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Articles by Comics MNT
I MADE AI WRITE THIS ESSAY — Thoughts About Art, Capital, AI, and A Review of "This One Summer" by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki - SOLRAD
The problem with the world is everything. Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days. Large technology companies have been releasing a collection of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that amalgamate art from a wide variety of sources and use it to create an artistic median for the written prompt given to it. There are a lot of these, including DALL•E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, and, at this point, it seems hard to know which of them is most popular.
The Tide Flows Both Ways: Alex Hoffman reviews MAMO by Sas Milledge
In 2022, my dear friend, and the publisher of SOLRAD, wrote a micro-review about Sas Milledge’s MAMO, a five-issue miniseries published by BOOM! Comics under their BOOM! Box imprint. The series ran in serialized form in 2021 and was collected in April 2022. In the series, hedge witch Orla O’Reilly returns home to the coastal town of Haresden after the death of her grandmother, Mamo.
An Ode to Gottfredson and Gwarsh - Alex Hoffman Reviews MICKEY MOUSE: ZOMBIE COFFEE by Régis Loisel
Even though we’re fully past the holiday season, I find myself still reflecting on it (and the books that are regularly a part of it). I’m a devout Christian, but I struggle with Christmas every year. It should be a time of celebration, but I often find myself dreading it. I dislike the modernity of it, and the commercialized sheen of it, and try to avoid that as much as possible, which makes me a regular Scrooge in the Hoffman household.
The First Strike of Fate’s Hammer: Alex Hoffman Reviews GOLDEN BOY: BEETHOVEN’S YOUTH by Mikael Ross
I have a relationship with Ludwig van Beethoven that is as nearly as old as I am. When I was little, I was taught piano by my grandmother, whose love for music made me the person I am today. Beethoven’s music, specifically a simplified version of his Symphony No. 9, was the first piece I ever played by ear. I was playing the work of Beethoven before I could read.
Our Latest Book: I Thought You Loved Me by MariNaomi — Now on Crowdfundr - SOLRAD
Hi friends – this is Alex Hoffman, SOLRAD’s publisher. This weekend, we’ll be heading out to the Small Press Expo in North Bethesda to debut Clutter by Ariel Bordeaux, and our Spring/Summer 2022 season. But, if five new books wasn’t enough, we’re happy to announce a brand new title, coming in Febraury 2023.
Art Spiegelman's MAUS: Canon, Appropriation, Transgressions, and the Red Room
anti-Semitism, Art Spiegelman, ed piskor, fantagraphics, jim rugg, Maus, red room 1 Author’s note: Oliver Ristau wrote a piece critical of Red Room: Trigger Warnings #3 and its parody cover of Maus, and that piece got me thinking about the legacy of Maus and the ways that it has been criticized and appropriated in the past. This essay is partly inspired and partly in response to that piece. Enjoy.
We've Launched Our Spring/Summer Season and We Need Your Help!
Hi friends – this is Alex Hoffman, SOLRAD’s publisher. Hopefully you are all doing well.
From the Publisher: A Fundraising Plea
Let me (briefly) interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a brief call for help. Specifically, we need your help raising funds to keep SOLRAD running. There are multiple ways you can help: Make a one-time donation to keep SOLRAD running on Donate.ly Partner with us financially through Patreon When Daniel Elkin, Rob Clough, Ryan Carey, and I launched this magazine in 2020, we had expectations about what it would be and how it would do.
Critical Conversations: Alex Hoffman and Daniel Elkin Discuss IT HURTS UNTIL IT DOESN’T By Lanei Kasir
Content Warning: This conversation will discuss themes of It Hurts Until It Doesn’t, which include neglect, abuse, trauma, and suicidal ideation. Over the last year, I’ve taken a much greater interest in graphic medicine, comics that tell stories of illness and health. Perhaps this is because of my professional work in primary care, and perhaps it’s because of the rawness of these works.
