San Diego Serenade — This Week’s Links

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It’s that point in the dog days of summer where the vast majority of news outlets have a quick gander over at the winners of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, if only to keep a toe in on the ever-fickle SEO front, and this week’s links, below, is no exception — 2025 saw Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham’s Lunar New Year Love Story hitting a hat-trick, but otherwise there was a spread of awards among 24 different publishers, mirroring last year’s edition. Notables include Mad Cave Studios winning the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for the L.A. Strong charity anthology, Don Glut and Sheldon Mayer taking home the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, and Madrid’s Akira Comics winning this year’s Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. Full prize info, for those that crave it, is available here.

Heavy Revelry (2023, Hunter Green + Sunflower)

— Freya JN (@goblinstunts.bsky.social) 2025-06-30T19:19:01.660Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Joe McCulloch reviews the faithful reproduction of Jean Rollin, Nicolas Devil, et al’s Saga de Xam, translated by Anna Bialostosky — “Devil organizes each page as a self-contained work of design; I don't think a single layout is repeated throughout the entire book. As a result, the narrative rhythm is often contained by the parameters of the page, reset at the top of the next. But there is no reiteration of the story, as would be expected of a serial.”

• Hank Kennedy reviews the evocative compositions of Raymond Tyler and Summer McClinton’s Black Coal & Red Bandanas: An Illustrated History of the West Virginia Mine Wars — “McClinton uses many filmic conventions in telling this story. Aside from the aforementioned train arrival, the Battle of Matewan is framed like a classic western. Westerns traditionally heralded the victory of capitalist development over nature and the natives. Reframing the battle between miners and coal company gunmen as a western flips this narrative.”

AIPT

• Chris Coplan reviews the complicated layers of ee zann, Godfarr, et al’s I, Tyrant #1.

• Ryan Sonneville reviews the quiet goodbye of Cavan Scott, Marika Cresta, et al’s Star Wars: The High Republic - The Finale #1.

• Diane Darcy reviews the character beats of Marc Guggenheim, Mark Waid, Cian Tormey, et al’s Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the winning humour of J. Michael Stracynzski, Phil Noto, et al’s Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Sixteen #1.

• Colin Moon reviews the powerful conclusion of Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook’s Out of Alcatraz #5; and the snide tone of Lee Loughridge and Andrew Robinson’s Standstill.

• Michael Guerrero reviews the heartfelt history of Phil Jimenez’s Titans Annual 2025; and the suspenseful drama of Dan Watters, Francesco Francavilla, et al’s Nightwing Annual 2025.

• David Brooke reviews the sunny vibrancy of DC’s Kal-El Fornia Love #1; and the frustrating truncation of Ryan North, Francesco Mortarino, et al’s G.O.D.S.: One World Under Doom #1.

The Arts STL

Jon Osia Scorfina reviews the comedic timing of Peter Bagge’s Hate Revisited!.

The Beat

• Joe Grunenwald reviews the sharp insights of Phil Jimenez’s Titans Annual 2025.

• Sean Dillon reviews the melancholy honesty of Garth Ennis, Becky Cloonan, et al’s The War #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the opening acceleration of David Pepose, Davide Tinto, et al’s Speed Racer #1.

• D. Morris reviews the refreshing groundedness of J. Michael Stracynzski, Phil Noto, et al’s Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Sixteen #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the dense horror of ee zann, Godfarr, et al’s I, Tyrant #1.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the climactic journey of Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook’s Out of Alcatraz #5.

Blogcritics

Jeff Provine reviews the expansive worldbuilding of Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson’s Moomin Adventures: Book Two.

Broken Frontier

• Gary Usher has reviews of:

• The impactful construction of Tenli Yavneh’s So That’s That Story.

• The surreal shifts of Ky Lawrence’s Dream Machine.

• The vibrant collage of Maia Iotzova’s Pieces of Me.

• Lydia Turner has reviews of:

• The beautiful craft of Adele Pound’s McNab.

• The mixed emotions of Eva C’s How to Break a Fall.

• The refreshing message of Kama Mielczarek’s Hidden Spectrum.

