The Book of Lost Souls, Volume 1: Introductions All Around by J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and Colleen Doran (artist)
I am so pleased I picked The Book of Lost Souls up off the shelf at Oxford Comics in Atlanta, Georgia. Though I am familiar with the writer, J. Michael Straczynski (often referred to simply as JMS), I’d never heard of this book or its artist — Colleen Doran. But I was immediately grabbed by the title and cover image of a forlorn young man clutching a large,
April 26th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | J. Michael Straczynski | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Grendel: Archives and Grendel: Devil by the Deed by Matt Wagner (writer and artist)
Now that I’ve read Matt Wagner’s Grendel: Archives and Grendel: Devil by the Deed, I regret how long it took me to read any of his Grendel stories, a series of comics that have a thirty-year history (and counting). I kept reading about them here and there, but had no sense of what they were about. I assumed they had something to do with Beowulf,
April 19th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Animal Man, Volume 1 (Issues 1-9) by Grant Morrison (writer), Chas Truog (artist, Issues 1-8) and Tom Grummett (artist, Issue 9)
The twenty-six issue run on Animal Man by Grant Morrison is one of the most important works in comics, but it must be understood in an historical and artistic context; otherwise, someone new to comics might just flip through it and see what looks like a slightly-dated comic with artwork that isn’t currently as exciting and flashy and polished and colorful as newer comics.
April 12th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Who is Jake Ellis? by Nathan Edmondson (writer) and Tonci Zonjic (artist)
Who is Jake Ellis? is an excellent thriller that defied my expectations for the wonderful reason that I had so much trouble figuring out what my expectations should be in the first place. In other words, the story is so unique, I couldn’t see it fitting easily into any specific template. At first glance, it’s merely a thriller of the James Bond variety, but the James Bond character doesn’t actually seem to have any real skills of his own or seem to have any mission to accomplish other than not getting killed.
April 5th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries adapted for comics by P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell’s artwork is stunning in his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries. And since the story has all the other-worldly hallmarks of a Neil Gaiman Sandman story, Russell really gets a chance to show off his talent as he bounces from the angelic Silver City to the cityscapes of our mundane world.
This graphic novel is based on what was originally a short story by Neil Gaiman (and eventually a radio drama in the spirit of The Shadow);
March 22nd, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Neil Gaiman | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Astonishing X-Men, Volume One: Gifted (Issues 1-6) and Astonishing X-Men, Volume 2: Dangerous (Issues 7-12) by Joss Whedon (writer) and John Cassaday (artist)
These two Astonishing X-Men trade collections by Joss Whedon — Gifted and Dangerous — make a great introduction either to superhero comics in general or to X-Men comics specifically. There are some goods reasons Joss Whedon was chosen to write and direct the latest Avengers movie,
March 15th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Point of Impact by Jay Faerber (writer) & Koray Kuranel (artist)
Jay Faerber’s Point of Impact, though not destined to become a great comic in the canon of graphic storytelling, is a perfect short story told in four issues, which is exactly what he tries to do. Sometimes one is in the mood for a large, sprawling epic, and other times, one just wants to read a poem or short story. You don’t need any background information about superheroes, supervillains, or mutants. All you need to do is start reading,
March 1st, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Daredevil (Volume One) by Mark Waid (writer) and various artists: Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Marcos Martin, Javier Rodriguez, and Muntsa Vicente.
Mark Waid’s Daredevil is one of the best comic book titles of 2012, and I’m comparing his work with some of my favorite authors of all time who have written top-notch runs on Daredevil: Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. Waid’s work, though different, is equally good, and even though I’d recommend as excellent starting points both the runs by Bendis and Brubaker,
February 8th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Marvels by Kurt Busiek (writer) & Alex Ross (artist)
Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross have produced a masterpiece in Marvels. It is simply one of the best superhero comics ever written. As far as I’m concerned, people who say they don’t like superhero comics haven’t earned the right to that claim unless they’ve read this comic. And even if their tastes remain unchanged, I can’t imagine anyone arguing that the book doesn’t have great literary and artistic merit. Marvels itself is a Marvel.
February 1st, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
RASL by Jeff Smith — available in four paperback volumes — is a fifteen-issue story that recently took me by complete surprise. However, I should have known how good it would be: Smith’s well-known comic Bone — an epic work of fantasy for all ages — is one of the great contemporary comic classics. However, I must warn fans of Jeff Smith and Bone that RASL is not a book for kids.
January 25th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Jeff Smith | Comics | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
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