My Year in Writing: 2015
My writing on comics in 2015 appeared at Hyperallergic, in the Chicago Reader, the Washington City Paper, and here at my site. (See more clips here.)
THE CHICAGO READER
At the Chicago Reader this year, I wrote both long and shorter pieces for the paper's "Lit & Lectures" section and for its blog.
My short review of Jillian Tamaki's big print collection of webcomics SuperMutant Magic Academy ran in the paper's print edition in June, but for the online component, I wrote a longer piece that touched on her contribution to the Frontier series and her work on recent graphic novel This One Summer.
In November, I previewed a panel at the Chicago Architecture Biennial on the intersection of comics and architecture. For that story, which ended up on the cover, I spoke with comics creators Edie Fake and Keiler Roberts as well as with CAKE's Brian Cremins.
In July, Sophie Goldstein visited Quimby's in Chicago. I wrote about her Ignatz Award-winning graphic novel The Oven.
My long piece on the first volume of Congressman John Lewis's graphic memoir ran in the Reader in 2013. I wrote about the second volume, March: Book Two, in March of 2015.
HYPERALLERGIC
For online arts magazine Hyperallergic, I am happy to have contributed comics criticism for the second consecutive year. I wrote back in April about Hollywood's "Studio System" and the start of a comic series called The Fade-Out, which is set to end with its twelfth issue.
In June I wrote about a graphic novel from brothers Asaf and Tomer Hanuka called The Divine as well as a collection of strips called The Realist from the former.
My discussion of two new comics memoirs -- one from Dean Haspiel and one from Meags Fitzgerald -- went online in November.
Before that, I wrote a long piece about the plight of Vietnamese "boat people" and Sydney-born, NYC-based artist Matt Huynh's interactive comic adaptation of a Nam Le story called "The Boat."
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
I contributed for the first time to the wonderful books section at the Washington City Paper this year. I feel lucky to have had a pitch accepted on New Zealand comics creator Dylan Horrocks -- I hoped to not just dig into his new graphic novel Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen from Fantagraphics, but to also look at how this is about a bit more than the travels of a time- and planet-hopping cartoonist.
MINOR AT HEART (my blog thing)
I definitely wrote more in 2014 at my site than I did this year, but a few things went up over the course of 2015. Some quick picks:
In January, I wrote about the massive coffee table treasury of comics art from Abrams called The Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio. Not long after that, and I wrote about new comics journalism from NYC-based reporter/comics creator Jess Ruliffson in February.
Also in the spring, I wrote about UK comics creator and illustrator Jon McNaught -- specifically, about some of his editorial work as well as his contributions to Nobrow 9. I liked NYC School of Visual Arts graduate Jenny Goldstick's masters thesis project, and I wrote about that and some other comics in August.
I posted something on pre-Comics Code horror comics -- specifically, the work of Howard Nostrand and The Vault of Horror. And EVEN MORE HORROR -- on the bookish, NYC-centric roots of Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows's Providence as well as INJ Culbard's The King in Yellow adaptation.
Lastly, some thoughts on Adrian Tomine's comics and his New Yorker work.
Image © 2014 Jillian Tamaki for This One Summer. Chicago Reader cover art © 2012 Edie Fake. Image © 2015 Nate Powell for March: Book Two. Image © 2015 Asaf and Tomer Hanuka for The Divine. Image © 2015 Adrian Tomine for Killing and Dying.