Robert is the king of the Grass Kingdom. And his older brother, Bruce, is the sheriff. All works out pretty well for this tucked away off-the-grid community. That is, until outsiders intrude. Then, things can get complicated. And so we set off on this rural mystery series, GRASS KINGS, written by New York Times bestselling writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT); illustrated by Tyler Jenkins (Peter Panzerfaust); published by BOOM! Studios.
GRASS KINGS page excerpt
The sheer beauty of the land is brought to life by the artwork of Tyler Jenkins. The folks hid away are not quite as pretty. And Jenkins has a way of brining out their cunning as well as sense of loss and desperation. Matt Kindt has crafted a story about people who desperately wish to be left alone. However, nothing is ever that simple. Early on, Kindt and Jenkins provide an overview of what the Grass Kingdom has been like for the last 800 years leading up to the present day. Idyllic, sure. But there’s always the human element and people will do what people do. Things that may not quite fit with such a bucolic setting.
GRASS KINGS page excerpt
This first issue takes a lyrical pace and then steadily unveils something sinister. The Grass Kingdom does not tolerate trespassers. In this first issue, we have an exchange between Bruce, the official gatekeeper, and Lo, a local kid who has wandered off from the neighboring Cargill territory onto Grass Kingdom territory. Bruce warns Lo that he would already be dead if his brother Robert had caught him. Bruce even tries to appeal to Lo and ends up giving him a quick tour. Lo is unmoved. But Lo can’t help it. He’s sort of undercover investigating a missing person case and a possible murder.
GRASS KINGS #1 is available as of March 8th. For more details, visit Boom! Studios right here.
Dan Dougherty is an award-winning author and illustrator. He is known for his humor comic strip, BEARDO, as well as various genre comic books. TOUCHING EVIL is an ongoing supernatural thriller series. It has an otherworldly quality about it that will compel you to keep reading. Dougherty has recently collected the first seven issues into one volume. Here is a taste of what you can expect in the following review. I also got a chance to chat with Dan for a bit at Emerald City Comicon and we did a quick video interview that you can check out at the end.
Panel excerpt from TOUCHING EVIL
Getting back to TOUCHING EVIL, there is much to say. First off, Dougherty has an uncanny way, both with his writing and his drawing, of calibrating a moment. Let me set this up. Our main character, Ada, is a beautiful and vibrant woman in the prime of life. She has a promising career as an attorney. She has a teenage son. And then, one day, she is assigned a task that results in a tragic outcome of supernatural proportions. When this happens, it seems oddly inevitable.
Essentially, Ada has the power of life or death over anyone with dark intentions. She touches them. They die. Meanwhile, her son has taken to wearing these black leather gloves with skeleton fingers. All this leads up to a pivotal moment: in order to secure she doesn’t accidently kill her own troubled son, Ada manages to slip on her son’s gloves before she hugs him. This is one of those masterful Dougherty moments: a sorrowful mother, her skeletal hands resting on the back of her son.
Page excerpt from TOUCHING EVIL
This is some wild story, if I haven’t made that clear yet. It gets under your skin, burrows its way in. Think The Twilight Zone meets Breaking Bad. It’s a certain vibe that hooks you in. Dougherty revels in well-placed details that later on elaborately blow up. A key aspect to the curse that Ada inherits is that anyone who she ends up executing by touch is a new soul who inhabits her mind. The death count mounts, as you may expect, and it gets crowded in Ada’s head. There’s a play within a play going on. Or you can think of it as a horror version of “Being John Malkovich.” Parts horror, cerebral, and offbeat humor, this is a highly engaging graphic novel.
Page excerpt from TOUCHING EVIL
And I get back to how Dougherty draws. His style is clean and crisp. Dougherty can make you believe you’re in a scary penitentiary and you’re walking down to its scariest section, The Ghost Room. He will make you believe in ghosts, demons, and being trapped in hell. And, without a doubt, you’ll get wrapped up in Ada’s plight.
Page excerpt from TOUCHING EVIL
Dan Dougherty is one of those talents in comics who is doing everything right. Well, that’s certainly an understatement. Whatever Dougherty does, it is going to continue to work out well. Maybe he’ll just follow a Jeff Smith model and keep building up what’s he doing on his own. He is an exciting talent and I highly recommend that you seek out this very intriguing work.
TOUCHING EVIL by Dan Dougherty
TOUCHING EVIL VOL. 1: THE CURSE ESCAPES is a full color 240-page graphic novel written and illustrated by Dan Dougherty.
Colors: Kanila Tripp and Wesley Wong
Cover art: Tom Kelly, with interior covers by Stephen Bryant
Additional inks: Monica Ras
This limited edition 240-page hardcover collects issues 1-7, as well as a never-before-seen bonus story, pinup gallery with art from Ryan Browne, Andrew Dimitt, Tom Kelly, and Doug Klauba! Read “season one” of Touching Evil in its most beautiful presentation!
