Alex de Campi

If you come to [book: Archie vs Predator] expecting gratuitous gore and spine ripping decapitations, an absurd body count, and the perverse pleasure of watching Archie, Betty, and Veronica trembling in fear for their very lives - you've found the perfect book. If you're expecting something plot-heavy and soul-searching, you've gotta look elsewhere.

The body count rises and the PTSD sets in. I was pleasantly surprised by this entry in the series, as it actually brought some depth to Dilton's show more character and the hilariously meta comment that everything is about Archie. In this volume we get a robot fight against Predator, more deaths, more self-aware teenagers doing the smart thing and fleeing, and the all important question: shouldn't we just let Veronica die?

I'm enjoying laughing along with these books even if they're ultimately nothing special. They're the b-movie of comics, and the deliver just that sort of guilty pleasure and grinning self-awareness that I want. I'm glad this series exists, and I'm honestly hoping to read a bit more of the current Archie titles in the near future. They're fun stuff. show less

Probably one of the sharpest, most savage and on-the-nose comics out there at the moment, also the most firmly grounded - its horrors feel real and mundane, from a bus plunging off a mountain road to a pack of coyotes attracted by the smell of dead bodies to someone taking a drink downriver from a pair of rotting buffalo carcasses, and all the more unmanageable and difficult to overcome because of that. A mixed group of US students on a trip to remote village in South America to build homes show more and a school as part of an pre-freshman programme for Princeton. They're varying degrees of rich and pampered, but when their bus crashes far from help they have to become survivors. Nearly every decision, smart or stupid, makes things worse, and the presence of a large quantity of drugs on the bus and rumours of political unrest and bandidos in the hills suggests that many of their perils won't be just of the order of hungry animals and steep cliffs.

It's a brilliantly brutal thriller, initially cartoony and colourful, later dark and sinister and desperate. The bus crash is only going to be the start of their troubles. Congratulations De Campi and McNeil. You've brought genuinely sickening tensions and suspense to comics in a way I haven't seen before. show less

TRUE WAR STORIES is not the sort of book I normally read, but wow it's a beautiful book - almost a "coffee table" kinda creation, printed on heavy, glossy stock, and it probably weighs a couple of pounds. The cover art is eye-catching with its desert camo color scheme, and the art inside the book is all startling in its detail and mood-setting shades and colors. The odd thing, for me, is that this is a COMIC BOOK! But a beautiful comic book, one to handle with care. The settings of the show more fifteen stories here range from the Vietnam war era to the present day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a couple side trips into Haiti and the Philippines. Some are deadly serious in their depictions of seriously injured men, post-service PTSD, two half-brothers meeting in a war zone, and even the trials of a transgender airman. But some are less so, such as one unit's attempts to rid their supply room of rats who are plundering their favorite cookies, or an inflatable sex toy that requires all hands on deck. I only recognized a couple of the contributors here - Randy Brown (aka Charlie Sherpa), who writes a couple of service-related blogs and has published a fine poetry collection, WELCOME TO FOB HAIKU; and Brandon Davis Jennings, whose books, BATTLE RATTLE and OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM IS MY FAULT, I enjoyed tremendously. In fact, the latter's piece here, "Airman Jennings the Impaler," is perhaps the funniest one in the whole collection, with its not-very-subtle parody of classic comics like "Captain America" or "Blackhawk." I was gonna give TRUE WAR STORIES only four stars, because comics just aren't really my thing. But hey, as a graphic collection of stories about war and the military and all the great art and the gorgeous presentation, this is simply a first-class production. And my hat is off to its editors, Alex de Campi and Khai Krumbhaar. And kudos to all the storytellers and artists involved. So, five stars. And to anyone who collects graphic novels or graphic-art comics, or whatever you call this kind of stuff, my highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA show less

Parasocial is a twisted, psychological thriller with some incisive observations about current fandom culture, the nature of fame, and of course, prosocial relationships. On first glance it’s easy to see this graphic novel as simply a millennial update to Stephen King’s Misery, an observation that while neat and concise, fails to capture the ways Parasocial is another animal all together. The nature of being famous and of being a fan has changed radically since Stephen King’s day, with show more social media, smart phones, and conventions, the modern fan girl has possibilities Annie Wilkes could only have dreamed of. What all this access serves to do is seemingly heighten a cycle of exploitation between star and fan and it is that cycle that Parasocial explores so well. The characters are solid and well written and the art style helps make this brief story feel impactful and dramatic far in excess of its limited page count.

Without giving away any spoilers I will say this graphic novel was gripping, taught, and intelligently written from start to finish; interspersed with moments of genuine humor and heart it is a dark story about what happens when celebrities try to cultivate a personal relationship with their fans and one of those fans takes that relationship far too literally. show less