ICYMI -- Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 6/29/18 to 7/6/18

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 

* Rob Clough looks at GODA #1 - 2 by Goda Trakumaite and says, "Trakumaite yanks the reader by the hand into her world, and the reader simply has to take in each page on her terms."

* James Smart has this short review of THE STRANGE by Jérôme Ruillier in which he writes "The simple colours and economically drawn animals might suggest innocence, but threats lurk on every page in a compelling account of life on society’s edge. "

* Angelica Frey on WHY ART? by Eleanor Davis, saying "Davis actually lives up to the high bar of her title, eschewing a “philosophy 101” approach to answer the question in her own clever manner."

* John Seven reviews THE WINNER by Karl Stevens, wherein he writes "Stevens might be presenting this as autobiography, but it’s really the examination of a duality that is crucial to his mode of creation."

* Robin Enrico looks at PINKY AND PEPPER FOREVER by Ivy Atoms, calling it "a work that charms the reader so as to disarm them, allowing it to be all the more cutting in its critique."

* Frank Young reviews EARTHA by Cathy Malkasian, saying "Despite the narrative clichés—country vs. city, fish out of water, the evil empire that must be toppled—Eartha surprises the reader with its loving deviations from the genre ticker-tape. Malkasian enjoys building scenes around cranky, self-absorbed characters. Virtuous or villainous, Eartha’s cast relishes their opportunities to vent their spleens, ramble about the events of the past or pass time with chit-chat."

* Scott Cederlund reviews YOUNG FRANCES by Harley Lin, writing "Crafting an incredibly rich cast around Frances, we get to know her through her experiences, being able to share her story with her rather than just reading it from the distance between eye and page."

* Andy Oliver on Laurel Pettitt's QUIET MOMENTS, "what is so intriguing here is that we are often asked to create our own wider narrative concerning each sequence; to not just fill in those spaces between the panels but the one that exists around them as well."

WHATNOT

* B. David Zarley has this kind of strange, stilted email interview with NICK DRNASO.

* Corissa Haury conducts a round-table discussion under the title HIRING CREATORS: INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS HAVE A CHAT, featuring Taneka Stotts (founder of Beyond Press), Steenz Stewart (Associate Editor of Lion Forge), Marcos Martin (co-founder of Panel Syndicate), Spike Trotman (founder of Iron Circus Comics), and Michael Sanchez (Editorial Director of Scout Comics).

* Philippe LeBlanc is back with his (extremely thorough and very Canadian) SMALL PRESS AND INDIE COMICS GALORE roundup on The Beat.

* Andy Oliver has a preview of BROKEN FRONTIER SMALL PRESS YEARBOOK 2018 which you should all go a pre-order now.

* Andrea Shockling has a new chapter of SUBJECTIVE LINE WEIGHT that is pretty spectacular. This one was written by Casey Gilly and adapted and drawn by Shockling.

* Jennifer Baker has this list of 9 BOOKS TO EXPAND YOUR IDEA OF WHAT FEMINISM LOOKS LIKE.

* David Sax has a short essay up on Tablet called NOT JEWISH: THE INTERNET which tries to explain "Why any worthwhile Jewish experience will always be analog, not digital."