Autumn Equinox — This Week’s Links

Still waiting for some long-hovering chickens in the Diamond Bankruptcy Debacle to come home to roost, as that vaunted holiday retail season looms, so in the meantime let’s bask in the pumpkin spice ignorance of what the future holds, solemnly observe another national comic book day (???), and enjoy some more of this week’s links, below.

— Maria Capelle Frantz (@mariacfrantz.bsky.social) 2025-09-22T21:08:25.757Z

This week’s news.

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus announced the winners of this year’s CXC awards, presented as part of last week’s festival, with Charles Burns named as the winner of 2025’s Master Cartoonist Award, Matt Feazell named as the winner of the Transformative Work Award for Cynicalman, and Bud Plant named as the recipient of this year’s Tom Spurgeon Award, while the winner of this year’s Emerging Talent Award was Gigi Murakami.

A2CAF: Small and Indie Press is coming up soon! Can you help us get the word out? We want to make sure that lots of folks know about this special free event at @aadl.org!

— Athenaeum Comic Art (@athenaeumcomicart.bsky.social) 2025-09-23T22:26:24.189Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Tate McFadden reviews the thematic change of Alison Bechdel’s Spent — “If Fun Home and [Dykes to Watch Out For] are the product of drowning in the archives that surround her, Spent is about the space that grows between the artist and her creations. This may sound strange given that Spent literally places Bechdel in her own fictional world, effectively obliterating all distance, but the characters of DTWOF treat Bechdel with a kind of parental disappointment.”

• Mark Peters reviews the toyetic fun of Tom Scioli’s Space Opera Xanadax: Across the Unknown Dimensions of the Galaxy — “Brother vs. brother stories have been done to death, but the familiar family dynamic is just another device Scioli pulled from the collective bin. There’s little backstory to the conflict, which ties together the various threads of the space opera, nor is any needed. The conflict just is, and for Scioli it’s not about the plot devices per se but about the pleasure of playing with them, like a puppy prancing around with a roll of toilet paper, joyfully stolen from the bathroom.”

AIPT

• Michael Guerrero reviews the social message of Chris Condon, Montos, et al’s Green Arrow #28.

• Christopher Franey reviews the thoughtful thrills of Al Letson, Valentine De Landro, et al’s Mr. Terrific: Year One #5.

• Jonathan Waugh reviews the perfect chaos of Elliot Kanan, Carlos Olivares, et al’s Harley Quinn #54.

• Piper Whitaker reviews the exciting setup of Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, et al’s Absolute Wonder Woman #12.

• David Brooke reviews the detailed visuals of Christos Gage, Marcus To, et al’s Battleworld #1.

• Colin Moon reviews the arbitrary plotting of David Pepose, Mike Henderson, et al’s Cable: Love and Chrome.

• Nathan Simmons reviews the touching poignancy of Kevin Smith, Ryan Gajda, et al’s Quick Stops Volume 3 #2.

• Joe Jones reviews the thunderous action of Murewa Ayodele, Mario Santoro, et al’s Storm #12.

• Collier Jennings reviews the lightweight delivery of Daniel Kibblesmith, Jake Black, Suzi Blake, et al’s Rick and Morty vs. the Universe: Beth 'Til Death #1; and the visual richness of Robert Kirkman, David Finch, et al’s Skinbreaker #1.

The Beat

• Joe Grunenwald reviews the big swings of Si Spurrier, Vasco Georgiev, et al’s The Flash #25.

• Clyde Hall reviews the narrative transitions of Ray Fawkes, Russell Mark Olson, et al’s The Phantom #1.

• Tim Rooney reviews the masterful draftsmanship of Robert Kirkman, David Finch, et al’s Skinbreaker #1.

• Jared Bird reviews the impactful pacing of Dan Watters, Morgan Beem, et al’s The Twilight Zone #1.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the tonal inconsistency of Stephanie Williams, Ariel Medel, et al’s Street Sharks #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the solid finale of Chris Condon, Gegê Schall, et al’s Far Down Below #5.

• Jared Bird reviews the unique brilliance of Adam Rose, Magenta King, Dalts Dalton, et al's Huge Detective.

Broken Frontier

• Edward Picot reviews the extra depth of Stan Yan’s The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang.

• Lydia Turner reviews the brutal shocks of Samuel Fonseca's Shadowplay: Midnight School.

