Features

The Long Good Friday – This Week’s Links

| March 29, 2024

Another month down as my flat slowly fills with the fallen soldiers from my Far Side, New Yorker, Garfield, and Peanuts day-to-day calendars, leaves of paper coming up to ankle height now to mark the passing of the days, shuffling through this gently rustling carpet, from bed to desk, eternally, to curate this week’s links, below.

This week’s news.

• Multiple women this week made public accusations of sexual misconduct against Ed Piskor, including an accusation of grooming from an artist who was 17 when contacted on Instagram by Piskor, leading to the indefinite postponement of a planned exhibit of Piskor’s work by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust at 707 Penn Gallery. Piskor has yet to comment publicly on the accusations, but has deleted a personal X (formerly Twitter) account, and one associated with the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel run with fellow comics-maker Jim Rugg. When asked for comment, one of Piskor’s publishers, Fantagraphics, replied, “Fantagraphics has no future projects in the works with Ed Piskor.”

• Webcomic Name’s Alex Norris has been subjected to a second nuisance lawsuit by a board game company seeking to claim all intellectual property relating to the comic, and has updated an ongoing legal fund to support the defence of this new case, and the costs of the previous one, on GoFundMe.

• Auction news, as ICv2 covers the appearance of the Denis Kitchen Art Collection on the block next month, with work from a murderer’s row of comics talent on offer; and the Kansas City Pedigree Action Comics #1, rated 8.5 on CGC’s arcane grading system, is looking set to smash sale records for the title.

• The Book Industry Charitable Foundation launched the Susan Kamil Scholarship for Emerging Writers, offering five $10,000 scholarships to booksellers or comic retailers, allowing emerging writer-booksellers support while working on their manuscripts, with applications open until the 7th of April.

• Awards news, and Raina Telgemeier has been named as this year’s recipient of the Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature, which seeks to “give formal recognition, on behalf of the Tulsa County community, to nationally acclaimed authors who have made a significant contribution to the field of literature for children and young adults.”

• Well, we’re back in the car again news, and publisher Peow, whom last we saw closing up shop in 2023, are back out of retirement and opening up shop again to launch Peow2, which, one has to assume, isn’t even their final form.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, and news was shared this week of the passing of comics historian and retailer Robert Beerbohm, who died on the 27th of March, aged 71, due to cancer.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Leonard Pierce reviews the impressive strangeness of Pierre La Police’s Masters of the Nefarious: Mollusk Rampage, translated by Luke Burns - “This is one of La Police’s best qualities as a cartoonist. You’re led down a path that looks like it’s going to bring some structure to the whole thing, only for it to divulge at exactly the right moment into some hilarious tangent that goes nowhere, but still maintains the barest of threads connecting it to where you thought it was going to go.”

• Matt Petras reviews the layered sophistication of Josh Bayer’s Unended - “The busy linework and splashes of color make every panel look like it’s moving. All of this combines with Bayer’s idiosyncrasies, such as faces inexplicably fading into vague shapes, which helps to give the unmistakable impression that this story is filtered through the artistry, quirks and imperfections of a living, breathing human being.”

 

AIPT

• David Brooke reviews the characterful tropes of Eric Powell’s The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead #1.

• Kevin Clark reviews the solid start of Sylvain Runberg and Mirka Andolfo’s Under York #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the slow pacing of Todd McFarlane, Jon Goff, Szymon Kudranski, et al’s Sam and Twitch: Case Files #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the engaging horror of Trish Forstner, Tony Fleecs, Tone Rodriguez, et al’s Feral #1.

• Andrew Isidoro reviews the compelling narrative of Mark Russel, Mike Allred, et al’s Batman: Dark Age #1.

• Ryan Sonneville reviews the inconsequential nature of Charles Soule, Luke Ross, et al’s Star Wars: Dark Droids.

• David Canham reviews the satisfying execution of Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, Paco Medina, Juan José Ryp, et al’s Immortal X-Men, Volume 4.

• Rory Wilding reviews the unsettling atmosphere of Masaaki Ninomiya’s Gannibal, Volume 1.

 

The Beat

• Tim Rooney reviews the character arc of Ben Percy, Robert Gill, et al’s X-Force #50.

