The best looping GIF of Online Commentaries & Diversions:
• Review: Publishers Weekly gives a Starred Review to Messages in a Bottle by B. Krigstein. "Krigstein’s stories are sometimes epic and sprawling, sometimes compressed and confined…His mastery of chiaroscuro, and his dramatic composition and layout, applied across a very wide range of subject matter, are what make this gorgeous collection so essential."
• Review: The AV Club also shows extreme love for the comics of B. Krigstein in his new collection Messages in a Bottle. Noel Murray writes, "Krigstein treated each assignment as a chance to put theory into practice, and even among EC’s formidable roster of stylists, Krigstein stands out as one for whom the words around the pictures almost don’t matter, because the art’s so mesmerizing that it’s hard to pay attention to anything else…"
• Review: The Advocate warms up to the reading of
Gilbert Hernandez's
Julio's Day. Jacob Anderson-Minshall writes "
Hernandez is able to illustrate that those events had a global reach and dramatically impacted the lives of everyone — including the people in Julio’s life…A remarkable accomplishment that is likely to find its way on numerous Best of 2013 lists and garner Hernandez more well deserved awards and accolades, Julio’s Day is, at its heart, a gay story."
• Plug: Philip Nel plugs our latest volume of
The Comics Journal #302 and it's interview — the last interview– with children's book author and illustrator
Maurice Sendak. "
Above all, in reading Groth’s interview, it’s great to hear Maurice’s voice — his salty, funny, grumpy, insightful, irascible voice — just one last time."
• Review: Neal Wyatt of the
Library Journal looks at the new books coming out this year from Fantagraphics. "
Browsing the Fantagraphics spring catalog underscores the myriad of styles and literary approaches that graphic novelists and artists explore—be it Anders Nilsen’s near metaphorical images or Dash Shaw’s crowded and kaleidoscopic landscapes." He singles out
Good Dog by
Graham Chaffee,
The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley by
Kim Deitch,
Lost Cat by
Jason,
New School by
Dash Shaw ("Known for his frenetic and inventive artwork…") and
The End by
Anders Nilson.
• Plug: The Austin Public Library highlighted two of our books on their blog. On
Jordan Crane's
The Last Lonely Saturday, Betsey Blanche described as "
The artwork is simple – drawn in mostly red and yellow – but full and effective." They also pulled out
Lilli Carré's
The Lagoon: "
It’s another haunting but beautiful book about a family, mysteries, and the power of legends."
• Review: The Comicbook Pusherman looks at
21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by
Wilfred Santiago. "
…as a comic it absolutely crackles. The art is stunning. Santiago clearly captures baseball's (and Clemente's) unique energy and the Americas of the '50s and '60s and most distinctly the Puerto Rico of the 30s and 40s," says Jeffrey O. Gustafson.
• Plug: Get ready, MoCCA tablers.
Gary Groth is on the esteemed jury for the
Awards of Excellence starting up this year so reported by
The Beat. Bring your A-game books printed on some uncoated paper.
• Plug (video): Our own Publicity Director, Jacq Cohen, is captured on film at
Comic Con India on the
Wandering Violinist talking about
Joe Sacco's
Palestine.
• Plug: Peter Bagge writes an article on cartoonist Al Capp at
Reason.
• Plug: Bob Temuka and the
Tearoom of Despair pick the perfect albeit spoiler of a panel from
Hate by
Peter Bagge.
