Where Light Barely Reaches — This Week’s Links

Wishing a fond fare-thee-well to short-sleeved flannel shirt weather, and warmly opening the door to long-sleeved flannel shirt weather, as the cosmic ballet goes on and on and on, here at this week’s links.

Usagi Yojimbo.

— Jesse Lonergan (@jesselonergan.bsky.social) 2025-09-09T20:47:08.268Z

This week’s news.

• Opening this week’s selection with an eye on business moves from the Big Two, as Disney and Webtoon announced an expansion of their nascent content partnership, bringing a new digital platform to the web that will apparently showcase over 35,000 titles from the House of Ideas. Webtoon’s formerly flagging stock position saw a jump in its price, following the announcement, similar to that seen a month ago when the initial content deal between the corporations was revealed.

• Heading across the aisle, to the Distinguished Competition, as reports emerged that Paramount is considering a purchase of DC’s parent corporation, Warner Bros. Discovery, driven by the family of the (occasional) world’s richest person Larry Ellison. Warner Bros. Discovery has had a program of layoffs running over recent years, giving the usual "streamlining" reasons for these, and last month fired a number of employees from its film and cable tv divisions.

• Comics prize news, as the winners of this year’s Ignatz Awards were announced at last weekend’s Small Press Expo, with bricks given out to Sean Knickerbocker’s Rust Belt Review, Anders Nilsen’s Tongues, Julia Gfrörer’s World Within the World, and Kayla E.’s Precious Rubbish; and l’Association des Critiques et journalistes de Bande Dessinée announced the winner of 2025’s Le Prix Comics de la Critique as James Sturm and Joe Sutphin’s adaptation of George Adams’ Watership Down, translated to French by Pierre Clinquart and Hélène Charrier.

Congrats to all of tonight’s Ignatz Award recipients:Outstanding Mini Comic:Allodynia by Violet KitchenOutstanding Collection: World Within The World by Julia GfrörerOutstanding Graphic Novel: Precious Rubbish by Kayla E.Outstanding Anthology: Rust Belt Review Vol 6 by Sean Knickerbocker

— Small Press Expo (@smallpressexpo.bsky.social) 2025-09-14T11:08:14.268Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Tate McFadden reviews the immediate intimacy of Jason Novak’s Kafka’s Manuscript — “While Novak’s actual comic is entertaining and also fascinating from a technical point of view, his introduction to the novel is equally complex, and gives us a glimpse into a novel view on comics. The introduction begins by giving some biographical history of Kafka and Brod. The information is helpful, but it’s a mark of Novak’s cartooning chops that he could have simply provided us with his title, and the book would have been equally gripping and understandable.”

• Brian Nicholson reviews the stylistic decisions of Connor McCann’s Demon Summoner Gash Gash — “I could not read Connor McCann’s Demon Summoner Gash Gash, newly published by Strangers, without thinking of [Jhonen] Vasquez’s Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. Listed on his back cover are his chosen reference points: Devilman, Cormac McCarthy, and Gummo; and to all that I say, “Get the fuck out of here if you’re trying to act like you weren’t wearing a JTHM shirt at least once a week for a full year of high school.””

 

AIPT

• Colin Moon reviews the immaculate surreality of Jason’s Death in Trieste.

• Collier Jennings reviews the perfect balance of Matt Hotson, Juan Gedeon, et al’s Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa #1.

• Maxwell Majernik reviews the uninspiring melange of Steve Orlando, Guillermo Fajardo, et al’s Valiant Beyond: The X-O Manowar #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the intense start of David Lapham and Maria Lapham’s Good As Dead #1.

• David Canham reviews the wonderful creativity of Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, et al’s The Ultimates: All Power to the People.

• David Brooke reviews the cosmic bite of Ethan Parker, Griff Sheridan, Jan Bazaldua, et al’s Marvel Zombies: Red Band #1.

• Alex Schlesinger reviews the solid approach of Bryan Hill, C.F. Villa, et al's Blade: Red Band – Prodigal Son.

• Diane Darcy reviews the gold standard of Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins, et al’s The Bat-Man: Second Knight #1.

 

The Atlantic

Emma Sarappo reviews the gleeful catharsis of Lee Lai’s Cannon.

 

The Beat

• Jared Bird reviews the wonderful start of David Lapham and Maria Lapham’s Good As Dead #1.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the excellent action of Alex Paknadel, Amancay Nahuelpan, et al’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Casey Jones #1.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the stellar storytelling of Dan Watters, Owen Gieni, et al’s Magic: The Gathering – Untold Stories–Elspeth #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the thoughtful opening of Szymon Kudrański’s No Man’s Land #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the enjoyable ending of Ethan Sacks, K.S. Bruce, Brian DeCubellis, Jamal Igle, et al’s Dark Honor #5.