The Sensation of Grief: Alex Hoffman Reviews Vessel by Lily Thu Fierro and Generoso Fierro
Kim is undergoing a procedure. It’s a risky one, an experimental one. If it goes well… something happens. But if it doesn’t? Her blood vessels slowly thicken until she dies. This is the opening salvo of Lily and Generoso Fierro’s self-published Vessel, a comic that defies the expectations of linear narrative at every turn. If anything should be said at the outset of this review, it is that reading Vessel is a lesson in disorientation. There is the beginning of the narrative: the study, the test.
Critical Conversations: Daniel Elkin and Alex Hoffman Discuss NO ONE ELSE by R. Kikuo Johnson
In late 2021, Fantagraphics published R. Kikuo Johnson’s third graphic novel, NO ONE ELSE, a slim volume that details the lives of a family from Hawai’i which becomes unsettled with a tragic fall. Johnson is well known for his commercial illustration work, and this release harnesses the tight compositions of his celebrated New Yorker covers with a two-toned tale of grief, family dysfunction, and reconciliation.
Push It Down the Chute: Alex Hoffman Reviews FACTORY SUMMERS by Guy Delisle
I’ve never worked in a factory, and I’m not sure that at this point in my life I ever will. But there’s something universal about Guy Delisle’s latest book, Factory Summers, published by Drawn and Quarterly in 2021. Originally published as Chroniques de Jeunesse (“Chronicles of Youth”), Factory Summers is about Delisle’s work in the Stadacona Mill in Quebec City on his summer breaks as an art student. The summer job is an institution of Western society; most young adults get one or at least try to.
This Month @ SOLRAD: February 2022
covid-19, Ed Haynes, this month @ solrad 0 Happy February, SOLRADers, and happy Lunar New Year! I hope you have been staying safe and well during the last few months. According to Punxsutawney Phil, we’ve got another 6 weeks of winter on the way in the northern hemisphere, and here in the heartland, we’ve been getting pounded by freezing rain and snow. It’s nice for a few weeks, but it gets old after a while. I’m ready to see the sun again.
This Month @ SOLRAD: January 2022
from the publisher, solrad, solrad presents 0 Happy New Year, dear reader, from all of us here at SOLRAD! SOLRAD is officially two years old as of this week, and despite launching in the era of COVID-19, we’re pretty proud of how far the magazine has come over those two years. We took a short break to finish out the holiday season in December, and hopefully, we find you all refreshed and ready for a new year.
Alex Hoffman Interviews Creators & Publisher of š! #43 'Queer Power'
Interview, kuš! comics, queer power, video 0 SOLRAD’s publisher, Alex Hoffman, sits down with a selection of contributors to kuš! comics latest anthology, š! #43 ‘Queer Power’, as well as kuš! comics’ publisher, David Schilter for a wide-reaching interview. You can get a copy of š! #43 ‘Queer Power’ at the kuš! web store or at fine distributors and comic shops near you.
The Once and Future Climate Crisis: Alex Hoffman Reviews LURE by Lane Milburn
Put yourself into the following hypothetical scenario: what if, instead of the barren ball of dusty rock that the Earth has for a moon, we had a strange but gorgeous water world? To help you think about the prospects, let’s say that this hypothetical water world is completely habitable, given the appropriate infrastructure — it has a breathable atmosphere, a gravity similar to that on Earth, and it can support life.
Haute Cuisine Served on a Bed of Greed: Alex Hoffman Reviews THE DELICACY by James Albon
The American dream is to strike it big, right? We can all fool ourselves by saying that “people just want a better life for their kids than they had,” but what people really want, what they really really want, is to win the lottery. Case in point – how many people have you heard talking about NFTs and cryptocurrency recently? The get-rich-quick dream is a seemingly indelible part of human nature.
Launching Today: The New Fieldmouse Press Website!
book publishing, fieldmouse press, website 0 Today we interrupt your regularly scheduled criticism, comics, and other programming to tell you that we’ve launched the new home for Fieldmouse Press on the web. This redesign has been a long time coming, and we think that it will support our efforts as Fieldmouse Press moves further into the book publishing arena over the next few years.
If Only Just for You I Did Exist — Alex Hoffman Reviews YOUTH by Curt Pires, Alex Diotto, Dee Cunniffe, and Micah Myers - SOLRAD
With one look at the trade paperback of Youth by Curt Pires, Alex Diotto, Dee Cunniffe, and Micah Myers, you could be fooled into thinking that Dark Horse is getting into the universe-building game (again). I rarely find myself gravitating towards a book that “redefines the teen superhero story,” as promised by an errant blurb on the back cover, but I’m a sucker for good cover art.
