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53 results.

Graphic Novel Review: Piero

By Gene Ambaum on January 24, 2019 at 8:00 am

Piero by Baudoin. Translation and Introduction by Matt Madden. New York Review Comics, 2018. 9781681372969. 125pp. – This somewhat autobiographical graphic novel follows Baudoin (Momo) and his brother Pierre (Piero) as they develop their drawing talents. A fantastic moment early on, in which an alien needs dreams to fuel his spaceship, is followed by a powerful blast of energy from his gun to erase the memory of the alien’s visit. Later, after the brothers draw castles together, they fill the page with battling knights and huge explosions. Most of the time the brothers draw, hang out, and dream together. – The book is filled with beautifully rendered childhood moments, many of them about being lost in creativity. (There are also a few moments of palpable childhood terror.) The energy evident in the action-packed scenes seems to be lurk behind every panel. – Madden’s introduction makes me want to see more graphic albums by Baudoin done in brush work, which is […]

Guest Book Review: If You Could Be Mine

By Gene Ambaum on December 22, 2018 at 8:50 am

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan, Algonquin, 2013. 9781616202514, 247 pp. In Sara Farizan’s raw and emotional debut novel, Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six years old. In fact, they love each other, which is great and wonderful, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. They’re both girls, and in Iran, homosexuality is seen as an abomination. It’s a crime that people are publicly executed for. Nasrin and Sahar know their government will never allow their same-sex relationship. But sexual reassignment surgery is funded by the government there because it is viewed as a means of correcting a “mistake” of nature. Sahar cannot deny her feelings for Nasrin, and she has to act quickly to get surgery and become male because Nasrin’s parents have arranged their daughter’s marriage to an older doctor. At the urging of a gay cousin, and advice from Parveen, a successful woman who had reassignment surgery herself, Sahar feels […]

Graphic Novel Review: Vague Tales

By Gene Ambaum on December 18, 2018 at 11:29 am

Vague Tales by Eric Haven. Fantagraphics, 2017. 9781683960324. http://amzn.to/2Ck2GDd This nearly wordless graphic novel starts with a man in a red polo shirt. There’s also a crystalline man, a hooded soul-eating monster, a masked barbarian, a sorceress in a green mask, and a fair amount of violence. The inking of this work is extraordinary, and the plot owes as much to old pulp tales as it does to sheer randomness — Haven’s book feels like the offspring of Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pitt and Fletcher Hanks’ I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets. It’s a good bit of fun, and, depending on what page they see when they look over your shoulder, it’s guaranteed to alarm your friends or legal guardians. Buy it for your nephew who thinks he’s never read anything fun.  

Graphic Novel Review: Dalston Monsterzz

By Gene Ambaum on November 29, 2018 at 11:15 am

Dalston Monsterzz by Dilraj Mann. Nobrow, 2017. 9781910620359. 76pp. This oversized graphic novel is beautiful and odd and slightly hard to follow in a way that feels like part of its epic strangeness. East London is full of colorful monsters and well-designed gangs. When hip, attractive, acrobatic young characters aren’t traveling around on scooters, they’re riding monsters. There are acts of violence, complicated page layouts, and many strikingly red panels that take place in a labyrinth — flipping through it will wow you. (But will the pink-haired young woman remind you of someone you went to high school with, too? No idea.)  

Graphic Novel Review: Blackbird Days

By Gene Ambaum on November 27, 2018 at 11:07 am

Blackbird Days by Manuele Fior. Fantagraphics, 2018. 9781683960836. 104pp http://amzn.to/2QlRnSA – As a balding middle aged guy, I should probably support the decision to put Inspector Marcuzzi and his futuristic car on the cover of this collection of short graphic works. But honestly? I’m not drawn to books about guys who look like me, and I doubt you are, either. It was only after seeing the book a few times that I recognized Fior’s name as the author / illustrator behind 5,000 Kilometers per Second and The Interview and started reading. – The title story is very softly science fiction, and has some connection to The Interview. Of the rest I really enjoyed “Class Trip,” a very short tale about a rude student and the literature instructor he’s at odds with in which Fior doesn’t shy away from or mock middle aged nudity. “Postcard from Oslo,” a two page vignette about a young Italian woman staying in the Norwegian countryside, […]

