In a world very like our own, despite fox-headed doctors and three eyed people being utterly ordinary, people know what happens after death. Crow gods meet the souls approaching purgatory, advising them how to cross harsh plains to reach the Gate of Rebirth. As a parting gift, they create a delicious dough that will last the 49 days the journey takes. Once the living learned of this practice they began to make funeral desserts for their loved ones. This manhwa follows two clients seeking special cakes for the recently dead from Margot’s bakery. Her interviews pull out essential characteristics of the deceased, then she and her assistant Miro—who appears as skeletal arms emerging from a sheet with eyeholes as she kneads dough—procure specialty ingredients, infuse words and emotions into the cake, and create a perfect, lovely dessert that lets their clients find a bit of peace as they continue on their own difficult grief journeys.
The first client is an author who helped a chronically ill blind woman love life again by reading her work in progress to her, whereas the second is a young woman who is unsure how well she knew her mother because the schedules of a truck driving vampire and high school student were nearly opposite.
This is an excellent title to entice fans of Japanese and Korean healing fiction novels such as Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yeun or The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi. Even if they aren’t graphic novel fans already, they’ll be familiar with episodic tales tucked within frame stories beautifully exploring the bittersweetness of love and loss, the exploration of perspective power to temper regret, and the importance of finding people who understand.
It’s illustrated gorgeously, primarily in black and white but often incorporating shades of red to stunning effect, whether it’s a lovely pink sunset highlighting melancholy or a deep red fruit filling dripping from a cupcake. Many panels are intricately detailed, whether in the sense of emotion drenched portraits or full of tiny elements that expand the world building subtly. The dialogue is occasionally a little clunky or repetitive, presumably to match the original speech bubbles, but the prose on expository pages is uniformly lovely, creating a craving to know even more of this world. The perfectly plotted story is tender and sweet, despite the sadness that coats both women’s journey and readers will be eager to arrive at the reveals about why Margot engages in this work.
I’d certainly recommend this for any library collection, but especially for libraries engaging in book clubs or programming such as death cafes of grief support groups. As previously mentioned, this should be a good crossover title between prose and graphic literature. The story is likely best suited for adults, though loss is certainly something people can experience at any age. While people don’t need the grief experience to appreciate these stories, I believe that the experience adds an extra layer to the narrative. It’s an exploration of why and how everything matters, without pushing definitive answers or advice on readers.
With volume two releasing June 23rd, now is the perfect time to start the series.
Purgatory Funeral Cakes By Sanho Dark Horse, 2025 ISBN: 9781506751351
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: South Korean,
A good biographer knows that their subject must be discussed in an unbiased manner, no matter how much visceral hatred is generated by that subject, and for many graphic novel fans, no name generates more hatred than Dr. Frederic Wertham. For the uninitiated, Wertham, a psychiatrist, led a lifelong crusade against comic books in the 1950’s, nearly putting a publishing company permanently out of business and helping bring about a Comics Code that strictly regimented what kinds of stories comic creators could publish. For many comics fans, Wertham personified oppressive censorship with a generous helping of pretentiousness. However, writer Eric Schechter and Eric Powell once again demonstrate how to look at all facets of a person’s life, even the most notorious persons, in this biography of Dr. Wertham called Dr. Werthless.
Dr. Wertham accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. He was the first doctor to open a clinic in Harlem where he treated many disadvantaged African-American patients, as well as testified in a pivotal court case that helped finally end segregation in American schools. Believing violence could be eliminated if its causes were isolated, Wertham zeroed in on what he felt was a major cause of violence and delinquency among youth: crime and horror comics. After putting EC comics in Congress’s crosshairs, Wertham devoted much of his life to attacking comics as a whole with a zeal that bordered on fanatical and ultimately tarnished his reputation.
In Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, Schechter and Powell looked at the life of Ed Gein, a man known to craft furniture from human remains. Like Gein, Wertham, though less reprehensible, exists as a kind of bogeyman in the mind of comic book fans and Schechter gives Wertham’s story the same unbiased treatment, looking at who he was along with the sum total of his achievements, particularly Wertham’s study of depraved criminal acts which are as horrifying and salacious as any comic story he railed against. He depicts Wertham as a man who became a victim of his own hubris, a doctor who began his crusade with noble intentions but was sabotaged by his penchants for sensationalism and self-aggrandizement.
Those who are familiar with Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? will recognize the style of Eric Powell’s artwork from that book, even as it looks quite different from his Goon comics. The men and women in this book favor a more realistic approach to facial structure and anatomy while the black and white shading gives his illustrations depth. The face that comes closest to Goon’s exaggerations is Dr. Wertham’s, a face as thin and angular as an Easter Island statue’s.
While lacking the true crime sensationalism that drew readers to Ed Gein’s story, Dr. Werthless is still a worthy purchase for adult library collections with a robust biography section. Wertham, in this book, falls between a villain and a tragic figure, a man dedicated to humanity who eventually lost his way.
Dr. Werthless By Eric Schechter Art by Eric Powell Dark Horse, 2025 ISBN: 9781506744360
Company Age Rating: 16+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Mike Mignola is rightly hailed as a master of mythology. While most famous for his creation of Hellboy, most of his original works have involved fantastic realms, horrific creatures, and tall tales. All of this plays into his latest work, Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown.
In the afterward for this volume, Mignola describes something of his process as a writer and how he completely ignored it this time around. “Start with a character,” Mignola advises, and “the world will grow up around them.” This time, Mignola started with an image from an Italian folktale he read – a young boy bowling with the undead – and then built the story around that idea.
Soon Mignola found himself building a world around that story. The world itself inspired characters, monsters, and gods. All the things a healthy new fantasy world needs to thrive. Throw in a line from Hellboy… “We flow now into Lands Unknown” and Mignola had a mythos. Despite that tip of the hat, however, there is no connection between the Hellboy universe and this new setting.
Mignola acknowledges many of his inspirations in the afterward. Most of the stories, as with the aforementioned folktale, came from his taking an image from an older story then moving in unexpected directions. “Justice Denied,” for instance, features a vampire with long fingernails from Japanese myth, who gets its nails stuck in a tree. Mignola changes the tree to a door, wonders who the door belongs to, and moves off from there. Similarly, “The Soldier and the King” draws inspiration from the Darby O’Gill stories of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. In this story, however, the titular soldier befriends the king of a far more savage race of little people.
The result is a collection of twisted tales in a world several steps removed from the Shrek movies. There are snarky talking animals acting as a Greek chorus, but little in the way of comic relief. These are more like the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales, meant to offer cautionary lessons with a heaping helping of horror.
The first tale, Bowling With Corpses, sets the tone for what follows perfectly. It twists the classic story of a young man leaving home to seek his fortune. This leads him to bowl with some threatening corpses, winning a prize that seems less than helpful. He faces the standard evil wizards with the hope of winning half a kingdom and a princess’s hand in marriage, but the tale Mignola tells is anything but standardized.
All these stories are accompanied by Mignola’s trademark artwork. Stylized and shadowy, Mignola has an aesthetic all his own, as distinctive as his prose. Visually, there is much that is familiar about this unknown land, yet more that is alien. The finished art is well completed by the contribution of Mignola’s frequent collaborators, colorist Dave Stewart and letterer Clem Robins. While their work here is unlikely to win over those who prefer more traditional art styles, I think it is a perfect visualization of Mignola’s stories.
Dark Horse Comics rates the volume as appropriate for readers 14 and up. I consider that to be a fair assessment. Indeed, 14 is the perfect age to appreciate the subversive nature of these comics. The sensitive should avoid this book, however, as there is a copious amount of bloodshed. There is also a spattering of nonsexual nudity here and there – one bare breast on a pirate queen and a naked undead corpse. There is little definition to these moments, however, and nothing sexual or erotic about them.
Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown By Mike Mignola Dark Horse, 2025 ISBN: 9781506745886
Company Age Rating: 14+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
For a cat, private investigator John Blacksad seems to like hot water. How else do you explain his latest predicament?
Blacksad’s best friend, the muckraking reporter called Weekly, has been fingered for the murder of theatre director Iris Allen. The cops are also eying Weekly for the disappearance of the actress he’d been seeing. The only defense Weekly has is that he overheard the real killer being ordered to kill Iris Allen by real estate magnate Lewis Solomon.
Somehow, this all ties into the murder of Blacksad’s latest client, a union president who thought someone was out to get him. (It turned out he was right.) It also ties into the sudden reappearance of Alma, the woman who, once upon a time, almost became Mrs. John Blacksad. The trail connecting them all leads to Lewis Solomon and his latest construction project, but the lead detective with the NYPD is more determined to keep Blacksad off the case than he is to learn the truth. This leaves Blacksad with limited time and few resources to track down the real killer and clear Weekly’s name, as he also agonizes over the revelation that Alma got married and didn’t tell him.
I was enraptured when I was introduced to the Blacksad series with Blacksad: They All Fall Down, Part One. I sought out the rest of the series’ English translations, which took some doing as I discovered it in a lull between reprintings. It is ironic then that the publishing of this volume, the second half of the story that started it all for me, almost passed me by. I stumbled across it at my local comic shop during an end-of-the-year sale, trying to find a second book for a “buy 1, get 1 free deal.”
Like Blacksad himself, sometimes I just get lucky.
The only real flaw to Blacksad: They All Fall Down, Part Two is that you need to have read Part One to appreciate it. With that caveat, I went into this volume blind without having reread Part One, just to see how accessible it was to newcomers. To my surprise, the opening pages let you know all you need to know. It’s a small touch, but it is a pleasant one that speaks well of writer Juan Diaz Canales. However, I’m astonished this storyline wasn’t published in a single volume even if it did mean a delay in publishing a full Blacksad adventure in the United States. As in Part One, there is an excellent afterword by translators Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander regarding what few changes were made from the original text due to the ideas not translating literally into English.
The artwork of Juanjo Guarnido is as impressive as ever. Everything looks amazing, from the designs of the various animal people populating this alternate New York City to the beautiful backgrounds. The final sequence is particularly notable, with a sense of motion that is projected so well you would almost swear the drawings are moving on the page.
Dark Horse Comics rates this volume as appropriate for readers 16 and up. I believe that to be a fair assessment. There is less sexual content than in Part One, though there is a bit more casual profanity and violence, particularly as the climax builds and Blacksad closes in on the real killer. I also think the general tone will go over better with older teens and adults, who can appreciate the slow pacing of the mystery. Fans of Film Noir will love it, however, and I think the whole Blacksad series should be a staple of any adult graphic novel collection.
Blacksad: They All Fall Down, Part Two By Juan Díaz Canales Art by Juanjo Guarnido Dark Horse, 2024 ISBN: 9781506743981
Company Age Rating: 16+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: Spanish, Character Representation: African-American,
1891. A rash of strange murders plagues the American West, with seemingly ordinary folk suddenly killing their loved ones. U.S. Marshall Azrael William Holt is sent to investigate. Holt is a legendary figure, more for the dime novels inspired by his exploits and the mask he wears while executing his duties than a particularly notable career. Still, he is a good lawman, who follows orders and goes where his bosses send him.
Holt’s latest assignment sends him to the town of Canary, to act as escort to a geologist named Edison Edwards. Ed-Ed, as his colleagues call him, has a theory that the madness plaguing the West can be tied to an abandoned mine outside of Canary. One which yielded uranium before collapsing under mysterious circumstances. The locals are quick to dismiss this idea, even as they try to attach themselves to Holt’s celebrity. Ironically, the only person not fawning over Holt is saloon owner Mabel Warren, who specifically asked for Marshall Holt to join the investigation team. She’s also the daughter of Canary’s founder, presumed dead after the mine collapsed.
