Always interesting to see whether a nascent social media platform has the sauce to take over from its predecessor, and, in the case of Bluesky, now repping for a chunk of the former populace of X (née Twitter), it fulfilled the prerequisite this week of hosting a live spilling-out of some easily avoided indie comics drama already in progress (more on that in this week’s links, below), as it broke containment from the original source, regarding which I would otherwise have had to track back through four layers of iterative memes to figure out what the Dickens was going on - nature is, if not healing, once more being codified in real time as it slow dances into the flames.
cartoonist pep talk
— maddi (@quasimaddi.bsky.social) 2025-05-21T00:50:23.993Z
This week’s news.
• Continuing 2025’s laser focus on comics-related bankruptcy cases, Diamond Comic Distributors’ new owners appeared to open their new tenure with extensive layoffs at the company last week, days before Penguin Random House announced that Diamond’s days as a sub-distributor for their business have come to a close.
• In other bankruptcy news, AfterShock Comics, of whom we last heard at the end of 2022, filed a flurry of notices over the last few weeks, in order to, apparently, return from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a restructuring plan and debt repayment schedule in place to clear monies owed to creators and other creditors. The company, in the meantime, had “intentionally remained quiet up until now.”
• Elsewhere, Scott Adams, controversial blogger/broadcaster and creator of Dilbert, this week announced a terminal diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasised, saying that "I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer."
• Following up with Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association and its aggressive pursuit of alleged manga pirates, as scanlation website MangaDex was hit with widespread takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act this week, with the site’s team denying that they will be ceasing operations, or will be shifting to a legal licensing model, akin to Crunchyroll’s move away from piracy in the early 00s.
• In comics awards news, the National Cartoonists Society Foundation last week announced that Samantha Huyck and Abby McColgan are this year’s recipients of the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, receiving $5,000 each.
new comic on Gil Scott Heron www.patreon.com/posts/pieces...
— Ben Passmore (@benpassmore.bsky.social) 2025-05-19T13:28:29.792Z
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Greg Hunter reviews the creative continuity of Richard Sala’s Night Drive — “Night Drive also offers a look at what was different in Sala’s earliest comics. Over time, he stretched out into long-form narratives, serializing and then collecting them. Night Drive’s pieces are shorter (many of them one or two pages) and often feature less narrative altogether. Sala came to cartooning after a fine-arts education, but the comics in Night Drive read less like gallery pieces and more like poems.”
• Leonard Pierce reviews the pull-no-punches enthusiasm of Eli Valley’s Museum of Degenerates: Portraits of the American Grotesque — “For what Valley is doing is simply flipping the script of a century of antisemitic propaganda; with clear intention and lethal effectiveness, he portrays the powerful people who harm the weak and scapegoat others for their own misdeeds as misshapen, preternatural things, and the innocent people who suffer at their hands as, if not heroic, at the very least recognizable.”
• Frank M. Young reviews the earthy lines of Noah Van Sciver’s Beat It, Rufus — “Rufus resembles a character from 1970s Doonesbury. His face is a curious frieze, with its jutting lower jaw, pickle nose, gaunt cheeks and wary eyes. One can imagine a younger Harry Dean Stanton in the role (in the conditional movie that plays in our head as we read). It’s an odd visage. Its frozen expression suggests a person who’s held in a stunned state by life’s misfortunes.”
AIPT
• Chris Coplan reviews the charming enthusiasm of Matt Bors, Fred Harper, et al’s The Toxic Avenger, Volume 1.
• Landon Kuhlmann reviews the stylish mystery of Zander Cannon’s Sleep #1.
• Michael Guerrero reviews the lackluster elements of J. Michael Straczynski, Jesús Saiz, Carlos Magno, et al’s Captain America: Broxton Rising.
• Colin Moon reviews the unnecessary self-indulgence of J. Michael Straczynski, Germán Peralta, et al’s Hulk & Doctor Strange #1.
• Collier Jennings reviews the solid start of Dan Slott, Rafael Alberquerque, et al’s Superman Unlimited #1; and the spellbinding beginning of Steve Orlando, Lorenzo Tammetta, et al’s The Vision & The Scarlet Witch #1.
• David Brooke reviews the promising setup of Tony Fleecs, Justin Mason, et al’s The Thing #1; and the playful dynamism of Marc Guggenheim, Kaare Andrews, et al’s Spider-Man & Wolverine #1.
The Beat
• Masha Zhdanova reviews the bright boldness of Katie Fricas’ Checked Out.
• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the winning lycanthropy of Rodney Barnes and Stevan Subic’s Batman: Full Moon.
• Clyde Hall reviews the mature melodrama of Frank Tieri, Inaki Miranda, et al’s Whatever Happened to Crimson Justice? #1.
• Jordan Jennings reviews the rote plotting of David M. Booher, Aviv Or, et al’s Ghostbusters – Dead Man’s Chest #1.
• Zack Quaintance reviews the packed start of Dan Slott, Rafael Alberquerque, et al’s Superman Unlimited #1.
