We’re in the middle of an almost Lenten period of rainfall, here in the United Kingdom, as 40 days of cold and persistent downpours have made for perfect conditions to stay indoors and compile this week’s links, below, but also to remind oneself that Akira Toriyama really was that good of a character designer, while mainlining Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, and wiling away the gloomy hours, alternating between selecting attack/heal for 70 or so hours, and smashing every single vase you come into contact with, en route to delivering a nice fish sandwich to yer da’.
This week’s news.
• Beginning this week’s selection with some comics prize news, as The Observer announced that their annual graphic short story prize will be renamed as the Rachel Cooke Graphic Short Story prize, in memory of journalist and critic Rachel Cooke, who passed away in November of last year.
• Elsewhere, the Children’s Book Council announced the winners of this year’s Graphic Novel Advocate Award, which celebrates individuals who demonstrate a lifetime of exemplary commitment and advancement for graphic novels as a literary source over the span of their career, this year honouring Gina Gagliano, Maia Kobabe, and Andrea Miller.
• Auction news, as Heritage Auctions this week announced that one of the largest private comic sales ever recorded had been completed, as a copy of 1940's Batman #1 and 1939’s Superman #1 were sold together for $13 million to an anonymous buyer.
• Comics fundraisers, and writer Paul Allor this week launched a GoFundMe to help pay for insulin and diabetes supplies, after being diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis, following a routine surgery.
The news is out in @publisherswkly.bsky.social! I am VERY excited to announce a new print comics publication - The Comics Staple, a monthly comics zine filled with reviews, recommendations, interviews and more. https://ift.tt/5jRcy2B...
— Tiffany Babb (@explodingarrow.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T21:39:39.311Z
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Doris Sutherland reviews the sweet escapism of Ben Kahn, Rachel Silverstein, and Sam Beck’s Renegade Royale — “A utopian subtext runs through Renegade Royale. Not only do the characters belong to a flourishing subculture that exists purely to have fun, they are able to have fun in an entirely generous, fair-minded way, with none of the toxicity that blights real-world gaming spaces.”
• Helen Chazan reviews the murky tapestry of Rachel Ang’s I Ate the Whole World to Find You — “Throughout I Ate The Whole World To Find You, Rachel Ang weaves the story of a life. It's a horror story, or more accurately a tragedy, a woman disappointed in her desire to love, to grieve, to be seen, in the face of violence, isolation, trauma, objectification. The door is always open a crack, the curtains stay a little open, moonlight cuts through the night.”
AIPT
• Collier Jennings reviews the redemption arc of Ahmed Best, Marc Guggenheim, Kieran McKeown, Laura Braga, et al’s Star Wars: Jar Jar #1.
• Maxwell Majernik reviews the undead simplicity of Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, et al’s Bleeding Hearts #1.
• Lia Williamson reviews the character focus of Alex Paknadel, Roge Antonio, et al’s Cyclops #1.
• Piper Whitaker reviews the unique conclusion of Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men #24, translated by Zack Davisson.
• Jonathan Waugh reviews the satisfying conclusion of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Fico Ossio, et al’s Batman & Robin #30.
• David Brooke reviews the low stakes of Mike Mignola, Todd Mignola, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, et al’s The Crown: A Tale of Hell #1.
The Beat
• Diego Higuera reviews the stylish confidence of Tini Howard, Babs Tarr, et al’s Sirens: Love Hurts #1.
• D. Morris reviews the layered consistency of Jed MacKay, Devmalya Pramanik, et al’s Marc Spector: Moon Knight #1.
• Clyde Hall reviews the coexisting worlds of Elliott Kalan, Andrea Mutti, et al’s Barbarian Behind Bars #1.
• Jared Bird reviews the solid start of Mike Mignola, Todd Mignola, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, et al’s The Crown: A Tale of Hell #1.
• Tim Rooney reviews the intriguing concept of Dennis Hopeless, Brahm Revel, et al’s Just Brutal #1.
• Jordan Jennings reviews the throwback heroics of Larry Hama, M.D. “Doc” Bright, et al’s The Center Holds #1.
• Khalid Johnson reviews the focused narrative of Morgan Boecher’s Chicken Heart.
• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the horror masterclass of Dark Horse Comics’ Creepy Presents: Bernie Wrightson.
• Arpad Okay reviews the compounding effects of Aaron Losty’s Clearwater, Volume One.
• Samantha Puc reviews the impactful research of Angélique Roché, Alvin Epps, Bex Glendining, Millicent Monroe, et al's First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth.