Holt is no scientist, but he agrees there is something evil buried under Canary. He buried it himself, eight years earlier, in a confrontation with the most wicked soul he’d ever met. It was a case that didn’t make it into the dime novels, which led to the death of his wife and child. The one thing that is certain is there are many dark secrets in Canary, and more than one person willing to kill over them.
The Weird West story is a surprisingly expansive subgenre of both horror and Westerns. There are all manner of supernatural stories pitting rough men and spirited women against nightmarish creatures in the frontiers far from civilization. Canary is notable, however, in how it subverts the tropes of both genres. Indeed, Scott Snyder goes out of his way to confront and rebut the common cliches of the time. For instance, one would expect a romance to bloom between the independent woman and the world-weary lawman. No such romance occurs. Indeed, there is never even a hint of flirtation between the two characters, as Will Holt remains loyal to the memory of his deceased wife.
Another prime example of this defiance comes when William, Ed-Ed, and Mabel are confronted by the local Native Americans. Ed-Ed, being an academic from out East, tries to assure them with simple words that “we are here to help this great land and restore to its glory.” The lead Native warrior sarcastically replies that their getting off the land would be a good start, before going on to talk about his schooling in Nebraska. He further explains how the Natives avoided the land around the Canary mine, not because of some mystic superstition, but because they figured out the water that came from it was bad long before their homes were stolen by the settlers.
The artwork by Dan Panosian is, in a word, exquisite. Panosian is better known for his fantasy work but proves to be no mean hand when it comes to depicting Western culture. There is a certain rough splendor to Panosian’s art, from his character designs to his colors. Small wonder he’s become one of the most in-demand cover artists at many American comic publishers.
Dark Horse Comics rates Canary as appropriate for readers 12+. I consider that to be a fair rating. There’s no nudity or sex, but a considerable number of strange monsters and people being ripped apart by them. There’s nothing inappropriate for a teenage audience, but the squeamish would be well advised to avoid this story. Everyone else, however, will find this to be a ripping yarn and a prime example of how comics can tell complex stories beyond simple superheroics.
Canary By Scott Snyder Art by Dan Panosian Dark Horse, 2024 ISBN: 9781506728315
Publisher Age Rating: 12+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Horror fans, and even those who aren’t horror fans, are familiar with the murderous exploits of supernatural killers like Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, but very few people wonder what these killers do when they’re not killing. Where do they go to escape the authorities? Where exactly does a seven-foot tall behemoth with a hockey mask and machete go to blend in? He and others like him go to Wilmhurst, a gated community for a very specific type of monster. This is the premise of Where Monsters Lie, written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski.
The book introduces readers to many of Wilmhurst’s residents. These include Pearl and Frankie, a woman in a relationship with a murderous doll, and nigh-indestructible murderer Daniel Dawson. It is, in fact, Dawson who ends up creating one of Wilmhurst’s biggest threats by letting someone survive. Said survivor, Connor Hayes, is a former special agent that has trained both body and mind to deal with these kinds of killers, and he has amassed an army of police officers to breach Wilmhurst’s defenses and finally stop the monsters who call Wilmhurst home.
The premise of the book seems too thin to sustain a multi-issue story, but Starks gets a lot of mileage with Wilmhurst’s various citizens, most of them being thinly-veiled homages (or even parodies) of well-known horror icons. One such example is Professor Puzzleman, who murders his victims with over-complicated death traps like Jigsaw from the Saw series, except the professor seems much less competent.
This dark humor is also reflected in Kowalski’s artwork, especially how he depicts violence. When the police descend on Wilmhurst, it’s a murder spree full of graphic yet comedic violence as the murderers become the victims. The color red is generously applied to the page and sharp instruments of all kinds are used to sever appendages and slice jugulars. Starks’s comedic tone pairs perfectly with Kowalski’s expressive character designs. The prevalent expressions experienced by many of these killers, along with Connor Hayes, include wild-eyed, psychopathic rage/glee when committing violence and slack-jawed, horrified embarrassment when their murderous plans fly off the rails.
