Comic Picks by the Glick

Manga and Comic Reviews

Inuyashiki vol. 6

In case you weren’t convinced that Hiro was the bad guy in this story after the past couple of volumes, mangaka Hiroya Oku goes to make the case again here.  After a Japanese S.W.A.T. team busts into Shion’s home in the middle of the night, wounding the girl and her grandmother in the process of […]

The Black Monday Murders vol. 1

With his track record, any new Image series from Jonathan Hickman is a reason to get excited about.  I was particularly looking forward to seeing how the full volume of “The Black Monday Murders” would read after I checked out the first issue several months back.  Now that the final volume is here, it still […]

Dept. H vol. 1: Pressure

I didn’t have the best impression of the first volume of Matt Kindt’s previous creator-owned series at Dark Horse, “Mind MGMT,” but I eventually grew to appreciate what it was offering in subsequent volumes.  The creator’s latest series at the publisher may have a punny title, but everything about it is played straight in this […]

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt vol. 2

If you’ll recall, I wasn’t all that impressed with the first volume of this new “Gundam” series.  It delivered all the familiar “War is Hell” moral musings you’d expect as seen through the Federation and Zeon’s struggle to take control of the strategically important Thunderbolt sector without doing much to distinguish itself.  Some steps are […]

Abe Sapien vol. 8: The Desolate Shore

So this is it?  After five volumes of Abe’s ongoing series that, while it certainly had its moments, was mostly a dull slog more than anything else this is the ending we get!?  While the series certainly has significant relevance to the Mignolaverse, it’s easily the runt of the litter quality-wise when compared to the […]

Aliens: Defiance vol. 1

The quality of “Aliens” comics over the years from Dark Horse has fluctuated wildly.  While the initial miniseries from writer Mark Verheiden and artist Mike Nelson still holds up well today, a quick read through any of the Omnibus volumes will reveal some pretty misguided endeavors as well.  “Defiance” is not only the first ongoing […]

Otherworld Barbara vol. 1

The latest Moto Hagio manga to come from Fantagraphics features a first chapter that is confusing, weird, and likely going to turn off readers unaccustomed to the kind of strangeness this old-school shojo mangaka likes to traffic in.  It takes place on the island of Barbara and focuses on young Aoba and her two friends, […]