Comics Worth Reading

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library

Johanna — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:27:30 +0000

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library is an adorable modern cozy with a strong sense of history. Tory Van Dyne is part of a rich New York family. Due to past trauma, her life has become small — she lives in a family home in Manhattan and restores old books. Don’t feel too sorry for her, though, because that building, thanks to her eccentric grandmother, also includes a perfect recreation of Agatha Christie’s home library, including the books she [...]

Detective Manga: Sherlock Holmes, Don’t Call It Mystery, Detectives These Days Are Crazy!, My Dear Detective

Johanna — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:52:36 +0000

An overview of some mystery manga titles. Let’s start with the original detective. Manga Classics: Sherlock Holmes – A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Crystal S. Chan, art by Julien Choy Manga Classics, $19.99 The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes is presented in full color. The storytelling and language are authentic, although the characters are drawn in manga style, with outrageous hair (Sherlock has a ponytail!) and dramatic outfits (including a bare-chested Holmes at breakfast!). There [...]

The Superhero Sherlock: A Presentation in Chicago

Johanna — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:15:25 +0000

I will be presenting on “The Superhero Sherlock”, discussing whether Sherlock Holmes is a superhero and showing some of his encounters with the more traditional comic types, in Chicago on March 28 at 6:30 PM. It’s at the quarterly meeting of the Torists International, which requires a reservation and payment for the dinner at the Great Escape restaurant (9540 Irving Park Road, Schiller Park, Illinois). Email [email protected] for more information, or PayPal that address $40 to attend ($35 if it’s [...]

Drops of God: Mariage Volume 11

Johanna — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 19:39:55 +0000

I’d given up on The Drops of God manga series by Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto long before it concluded. I was glad to see Kodansha released it all digitally, but there was a lot of it, and it was substantially similar in structure, the amount of it I read. I came back to the sequel series, Drops of God: Mariage, because it has a twist I’m more interested in: pairing wine with food, the “marriage” of the two. I’m [...]

Wash It All Away

Johanna — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:46:54 +0000

I found out about Wash It All Away by Mitsuru Hattori via The Manga Test Drive (an excellent review site). It’s about a young woman who runs a clenaners/laundry in a small seaside town known for its hot springs. That’s significant because, while I enjoyed the low-key, slow-paced, community feel — and the bits about cleaning techniques were interesting — we weren’t allowed to forget about the bathhouses because it’s apparently important to the series that we see our young [...]

Creaky Acres

Johanna — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:13:03 +0000

In Creaky Acres, by Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder, Nora is upset at having to move. She’ll miss her riding lessons and her friends at the barn where she boards her horse. She’s a dressage champion, but her parents are moving her out to the country, where things are a bit more casual. And they don’t care much about competition events. The new riding school, Creaky Acres, has possums everywhere and a ragtag group of riders. Nora doesn’t fit in, [...]

Check, Please! to Return With New Material; Interview with Ngozi Ukazu

Johanna — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 23:44:32 +0000

Last week, Ngozi Ukazu revealed on socials that Check, Please!: Year Five, a brand new volume of Check, Please! will be serialized in 2026. With the popularity of MM hockey romance, driven by Heated Rivalry, this is perfect timing, and there’s clearly an audience for it. The strip is charming. The first collection of the webcomic came out in 2018, and I had the pleasure of chatting with Ukazu at this year’s Small Press Expo. You can view that panel [...]

New Sherlock Holmes/Moriarty Comic Crowdfunding

Johanna — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 22:54:55 +0000

Well, this justified staying on that crowdfunding mailing list, I guess. I have been notified that a new Sherlock Holmes comic called Holmes Undead is in the works. It’s created by “career martial artist and former professional wrestler Casus Belli”, written by Thomas Pugh, and illustrated by Virgilio Calgagno. In Holmes Undead, the vampire Moriarty bit Holmes, and now, in the modern day, the immortal detective works with Gionne Watson, descendent of John, in a story billed as “blood-soaked… gothic [...]

A Ghost Story for Christmas

Johanna — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 14:42:16 +0000

I wrote two posts about the British A Ghost Story for Christmas short TV film series for the Beat (because Heidi indulges me). The first is a brief overview of the history of A Ghost Story for Christmas. The second is about this year’s entry, The Room in the Tower, which I got to see earlier this month at the BFI preview showing, and I thought was the best yet.

The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt

Johanna — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 02:31:27 +0000

The sequel to The Great British Bump-Off, a very British humor mystery comic I very much enjoyed, is now out. The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt is also set among crafters who behave in a very quirky, local, entertaining way. It’s written by John Allison with art by Max Sarin. Amateur detective Shauna Wickle is bidding farewell to a group of friends before setting off on a slow summer holiday on her uncle’s canal boat. (The group of [...]

Upcoming Sheep Detectives Looks Hilarious

Johanna — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:56:39 +0000

I just found out about a movie coming out in May that I’m highly anticipating for the following reasons: It’s a murder mystery With Hugh Jackman And an impressive cast, including Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, and Rhys Darby But best of all… talking sheep. Here’s the trailer. And the plot description: George (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can’t [...]

More Enola Holmes Graphic Novels Coming

Johanna — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 21:13:21 +0000

The first six Enola Holmes novels were turned into comics and collected in two graphic novel volumes a few years ago. Now, with the third movie due out next year, comes news that there will be a third comic collection! Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels Volume 3 will collect three stories: The Case of the Black Barouche, The Case of the Elegant Escapade (I liked reading that novel!), and The Case of the Mark of the Mongoose. Art is by [...]

Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business

Johanna — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 02:00:45 +0000

When it comes to mysteries, I’m much more interested in the cozies (from the English tradition, Agatha Christie and the like, puzzles in artificial yet attractive settings) than the American hard-boileds, which brought their own mannered “realism” into the genre. I’m interested, though, in understanding the appeal, particularly when it comes to some of the classic authors, such as the one who created this story. Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business is adapted by Arvind Ethan David and illustrated by [...]

Manga Classics: Sherlock Holmes – A Study in Scarlet

Johanna — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:30:37 +0000

The Manga Classics line has released its first full-color title, and it’s one dear to my heart, as it’s the first Sherlock Holmes story. Manga Classics: Sherlock Holmes – A Study in Scarlet, originally written by Arthur Conan Doyle, is adapted by Crystal S. Chan and illustrated by Julien Choy. It’s faithful to the source material, with authentic language and setting, although the characters are, obviously, manga-styled. Sherlock Holmes’ wild hair, as seen on the cover, is often in a [...]

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Mini Mysteries)

Johanna — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 19:50:35 +0000

The Mini Mysteries line continues with the second book. (The first was The Mysterious Affair at Styles.) As before, this children’s book is written by Marci Kay Monson and illustrated by Greg Paprocki based on the original novel by Agatha Christie. The Mystery of the Blue Train was Christie’s eighth novel and the fifth featuring Hercule Poirot. Why the jump ahead? At a guess, because the in-between books were The Murder on the Links — too historical in the plot, [...]

Mycroft Holmes and The Apocalypse Handbook

Johanna — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 01:38:36 +0000

I love comics. I love Mycroft Holmes. There is only one comic starring Mycroft, and you’d think I’d enjoy the combination. However, Mycroft Holmes and The Apocalypse Handbook is terrible. People ask me, whenever it comes up, why I think this, and I become incoherent. I don’t like the plot, the art, the characters, the storytelling, the cliches… So this piece is a way to finally lay out why it’s so disappointing. The comic, published in 2017, is a tie-in [...]