Scott McCloud is best known for Understanding Comics, his 1993 examination of the comics medium that is, itself, presented in the form of a comic. It’s a seminal…
Comics
Comics: Wordless graphic novel explores a day in the life of a tiger
The epigraph at the beginning of Love Volume 1: The Tiger offers enigmatic insight into the wordless graphic novel that follows: “In the animal kingdom, animals…
Learn about the art of comic books at ‘Superheroes of History’ day
Learn to design your own comic book this Saturday, March 14 at 1 p.m. at Superheroes of History Day hosted by the National Czech and Slovak Museum…
Comics: Young adult graphic novel ‘Peanut’ is sweet without being saccharine
In Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe’s Peanut, a girl named Sadie decides to inform her classmates at her new high school that she’s deathly allergic to peanuts…
Local comic ‘Lost in the Wash’ explores unlikely monsters
In the awarding-winning graphic novel Lost in the Wash, writer John Ira Thomas, who lives in Coralville, and artist Will Grant, an Iowa City native who lives in Minneapolis, have crafted a tale that pays homage to Dungeons & Dragons, horror comics of the past and schlocky, scary movies. The story…
Colorblind Comics: Chronicling the adventure of Deshi and his search for a corpse bride
Danica Novgorodoff’s latest graphic novel, The Undertaking of Lily Chen, takes as its jumping-off point an old Chinese practice known as “ghost marriage.” In…
Watson and Holmes: Re-imagining the classic sleuth
Writer Kent Bollers and artist Rick Leonardi invite you to look up Sherlock Holmes at a new address. Oh, the detective still resides at 221B Baker Street. But in Watson and Holmes, Baker Street isn’t in London—it’s in Harlem. In the crowded landscape of recent and ongoing Sherlockiana, Watson and Holmes stands out because the […]
Comics: ‘Powers’ strikes the perfect blend of police procedural and superhero intrigue
Powers is what I always recommend to folks who have grown tired of traditional superhero stories. I have been an avid reader of the ongoing series by…
Comics: In the Superior Foes of Spider-man, five goofy villains believe they’re more than the sum of their parts
The Spider-titles were proliferating around my house. I figured I needed to squish a few. First, I had started buying my son Ultimate Spider-Man…
Talking Movies: Captain America is back with his best adventure yet
Captain America returns for an engaging, tense and action-packed thriller of a sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The opening of Marvel’s newest film…
Comics: In Sex Criminals, when the main characters orgasm, time stops and the adventure begins
Reading Sex Criminals — a creator-owned comic published by Image and written by Matt Fraction with art by Chip Zdarsky — feels both illicit and mainstream.
Comics: Writer G. Willow Wilson discusses her vision for the new Ms. Marvel
“I’ve always had a hard time seeing hard and fast boundaries,” G. Willow Wilson told me during a phone conversation about her career. We were talking…

