Features

The February Hush – This Week’s Links

| February 2, 2024

Another Hourly Comics Day fades into memory, like tears in rain, as an opportunity to peek into the illustrated private lives of [friends/acquaintances/creators with whom you have formed a parasocial relationship] closes once more; but this week’s links, below, never close, and will always be there for you.

This week’s news.

• Heading back into the courtroom again, as lawyers for Robert Kirkman and William Crabtree announced last week that the lawsuit brought against Kirkman by Crabtree, initiated over allegations that Kirkman had tricked Crabtree into signing away ownership rights over Invincible, has been settled out of court for undisclosed terms, heading off the jury trial that was due to begin this month.

• Awards news, and the palmarès winners from this year’s Angoulême International Comics Festival were announced at last week’s edition of the event, with Daniel Clowes’ Monica taking home 2024’s Fauve d’Or for Best Album - other winners included Sophie Darcq’s Hanbok being named as the recipient of 2024’s Special Jury Prize, and James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martinez Bueno’s The Nice House on the Lake receiving 2024’s Series Award - a full list of this year’s award winners can be found here.

• Comics adaptation news, and industry-unto-itself news, as Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man is set to appear on the big screen in 2025, an announcement that is sure to gladden the hearts (and registers) of various booksellers the world over.

• ICv2 shares the news that Diamond Comic Distributors have cancelled their retailer summit for 2024, with the former distro monopoly quoted as being “committed to finding alternative ways to engage and collaborate with all our retail partners,” in what is now a vastly, and rapidly, changed distribution landscape, compared to just a few years ago, with ICv2 itself announcing the launch of its new direct sales platform this week.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, and news was shared of the death of artist John G. Miller, who passed away last month - TCJ's review of The Collected John G. Miller 1980-1989 and 2000-2011 can be read here, which includes discussion of Miller's work practices in the comments from publisher Rob Miller.

• News was also shared this week of the passing of Hinako Ashihara, creator of Sexy Tanaka-san and Sand Chronicles, who was found dead on the 29th January, at the age of 50, due to an apparent suicide - The Japan Times and The Mainichi subsequently reported on the social media response to Ashihara’s death, with many commentators speculating that it may have been caused by disagreements between the mangaka and the production team adapting Sexy Tanaka-san for television. (All links in the above news item contain reference to suicide - the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information.)

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Zach Rabiroff reviews the sardonic sympathy of Audra Stang’s The Collected Audra Show, Volume 1 - “Stang would not be the first writer to fall victim to the trap of letting rich environments stand in for an actual story, and the temptation here must have been very strong indeed. That Stang averts this is due chiefly to the fact that, while her supernatural mystery provides a certain satisfying structure to the six issues, it doesn’t ultimately seem to interest her all that much.”

• Tom Shapira reviews the laudable scale of Gou Tanabe’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, translated by Zack Davisson - “Tanabe does not use that extra length to develop, add, twist, subvert, or change the text. Instead, his approach is to ‘open up’ the story - to show fully that which Lovecraft only describes briefly. A single sentence about things glimpsed in the darkness becomes, in Tanabe’s hands, page after page of shuffling hordes of fish monsters. Many of these are full or double-page images; Tanabe favors low panel counts throughout, the better to showcase his technical proficiency as an artist.”

 

AIPT

• Daniel Berlin reviews the family dynamic of Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, et al’s Batman and Robin Annual 2024.

• Collier Jennings reviews the impressive insanity of Jason Aaron, Doug Mahnke, et al’s Batman: Off-World #3.

• David Brooke reviews the intense violence of Benjamin Percy, Victor LaValle, Cory Smith, et al’s Wolverine #42.

• Jonathan Jones reviews the bold choices of Steve Foxe, Jonas Scharf, et al’s Dead X-Men #1.

• Ryan Sonneville reviews the rewarding storytelling of Tini Howard, Vasco Georgiev, et al’s Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain.

• Nathan Simmons reviews the engrossing beginning of Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi, Kyle Higgins, Marco Locati, et al’s Moon Man #1.

 

The Beat

• Merve Giray reviews the balanced tone of Ai Tanaka‘s King in Limbo, translated by Ajani Oloye.