• Tim Rooney reviews the fresh charms of Matt Hotson, Juan Gedeon, et al’s Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa #1.

• Missy L reviews the endearing spirit of Matt Bors, Fred Harper, et al’s The Toxic Avenger.

• Diego Higuera reviews the captivating absurdity of Mark Waid, Adrián Gutiérrez, Sean Izaakse, et al’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #43.

• AJ Frost reviews the skillful construction of Laurent Hopman and Renaud Roche’s Lucas Wars, translated by Jeremy Melloul.

• Merve Giray reviews the intriguing tapestry of Warugi Wanai and Shinobu Shinotsuki’s Common Sense Monster, translated by John Neal; and the visual pleasures of Akihito Sakaue’s Neighborhood Craftsmen: Stories from Kanda’s Gokura-chou Volume 1, translated by Ko Ransom.

 

Blogcritics

Jeff Provine reviews the expert construction of Mimi Pond’s Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me.

 

Broken Frontier

• Edward Picot reviews the propulsive fun of A.J. Lieberman, Mike Henderson, et al’s The Hive, Volume One.

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the personal approach of Mimi Pond’s Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me.

• Andy Oliver reviews the frantic unpredictability of Josh Simmons’ Jessica Farm, the powerful humanity of Abod Nasser’s Strategies for Survival, and the playful fun of Zarjaz Volume 3 #1 & #2.

 

Comics Grinder

Henry Chamberlain reviews the breezy fun of Mary Shyne’s You and Me on Repeat.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comic #36, Exceptional X-Men #13, Hellverine #10, Wolverines and Deadpools #3, and X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1.

 

Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society

• Harriet E. H. Earle reviews the new lens of BOOM! SPLAT! Comics and Violence, edited by Jim Coby and Joanna Davis-McElligatt.

• Siobhán Jolley reviews the careful curation of Blair Davis’ Christianity and Comics: Stories We Tell About Heaven and Hell.

• Charlotte J. Fabricius reviews the nuanced explorations of J. Andrew Deman’s The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men.

 

Solrad

Tom Shapira reviews the magical materialism of Glenn Fleishman’s How Comics Are Made: A Visual History From the Drawing Board to the Printed Page.

 

WAtoday

Declan Fry reviews the precise thoughtfulness of Lee Lai's Cannon.

Attention, Exhibitors! We want to invite you to apply for our MICE Mini-Grants!Each year MICE supports self-published comics by awarding mini-grants to our exhibitors to helping print their work, provide marketing, and distribution through Radiator Comics.

— Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (@massmice.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T22:11:03.826Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

• Zach Rabiroff interviews Gretchen Felker-Martin about DC’s cancellation of the Red Hood series on the publication day of its first issue and the circumstances surrounding said cancellation — ““Frankly, I feel that they were interested in my cachet as a transgressive horror author,” Felker-Martin said. “And the moment that became politically disadvantageous for them, they cut and ran.” She expressed that while she would be very surprised if they offered her work again, the point would be moot, as she would not accept it. “I have no desire to be part of any organization that wants to pretend that people like Charlie Kirk are decent human beings who deserve respect,” she said.”

• Richard Pound interviews Josh Pettinger about Tedward and Pleasure Beach, Isle of Wight origins, maturing as a storyteller, and channelling creative strangeness — “It depends. Sometimes you have such a tight deadline that you can get the job done in one intense burst of work that doesn’t take up too much time throughout the year. But everything else has to stop. I can’t do comics at the same time. I just have to go hard on that project for a month or whatever. So I try to take as few of those gigs as I possibly can. They’ve always been helpful, but it’s just not really my thing. Making comics is like playing with action figures, but animation feels like work.”

 

AIPT

Chris Hassan speaks with Saladin Ahmed about The Last Wolverine, X-Men history, digging into character continuity, and broad creative licenses.

 

Anime News Network

Lynzee Loveridge talks to Leeanna M. Krecic (aka Mongie) about Let’s Play, leaving program development for comics, and the series’ adaptation to anime with director Daiki Tomiyasu.

 

The Beat

Zack Quaintance interviews Rob Williams and Henry Flint about Judge Dredd: And to the Sea Return, the origins of the story, and taking Dredd into horror waters.

 

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon speaks with Bruce Zick about Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time and making something an audience hasn’t seen before, with Arthur N. Ebuen and Ben Crane about Systemic and anthology logistics wrangling, and with Ariela Kristantina about The Girl Who Draws on Whales and binge-watching research.

 

The Guardian

Tam Patachako chats with Edizon Musavuli about Baraka and the Unpredictable Life of Goma, how the artistic community of Goma has been affected by occupation under the M23 militia.

 

The New York Times

Robert Ito talks to Mimi Pond about Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me, animation and TV history, and wanting visuals to delight the eye.

