Tag: graphic novel

Pop Culture Squad > graphic novel
With Further Ado #354: Secrets of the Haunted Graphic Novel

With Further Ado #354: Secrets of the Haunted Graphic Novel

Posted on by Ed Catto

My great pal Bill Turner gifted me several comic treasures recently, including issues #2 and #3 of DC’s Bronze Age classic Sinister House of Secret Love. I thought I would kind of like these two comics, but I ended up absolutely adoring them.

This is a wonky series that pivoted and course-corrected several times over its short two-year eighteen-issue run. There’s a history of wonderful covers, numerous logos, and several approaches to trade dress too.

TO WED THE DEVIL

Issue #2 is written by Michael Fleischer with art by Tony DeZuniga. The cover sports a painting by Jerome Podwil (not familiar with him, but like this cover which is his only listed comics work) surrounded by DeZuniga illustrations. It looks more like a paperback from the early ‘70s than a traditional comic book. And interestingly enough, the cover promotional copy positions it as “A Graphic Novel of Gothic Terror”. This is the very first time that DC used the phrase graphic novel on a cover. Continue reading “With Further Ado #354: Secrets of the Haunted Graphic Novel” →

Advanced Preview: Ashes by Alvaro Ortiz is Coming Soon from Top Shelf

Advanced Preview: Ashes by Alvaro Ortiz is Coming Soon from Top Shelf

Posted on by Bob Harrison

We have some exclusive content to share with you.

The upcoming graphic novel Ashes by Álvaro Ortiz is coming to shops and online retailers in Feburary and we were able to obtain an exclusive excerpt for our readers. The book published by Top Shelf Productions, an IDW Publishing imprint, is set to be released on February 8, 2023.

Ashes was the first graphic novel for adults for Ortiz, one Spain’s most acclaimed cartoonists, and now it is his first graphic novel in English. Below you will find a slide show of pages 87-89 of this 183 page book.

Ashes
Top Shelf Productions / IDW Publishing
Written by Álvaro Ortiz
Art & Cover Art by Ortiz
Diamond Order #: Á
Release Date: Feburary 8, 2023

Polly, Moho, and Piter haven’t seen each other in years. Now they’ve piled into a car for a loooong journey to a mysterious cross marked on a map. All their old personality quirks and conflicts are resurrected with new wrinkles as this surreal reunion gets underway. Up ahead are car chases, alcohol, roadside motels, banjo-playing thugs, a ship graveyard, violence, sensual tension, and, of course, a monkey!

 

With Further Ado #190: Grinning With Gilbert

With Further Ado #190: Grinning With Gilbert

Posted on by Ed Catto

Don’t we all need a little more cheer in our lives?  I sure do, and that’s why I love Art Baltazar’s work.  Gillbert #4: The Island of Orange Turtles is the talented writer-artist’s latest Papercutz book. As usual, it’s impossible to read without grinning from ear to ear.

I’m happy that comics has bestselling authors like Dav Pilkey writing Dog Man and Cat Kid and Jeff Kinney churning out his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  Their dominance of the bestseller lists is impressive and encouraging.  Publisher’s Weekly’s John Maher provided a solid overview here earlier in the year.

But for whatever reason, those authors don’t really connect with me. But I am an older comic fan; they don’t need to. Or shouldn’t, really.  I tend to gravitate to the work of writer-artists like Art Baltazar, Franco Aureliana and Frank Cammuso because of (a) their very public passion for comics and (2) kids dig their books. I love reading their books and gifting their books to young readers.

As a kid, the “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, or the Gill-Man, was one of those iconic images that we embraced whenever we wanted to scare the bejeezus out of ourselves. He might have been a half-step behind Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Werewolf, but he was still up there.

So, if Pilkey can adapt classics like Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights or Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to YA bestsellers, it makes all the sense in the world that Baltazar can adapt old Universal monsters like The Creature from the Black Lagoon into an upbeat smile-fest of a story.

And that’s what this is. How fun is it to follow Gillbert and his friends on their adventures?  Baltazar (as a creator and as a person) always embraces the urgency and importance of every childhood adventure. And it’s all wrapped up with colorful, outrageous artwork, solid storytelling, and crazy names.

Go, go Gillbert!

 

Gillbert #4: The Island of the Orange Turtles
By Art Baltazar
Published by Papercutz
88 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 1545807183
Reading Age: 7 to 12
Grade Level: 4 to 6

Available from Amazon on 4/19/22.