Exorcism of the Host — This Week’s Links

Named storms on the horizon, leaves changing from yellow to orange – we’re full soup mode in this week’s links, below, so bring your stock to the boil and chop some root vegetables, because we need to get the remaining well-reviewed comics of 2026 read for the end-of-year lists, and that needs fuel for the furnace.

Walkin'

— E M Will (@elainemwill.bsky.social) 2026-10-20T16:15:11.672Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

Henry Chamberlain reviews the terrific showcase of Todd Webb’s The Poet Quarterly — “So, what is this comic strip about? At its core, it’s a perpetual little engine of existential humor. The Poet is always seeking great meaning. His pigeon friend is always there to bring him back to reality. And the bench is the bench, a stoic figure, forever observing. Within these parameters, Webb can have all the cartoonist fun he can manage.”

AIPT

• Michael Guerrero reviews the interesting perspective of Dan Watters, David Lapham, et al’s Nightwing #143.

• Collier Jennings reviews the new directions of Charles Soule, Tommaso Bianchi, et al’s Venom #1.

• David Brooke reviews the narrative failings of Jonathan Hickman, Christian Ward, Riley Rossmo, Mike Huddleston, et al’s Three Worlds / Three Moons: Arrivals #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the missing elements of Connor Goldsmith, Josh Cornillon, et al’s Did You Hear About Mimi Green? #4.

The Beat

• Clyde Hall reviews the demonic twists of Pallie Paul Allor, Chris Evenhuis, et al’s Filthy Lambs #1.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the unsatisfying conclusion of Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar, Ario Anindito, et al’s Avengers: Armageddon #5.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the dark core of Pornsak Pichetshote, Rafael Albuquerque, et al’s Absolute Green Arrow #6.

• Sean Dillon reviews the lacking urgency of Albert Monteys’ adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces.

• Gianni Palumbo reviews the heartfelt humour of Sofia Warren’s Film Nerds.

Broken Frontier

• Swati Nair reviews the layered complexities of Nayth’s My Little Saigon.

• Lydia Turner reviews the gorgeous energy of Rafe Foreman’s Handbook for the Distracted.

• Gary Usher reviews the dark undercurrents of Fumika’s The Golden Fish.

• Andy Oliver has reviews of:

The impressive terror of Horiorror: A Greek Folk Horror Comics Anthology.
The beautiful representation of Bill Tuckey and Francisco de la Mora’s The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club.
The haunting melancholia of Bruna Martini’s It Comes in Waves.
The endearing sparkle of Beatrijs Brouwer’s Tree Dwellers, Part 1.

Comics Grinder

Paul Buhle reviews the pinpoint satire of Ben Katchor’s Hotel & Farm.

The Conversation

Yves Rees reviews the accessible exuberance of Susanne Kuhlendahl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the many questions of Brian 'Box' Brown’s Forevr.

The Guardian

Peter Bradshaw reviews the beautiful authenticity of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ DNX #3, X-Men #39, Generation X-23 #9, Wolverine: Paradise #1, and Captain Britain 50th Anniversary Special #1.

The New York Times

Sam Thielman reviews the narrative precision of Lisa Hanawalt’s I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex.

Solrad

Hagai Palevsky reviews the creative narrowing of Yoshiharu Tsuge’s He Rolled Me Up like a Grilled Squid, translated by Ryan Holmberg.

Yatta-tachi

AJ Mack reviews the unoriginal rehash of Hiru Morino’s Luna Knight, Volume 1, translated by John Neal.

Tree House

— Ian McQue (@ianmcque.bsky.social) 2026-10-22T08:44:41.121Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

• Robert Newsome interviews Devlin Thompson about Bizarro Comics’ new location, the logistics of moving to a new retail space after decades, and the fracturing of the direct market that’s occurred along the way — “Some of my personal back stock of my own mini comics. Some of the “art toys,” shall we say, that I made were lost. But the Bippies are safe. The old flyers are safe. I would love to get some of the fixtures that we went to great lengths to remove from behind department stores or out of vacant buildings, but whether that happens or not, I can't say.”

• Henry Chamberlain interviews Todd Webb about The Goldfish & Bob and The Poet Quarterly, comic strip development, and creative confluences — “That way of consuming strips has gone away, but the love for the experience hasn't. We're still figuring out, as a culture, how to disseminate it. There's the internet, but nothing has replaced newspapers' old distribution power. That's something I've grappled with in getting The Poet out there - trying different forms and places to see if any can catch on in a way that might support the whole endeavor. Or not. But I'm still going to do it.”

AIPT

David Brooke talks to Ross Murray about Bedford Street, the local neighbourhoods that inspired the story, and finding humour in dark places.

Anime News Network

Jacki Jin speaks with Akiko Higashimura about Princess Jellyfish, approaching three decades making manga, exploring the world for inspiration, and advice for aspiring mangaka.

The Beat

• Joe Grunenwald interviews Chip Zdarsky about Avengers: Armageddon, Marvel Comics’ grounding in the real world, and reining in the Marvel banter instinct.

• Taimur Dar talks to Nick Marino and Oliver Ono about Sonic x Godzilla and Starship Godzilla, the international popularity of Godzilla, and the diverse stories to be told with Godzilla at their heart.

• Aaron Halls chats with Kim-Joy about Quiet, the moral dilemma at the book’s core, different creative outlets, and favourite bakes.

Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver interviews Shri Gunasekara about Runner and choosing the elements to lead the visual language of a story, Andy Brown about thirty years of Conundrum Press and the encroaching disappearance of arts funding in Canada, and Kate Ashwin about Widdershins and bringing the webcomic to a close after 15 years.

Fanbase Press

Barba Dillon talks to Danny Baram about Halloween Team: Shadows and picking things back up after publishing pivots.

Forbes

• Josh Weiss speaks with James Aquilone about Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters, keeping the monsters monstrous, and capturing the spirit of such well known screen personalities.

• Rob Salkowitz interviews Matt Fraction about Batman, bringing a unique murder mystery to Gotham, and pursuing consistency over continuity.

FreakSugar

Jed W. Keith talks to Carl Amari about adapting the Lights Out radio series for the page, conservation of golden age radio, and the work that went into producing weekly radio serials.

Graphic Memoir

Jonathan Sandler chats with Darryl Cunningham about John of the Night, fascination with the billionaire class, aesthetic philosophies, and upcoming projects.

Los Angeles Times

Rachel Brodsky speaks with Lisa Hanawalt about I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex, the midlife upheavals at the heart of the book, and life as a horse girl in 2026.

Quill & Quire

Inderjit Deogun talks to Jillian Tamaki about Young Cat, Old Cat and illustration and feline inspirations, and to Sid Sharp about Midnight Manor and the process of writing a picture book.

Lo Spazio Bianco

Emilio Cirri interviews Leela Corman about Unterzakhn and Victory Parade, Gen X cartoonist inspirations, evolving styles, and moving from autobiographical storytelling to fiction.

The Straits Times

Akanksha Raja speaks with Felix Cheong and Sean Lam about A Mild Case of Hysteria and Raffles Hotel: The Grand Dame And The Waving Blade, and the history of Singapore that the books explore.

Yatta-tachi

Adam Wescott talks to Jason Andrew Cohn about Tezuka! God of Manga, the origins of the documentary, favourite Tezuka stories, and the fascinating nature of Tezuka’s career.

We’re excited to announce the nominations for the BODEGA CAT (Comic Arts Trophy) Awards! Check out the nominees on the ballot, which is open to the public. Voting is open NOW and will close on Saturday November 14 (Day 1 of BEC) at 4pm ET: https://ift.tt/FmwRBcO...

— Brooklyn Expo of Comics (@bkexpocomics.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T13:19:00.391Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, William Schwartz reports from the Anderson Museum of Art’s “The Funny Pages” exhibition, and the educational nature of the show as to the cartoonists who call Indiana home — “What makes the exhibit so appealing isn't just the spotlighting of the art itself so much as it is how easy to see the interconnectivity between the various pieces of it. Jeff Knurek does the Jumble, for example, which we don't generally think of as a comic (it's mostly a word puzzle after all) even if it's always illustrated. But Knurek, too, is part of the Indiana collective, which is why half of the sample jumbles on display are guest pieces from Indiana artists.”

• Also for TCJ, Malcy Duff returns with illustrated thoughts on making black and white comics — “This comic is my small sculpted celebration of the black and white comic. While making it, Blue Yoda was with me, as was my friend Rock and Roll Jackie, with her incredible collection of paint by numbers. And so too was every black and white comic strip I've been lucky enough to delve into, and find the colours within.”

• Looking to recent protests in France, as anti-government dissent sweeps across the country, the Links views the only aspect of such activism that matters in this context — what manga iconography is being co-opted by attendees? Le Monde and Euronews have the answers.

• Keeping with a manga focus, Matt Alt writes for Art Basel on the shifting domestic and foreign attitudes towards comics and cartoons in Japan, and the increasing number of manga exhibitions appearing in Aht spaces.

• Over at Autobiographix, Amaris Ketcham and Nora Hickey write on the intersection between "wild" research and zine making, and situate a recent call for papers in the context of crafting your own zines.

• For Shelfdust, as the 85th birthday of Wonder Woman arrives, Holly Raymond looks back to the iterative origins of Diana of Themyscira across All Star Comics, Sensation Comics, and Wonder Woman, and the bleeding between the real world of Wonder Woman’s creators and the fictional realm into which she emerged.

• More musings from the Mindless Ones, as their latest newsletter sees Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil: Born Again be Suggested for Mature Readers, and The Invisibles’ King Mob raked across the coals.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Literature, Angel Antonio De Oliveira Amata writes on the Shakespearean adaptations of Gianni De Luca, the use of the page as a theatrical stage in the fumetti, and situating the books between high and low culture.

• For Mythlore, Andrew Burt examines depictions and subversions of the Judeo-Christian conception of hell in modern comics, taking Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis’ writing in Hellblazer as a key reference point, and the ways in which writers can hold eternal damnation up as a lens through which to view contemporary societal and political issues.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as a week was a long time in political careers for Katie Zacharia, oligarchal mandates regarding Ukraine were issued, death penalty realities became stark, and anti-governmental protests flooded across France.

Thought Bubble Comic Convention is 1 month away!! Thats so soon.Got your tickets? Got your day planned out?! Panels? Signings! All the information you could ever need is here: https://ift.tt/4Mz1VRt...

— Thought Bubble Festival (@thoughtbubbleuk.bsky.social) 2026-10-14T11:02:51.500Z

No more links this week, there’s an elaborate Hallowe’en costume to be made from tin foil, papier-mâché, and yoghurt pots.