• The uneasy paranoia of Aylish Wood’s The Red Spot Mystery.

• Andy Oliver has reviews of:

• The interesting palette of destinationplutoo’s Shape of Sadness.

• The fantastic diversity of ThirdBear Press’ Boxes #3.

• The dizzying wit of Paul Kirchner’s The Bus #3.

• The stunning originality of CROM’s Birdking, Volume 3.

• The ominous satire of CLio Isadora’s Wiggles Wart Beauty.

Comics Grinder

Henry Chamberlain reviews the unique experience of Scott Finch’s Introverts Illustrated.

The Conversation

Kerrie Davies reviews the engaging intimacy of Janine Barchas and Isabel Greenberg’s The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comic #30, Uncanny X-Men #18, Phoenix #13, Wolverine #11, Storm #10, Psylocke #9, Emma Frost: White Queen #2, and Spider-Man & Wolverine #3.

School Library Journal

• Andrea Lipinski reviews the poignant heart of Ngozi Ukazu’s Flip.

• Sarah Maciejewski reviews the beautiful compassion of Tara O’Connor’s Cry Out Loud.

• Angie Jameson reviews the thrilling plot of Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux’s This Place Kills Me.

• Kasey Swords reviews the empowering enhancements of K. Woodman-Maynard’s adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting.

• Juliana Newsom reviews the thoughtful complexity of Bex Glendining’s On Starlit Shores.

Solrad

Hagai Palevsky reviews the narrative flippancy of Miki Yamamoto’s A Smart and Courageous Child, translated by Katie Kimura.

Xtra

Ell Cugini reviews the rich details of Mattie Lubchansky’s Simplicity.

Yatta-tachi

Borealis Capps has reviews of:

• The emotional engagement of Aki Poroyama’s Stardust Family, translated by David Quina.

• The provocative humour of Shintaro Kago’s Brain Damage, translated by Zack Davisson.

• The deep sympathy of Miki Yamamoto’s A Smart and Courageous Child, translated by Katie Kimura.

Jack Kirby’s GALACTUS

— Michel Fiffe (@michelfiffe.bsky.social) 2025-07-24T16:27:00.965Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Gina Gagliano interviews Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud about The Cartoonists Club, collaborative origins, pandemic practicalities, and the joys of school visits — “[Scott McCloud:] The blank page to me is a pretty powerful symbol for what it's like to be a kid who's just beginning to create a rough draft for their own world. And because I've been around long enough to see generations evolve, as we were talking about, I also have come to understand that those little doodles kids make, those rough drafts do turn into the real thing in adulthood—they point to the kind of world they're going to make as adults.”

AIPT

• Collier Jennings speaks with Matt Fraction about Batman, collaborating with Jorge Jimenez, and the villain dynamics of Vandal Savage.

• Jennifer Chu talks to Taki Soma about Alienated, attending UFO conventions, and longterm creative collaborations.

• Chris Coplan interviews Simon Bournel-Bosson about Trumpets of Death, the personal elements of the story, and leaving things up to the reader.

• Chris Hassan speaks with Steve Foxe about Imperial War: Exiles, mutants in space, and collaborating with Jonathan Hickman.

Autobiographix

Amaris Ketcham talks to Edward Ross about Filmish and Gamish, childhood comics reading, and the challenge of nonfiction work.

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon interviews Michael Moreci about Roche Limit and revisiting older work, and Jordan Alsaqa and Randy Stone about Bullet Adventures and the creative freedoms afforded by being your own publisher.

Mindless Ones

Illogical Volume speaks with Al Ewing about Metamorpho, alien intelligences, worldbuilding dreamstates, and DJing.

NPR

Devin Katayama interviews Danny Fingeroth and Steve Englehart about the origins and evolution of Captain America.

Pasatiempo

Ania Hull talks to Stephen Weiner and Dan Mazur about Will Eisner — A Comics Biography, the evolving nature of the comics business, and creative leaps of faith.

Print

Steven Heller chats with Mimi Pond about Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me, familial inspirations, and the individual histories of the Mitfords.

