This week's delicious figgy pudding of Online Commentaries and Diversions:
Interview: Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2: by Ed Piskor
"These bite-sized biographies of hip hop’s biggest names and slice-of-life reflections on its defining moments are routinely featured at Boing Boing, but to really experience these beautifully stylized vignettes in all their throwback glory you really need to check out the collected editions." – Geek Dad
Review: "In this volume, you see the evolution from club following to recording industry. Names you recognize are put in a different light—Melle Mel, Kool Herc, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Ice T, Run-DMC, Rick Rubin, Russell Simmons." – Ebony
Review: Jim by Jim Woodring
"Woodring’s great talent, apart from his beautiful artwork, is his ability to make these absurd and almost nonsensical stories enthralling." – Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing
Review: An Age of License by Lucy Knisley
"This book is more thought-provoking than her other works, demonstrating growth and a challenge to readers to think about these things in their own lives." – Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading
Review: How to Be Happy by Eleanor Davis
"…her stories often feature tremendous longing and sadness, but they also lushly suggest what a blessing it is to be alive and in the world. She presents, in short, a more realistic picture of what it means to be a human, with our ever-present mind/body tug-of-war, than almost anyone else out there making art." – Hillary Brown, BoingBoing
Review: Bomb Run and Other Stories by John Severin, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, et al.
"John Severin was a master at drawing in a very meticulous, detailed and old-school style, with beautiful depth and texture added in Elder’s ink-work. Severin was also known as being a stickler for historical accuracy, something that will be greatly appreciated by modern readers interested in history and historical wargaming." – Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing
Review: Celebrated Summer by Charles Forsman
"Forsman captures the simplicity of youth in Mike and Wolf’s interactions, as they freely flee and are more drawn to boardwalk video games than of the region’s infamous sinful escapes." – Stephanie Trott, Cleaver Magazine
- Plug: Quincy Rhoads over at Entropy Magazine has a list of comic books for parents of beginner readers, and Ghost of the Grotto and Cosplayers 2: Tezukon are mentioned!