The content of alternative comics anthologies in the last ten years seems to be veering away from their (potentially offensive) underground roots. Instead, these collections seem to be reaching more towards the art gallery-centric world of the Pop Surrealism movement. For example, Blab! once regularly spotlighted cartoonists like Kaz, Daniel Clowes and Richard Sala. But now it reserves the most space for top names in the alternative art world like Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden and Camille Rose Garcia. All of these creators are equally...

It comes as little surprise that some of the best loved and oft re-visited works of literature are solidly based in the realms of fantasy. From A Midsummer’s Night Dream to Lord of the Rings there is something hugely appealing about taking our imaginations into the lands of vibrant, idyllic, fantasias. In this genre there is perhaps no creation as well known or as frequently re-interpreted as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1898 edition) First published...

The mixing up of genres can be a tricky thing. If a creator is not extremely well-versed in what makes the cross-pollinating genres work (as well as what is cliche and makes them fail), things simply will not gel. Thankfully, first-time comics writer Matt Maxwell knows how to fuse these things properly, making his hybrid western / horror graphic novel Strangeways: Murder Moon the very entertaining read that it is. In Murder Moon, (self-published by Maxwell via Highway 62 press), ex-Civil War soldier Seth Collins is the survivor...

Artist Dave McKean has found tremendous success and acclaim in a wide variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, book illustration, photography, filmmaking, music, and, of course, comics. Legendary amongst sequential art enthusiasts, his singular and recognizable style is found in many of the most highly acclaimed titles of the last 20 years including Violent Cases, Mr. Punch, Arkham Asylum, and The Sandman, as well as his own creation Cages. I had the pleasure of attending the opening reception for McKean’s newest...

Alhambra, California. Located not far from Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, Alhambra is a small, but thriving city proud of its large Asian and Hispanic population. Main Street here has seen a true rebirth in recent years as a wealth of new businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues has turned a once neglected stretch of road into one that teems with life on any given evening. Yes, Alhambra is a city on the rise. Or at least it was, until the tragic events of Saturday, February 6, 2010 when it found itself victim to...

Shitty jobs: almost all of us have had to put up with them at one point in our lives. Much more often than not working for an awful boss and/or company becomes a test of one’s endurance, where you ask yourself on a daily basis, “How much of a beating can my pride withstand before I just can’t take it anymore?” If this is the kind of situation you find yourself presently in, it may be of some comfort to know that you are not alone in your frustration and you’ll certainly realize this in reading Carol...

Here at Sequential Sunday, the work discussed can sometimes be, well… a little dour. This realization came to me when I was deciding what book to discuss this week and noticed that they either revolved around alcoholism, an insane asylum, or The Holocaust. In light of this, I decided to make this week’s article a little more fun and breezy, while still showcasing a lot of great work and drawing upon sophisticated source material. With that I give you: Watchmen-themed cutesy crafts. You see, there is very little in...

I’m back this week, after last weeks unusual absence, which came around through no fault of my own I assure you. The snow here has been horrific, and it stopped me from getting into the city to pick up my comics, so I had nothing to work with for 2 weeks. Sucks right? Yeah, well you know how things go, but finally, these past few days the snow has been clearing, and I was able to catch up on all my comics and whatnot. As well as managing to get a cool new comic to cover for today’s Tea Time Thursday blog. This week...

Now that 2010 is in full swing I’d like to wish all of our Comic Impact readers all the best in the new year and charge right back into my Best of 2009 list. Up, up and away we go…. Criminal The Deluxe Edition by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Val Staples (Marvel/Icon) It comes as no surprise that Ed Brubaker can write a great crime comic. What does come as a surprise is that any wirier, even one as talented as Brubaker, can take the crime/noir genre and make it feel so fresh and invigorating that it’s almost...

