Southside Riddim — This Week’s Links

We approach the spiritual halfway point of the comics year, the temporal midway marker having already been passed, as San Diego Comic-Con looms, Peckham’s turn at the comics-event plate having ended in success last weekend (related: volunteering at shows is great, I highly recommend it after nearly 20 years of doing it), with all the attendant SDCC talking points to be returned to in next week’s links, after this week’s links, below, as we (re)consider whether the spirit of the ginormo-event is still true to comics, if hotels should really be that expensive, whether there’s much point to attending the same party every year, and so on and so forth. You know the drill.

celebrate good times come on

— bea!! (@yoloft.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T19:57:33.771Z

This week’s news.

• Starting this week’s selection, appropriately, with West Coast moves, as The Hollywood Reporter this week shared the announcement that Marvel Comics will be relocating offices from New York City to the wider Marvel central HQ in Los Angeles, with plans to complete the move by this time next year, as Stephen Wacker takes over from C.B. Cebulski as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, with Cebulski shifting into the role of editor for Marvel's manga efforts out of Japan. For those keeping track, Marvel laid off around 8% of its workforce back in April as part of Disney's ongoing "streamlining" process.

• Elsewhere, claims were published that Dark Horse cancelled publication of a new edition of Rafael Medoff’s Cartoonists Against the Holocaust after Medoff refused to include comments on recent Israeli state violence and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, with The Daily Cartoonist rounding up the various op-eds on the situation, including Dark Horse’s counterclaim that the cancellation of the book’s publication was, in fact, due to scheduling issues and the publisher’s recent personnel and structuring changes.

• Artist Georgia Webber began a change.org petition in June, currently seeking more signatories, to bring to light working conditions at the Sequential Artists Workshop, and failure to execute responsibilities by the Board of Directors of SAW, after Executive Director Tom Hart cancelled Webber’s teaching contract when a request was issued to discuss concerns regarding Hart’s lack of accountability in the production of a podcast that had been planned for this year, with recent attempts to contact the board about this issue having been met with silence.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, as news was shared this week of the passing of Pat Oliphant, Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, whose career spanned more than 6 decades, who has died at the age of 90 from age-related health issues.

タイムクルーザーBJ40

— せきはん (@sekihang.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T05:25:53.650Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Leonard Pierce reviews the loose narrative of Bérénice Motais de Narbonne’s Metadoggoz, translated by Montana Kane — “Metadoggoz showcases art that is absolutely fantastic, a sprawling, ambitious, and shockingly mature given its subject matter. You have to wait a good bit between anything that moves the story forward, but you don't have to wait any time at all for a stunning splash page, a brilliant use of layout, a masterful use of negative space, and shading and ink-work that makes a book done entirely in black and white pop like the most pyrotechnic color comics.”

• Tom Shapira reviews the undeveloped ideas of Romuald Giulivo and Jakub Rebelka’s The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft, translated by Mercedes Gilliom — “You will find no answers here, you wouldn’t even find the proper questions. The most memorable scene is the one previously mentioned, in which Lovecraft confronts his would-be literary successors and takes pot-shots at them. But memorable isn’t the same as good; it invites comparisons it does not want.”

AIPT

• Justin Harrison reviews the impeccable mood of Katie Skelly’s Heaven.

• Piper Whitaker and Eric Thomas review the timeless chaos of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy for All Seasons.

• David Brooke reviews the strong start of Frank J. Barbiere, Stephen Rhodes, Vic Malhotra, et al’s Zero Instance #1.

• Kevin Clark reviews the intriguing chills of Amy Chase, Savanna Mayer, et al’s Fixation #1.

• Michael Guerrero reviews the perfect intensity of Dan Watters, Denys Cowan, et al’s Nightwing #140.

• Jonathan Waugh reviews the ambitious beginning of Tom Taylor, Otto Schmidt, et al’s Dark Knights of Steel II #1.

• Alex Schlesinger reviews the synergistic reprinting of Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, et al’s Infamous Iron Man: The Rise of Doom.

• Collier Jennings reviews the emotional expansion of Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, et al’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin - Training Day #1.

The Beat

• Jordan Jennings reviews the interesting worldbuilding of Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Mike Huddelstone, Mike del Mundo, Jerome Opeňa, et al’s 3 Worlds / 3 Moons: Foundations #1.

• Jared Bird reviews the esoteric brilliance of Simon Spurrier, Mike Dowling, et al’s Minotaur #1.

• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the colorful orchestration of Nick Marino, Jack Lawrence, et al’s Sonic the Hedgehog X Godzilla #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the narrative shortfalls of Mark London, Alden Kaye, et al’s Mister Nemo #1.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the compelling setup of David Dastmalchian, Leah Kilpatrick, Soo Lee, et al’s Kingdom of Earth #1.

• Matt Ledger reviews the slowburn stakes of Gref Rucka, DaNi, et al’s Batwoman #5.

