MFR Newsletter 12/20/2020 — Jingle bells, Batman... ah, you know the rest
Happy holidays, comic book fans! EIC Anthony here once again to provide you with comic book chatter and fill you with cheer.
(If you’ve never read Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s KLAUS, you are missing out on some seriously great comics.)
All of us at MFR want to wish all of you out there in internetland a very happy and safe holiday, and we also want to thank you for all of your incredible support this year. 2020 was a rough one. The comics industry was rocked to its core, from the creators, to the retailers, all the way down to us reviewers and journalists, and we were all pushed to adapt to survive. On our end, MFR grew our coverage beyond traditional reviews, ran two successful Kickstarter campaigns, revamped this lovely newsletter, and just generally worked to improve the quality and depth of our writing.
And the reason we were able to do all of that is because you all continue to read our stuff and back our projects.
It seems somewhat trivial to talk about this stuff with all of the heartache and pain that 2020 has brought, but, in a year like this, it’s important to celebrate the little joys and victories when they come your way. Our hearts go out to those of you who have been personally affected by this pandemic. Again, we thank you for giving our team something to focus our energies on during such a tough year, and we hope that we’ve been able to provide you with some sort of escapism as well.
I’m going to try and get another newsletter out before the New Year, but if I don’t, I will see you all in 2021 :)
Review: TAARNA #1 And The Answer To Cosmic Chaos
Stephanie Phillips and Patrick Zircher brought back Heavy Metal’s flagship character this week, and Justin Munday took a look at the first issue, calling it “an epic flight across the stars.”
Jessica Kholinne’s colors are off the chart in this book, making Thor: Ragnarok look like a black-and-white movie.
Review: THE COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF ANIMATION #1
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey are tackling the history of animation in this new five-issue miniseries, and making it super accessible as well as interesting and informative. As an animation fan and a comics fan, I found it a great read, and I agree with most everything Darryll Robson has to say about it in his review.
Review: RECKLESS Aims For Perfect, But Settles For Mind-Blowing
Zac Owens reviews RECKLESS, the new graphic novel from Brubaker and Phillips and calls it “mind-blowing” which, I mean, of course it is, but it’s nice to have Zac’s official confirmation.
Interview: Tom Scioli on Process, Princess and His New Patreon Account
Manny Gomez has a great chat with Tom Scioli about the cartoonist’s latest projects, his new Patreon, and his views on the current state of comics.
Review: MOUNTAINHEAD VOL. 1 Will Keep You Awake At Night
AJ O. Mason took a look at MOUNTAINHEAD Volume 1, which will be out in January, and gives it the highest praise you can give a horror comic. It’s scary. It’s emotional. It hits you where you live.
What am I reading?
I read Michael Walsh’s THE SLEEP STORIES this week and it sent a literal chill down my spine. It’s a series of black and white vignettes based on Walsh’s own nightmares, and it is FRIGHTENING reading. You can read my full review here, but—in short—I dug the hell out of it.
It’s told in a “stream of consciousness” kind of way, one sleep story directly after another without any chapter breaks or markers, which makes you feel almost trapped in this series of nightmares. It’s all very poetic, both in its presentation and in the actual writing itself.
Walsh may be drawing from his own nightmares, but these sleep stories are ones that we all can relate to, and that’s what makes this series so impactful. Who hasn’t seen a shadow shift in a dark corner, or held their breath as they walked to the bathroom in the middle of the night? The Corner Man will forever haunt my hallways and keep me from drinking water right before bed.
You can read THE SLEEP STORIES in its original webcomic format here, or you can check out Walsh’s Kickstarter (which includes an all-new five-page sleep story) here.
Just maybe don’t read it right before bed. Or do. I don’t control you.
COMIC STRIP • TALES OF MFR #78
GET TO DA CHOPPA!!!
Catch up on the series here: TALES OF MFR
The war between monkeys and robots has raged on for eons; these are the stories that have survived. With art by Jamie Jones and the occasional words by Matt Sardo, Tales of MFR hits the web every Sunday.
For more reviews, interviews, and “Legends of the Longbox”, head over to the website to see what the team’s been working on this week:
That’s all for now! Remember: Darkseid is… but so are we.
Until next week,
Anthony Composto
@The_Great_Ace
@monkeys_robots
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