Here at ComicImpact, we were lucky enough to get a sneak peak look at a hot new graphic novel that is set to be released next week on the 13th of Janurary through Oni Press publishings. I’m Rob, and I’m going to run you through what I thought of this brand spanking new book, and tell you why this is something to check out when new releases hit the stores next week. ‘Lola: A Ghost Story’ is a chunky 112 page, hardcover graphic novel, written by J. Torres, and with artwork given to us by Elbert Or....

I initially thought the task of compiling a list of the best in comics and related art books released in 2009 would be relatively easy. Boy was I wrong. We saw a wealth of amazing output from the indie press, mainstream publishers and collected works of illustrative artists of the past and present. 2009 has been a fantastic year overall for sequential art, the best of the last several, with my only real problem being finding the time (and money) to take them all in. So without further ado here is Part I in my two-part series...

Hey folks, welcome back to Tea Time Thursday, and its Christmas Eve as you know, unless you are a mole and weren’t aware. I guess this is therefore the Tea Time Thursday ‘Christmas Special’! So yes, as I’ve promised this interview for a long time, I won’t ramble for too long. I hope you enjoy this interview I got with Time Bomb Comics founder and writer, Steve Tanner, when I caught up with him at the Leeds Thought Bubble convention earlier this November. [Assume that there were formalities,...

Nobody likes being the last person to show up at a party, and boy do I feel like I’m the last person to show up at this one. I consider myself an avid fan of all things horror since childhood, but I have to admit that until now I have not read the incredible Image comic The Walking Dead. But like a straggler at a blowout drinking fast to be on everyone else’s fuzzy wavelength, I am attempting to make up for lost time. In the last week or so I have read all ten of the currently available trade paperback collections of The...

When I go to pick up my comics next week on Christmas Eve, I can tell you that out of the reasonably meaty list of comics I’ll be getting, the one I will be most looking forward to reading is a brand new one shot from Dark Horse Comics, called ‘Hellboy: The Bride of Hell’. As a particular fan of Mike Mignola’s fantastic Hellboy Universe, I always look forward to most books published that tell tales from within his universe, be it B.P.R.D, Lobster Johnson or Hellboy himself. The previous Hellboy one shot...

Here at Comic Impact, I myself want to give you all a very warm welcome to the start of the festive season.  A time when we celebrate, and enjoy low prices on quality goods, when we all eat double our weight in fine bird and get drunk, as that’s what Christmas is all about, am I right? Well that’s about as far as my Christmas holiday goes, but regardless, for those of you all celebrating in style, and those who arnt, I send out my regards! Now, forget that, because who needs Christmas when you’ve got a...

Founded in 2002, Flesk Publications is still a relatively young company with less than twenty releases under its belt. But the astonishing work contained in these books display such an incredible degree of talent and wealth of beautiful artwork that they are, without a doubt, amongst the very top-tier of publishers of illustrative and fantasy art in this country. With a focus on some of the best American illustrators of the past and present, Flesk gives the heavily detailed art found in their collections the beautiful reproductions...

Author Patrick Wensink has just released a new collection of highly bizarre (and extremely funny) short stories titled Sex Dungeon For Sale! To mark the occasion he is holding a coloring contest in which the winner will get a set of autographed books including the brilliantly absurd Tales Designed To Thrizzle hardcover collection from Fantagraphics signed by Michael Kupperman! The contest is simple: visit Patrick’s website, download one of the illustrations created for Sex Dungeon For Sale! and bust out some crayons!...

Welcome back to another Tea Time Thursday, where each week I do an article where I cover purely British comics, created and published within the United Kingdom, a country I can so ‘luckily’ can call home. Cast your minds back to the last week when I gave an overview on the annual Leeds Thought Bubble comic convention, you’ll perhaps remember me saying that next week (which is this week) I would put up an interview I did with Steve Tanner. I’m afraid you will have to forgive me, if you were expecting...

When one thinks of important American epicenters for the development and cultivation of comic art, there are a couple that will always spring to mind first. New York is one, of course, as New York City is the undisputed publishing capitol of the country and home to industry giants Marvel and DC. California is certainly another as San Francisco was ground zero for the counterculture movement of the 1960’s and the explosive, unapologetic underground comics that emerged from those politically charged and artistically liberating...

