Optical Sloth

New review today for The Palace of Ashes by Andy Warner. In case you were wondering how that saga with the roofers played out (I’m sure you were all on the edge of your seat), there is now a pile of roofing materials outside, buried under snow.

New review for My Life in Records #3 by Grant Thomas, and those people are still working on the roof while I type this. Again, it’s freezing outside. Makes sense to me.

New review today for Magic Whistle #14 by Sam Henderson. Also, why do apartment complexes decide to replace tiles on a roof in a rain/snow storm in the dead of winter when there’s no leakage? Because that’s what’s happening outside my window right now.

New review for Monkey Squad One Annual #2 by Doug Michel, and although last week was a mess, I shall attempt to do regular reviews for the rest of the week. Assuming that the universe is done messing with me for now…

New review today for Tomboy by Liz Prince. Yep, two graphic novel reviews in a row denotes a trend for sure.

New review for Andre the Giant by Box Brown. What else needs to be said?

Two new reviews to start off the New Year (and yes, I do realize that I’m staring the year on the 5th): Death in Oaxaca #1 by Steve Lafler and Bear, Bird and Stag Were Arguing in the Forest (And Other Stories) by Madeleine Flores.

With the gigantic caveat of “best of the year of graphic novels that I’ve read.” Which, looking over the past year, is a pretty short list. I seem to be slipping in the quantity of reviews, so I’m either running out of steam completely or last year was just abnormally busy for me. We’ll find out which theory is correct together next year which! Anyway, I’ll be re-posting reviews from the past year at of some of the best graphic novels of the year. Please note that this is not a “Top 10” list, that the books are in no particular order and that it is possible to love very different book equally. And as I’m only posting graphic novel reviews, I should at least mention some of my favorite series/creators of the past year, so in no particular order: Sam Spina’s TARN (Sam Spina in general can do no wrong), Brian John Mitchell and his countless great series, Ohio is For Sale by Jon Allen, Slaves of the Megapode by Rob Jackson, Towerkind by Kat Verhoeven and Ryan Cecil Smith and his sprawling, ongoing SF series. Granted, that list looks short, but there also aren’t all that many ongoing series that I read. I think Dave Sim’s record of 300 issues of a single series is safe forever. OK, happy New Year week everybody, regular posting will resume on Monday or Tuesday of next week!

New review today for True Stories Volume One by Derf Backderf. Is this the last review until after Christmas? Um, possibly. If so, happy holidays everybody! If not, please disregard until tomorrow.

New reviews today for Sugar Booger #2 by Kevin Scalzo and Ultimate Lost Kisses #15 by Brian John Mitchell & David Branstetter. More tomorrow if I get any free time, if not I’ll get at least a couple of reviews up next week before I leave town for the holiday.

New review today for Short and Merciless Stories by Marco Taddei & Simone Angelini. Speaking of that, I’m thinking of putting up some older posts of some of my favorite books of the year, probably in the last week of the year when everybody else is doing them. As this was a sparse year for reviews (by my standards), we’ll see what I can come up with, but a top 5 is easy, maybe even a top 10. Sure, it’s technically “reruns,” but at least you’ll have something else to look at while you’re stuck at work for that stupid week between Christmas and New Year’s where everybody would be off if the world was a just place.

New review for Irene #5 by an assortment of artists. Happy weekend everybody!

New review today for Bixtone Productions 24 Hour Comic Madness Extravaganza by Kevin and Arthur Bixby. Oh, and if you’re reading this you’re probably already aware that I moved roughly six months ago, and that you should always check the address at the sidebar so that any comics sent actually make it to me. I mention this because my old apartment complex just called and they have maybe half a dozen packages waiting for me. Which, come to think of it, is probably true for many of my old apartments, they’re just the only ones nice enough to let me know about it…

Since I seem to have no end of trouble with weeks getting away from me, why not put a bunch of reviews up early in the week instead of hoping for the best at the end of the week? I’m trying that out this week, so two new reviews today: Trepanation by Emi Gennis and Colossal: Before Curious Machines by Jason Ludtke. I do plan on doing regular reviews the rest of the week too, but if that turns out to be wrong then at least I got a couple of great comics up this week, right?

Two new reviews today, for Smallbug Comics #2 by Charles Brubaker and Short Run: On Your Marks by about a half dozen Seattle artists. Maybe I’ll manage to get a regular weeks worth of reviewing up finally? It’s possible!

New reviews today for Mimi and the Wolves Act I by Alabaster and Dark Tomato by Sakura Maku. Happy holiday everybody!

Yep, a review on a Monday. I’m trying to get back into a routine here, even if the holiday week is going to make a mess of things this week. Still, why not get a few reviews in, right? New review today for Bakersfield, Earth #1 by David Quantic & Tamra Bonvillain.

Wow, has it really been almost a month since the last update? Oof, sorry. Been busier than I thought. Two new reviews today from the Mini Kus pile: Swimming Pool by Anna Vaivare and Magnetism by Roope Eronen. This week might still be a little crazy but here’s hoping that I can at least get one more review up. But either way, no, I am not quitting the website. Just paid for it for another year, actually, so I’m not going anywhere.

Yep, things got very busy again, how did you guess? New review today for Memoirs of a Muse #4: Akhenaten by Gail Kern. Also I have one small press t-shirt for that big Wizard convention at the end of the month, but that still leaves a couple of days without anything in particular in mind. Just in case anybody wanted some free advertising for their comic/to give me a free t-shirt.

See? Back to reviews again. Two new ones today for more of the Latvian Mini Kus series: Lucky by Oskars Pavlovskis and Domino by Ruta & Anete Daubure. And hey, I got press credentials for Wizard Con here in Ohio at the end of the month. That’s generally a much larger con than I usually attend, but I figured why not, at the very least it would be an interesting look into how the rich and/or famous types live. I’ve been trying to think of ways to promote the small press stuff while I’m there, so I thought that if you had such a comic and also had t-shirts, maybe I could just wear that for a day? Yes, I’m aware of the fact that this sounds like I’m just asking for free t-shirts, which I guess is kind of true, but at least I also have good intentions. If you think this sounds like a great idea, e-mail me and we’ll figure something out.