Hot Hot Heat — This Week’s Links

We hit the halfway point of the year sweltering under the omega block and a humidity dome, which presumably have previously appeared as antagonists/doomsday events in one or more of DC’s titles over the decades, but in reality just combine to lead to you saying “it is HOT” back and forth to friends and loved ones on a loop, as sweat drips from your nose, and the keyboard starts to fizzle and crack, putting this week’s links, below, in jeopardy. 

humidity

— Ben Sears (@bensears.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T15:19:31.848Z

This week’s news.

• Starting our latest selection with news out of Texas, as judges in Fort Worth handed down decades-long sentences to defendants arrested under terrorism charges following a protest at an ICE facility in 2025, including artist Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada, who received 30 years incarceration for moving a box of zines, and zinemaker Elizabeth Soto, who received a 50 year sentence for “providing material support for terrorists,” in the form of printing anarchist and feminist zines, in what is seen as a very blunt attack on the right to protest and freedom of speech by the current administration. More information on the plight of the Prairieland defendants can be read here, and donations can be made to support Sanchez Estrada’s legal fees here.

• Elsewhere, it was reported that  Andrew Farago, former curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, and contributor to TCJ and Publisher’s Weekly, amongst others, was arrested last month after allegedly making recordings of people using the bathroom at a birthday party that he was hosting — the investigation is ongoing, and no formal charges have been filed at the time of publication, but a spokesperson for the Cartoon Art Museum confirmed this week that Farago is no longer an employee of the nonprofit, stating that “we are shocked and saddened by this situation,” with Farago allegedly having sent an email to partygoers following the event admitting to hiding the recording device and apologising for a “lapse in judgement.”

— Gutter Pop Comics (@gutterpopcomics.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T22:15:45.511Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Matthew Levay reviews the consistent preoccupations of Seth’s Palookaville 25 — “Like all Seth comics, Palookaville 25 is both brisk and ruminative; each of its three sections moves quickly, yet the book rewards sustained attention, as Seth remains excellent in hitting the reader with incidental moments that deliberately slow things down (“Nothing Lasts”) and in pursuing unexpected detours that offer a fuller account of Seth’s artistic practice outside of comics (“Living Room Suite”). The end result feels like an artist’s book in the best possible sense: playful, self-aware, and unwilling to allow its miscellany to settle into routine.”

• Zach Rabiroff reviews the impressive depth of Paul V. Allen’s Mark Gruenwald — “Alas, Gruenwald’s own record as a writer is harder to defend than his record as an editor, though Allen gives it the old college try. Gruenwald’s lamentation about not studying artists outside of comics might have extended to writers, too: his most celebrated work (his long run on Captain America and his dystopic self-contained maxiseries Squadron Supreme) is filled with scattershot interesting ideas, but always executed in the mode of a Stan Lee comic circa 1965.”

 

AIPT

• Collier Jennings reviews the fond farewell of Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe: Finale #1.

• Jonathan Waugh reviews the successful nostalgia of Steve Orlando, Stephen Segovia, et al’s X-Men: Outback #1.

• Chris Showalter reviews the visual continuity of Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Fico Ossio, et al’s Justice League Unlimited #20.

• Chris Franey reviews the balanced bridge of Jeremy Adams, Ig Guara, Montos, et al’s Green Lantern #36.

• David Brook reviews the kinetic opening of Paul Allor, Ermitis Blanco, et al’s Blüdwire #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the satisfying formula of Andrew MacLean, Erwin Papa, et al’s Death Fight Forever #5.

 

The Arts STL

Jon Osia Scorfina reviews the contagious enthusiasm of John Byrne’s X-Men: Elsewhen, Volume 1.

 

The Beat

• Tim Rooney reviews the lacking cohesion of Deniz Camp, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, Jonas Scharf, et al’s Ultimate Endgame #5.

• Diego Higuera reviews the simmering unpredictability of Kelly Thompson, Dillon Snook, et al’s Absolute Wonder Woman #21.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the trippy questions of Jonathan Ball, GMB Chomichuk, et al’s The Eye Collector #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the fitting tone of Joshue Williamson, Leomacs, et al’s Universal Monsters – Blood of the Wolf Man #1.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the excellent start of Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT – New and Improved #1.

• D. Morris reviews the charming humour of Lewis Trondheim’s Aurora and The Orc, translated by Montana Kane.

 

Boing Boing

Ruben Bolling reviews the fascinating research of Perrin Roosevelt Ireland's Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex.

 

Broken Frontier

• Edward Picot reviews the thorough guidance of Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk’s Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide for Graphic Narrative.