 

Nouse

Jenny Hall interviews Claire Morley about the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home coming to York Medical Society and the faithfulness of the show to the source material.

 

Worcester Magazine

Margaret Smith talks to Hans Rickheit about The Squirrel Machine, surrealist storytelling, representing weird art, and the need to push boundaries.

 

The World

Gerry Hadden speaks with Jesus Marugán of Madrid’s Akira Comics about taking the weird route for the store’s interior and how customers have engaged with the shop.

 

Yatta-tachi

Wendeego shares conversations from Anime NYC with Haga and Kang Jiyoung about King’s Maker and the success of the series, and with Minetaro Mochizuki about Dragon Head and emphasizing the unknown in narratives.

Holy grawlix y'all! It's CXC week! Can you believe it's already upon us? Here's an event you won't want to miss. Hear from one of the most influential cartoonists of his generation whose work ranges from Criterion Collection covers to the landmark graphic novel Black Hole.buff.ly/GMiI5L5

— Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (@cartooncrossroads.bsky.social) 2025-09-16T00:19:13.200Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, RJ Casey kicks off a third year of welcoming fresh Arrivals and Departures to the site, this edition looking at Ross Jackson’s Ft. Carvey, FL, work published by Red Apple Comics, and Mimi Chuang’s Sunspot — “I go into every comic I read, for this column or otherwise, with the hope — with the steaming hot pie-in-the-sky expectation — that it’s going to blow my mind. It’s going to move me. It’s going to prove that this whole humanity thing is still an ongoing concern. That’s my baseline and where I’m coming from. I adjust, pivot, and attempt to commentate accordingly.”

• Also for TCJ, Zach Rabiroff writes in remembrance of storied writer Peter David, who died earlier this year, at the age of 68 — “Almost immediately, any attempt to fully capture the range of his work becomes a fool’s errand: David’s output was almost implausibly prolific, encompassing not only freelance writing for nearly every major comic publisher in turn, but also licensed paperback novels (David was a longtime hand on the Star Trek franchise); original prose fiction; episodes of the Ben 10 and Young Justice animated series; live action scripts for Babylon 5; editorial columns; instructional books; and self-published memoirs. If genius were a game of numbers, David would have been unquestioningly in the first rank.”

• For Shelfdust, Kelly Kanayama’s Kings of the Castle returns, appraising the varied non-Frank-Castle forms that the Punisher has taken, this edition examining the specific flavour of justice meted out by one Lynn Michaels, aka Punisher, aka Lady Punisher, aka Punisherette, aka Diamonelle.

• A consistent Grant Morrison focus from this week’s Mindless Ones bulletin, as Doomed Summer continues, Spider-Man is decried, and overlaps with William Blake are considered.

• From the world of open-access academia, a new edition of Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society appears, bringing with it pieces reflecting on the studying and teaching of comics, and challenges faced by scholars in the current political climate.

• For the Journal of Popular Culture, Bryant Scott writes on Joe Sacco’s comics journalism, and the way in which Sacco’s work disrupts the approach of mass media to conflict reportage by challenging readers to confront, rather than just observe, the sources of suffering.

• Paul O’Brien’s census of the villains of Daredevil continues, over at House to Astonish, as this week consideration is given to the sound of one Hand clapping.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as the aftermath to another instance of gun violence saw goalposts shifting at a rate of knots, but not quite enough to fully distract from the Epstein Files.

2 weeks away!{comic by @heyluchie.bsky.social}

— ShortBox Comics Fair (@shortboxcomicsfair.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T11:29:58.014Z

This week’s audio/visual delights.

Headlining this week’s selection of multimedia entries with a biggie, as NHK World Japan released an official translation of Urasawa Naoki’s Manben with Otomo Katsuhiro, as the two mangaka went page-by-page through Domu, with other creators popping up to emphasise how big of an impact Otomo had on the scene; Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel Club returned, as Brian Hibbs spoke with Nick Bertozzi about Karmopolis: The Land of Cars and visualising from script to page; David Harper welcomed Ngozi Ukazu to Off Panel to discuss Flip and Orion and different types of creative work outside of comics; and, for Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, Heidi MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons covered last week’s cancellation by DC of Gretchen Felker-Martin and Jeff Spokes’ Red Hood series, as also discussed by Felker-Martin above, here at TCJ.

drawing some things

— Richie Pope (@richiepope.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T00:14:27.655Z

No more links, it’s seasonal affective disorder time, baaaaaaaby.

The thing about being an artist is that sometimes you’ll have a really silly/cursed image enter your head and spend hours of your life drawing it. Hours you’ll never get back.

— Lillian Hochwender (a.k.a. Lillie) (@ligerlillie.bsky.social) 2025-09-16T14:26:18.749Z

The post Where Light Barely Reaches — This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.