• Sean Dillon reviews the honest explorations of Hubert and Virginie Augustin’s Joe the Pirate: The Life and Times of Marion Barbara Carstairs, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger.
Blogcritics
Jeff Provine reviews the metronomic construction of Joe Ollman’s The Woodchipper.
Broken Frontier
Andy Oliver has reviews of:
• The successful transition of Paul Peart-Smith’s adaptation of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation.
• The ethereal intangibility of Ula Rugevičiūtė Rugytė’s Scraps of Memory (mini kuš! #137).
• The gorgeous visuals of Dina Omut’s Not from Home, Not from Beyond (mini kuš! #138).
• The keen observations of Matthew Dooley’s Aristotle’s Cuttlefish.
Critical Studies in Media Communication
Basia Nowak reviews the impeccable research of Ewa Stańczyk’s Comics and Nation: Power, Pop Culture, and Political Transformation in Poland.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men #23, Wolverine #15, Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #1, Magik & Colossus #1, and Logan: Black, White & Blood #2.
ImageTexT
• Michael Arthur Soares reviews the complex questions of Comics, Culture, and Religion: Faith Imagined, edited by Kees de Groot.
• Edcel Javier Cintron-Gonzalez reviews the essential analyses of Sweetha Saji and Sathyaraj Venkatesan’s Metaphors of Mental Illness in Graphic Medicine.
Solrad
Elias Rosner reviews the referential complexities of JT Waldman’s Megillat Esther: The Graphic Tale.
Yatta-tachi
• Penn reviews the entertaining blend of Andy Seto’s Cyber Phoenix, Volume 1, translated by Book Buddy Media.
• Alex Henderson reviews the flawed execution of Harunadon and Momose Hanada’s Even a Replica Can Fall in Love, Volume 1, translated by Andrew Cunningham.
This week’s interviews.
TCJ
• Tania De Rozario interviews Weng Pixin about Wake Up, Pixoto!, evolving storytelling voices, landscape and portrait formatting, and cult realities — “The more accurate reason why people get themselves tangled up in a harmful cultic dynamic or group is a person’s vulnerability at a certain point in their life. This can be caused by stressful life circumstances like a job loss, a move from one country to another, divorce, break-ups, being diagnosed with a serious illness…and many others.”
• Robert Aman interviews Jean-Christophe Menu and Jean-Paul Gabilliet about the 30/40 collection’s return, overcoming artistic stage fright, the legendary status of the original 30/40 run, and Étienne Robial’s direction of the books — “The idea was really to relaunch the collection – to bring back its prestigious, almost encyclopaedic spirit – so yes, I hope there will be more to come. I say hope because publishing on a larger scale is getting harder and harder. L’Apocalypse barely manages to release two or three books a year. It’s a struggle for most small indie comics publishers here in France.”
• Meghan Turbitt interviews Asher Perlman about Hi, It’s Me Again, streaming and reading blindspots, and the expanding stylistic range of The New Yorker cartoons — “I just write. I try to come up with the captions and the concept, but there's no drawing involved. And then as I'm going, if something feels promising, I'll circle it, but I don't stop or draw at all. I don't stop to perfect it while I'm I just doing my writing. And at the end of three pages, I look back at the things I circled, and sometimes some of them feel exciting. And then I'll sort of craft the caption from there.”
• From the archives, originally published in 1969’s Fantastic Fanzine #8 & #9, Gary Groth presents an interview with Sal Buscema — “Meeting Sal was one of the greatest events of my young life. Here was a real, live cartoonist who sat down at a drawing board every day and created something from nothing. The fact that he was John Buscema’s brother only made him more mysterious and glamorous. I couldn’t have been more thrilled if I had met one of the movie stars I watched on the big screen— a Kirk Douglas or a John Wayne. In fact, given a choice, I probably would’ve preferred to meet Sal.”
AIPT
• Chris Hassan speaks with Murewa Ayodele about Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant, subtitle choices, making space for quiet character moments, and upcoming twisted imagery.
• Chris Coplan chats with Tyler Boss and Martin Simmonds about Phantom of the Opera, editorial direction, visual inspirations, and avoiding sheet music.
• David Brooke talks to:
• Angélique Roché about First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth and the work that comes after achieving legal freedoms.
• Todd Mignola about The Crown: A Tale of Hell and familial inspirations.
• Joe Kelly about Amazing Spider-Man in the opening installments of a series of conversations covering the twice-monthly comic.