• Andy Oliver reviews the inspirational tribute of Angélique Roché, Alvin Epps, Bex Glendining, Millicent Monroe, et al’s First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth; and the insightful observations of Cooklin’s Ace of Hearts: Lessons in Love.

 

Comics Grinder

Paul Buhle reviews the expressive visuals of Salome Parent-Rachi and Zac Deloupy’s Love and Desire in the Promised Land: The Private Lives of Israelis and Palestinians, translated by Jenna Allen.

 

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the propulsive rhythm of Josh Rievel’s American Nightmare Returns!.

 

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the layered mystery of Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki’s Billy Bat, Volume 1, translated by Kristi Iwashiro.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men #30, X-Men United #4, Inglorious X-Force #6, and Magik & Colossus #5.

 

Los Angeles Review of Books

Tim Riley reviews the built-in bias of Joshua Kendall’s Trudeau & Doonesbury: A Biography.

 

Solrad

Lara Boyle reviews the societal explorations of Ned Wenlock’s Tsunami.

c o s m o s

— Natasha Tara Petrović @ Too Many Games A708 (@1000deaddraculas.bsky.social) 2026-06-16T17:13:25.980Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

• Fredrik Strömberg interviews Joanna Rubin Dranger about Remember Us to Life, the process of bringing the book to print, and the reader and familial response to the book — “Since I was 20 years old and became a practicing illustrator, I've always felt constrained and trapped by notions that as a cartoonist you should have a style, a manner, “a line” or “a visual expression”. And I felt that very strongly with this material. All the things I wanted to talk about, large parts of our 20th -century history, about many different countries, world wars and everything from love to self-doubt to anti-Semitism — I had to allow myself to use all means possible.”

• Ann Matsuuchi interviews Mia Wolff about Above and Below and 2 Dead Girls, keeping an eye on the creative parts of your brain, and the realities of getting a book published and publicised — “I've never had a block in my life. I've had lots of weird issues in my life where the brain sort of falls over, but not that one. When I wasn't working on anything big, like a book or painting, or I couldn't get to the painting for physical reasons or whatever reasons, I have sketchbooks. You take out your sketchbook, you draw the cats, you draw the people in front of you, you draw the little tchotchkes you have lined up on a shelf. There's never a dearth of subjects, ever.”

 

AIPT

Chris Coplan speaks with Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt about Fort Psycho and the St. Louis comics scene, and with Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey about The Shadower and the blurred realities of spycraft.

 

American Imago

Vera J. Camden and Valentino L. Zullo present a conversation with Raina Telgemeier about Guts, the engagement with empathy inherent in reading comics, emetophobia and cognitive behavior therapy, and writing with an inclusive voice.

 

The Beat

Diego Higuera talks to John Layman and Rob Guillory about Ghost Brawler, getting the band back together, and creative processes learned on Chew.

 

Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver speaks with:

• Anna Trench about Florrie: A Football Love Story and the history of women’s football.
• Alex Taylor about Bone Broth and the graveyard shift origins of the story.
• AJ O'Neill about The Kid in the Cave and Never Mind It’s Only the Fucking Apocalypse and stylistic changes.

 

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon talks to:

• Björn Klein about Black Ties: In Gods We Trust and the satirical targets the book sets its sights on. 
• Steve Niles about Heartbreak Manor and the enduring influence of M.R. James.
• Travis Hymel about Start Your Engines and pushing creative boundaries.

 

Forbes

Rob Salkowitz speaks with John Byrne about X-Men: Elsewhen, returning to Marvel's mutants to scratch some remaining itches, and the journey of the comics to print.

 

FreakSugar

Jed W. Keith interviews Erika Lewis and Jessica Chobot about Firebrand, the inspirations behind the webtoon, and personal histories with comics collecting.

 

FreshWater Cleveland

Douglas J. Guth talks to Derf Backderf about The Dissidents, the history of radical publications like The Masses and The Liberator, and the research that went into the book. 

 

GraphicMemoir

Jonathan Sandler chats with Dave Cowen about Should We Buy a Gun?, the origins of the project, and the story’s setting in Austin, Texas.

 

The Observer

David Barnett speaks with Mark Mosedale and Si Smith about Gigs, their collaborative origins, and the contemporary bite of the story.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

• Christian Holub interviews Kelly Thompson about Absolute Wonder Woman, the series’ form at the Eisner Awards, and the historical limitations imposed on Diana Prince.

• Zach Rabiroff talks to Sean Edgar and Dean Haspiel about the contemporary realities of crowdfunding comics through Kickstarter.

 

School Library Journal

Shelley M. Diaz speaks with Chris Robinson about All-Negro Comics: America’s First Black Comic Book, the aims behind publishing the book, and Tony Washington’s remastering work on the comics.