The tagline of the book reads Cabin in the Woods meets Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil and it sums up the book rather well, since it contains the metafictive deconstruction of horror tropes seen in “Cabin” paired with the gory violence bordering on slapstick seen in Tucker and Dale. Naturally, adult fans of either or both of those films will like this title, as well as any fans of slasher horror. That said, the ending of this first volume might feel incomplete to some, though it’s just as bonkers as the rest of the book, but that incompleteness might excite slasher fans who love a good sequel.
Where Monsters Lie Vol. 01 By Kyle Starks Art by Piotr Kowalski Dark Horse, 2023 ISBN: 9781506734200
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
History tells us of a violent feud between two clans in Feudal Japan—the blood-thirsty Akuno and the peaceful Omura. Though they were outmatched, the leaders of the Omura did not fear, for they had the power of prophecy on their side. Their legends told of a stranger with snow-colored skin, who would come in their time of greatest need and lead them to victory over their ancestral enemy.
This did not come to pass.
Unfortunately, the first snow-skinned stranger who came to the Omura was Captain Nathan Garin of the US Army. An idiot and a drunkard, Captain Garin led the Omura into battle, where they were promptly slaughtered. Since then, the Omura are largely forgotten, save as an example of how not to fight a war.
This history is largely meaningless to Todd Parker, a Japanese American professor of film history. His grandfather told him tales of the Omura, but he never expected it to be relevant to his life. Then again, Todd never expected to travel through time to feudal Japan while chasing the woman who stole his wallet, either. Now, on the eve of the final battle between the Akuno and the Omura, it is up to Todd to rewrite history and convince his ancestors of the folly of their beliefs.
White Savior is one of the most metatextual works of fiction I have ever read. Author and artist Eric Nguyen makes it clear how annoyed he is by the plethora of fiction in which a modern man uses his advanced knowledge to avert disaster. This applies to both historical fiction where a white savior is charmed by a different culture and the speculative fiction where a time traveler uses their knowledge of the future and technology to save the day.
Nguyen is not alone in this annoyance. The trope was prominent enough among classic science fiction that Mark Twain satirized it in 1889 with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I find this a fitting comparison because White Savior, much like the Mark Twain novel, is only saved from being preachy by being uproariously funny. What Blazing Saddles was to the Western, White Savior aspires to be to movies like The Last Samurai.
While the script by Nguyen and co-author Scott Burman tackles the racism of the white savior trope, he also mocks the time travel savior through his hero, Todd Parker. Far from full of helpful knowledge of the future, Todd mostly snarks about his misfortune and makes pop culture references nobody understands. He also breaks the fourth wall to a degree that would shame Mel Brooks.
Nguyen’s artwork is as sharp as his satire. He does a fine job illustrating the architecture and armor of feudal Japan. The colors by Iwan Joko Triyono are also good.
Dark Horse Comics rated this volume as 14+. I think that is a perfect rating, as the sophomoric tone and sarcastic examination of tired tropes is ideally suited to the cynical teen audience. There is some bloodshed and adult language, as well as some suggestive remarks when Todd wakes up to find himself being bathed by several women in a scene he is quick to say he is positive is not historically accurate.
White Savior By Eric Nguyen, Scott Burman Art by Eric Nguyen Dark Horse, 2023 ISBN: 9781506736273
Publisher Age Rating: 14+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Creator Representation: Japanese-American Character Representation: Japanese-American
Assassin’s Apprentice Vol. 1 is an adaption by Jody Houser of the novel by the same name from author Robin Hobb. The novel is Book 1 in Hobb’s “Farseer Trilogy”, which is also the first trilogy in her larger world of “The Realm of the Elderlings Series.” This graphic novel covers maybe half of the book it’s being adapted from. There could be a lot more of these coming if this adaptation is popular and there is a decent chance of that because the source material is beloved and this adaptation is faithfully done.