So last Saturday I went to the annual ‘Thought Bubble’ comic convention in Leeds closeby to where I live. This year’s event was the third since it started. I went last year, so this was the second time I’d been to this specific convention, and I’m going to give the lowdown on what happened, and my experiences from the day. It was a long day, let me tell you that! So the convention opened at 10am, but I did not arrive until bang on midday, as last year I got there at 10 and had seen everything by...

Many of the best creative endeavors are bound to be short lived. An artist will usually know when he’s said all he has to say before running the risk of going stale or to simply move on to the next phase of his artistic career. This certainly happens in the world of comics and seems to now apply to the brilliant strip The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch. Describing The Perry Bible Fellowship (which premiered in 2001 and is named after an actual church in Maine) to someone who has not seen it is near impossible...

Goodness me, guess what I’m going to talk to you about this week for Tea Time Thursday? A comic convention that Im going to be attending, and what Im expecting from it compared to my opinions from last years event. Well truthfully, most of you won’t have heard of the UK’s, Thought Bubble comic convention held in Leeds that is opening tomorrow (Saturday 21st). It’s an annual arts and literature convention, held over 3 days, but on the Saturday of that 3 day period, is when the comic convention is held....

Tea Time Thursday strikes once again! Following suit from last week’s review of an #1 comic, I’ve got a corker of an indie comic here that rocked my socks off. We’ll be changing the dials this week and I’m setting the tone to ’sci-fi adventure’. This week, I read Marc Olivent’s (who I hear has done some 2000AD work over the years) first issue of his own comic series; Seven Sentinels. Marc illustrates and writes these comics, and this series went on for a few issues I gather, and truly...

For those who read fantasy comics, 2009 is proving itself to truly be a banner year with some of the quality genre material hitting the shops recently. First, there is the amazing continuing series Mouse Guard by David Petersen. Then we saw the phenomenal debut of Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian, which to me still stands as the best, and most beautifully drawn, title of the year. Now there is another comic to add to this imagination abundant list: The Stuff of Legend. The first issue of The Stuff of Legend (written by...

According to ComicImpact’s own resident writer, Dana, I should apparantly be watching the EMA’s on MTV I think the station is. Now I probably should be, seen as though Katy Perry (one of my favourite current pop artists!) is hosting, but regardless of whether she is or not, I am here, and I am writing my Tea Time Thursday! Now that is unconditional commitment if you ask me. I joke, of course I’d rather be here writing up a review of a sound comic, than watching some MTV trash, regardless of whether one of my...

Playing fast and loose with histories both real and imagined can be fertile ground for dry comedy and offer opportunities for moments of real poignancy as well. Both are found in abundance in the new chapbook by Francois Ayroles titled Key Moments From The History Of Comics. Presented in a series of single panel cartoons, comic creators from the distant past and the contemporary present are shown in small scenes of inspiration and isolation, melancholy and triumph. Some of the most affecting pieces in the book are ones that...

So, my children of the night, you have decided to join me for yet another Tea Time Thursday have you now? Well then, prepare to meet you maker, mwahaha! I really need to stop doing such lame introductions. But regardless, yes, as are more than likely aware, that if you’re reading this, then you are here for a reason, and that is too read my review of Punks In Space #3! If you arn’t here for that, then you are probably on drugs and should go take some more or whatever, as this won’t interest you while you’re...

With Halloween right around the corner and all the spooky connotations that come with it hanging in the air it seemed like a good time to scour the shelves of my favorite comic book store for some seasonally appropriate material. The store in question is Comics Factory in Pasadena, CA where, if you’re an indie reader like me, you’re in luck as their selection of independents is so wide it almost rivals all the stock of the Big Two put together. Another huge plus for my ghoulish spree is that there seems to be more horror...