 

Lo Spazio Bianco

Emilio Cirri and Matteo Pacchione talk to Olivier Schrauwen about Portrait of a Drunk and Sunday, differing creative processes, and only being satisfied by drawings in their contexts.

Somewhere in the Marshes

— Ben McEntee (@benmce.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T17:59:22.703Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Hagai Palevsky writes on the colloquial cadence of Seth’s Sethphemera, and the shifting self-demarcations between writer/fan/critic/cartoonist in the context of these collected writings, and the insights into the author that these afford the reader — “For this reason, Seth’s essays are at their best when they enter an outright diaristic mode. A recurring motif in Sethphemera is Seth’s hunger for his own artistic lineage; he is palpably excited to be considered as part of a sequence, a historical tapestry. Crucially, however, this tapestry is not measured strictly in publication or in hours spent at the desk, but in human life.”

• Also for TCJ, Luis Ramirez-Liberato presents a report from the inaugural edition of Toronto’s Zine Dump fair, which took place last November — “An energy resonated from the community centre, palpable even at the end of its icy road. Smokers corralled the building — a good omen for the liveliness of an event — ripping drags that lingered in the cold air, masking their faces in a fog of hot breath and nicotine clouds. As the outside indicated, the community centre was packed and bursting with colours unseen in the rest of the city. People streamed in and out of the venue doors, and the passages between booths flowed with bodies huddling from vendor to vendor in tight clots.”

• For The Daily Californian, Lar Tabakian writes on the passing of Marjane Satrapi, who died earlier this month at the age of 56, and the powerful nature of historical narratives portrayed through the comics form in the age of Artificial Intelligence.

• Over at Autobiographix, Amaris Ketcham and Nora Hickey also write on the legacy of Marjane Satrapi, examining the way in which Persepolis embedded historical witnessing within personal stories.

• For Aftermath, Isaiah Colbert writes on the enduring legacy of Osamu Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song, and the peculiar psychological wringer through which it puts its protagonist.

• Over at Publisher’s Weekly, we enter into the t-minus 4 weeks countdown stage leading up to 2026’s San Diego Comic-Con, as Heidi MacDonald previews what to expect from a convention populated in large part by creative industries in a state of flux.

• For The New York Times, Michael S. Rosenwald writes in remembrance of paintoonist Jerry Moriarty, creator of Jack Survives, who died earlier this year at the age of 88.

• A pair of pieces from Shelfdust, as Martyn Pedler writes on the ways in which radical politics can make their way into algorithmically driven corporate comics, as to be found in Deniz Camp and Pere Pérez’s The Ultimates #21; and further consideration is given to the ongoing marriage between corporate interests and Big Two superhero comics by Nick Marino, in an essay originally published in The Comics Courier, focused on Marvel and the Florida Department of Citrus’ aptly-named Captain Citrus.

• The A.V. Club get the jump on the competition by a good 6 months or so, publishing a best-of list for the year currently in progress, with Oliver Sava presenting thoughts on Frances Lee’s Ami Moon & the Galactic Peacekeepers; Arizona O’Neill’s Opioids & Organs; Derek Kirk Kim and Jacob Perez’s Royals; Marcelo D’Salete’s Tiodora’s Letters; and  Ralph Meyer, Xavier Dorison, and Caroline Delabie’s The Undertaker The Gold Eater And Dance Of The Vultures.

• Another week, another Mindless Ones newsletter springing forth into existence, as appreciation is given to the interesting palette choices to be found in the previews for 2000 AD’s new full colour omnibus edition of Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s Zenith.

• Vera J. Camden and Valentino L. Zullo edit a new comics-focused special of American Imago, examining the interplay between graphic medicine and psychoanalysis, with essays on Una’s Becoming Unbecoming, Katie Green’s Lighter Than My Shadow, representations of mental illness and psychoanalysis in Chile’s Condorito magazine, and more. 2020’s comics-focused edition of the journal, previously linked to at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, can also be read here.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as you can really conjure up your own punchlines revolving around The Art of the Deal and deals with Iran and/or ‘draining the swamp’ and the draining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, while right wing commentators across the aisle redeploy the hammer and sickle ad nauseam. Just jam out and have fun with it.

Hey it’s Make a Terrible Comic day! Be nice to yourself or else#makeaterriblecomicday#makeaterriblecomicday2026

— Elise Schuenke (@troubledminnesotan.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T19:33:23.413Z

No more links, just steamy tropical nights and screamingly cold showers.

Howdy I'm the sheriff of #makeaterriblecomicday

— Jonas Goonface (@jonasgoonface.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T20:54:42.793Z

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