I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider Review

Grant Snider’s I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf is another collection of newspaper strips with a bookish flavour, in the vein of Debbie Tung’s Book Love and Tom Gauld’s strips - except it’s not as good as either.

Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson Review

Malcolm Kershaw, a middle-aged widow managing a semi-famous Boston bookshop called Old Devils, discovers that a years-old listicle he wrote for his shop’s blog about eight perfect literary murders has become the inspiration for a serial killer, who is now working their way through the list, enacting each murder out. But is Mal more involved than he thinks - does the killer know him… and could he be a future target…?

Event Leviathan Review (Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev)

Kobra, Task Force X, ARGUS, the DEO, Spyral - all the spy agencies of the world get ‘sploded by Leviathan. Except it weren’t Talia al Ghul ‘cos she’s been usurped by a mysterious someone. Who is the new head of Leviathan and what do they want? Find out in: Event Leviapants!

Cannabis: An American History by Box Brown Review

Box Brown gives a pretty thorough account of how one of the most unfairly maligned drugs of all time arrived at its current perception in Cannabis: An American History.

Turning Point by Jeffery Deaver Review

He’s called The Russian Doll Killer: a serial killer who stalks single women, murders them in their homes, and leaves behind his calling card, a Russian nesting doll. The vics are stacking up and Detective Ernest Neville’s under pressure to catch RDK before he strikes again - and that’s when he hatches an ingenious plan. But when a Russian nesting doll shows up on his doorstep, will he be the cat or the mouse?

X-Force, Volume 1 Review (Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara)

The backlash to Xavier’s declaration of mutant sovereignty begins as an elite group of soldiers is dispatched to assassinate him. Also antagonising is a peacock man and plant monsters. Gee golly I wonder if X-Force will be able to defeat them using mutant powers snore zzz...

That Texas Blood, Volume 1 Review (Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips)

Despite Ambrose County, Texas being a small town, it has more than its fair share of violence! And it seems violence only begets more violence, as a man returns to identify his estranged brother’s death, likely at the hands of some local mobsters, That Texas Blood stirs, and suddenly vengeance is on the cards!

Seeds and Stems by Simon Hanselmann Review

Seeds and Stems collects the numerous short Megg and Mogg strips Simon Hanselmann created between 2008 and 2019 (though most are from 2016-19) for various anthologies and zines, and some are previously unpublished, so don’t expect a continuation of the story from Bad Gateway. It’s still an amazing book of super-funny comics that fans of this series are going to love, as I did.

Gigant, Volume 2 by Hiroya Oku Review

Spoilers ahead! 

I don’t know if you’ve ever read Gantz, Hiroya Oku’s breakthrough book, but it’s such a trashy manga (it’s usually easy to spot these; is the manga published by Dark Horse? Then it’s crap). There’s one female character who is introduced naked and has big bewbs. She’s eventually given a name but for a time she’s simply referred to as “Tits” and is basically a living sex doll who allows herself to get felt up by the scumbag main character whenever he wants. Gantz is almost like a parody of the perception of boy’s manga with its gratuitous sex and violence - that’s how unbelievably sleazy it is.

Marauders, Volume 1 Review (Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli)

Kitty Pryde can’t use the Krakoan portals for Contrived Reasons and has to boat it if she wants to go to the X-Men’s latest not-at-all-creepy-cult-like hideaway. But then Emma Frost proposes she become a pirate captain because something something trade price drugs black market something something whatever doesn’t really matter and now she’s head of a new group called the Marauders!

Foe by Iain Reid Review

Set in the not-too-distant future, humans are planning to leave Earth, completely, in just a few years, having ruined the planet for good. The OuterMore Corporation is building humanity’s new home - the Installation - in space and has begun conscripting people to help in its construction. One of these newest conscripts is Junior, who lives in the country on a farm with his beloved wife Hen. So OuterMore sends a rep, Terrance, to ready Junior for his trip and help Hen prepare for his sudden absence. But who is Terrance - and what’s really going on here…?

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me Review (Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell)

This book cleaned up at the 2020 Eisners, taking home Best Publication for Teens, Best Writer and Best Penciller, so I wanted to check this out to see what all the hubbub was about (bub) even though I suspected that I wouldn’t like it much - and I didn’t! I really, really didn’t like it at all.

Department of Mind-Blowing Theories by Tom Gauld Review

Department of Mind-Blowing Theories collects Tom Gauld’s science cartoons from New Scientist magazine and, like a lot of strip collections, the quality is mixed, though I’d say there was more crap here than good unfortunately.

Superman: Action Comics, Volume 2: Leviathan Rising Review (Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting)

Blue explosions are taking out organisations like Kobra, the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) and Spyral. The only clue: the word “Leviathan” - but is Talia Al Ghul’s group really behind this, and who is that mysteriously menacing shadowy figure seemingly causing all of these ‘splosions? Superman and Lois are on the case!

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson Review

So I’ve been reading Shirley Jackson’s early novels and they’ve been surprisingly awful. But I know she becomes a great novelist eventually because I love The Haunting of Hill House, and her masterpiece, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, so I thought the early novels were on an upwards trajectory - The Road Through the Wall was dismal, Hangsaman was still terrible but better; The Bird’s Nest would be ok… wouldn’t it?