King Shrewd Farseer rules the land known as the Six Duchies with his sons Chivalry, Verity and their step-brother Regal. The Farseers are given names that are hoped to shape their lives in the tradition of the very first king, Taker. “Folk beliefs claim that such names were sealed to the newborn babes by magic.” Those of the Farseer line also are gifted with a type of magic called “the Wit” or “the Skill” and it is essentially a form of telepathy. We meet our young protagonist when his maternal grandfather drags him to an army outpost where Prince Verity is in charge and leaves him saying, “it’s Prince Chivalry’s bastard”. The child has no name and is only called “boy.” Verity entrusts Boy to the care of Burrich, Chivalry’s man-at-arms and most trusted right hand. Burrich, knowing nothing of children, leaves the boy he calls Fitz with his best dog and her pups. In that first night we learn that Fitz has the Wit and starts to unintentionally form a bond with the youngest pup.
King Shrewd has Fitz brought to his castle, Buckkeep, and the early days there are hard. He has no friends, no place and no family. Chivalry abandons his claim to the throne to spare his wife the talk and (we learn later) to protect Fitz from those who would see him as a threat. Burrich takes the pup away from Fitz as we learn they have become too close, too bonded and many see that as a perversion of the Wit and it threatens to make Fitz less man and more beast. Shrewd eventually takes an interest in Fitz and binds Fitz to his service with the Skill and makes him a tool to be used. Shortly hereafter Fitz meets an assassin & spy living secretly in the walls of the palace. He brings Fitz to a hidden room and begins his training as the next generation of spy and assassin in the Farseers’ service.
The art in this book from Ryan Kelly and the coloring from Jordie Bellaire feel immediately recognizable and scream Classic Fantasy. It’s a richly textured and the world feels fully realized. It greatly aids the introduction of the magic to the story without unnecessary exposition. Credit where it’s due to Jody Houser as well; adapting one of the most emotionally compelling and sympathetic characters in modern fantasy is no small feat. Hobb’s original novel is considered slow moving at times because such care and attention is given to the characters, creating real emotional stakes for the reader. Here, with the aid of visuals, it’s compressed while still being effective.
Dark Horse rates this book age 14+ and that feels appropriate given the title. Fitz is a bastard son and that word is used a lot, he’s training to be an assassin and that’s talked about for most of the latter half. That is the extent of the age restrictive content, but the original novel was written for an adult audience and as such a lot of the context for the book could be lost on younger readers. Simply understanding some of the nuance of the world is going to be easier for readers who are a little older. If you aren’t opposed to buying more volumes of this story (at least one for sure as part 2 of this tale is being published as individual issues at the time of this review), this is an easy recommendation for collections that could use more quality fantasy books.
Assassin’s Apprentice Vol. 1 By Jody Houser, Robin Hobb, Art by Ryan Kelly Dark Horse, 2023 ISBN: 9781506728971
Publisher Age Rating: 14+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Life isn’t easy for an ex-con. It is even worse when you’re an ex-supervillain in Twilight City.
Frankie “Playtime” Follis was a prodigy, pushed into villainy by her mother after she manifested the power to make any toy into a weapon. Now, fresh out of prison, she’s unable to find any work beyond making drinks at a seedy bar catering to the low-level supervillains she’s meant to be avoiding as part of her parole. Still, Frankie keeps to the code of honor the blue-collar baddies abide by, though she wants nothing more than to rebuild her life and win back custody of her daughter, Maggie.
Unfortunately, Frankie is pulled back into the life after the archvillain called The Stickman kills Kid Dusk, the sidekick of Twilight City’s protector, The Insomniac. This makes the stalwart hero snap, sending him on a violent killing spree targeting every villain in town while searching for Stickman. With Insomniac’s fellow heroes covering up his crimes, it falls to Frankie and a rag-tag group of has-beens and henchmen to bring Stickman to justice while Twilight City is still standing.
