A Deep Six’d Publication
Story: Gardner Fox Art: Carmine Infantino DC Comics, 1961-1962 THE WAY WE LEARNED to swim underwater with aqua-lungs and fins in the 1940s made it obvious humans would soon have personal rocket packs to fly in the skies with the same fishy fluency. The first good part about Adam Strange...
Read MoreCreator: Robert Buratti SubRosa Studio, 2022 As the name suggests, this title by Australian creator Robert Buratti is set in Florence. Underscoring the mystique of Florence as a setting for any form of literature, a funny thing happened to your reviewer in 2010 when he was staying in a hotel...
Read MoreWriter: Tom King Artists: Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey DC Comics, 2018 SOMETIMES I LOVE BATMAN. The artwork by Tony S. Daniel attracted me to this 2018 storyline in BATMAN #55-57 by writer Tom King, called “Beasts of Burden.” Wonderful spreads of the caped detective in action on...
Read MoreCreator: Leonie Brialey Glom Press, 2018, 2020 The promotional copy for this title, Psychic Hotline is understated, to say the least: It’s about a ghost calling a psychic hotline. This one-liner gives no credit at all to what is, with respect, a masterclass of nuance by Melbourne-based creator, Leonie Brialey....
Read MoreWritten by Gerry Duggan Art by Greg Smallwood Published by Marvel Comics, February 2019 In the current state of comics with its millions of titles and time-lines (a.k.a. the multitude of multiverses), it is always refreshing to find a one-shot comic that tells a small (if not epic) self-contained story....
Read MoreCreators: Don Cameron and Chuck Winter DC Comics, Winter 1942 Liberty Belle debuted in Boy Commandos #1 in the middle of World War 2, when superhero comics were at the height of popularity. Liberty Belle was the alter ego of famous radio columnist Libby Lawrence, whose initial disguise was merely to...
Read MoreWriter: Fabian Nicieza Artists: Scott Lee, Jimmy Palmiotti Event Comics, 1996 ARTISTS CAN GO ANYWHERE they want. The record of their art allows us to follow. Even at a distance we can walk their corridors, whistle their tunes, enter their imaginations, and marvel a little how we keep talking so...
Read MoreWriter: Saif A. Ahmed Artist: Fabiana Mascolo Scout Comics, November 2021 A GLIMPSE OF A FAMILY’S LIFE emerging from the ruin of Iraq is a welcome addition to our stories. Many voices are beginning to appear lately from past and present war zones. YASMEEN appeared in my hand in six...
Read MoreWriter: Gary Proudley Artists: Campbell Whyte, Garry Chaloner, Daniel A. Becker, Stefanie Palladino, Cody Anderson, Lauren Marshall, Sarah Boxall, Louie Joyce, Cristian Roux, Paul Mason, Tatiana Davidson, Al Barrionuevo, Robert Buratti, Jana Hoffmann, Sacha Bryning, Queenie Chan, Brenton McKenna, Dean Rankine, Tim McEwen Gestalt Comics, 2022 Once again, our paths...
Read MoreCo-creator: Marinus Reininga Co-creator and writer: Gilbert Deltrez Artist: JL Giles Call of the Void, November 2021 Why is H.P. Lovecraft so popular almost a century after he created his first work in the Cthulhu mythos? The text itself is often prolix, expository, and clumsy. The man himself was a...
Read MoreCreated by Noémie Black Panel Press, December 2021 A ZEPHYROUS tilt downhill moves HANGING ON BY A THREAD along at a gentle pace as brightly colored scenes gleam past. The art in this 2022 biopic story by and of Noémie, coming of age in her twenties in Lebanon, looks like...
Read MoreCreator: Rachel Ang Glom Press, 2018 Australian comic book publisher Glom Press had a presence at the 2022 Perth Comics Arts Festival, and this critic picked up two of the house’s titles, Psychic Hotline (which we will review next week) and the remarkable Swimsuit. Here is the amazingly brief promotional...
Read MoreWriter: Roy Thomas Artists: Estaban Maroto, Santi Casas Dynamite! Comics, collected as a hardcover April 2019 A SUDDEN INTAKE OF BREATH, a warm rush as the scene in RED SONJA: THE BALLAD OF THE RED GODDESS from 2019 emblazoned in black, white, and red only, opened into a grand stone...
Read MoreCreated by Marco Fontanili Black Caravan, March 2022 I KNOW THIS PLACE a voice murmured when I opened PENTAGRAM OF HORROR! and found nothing stirring on the first page. A sullen air tinged red like a bloody mist not fit to breathe hovers over a graphic black‑and‑white scenery that trails...
Read MoreWriter: Nick Henry Artist: Mike Burton LC Comics, 2022 Monsters, creatures that are not part of the normal life, are first and foremost characters to swiftly get rid of. Or, in what is usually a more tolerant post-modern trope, they are beings that have their own right to live (and...
Read MoreWriter: Gerard J. Jones Artist: Clovis Batebola August 2022 Mrs. Vengeance: The Broken Pavement: Part One is the first issue of a new comic book miniseries from writer Gerald J. Jones and artist Clovis Batebola. The story revolves around the titular character, a female masked vigilante that stalks and punishes...
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