Tag: Comics Beat

Review of Hero Cave on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

My review of Hero Cave, a dark fantasy comedy, was recently published on Comics Beat (here). This graphic novella is only about fifty pages long, but it’s surprisingly powerful and cathartic. Here’s an excerpt from my review…

It’s easy to look down on NPCs, the “non-player characters” who seem shallow and uninteresting when compared to the protagonists. It’s not so easy to realize that, in certain aspects of your life, you’re not much better than an NPC yourself. In Player vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity, Jaroslav Ŝvelch explains how the construction of monsters in Dungeons & Dragons reflects the concerns of the white-collar managerial class. To the dungeon master, even a creature as miraculous as a walking skeleton is little more than a series of numbers to be entered into a spreadsheet. Given how frequently we’re all reduced to data points — by social media algorithms, by insurance companies, and certainly by employers — perhaps it’s worthwhile to extend a bit of sympathy to a low-level skeleton.

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-hero-cave/

As an aside, Hero Cave features a type of nonbinary representation that I love to see. Waifishly thin models with stylishly androgynous faces are all well and good, but it’s frustrating that only attractive and nonthreatening “childlike” body types are commonly understood as being nonbinary. I believe we should have a bit more range in our representation, while also not limiting ourselves to conventional notions of “humanity.”

Why, for example, does a cartoon skeleton need to fit into a binary notion of gender? Also, if a character is an undead eldritch monstrosity, it’s silly to think that their nonbinary gender identity is the most interesting thing about them. Hero Cave demonstrates a refreshing lack of concern for the gender of its skeleton protagonist, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility of queer sexuality serving as an escape from the restrictive confines of hellworld capitalism. I didn’t want to get into this aspect of the book in my review, but it’s brilliant, and it means a lot of me personally.

Review of Bramble on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

My review of Hollow Press’s newest publication, Bramble, was posted on Comics Beat!

Hollow Press is an Italian micropress that publishes strategy guides for dark fantasy adventure games that don’t exist. Their most well-known book is Vermis (which I wrote about here), but I think Bramble is probably more accessible to a wider readership. It’s very weird and creative, and the art style is a lot of fun. Here’s an excerpt from my review…

Bramble is a worthy successor to Vermis, and the book proudly stands on its own as an accessible introduction to the emerging genre of original strategy guides. Its story is driven by the forward momentum of a traditional graphic novel and augmented by the intriguingly fragmented worldbuilding presented by digital RPGs. As a physical object, Bramble also suggests the nostalgic mystery of forgotten media, and the reader can easily imagine coming across this book hidden in the back of a closet or buried at the bottom of a box at a flea market. 

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-bramble/

Review of The Harrowing Game on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been an early reader of Antoine Revoy’s newest graphic novel, The Harrowing Game. I love this book, which is strongly inspired by Junji Ito but still very much its own thing. I’m also lucky to have gotten an opportunity to write a review for Comics Beat. Here’s an excerpt…

The Harrowing Game will delight fans of Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft, to be sure, and connoisseurs of horror will appreciate Revoy’s intriguing interpretations of familiar tropes. Revoy twists gothic stories into broken reflections of cultural anxieties, and the storytelling is no less dramatic for the subtlety of its social commentary. If nothing else, it’s a pleasure to get lost in the details of Revoy’s spectacular illustrations. Whether you’ll be able to find your way out untouched and undisturbed is another story.

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-the-harrowing-game/

Review of Low Orbit on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I’m honored to have been able to share a review of the recently published graphic novel Low Orbit on Comics Beat. Kazimir Lee’s debut is about dead malls in Vermont, sci-fi fan conventions in New York, epic space adventures, real-life queer identity, and everything in between. It’s an extremely ambitious story, and I’m in awe of the artist’s ability to pull it off with nuance and sensitivity – and also with some fantastic action scenes. Here’s an excerpt from my review:

At the end of Low Orbit, what lingers is the sensitivity with which Lee captures the slow and often painful process of becoming a person. Azar doesn’t find neat resolutions to her problems, and the adults around her remain as flawed as she is. Still, there’s a quiet clarity in how Azar begins to see them as fellow travelers on an uncertain path. Low Orbit is a stunning debut that’s just as fascinating as adolescence itself, and just as full of hard truths and unexpected kinships.

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-low-orbit-boldly-explores-the-intersections-of-fiction-and-identity/

Review of Strange Bedfellows on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I’m excited to share my review of Ariel Slamet Ries’s newest graphic novel, Strange Bedfellows. This is a solarpunk romantic comedy that’s set in a utopia but still takes the darkness of human nature seriously. The art is gorgeous, and I very much enjoyed the time I spent in this fascinating world with these beautiful trashfire characters. Here’s an excerpt from my review:

Hardship comes to everyone, and romance isn’t always easy. The soft and hopeful message of Oberon’s story is that the flaws and complications in human ambitions are what make our lives interesting and beautiful. Strange Bedfellows assures the reader that, while we may not ever live in a perfect utopia, we don’t have to give up on our dreams of a kinder and greener future.

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-strange-bedfellows-dreams-of-a-romantic-solarpunk-future/

Review of Hourglass on Comics Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I had the immense honor of publishing a review of Barbara Mazzi’s graphic novella Hourglass on Comics Beat. Hourglass is gorgeous, and it explores the full speculative potential of steampunk. It has its gears and smashes them too, all the while being incredibly stylish. I’m ambivalent about steampunk, but I have nothing but love for this fantastic book. Here’s a short excerpt from my review…

Barbara Mazzi’s stylish artwork is the perfect vehicle for these characters and their world. Instead of moldering in the usual steampunk attachment to the Victorian era, Hourglass delights in the lavish luxury of the 1920s. Designs inspired by Art Deco contrast strong angles against delicate filigree. Meanwhile, the interior of the machine is a chaos of detail that reminds me of the detailed mechanical designs of Studio Ghibli films like Castle in the Sky. Mazzi’s warm shades of gray convey the warmth of the machine’s interior, while the mellow gold of the spot color emphasizes the magic of this world and the humanity of its inhabitants.

You can read the full review on Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-hourglass-gears-are-powered-by-adventure/

Review of The Skin You’re In on The Beat

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I’m excited to have published my first review on The Comics Beat, and I’m honored that I got to write about The Skin You’re In, a handsome hardcover collection of queer horror comics drawn by Ashley Robin Franklin and published by Silver Sprocket. Here’s an excerpt of my review:

Each of the seven stories in The Skin You’re In is eerily beautiful and unnerving. Even as Franklin’s queer and female characters exist in a world that doesn’t perceive their humanity as normative, these stories provide a visceral reminder that there’s nothing “normal” about being a human on a planet that hosts a vast array of organisms.

You can read the full piece on The Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-review-the-skin-youre-in-pushes-the-uncanny-boundaries-of-humanity/