There is a special hybrid in the comics industry: the artist/writer. This is a combination of skills common enough in some circles (webcomics and indie graphic novels) but not so much in others (ongoing comic book series). That said, an artist/writer is also in a unique position for those projects where the roles of artist and writer are shared. Dark Horse Comics hosted an engaging and informative panel on this subject during Emerald City Comicon this last weekend that featured cartoonists Matt Kindt (Dept. H, Ether), Kristen Gudsnuk (Henchgirl, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls), and Adam Warren (Empowered). It was moderated by Patric Reynolds (Joe Golem).
Matt Kindt focused on ETHER, which he writes and David Rubin draws. Kindt is completely in love with all aspects of comics and continually finds ways to push the medium. But he is also quite appreciative when he teams up with an artist that is on a similar wavelength. “I can give David Rubin, say, a page with six panels and he can find a way to turn that into a 12-panel page.”
EMPOWERED by Adam Warren and Karla Diaz
EMPOWERED: Soldier of Love #2 by Adam Warren and Karla Diaz. On Sale March 22.
Adam Warren encouraged any aspiring cartoonists to not worry too much about a formal cartooning education. Warren said that, after he discovered manga, he was ultimately compelled to relearn comics after attending the Joe Kubert School that provided him with a traditional comics education.
Kristen Gudsnuk stressed that she is self-taught. When she first developed her Henchgirl webcomic, she did not have to consider how to create the same comic for print. But, she did learn that she would not be able to continue drawing her comics on the subway. She redrew the first four issues of her print comic and went from there. A tip from Cliff Chiang really helped. He scans his pencils and prints them in nonphoto blue and uses that to ink on.
Whether the issues are technical or more general, a panel on the creation of comics has something for everyone. It definitely has the potential to inspire. And plenty to relate to. For instance, Matt Kindt admitted that he feels he is no longer qualified for any other job than being a cartoonist. He says he was never really good at being your typical office worker in a cubicle. But there was one bright spot. He worked out his schedule where he did his drawing from home and, while he was at “work” in the office, he would do his writing. For any aspiring cartoonist, finding a job that is so amenable to your dreams is nice work if you can get it.
For more details, visit Dark Horse Comics right here.
Daniel Warren Johnson at Emerald City Comicon 2017
Daniel Warren Johnson is a freelance illustrator based in Chicago. Johnson’s webcomic, SPACE-MULLET, launched in 2012, got people’s attention. It is a quirky sci-fi tale following the adventures of such characters as Jonah, a stranded Space Marine from United Earth, and Alphius, a huge Zozobian who uses too much toilet paper. As Johnson told me, the whole experience of maintaining a webcomic turned out to be the perfect way to demonstrate to publishers how he navigates through a story. This process would lead him to the helm of his own comic book series, EXTREMITY, published by Skybound Entertainment, an imprint of Image Comics.
Daniel Warren Johnson’s SPACE-MULLET
The world of EXTREMITY, as Johnson states, is “visually stunning in keeping with the characters.” This is a barbaric and futuristic landscape. Think Mad Max. It is a world of extremes. Johnson’s writing process focuses on the characters first and builds out from there. At the forefront, is Thea, from the Roto Clan, who has been horribly wronged by the Paznina. What makes this story different from a typical revenge tale, Johnson told me, is that it is not just one person dealing with what happens next but an entire village.
ECCC variant for EXTREMITY #1
Story is everything. Johnson’s method is to write out a script first, let that settle in, and then pursue the artwork. He says he could storyboard the whole thing out but it’s getting that script down that proves to be the most efficient.
Johnson has a very disarming personality. He has an immediate and direct way about him. As I sat in with him for a bit at Emerald City Comicon, he worked on some art while always engaging with visitors. “I invite folks to ask me anything,” he says. One thing that Johnson has become known for are his portraits where he renders his subject as a zombie. So, if you should meet up with Johnson, maybe you should ask him to draw you as a zombie.
Daniel Warren Johnson
Take a closer look at Johnson’s artwork and you’ll find that extra attention to detail. Johnson thanks an extensive art training background starting out when he was a kid and getting private lessons from a kind but determined Italian woman named, Rosetta. “I watch out for the details. If I’m going to draw a car, for instance, it is definitely going to look like a car.” But, for what finally got him where he is today, that he has to thank his wife for.
What Johnson foresees for himself, and hopes for the future of comics in general, is a focus on story, going deeper, beyond a “crafting of cool.” “You know, stories can come to and end too. The standard model is to keep characters going on forever. It can be refreshing to break that model, tell one character’s story from start to finish, and move on.”
Help spread the word. This is a great way to stand with Planned Parenthood, an organization that empowers women. The Downtown Bookworks campaign runs from March 1st thru March 15th.