Minor Threats is not a wholly original story. Much as Watchmen put a mature spin on the classic heroes of Charlton Comics, Minor Threats is a dark and darkly hilarious Batman story that DC Comics would never dare publish. Most of the characters are clearly parodies of Batman, Robin, Joker, Riddler and more. Yet there are some original ideas, such as Scalpel, a supervillain surgeon who makes her living offering off-the-books medical care to costumed criminals… for a percentage of their earnings, of course.
Writers Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum make every joke one would expect regarding the silliness of costumed criminals, boy wonders and how many masked heroes need psychiatric help. Thankfully, Minor Threats proves to be far more than a collective of gags about popular superheroes and genre conventions. Oswalt and Blum bring true pathos to the five supervillains forced to become reluctant (not quite) heroes, developing them into full characters rather than cardboard cliches.
The five leads’ origin stories tackle a variety of serious issues, ranging from abusive parents to coming out of the closet to embrace true love. The effect is not unlike the duo’s previous writing for the MODOK animated series or The Venture Bros. Serious emotions mix with dark comedy to tell a truly original tale.
The artwork by Scott Hepburn is equally well done. Much like Dave Gibbons on Watchmen, Hepburn draws Minor Threats like a traditional comic book. This only adds to the visual dissonance as the action goes at right angles to every expectation of a typical superhero story.
Dark Horse Comics rates Minor Threats as appropriate for ages 14 and up. I believe that to be a fair assessment of the book’s content. There is a fair bit of violence and some disturbing scenes of children dying and parents being killed in front of their kids, as well as a bit of adult language. There is no nudity or sexual content, making this safe for most teen audiences.
Minor Threats A Quick End To A Long Beginning Vol. 01 By Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, , Art by Scott Hepburn, Ian Hrring, Nate Piekos, Dark Horse, 2023 ISBN: 9781506729992
Publisher Age Rating: 14+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Character Representation: Black, Gay, Neurodivergent, Ambiguous Mental Illness
Life on the Isle of Man is peaceful and quiet, and it is driving Kay Farragher mad! An aspiring songwriter and singer, Kay dreams of a world beyond her rural village and caring for her ailing grandmother. She dreams of a life on stage and audiences outside of the pub where she works.
The problem with dreams, however, is that sometimes they become nightmares.
A chance encounter with a young girl named Mona on Halloween Night gives Kay more than she bargained for. Mona claims to have come from a world of eternal twilight, straight from the faerie stories Kay’s grandmother believes in. Soon Kay finds herself neck-deep in that world, where a horseshoe is a weapon, a hero of legend seeks the bride he was promised, and the scoundrels of two worlds seek to scheme their way out of their own dark bargains.
I had high expectations heading into Cold Iron. Apart from a fondness for Celtic mythology and horror tales involving faeries, I am a big fan of Andy Diggle’s writing and have been since his highly underrated run on Hellblazer. I was not disappointed.
Two things distinguish Cold Iron from similar stories. One is the setting, which draws upon the unique mythology of the Isle of Man, rather than the more familiar Irish Leprechauns or the Selkies of Scotland’s Orkney Islands. The other is the lead character Kay, who is developed far beyond being the typical strong female protagonist that takes center stage in many modern horror stories.
Kay is a conflicted character, being both a dreamer and a realist. She delights in entertaining children with spooky tales and songs at Halloween, but she doesn’t believe in the myths her grandmother accepts as gospel. She longs to see the world, but wants to maintain the family farm, even as she rebels against the idea of a comfortable life working in a fish and chips shop and marrying her on-again/off-again boyfriend. These details make Kay seem more sympathetic and more real, grounding the fantastic elements of the story.