This Month @ SOLRAD: August 2021
clutter, covid-19, shortbox 0 The month of July has been an exciting one for the crew at SOLRAD. Our mothership, Fieldmouse Press, launched its first Kickstarter campaign to publish Clutter by Ariel Bordeaux, and with about a week left, we’re fully funded. That’s an exciting piece of news, and if you haven’t backed the campaign yet, I’d like to invite you to check it out. Since I’m the Treasurer of Fieldmouse Press (yes, I get to wear a lot of hats) I’m available for any questions you might have.
Fieldmouse Press
ariel bordeaux, clutter, fieldmouse press, kickstarter 0 Hey there! This is Alex Hoffman, the publisher of SOLRAD. I have some big news to share. After months of behind-the-scenes work by the folks at Fieldmouse Press, our parent press, we’re happy to say that we are publishing our first book! Fieldmouse Press is working with Ariel Bordeaux, the creator of Deep Girl, No Love Lost, and Raisin Pie to publish her new graphic memoir, Clutter: A Scatterbrained Sexual Assault Memoir through Kickstarter.
Confusing Camp for Comedy: Alex Hoffman Reviews MARTIAN GHOST CENTAUR by Mat Heagerty and Steph Mided
martian ghost centuar, mat heagerty, oni press, steph mided 0 Sometimes, saving your community is about making people think that Sasquatch is real.That’s the gist, anyway, of MARTIAN GHOST CENTAUR, a March 2021 release from Oni Press, written by Mat Heagerty and illustrated and colored by Steph Mided. Quirky weirdo Louie O’Connor is a girl obsessed with the Squatch, since her dads are the ones that captured the thing on tape back in the 90s.
Heathcliff Askew: Neural Nets, Benign Violations, and the Absurdity of the American Dream
Making comics is like baking a cake. You have all of these ingredients (like drawing, inking, writing, lettering, sound effects, colors, and so on) that when used appropriately, can create something that is more than the sum of its parts. Baking a cake means either following a recipe exactly or having an intimate understanding of the interplay between ingredients. If you’re lucky and you don’t have a “bad bake,” the results can be spectacular.
Boop Week, Enemies #12, New Book!
SOLRAD is a nonprofit online literary magazine dedicated to the comics arts. SOLRAD publishes comics criticism, original comics, essays, interviews, and features new, underrepresented, and otherwise marginalized creative voices, in addition to the work of well-established cartoonists, critics, journalists, and authors. SOLRAD is published by Fieldmouse Press, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit press. Find out more about us here.
Enemies of the State #12!
SOLRAD is a nonprofit online literary magazine dedicated to the comics arts. SOLRAD publishes comics criticism, original comics, essays, interviews, and features new, underrepresented, and otherwise marginalized creative voices, in addition to the work of well-established cartoonists, critics, journalists, and authors. SOLRAD is published by Fieldmouse Press, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit press. Find out more about us here.
Burning Bridges and Branches: Alex Hoffman Reviews Sufficient Lucidity by Tommi Parrish
kuš! comics, sufficient lucidity, tommi parrish 0 Despite an ongoing worldwide pandemic, the folks at kuš! put out a massive amount of comics last year. Tommi Parrish’s Sufficient Lucidity (mini kuš! #91) is one of the more notable, both because every new work by Tommi Parrish is something to look forward to, but also because Parrish is one of the few cartoonists who manages to write small stakes interpersonal conflict well.
Publishing During a Pandemic: Alex Hoffman Interviews Kumail Rizvi & Zain Dada from Khidr ComixLab
Over the last 3 months, we’ve made it a point to talk with publishers and cartoonists who have been making comics through the uncertainties of a global pandemic and economic downturn. Through interviews and features, we’ve explored the goals of publishers and cartoonists alike. We’ve solicited these creators for advice and have received sage wisdom from people who have been making comics for decades. But what about the publisher that wants to start something new?
