Author Archives: Paul Lai

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Podcasts
Comics Syllabus 220: Good Luck, Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, and Infinite/Unlimited Vita Ayala number ones

By | Jun 27, 2021 | Podcasts

Or download the podcast episode here. This week: “Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters,” “Good Luck,” “The Blue Flame,” “Black Hammer Reborn,” and Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe Infinite titles from last week, including two Vita Ayala-written series launches. First, we open with “Polybagged”, new comics in shops this week that Paul picked up, including: “Jonna […]

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Podcasts
Comics Syllabus 219: Truly Tyler, Home, Compass, and more

By | Jun 20, 2021 | Podcasts

Or download the podcast episode here. On a new segment (series?) on the Comics Syllabus, Paul talks about comics and graphic novels of interest to Parents, Librarians, Educators, And Student Enthusiasts in “Comics P.L.E.A.S.E.” (see what I did there?) We start by discussing “Truly Tyler” from Balzer + Bray, the latest in Terry Libenson’s “Emmie […]

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Podcasts
Comics Syllabus 217: “Static,” “Fire Power,” “Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon”

By | Jun 6, 2021 | Podcasts

Or download the podcast episode here. The Comics Syllabus continues its return with… A new segment called “The Infinite Unlimited,” exploring comics available on subscription apps like DC Universe Infinite and Marvel Unlimited, beginning with the 1993 “Static” series that was part of the original Milestone Comics line. Co-written initially by Milestone founders Dwayne McDuffie […]

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Podcasts
Comics Syllabus 216: “The Dragon Path”

By | May 30, 2021 | Podcasts

Or download the podcast episode here. The Comics Syllabus podcast returns with… A graphic novel review of “The Dragon Path,” the new book by Ethan Young from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. The young prince of the Wong Clan has to lead his people through a fraught journey to the Old Land through the Dragon Path! One […]

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Reviews
“Stone Fruit”

By | May 24, 2021 | Reviews

Lee Lai’s debut graphic novel “Stone Fruit” (Fantagraphics) is mature in so many respects. It’s wise and gentle about relationships. It’s narratively and artistically confident. It’s patiently restrained and full of deft choices. The paradox is that such mature art pays such poignant tribute to childlikeness. Lai unsparingly shows the ways we hurt and get […]

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Reviews
“Save It for Later”

By | Apr 30, 2021 | Reviews

“This is NOT a parenting book OR an activist guide,” Nate Powell declares in the opening of “Save It For Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest” (Abrams ComicArts). Yet his collection of autobiographical chapters IS a testament to the fraught experiences of both in the period since the 2016 election. Both parenting and […]

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Reviews
“What Unites Us”

By | Apr 2, 2021 | Reviews

Patriotism as an American virtue has been in a desultory state, its vocal defenders and crassest arbiters so often using it as a cudgel. Reviving patriotism as a nuanced, democratic, and self-renewing thing is an art pulled off by only a few, those rare political and media figures who, even if flawed and susceptible to […]

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Feature: Avatar: The Last Airbender—North and South – Part 3 Columns
Avatar Studios: A Conversation About Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Future

By , and | Mar 11, 2021 | Columns

Christopher Chiu-Tabet: During February’s TCA conference, Nickelodeon announced the creation of Avatar Studios, a new division headed up by Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, which will produce new shows and films from the world they created. The new entries are intended for ViacomCBS’s newly rebranded […]

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Reviews
“The Grande Odalisque”

By | Feb 26, 2021 | Reviews

A good heist buries an intricate and complex plan under a cloak of simplicity. A good heist STORY often has a deceptive veneer of simplicity as well. The trio of French creators of “The Grande Odalisque” (Fantagraphics) include the celebrated duo of Ruppert and Mulot (“The Perineum Technique”) joining forces with Angouleme winner Vivès. They […]

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Reviews
“After the Rain”

By | Jan 29, 2021 | Reviews

Sometimes with startling horror, the past pounces on you. It can be a sober, often terrifying, but ultimately liberating experience of reckoning. John Jennings is a creator whose growing contribution to comics as socially significant literary arts can hardly be measured. With Abrams ComicArts, Jennings has launched an imprint, MEGASCOPE, a line presenting speculative (sci […]

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Columns
My Comics Year: Still Reading

By | Dec 29, 2020 | Columns

“Because the city that says it’s freed itself of emotion… runs on emotion.” -“Far Sector” #9, NK Jemisin (Story), Jamal Campbell (Art and Color), Deron Bennett (Lettering) (DC Comics) In the year 2020, I almost quit on comics. I figure in a year like 2020, one could hardly be blamed for that attrition. But in […]

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