Publisher’s Weekly

Brigid Alverson talks to Harold Schechter and Eric Powell about Dr. Wethless, Fredric Wertham’s place in history, and the research that went into the book.

Smash Pages

JK Parkin interviews Craig Hurd-McKenney about Curse of Dark Shadows and creative processes, and Mattie Lubchansky and Denali Sai Nalamalapu about Simplicity and Holler and telling stories about subjects that matter.

Vogue

Emma Specter talks to Mattie Lubchansky about Simplicity, cult obsessions, the importance of making art, and creating dystopias in a dystopian age.

Yatta-tachi

Adam Wescott speaks with Red String Translations’ Victoria Esnard about childhood comics reading, translational tiers, and the money side of things.

Penciled two more pages and inked three for the new King-Cat today. Out by September???#comics #zines #comix #altcomics

— John Porcellino (@johnporcellino.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T22:24:53.031Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Stanford Carpenter writes in remembrance of the life and work of artist, educator, publisher, and activist Turtel Onli, creator of NOG: Protector of the Pyramides, who died in January of this year aged 72 — “Onli is most known as the founder of the Black Age of Comics. It was originally coined in an article he wrote for a February 1993 issue of Comics Buyers’ Guide. That same month, Onli held the first Black Age of Comics Convention at the Southside Community Art Center in Chicago. Onli understood the power of the word. The Black Age of Comics was a rallying cry.”

• Also for TCJ, Tom Shapira writes on the maximalist (power) fantasy of Richard Corben’s Den, recently collected in full by Dark Horse, and the varied angles from which one can appreciate Corben’s work — “There is no superego in Den, only pure Id. The muscles bulge, the penis swings, the monster howls. The stories are familiar, copies of copies of old pulp magazines. If someone like Tolkien considers every facet and every tree before he moves a single character, Corben appears not to think beyond the next chapter.”

• Finally for TCJ, Sally Madden celebrates what would have been Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s 77th birthday with an excerpt from Love that Bunch — “Sometimes you're rewarded with the special event of a piece of art radiating with an uncontrollable urge. You get the privilege of looking at it, but there's no mistake of any delusion that this was made for your review. Art made by force with an irresistible call- and if a viewer is around for the aftermath, well, lucky you. This week marks the anniversary of the birthday of cartoonist and artist, Aline Kominsky-Crumb (1948-2022).”

• Over at The Nation, Jeet Heer examines the New Deal origins of Superman, and the character’s embodiment of radical politics, at the time of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel’s creation of the Man of Steel.

• For Ars Technica, shifting away from what comics was to what comics is, Jennifer Ouellette speaks with Michelle Ann Abate about the argument that internet memes represent a new form of digital comic, and considers what makes a good (read: deserving of virality) meme.

• Shelfdust’s Steve Morris continues a retrospective analysis of Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ The Unwritten, this edition looking back on issue 13 of the series, as hands of glory abound, and the Frankenstein nature of genre fiction is considered.

• A fresh Mindless Ones newsletter appears, as this week the lens shifts in part to the relative strangeness of Grant Morrison et al’s Doom Patrol.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Heritage, Ilan Manouach and Anna Foka present a paper analysing the maintenance of digital comics as living heritage, outside of traditionally recognised institutions, and the possible need to reimagine heritage theory to incorporate such archives.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as mass starvation and famine in Gaza, along with a cameo from wind turbines, briefly shifted focus from the Epstein files, or lack thereof.

Small drawings in various stages.

— Evan Dorkin (@evandorkin.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T21:14:43.298Z

This week’s audio/visual delights.

Thick Lines returned as this episode saw Sally Madden and Siobhán Gallagher dive deep into Vanessa Davis’ Make Me a Woman and very special sitcom episodes about disordered eating, Print’s Steven Heller shared a previously deleted interview segment from 2020’s Feels Good Man about re/interpretation of signs and symbols, Off Panel’s David Harper spoke with Robert Kirkman about Transformers and its fanbase and with Si Spurrier about The Voice Said Kill and collaborating with Vanesa R. Del Rey, and Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come had a bumper interview collection from and round-up of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.