Hey everyone, I’m going to start this off as if it were a formal letter to a relative (whom you love dearly but do not see all that often) by extending my heartfelt best wishes to you all on this fine, cold, damp October Thursday. Hopefully we’ve all made it to another Thursday in one piece, so here I am, but the real question is, are you here? Yes? Good! Becuse I’m going to be shooting you up with British comic book goodness once again. Whether you like it or not! Remember a while back when I featured...

There’s something fascinating about seeing your favorite hero doing what they do best, but in a radically altered setting or environment. A big favorite of mine as a kid was What If? from Marvel. In (somewhat) more recent years it’s a real kick to see what DC creators do with the various Elseworlds releases. One that always springs to mind is Gotham By Gaslight in which we see what Batman would be like if he lived and operated in the late 1800’s. Pretty far-out to be sure, but how is the reader to react upon seeing the...

Putting aside the fact that the comics themselves featured many of the same classic characters we’ve known all our lives, the often-forgettable releases from Marvel in the 1990’s bares little resemblance to the company’s output today. When you factor in the abolishment of the Epic line, bad business practices leading to a glut of material (over 100 titles at one point), and their top name creators jumping ship to launch the instantly successful Image, you get a titan of the industry not exactly in the midst of a new...

Like most kids (boys especially) I was drawn to anything that had dinosaurs in it. Movies like King Kong, The Valley of Gwangi, One Million Years B.C. and The Land That Time Forgot were mandatory viewing when they would pop up on Saturday afternoon television (this was back in the pre-historic days shortly before cable and home video). Comics like Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and The War That Time Forgot were read and reread endlessly. Even though I loved anything even remotely monster related there was a difference when it...

It’s cold. It’s dark. You’ve just gotten off the bus after a day’s work. You’ve walked yourself home, and you’re opening the front door. You look forward to stepping in, putting on the heating and getting a good nights sleep. But sadly, you’re also a peadophilic rapist, so instead of dozing off to slumberland, you’re tied to a chair and being interigated. Welcome to this week’s Tea Time Thursday everyone, and welcome to the first issue of Chris Jones and Gary Bainbridge’s...

Today’s comic book artists working within the mainstream may not always be consciously aware of just how little restrictions are put on their work. When the human body is represented, there isn’t always a whole lot left to the imagination even though the characters are fully clothed. A good example of this is the slick art of Guillem March on the current series Gotham City Sirens. The central characters look less like costumed villanesses and more like nude women whose bodies have been painted. Cartoonists of the past had...

There are many comic collections and anthologies that champion comics’ relatively recent acceptance as true and serious art. The only potential problem is that many such volumes invariably become a bit stuffy and academic, forgetting that a primary function of reading comic books is that the experience should also be a fun and entertaining one. One sequential art historian who never lets us forget this point is the incomparable Craig Yoe via his series of eye-popping “Arf” books. To date there are four volumes: “Modern...

Existential dread and despair are feelings that are not easily communicated to a reader via text or imagery. That uneasy, creeping sense of malaise that accompanies being emotionally numb in a seemingly unending urban landscape of concrete and refuse is hard to nail down recognizably without seeming overdone or heavy-handed. However, one comics artist that understands these feelings and the environment that conjures them is Mark Beyer, and his favored method of expression are through his two key characters, the queasily comical...

For this week’s installment of “Sequential Sunday” I’ve decided to forgo my usual long-winded appreciation of an indie/alternative/underground artist and instead jump right into some examples of the artist in question: Ivan Brunetti. The work (in this case examples of Brunetti’s very dirty minded gag cartoons) pretty much speaks for itself. An overview more worthy of this particular artist will appear in a future post, but for now here’s some filth to brighten your Sunday afternoon. Also, for those who are underage...

I really have no good, justifiable reason why I’ve never attended Comic-Con until this year. Growing up in the mid-west certainly makes the commute difficult, but now that I’ve lived on the west coast for 11 years (and the last 6 of those years in Southern California) it really makes no sense why I’ve waited until now to go. However, all that changed this year and I can now safely say I will never miss one again. What follows is a rundown of just a few of the notable people, places and things at the massive sensory overload...

