[Annoyed Grunt] – This Week’s Links

The end of the financial and academic years approach, here at Links HQ, with a full audit required of every single one of this week’s links, below, before the end of the working day, so let’s quickly sellotape them into a ball and fling them towards a passing accountant, while trying to decide if the newly arrived collection of Camelot 3000 (we forgot we pre-ordered) can be written off as a deductible.

Tennisgansai/pencil/markers/oilpastels

— 𓋤 elle 𓂅 (@tamingservice.bsky.social) 2026-06-08T14:14:40.572Z

This week’s news.

• Casting our gaze northwards, up to Canada, for this week’s selection of news items, as the return of the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival looped proceedings back around to 2024, with the announcement that Miriam Libicki would be attending the event as a guest, having previously been banned from the festival following protests regarding Libicki’s time in the Israeli military, before receiving an apology for the banning, following dueling online backlashes regarding Israeli violence in Gaza/free speech principles, alongside the resignation of the entire festival board. VanCAF’s new board is currently responding to criticism of this new iteration of the festival, including claims that the inclusion of Libicki was lacking in transparency to other exhibitors, with references to threats of legal action and obligations imposed on/by the previous board, and is stating that the festival is now adhering to the tenets of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Coverage from 2024 on the previous controversy surrounding the festival can be found here at TCJ, and also at Cosmonaut Magazine.

• Elsewhere, at last weekend’s Toronto Comic Art Festival, the winners of the 22nd Doug Wright Awards were announced, with Lee Lai’s Cannon named as Best Book, Lis Xu taking home the Nipper for Emerging Talent, Kat Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen’s Pass Me By: Lily winning the Pigskin Peters award for Best Small- or Micro-press Book, and Mike Deas and Nancy Deas’ Howler Reef taking home the Egghead award for Best Kids’ Book.

Sometimes you gotta draw New Jersey

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— Malachi Ward (@malachiward.bsky.social) June 10, 2026 at 11:54 AM

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Kristian Williams reviews the unfortunate omission of T. Edward Bak’s The Peoples’ Elk: The Untold Story of Portlan’s Thompson Elk Statue — “The elk did not attract the crowds, but perhaps it inspired them. Why else would the assembled multitude light a fire beneath the statue, then mourn its absence, replace it with a crude symbolic replica, and at last celebrate its return?”

• Aug Stone reviews the unique approach of Attilio Micheluzzi’s Petra Chérie — “While there are a vast quantity of war comics out there, Micheluzzi’s mastery and particular slant really sets his creation apart. His knowledge of both history and geography is impressive. Either he’s intimately familiar with these locales or has done a heck of a lot of research.”

AIPT

• David Brooke reviews the successful silliness of Kevin Smith, Giuseppe Camuncoli, et al’s Jay & Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1.

• Jonathan Waugh reviews the rapid pacing of Jason Loo, Fran Galan, et al’s The Undead Iron Fist.

• George Loftus reviews the winning simplicity of Al Ewing, Jesús Saíz, et al’s The Mortal Thor #11.

• Diane Darcy reviews the strong start of Scott Snyder, Che Grayson, Bengal, et al’s Absolute Catwoman #1.

• Kevin Clark reviews the rollicking opening of David Avallone, Mariano Benitez-Chapo, et al’s Altered States: Warlords #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the tie-in fun of Tim Sheridan, Will Sliney, et al’s Masters of the Universe: The Wings of Fate #1.

• David Brooke reviews the exhilarating action of Patrick Kindlon, Marco Ferrari, Atsuji Yamamoto, et al’s Gehenna in Tokyo #1.

The Beat

• Zack Quaintance reviews the narrative acceleration of Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, et al’s Bleeding Hearts #5.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the stylish start of Lily Windom, Robert Windom, Jae Lee, et al’s M1: Monster Racing League #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the triumphant selection of Dark Horse Comics’ Monsters In Love: A Pride Anthology #1.

• Tim Rooney reviews the solid spectacle of Dan Watters, Pye Parr, et al’s M.A.S.K. #1.

• Gianni Palumbo reviews the kinetic visuals of Sam Humphries, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Natacha Bustos, et al’s Skate Ali #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the grounded interactions of Andre Parks, Dave Wachter, et al’s Bad Thoughts #1.

• Jared Bird reviews the ruthless pace of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Five Gears In Reverse: A Criminal Book.

• Samantha Puc reviews the stunning rendering of Tillie Walden's Charity & Syliva.

• Merve Giray reviews the cuteness overload of Hirota’s My Lover Is Just Too Innocent to Handle, Volume 1, translated by Katelyn Smith.

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the charming dialogue of Luke Healy’s Dogs on Dates.