Anime News Network
Rebecca Silverman interviews Ryu Kamio about Stray, chivalrous gangster tropes, fears of failure, and having no time for people who uncritically submit to authority.
Autobiographix
Nora Hickey and Amaris Ketcham speak with Karen D. Brame about comics reading and research origins, scholarly and curational foci, and the challenges of comics curation.
The Beat
E.B. Hutchins chats with Jeremy Whitley about SLAY! And The Girlfriend Survives, the allure of elevating tropes, and setting more stories in Appalachian areas.
The Daily Iowan
Cole Ritter interviews Jarrett Dapier about Wake Now In the Fire, the importance of free speech and making yourself heard, and the worsening situation vis-à-vis book bans in the United States.
Fanbase Press
Barbra Dillon talks to:
• Angélique Roché about First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth and the research that went into the book.
• Jimmy Gaspero and Amber Akin about Penny and the Yeti and letting younger readers see themselves through the stories they consume.
• Jonathan Hendrick about Hospice: Tunnel of Love and working with artist Gabriel Ibarra Núñez.
• D.J. Kirkbride and Adam P. Knave about Laser Joan and the Rayguns and the tough realities of publishing.
The Hamilton Spectator
Regina Haggo interviews Joe Ollman about The Woodchipper, getting to do what you love for a living, plot being secondary to character, and narrowing focus on creative pursuits.
Steven Heller speaks with Rian Hughes about The Absence and falling out of love with drawing comics, and with Sydney Halpern and Trygve Faste about Infected for Science and the cartoons of medical test subject David Miller.
Colored a con sketch I found somebody selling on eBay. 33 years ago, sheesh!
— Paul Chadwick (@paulchadwick.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:33:02.810Z
This week’s features and longreads.
• For Colorado’s KSJD, Eleanor Bennett reports on leadership changes at Garfield County Libraries, which may be set to allow wide-ranging book bans into the stacks, and is a good primer (if one is still needed at this point) for what’s happening with other attempts to remove books from libraries across the United States.
• Over at Shelfdust, Steve Baxi meets The Flintstones, examining the ways in which sitcoms hold a mirror up to the times they are a-made in, and the confused reflection of 2016 to be found in Mark Russell and Steve Pugh’s The Flintstones #5.
• From Cover to Cover's Scott Cederlund looks back on the big swings that usher in Dennis O'Neill and Denys Cowan's 1986 revamp of The Question, and the breaking down of the character that sets up what's to follow in the rest of the run.
• Some recent reading recommendations from the land of the broadsheets, as Travis Jonker recommends thirteen graphic novels for the Raina Telgemeier obsessed readers in the house, over at The New York Times; and Jacob Brogan suggests four graphic novels to get everyone through this year’s Sciuridaen-mandated six extra weeks of winter we’re now set to live through, for The Washington Post.
• Fresh onto the comics internet, an invaluable-looking resource for those interested in Australian comics, as Folio has now launched, aka Contemporary Australian Comics 1980-2020: A New History, which brings together essays, features, and interviews from across the comics spectrum.
• Further mind-expansion from the Mindless Ones, as a fresh newsletter forms in the hippocampus, this edition seeing Fleetway’s OINK! brushing shoulders with Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman: Abomination, just as the prophecy foretold.
• From the world of open-access academia, a new edition of ImageTexT arrives, with articles from Chris Reyns-Chikuma on Renée Nault’s work on the graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and how artists can subvert entrenched power systems in such dynamics; and from Toloo Riazi on Anna Veltfort’s Goodbye, My Havana: The Life and Times of a Gringa in Revolutionary Cuba, and the affecting voyage through the hidden narrative of the Cuban Revolution on which the book takes its readers.
• For the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Anubhuti Walia and Preeti Puri present a paper on Paula Knight’s The Facts of Life and the application of Freud’s theory of dream analysis to thoughts depicted through metaphors in graphic medicine narratives.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as The Washington Post’s legacy, undermining of open and free elections, shaky figures of authority in the United Kingdom, Super Bowl halftime shows, and the Epstein Files all tussled for column inches.
FIFFE FILES • Part 4 • This is the big one, the visual identity of Five Years Later examined. It’s entirely possible that this video project was an excuse for me to discuss and give context to this exact period of Keith Giffen’s career: youtu.be/X9mT9ras6y0?...
— Michel Fiffe (@michelfiffe.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T16:37:36.755Z
No more links, for there are buckets to be placed under leaks and then emptied on an hourly cycle.
— Nathan Bulmer (@natemorebikes.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T17:27:20.922Z
The post Part VI: Jason Lives — This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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