• Cy Beltran reviews the solid selection of DC’s DC Power 2024.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the smart horror of Saladin Ahmed, Juan Ferreyra, et al’s Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #4.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the compelling ideas of Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi, Kyle Higgins, Marco Locati, et al’s Moon Man #1.

• D. Morris reviews the winning shocks of Hideshi Hino’s Panorama of Hell, translated by Dan Luffey.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the varied tributes of NBM Publishing's Nina Simone in Comics.

• Andy Oliver has reviews of:

- The enriching narrative of Saadia Faruqi and Shazleen Khan’s Saving Sunshine.

- The collected insights of Cole Pauls’ Kwändǖr.

- The expressive cartooning of Lawrence Lindell’s Blackward.

- The raw immediacy of Becky Bell’s Be Brave (Colossive Cartographies #52).

- The compelling examinations of Tom Humberstone’s I’m a Luddite (And So Can You!) & Other Tales from The Nib.

- The fatalistic action of Alan Grant, John Wagner, Horacio Lala, and Jose Ortiz’s The Helltrekkers.

 

The Guardian

Rachel Cooke reviews the sharp soapiness of Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie’s Aya: Claws Come Out, translated by Edwige-Renée Dro.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #123, X-Force #48, and Resurrection of Magneto #1.

 

Library Journal

Tom Batten has starred capsule reviews of:

- The flamboyant psychedelia of Lo Hartog van Banda and Thé Tjong-Khing’s Iris: A Novel for Viewers.

- The madcap satire of Benjamin Marra’s What We Mean By Yesterday, Volume 1.

- The tender explorations of Nino Bulling’s Firebugs.

- The riveting thrills of Christopher Sebela, Marc Laming, et al’s Eden.

 

The Los Angeles Review of Books

Melissa Chan reviews the honest reflections of Ai Weiwei, Elettra Stamboulis, and Gianluca Costantini’s Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Matthew Blair reviews the deceptive simplicity of Al Ewing, Luciano Vecchio, et al’s The Resurrection of Magneto #1.

• Christopher Egan reviews the surprising reinvigoration of Christopher Cantwell, Ramon Rosanas, et al’s Star Trek: Defiant Annual #1.

• Elias Rosner reviews the supernatural sensuality of Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay's Somna #2.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

RJ Casey interviews Katie Skelly and Sally Madden about the Thick Lines podcast, LiveJournal origins, audio recording learning curves, and audience growth - “There are people who have messaged us who’s previous limit of their comics reading has been what’s in the newspaper. Beautiful Darkness has been one of the most popular books that we’ve covered on the show for those readers. We got a lot of feedback from people trying that one out. That’s really worthwhile. If we’re able to get someone to look at a book that they never would have considered even opening before, that’s a huge deal to me. That makes this all worthwhile.”

 

AIPT

Chris Hassan speaks with Al Ewing about Resurrection of Magneto, mutant romance, the enduring Claremontian influence, and formative comics memories.

 

NPR

Scott Simon talks to Ai Weiwei about Zodiac, learning from animals, citizen investigations into the failing of the Chinese Communist Party, and meaningful gestures of resistance. 

 

Print

Steven Heller chats with Frank Viva about Gotta Go!, keeping track of your story inspirations, joining the dots between young readers and their grandparents, and idle thoughts about peeing.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Amanda Ramirez interviews Ray Xu about Alterations, the project’s animation origins, publishing as a debut author, and starting with the manuscript.

 

School Library Journal

Betsy Bird speaks with Ray Xu about Alterations, the humbling nature of comics making, searching for your own identity, and not worrying about sequels.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Joe Sacco presents the first two parts of ‘The War on Gaza’, an ongoing series of graphic commentary and reflections on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the attendant civilian deaths in the region, with part one also including Fantagraphics’ statement in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, and publisher Gary Groth’s introduction to this series.

• Also for TCJ, Jonathan Bogart writes in remembrance of the life and work of cartoonist Martí Riera Ferrer, who died earlier this month due to cancer - “He was raised a faithful Catholic in childhood, and dreamed of being a missionary, but in his teenage years he became enamored by the hippie lifestyle, and a period in Amsterdam inspired him to pursue the graphic arts. His comics and illustration work began appearing in Barcelona’s underground comics press as early as 1973, often in a highly rendered style that wore a close study of EC, especially as filtered through the American underground, on its sleeve.”

