https://youtu.be/C4pZKdOuNv4 Katherine "Kitty/Kate" Pryde and Emma Frost are two of my absolute favourite X-Men*. The mere suspicion that they might take center stage is invitation enough to pick this hardcover up. That their relationship is one of the driving forces behind this book is, well, chef's kiss. Kitty ("Oh, and…call me Kate") Pryde has a... Continue Reading →
Giant Days Vol. 08 by John Allison and Max Sarin – Graphic Novel Review
Previous | Next Friendships, relationships, living together--what do all these have in common? They tend to get messy, especially when you're just turning twenty. Those are the lessons our heroines are met with, come Volume 08 of Giant Days. I first read it in 2021 and promptly forgot to review it; revisiting the series again... Continue Reading →
Graphic Novel Review: Something Is Killing the Children Vol. 03 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
The climax of a multiple volume-long arc can be the bane of an ongoing comic series. It can see characters unravel, the momentum grind to a pitiable slog, the worldbuilding collapse under its own weight. More than a few ongoing series with vast amounts of potential meet this fate. I recall a promising creator-driven series... Continue Reading →
Something Is Killing the Children Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV
James Tynion IV is one of those comic book writers I've wanted to dig into for some time now, especially with the increasing number of accolades his BOOM! Studios series, Something Is Killing the Children, has received over the last two years. It's selling like hot cakes, it keeps cropping up in conversations and on... Continue Reading →
Giant Days: Vol. 07 by John Allison – Graphic Novel Review
Previous | Next Christmas joy and celebration! That’s what you might think you’re getting when you open up the seventh volume of Giant Days, the greatest most wonderful-est life-sliced comedy graphic novel out there. This issue centres around Susan’s return home and the way she feels towards her mummy is the way all of us... Continue Reading →
Black Widow Vol. 02: I Am The Black Widow by Kelly Thompson, Elena Casagrande, Rafael de Latorre
Previous || Next When I read the first volume of Thompson and Casagrande's Black Widow run last week, I was taken with the masterful way in which the Black Widow is imbued with brand new purpose. This second volume builds on the solid foundation set up in Ties That Bind by seeing Nat and Yelena... Continue Reading →
My Thoughts on DIE: The RPG Beta by Kieron Gillen | The Dictator as an Architect of Dramatic Tension
Previous || Next Last time, I spoke about the differences between D&D 5e and DIE - the greater degree of collaboration between DM and players, the "narrative first" approach rather than a mechanical stringency, and the accent on complex interpersonal relationships established during the first stage of the game, the persona generation. In DIE, there's... Continue Reading →
My Thoughts on DIE: The RPG Beta by Kieron Gillen | Part One of Many (Dungeon Master’s Diaries)
|| Next I've written about the first volume of DIE (the comic book) here. After five years of D&D, experimenting with Kieron Gillen’s DIE RPG ruleset this past summer was a revelation. Dungeons and Dragons is largely reactive, in the sense that the Dungeon Master(DM) offers a playground, more or less directed, within which the... Continue Reading →
Giant Days Vol. 06 by John Alison – Graphic Novel Review
Previous | Next First off, that #21 cover has some bitchin’ 'Susan as hard-boiled detective' art. Our girls have been burgled! Well, their apartment has, which is somehow even worse, considering it forces us to visit Susan’s room. The issue turns very serious when Daisy reveals to Esther and Susan that the only keepsakes she... Continue Reading →
Star Wars Vol. 09: Hope Dies by Kieron Gillen
Previous - The Ashes of Jedha/Mutiny at Mon Cala | Next - The Escape Ever since he took the reins with the seventh volume of this ongoing series, The Ashes of Jedha, GIllen has been building towards something - if the last panel of Mutiny at Mon Cala provided the answer to what, Hope Dies... Continue Reading →