Comics | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Series: Comics

The City on the Other Side: A charming graphic novel

The City on the Other Side by Mairghread Scott & Robin Robinson

A devastating war is being waged between the Seelie and Unseelie courts — Coscar, the Unseelie king, has kidnapped the daughter of King Ro’hish in revenge for the theft of a precious item. Coscar’s campaign has been a long and bloody one, and it seems that he’ll stop at nothing to retrieve what was taken. Meanwhile, in our world, little Isabel comes from a wealthy Latinx family and lives with her mother in San Francisco, sometime shortly after the great Quake of 1906.

May 5th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Jupiter’s Circle: An excellent retelling and critique of the golden age of superheroes

Jupiter’s Circle (Volumes 1 & 2) by Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Wilfredo Torres

Jupiter’s Circle (Volumes 1 & 2) by Mark Millar, a prequel to Jupiter’s Legacy, is an excellent retelling and critique of the golden age of superheroes. There’s plenty of action, but it is sidelined for the primary purpose of telling the private lives of the heroes. Their trials and tribulations behind the scenes are what make this comic so good. We see what the public in the comic does not,

Demo: A stunning collection that I have read and taught for years

Demo by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan

Demo is a collection of eighteen coming-of-age short stories about young people. It’s a giant collection of close to five hundred pages. Usually, but not always, one of the characters has a “super power,” but none of the stories is a superhero story. None of these characters tries to be “super” in any way — characters do not run — or fly — around saving others from villains, nor are there any global threats that need attending. In most instances, these stories deal with everyday issues,

April 14th, 2018. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2): Worth seeking out

Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2) by Mark Millar & Frank Quitely

Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2) by Mark Millar, with art by the incredible Frank Quitely, tells the origin story of a new group of superheroes. It is told quickly and succinctly, switching between the early days and the present, years after the race of superheroes began. In the present, we meet the next generation of superheroes, and they have many problems dealing with superhero parents. Having a therapist seems to be expected when you are the child of a superhero.

Chrononauts: A wild ride!

Chrononauts by Mark Millar & Sean Murphy

How else can I describe Chrononauts but as a wild ride? Mark Millar, the master of the blockbuster comic book, increases the action beyond his usual by cramming more events than you can possibly imagine into a four-issue mini-series. He collaborated on the idea with artist Sean Murphy, and the result is a buddy adventure story across time and place.

Dr. Quinn first creates an unmanned time machine — more of a satellite — that allows the world to observe events in the past on live television.

White Sand Volume 2: Too wordy

White Sand Volume 2 by Brandon Sanderson

White Sand Volume 2 is, like most graphic works, a team effort: the story is by Brandon Sanderson, the script by Rik Hoskin, the art from Julius Gopez and Julius Otha, the coloring by Morgan Hickman and Salvatore Aila Studios, and the lettering by DC Hopkins. Unfortunately, in my case, quantity did not equal a quality experience.

One problem is I’m not sure Sanderson’s storytelling translates well into the graphic form. Though there are certainly exceptions (The Rithmatist for one excellent example),

Paper Girls (Vol 3) by Brian K Vaughan

Paper Girls (Vol 3) by Brian K Vaughan (writer) and Cliff Chiang (artist)

This is the third volume of Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls, and if you thought you were starting to get a handle on where the story was headed, think again…

[SPOILER TERRITORY AHEAD – DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE READ VOLUMES ONE AND TWO]

The four paper girls are reunited in a completely new place somewhere far off in the future or past,

Paper Girls (Vol 2) by Brian K Vaughan

Paper Girls (Vol. 2) by Brian K Vaughan (writer) and Cliff Chiang (artist)

This is the second volume of Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls, and takes up the story right where it left off in volume one. The four paper girls from 1988 have found themselves in 2016, but still in the sleepy suburb of Stony Stream. And they are about encounter more weirdness and sinister characters that the first volume…

Paper Girls has been likened to a female version of Stranger Things,

Paper Girls (Vol 1) by Brian K Vaughan

Paper Girls (Vol 1) by Brian K Vaughan (writer) and Cliff Chiang (artist)

If you are a fan of Brian K. Vaughan’s amazing Saga comic series, you are likely to want to check out some of his other series as well. In addition to writing many stories for Marvel and DC comics’s well-known franchises, he has also written a number of original series, including Y: The Last Man, Ex Machine, Runaways,

MONSTRESS 2: The Blood: Marjorie Liu has crafted a fascinating tale

MONSTRESS 2: The Blood by Marjorie Liu

As much as I enjoyed the first volume of Marjorie Liu‘s MONSTRESS , its second instalment (comprised of issues seven to twelve) is a vast improvement. The first volume was stuffed full of exposition and world-building and backstory, so much so that it was difficult to discern the actual plot. Granted, that made it exciting and complex, but I also had to read through it three times just to glean what was going on.

By contrast,

Bill Capossere on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
Sandy Ferber on The Druid Stone: Ugony and the EcstasyJune 30, 2025
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
Paul Connelly on The Druid Stone: Ugony and the EcstasyJune 30, 2025
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…

Series: Comics

The City on the Other Side: A charming graphic novel

Jupiter’s Circle: An excellent retelling and critique of the golden age of superheroes

Demo: A stunning collection that I have read and taught for years

Jupiter’s Legacy (vols. 1 & 2): Worth seeking out

Chrononauts: A wild ride!

White Sand Volume 2: Too wordy

Paper Girls (Vol 3) by Brian K Vaughan

Paper Girls (Vol 2) by Brian K Vaughan

Paper Girls (Vol 1) by Brian K Vaughan

MONSTRESS 2: The Blood: Marjorie Liu has crafted a fascinating tale

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