• Steve Baxi reviews the dulled edge of Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis, et al's adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Trouble Is My Business.
Broken Frontier
• Andy Oliver reviews the sophisticated minimalism of Fredrik Rysjedal’s Cramp.
• Lydia Turner reviews the twisting layers of Maggie Umber’s Chrysanthemum Under the Waves.
• Gary Usher reviews the explosive zaniness of Jake Smith's RoboWolf #1.
Comics Grinder
Henry Chamberlain reviews the remarkable celebration of Joe Sikoryak’s When We Were Trekkies.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comic #21, Uncanny X-Men #14, X-Factor #10, Phoenix #11, Wolverine #9, Hellverine #6, and Godzilla vs. X-Men #1.
Kirkus Reviews
Have starred capsule reviews of:
• The enthralling puzzle of Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux’s This Place Kills Me.
• The heartfelt worldview of Shannon Hale and Marcela Cespedes’ Dream On.
KQED
Rae Alexandra reviews the delightful details of Guy Delisle’s Muybridge.
The New Republic
Jeremy Lybarger reviews the insightful analysis of Dan Nadel's Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life.
The New York Times
Sam Thielman reviews the endearing sweetness of Alison Bechdel’s Spent.
The Observer
Rachel Cooke reviews the zippy treat of Guy Delisle’s Muybridge.
Publisher’s Weekly
Have capsule reviews of:
• The joyful debut of Katie Fricas’ Checked Out.
• The sharp hilarity of Mattie Lubchansky’s Simplicity.
• The cozy charm of Kathleen Gros’ I Hated You in High School.
• The exceptional autofiction of Moa Romanova’s Buff Soul.
Yatta-tachi
• Wendeego reviews the nuanced characterisations of Yudori’s Raging Clouds.
• AJ Mack reviews the equine camp of Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo's Bizarre Adventure – Steel Ball Run, Volume 1.
• Anne Lee reviews the signature charms of Nagabe’s Eat.
choose your fighter
— Gale Galligan (@galegalligan.bsky.social) 2025-05-21T14:47:09.611Z
This week’s interviews.
TCJ
Nicole Georges interviews Maria Bamford and Scott Marvel Cassidy about Hogbook and Lazer Eyes, astrological signs, backyard wildlife, and artistic origins — “But I like also having older dogs. 'cause I think, I don't know if I always follow this, but I feel like that compassion that you have for people can help. Like, people slowing down or people needing more help. That’s the kind of compassion I hope I have for human beings as well. And I hope that I'll receive that I'll receive as I'm aging right now, I'm slowing down myself.”
AIPT
• Chris Hassan speaks with Jed MacKay about X-Men, keeping pace with 18 issues a year, and upcoming romances.
• Chris Coplan talks to Matias Timarchi about Valiant Beyond and distribution delays, and to Chris Condon and Jeffrey Alan Love about News From the Fallout and advocating for black and white film.
Autobiographix
Amaris Ketcham and Nora Hickey speak with Denali Sai Nalamalapu about Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance and using comics to communicate the realities of the current climate crisis.
The Beat
• Jared Bird interviews Ashley Allen about Magik, support within the House of Ideas, and cryptozoology ambitions.
• Ollie Kaplan talks to Ben H. Winters about Benjamin #1, the timelessness of science fiction, and the comic’s advantages over Pickleball.
• Javier Perez interviews Patrick Horvath about Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring, trusting your gut, and missed character connections.
• Diego Higuera talks to David Pinckney about Sarah & Darah: Best Frenemies Forever, realistic revenge, and lessons for younger readers.
Broken Frontier
Andy Oliver speaks with Sara Kenney and collaborators about Acid Box, publishing with Avery Hill, and science outreach.
GO Magazine
Becca Williams interviews Alison Bechdel about Spent, playing in the autofiction space, and channeling anxieties into making the book.
Hollywood Soapbox
John Soltes talks to Cullen Bunn and A.C. Zamudio about Arcana Royale, parental inspirations, and keeping panel shapes consistent.
Mindless Ones
Illogical Volume speaks with Walt Lewellyn about The Black Casebook, hosting the world’s only Batman-focused podcast, and favourite Bat-artists.
The Observer
Rachel Cooke talks to Alison Bechdel about Spent, metatextual research avoidance, and loving your characters.
El País
Iker Seisdedos interviews Tessa Hulls about Feeding Ghosts, the book’s winning of a Pulitzer Prize, and formative comics reading.
Solrad
Julian Bata speaks with Maxime Gérin about Hats Off!, the appeal of realistic dynamics, and accepting your own rhythms.
— Justin LaGuff (@jlaguff.bsky.social) 2025-05-21T18:09:56.287Z
This week’s features and longreads.
• Here at TCJ, RJ Casey dances the night away with a fresh batch of Arrivals and Departures, as this month’s reading included Veronica Graham’s Prop Comic, Alicia C.L.’s Lifeline, Alexander Poljansek’s Horses #1, and Haus of Decline’s Igor the Assistant — “After my lament in March where I went on and on about newspaper print, I’m back in, baybeee! I am a comics fan after all, so I hold onto an almost childlike faith in, “You never know…” to fight off the cynicism cherubs floating above my noggin.”
