Comic Strip Review: Hägar the Horrible: “Caught in the Act!”

Comic Strip Review: Hägar the Horrible: “Caught in the Act!” by Dik Browne It is the age of Vikings, what some will call the Dark Ages. In a coastal village somewhere on the coast of Norway lives a minor raider chieftain named Hägar the Horrible. This doughty warrior travels around the known world, and sometimes… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Hägar the Horrible: “Caught in the Act!”

Comic Book Review: Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #19: Superman

Cover by Ross Andru & Dick Giordano

Comic Book Review: Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #19: Superman edited by Julius Schwartz This is an imaginary story–aren’t they all?” –Allan Moore, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Back in the Silver Age of DC Comics, especially in the Superman titles, status quo was very much a thing. The Superman/Clark Kent/Lois Lane… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #19: Superman

Book Review: Nettle & Bone

Book Review: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher We open in media res as Marra, age thirty, tries to make a dog from bones and wire in a cursed land inhabited by cannibals. Some of whom are quite nice, really–just don’t eat anything they offer you. It’s damaging her hands something fierce, but then impossible… Continue reading Book Review: Nettle & Bone

Comic Book Review: The Local Haunt

Comic Book Review: The Local Haunt by Kevin Wind In the sleepy river town of Stillwater, Minnesota, four young aspiring ghost hunters/video makers investigate the manor on Hounds Hill. It’s reputed to be very haunted, with several different stories ranging from devil dogs to World War Two ghost planes. The quartet enter the building at… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Local Haunt

Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Cover by Ivy Sanders Schneider, inspired by Adolph Dehn's cover for "The Liberator" December 1921 issue.

Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023 edited by Kiara Barrow and Rebecca Panovka This one’s a relatively new literary magazine, having started during the pandemic. The editorial slant appears to be socialist and class-conscious. Let’s see what this issue has to offer us. The opening editorial is on “Corrupt Organizations”, talking about the use and… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Manga Review: Whoever Steals This Book #1

Manga Review: Whoever Steals This Book #1 story by Nowaki Fukamidori, art by Kakeru Sora Yomunaga is a town of books. This began with Mifuyu Mikura’s great-grandfather, a bibliophile and collector who founded Mikura Hall, a splendid private library. This drew other book-lovers to the vicinity and bookstores to serve them. His daughter kept up… Continue reading Manga Review: Whoever Steals This Book #1

Book Review: Cooked to Death

Book Review: Cooked to Death edited by Rhonda Gilliland and Michael Allan Mallory Let’s return to the world of themed anthologies, a quick way to get a sample of various authors writing on a particular topic. In this case, it’s primarily Minnesota and other Midwestern writers doing crime and mystery short stories around the topic… Continue reading Book Review: Cooked to Death

Comic Book Review: The Bitter End and Other Stories

Comic Book Review: The Bitter End and Other Stories illustrated by Reed Crandall and George Roussos This EC reprint volume covers the latter part of Reed Crandall’s career as an artist of EC comic books, and several genre stories by George Roussos, who didn’t stay with the company long. The book opens with an introduction… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Bitter End and Other Stories

Movie Review: The Snorkel

The sinister snorkel!

Movie Review: The Snorkel (1958) directed by Guy Green Paul Decker (Peter van Eyck) has gotten away with murder before. Years ago, he murdered his wealthy friend Mr. Brown by drowning him in a boating “accident” so that he could marry the widow and her considerable inheritance, including an Italian villa near the French border. Now… Continue reading Movie Review: The Snorkel

Comic Book Review: Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock

Comic Book Review: Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock by various creators Fraggle Rock was a children’s television series that ran from 1983-1987, created by Jim Henson and primarily featuring his trademark Muppets of various sorts. The Fraggles live in a series of connected caves collectively called “Fraggle Rock.” Largely carefree creatures, the Fraggles spend much of… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock