Tom Batten
217 Articles
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PREMIUM
Hot Comb
DEBUT It’s not just “hair,” but a symbol of female beauty, incubator of relationships, lifelong obsession, race and status indicator...
PREMIUM
Bitter Root. Vol. 1: Family Business
The Sangereye family—Ma Etta, Blink, Cullen, Berg, Ford, and Uncle Enoch—blends potions of roots and other conjurings to rid souls of hate and racism...
PREMIUM
Maria M. Vol. 1 & 2
Some fans might miss the emotional intricacies present in much of Hernandez’s best work, but the combination of classic cartooning and cinematic storytelling, as well as graphic sex and violence, pushed to near surrealistic extremes, should satisfy most devotees and inspire the creation of even more.
PREMIUM
Our Encounters with Evil: Adventures of Professor J.T. Meinhardt and His Assistant Mr. Knox
Johnson-Cadwell shares Mignola’s taste for stories-within-stories, gruesome mythologies, and a reminiscent, though less refined, illustration style, resulting in a work that is satisfyingly horrific but refreshingly imaginative and playful.
Qualification: A Graphic Memoir in Twelve Steps
Whether the painful, incredibly personal details Heatley shares are an expression of uncommon bravery or narcissism is debatable, but readers will find themselves moved by this stunning memoir, and perhaps even grateful for the author’s refusal to shy away from depicting the complexity of his ongoing development as an artist and a human being.
Nancy: A Comic Collection
Jaimes manages to maintain Bushmiller’s minimalism and penchant for formal experimentation while creating something fresh, relevant, and most important, very funny.
PREMIUM
Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel
While Orwell’s classic 1945 novella is a specific satire of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union under Stalin, this skillful adaptation highlights the relevance of Orwell’s warning to stay vigilant against the gradual erosion of freedom and to resist leaders who preach equality but demand absolute fealty.
The Death of the Master
Kyle’s odd pacing and deadpan sense of humor work together to highlight the absurdity of this off-kilter and occasionally achingly familiar world.