In the publishing world it is extremely rare for a graphic designer to become an art superstar in their own right, but this is exactly what has happened to Chip Kidd. Beginning his career in the mid-80’s, Chip Kidd has earned a reputation for his highly innovative book covers for authors such as John Updike, Bret Easton Ellis, David Sedaris, Dean Koontz and Cormac McCarthy. So admired is his work that several authors have a clause in their contract stating that only Kidd be allowed to design their covers. His most well known...

Goodness gracious me, this week has been an absolute killer for me physically and mentally. I’ve not had enough sleep, I’ve been drunk most of the time, and I’ve been travelling around the country, spending more money than I should have on various bits and bobs from sculpture to tattoos. So it’s slightly ironic that this week, I would talk about a comic that’s completely crazy in nature and far from the normalities of which we are all accustomed to to live our lives. This week’s UK comic,...

Comic anthology books are almost always a mixed bag. Though they often revolve around a certain theme, set of characters, or maintain a consistent tone, one cannot help but be either over or under whelmed by its contents. It is very rare to find an anthology that hits the mark on almost every page but the recent release “Typhon” is just that. In Greek mythology Typhon was the most fearsome of all creatures, at one time even attempting to destroy Zeus himself. This tale is reflected on the cover of “Typhon” with an incredible...

After last week’s Tea Time Thursday, in which I reviewed a great (but very serious) comic in the horror genre, this week I wanted to cover something a little more lighthearted! So I was searching the shelf of British produced comics in my local comic shop this week, for something that looked as if it fitted the ‘little more lighthearted’ criteria of which I had subconsciously devoted myself to, when a comic caught my eye called ‘Ellerbisms’. I gave the description on the inside cover a quick read...

An unusual thing began to happen to the underground comics emerging from San Francisco after Slow Death #9 their initial first wave in the mid-to-late 1960’s. As the dreams of the revolutionary youth counterculture began to fall apart (signs of which were already beginning to show by the end of 1967 — the year of the “Summer Of Love”), the fading hopes of the generation were seeping into the comics of the time in extremely dark ways. Though those initial undergrounds had some nasty elements in them, mainly stemming...

This is a great time for those of us who love comics. Almost every genre is hitting creative high points, be it super heroes, horror or alternative humor. Yet even with so many great choices available something can come along so astonishing and unexpected that you can’t help but be in complete awe of it. A comic has done this to me today and that comic is the recently released first issue of “Cursed Pirate Girl” by Jeremy Bastian.    The story is set in 1728 in a Jamacian sea port ruled by the pompous Governer Maygun....

very aptly titled... Let’s consider for a moment the most reviled of all forms of comedy: toilet humor. It’s something we’re all familiar with from an early age. Any child on a school playground is delighted to amuse his pals with a good pee or poop joke, or maybe simply by letting a loud one rip right in the middle of a school assembly. Let’s face it: the human body and its more odorous functions is prime comedy ground.  This applies not just to children, but also for those whose sense of humor refuses to grow up (i.e....

Faust issue #3 “Not For Children” is the phrase that adorns the cover of several issues of the notorious adults-only comic book “Faust: Love of the Damned,” and I can safely state that a more appropriate warning has never been put on a cover before or since. The hyper-violent reality that the characters of “Faust” live in scales heights of bloodlust and depravity that I can only assume is completely unheard of and unseen by the majority of comic readers.  The extreme sex and violence in this book are not mutually...

One of the amazing things about how the mind works while reading comics is that we are essentially experiencing what is called a jump-cut between every panel, yet we still have a completely fluid storytelling experience. Our brain automatically fills in that blank space between panels. This is very similar to watching a movie where every edit goes from one image to another in a fraction of a second. It should be jarring, but somehow it isn’t. The difference between comics and movies in this regard is that reading is a much...