‘GN/TPB’ Archives
Violent Cases
This is the first collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. It's a short GN that stands the test of time. I've always liked stories that deal with the power of dreams/memories (something Gaiman explored in depth with Sandman), as long as they're not too confusing or without emotions. The narrator in this story resembles Gaiman himself, [...]
Asterios Polyp
This is the most buzzed about GN of the year, I'm glad I got to read it before the end of the year. There are many other more intelligent and articulate reviews out there, so I urge you to read them after you finish this book. Before I started reading this, I thought it would be a philosophical/psychological essay more than a story. A little [...]
Back to Brooklyn
This is a pretty typical mob story about a mob guy betraying his "family" and going to the police looking for a new life. Predictably he goes against the whole organization by himself, trying to save his family from his evil brother. It's nothing new but it's done well. This being written by Garth Ennis, it's very violent and it's supported [...]
Pyongyang
This is a great travelog in comic form by Guy Delisle. It tells of his unique experience in North Korea, an experience that's worth telling and worth reading about. Since this is a recounting of his stay in Korea, there isn't a plot to this story, it's more a series of interesting scenes about the Guy's life in a foreign country. There [...]
I Kill Giants
I've been meaning to read this story for a long time, but I never had the time, and although it seemed like a story I enjoyed, I didn't think it'd be that good. How wrong I was!! This is a great story about a young girl who's lost in her own fantasy world. She is a Giant killer, and she is preparing to fight them with her weapon. That makes [...]
Filthy Rich
This is the first GN in the new Vertigo Crime line, and it makes sense that the writer is acclaimed 100 Bullets writer Brian Azzarello. Here he is joined by Victor Santos, an artist I'm not familiar with. His style seems to fit well with the noir genre, with good use of black in dark scenes. The story is very typically noir, with the "hero" [...]
Too Cool To Be Forgotten
Alex Robinson is a favorite of mine, so it's not a surprise that I enjoyed this latest story. This is actually a bit different from his previous work, because it's a much shorter story and it's much more direct. I enjoyed the quick pacing of the book, but even in such a short story Robinson manages to write a fully developed character and a [...]
2 Guns
This is a nice little crime story that balances action with twists and turns. It's a clever one off story that would probably fit very well a movie screenplay. Not that it doesn't work as a comic, it does thanks also to Santalouco's art. The cover is a little too colorful for a crime story. But it's Grant's story that shines here. Highly [...]
Pax Romana
This is Jonathan Hickman's second mini-series that he wrote and drew. The look of it is very similar to The Nightly News, but the story this time focuses on a time travel dilemma. I like time travels, but the point here is about the morals of time travel in regard to organized religion. It's the church that sends a team to the past to change [...]
The Nightly News
This is Jonathan Hickman's debut comic, the one that put him on the map and at the center of attention. It's a comic with highly graphic designs, but it also tells a very socially charged story about the power of the media. Hickman's designs are very different from a traditional comic book, but they look beautiful at first glance. Once I [...]
Local #1-12
Brian Wood is one of those acclaimed writers that all the critics love. I, on the other hand haven't been crazy about all his works. I loved some of them (Demo), but was not blown away by others (Channel Zero, DMZ). This work is definitely in the "loved" column. Together with Ryan Kelly, Wood created one of the most compelling comics of the [...]
Transhuman
Johnathan Hickman has been a rising artist for some time, so I decided to finally check out his work. This mini is drawn by JM Ringuet and it's definitely a very atypical story. It's played as a documentary, so we see the protagonists being interviewed a talking about their past. That works well at first when introducing this futurist world, [...]
Highwaymen
This is a fun spy/action story with some supernatural elements. Writers Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman give us lots of action and gadgets, with just enough plot to take us along for the ride. Lee Garbett's art here is dynamic and his faces resemble Frank Quitely. This is a better job than he does in the recent Batman issues he drew. This [...]
Mom’s Cancer
This is a true story of how author Brian Fies and his family dealt with his mom's cancer. It was originally serialized online for free, then later published as a GN. When thinking of this type of story one thinks of a drama or even tragedy. But this is different. It's a very honest look at a tragic event in a family's life, but it also tries to [...]
The Plain Janes
This is a GN produced for the (now defunct) Minx imprint at DC, and it centers around a young girl named Jane (surprise surprise). A terrible accident happened to her, and because of that her family moved from the city to the suburbs. It's there that she is inspired to start a a secret art club called P.L.A.I.N (People Loving Art In [...]
The Coffin
This indy mini series by Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston is a horror story about the afterlife. Dr. Amhad creates a suit called coffin, that can contain the human soul after death, effectively creating powerful humanoids and defeating death. That's what Mr Heller is after, immortality. To obtain that he's willing to kill anyone, which is why [...]
Clan Apis
This GN is a great example of the educational possibility of the comics medium. Jay Hosler manages to educate us on bees, while at the same time telling a good story and let us care about the characters. The art style is very realistic, the bees are not anthropomorphized to look like humans at all. They just look like bees. That's a problem to [...]
Dark Wraiths of Shannara
I was a huge Terry Brooks fan growing up. I started with the Sword of Shannara while I was in middle school, and from then read all his books, including the Magic Kingdom series. The last book I read was his Demon trilogy, so I have a few more books to catch up on. But he also created this small story in comics format, starring Jair from the [...]
La Perdida
After reading a few short graphic novels, it was time to dig into something with more meat. This is a graphic novel that reads like a biography, but it's actually fiction. It's about Carla, an American girl who goes to Mexico in an attempt to re-discover her origins, and falls in love with the city. This story is about many different things, [...]
The Shy Creatures
If I were forced to name my favorite comics series/author I would probably say Kabuki by David Mack. So when I learned about Mack's first children's book I thought it would be a perfect book for me and my children to enjoy. I've recently read some children's books to my son, who is now 2, so I might be able to understand a little about what a [...]