For her first graphic novel, Nicnevin And The Bloody Queen (paperback, Kindle), writer Helen Mullane has come up with a coming of age story that — as she explains in the following email interview — draws inspiration from ’70s horror movies, family dramas, and the work of young adult fantasy author Alan Garner.
At the rate technology is advancing, it seems inevitable that humans will one day be able to improve themselves with cybernetic enhancements. But this will also inevitably lead to a day when some people are augmented and other people are not. Such was the premise of Ari North’s webcomic, Almost Human, the first season of which is now available in both hardcover and paperback print editions. In the following email interview, North discusses what inspired and influenced this collection, and how its transition from digital to paper required some changes.
When not writing and drawing Spy Vs. Spy for Mad Magazine or cartoons for The New Yorker, writer and artist Peter Kuper has done graphic novel adaptations of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Now he’s turned his eye, and his pen, towards Joseph Conrad’s controversial novella, Heart of Darkness. In the following email interview, Kuper discusses how he came to write and draw Heart Of Darkness (hardcover, Kindle), and how he adapted this racist story without losing its meaning.
While Western comics have been deeply influenced by their Japanese counterparts over the years, some comic writers and artists have gone a step further and been influenced by Japanese culture well. Take Honor And Curse, a comic from Mad Cave that’s driven by its creators love of manga, anime, and Japanese folklore. With Honor And Curse: Volume 1: Torn newly available in paperback and on Kindle, I spoke via email to writer Mark London and artist Nicolás Salamanca to discuss how this comic came together, what influenced it, and how they came to work on it together.
Like its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame feature an almost overwhelming number of characters familiar to fans of both the Marvel movies and the comics that inspired them. And while it’s a bit of a bummer the same can’t be said for the extras on Avengers: Endgame 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/Digital combo pack, the Blu-ray/Digital combo pack, and, especially, the DVD, they are still a good way to watch this rather spectacular end to this epic saga.
One of the most influential books of all time is, of course, The Bible. And its impact has not just been on people’s lives, but on countless stories both religious and secular. Though in talking about their non-religious but still biblical comic Knights Of The Golden Sun — the first volume of which, Providence Lost, has just been released in paperback — writer Mark London and artist Mauricio Villarreal reveal that it was just as inspired by Mark’s wife, fine art, and some video games in which you smack people really, really hard.
When Captain Marvel came out earlier this year, people applauded Marvel for finally giving a female superhero her own movie, while pointing out that it shouldn’t have taken nearly two-dozen films. So it’s a little odd that the home versions of Captain Marvel — a Blu-ray/Digital combo pack, and 4K/Blu-ray/Digital combo pack, and DVD — would themselves be unfair towards people who don’t have HD TVs, and even then for people who’d rather buy this movie digitally.
Along with doing it yourself and not blindly trusting authority, one of the hallmarks of punk rock is being honest with yourself and your audience. Which, in the case of some punk rock icons, has meant being open about their struggles with mental health. And this has, in turn, prompted some punk rock fans to be open about their struggles as well. In the following email interview, writer and artist Reid Chancellor discusses his graphic novel memoir Hardcore Anxiety: A Graphic Guide To Punk Rock And Mental Health (paperback) and the conditions that led him to make it.
Towards the end of 2017, writer and musician Vivek Shraya received some graphic transphobic hate mail from someone she didn’t know. It’s an experience she’s chosen to share in the graphic novel Death Threat (hardcover). But given the nature of the story — and, admittedly, Vivek’s unavailability — I wondered what it would be like to draw something this personal about someone else. In the following email interview, Death Threat artist Ness Lee discusses what it was like to draw this graphic novel, why she wanted to do it, and what she hopes people will get out of reading it.