Reviews: Gfrörer, Wiedeman, Gennis look to the past
Laid Waste by Julia Gfrörer
This excruciatingly sad novella has Julia Gfrörer examining the horror of being a survivor, in a way that manages to be uplifting at the end, while not betraying the heaviness...
Review: Bernadou, Varela, Mendes deliver three strong works
Canopy by Karine Bernadou
Bernadou’s excellent silent parable of what it’s like to be a woman out in the world follows Canopy from her childhood — symbolically presented as a continual act of nursing with her...
Review: 5 comics that grabbed my attention this week
Our Mother by Luke Howard
Comics has become the territory of many examinations of mental health in regard to personal history, and each manifestation of this is going to be as varied as the individuals tackling...
Review: Sophie Goldstein’s progressive science fiction
House of Women and The Oven by Sophie Goldstein
I haven’t encountered much chatter about Sophie Goldstein’s extraordinary, smart, beautiful three-part comic House of Women, but I’m hoping that changes. Goldstein’s use of science fiction...
Review: Beth Heinly is making me laugh today
I’d say self-deprecating autobiographical comics by smart, talented women is officially a genre, and a sub-genre of that is self-deprecating autobiographical comics by smart, talented women with a biting, candid, sometimes inappropriate sense of...
Reviews: Three mini comics that deserve your attention today
Ley Lines: Made With Love In Hell by Mimi Chrzanowski
From it’s dayglo pink cover, through all its cranberry-red rendered interior, this portrait of a visit to hell is definitely inspired by Hieronymus Bosch —...
Review: Aidan Koch and Paloma Dawkins look inward and far out
After Nothing Comes by Aidan Koch
This collection from Koyama Press of Koch’s early mini comics speaks to what makes Koch stand out. With an art style that might even be called slight, often featuring...
The History of Zines: Poopsheet Foundation is now online
Oh yeah, speaking of zines (look it up kids) something called The Poopsheet Foundation is now online, and it's one of those 90s things that was what passed for social media back in the...
Review: Retrofit offers tons of excellent comics by women
Bear, Bird, and Stag Were Arguing In The Forest and Other Stories by Madeline Flores
Flores offers three philosophical shorter works that come together well in their examination of knowing yourself, living purposefully, understanding where you...
Review: The darker beauty of Cathy G. Johnson’s ‘Gorgeous’
This short, spare, poetic, emotionally brutal piece from Cathy G. Johnson and Koyama Press captures the intersection of three lives, and the unlikely self realization that two of them enact on one. The story...
Review: Melissa Mendes’ ‘Lou’ charts family dynamics in a charming, honest way
Massachusetts cartoonist Melissa Mendes has a knack for comics that not only center on kids, but present the world from their points of view with an unromantic honesty. Her first major work, the Freddy...
Review: How did I miss Andrea Tsurumi???
I’m ashamed to admit that prior to reading Why Would You Do That? from Hic and Hoc, which will debut at TCAF this weekend, I was completely unfamiliar with Andrea Tsurumi’s work. How does...