• Andy Oliver has reviews of:

The hopeful positivity of IDW’s Star Trek: Celebrations 2026.
The thought-provoking explorations of Archie Bongiovanni’s Leo Rising.
The delightful perspective of Zoey Allen and Frenci Sanna’s Princess Pete.

Comics Grinder

• Henry Chamberlain reviews the crisp plotting of T.C. Pescatore and Locogonzales’ Junction Jones and the Corduroy Conspiracy.

• Lara Boyle reviews the nuanced complexity of Lily Kim Qian’s Until We Meet Again.

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the confident debut of Rae Whitlock’s Medium, and the solid execution of Sean Knickerbocker’s Best of Three: A Dirtbag American Picaresque.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men #29, Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #5, X-Men of Apocalypse #4, Cyclops #5, and What If…? The Uncanny X-Men #1.

Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society

• Mark Meimermann reviews the vast vision of Alison Halsall’s Growing Up Graphic: The Comics of Children in Crisis.

• Matt Reingold reviews the wonderful insights of Jeffrey A. Marx’s Smoothing the Jew: “Abie the Agent” and Ethnic Caricature in the Progressive Era.

• Justin Wigard reviews the inspiring accomplishments of Alexander Dunst’s The Rise of the Graphic Novel: Computational Criticism and the Evolution of Literary Value.

The Observer

Killian Fox reviews the endearing scrappiness of Luke Healy’s Dogs on Dates.

Publisher’s Weekly

Have starred capsule reviews of:

• The masterful documenting of Joshua Kendall’s Trudeau & Doonesbury: A Biography.

• The illuminating entertainment of Ulli Lust’s Early Man Was a Woman.

• The exhilarating intimacy of Mark Mosedale and Si Smith’s Gigs.

Rain Taxi

Hank Kennedy reviews the well-wrought authenticity of Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo’s Wake Now in the Fire.

Solrad

Elias Rosner reviews the human centre of Deniz Camp, Eric Zawadzki, et al’s Assorted Crisis Events, Volume 1.

Yatta-tachi

• Adam Wescott reviews the spooky punchlines of Somato’s Kuro: The Complete Edition, translated by Taylor Engel.

• Kai reviews the endearing sweetness of Fuuki Maru's Laughter in the Sunshine, translated by Nomnom Namako.

Pendulum

— Hyde Angelus (@hydeangelus.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T08:50:24.701Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

• Valerio Stivé interviews Lorenzo Mattotti about the fortieth anniversary of Fires, the origins of the comic, silence and abstraction in comics, and the slow process of learning the language of comics — “It’s a story that set certain markers. There was a lot of experimentation around. Fires is a balanced mix of storytelling, symbolism, and abstraction. It’s all there. A kind of precarious equilibrium that still holds today. It maintains a constant tension from beginning to end. But I was aware of how fragile it was: one wrong panel, and the whole structure would have collapsed.”

• Patrick Rosenkranz presents an interview with Don Donahue, originally conducted in 1998, with S. Clay Wilson also in attendance, about the printing and publishing of underground comix — “The first time I saw anything by Crumb I thought he must be an old man, because that’s the way it looked. He was this crazed old guy. Maybe he’d been drawing for comic books back in the ‘20s or ’30s and he went berserk or something.”

AIPT

• Chris Hassan speaks with Steve Orlando about X-Men: Outback, revisiting a classic era of mutant history, and continuity challenges.

• Chris Coplan interviews Julio Anta about The Beast of Borikén, inspirations taken from favourite movie monsters, and interplay with Puerto Rican history.

• David Brooke talks to:

Dan Watters and Pye Parr about M.A.S.K. and the universal joy of cool cars.
Mark Russell about The Forgotten Divine and the realities of life within a cult.
Benjamin Marra about What We Mean by Yesterday and the ideal time of day to read a serial comic.
Nick Thorburn about Pear Shape and underground comix inspirations.

The Beat

Diego Higuera chats with Juston McKee about The Consumed, the familial inspirations for the book, storytelling as therapy, and the emotional core of the book.

The Boston Globe

Gitana Savage interviews Tillie Walden about Charity & Sylvia, the research process behind the book, and the release of the book during the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and Pride month.

Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver speaks with Dave White about leaving Avery Hill Publishing after 14 years as co-publisher, and with Tyler Chin-Tanner and Wendy Chin-Tanner about A Wave Blue World and the publisher’s plans for 2026.

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon talks to:

David Hartman about Monster Drive-In and recreating the vintage comics reading experience.
David Pepose about The O.Z. and looking back on the series as a whole as the finale draws near.
Daniel Herrmann about Pink Monsters and sharing different perspectives through comics.
Mike Dolce about Dren Prestige and partnering up with Fabian Nicieza for Deep Down.
Mark Russell about The Forgotten Divine and the subconscious influence on the comics’ story.
David Schrader and Clay Adams about Bloodline Comics and the challenging realities of crowdfunding adult titles on Kickstarter in 2026.