Review: BL Metamorphosis V. 1 by Kaori Tsurutani
The popular notion of manga in the United States is that it’s a subgenre of comics. Manga gets its own section at the library, gets its own shelves at the bookstore, and, as the saying goes, has its own set of adherents. The truth is that manga, alongside the collective output of Scholastic Books, is comics, at least when you consider things from a market and sales perspective.
This Month @ SOLRAD: January 2021
anniversary, from the publisher, solrad 0 It’s hard to believe, but SOLRAD is officially a year old as of January 1st, 2021. I’ve shouted this from every rooftop on every platform that will have me, but SOLRAD has been a success by all metrics. Despite there being a plague going on, we published over 500 reviews, interviews, and comics, had 35K unique readers, and over 100K views. That’s huge! We couldn’t have done this without you, dear reader, so thank you.
Critical Conversations: Alex Hoffman and Ryan Carey Discuss VICTORY POINT by Owen Pomery
In mid-October, the folks at Avery Hill published VICTORY POINT, Owen Pomery’s latest graphic novel. The book follows Ellen, a young woman who returns to her hometown of Victory Point to visit her father. As Ellen sees the familiar sights and runs into people old and new, Pomery uses her experience to explore the idea of home. Often, we have critics who want to review the same books as I do at SOLRAD, and most of the time, they are the ones who review the work.
This Month @ SOLRAD: December 2020
December is upon us, which means we are nearing the first anniversary of SOLRAD’s publication. If I had my ‘druthers, I would have preferred 2020 to be a little lower on the “economic crisis and global pandemic” scale, and higher on the “few beers with friends at a comics show” scale. Still, we’ve had a stellar first year thanks to the contributions of our talented writers and artists. We’re not planning to stop any time soon, and we have a great slate planned for this December.
This Month @ SOLRAD: November 2020
Today is the day – Election Day is here in the United States, and soon we figure out how deep the rabbit hole goes. The time is simultaneously hopeful, scary, and weird, a combination sure to lead to both indigestion and migraines in equal measure. As the publisher of SOLRAD, I’m very pleased with the work we’ve been able to accomplish so far this year. In our first year of publication, we’ve done a massive amount of work, and I think the results speak for themselves.
Good Horror is Smart: Alex Hoffman Revisits THE MAN WHO CAME DOWN THE ATTIC STAIRS by Celine Loup
Author’s Note: A version of this review previously appeared at Sequential State in 2019. With the birth of my second child, and a recent reread of The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs, I decided to revisit the review, and bring it to SOLRAD for publication. Enjoy! There’s something bewitching about this time of year. Late October is when people go out of their way to be scared. In better times, you might go to a movie or a haunted house – this year, it’s scary enough going to the grocery store.
Breaking Rules For Fun and Heroics - Alex Hoffman Reviews MISTER INVINCIBLE by Pascal Jousselin and Laurence Croix
One of the things I love about comics is their unexplained but intuited rules. Panels, gutters, speech bubbles, captions, sound effects — we don’t always think about the rules that they operate under, but we understand those rules because it is the nature of comics to explain themselves visually. Three panels in a row show us the progression of motion and time. A speech bubble shows a person talking in a specific time and place, where a caption gives the sensation of narration over the action.
Exclusive Preview: When I Came Out by Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen from SelfMadeHero
Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen, excerpt, LGBTQ+, selfmadehero, when i came out 0 Today we are excited to share an exclusive preview of one of SelfMadeHero‘s new books titled When I Came Out, by Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen. When I Came Out is based on the author’s own experiences of sexuality, gender identity, and a life-changing decision during middle-age. After ten years of a seemingly happy marriage, Louise feels that something is missing in her life.
SOLRAD + SPX: Communicating Queer Identity Through Fictional Structures
This weekend as a part of Virtual SPX 2020, I moderated two panels. The first was the second live version of our monthly podcast ENEMIES OF THE STATE, and the second was this one, “Communicating Queer Identity Through Fictional Structures.” I had the privilege to talk with three talented cartoonists – Lawrence Lindell, Trung Lê Nguyễn, and Kelsey Wroten (listed in clockwise order starting from the top left of the video below).
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