• Andy Oliver reviews the chaotic glaze of Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad Takes Over the World!, and the reading experience of Cole Pauls’ We See Stars Only at Night.

Comics Grinder

Paul Buhle reviews the forceful details of Scarlett Rickard and Sophie Rickard’s adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s This Slavery.

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the intriguing strangeness of The Undividuals’ The Antagonist.

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the contemporary relevance of Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, et al’s Absolute Superman: The Last Dust of Krypton.

The Guardian

Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen reviews the thoughtful progression of Lee Lai's Cannon.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men #21, Phoenix #15, Magik #10, and Deadpool/Wolverine #9.

Library Journal

Thomas Batten has starred capsule reviews of the psychological richness of Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook’s Out of Alcatraz, and the unique fusion of Paul Pope’s Total THB, Volume 1.

New York Classical Review

George Grella reviews the intelligent production of Mason Bates and Gene Scheer’s operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

OperaWire

David Salazar reviews the beautiful execution of Mason Bates and Gene Scheer’s operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Publisher’s Weekly

Have capsule reviews of:

• The eye-opening deep-dive of David J. Hogan’s Comic Book Apocalypse!: The Death of Pre-Code Comics and Why It Happened, 1940–1955.

• The expansive history of Andrea Horbinski’s Manga’s First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989.

Yatta-tachi

AJ Mack has reviews of:

• The refreshing thoughtfulness of Imai Arata’s Flash Point, translated by Ryan Holmberg.

• The niche appeal of Tsugawa Tomohiro’s Mermaid Town, translated by Kristjan Rohde.

• The promising setup of Crimson Chains’ Star Crossed, Volume 1.

Nib & Ink Fest 2026 Submissions are NOW OPEN! Co-op members, submit your comics to the Marketplace, the Webcomic Sampler, and the Oops All Comics Zine! Submissions open 9/1/2025 and end 10/1/2025. Check out nif.cartoonist.coop/submissions for more info!

— Cartoonist Cooperative (@cartoonist.coop) 2025-09-02T01:18:50.463Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Zach Rabiroff interviews Bud Plant about a life in comics retail, distribution, and publishing, comic addiction origins, pre-direct market bricks and mortar memories, and getting back to your roots — “Well, I think, honestly, I really compare it to being hooked on drugs. Which I never was, but I've always been hooked on comics and I really still am. I think we opened the store mostly just to get more comics. We weren't really trying to make a living or anything out of it. We were all just students.”

AIPT

• David Brooke speaks with Christos Gage about Battleworld, bringing the gang together, tech pages, and keeping the book accessible.

• Chris Coplan chats with Henry Barajas about Death to Pachuco, the publishing status quo, and the space for more Pachuco comics on the shelves.

• Chris Hassan talks to Justina Ireland about Cloak or Dagger, writing the pair as a married couple, and digging into the history of serialised comics characters.

Anime News Network

Jairus Taylor interviews Takeru Hokazono about Kagurabachi, familial Naruto fandom, keeping to a weekly schedule, and the popularity of the series overseas.

Autobiographix

Amaris Ketcham and Nora Hickey talk to Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell about The Joy of Snacking, Charles Schulz connections, and the immediacy of comics making.

The Beat

• Dean Simons speaks with Jean-Pierre Pécau and Max von Fafner about Caesar’s Spy, European history, and the joys of complex storytelling.

• Javier Perez chats with John Claude Bemis about Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem, eschewing thought bubbles, and not meeting your heroes.

CBC

Mattea Roach talks to Jeff Lemire about 10,000 Ink Stains, rural childhood reading, the history of Essex County, and the ongoing learning process that comes with creativity.

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon interviews:

• Paula Sevenbergen and Claudia Balboni about Flow and evoking your characters’ emotions.

• Mark Russell about Thanksgiving and talking about difficult subjects using social parables.

• Steven E. Gordon, E.J. Su, and Shannon Eric Denton about Forge of Monsters and anthology collaboration.

• Jessica Maison about Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters: Origins and creative shorthands.

• Frank Cho about a newly opened exhibition of work at the Philippe Labaune Gallery.

• David Hedgecock and Chase Marotz about Sugar Bomb: Portal Potty and inappropriate dolphins.

• Danny Baram about Halloween Team: Shadows #1 and collaborative logistics.

• Donya Todd about The Witch’s Egg and the occult inspirations behind the book.