It’s Nice That

Jenny Brewer chats with Paul Gravett about the opening of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and the Queer as Comics exhibition to be found therein.

The Quietus

Alistair Fruish interviews Melinda Gebbie about Greatest Fits and previous works across the decades, British obscenity laws and life in Thatcher’s Britain, and Swiss borders.

RetroFuturista

Dominique Musorrafiti talks to John Coulthart about The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, the commodification of art, and the shifting transgressive frontiers of contemporary culture.

Smash Pages

JK Parkin speaks with David Pepose about The O.Z. and the long road to print for the series’ finale, and with Mel Gillman about The Goblin Throne and the design of the story to incorporate multiple levels of queerness.

Yatta-tachi

Adam Wescott talks to Keita Katsushika and Kirin Inoue about Higashi Tokyo Machimachi, their work together as mangaka and editor, the joys of ligne claire, and the Japanese indie publishing scene.

Mountain

— garin | comms open (@garin.bsky.social) 2026-06-01T12:40:41.304Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, R.M. Rhodes updates on the shifting status quo at Heavy Metal, as publishing, distribution, and funding model changes all coalesce into a confusing outlook for the former comics institution — “Given the sheer volume of changes that Heavy Metal is making all at once, it’s fair to say that the magazine is currently in a transition period. It’s not clear what direction the magazine is transitioning towards, exactly. What is clear is that CEO Lees is managing is part and parcel of what he will ultimately be known for within the context of the magazine’s history.”

• Also for TCJ, Frank M. Young compares and contrasts the also-ran Mad-imitators Snafu and Panic, recently collected in new archival editions, and determines whether imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in the parody comics market — “A shared virtue of these two elaborate books is their window into 20th-century life and culture. The good, bad and ugly are in abundant display, played for sarcastic laughs and vaudevillian shtick. If you can get Mad out of your head as a comparison point (easier said than done), the content of these books have a certain charm. They are robust examples of the great American cash-in.”

• For Bonart, Carles Toribio reports from the Albertina Modern’s exhibition Kaws – Art & Comix, currently open through October 27th, as further consideration is given to the place of comic books in the history of Art.

• Over at Shelfdust, Steve Morris also travels through history, via the DC Finest line of reprints, and examines the way in which Supergirl’s slowly paced arrival and introduction to earth pays (eventual) dividends in Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney’s Action Comics #285.

• A fresh Mindless Ones newsletter arrives through the letterbox, with homage paid to the recently passed John Blanche, and consideration given to the mimetic existential horror of Alan Moore and Mike White’s Eureka, part of 2000 AD’s Future Shocks.

• From the world of open-access academia, we have a new edition of Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, which this time out includes articles on the work of Zoe Thorogood and Dana Walrath, as well as a selection of editorial pieces on experiences of using comics in the classroom in the current political climate.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as the midterm elections continue to loom, and considerations are given to the United States’ place on the international stage, during the regency of President Donald Trump.

おもいで

— ばったん (@battan8.bsky.social) 2026-06-11T08:15:46.675Z

In memoriam

The passing of Marjane Satrapi, who died last week at the age of 56, received a lot of coverage, as would be expected, with writing on her life and work appearing at AnOther, Artforum, The Atlantic, BirGün, Comics Grinder, The Conversation, The Guardian (which had a trio of obituaries), The Independent, The Nation, The New Republic, Publisher’s Weekly, Vogue, and Voxeurop.

My poster illustration for Paris Citypop 2026 !

— Juliette Brocal (@cy-lindric.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T12:08:13.255Z

This week’s audio/visual delights.

Some recent vod- and podcast offerings from around the web, as Austin English hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium with Mara Ramirez discussing Flea and other comics works, the return of Robin McConnell’s Inkstuds continued with interviews with Anand Shenoy and Michael DeForge, TCAF’s Amie Wright hosted a talk with Mohammad Saba'aneh and Steet Noise’s Liz Frances about Welcome to Hell: From the West Bank to Gaza, Gil Roth spoke with Paul Gravett about the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration’s new exhibition Queer as Comics for The Virtual Memories Show, and Naoki Urasawa provided visuals for a new single from indie duo Rodrigo y Gabriela.

rubber golem

— pbbeta (@pbbeta.bsky.social) 2026-06-11T07:45:17.465Z

No more links, there’s too much to do, and procrastination is needed on an industrial scale, so let’s, uhhh, re-read all of Homestuck on a second monitor, while biting fingernails to the quick, and praying for an 11th hour erasing of the financial systems of the whole world. Feets don’t fail me now.