Tag: graphic novels

June 20, 2018

Next Top Villain

Next Top Villain A review of Jeff Lemire’s Thanos Vol 1: Thanos Returns (Marvel Comics, 2017). By Derek Newman-Stille Canadian comic book writer and artist Jeff Lemire has worked on independent comics, but has also worked with the comic company giants DC and Marvel. He tends to take his Canadian interest in grey areas and ambiguous endings into his comics...

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May 28, 2018

Artificial

Artificial A Review of Jeff Lemire’s Black Hammer Vol 2: The Event (Dark Horse, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille Nothing is quite what it seems in the perfect small town that superheroes Barbalien, Golden Gail, Abraham Slam, Talky Walky, and Colonel Weird, and Madame D have found themselves in. It is a town that is held apart from the rest of the...

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May 18, 2018

Who Said Unicorns Were Majestic?

Who Said Unicorns Were Majestic? A review of Katie Shanahan and Steven Shanahan’s Silly Kingdom: A New Steed Indeed (www.sillykingdom.com , 2105) People frequently portray unicorns as majestic, gentle, caring creatures… but not the Shanahans. In their comic Silly Kingdom: A New Steed Indeed, The Prince becomes obsessed with the fact that a neighbouring prince, Peatrid, manages to have a...

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July 26, 2017

Radical Acts of Beauty

A review of Daniel Heath Justice’s “The Boys Who Became The Hummingbirds” in Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection Volume 2” (Edited by Hope Nicholson, Alternative History Comics, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille Daniel Heath Justice’s “The Boys Who Became The Hummingbirds” is a comic about resilience and transformation, highlighting the desire of a two-spirit boy to change the world around him...

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May 26, 2017

A Squirrelly Comedy Duo of Doom

A review of Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 3 (Marvel, 2016) By Derek Newman-Stille In addition to continuing to be incredibly adorable, Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 3 continues to play with narrative in fascinating ways. The comic continues to use elements of commentary at the bottom of each page,...

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May 15, 2017

Planets Contaminated

A review of Crystal Yates’ “Earthsong” (Overmorrow Media) By Derek Newman-Stille “Earthsong” is an incredibly beautiful and chilling fantasy graphic narrative. Crystal Yates plays with light and images of fabric to create a comic that, while dealing with serious issues, also feels like a warm blanket wrapped around the reader.  Crystal Yates’ “Earthsong” is an interplanetary fantasy where the planets...

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April 17, 2017

Old Enough to be Hurt

A review of Jeff Lemire’s “Old Man Logan: The Last Ronin” (Marvel Comics, 2017) By Derek Newman-Stille With the “Old Man Logan” series, Jeff Lemire has been playing with ideas of ageing, displacement, and the changes in identity that occur with the passage of time. This is a Wolverine who has been displaced from time from an apocalyptic future to...

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April 8, 2017

Geek Girl Magic

A Review of Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang’s In Real Life (First Second, 2014) By Derek Newman-Stille   Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang’s In Real Life explores the complexity of geek girl life. Focusing on Anda, a high school student who finally finds her place in the MMORPG game Coursegold Online, Doctorow and Wang examine the flexibility of identities in...

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February 20, 2017

Psychiatric Survivor Superhero

A review of Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight Vol 1: Lunatic (Marvel, 2016) By Derek Newman-Stille   Writing about mental illness tends to be challenging and most authors tend to reify disempowering tropes of mental illness, projecting people with psychiatric disabilities as villainous, problematic, dangerous, and incompetent. Jeff Lemire’s 2016 rewrite of Moon Knight challenges some of the assumptions about mental...

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October 6, 2015

Speculating Canada on Trent Radio Episode 49: An Interview with Vincent Marcone

In this Episode of Speculating Canada on Trent Radio, I conduct an interview with author/artist Vincent Marcone. Vincent Marcone’s graphic novel “The Lady Paranorma” (ChiZine Publications, 2015). I had a chance to see some of Marcone’s artwork at Fan Expo Canada and wanted to talk to him both about his writing and his artistic work and the integration of art...

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