Kel McDonald‘s Murky Water is about a paranormal investigation police unit looking into the death of a man from drowning – in his very dry living room. (Currently being Kickstarted!) Tim and Adam critique. Then, Jason joins Tim to review Lucy Sullivan‘s Barking, about dealing with depression in an inadequate mental health care system. The art is beautiful, but how does this style work in a 130-page book?
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This time we look once again at new books coming from British publisher Avery Hill Press. Owen D. Pomery’s The Hard Switch is a nice slice of indy sci-fi; Tim and Kumar review. Then, Emmet joins Tim to discuss Nicole Goux’s Pet Peeves: Emmet loves it, but Tim needs some convincing.
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Flush with dark and mysterious symbolism, K. Briggs‘ adaptation of Macbeth from Avery Hill publishing is a challenging and visually exciting piece of work. Kumar and Emmet discuss the comic’s approach to the classic Shakespearean play and how it compares to other adaptations, as well as its unique juxtaposition of the unexpurgated text of the tragedy with an eclectic selection of mixed media visualizations.
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George Wylesol’s 2120 is a choose-your-own-adventure horror graphic novel that blocks your progress and punishes the reader for cheating. Kumar and Emmet found it disturbing and fascinating. This week, they present their review.
Wylesol interview from The Migratory
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What are the people like on the other side of the mountain? Are there any there? Where does the stuff, the objects, the food we enjoy in our daily lives come from? These questions are central to Shanti Rai‘s first graphic novel, Sennen. In this episode, Tim and Jason review the book, and then Tim talks to Shanti about how her bicultural background helped inspire the book, and the unexpected obstacle that slowed down its creation.
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Suzanne Lenglen was a trendsetting tennis star in the 1920s, among the first to challenge the notion that tennis players had to be amateurs, running themselves into debt to keep competing, in order to participate in tournaments. Tom Humberstone‘s first full-length graphic novel Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis, soon to be released, is a finely honed work of historical fiction on her life and influence. Tim and Jason review the book in this episode; then, Tim interviews Humberstone about the process of making the book, why he was inspired to focus on Lenglen, and what he hopes to do next.
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You may be puzzled by a book titled Lights, Planets, People; we certainly were. But when we read it, we found that Molly Naylor and Lizzy Stewart’s graphic novel is a story with multiple levels, communicated in multiple ways, including through the shifting art style and color palette. It’s a book about an astronomer who is dealing with several issues, including bipolar disorder. Tim and Emmet recount the experience.
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Isekai is a genre, named in Japan, in which a character from our earth is suddenly transported to “another world.” This concept goes back at least to Alice in Wonderland, but these days the “other world” is often the inside of a computer game. Although it’s not explicitly stated (so far), that seems to be the case in The Last Tide, a book from new publisher Cloudscape and created by Pirateaba, Shane Sandulak, and Matias Zanetti. Our patron Gabe joins Tim to review.
Avery Hill, publisher of Zoe Thorogood’s The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, has really gotten on our radar lately. This time, Tim and Emmet discuss a graphic novel called Breakwater by Katriona Chapman. The story takes place among employees of a movie theater, but it could (and does) happen in any situation.
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