My First Book of Girl Power
The last page of The Big Book of Girl Power sums up how Downtown Bookworks feels and why it supports Planned Parenthood through its donation campaign:
“When women get together to do good things, nothing and nobody can stop them!
What are your your special powers?
How will you use them to make the world a better place?”
Downtown Bookworks would love to see you and your kids enjoying their books. Please connect with them by sharing your comments and pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
BRAVE CHEF BRIANNA is a four-part comic published by KaBOOM!, an imprint of BOOM! Studios. It is written by fantasy author Sam Sykes (Aeons’ Gate) and drawn by Selina Espiritu. It is a very strange comic that deftly defies logic. And kids will love it.
The whole thing is refreshingly odd. We begin with a family gathered in a boardroom. The patriarch, a celebrity restaurant magnate, lays out his plans for the future of his business. The father has been suffering from an illness and does not have long to live. His plan is to have all his heirs, his 15 sons and one daughter, compete in a winner-take-all restaurant contest.
BRAVE CHEF BRIANNA #1
The one daughter, as the title clues us in, is Brianna. The biggest challenge for Brianna, according to this story, is Brianna. Well, her insecurities. Okay, that could make sense. And then our story keeps getting weird. Everyone in the contest must find a city in which to launch their restaurant competing in the contest. There had not been any prior hint of the supernatural but now it turns out that the only place that Brianna can find on her budget is Monster City, which is populated by real monsters. But, as I say, kids will eat this up.
BRAVE CHEF BRIANNA #1
But even a kid might scratch his head just a little as our plot unfolds. No need to scratch too hard but just a little. Turns out that, once Brianna arrives in Monster City, Suzan, a surly monster, wants to work for Brianna. She has no particular interest in the restaurant business, or in human food, but she forces her way into a job. She’s a monster and she does not eat human food. Nor do any of the other monsters in town. But Brianna is such a good cook that maybe she can lure monsters to her restaurant. Silly, yes. But, I got to say, it is refreshingly odd. The artwork by Selina Espiritu is joyful and delightful. The colors by Sarah Stern give everything that extra pop.
BRAVE CHEF BRIANNA #1 is published by KaBOOM!, an imprint of BOOM! Studios and is available as of March 1, 2017.
NOTE: If you are heading out to Emerald City Comicon (March 2-5), be sure to stop by the First Second Books booth #1602 on the exhibit floor. There you can meet such fabulous talent as Pénélope Bagieu, the author of the book I am reviewing here:
What a truly delightful book I have to share with you: “California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas,” written and drawn by Pénélope Bagieu, published by First Second Books. This is quite a smooth read. It sort of feels like a film shot in one continuous take. The story seamlessly moves along at a quick and steady pace. I could not put down reading this unique life journey and read the 272-page graphic novel in one sitting. Cartoonist Pénélope Bagieu has channelled the one-of-a-kind Cass Elliot!
Page excerpt from CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
Part of what makes this book a page-turner is the highly engaging art. Bagieu has fun with brining Cass Elliot to life, from an insecure but highly precocious little girl to a defiant young woman and, finally, to a confident artist. It all began with a quirky family that adored music. Before there was a Mama Cass, and the legendary band of the Sixties, The Mamas & the Papas, there was little Ellen Cohen being tucked into bed while her dad recited the story of the eccentric singer, Florence Foster Jenkins.
Page excerpt from CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
There is clearly a passion here for the subject that makes the narrative dance on the page. By the time we reach the point where Cass and her bandmates are crafting their first breakout hit, not yet even aware of the band they were destined to be, we feel that we really know everyone involved.
Page excerpt from CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
I’ve often said that the right biography can make the best subject, and is most suitable, for a graphic novel. There is a wonderful opportunity to speak to everything under the sun, guided by a specific purpose, and allowing for at least a hint, maybe more, about the author. This is a book that will appeal to many a music lover and student of the counterculture. It is essentially an all-ages book but just keep in mind there are some discrete drug references more suitable for older readers. This is rock ‘n’ roll, after all. That said, it is highly recommended and will prove an engaging read on many levels: coming-of-age, rock history, and just a plain fun read.
When we think back to the Sixties, we inevitably associate the powerful music that grew from that tumultuous era. Folk music, springing forth from the 1950s and the Beat Generation, would give way to the Sixties and bolder and more audacious pop and rock. It was Cass Elliot, with her sublime singing, and overall exceptional musical talent, who would ride this new wave of music with a style all her own. Pénélope Bagieu’s graphic novel gives us a compelling look at the rise of this singular talent.
“California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas” is a 272-page hardcover, black & white with gray tone graphic novel, available as of March 7, 2017. For more details, and how to purchase, visit MacMillan Publishers right here.
Emerald City Comicon celebrating its 15th year!
