negate her central thesis). Still, it’s worth reading.

• Paul Gravett reviews the Danish anthology From Wonderland With Love, which is good because more people need to know about this book.

• PWCW has their annual critics poll up if that sort of thing floats your boat.

• Jeff Lester offers his thoughts on recent issues of Blackest Night and Fantastic Four.

• And finally, since Last Gasp is re-releasing it, Katherine Dacey offers a revamped version of her original review of Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, which is — and I’m not joking — one of my favorite pieces of comics criticism.

Panel from 'Blue Beetle'

Looking back, the list of nerdy crap that I have been a dorky spazz-wad for is very, very long– but why does that stuff work on me? What does all that dopey shit have in common? Is there a grand unified field theory of dorkism that can explain why certain ideas, images, idiocies, why they’re capable of burrowing under the skins of sloppy nerds such as myself? And can that theory explain why that material consumes not just my attention, but more and more attention globally at a time when attention is such a precious commodity?

• Jeet Heer further examines the “Protestant traditiion” of midwestern cartooning mentioned in a recent interview between Gary Groth, Kevin Huizenga and Art Spiegelman.

• Speaking of The Comics Journal, here are a few links of note: Steven Grant derides the Spirit Pop-Up Book; Robert Stanley Martin reviews David B’s Nocturnal Conspiracies; and some idiot blathers on and on about Pluto and 20th Century Boys. Under what rock did they find that moron?

• Johanna Draper Carlson didn’t much care for the first volume of King of RPGs: “It just all seemed loud to me, as though pushing the material further would magically make it more humorous.”

• David Welsh examines the second volume of Nightschool: “What immediately strikes me about the series is how sure-footed it is.”

• New blogger of note (at least to me): Benjamin Bailey examines the ways superhero costumes are designed in movies versus comics, and what that says about the two mediums: ” Film removes the aura from the superhero costume. The nude form is replaced with a human form that we meant to relate to.”

• Brian Heater on Rania Telgemier’s Smile: “a fairly typical coming of age story–but its precisely the book’s familiarity that lends it its power.”

• David Ferraro did not like Swans in Space: “If someone out there is looking for a manga to give their kids, I’d probably gravitate more toward the books put out through Viz’s kids line.”

• Finally, Matthew Brady plays catch-up on a few trade collections and graphic novels that came out earlier in the year.

Ghost World

I haven’t done this in awhile, so let’s highlight some of the more interesting posts from the past week or so — or at least what was intersting to me:

• The folks at the Hooded Utilitarian recently wrapped up a lengthy roundtable discussion on Dan Clowes’ Ghost World.

• Tom Spurgeon continues his great holiday interview series with notable critics about the great comics of the closing decade. In backwards order: Kristy Valenti on Little Nemo: So Many Splendid Sundays; Bart Beaty on Persepolis; Frank Santoro on Multiforce and our own Sean Collins on Blankets.

• Tucker Stone examines the brouhaha surrounding the announcement of Marvel’s Girl’s Comics series and wonders what lies behind it: “When the Big Two companies make a fuss about something, and that fuss can in any way be perceived as a movement towards correcting a problem, the initial responses are certain to contain a healthy slice of contempt.”

• Over on his blog, manga scholar Matt Thorn railed against what he views as the plethora of bad translations that plague most manga these days. Be sure and check out the comments section, where a number of industry folks chime in. You should also read Shaenon Garrity’s response over at TCJ too. But then, you should be reading just about everything Garrity writes.

• Matthew Brady reviews Driven By Lemons: “the artwork here really has to be seen to be believed.”

• Jeet Heer lists the five best comic anthologies ever and wonders what they reveal about the editors who made them, and about editing in general.

• Ada Price looks at the challenges behind adapting classic prose literature into comics.

• Derik Badman has been a reviewing madman (hey, it rhymes!) lately. Here he is on Travel: “Yokohama is extremely skilled at pacing and composing his work. Despite the abstracted imagery and the imaginary landscapes, he always managed to convey a sense of space and movement. The panels read fast like the speed of the train. Everything is in high gear.”

• Rob Clough has also been reviewing comics like there’s no tomorrow over at TCJ. You can get easy links to the pieces, however, by heading over to his blog rather than trying to sift through the Journal’s site.

• Here’s our own Sean Collins once more, this time reviewing the first three volumes of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys:  “This probably comes as a surprise to no one, but they’re a lot of fun.”

• Writing for the New York Times, Charles McGrath reviews the new biography of Herge, The Man Who Created Tintin: “If you don’t already know the work, this is not the place to start. And even if you do, the story is a little depressing.”

• Greg McElhatton on the first volume of the Complete Bloom County: “A lot of those early strips are surprisingly weak, but there’s always a gem among the rubble that makes it worth reading on.”

• Finally, Ed Sizemore reviews a whole lotta manga.

Dark Reign: The List -- X-Men

• You’ve probably already seen it by now, but if you haven’t, let me point you towards Abhay Khosla’s rather Freudian review of Dark Reign: The List — X-Men #1:

The obvious conclusion to draw from DARK REIGN: THE LIST– X-MEN #1 is that at the close of 2009, a woman with an appetite for sex is apparently the very definition of fear and horror for Marvel comic creators and their audience.

I would diagnose such a belief as gynophobia.

• Tucker Stone and Joe McCulloch start talking about the week’s comics, realize they didn’t read anything that came out last week, and end up discussing how horrible it must be to be an ordinary citizen in Metropolis.

• Looking for a good graphic novel gift guide to get you through the holidays? Douglas Wolk has what you need.

• Craig Fischer asks three questions about The Art of Harvey Kurtzman.

• Richard Bruton reads the Thorgal saga and declares “I think I’ve reached my limit.”

• Ed Sizemore reviews the second volume of A Distant Neighborhood: ” I wish I could afford to buy hundreds of copies to hand out at comic conventions.”

• And in case you wanted to know about Volume 1, Derik Badman’s got you covered.

• Dave Ferraro examines Crumb’s Genesis adaptation: “the overall package bored me.”

• Kelson Vibber considers Blackest Night: Flash an improvement over Flash: Rebirth.

• Heidi’s right, this is a great review.