In Creaky Acres, by Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder, Nora is upset at having to move. She’ll miss her riding lessons and her friends at the barn where she boards her horse. She’s a dressage champion, but her parents are moving her out to the country, where things are a bit more casual. And they don’t care much about competition events. The new riding school, Creaky Acres, has possums everywhere and a ragtag group of riders. Nora doesn’t fit in, [...]

Rea Irvin’s The Smythes is a prestige hardcover from New York Review Comics reprinting a Sunday comic from the 1930s. Although I didn’t finish all the reprinted comic strips, which were much of a similarity, I found the historical information surrounding them fascinating. Rea Irvin is best known for creating Eustace Tilley, the snob with the butterfly who was on the first cover of The New Yorker and has become the mascot of the magazine. Irvin’s art style, appeal, and [...]

The nice thing about the explosion in modern romance titles, particularly with those demonstrating more diversity and geek acceptance, is that you can find a book that makes you squeal “it’s for MEEEEEEE.” Such as Role Playing by Cathy Yardley. Maggie is a newly empty nester, divorced, and generally grumpy, with some social anxiety. She works from home, and she games online. Her two best friends are someone she went to school with that she talks to every couple of [...]

Sherlockians make the best recommendations. I saw this mentioned in a fan group and as soon as I heard the concept, I knew I’d enjoy it. Green Manor is a translated French comic, published by Cinebook Espresso, about an English club in the late 1800s where men gather to talk over vengeance and murder, or even to commit same. It’s a Victorian gentleman’s murder club. The series has two volumes, Assassins and Gentleman and The Inconvenience of Being Dead. (The [...]

The sequel to The Great British Bump-Off, a very British humor mystery comic I very much enjoyed, is now out. The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt is also set among crafters who behave in a very quirky, local, entertaining way. It’s written by John Allison with art by Max Sarin. Amateur detective Shauna Wickle is bidding farewell to a group of friends before setting off on a slow summer holiday on her uncle’s canal boat. (The group of [...]

I wrote two posts about the British A Ghost Story for Christmas short TV film series for the Beat (because Heidi indulges me). The first is a brief overview of the history of A Ghost Story for Christmas. The second is about this year’s entry, The Room in the Tower, which I got to see earlier this month at the BFI preview showing, and I thought was the best yet.

Well, this justified staying on that crowdfunding mailing list, I guess. I have been notified that a new Sherlock Holmes comic called Holmes Undead is in the works. It’s created by “career martial artist and former professional wrestler Casus Belli”, written by Thomas Pugh, and illustrated by Virgilio Calgagno. In Holmes Undead, the vampire Moriarty bit Holmes, and now, in the modern day, the immortal detective works with Gionne Watson, descendent of John, in a story billed as “blood-soaked… gothic [...]

I love comics. I love Mycroft Holmes. There is only one comic starring Mycroft, and you’d think I’d enjoy the combination. However, Mycroft Holmes and The Apocalypse Handbook is terrible. People ask me, whenever it comes up, why I think this, and I become incoherent. I don’t like the plot, the art, the characters, the storytelling, the cliches… So this piece is a way to finally lay out why it’s so disappointing. The comic, published in 2017, is a tie-in [...]

I can’t read Nero Wolfe mysteries, because of Archie Goodwin. But not for the reason you may think. I belong to an historical mystery book club, reading classics of the Golden Age. We tried our first Nero Wolfe last year, And Be a Villain, because someone wanted to read the one with “Wolfe’s Moriarty”, Arnold Zeck. I know several Sherlockians who are Wolfe Pack members, and I’ve been exposed to the theory that the detective is Mycroftian (a favorite character [...]

I’ve talked before about the Mini Mysteries series of kids’ picture books — the first two featured Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Mystery of the Blue Train. Now comes the third, with a new detective. It’s The Secret of the Old Clock: A Nancy Drew Detective Story, written by Marci Kay Monson (who also wrote the previous two) and illustrated by Ryan Wheatcroft. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Nancy Drew, but Wikipedia tells [...]

Last week, Ngozi Ukazu revealed on socials that Check, Please!: Year Five, a brand new volume of Check, Please! will be serialized in 2026. With the popularity of MM hockey romance, driven by Heated Rivalry, this is perfect timing, and there’s clearly an audience for it. The strip is charming. The first collection of the webcomic came out in 2018, and I had the pleasure of chatting with Ukazu at this year’s Small Press Expo. You can view that panel [...]

I will be presenting on “The Superhero Sherlock”, discussing whether Sherlock Holmes is a superhero and showing some of his encounters with the more traditional comic types, in Chicago on March 28 at 6:30 PM. It’s at the quarterly meeting of the Torists International, which requires a reservation and payment for the dinner at the Great Escape restaurant (9540 Irving Park Road, Schiller Park, Illinois). Email toristintss@gmail.com for more information, or PayPal that address $40 to attend ($35 if it’s [...]