• Cy Beltran reviews the fascinating world of Mark Russel, Mike Allred, et al’s Batman: Dark Age #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the intriguing setup of DB Andry, Tim Daniel, Marco Finnegan, et al’s Morning Star #1.

• Joel Savill reviews the detracting issues of Geshumaro’s I Want A Gal Gamer To Praise Me, translated by Ko Ransom.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the poignant critique of Daniel Innes and Christina Wong’s Denison Avenue.

• Andy Oliver reviews the satisfying expansion of Garth Ennis and Henry Flint’s Hawk the Slayer: Watch for Me in the Night, the storytelling flair of Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey’s Coin-Op #9, and the endearing quirkiness of Neil Watson-Slorance’s Plant Daddy.

 

The Guardian

Rachel Cooke reviews the atmospheric beauty of Carol Adlam’s The Russian Detective.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #131, X-Men: Forever #1, Resurrection of Magneto #3, Invincible Iron Man #16, and Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #2.

 

The Journal of Asian Studies

Francis Paolo Quina reviews the essential analysis of Beyond the Icon: Asian American Graphic Narratives, edited by Eleanor Ty.

 

Kirkus Reviews

Have starred capsule reviews of:

- The spectacular cartooning of Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book Two.

- The spellbinding heart of Molly Knox Ostertag’s The Deep Dark.

- The wonderful humour of Samuel Teer and Mar Julia’s Brownstone.

- The adorable mystery of Sara Varon’s Detective Sweet Pea: The Case of the Golden Bone.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Matthew Blair reviews the pacing issues of Ram V, Evan Cagle, et al’s Dawnrunner #1.

• Christopher Egan reviews the clear inspirations of Pornsak Pichetshote, Jesse Lonergan, et al’s Man’s Best #1.

• Gregory Ellner reviews the effective subversion of Mark Russel, Mike Allred, et al’s Batman: Dark Age #1.

 

New York Journal of Books

Susan Petrone reviews the offbeat charm of Mia Oberländer’s Anna.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Have capsule reviews of:

- The warm wit of Anna Härmälä’s Single Mothering.

- The gentle snark of Liana Finck’s How to Baby.

- The thoughtful complexity of Blue Delliquanti’s Adversary.

- The irreverent mystery of Meredith Moriarty’s Third Shift Society.

- The riotous imagination of Oliver Bly’s The Mushroom Knight.

- The energetic narrative of Tony Lee, Yishan Li, et al’s Army of One.

 

Remap

Duncan Fyfe reviews the emotional power of Jordan Mechner’s Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family.

 

Solrad

Ezra David Mattes reviews the bizarre attitudes of K. Wroten’s Eden II.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Hagai Palevsky interviews Gareth A. Hopkins about Explosive Sweet Freezer Razors, wobbly artistic backgrounds, and encouraging and dealing with mistakes in one’s work - “'Feel' is vital to the comics I make. To the audience, the finished comic should be understandable from an emotional perspective, even if they can't quite put their finger on what that emotion is or how it's been delivered. Without figurative imagery, what you've got to work with is everything else, and I mean that both as a creator and as a reader. Like, if a whole page is hues of purple, but there's a small solid acid green panel set away from the edge of the right-hand corner, how does that feel?”

 

AIPT

• Chris Coplan speaks with Mark Russell about Batman: Dark Age, getting to the heart of superheroes, and the history of American progress through the lens of the Caped Crusader.

• David Brooke interviews Des Taylor about Scarlett Couture: The Munich File, setting up future stories, favourite Bonds, and espionage research.

 

The Beat

• Deanna Destito talks to Tony Fleecs about Feral and Uncanny Valley, truths about cats and dogs, collaborative processes, and working to promote your books to retailers.

• Zack Quaintance chats with Charlie Stickney about White Ash, setting up a creative imprint, growing creative universes, and the logistics of crowdfunding.

 

Comics Grinder

Henry Chamberlain interviews Leela Corman about Victory Parade, homaging the Hernandez brothers, pro wrestling history, and analog versus digital creative processes.

 

The Irish Times

Una Mullally speaks with Debbie Jenkinson about Midlands, the allure of negative space, and the growth of the Irish alternative comics scene.

 

The Korea Times

Jon Dunbar talks to Ryan Estrada about Banned Book Club, rising book bannings in America, the work of challenging book bans, and book bannings as a symptom of wider societal control.

