This week's kale and acai berry energy smoothie of Online Commentaries and Diversions:
Review: The Lonesome Go by Tim Lane
"At times harsh, but always humane, The Lonesome Go hits you like a smack in the face. It’s a graphic novel in the truest sense, meant to be read as much as viewed. It’s a rich, substantial work by an artist and writer who is using the medium of comics to its fullest potential." – Harris Smith,comiXology
Review: "Disfigured hobos lurch from panel to panel into fresh horrors. The vintage hairstyles of the ‘40s, nude bodies, a prescription-pill driven freak-out climaxing in much vomit: whatever he draws, Lane’s heavily shadowed style is always a marvel. The nighttime scenes – which are most of them – rise from seas of black ink." – Bryon Kerman,St. Louis Magazine
Review: "This new book is a continuation of the types of themes and characters Lane first explored there: drifters, hobos, Americana, automobilia, early rock and roll and more. The narratives pay homage to the Beats, Charles Bukowski and Tom Waits, among others." – Seth Peagler, Heroes Online
Review: "This book is terse and powerful in a way that would make Emily Dickinson green with envy. Never saying more than he needs to, Shaw does a commendable job showing us the story in "Doctors."" – Sam LeBas, Multiversity Comics
Review: "…what fascinates the Two Guys the most is the very premise of Doctors. It's a narrative that raises some profound questions, and it's one that might even work well in other media, such as adapted for television." – Comics Alternative Podcast Episode #102
Interview: Megahex by Simon Hanselmann
"Every page is beautiful. Every joke is funny. Every character is a complete asshole. The book itself is a nice chunky hardcover with some good heft and a cover design that is made to resemble a DVD box set of a TV show." – Nick Gazin, VICE
Review: Gast by Carol Swain
"…the road less taken is what you expect from Swain, and with a bit of patience you got a great story." – Jason, cats without dogs
Review: Ghost of the Grotto Starring Walt Disney's Donald Duck by Carl Barks
"Fantagraphics has done such an excellent job with The Carl Barks Library that this is hardly the ideal format for adults to experience these very same stories, but it is a pretty ideal companion format: Cheaper, more portable and more convenient, it offers an excellent introduction to some of the great stories of one of the greatest cartoonists." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, School Library Journal
- Plug: Marc Maron praises Pirates in the Heartland eight minutes into his latest WTF podcast, Episode #539!
- Interview: Ed Piskor speaks with amNY about his best-selling series, Hip Hop Family Tree: "I want to make a comic that hip-hop people will read and then maybe give comic books a shot if it's not a normal portion of your pop culture diet."