• D. Morris reviews the fascinating inferno of Chip Zdarsky, Ton Lima, et al’s Captain America #13.

• Samantha Puc reviews the surprising sweetness of Christof Bogacs, Valerio Chiola, et al’s Lex Luthor: Diabolical Genius.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the charming heroics of Oliver Mertz, Alex Diotto, et al’s A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts.

• Tim Rooney reviews the impeccable details of Acky Bright’s GalaXic Baseball League.

• Steve Baxi reviews the shining return of Alan Grant, John Wagner, Simon Bisley, et al's Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham.

• Sean Dillon reviews the unflinching realities of Roberta Gregory's Bitchy! The Exasperating Existence of Midge McCracken.

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the subversive accessibility of R. Sikoryak’s Declaration/Emancipation Illustrated.

• Andrea Magbual reviews the careful pacing of Silvia Razakova’s Pomegranate Flowers.

• Andy Oliver reviews the dark comedy of Ben Wheatley and Joe Currie’s Utility #1.

• Gary Usher reviews the unusual unreality of Rae Whitlock's Medium.

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the effective optimism of Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! Volume 16, translated by Stephen Paul; and the societal mirror of Mark Mosedale and Si Smith’s Gigs.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men #31 and Wolverine #23.

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

Eric Berlatsky reviews the valuable insights of José Alaniz’s Comics of the Anthropocene: Graphic Narrative at the End of Nature.

Solrad

Stefan Orlić reviews the formal rulebreaking of Jesse Lonergan’s Drome.

Yatta-tachi

• Adam Wescott reviews the freewheeling strengths of Takuji Umihara’s The Pipe Machine, Volumes 1 & 2, translated by Dan Luffey.

• Tony Yao reviews the niche focus of Hideki Ohwada’s Reform with No Wasted Draws – The Legend of Koizumi, Volume 1, translated by Harrison Doan.

• Alex Henderson reviews the charming romance of Fujichika’s The Delinquent and the Transfer Student, Volume 1, translated by Minna Lin.

• AJ Mack reviews the generic whitewashing of Fuyu Tsuyama and Yukari Sakai's Merit and the Egyptian God, translated by Alethea Nibley and Athena Nibley.

working on something silly for a change…

— Ben Passmore (@benpassmore.bsky.social) 2026-07-10T01:09:19.995Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Greg Baldino interviews Archie Bongiovanni about Leo Rising: Queer Spaces, Sexuality, and Fame, life in federally occupied Minneapolis, the local comics scene, and the visual element of comics about communities — “It's been a tough time in general for publishing and queer publishing in particular. There were places my publicist pitched Leo Rising that were offended by its content and were offended when we asked if they were interested in promoting it. Queer content is always going to be seen as more obscene as heterosexual work, but I think graphic novels become even tougher as there's a visual element to it (and some folks assume since it's a comic that it's appropriate for kids.)”

AIPT

• Chris Hassan speaks with Tony S. Daniel about X-Men, ending DC exclusivity and working across the aisle, and getting comfortable with new characters.

• David Brooke talks to Phillip Sevy and Christie Porter about She Comes With Magic, balancing sex and story, and crowdfunding successes.

• Chris Coplan interviews Roberta Gregory about Bitchy!: The Exasperating Existence of Midge McCracken and comicsmaking across the decades, and Brandt&Stein about Worst Man and believing that people are trying their best.

Everything Theatre

Mary Pollard speaks with Kevin Del Aguila about Dog Man the Musical and adapting Dav Pilkey’s source material for the stage, and the vocal nature of younger theatre audiences.

Fanbase Press

Barbra Dillon talks to:

Robert Cullen about Fault Lines and the fascination inherent in shifting from animation to comics.
Jeff Treppel about Waypoint and striking out for the creator-owned hills from the IP mines.
Frank Barbiere and Stephen Rhodes about Zero Instance and the focused collaboration of comics.
John Yuskaitis about Saved & Spoiled and trying to capture the actual behaviours of canines and felines.
J. Michael Donohue about Days Without Incident and keeping the crowdfunding campaign straight to the point.
Jason T. Kruse about Fated: Surviving Magic - Unagi Trouble! and focusing on creating likeable characters.

Publisher’s Weekly

Patricia Morris Buckley interviews Darcie Little Badger about Children of Owl, the place of Big Owl in Lipan Apache culture, and the hunger readers have for stories about fighting past injustices.

Smash Pages

JK Parkin speaks with Christian Ward about The Forever Home, the genres that the story encompasses, and the design of the titular building.