And, if you are heading out to Emerald City Comicon (March 2-5), be sure to stop by at the First Second Books booth #1602 on the exhibit floor. This will be the place to meet authors, attend free signings and find giveaways of books, advance reader copies, and exclusive print posters.
Some of the authors First Second will be hosting include:
Gene Luen Yang (Reading Without Walls Program)
Penelope Bagieu (California Dreamin’)
Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, Leviathan, Spill Zone)
Nidhi Chanani (Pashmina)
Falynn Koch (Science Comics)
Mike Lawrence (Star Scouts)
Jessixa Bagley (Before I Leave, Boats for Papa, and Laundry Day)
First Second will also be hosting a number of panels, including one offsite at the Seattle Public Library:
Off-site event @ Seattle Public Library on (3/3) featuring Gene Yang, Scott Westerfeld, Box Brown, Penelope Bagieu, and Matt Loux, 7:00–8:30 pm, Microsoft Auditorium
Departing Neverland: In-Conversation with Five Fantastic YA Creators (3/3) featuring Scott Westerfeld, Nidhi Chanani, Natalie Riess, and Ashley Poston, 2:45-3:45 pm, WSCC 603
From the Screen to the Page… and Beyond (3/4) featuring Box Brown, Holly Conrad, Matt Loux, and Ben Blacker, 2:45-3:45 pm, WSCC 603
Mariko Tamaki provides a delightful script and Ian McGinty provides the charming art for ADVENTURE TIME #62, published by BOOM! Studios, about a contest to see who is the best Princess in all of Ooo.
I thought this issue was a hoot. I was glad to see that it was left on a cliffhanger. It will take more than one issue to figure out who is the best princess of them all. This issue also gives us some fun back and forth between Finn and Jake as each tries to top the other’s comments about the competition.
Mariko Tamaki wrote, and her sister Jillian Tamaki illustrated, “This One Summer,” an award-winning graphic novel published by First Second Books in 2014. For this Adventure Time comic, Tamaki’s script plays off the vast landscape that is the post-apocalyptic Adventure Time wonderland. She has gathered princesses from various kingdoms implying that there are an endless variety of princesses and kingdoms. That said, some key players stand out like Lumpy Space Princess, who isn’t officially a princess at all but who forces her way into the competition.
Mariko Tamaki and Ian McGinty / Boom Studios
Ian McGinty has worked on a number of titles for BOOM! Studios. He is the creator of the WELCOME TO SHOWSIDE comic and animated series. For this Adventure Time comic, he provides his lively distinctive style to yet another excellent piece of work. Such otherworldly characters as Finn and Jake, already quite a jittery pair, are even more animated in the hands of McGinty. He also is quite good at composing compelling scenes and keeping everything moving at a dynamic pace or implying a constant frenetic energy.
ADVENTURE TIME #62 is published by KaBOOM!, an imprint of BOOM! Studios and is available as of March 1, 2017.
You can trace back the selfie, or the elevation of self, to such works as Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, “Jane Eyre.” This is perhaps the best early example of a work elevating an average person, as opposed to an aristocrat or religious figure. That said, it makes total sense to explore the character of Jane, with a completely contemporary flair, in the upcoming graphic novel, JANE, published by BOOM! Studios, and due out this fall. As it makes its way to Emerald City Comicon in Seattle (March 2-5, 2017), BOOM! Studios wants you to know about JANE, from acclaimed screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Devil Wears Prada) and Eisner Award-winning illustrator Ramón K. Pérez (Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand).
SIMPSONS COMICS KNOCKOUT, published by HarperCollins, is a fine collection of Simpsons comic book stories originally published by Matt Groening’s Bongo Entertainment. This is a great opportunity to get your Simpsons fix all in one full cover trade paperback that collects five Simpson Comics: #116, 117, 118, 119, and 120. What you will find is consistently pithy, witty, and outright hilarious good fun.
Page excerpt from Simpson Comics #116.
Each comic book collected here covers one story. The titles are as follows: “Mall or Nothing,” “Sandwiches are Forever,” “The Flunky!” “Homer Drops the Ball!” and “The ‘X’ Men.” For example, in Simpson Comics #116, originally released in the U.S. in March of 2006, you have a sly satire on consumerism: the Simpsons find themselves living inside a shopping mall. This predicament is to the delight of Homer Simpson, and to the dismay of his progressive daughter, Lisa.
Other stories feature a Simpson family globetrotting adventure; a satire on help for the lovelorn; and Homer in a boxing match with everyone’s favorite corporate villain, C. Montgomery Burns! This is great all-ages entertainment from Matt Groening’s legendary creative team.
SIMPSONS COMICS KNOCKOUT is a 128-page full color trade paperback, available as of February 21, 2017. For more details, and how to purchase, visit HarperCollins right here.
