I’m always surprised whenever I find awesome art in commercial books beyond the main brands -both the big two, Image, Dark Horse, etc-. Sumit Kumar, whom I had no previous knowledge of, delivers a rock solid work that really stands out. Kudos due to a great colouring contribution from -I guess- Rosh. Nice take on behalf of Ram V. in the writing chores, too. Altogether an above the average adventure & sword & fantasy book that well deserves attention.

Ainda relendo esta semana. Em geral não gosto do que faz Neil Gaiman mas com “The Sandman” acontece-me o mesmo que com “Mafalda”, “Watchmen”, “Non Non Bâ” e tantos outros: passam os anos e podo reler e sei que vou desfrutar.

The chapter William Exley drew in this book would be enough for me to buy it, but what a nice read altogether. What Exley does is what makes me love comics, wouldn’t miss it for anything. Jamie Rhodes, the writer, did a great work of extracting seeds from documented History and turn them (along with illustrators Isaac Lenkiewicz, Briony May Smith, Becky Palmer and Isabel Greenberg) into five stories regarding an actual “Castle in England”. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is the real thing.

This is why comics can be awesome.

Triggering a dreamlike small universe in motion, Brais Rodríguez builds a story filled with symbolisms both as hypnotic as open to interpretation. A raw 3x3 layout and some of the slickest black and white art he’s ever delivered (which is a lot to say) set up this book you’ll want to read again in the years to come. Utterly inspiring and fascinating.

A man begins a journey as the world shivers in silence: an overcoming shadow or an overcoming shade?



Just out of print as it sold out its first run. I’m sure we can expect a new printing soon.

So I got these comic-books from 1983, issues 2 and 3 of “Alpha Flight” by John Byrne. Marvel was really lucky to have such outstanding professionals working for the company in that golden era. Byrne does about everything right, but I was specially impressed by his non-superheroic pages (two seamen aboard their small fishing ship undergoing a storm; a primitive tribe walking the tundra) which goes to show the importance of a good artist having the capability to draw anything and not just what the genre demands.

Dezanove anos depois de o começar a ler, treze depois de se ter completado a edição original, este 2017 acabei de ler “Bone”.

Quando a edição em comic-book em espanhol que eu seguia foi cancelada ficando a série inconclusa, neguei-me a passar ao formato de livros da nova editora licenciada, assim que após Dude Comics veio para mim Image Comics e finalmente de volta à casa matriz, Cartoon Books. Fui completando a série com a minha habitual lentidão e, felizmente, sem spoilers de ninguém. Acho que, realmente, também eu prolonguei consciente ou inconscientemente a leitura para que me acompanhasse um longo treito do caminho. Faço o mesmo com outros títulos.

É realmente um trabalho imenso de Jeff Smith, uma jóia da banda desenhada de aventuras e fantasia que adorei e que não concebo -ao igual que outros comics como Torpedo- em cor, pois o trabalho em preto e branco me parece magistral e qualquer adição a ele desnecessário.

Deu-me pena rematar a leitura e também pensar pessimistamente que provavelmente um sucesso assim não se repita de parte do autor.

Hei re-ler com prazer algum dia.




Como quase todos os anos os prémios de Barcelona produzem-me uma boa dose de aversão. Optam obras que me parecem, por dizer finamente, muito escassas, enquanto outras mais que meritórias ficam fora. Primeiro caso o trabalho de Emma Ríos. Após I.D. e Pretty Deadly II não sei que caralho mais faz falta para ser candidata! No caso de obras espanholas li poucas mas do visto parece-me que Lamia está muito por riba das demais, o qual, infelizmente e conhecendo a minha proximidade ao gosto maioritário, sugire que não vai ganhar. Enfim. Espero que de novo premiem Emma na convenção de Madri e, aliás, que nos EUA a candidatem ao Eisner. O seu trabalho gráfico em Pretty Deadly merece isso sobradamente. Dos títulos que sim entraram nos prémios de Barna eligiria os de King/Walta e de Tomine (a “Paciência” de Clowes produziu-me sensações encontradas e não ajudou ter um notável erro de impressão a versão em rústica de Fulgencio Pimentel, que foi a que comprei). Apesar da reprodução de arte de ECC ser lamentável, também não entendo faltar na seleção um Chiisakobee, p. ex. Total: eu faria os antiprémios de Barcelona e essas maravilhas -adoro La reina Orquidea e Mame Shiba- levariam pelo menos um abraço. Todos gostamos de Paper Girls, mas votar algo que ainda não contou nada e está colhendo corpo parece-me de ignorância ou preguiça. Sei, sei: as opiniões são como os cus, cada um tem a sua (e para isso estão os votos), mais eis a minha; geralmente os prémios de Barna fedem.

Finally got round to reading this comic-book that’d been home for some weeks now and my final thought is, is there anything Matt Smith can not draw right? Also surprising- very European-esque page layout. And a seemingly researched background for the plot, on behalf of the writer. Can’t say I was passionate about the story or the characters but simply put, what a heck of a job well done. Nice to see a basic premise (which I’d also come up with may years ago ;) and a historical context so finely developed on all levels.

Down-to-Earth superheroes are a rare thing these days, and what’s more, seem much more difficult to grasp in the making with all the genre’s decades -and subsequent saturation- behind (don’t mention films, I mainly avoid those).

Nevertheless, somehow Jason Loo gets it right. A readable story, characters you can relate to and that adorable formula of real life meets flying pyjamas and
Kyrbiesque monsters. So here’s the cover to my first encounter with Toronto’s alledgedly lamest hero, which I enjoyed and would recommend to anyone interested. The art and the humour reminded me of The superior foes of Spider-man, one of the freshest titles to come out of Marvel in recent years.

Sure, “The pitiful Human-Lizard” could use a book design revamp, plus, glossy paper is not your friend, but overall expectations have been fulfilled and I’ll most probably buy the trade paperback edition when and if it is released.

So fond as I am of Seth, Michel Rabagliati, Chester Brown, etc, I’m always happy whenever Canada keeps delivering good news in the world of comics.

I hadn’t visited Berlin in a while. Quite some time, actually. It’s still there, the atmosphere. The night life, the songs being sung, the papers being read, the streets, the rising factions… the characters we care about. The waning hope and that uneasy, growing sense of impending doom. And a fine art picturing it all, from the rich houses to the back alleys.

What a great, great title.

My gut feeling as I finish reading this book is the stories in it are so good and so well drawn that you may place any other comic/album/graphic novel in the world beside it, it’s more than likely to pale in comparison. Beto and Jaime Hernández are master storytellers, that’s beyond doubt by now, but there’s more to it than that. Most comic creators tend to lose their punch to some degree as years go by: I’m sad to say I’ve read comics by international first line, very popular and talented creators, both European and American, in recent years, that, to say the least, were not among their finest, plus, had in common one of the single features I find particularly most annoying: repetition. Well on the opposite side I’ve been reading this river-novel for twenty years now and I’m nowhere tired, the Hernández’s true wit is nowhere exhausted. Stuff like Love & Rockets, the current volume, issue #3 is what makes me marvel just by holding pages with printed art, and reading the words and looking at the pictures. The stunning, shocking magic of a fictional world that feels as real as yours and mine.