#67whispering watchdog

— Joe Sparrow (@torpordust.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T14:24:33.931Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, the site’s retrospective Rebuttals and Regrets continues The Comics Journal’s 50th birthday celebrations, as this week Anya Davidson writes on the approaching fortieth anniversary of The Crow in response to Ng Suat Tong’s Violence is Good, Says the Crow from TCJ #143 — “The central thesis of The Crow is not that violence is good. It's that life is suffering, and we have no control over when and how that suffering manifests. That’s made clear, in the comic, in Eric’s final exchange with Sherri. After dispatching the criminals who killed his girlfriend (spoiler alert), Eric plans to reunite with Shelly in the afterlife, leaving his charges, Sherri and a female cat named Gabriel, behind.”

• Further Rebuttals and Regrets for TCJ, as Malcy Duff looks back to a 1953 edition of Cyril Cowell and Morley Adams' Adam the Gardener, with an accompanying strip inspired by the book that sees the return to TCJ of The Uncertain Man - “I haven’t found one panel yet where Adam’s mouth is open. It is almost as if he’s breathed in and is holding that breath for the duration of the comic strip, from 1953 onwards. This intake of breath would have been of clean air from an empty garden. A waiting panel only containing the idea of oxygen from paper trees, no thing between the land and sky dividing line except the promise of a garden…soon!”

• Also for TCJ, RJ Casey celebrates July’s Arrivals and Departures, with thoughts on Jerry James’ Phlim-Phlam #1, Mandy Ord’s Sassy, Jasper Kuther’s The Oddities #2, and Liz Stuard Smith’s Sweet Creature — “When the San Francisco street “performer” with a bullwhip asked for a volunteer, my dad grabbed my arm and raised it up. I joined him onstage, all of nine years old and trembling, as he put a Marlboro Red between my lips and stepped back. It took the man several times — I kept spitting it out — but he eventually lashed the cigarette out of my mouth. I sometimes think about that moment and where that man is now.”

• Looking ahead to next year already, Sandbox World’s Tony M. delves into the publishing realities behind the four-year wait between volumes 8 and 9 of Fantagraphics’ collection of Walt Kelly’s Pogo strips.

• Over at Shelfdust, D.K. Latta writes on the early years of Marvel Comics’ initial foray into Star Wars comics, and the issues of droid/cyborg personhood and persecution threaded through Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, and Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino’s stories.

• The Mindless Ones brave the UK’s ongoing heatwave woes to usher forth a fresh newsletter, as this week consideration is given to the interplay between The Invisibles and From Hell, the thoughts incumbent to choosing an armour set, and the comics writings of Deniz Camp.

• From the world of open-access academia, in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Tetsuya Matsui presents a paper on a new model of the character, the connotation-extension model, defining setting as connotation, and words and actions as extensions, in the context of ‘shumimono’ manga, wherein young women engage in hobbies usually reserved for men.

• For Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature, Lucía Bausela Buccianti presents analysis of Sole Otero’s Walicho, and the manner in which the stories therein engage with the complexities of feminist discourse within postcolonial contexts.

• For Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, Christopher Conway examines the ubiquitous nature of stories about the life of Anne Frank in Mexican comics, and the ways in which key examples of these comics were inflected by Mexican and US narratives and tropes familiar to local readers.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as one is forced to ask, again, what, if anything, is gained from an ingrained two-party political system.

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— Shelly Bond (@sxbond.bsky.social) 2026-07-16T00:32:12.742Z

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Commencing with our semi-regular check-in on the pod- and vodcast ecosystem, as Sally Madden and Katie Skelly reconvened to appreciate the Thick Lines of Flore Vesco and Kerascoët’s The Court Charade, and look ahead to the signing tour to celebrate the arrival in print of Skelly’s Heaven.

• The doors to House to Astonish opened once more, as Paul O’Brien and Al Kennedy shared thoughts on upcoming publications from the Big Two and beyond, and the return of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s 100 Bullets.

• Returning from intermittent hiatus, Gil Roth welcomed Katie Skelly to The Virtual Memories Show to discuss Heaven and Bad Girl Tarot II and the importance of community, and spoke with R. Sikoryak about Declaration/Emancipation Illustrated and rules on which characters to use/not use.

• Henry Chamberlain welcomed Daniel McCloskey to Comics Grinder, as they discussed Cloud Town, the work involved in bringing your own books to print, and having the patience to wait for readers to come to your creations.

• Further interviews from Comix Experience as Brian Hibbs spoke with Garresh about The Rabagoo Race and story blocking considerations, and Inkstuds’ Robin McConnell talked to Cam Collins about Copper Odyssey and Redman It*shima and the realities of making a video game.

• A couple of recent chats from Off Panel as David Harper spoke with Frank Miller about Push the Wall: My Life, Writing, Drawing and the Art of Storytelling and maintaining curiosity in life, and with Iman Vellani about Chachu and Ms. Marvel and comics and acting careers.

• Finally this week, Dan Berry’s Make it Then Tell Everybody returned after a four-year hiatus, with new episodes featuring interviews with Michael Lark, Georgina Chadderton, and CROM about their approaches to making comics and then telling people about them.