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Best New Graphic Novel: Meditations in an Emergency – Review of Complex Noir-Thriller “November” [Parts I-IV]

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Image’s “November” by Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier is a four-part, gritty, crime thriller about three women who become ensnared within a violent plot perpetrated by corrupt police, and go about fighting for their lives amidst a tide of masculine violence. Interweaving multiple perspectives, it’s a story that blends noir crime fiction with hard-boiled mystery, while smoothly including impactful lesbian romances with depth and realism.

“November” was released as four graphic novels, serialized between November 2019 and March 2021 in beautiful 60-page hardcover editions. Each moody volume gives the story a sustained momentum where the reader is able to sit longer with each character and meditate on the colorized clues. Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier plant such intricate devils in the details, relying on a reader’s keenest faculties of observation, that “November” might not appeal to some casual readers. Nonetheless, lovers of the hard-boiled and the noir will feel this is a masterpiece. [Read more…] about Best New Graphic Novel: Meditations in an Emergency – Review of Complex Noir-Thriller “November” [Parts I-IV]

Confronting Fascism with Surrealism: Tradd Moore’s Variant Cover for “The Department of Truth Number” #4

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“The Department of Truth” #4 variant cover (2020) by Tradd Moore, after “The First Tribute to Columbus” by José Garnelo y Alda (1892) and “Fireside Angel” by Max Ernst (1937). “The Department of Truth” is by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds.

Drawing from two historical paintings, Tradd Moore’s scene of the first encounter between Europeans and indigenous Lucayans, includes “the woman in red” as well as a massive thought-form emanating from the Christian cross. This serves to instantly extend the historical reach of Tynion’s lore about the exchange and dominance of ideas, while being in-itself, a commentary about the inherent malicious nature of religious colonialism being a mode of fascism. More than merely an homage to how the artistic form of surrealism confronts fascism, Moore employs his distinct style, presenting a brilliant, memorable, and stunning work of art. Appearing to the public as a variant cover for “The Department of Truth,” the message encoded within the art can be easily glossed over, or may simply go unseen by many because it gets pushed back in the stack of monthly additions or added to back issue bins, but it begs to be held and reconsidered deeply. [Read more…] about Confronting Fascism with Surrealism: Tradd Moore’s Variant Cover for “The Department of Truth Number” #4

Mirka Andolfo’s Boobalicious ‘Un/Sacred’ Busts Down Social Barriers

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Mirka Andolfo’s “Un/Sacred” (2019) is a titillating and tender-hearted romantic comedy, illustrating how the odd-pairing of an angel and demon, Angelina and Damiano, challenge social definitions of domestic normalcy around them. The first volume of “Unsacred,” published by Ablaze Press, consists of seven issues translated from the Italian “Sacro/Profano,” and is a humorous consideration of what happens when opposites attract and try to build a family in a world that doesn’t readily accept their union. [Read more…] about Mirka Andolfo’s Boobalicious ‘Un/Sacred’ Busts Down Social Barriers