Graphic Novel Review: Edison Beaker, Creature Seaker: The Night Door

By Gene Ambaum on November 22, 2018 at 11:10 am

Edison Beaker, Creature Seeker: The Night Door by Frank Cammuso.  Viking, 2018. 9780425291924.  160pp. While hanging out with their Uncle Earl, Edison, his sister Tess (short for Tesla), and her hamster Scuttlebutt learn the truth about the family business: they’re not exterminators, they keep their town safe from the supernatural creatures that live on the other side of the Night Door. Now their uncle is missing, and so is the keystone, the only thing that has the power to shut the Night Door. The hunt for the keystone takes Edison into the darkness on the other side of the door, where he has to save his family from Baron Umbra and his shadowy underlings. This beautifully drawn graphic novel is perfect for readers who enjoyed Cammuso’s other series: Salem Hyde, The Knights of the Lunch Table, and Max Hamm Fairy Tale Detective.

Enter Pat Coleman — comic 496

By Gene Ambaum on November 5, 2018 at 11:16 am

Please help me welcome by buddy Pat to the Library Comic team. He’s an illustrator and artist who’s also done a bit of cartooning (and is now going to be doing more more more) and a lot of work for the American Library Association. Pat’s a great guy to wander through museums with — he knows a ton about techniques artists use (at least someone can answer my questions!), sometimes disagrees with my questionable taste in modern art, and tells hilarious, cringe-inducing stories. I love the style he brings to the library and the characters — it’s a bit more Scooby Doo, and at times a bit more spooky — and I can’t wait to see what’s going to develop as we work together. -Gene PS: If you recognize Pat’s last name from libraryland and you’re wondering, the answer is yes, he’s her husband.

The End Is The Beginning

By Gene Ambaum on October 5, 2018 at 2:31 pm

Today marks the end of Chris Hallbeck’s time co-creating Library Comic with me. He’s been great to work with for the past two years on this project (and even farther back on Unshelved), plus he’s brought me back into the DC Universe of TV-shows and he’s the most LEGO-riffic dude I know. If you need advice about social media, I hope you’re luck enough to know someone as knowledgable as Chris. If you haven’t seen his  new comic, please check out the totally sweet Pebble and Wren — it’s amazing work by a cartoonist at the top of his game, and there’s already a few months of comics to enjoy. (That link is to the first one.)  And of course Chris is still writing and drawing Maximumble, too!   Library Comic is going to have a few weeks of repeats featuring some of my favorite strips from the last two years. Then, after I return from a quick trip to […]

Thanks!

By Gene Ambaum on December 4, 2017 at 5:59 pm

Just wanted to say thanks on behalf of Chris and me for making Library COMIC’s first year a success.  It’s been a fantastic, surprising year, from our first library conference to our enamel pin Kickstarter to regularly being read by more than 300,000 of you via our website and social media. Next year I’ll be at more conferences, plus we’re already working on our next Kickstarter idea. We’ll probably open an online store at some point, too, and I’ll continue to give keynotes and talks at staff days and conferences. Personally, I’ve had a rough few weeks — a close friend, whom I met at the library system where I used to work, passed away. But his death brought me into the orbit of people I used to work with, many of whom I hadn’t seen for years. It reminded me how much I love the people I’ve had the chance to work with at the library. I hope you’re lucky enough to feel that way about your colleagues, […]

Support Library Comic’s First Kickstarter

By Gene Ambaum on September 28, 2017 at 11:00 am

Show your love of reading and libraries and your support for Library Comic by wearing our beautiful, hard enamel pins. Plus we’ve just reached our first stretch goal. Now everyone who pledges at a $25 pledge level or above will also get 5 reader-friendly buttons.