Bad to the BONE

  Bone by Jeff Smith was the first graphic novel I ever picked up. I was at a point in my life when I had an insatiable hunger for comics. I was checking out “Garfield” books from the library left and right and I had just finished reading through my Calvin and Hobbes collection for […]

When Your Mom Pledges You To The Wytches

In the comic “Wytches,” by Scott Snyder, the main character Sailor is “pledged” to the wytches so that her mother can live without the witches bringing her continual misfortune. Sailor’s mother is the one that in fact pledges her so that she can continue on with her husband and have another child without worrying about the […]

The Corpse at the Root of the Cherry Tree: Horror and Glamour in Tokyo Babylon

Tokyo. The capital city of Japan. In 1991, its population numbered 11,923,346. Between day and evening, it differed by two million souls. The unparalleled city of night. Even in a world where magic and spirits are real, evil most often takes human form. Tokyo Babylon is the story of Subaru Sumeragi, a sixteen-year-old onmyouji (a […]

Far Out, Far Side.

I remember sitting in my bed at the ripe age of eight reading through a book full of “The Far Side” comics. I would leaf through the pages, get to the end, and then turn around and read the whole thing again. I’m not sure where I came across this book, nor am I entirely […]

The Power of Friendship

In most comics and manga, the main character’s story is one of trouble and tabulation. The main character, generally male, can only grow because of the people around them. Because of these strong connections, the main character becomes more and more powerful until they can defeat the main villain of the story or even just […]

Hulk Smash

Most depictions of Bruce Banner emphasize the duality of his mild mannered personality with that of the Hulk. He is typically written and viewed as a mild mannered, troubled genius, who struggles to keep his temper in check so that he doesn’t hulk out and become a liability. He is viewed with sympathy as he […]

The Return of the (Printed) Comic Book

On September 18, 2016, an article was published on the Comichron website detailing the rise in comic book orders. According to the article, “Since 1998, Diamond Comic Distributors has never shipped more than 10 million comic books to comics shops in a single month. That changed in August, as DC‘s “Rebirth” resulted in shipments of […]

Bat I-Work-Alone Man

In May 1939, the 27th issue of the Detective Comics was released, introducing Batman. He quickly became known as a new hero who worked alone. Not long later, people realized that the Bat-signal in the sky draws the Dark Knight. Today, that same symbol will not only notify Batman, but a Robin or even a Batgirl may […]