FreakSugar

Jed W. Keith talks to:

• Kieron Gillen about We Called Them Giants and mixing fable and quotidian elements.

• Zack Kaplan about Kill All Immortals II and giving readers a story with consequences.

• Declan Shalvey about The Terminator: Metal and diving into the history of the Future War.

• Vincent Kings about Time Dog and the Dark Future and time travel favourites.

• Jesse Lonergan about Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man and creating in the Hellboy sandbox.

Publisher’s Weekly

Andrew Farago chats with Caleb Goellner and Hendry Prasetya about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto, finding the story’s rhythm, and bringing two fanbases together.

Scout

Thalia Stopa interviews Lee Lai about Cannon, keeping busy with comics making, Ghibli meal inspirations, and culinary staples.

Skwigly

Laura-Beth Cowley speaks with Chris Shepherd about Anfield Road: A Story of Coming of Age in 1980s Liverpool, the filmic origins of the book, and changing artistic styles.

Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Kris Bertin talks to Adam Szym about Little Visitor & Other Abductions, interest in UFO and alien abduction stories, and the fun of beginning a story in media res.

Our 2025 programming schedule is now LIVE!! (note: only the days of each panel are listed, but rooms and times will be added shortly)!You can view the full schedule at: lightboxexpo.com/schedule/

— LightBox Expo (@lightboxexpo.com) 2025-09-17T18:52:10.161Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Austin English writes in remembrance of writer and artist Elijah Brubaker, creator of Reich and The Story of Jezebel, curating further remembrances from friends and peers, following Brubaker’s passing in August at the age of 50 — “We live in a much colder world, and the warmth that is on offer and available to us all is often most vibrant in art itself rather than outside of it. The work itself, and the artists behind the work, offer a humanity almost in direct opposition to the world where the art itself will exist. And this is not to suggest a saccharine kind of art — Elijah's work was anything but — but instead one beyond cheap sentiment or cheap cynicism, work that is alive without pretense.”

• Also for TCJ, Chris Anthony Diaz presents photographs from this year’s edition of San Diego Comic-Con — “One thing I noticed this year for many signings is that if a publisher is organizing the signing, they mainly want you to buy the advance release of the book they are promoting at SDCC. So fair warning, don't bother bringing much outside stuff to be signed. Charles Kochman regulated on me, during Mark Evanier's Peanuts signing when I brought about five or six of his comics to sign; it was not to be getting those comics signed.”

• Over at Eruditorum Press, Elizabeth Sandifer observed another 9/11 with further examination of the September 11th, 2011, edition of John Rose’s Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, this year running back the history of the strip and its evolution through to the 21st century.

• Peow2’s Patrick Crotty took to the publisher’s blog to give a behind the scenes look at the licensing and upcoming publication of Kow Yokoyama’s SF3D Chronicles and SF3D Original Reprint Edition.

• For NPR, Jeff Lunden speaks with people involved in the adaptation to the stage of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, currently running at the Metropolitan Opera.

• Covering the continued adoption by protest groups of the flag of the Straw Hat Pirates, from Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, Lex Harvey reports for CNN and Rebecca Ratcliffe reports for The Guardian.

• Over at Shelfdust, Steve Morris continues a retrospective of Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ The Unwritten, this edition covering the 15th issue of the series, and as various narrative beats begin a crescendo.

• Four Color Apocalypse’s Ryan Carey writes on the passing of Elijah Brubaker, in response to Austin English’s piece for TCJ, above, considering the socioeconomic realities of the lives of cartoonists in 2025.

• A look to the old with the newest edition of the Mindless Ones newsletter, as recollections are shared of Revolver, 2000 AD Progs 65 & 66, and 1989’s Judge Dredd Annual.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Multimodal Communication, Irmak Hacımusaoğlu, Bruno Cardoso, and Neil Cohn present a paper on various methods of conveying motion in static comic images.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as freedom of speech appears to currently be intermittently applicable, while some speeches make more sense than others.

Do you like comics criticism? Do you like newsprint? Do you like the idea of reading comics criticism on newsprint? Then make sure to click that Notify Me on Launch button for The Comics Courier Issue 3's Kickstarter!https://ift.tt/7w8RErL...

— Tiffany Babb (@explodingarrow.bsky.social) 2025-09-22T17:17:26.540Z

No more links today, it’s vaccination season, so bring on the needles and sore arms.