Comics Briefly

The Kirkman/Bendis Debates: Let’s Do the Math

Todd Allen compares some printing estimates to sales estimates to figure out just who's making money at Image Comics.

Audio Reviews

Fiction Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment Deepak Chopra , read by the author. BBC Audiobooks America , unabridged, six CDs, 7 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 978-1-60283-495-8 Chopra's new novel expands on the themes advanced in his recent nonfiction title The Third Jesus. The narrative focuses on the mysterious span of time in Christ's life between the ages of 12 and 30.

Animal Planet

The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson . Norton , $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-393-06595-4 “Each bite of meat involves the killing of an animal that did not need to die,” Masson (When Elephants Weep) reminds readers, and if the advocacy of a completely vegan diet (neither milk nor eggs, in addition to giving up meat and fish) is not particularly new...

Fiction Reviews

My Abandonment Peter Rock . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , $22 (240p) ISBN 978-0-15-101414-9 The engaging but limited perspective of 13-year-old Caroline, “the hillbilly girl that lived in the park,” reveals a highly circumscribed world. When first met, Caroline and Father are scavenging for materials to make a shelter in the “forest park” outside of Portland, Ore.

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books What a Good Big Brother! Diane Wright Landolf , illus. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. Random , $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-84258-0 Every time Cameron's infant sister cries, his parents seem to have an answer: she's wet, she's hungry, she's tired. And once Cameron knows the problem, he's eager to help out.

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/24/2008

The Web this Week: Conspiracies! 9/11, JFK, and the Zionists. Plus: Hebrews on the high seas, New Mexico's endangered grasslands, a comedy sidekick tells his sordid tale, how to dress for any occasion, and how not to fit in—the succesful way.

Walking into the Dark Forest

Jan Burke, author of the Irene Kelly suspense series (Kidnapped, etc.), ventures into paranormal territory for the first time in The Messenger.

Nonfiction Reviews

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life Judith Orloff, M.D. Harmony , $24.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-307-33818-1 Orloff (Second Sight) offers a superbly written series of psychological strategies for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing toxic ones. A practicing psychiatrist, the author straddles the worlds of mainstream medicine and alternative h...

Broccoli Books to Shut Down

Manga publisher Broccoli Books will be shut down at the end of this year

The Saga of Swamp Thing’s Saga

In 1983 DC Comics editor Len Wein decided to take a chance and give a British writer by the name of Alan Moore a shot at writing the Swamp Thing. The rest of the story is history.

Dave Gibbons and the Creation of Watchmen

Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore’s artist-collaborator on the now-classic superhero epic Watchmen, provides a behind-the-scenes peek into the creation of the graphic novel in a new book just released by U.K. publisher Titan Books.

Fanboys and Families: Miami Book Fair Debuts Comix Galaxy

The Miami Book Fair International, held November 9-16, marked its 25th anniversary by launching the Comix Galaxy, a partnership between the Miami Book Fair and Diamond Book Distributors that greatly expands the presence of comics and graphic novels at the annual show.

Mike Allred Hits All The Right Notes

Originally published as a series by Dark Horse in the late 1990s, Red Rocket 7, a labor of love by Mike Allred that manages to integrate aliens, spaceships, robots and clones into the history of rock n’ roll, is back in print now in a .45-record-sized collection from Image.

Comics Briefly

Popeye's "Immortalicky"

Popeye: one of the most beloved cartoon personalities of the 20th century, was created by E.C. Segar (a former movie house projectionist who loved his Chaplin) some ten years after he became a cartoonist in pre-Capone Chicago. At the time, Popeye was a world-wide sensation. The daily adventures of this very American character literally changed the face of comic strips and heavily influenced that other burgeoning art form, animation.

About Comics at the Ten Year Mark

About Comics has lasted 10 years with a small staff and a very personal vision that creates an eclectic line of books.

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books How to Build an A Sara Midda . Workman/Artisan , $17.95 ISBN 978-1-57965-378-1 Offering a hands-on approach to learning the alphabet, this small-format book comes with 11 off-white foam shapes (as well as a mesh storage bag). In the book, miniature, stylized people (and the occasional dog) work together to construct each letter of the alphabet, using rectangular blocks and arcs...

Nonfiction Reviews

The Painter’s Chair: George Washington and the Making of American Art Hugh Howard . Bloomsbury Press , $26.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59691-244-1 Patron of the arts is not the first association one makes with George Washington, but Howard elegantly makes the case that the founder of the nation also helped establish America’s art.

Can't Buy Me Love

The Secret Currency of Love: The Unabashed Truth About Women, Money, and Relationships Edited by Hilary Black . Morrow , $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-156096-5 While women have made enormous strides in their earning power and financial self-sufficiency in the past century, research shows that many would still be “very willing” to marry for money, underscoring the complicated natu...