ICYMI -- Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 4/13/18 to 4/20/18

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

* Alenka Figa writes about the end of Michael DeForge's LEAVING RICHARD'S VALLEY strip which he has been posting on Twitter and Instagram since mid-February of 2017, in which "DeForge has created a world that initially feels simple but is quite expansive; the development of these likeable but conceited, oblivious characters, the commentary on displacement and gentrification, on cults, on the search for self-identity within groups of all kinds, show his understanding and skill in using webcomics as a medium."

* Jenny Robins on Eleanor Davis' WHY ART? in which "Davis demonstrates the wideness of Art's possible definitions by categorizing it into baldly arbitrary and unusual categories, then smashing those categories back together."

* Robin Enrico reviews LOUD AND SMART by Alex Krokus, writing "Krokus digs deep into the humor of discomfort and depression to create a series of gag strips where we laugh not because we also know the timely cultural reference but because we are well versed in the anxiousness of living in an era of uncertainty and cynicism."

* Ryan C. on Johnny Ryan's PRISON PIT BOOK SIX, in which "Ryan doesn't posit any solution to -- well, anything. And he's probably not the guy to do that. But he does force us to stare into the abyss and to admit that it's also staring back."

* Tom Murphy reviews ANTI-GONE by Connor Willumsen, which "demands on almost every page that you work hard to unlock the significance of Connor Willumsen's choices. But that work brings its rewards."

* Ben Howard looks at Katherine Lang's SOUL TO CALL, which is "engaging in its colorful, gruesome art that envisions a truly hellish, post-apocalyptic landscape. Yet it also differentiates itself from the pack with incredibly unique characters that form strong bonds with each other."

* John Seven reviews THE NEW WORLD by Chris Reynolds.

* Rob Clough on the comics of KEVIN BUDNIK, writing "Budnik's revealed thoughts are not of his basest desires, but rather of his deepest fears and the ongoing, active experience of living with mental illness."


WHATNOT 

* Daphne Milner talks to TARA BOOTH about her upcoming book, Nocturne, and features a number of preview pages that look spectacular.

* Kevin Budnik interviews NICK DRNASO about "his new book Sabrina, and his relationship with the inward and outward facing aspects of being a working cartoonist."

* Zack Soto and Mike Dawson talk to KEREN KATZ over on Process Party about her first book, The Academic Hour, and "her early days as a dance, obsession with flying, being an eternal student, art school days, to her current jet setting life as a cartoonist and performer."

* Alex Dueben interviews ELEANOR DAVIS about her latest book, Why Art?, "political activism, PowerPoint, and much more."

* CAT FIGHT, a comic by Anya Davidson, is featured over on Vice.