Last month managed to go a full month w/ my April stack titled 'March'. Bloody brain damage.
King Tiger - Comics' Greatest World: wk. 3 (1994) - written by Mike Richardson & Randy Stradley, and illustrated by Paul Chadwick
Here we go: action comix, wuxia style, by P.C. A thing I had forgotten exists! Brief, but a lovely little fight comic. I coulda gone for a full-length run of this. Didn't know there was a two-issue follow-up in '96... At any rate. If there's a single drawback in this ish, it's how Chadwick never clearly renders the tats on K.T.'s wrists. Not that it matters. Just curious. The binding magic circle King Tiger draws in this ish is fab. Grant Morrison browsed these, I feel like. What my parents' generation useta call eyeball kicks... A wild li'l 16-pager.
The World Below (1998) - written & illustrated by Paul Chadwick
Never read, this is yet another entry in the scintillating saga of ebay orders which turfed out because the seller misplaced the item. Seems to be happening with Chadwick, lately. Still haven't gotten my DHP #18. At any rate teething to read these. This is a placeholder.
The Autumn Kingdom, vol. 1 (2025) - written by Cullen Bunn & illustrated by Christopher Mitten
Freshly arrived at the shelves of the Edgewater branch of Chi's library system. Random selection on the strength of the title / cover design. Should have browsed it first. Not enchanted by the narrative choices: fantasy author father's kids discover the occult "truth" about themselves & how they relate to their father's fiction. Namely, they relate to it with big silly swords and friction-free battles with Mignolaesque monsters. (Apparently Christopher Mitten was a BPRD artist?) I didn't properly read so I sha'n't be cruel. This book was not for me. Returned.
Bowling With Corpses & Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown (2025) - written & illustrated by Mike Mignola (& coloured by Dave Stewart!)
Not done here, but completed the titular tale. 'Bowling With Corpses' is the first Mignola comic I've enjoyed w/out reservation since 'The Screw-On Head'. Absolute joy. Thanks for un-retiring, Mike!
I suppose it bears saying, but I tapped out of Hellboy & BPRD when the big art changes began. I didn't want to read anybody else doing the main Hellboy tales. Obviously I've gone back since & done the Corben stuff-- a major oversight, on my part --and I've read the first half of 'Hellboy In Hell'. Hard to see such lovely art and admit I aged out of the character, but I suppose it was inevitable. Hellboy began printing when I was in high school, for chrissakes. BPRD became an ongoing when I first landed in Atlanta! Some stories age like dandelion wine: certain ongoing comix do not.
All of which to explain: the commercial success of HB was what killed the comic, for me. Mignola felt unable to provide interior art on a schedule commensurate with the franchise expansion, so he stepped away and gave the book to Fegrado for a bit. Which was bad enough, as the existence of the book, its very foundations, were in Mignola's ability to enjoy the medium. He became super OCD about his own polish, after the movie-linked sales surges. And, to be honest? I didn't want to see Fegrado aping Mignola-- I need Fegrado to be Fegrado. As for BPRD, the title ran off Guy Davis-- speaking of artists I've been following since high school. A franchise can't frustrate its primary visual creators and stay gold, in my experience. So I dipped on everything.
But selah to all that. Bowling With Corpses is a fresh start, for me & Mignola's thing, that magic he's been pulling off since the Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser adaptations with Chaykin. For me, that's when Mignola's aesthetic clicked. Man's had me hooked ever since. This new thing is the purest distillation of the creative ecstasy Mike expresses via his deeply atmospheric pacing. Nobody draws skulls, clocks and mounds of dusty manuscripts like ya boy!
Buff Soul (2022) - written & illustrated by Moa Romanova
Not yet read. A library pick purely based on aesthetics. Decadent!!! Can't wait to get into it.
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