• Finally for TCJ this week, Tegan O’Neil writes on the return, heritage, and legacy of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One, recently reprinted in single issue facsimile form, and the inability for any creative work to exist in a vacuum - “This is one of the most frequently reprinted superhero stories. No cult object. Slightly overshadowed in the public imagination by The Dark Knight Returns, it must be admitted - and it frankly doesn’t do either book any good to be so twinned, though twinned they are. That’s what happens when you do two of the most influential Batman stories of all time within the space of a year.”

• For Solrad, Maddie Williams presents an essay on comics as a means towards extra-legal justice and healing in cases of child sexual abuse, with reference to Phoebe Gloeckner’s A Child’s Life and Other Stories, Una’s Becoming Unbecoming, and Emily Carrington’s Our Little Secret.

• Over at Shelfdust, Madeleine Chan writes on The Good Asian #7, and the relatable experience that the comic’s villain has in the context of how they are perceived by wider society.

• From Cover to Cover’s Scott Cederlund celebrates the 30th birthday of Taiyō Matsumoto’s Tekkonkinkreet, and examines the struggle to maintain the freedom of youth that the book depicts its heroes in the throes of.

• For The Beat, continuing coverage of the current issues faced by the contemporary comics market, and whether the assumption that these are terminal is a premature one, Christian Angeles writes on the perceived downturn of the comics industry in the context of the wider media landscape in 2024 CE.

• Women Write About Comics’ contributors convene once more to share their favourite comics from 2023 for younger readers.

• For The Bookseller, comics creator Neill Cameron has an op-ed on the (somewhat inevitable) encroachment of the celebrity ‘author’ into the space of comics and graphic novels for younger readers.

• Paul O’Brien’s survey of the villains of Daredevil continues, over at House to Astonish, as this week, as if by magic, we enter the Gladiator’s costume shop.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as immigration policies, presidential primaries, and Taylor Swift’s road to the Super Bowl were the main talking points.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Bill Kartalopoulos hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as the spring slate of programming began with a talk from Nate Garcia on enduring cartoon inspirations, interplay between the life of the comics-maker and their life, and questions from attendees on the creative process.

• Katie Skelly and Sally Madden convened to consider more Thick Lines, joined in the latest episode by Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha, as they spoke about bringing The Sickness to a maxi-series periodical format in the current comics climate, before diving into discussion on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s seminal From Hell.

• Brian Hibbs welcomed John Allison and Max Sarin to Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel Club, as they talked about the making of The Great British Bump-Off, the book selling out its first run, idiosyncratic writing processes, and the inspiration for the setting of the book’s central mystery.

• David Harper was joined by Polygon’s Susana Polo for this week’s edition of Off Panel, as they spoke about the status quo of comics journalism, changes to the Eisner Awards category that would previously have recognised said journalism, and thoughts on Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley.

• Calvin Reid presented a recent Carnegie Hall panel discussion for the latest episode of Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, moderating a discussion between scholars Reynaldo Anderson and Julian Chambliss and cartoonist Tim Fielder on Fielder’s project adapting W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Comet.

• Visiting once again with the Word Balloon, as John Siuntres spoke with Tim Sheridan about Alan Scott: The Green Lantern and characters moving into the public domain, Chip Zdarsky about Batman and receiving honest editorial feedback, and Keith Champagne about Daybreak and the realities of inking work.

• Closing out the week with more from Cartoonist Kayfabe, as Jim Rugg and Ed Piskor considered David Mack and Joe Quesada’s Daredevil #9, Dan Abnett and Joe Bennett’s Conan #9, Dave Sim’s Cerebus the Aardvark #1, plus a look at Takao Saito’s wider manga work (with Shawn @Japanbookhunter, Bryan Moss, and Geof Darrow), and a shoot interview with Paul Pope on comics work and Columbus’ enduring status as a hotbed for cartooning talent.

That’s all for this week, which means all the more time to contemplate how to spend the extra day in February that this leapingest of years affords.