Books
Reviews of books, graphic novels, comics, zines, magazines, and whatever else we can get our grubby hands on. Have a review suggestion? Feel free to get in touch!
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Wax Cross
A first reading of Wax Cross by Tin Can Forest feels like trying to reconstruct a very long series of dreams upon waking. What comes through first is the visual: beautifully dark and dancing images populated by witches, werewolves, farmers, demons, priests, and one very sinister goat.
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By This Shall You Know Him
Ever get the feeling that your life, the universe, and everything are just a big cosmic snafu? Anyone who’s ever pondered the meaning of existence through philosophy, religion, evolutionary theory, astrophysics, or reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation will definitely enjoy By This You Shall Know Him.
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The Survivalist
Box Brown is no stranger to exploring diverse, and sometimes bizarre extreme sub-cultures. His new graphic novel The Survivalist follows an angst-ridden political outsider as he survives surviving.
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Nobrow 6
We’ve been anticipating the arrival of Nobrow 6: The Double for sometime now, as it showcases the works of many of our favorite artists we’ve featured on S&TM. Sporting dual front/back cover art by Gwenola Carrere and Tom Gauld, the book is also divided into two halves. One half collecting full-page illustrations, while the other half is chalked-full of beautiful two-page whimsical, metaphysical and existential comics.
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Pope Hats
Ethan Rilly returns to the story of Frances Scarland with the second installment of Pope Hats. When the first issue of Pope Hats made the rounds in 2008, in the form of a mini comic that Ethan Rilly self-published, it grabbed a lot of attention as a remarkable debut work, snagging the Doug Wright award for Best Emerging Talent.
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The New Ghost
Rob Hunter’s art runs against many of the strong currents in the world of comics. I know tons of comics that are tough, gritty, funny, gross, goofy, dark, trippy, distopian, complex, satirical. These aren’t bad things at all, but how often do you come across a comic that’s light as air, dreamy and poetic?
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Root Rot
One look at Michael DeForge’s deeply weird and beautiful cover art, depicting the romantic entanglements of a forest dwelling ghost and a Sasquatch, will tell you that Root Rot is no typical forest-themed art book.
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Even The Giants
The bleak expanse of the arctic can get lonely, so it helps to have company – even if it comes in monstrous forms. Even The Giants is a story of solitude, wonder, and turbulence, as it follows the adventures of an Arctic giant couple crossing paths with the motley inhabitants of their polar neck of the woods.
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Diana Tamblyn
Canadian cartoonist Diana Tamblyn’s stories draw on the personal and historical in a way that is both immediate and touching. Whether she’s recounting one man’s quest to re-create a World War 1 canon, or her first experiences as a new mother, Tamblyn’s focus is always on the human aspect: the character’s perspectives and experiences.
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A Graphic Cosmogony
The Judeo-Christian story has God making the universe and everything in it in 7 days. Now the good people at Nobrow have given 24 artists 7 pages each to tell their stories of the creation of everything in A Graphic Cosmogony. The results are strange, beautiful and as varied as the styles of the artists involved.
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Wilson
Reading “Wilson”, the latest graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (author of “Ghost World“), feels a lot like picking at a scab. You know you should just leave it alone, but you can’t help yourself.