• Also for TCJ, excerpted in preview of next month’s The Comics Journal #311, Helen Chazan opens the doors to the Manga Lending Library and writes on the crackling energy of Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter × Hunter — “There’s a roaming freedom and clarity to Hunter × Hunter that its contemporaries strive for but don’t quite achieve, where every setting, every event, every stake is diagrammatically clear yet can invert and disintegrate at a moment’s notice in response to a character’s motives, their drive, their emotional inner world. The goal isn’t how the story will end but where it begins.”
• More for TCJ, as Andrew Farago writes in remembrance of artist Jackson ‘Butch’ Quice, who died earlier this month at the age of 63, also sharing memories of Guice from friends and peers — “[Joseph Illidge:] He was humane enough to show us the different sides of humanity in his art with equal application of truth and care. He was gentlemanly enough to always appreciate the opportunity to speak to the world through his art. He was kind enough to be a friend to a fan-turned-caretaker. That’s the guy comics gained. The guy we’ve all lost. A great artist and an old soul, flying through the heavens like a beautiful bird.”
• For WBUR, Arielle Gray writes in remembrance of artist and educator Rob Stull, who died last month at the age of 58, sharing thoughts on Stull’s life and legacy from family and friends.
• Over at The Atlantic, Hanna Rosin writes on Alison Bechdel’s Spent, exploring the personal evolution to be found in Bechdel’s work, and the shift between memoir and autofiction to be seen in this latest book.
• As Tove Jansson’s Moomins celebrate their 80th birthday, The Guardian covers the building of a Moominhouse in London in collaboration with Refugee Week, while Elina Druker writes for The Conversation on Jansson’s Moomin strips in the London Evening News and the clash for artists between creative freedoms and financial security.
• Continuing the New York Times' series of visual timelines of comics artists, Sam Thielman and Gabriel Gianordoli present a profile of mangaka Junji Ito, examining the ways in which Ito has influenced media and has been influenced by media, as volume 2 of The Liminal Zone hits stores.
• For The Asahi Shimbun, Koichi Amano reports on the opening of a manga school on the island of Takaikamishima, founded by Sadamu Kimura and Osamu Hasebe, which is seeking to counteract the isle’s waning population.
• Elsewhere, for The Japan Times, Eric Margolis presents a primer on the translation and localisation of manga, diving into the issues that translators and publishers run into when publishing books utilising British- and American-English phraseology, and including a handy cheat-sheet of relevant terms.
• For The Beat, E.B. Hutchins writes on artist Alex Graham’s recent, again, very easily avoidable, turn as the main character of the comics internet, and apparently continuing struggles within elements of the comics community to embrace the true diversity of creators working in the medium.
• Checking in with the world of comics-focused documentaries, as the International Documentary Association reports on PBS’ censoring of a section of Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse that critiques current President Donald Trump; and Rob Salkowitz writes for Forbes on some (hopefully uncensored) upcoming comics documentaries that will examine the lives and work of Jack Kirby, Alex Ross, and Denis Kitchen.
• For Shelfdust, Holly Raymond looks back on J.M. DeMatteis and Paul Neary’s Captain America #296, beginning a monthly series on the power and potential of refusal, initially in the context of the queer Jewish character Arnie Roth’s torments at the hands of the fascist Red Skull.
• The Mindless Ones beam another weekly collection of thoughts directly to the frontal lobe, as considerations are given to reinforce the connections between rap and Marvel Comics legacies, amongst other media missives.
• From the world of open-access academia, in USAbroad, María Elena Bedoya Hidalgo, Jimena Perry, and Sebastián Vargas Álvarez’s exploration of the evolution of Public History in Latin America since the 1970s includes examination of non-fiction comics as print activism in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and the use of comics to represent historically marginalised groups.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as there’s a new Pope, the same President Donald Trump, and the same atrocities in Gaza.
My cover to issue 2 Ultimate Spider-Man Incursion! Coming in July!👍🏿
— Sanford Greene (@sanfordgreene.bsky.social) 2025-05-02T00:24:06.131Z
This week’s audio/visual delights.
A quick round-up of recent multimedia offerings on the topics of comics, as Lilli Carré hosted the most recent meeting of the New York Comics and Picture-Story Symposium with Laura Park speaking on autobiography and the joys of observation, Noah Van Sciver had a cartoonist chat with Paul Karasik about The New York Trilogy and the book's winding path to publication, Brian Hibbs welcomed Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman to the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club to speak about their collaboration on The Pedestrian, and Gil Roth was joined by Keiler Roberts on The Virtual Memories Show to discuss Preparing to Bite and temporary hiatuses from comics making.
cropped in sneak peek at my page for a collaborative comic that will be out in July! c:
— Llewellyn (@llewellynrose.bsky.social) 2025-05-19T02:41:42.336Z
That’s all for this week, for now I must return to watching a Norwegian livestream of a beached cargo ship.
SUPERMAN #29 Variant Cover.
English (US) · 