The artwork by Nick Brokenshire, with colors by Triona Farrell and letters by Simon Bowland, manages a similar balancing act. Brokenshire proves equally adept at capturing the static beauty of the Isle of Man and in depicting the weird horror of the faerie realm. Farrell uses different contrasting palettes for both worlds, with the vibrancy of the twilight realm offering a firm divide against the stark reality of Kay’s life. Bowland also uses distinctive fonts for the Fair Folk, to subtly hint at their alien nature.
Dark Horse Comics rated this volume as appropriate for ages 12 and up. I think that might be a fair assessment of the story, which has nothing more objectionable than a bit of violence and a few curse words. The artist notes in the back of the book, however, feature some sketches of naked fairies that are a bit extreme for a T-rating. I would shelve this volume in the older teen or adult section just to be safe and since I think the story is more likely to appeal to older audiences, who can appreciate the full horror Mona finds in the future.
Cold Iron By Andy Diggle Art by Nick Brokenshire, Triona Farrell, Simon Bowland, Tom Muller Dark Horse, 2023 ISBN: 9781506730875
Publisher Age Rating: 12+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18) Creator Representation: British, Irish, Scottish, Character Representation: British,
ordinary, people know what happens after death. Crow gods meet the souls approaching purgatory, advising them how to cross harsh plains to reach the Gate of Rebirth. As a parting gift, they create a delicious dough that will last the 49 days the journey takes. Once the living learned of this practice they began to make funeral desserts for their loved ones.
A good biographer knows that their subject must be discussed in an unbiased manner, no matter how much visceral hatred is generated by that subject, and for many graphic novel fans, no name generates more hatred than Dr. Frederic Wertham. For the uninitiated, Wertham, a psychiatrist, led a lifelong crusade against comic books in the 1950’s, nearly putting a publishing company permanently out of business and helping bring about a Comics Code that strictly regimented what kinds of stories comic creators could publish. For many comics fans, Wertham personified oppressive censorship with a generous helping of pretentiousness. However, writer Eric Schechter and Eric Powell once again demonstrate how to look at all facets of a person’s life, even the most notorious persons, in this biography of Dr. Wertham called Dr. Werthless.
involved fantastic realms, horrific creatures, and tall tales. All of this plays into his latest work, Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown.
1891. A rash of strange murders plagues the American West, with seemingly ordinary folk suddenly killing their loved ones. U.S. Marshall Azrael William Holt is sent to investigate. Holt is a legendary figure, more for the dime novels inspired by his exploits and the mask he wears while executing his duties than a particularly notable career. Still, he is a good lawman, who follows orders and goes where his bosses send him.
Vorhees and Michael Myers, but very few people wonder what these killers do when they’re not killing. Where do they go to escape the authorities? Where exactly does a seven-foot tall behemoth with a hockey mask and machete go to blend in? He and others like him go to Wilmhurst, a gated community for a very specific type of monster. This is the premise of Where Monsters Lie, written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski.
History tells us of a violent feud between two clans in Feudal Japan—the blood-thirsty Akuno and the peaceful Omura. Though they were outmatched, the leaders of the Omura did not fear, for they had the power of prophecy on their side. Their legends told of a stranger with snow-colored skin, who would come in their time of greatest need and lead them to victory over their ancestral enemy.
Assassin’s Apprentice Vol. 1 is an adaption by Jody Houser of the novel by the same name from author Robin Hobb. The novel is Book 1 in Hobb’s “Farseer Trilogy”, which is also the first trilogy in her larger world of “The Realm of the Elderlings Series.” This graphic novel covers maybe half of the book it’s being adapted from. There could be a lot more of these coming if this adaptation is popular and there is a decent chance of that because the source material is beloved and this adaptation is faithfully done.
Life isn’t easy for an ex-con. It is even worse when you’re an ex-supervillain in Twilight City.
Life on the Isle of Man is peaceful and quiet, and it is driving Kay Farragher mad! An aspiring songwriter and singer, Kay dreams of a world beyond her rural village and caring for her ailing grandmother. She dreams of a life on stage and audiences outside of the pub where she works.