 

Multiversity Comics

Chris Cole chats with Samantha Edwards about A Tale as Tall as Jacob, the book’s acclaim and its upcoming sequel, and artistic and educational backgrounds.

 

Print

Steven Heller interviews Mark Lerer about The Little General, posting cartoons on social media, satire as a mirror, and reader responses to the comics.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Tom Shapira looks back at the history of the Classics Illustrated series of books, its short-lived 90s revival by First Comics, and the differences between this and the original line of books - “Still, because something was once popular, in comics it must continue. Punchline or not, the name is stronger than the content of any actual issue. Even as other publishers try their hand at adapting the classics, Classics Illustrated may limp on into eternity... though it needn't always limp.”

• Also for TCJ, Tegan O'Neil writes on the comics career of Joe Casey, and the collaborations that have fuelled it, including the most recent offering with artist Ryan Quackenbush, Junior Baker the Righteous Faker, and the nature of sequels - “The shrillness of the original Butcher Baker has given way to the nuance of growing older and facing personal limitations without euphemism. Oh, there’s a mystery at the heart of the world, sure. All the superheroes disappeared years ago, and something keeps pulling Junior to discover the truth of the matter: that they all relocated to South America, tucked into a corner of the map to play out their infinite recursive secret wars, taking a page right out of Marshal Law. They are of no consequences to anyone left alive.”

• Yamamoto Saori edits NHK World’s coverage of the reaction of fans and peers to the passing of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, who passed away earlier this month, including comment from Natsume Fusanosuke

• A triptych of comics event reports, as Meg Lemke speaks with exhibitors and organisers at this year’s MoCCA for Publisher’s Weekly, Rosie Knight covers the inaugural Black Zine Fest in Los Angeles for Women Write About Comics, and Charlie Hoppe reviews Washington University’s exhibition ‘Domesticated Pulp – Archie Publications and the Comics Code’ for the Exhibitions Special Interest Group.

• Scott Cederlund writes on Paco Roca's Return to Eden, for From Cover to Cover, examining the layers of familial pain conveyed through the photograph at the centre of the story.

• Shelfdust’s retrospective of Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi’s The Good Asian continues, as this week Priya Sridhar looks back on issue 9 of the series, and the changing faces of the cast of characters as the finale approaches.

• Paul O’Brien’s survey of the villains of Daredevil continues, for House to Astonish, as this week the Jester sets up a punchline or two.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as the coverage of the presidential election also warranted coverage.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Katie Skelly and Sally Madden reconvened to consider the Thick Lines of Kevin Huizenga’s Curses, and the varied adventures of Glenn Ganges, and also discussed the violence of apes, the joys of golf, and how to assess one’s preconceptions when it comes to creative works.

• A pair of meetings of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as Bill Kartalopoulos hosted a talk from Lee Marrs on advice for future creators gleaned from a career that spans mediums; and Ben Katchor hosted a discussion with Alex Beringer on new book Lost Literacies: Experiments in the Nineteenth Century US Comic Strip, presenting examples of work from artists of the time who were experimenting with the sequential form.

• Noah Van Sciver returns with a new Cartoonist Chat, this time out speaking with Gary Panter about comic book connections and meeting Jack Kirby, the artistic propulsion of rebelling when young, deciding on a specific style when working on comics, and the community that built up around Raw.

• Gil Roth welcomed Keith Mayerson to the latest edition of the Virtual Memories Show, as they spoke about new book Frank Johnson: Secret Pioneer of American Comics, the origins of the project, Johnson’s history and the discovery of such a body of work, and creative legacies.

• Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come featured a number of interviews on this week’s episode, as Heidi MacDonald spoke with Jonah Newman about Out of Left Field, and Meg Lemke chatted with Silver Sprocket’s Avi Ehrlichman and cartoonist Evan Dahm at 2024’s MoCCa.

• Brian Hibbs was joined by Ngozi Ukazu and Mad Rupert for the most recent meeting of Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel of the Month Club, as they spoke about BUNT!, making the journey from webcomics to print books, and creative processes.

• David Harper welcomed Katie Cook to this week’s episode of Off Panel, as they spoke about Nothing Special: Through the Elder Woods, Gronk, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the challenges of the infinite scroll format, and the evolution of comics as a profession.

That’s all for this week, next week will bring with it the confusion of a combination Easter Monday/April Fool’s Day, so who knows what will be what?