graphic novel

  • The Tsundokuist

    I learned a new word: Tsundoku. It’s a portmanteau (another new word I learned) of the Japanese words tsunde-oku (to let things pile up) and dukosho (to read). Tsundoku is the act of buying books and letting them just pile up without reading them. According to Tanner Garrity, it’s supposed to be an expression of…

    Read more →

  • James is the sole survivor of an otherwise innocuous sleepover game of truth or dare. He and his friends go into the ravine in the back of his house in search of a monster he swore he didn’t make up. Unfortunately, there is a monster there and it kills all of his friends. The book…

    Read more →

  • Rules To Keep A Story Real

    POSSIBLE SPOILERS! I worried that my ignorance of Arthurian lore would make it difficult to read Kieron Gillen’s Once and Future* series. Happily, this wasn’t the case. While I’m sure familiarity would make the story even more enjoyable because I’d pick up on nuances specific to the mythology, through Duncan, Gillen’s museum curator hero, I…

    Read more →

  • This post was initially published to Goodreads on February 12, 2023. An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya Panpanya creates imaginative, often surreal stories from the little life details most others would ignore. For example, one story describes the “mysterious” toys the protagonist’s grandmother gives her – old timey gadgets foreign to the modern age…

    Read more →

  • Sushi Yojimbo

    SPOILERS! DO NOT READ ON IF IT MATTERS It’s “Sushi Yojimbo,” if I want to be glib about it. If I don’t, Get Jiro is Anthony Bourdain’s creative expression of his criticism of the food industry from fast food to organic and local to authenticity to chef celebrities, franchises, and high end dining. You name…

    Read more →

  • Jughead is best when his story stops being THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY and attempts to be Degrassi High. I preferred Volume 2 of Chip Zdarsky’s Jughead over Volume 1. It felt a little deeper than the first. More thoughtful. Volume 1 felt unimaginative despite the Jughead’s fanciful daydreams. It was formulaic and overly…

    Read more →

  • Gotham Academy, Vol. 2: Calamity by Becky Cloonan WARNING! POTENTIAL SPOILERS! Waiting for the next volume of your favorite comic book series is like waiting for the next season of your favorite TV show to stream on Netflix. Sometimes it takes too long, so you forget certain details that help the story in the new…

    Read more →

  • Sequeling Shakespeare

    Based on the novel “The Kouga Ninja Scrolls” by Futaro Yamada, “Basilisk” tells a story similar to Romeo and Juliet’s with all the Shakespearean drama and treachery. My experience of Shakespeare is very similar to Darwyn Cooke’s. The Eisner Award and Harvey Award winning writer of DC: The New Frontier (the book that reignited my…

    Read more →