jamessmart
Your Wish Is My Command by Deena Mohamed review – a spellbinding fantasy from Egypt
The young author’s debut graphic novel brings magic to modern Cairo in an imaginative story of grief, faith and urban life
James Smart
28, Jan, 2023 @7:30 AM
The best comics and graphic novels of 2022
A pandemic stream-of‑consciousness, an artist in the making and a bird society on the moon are among this year’s favourites
James Smart
03, Dec, 2022 @9:00 AM
Ducks by Kate Beaton review – powerful big oil memoir
The cartoonist mines her time working in Canada’s oil fields to paint an angry and humane picture of the destructiveness of humankind
James Smart
06, Oct, 2022 @8:00 AM
Alison by Lizzy Stewart review – the making of an artist
The scrapbook approach of this lively graphic novel vividly captures Alison’s journey from uncertain teenager to successful modern-day artist
James Smart
16, Jul, 2022 @6:30 AM
Villager by Tom Cox review – a glorious ramble
A paean to people and nature in a fictional moorland village, from prehistory to 2099
James Smart
01, Jun, 2022 @10:00 AM
The Whale Tattoo by Jon Ransom review – a powerful new voice of gay working-class life
A Norfolk fishing town is the setting for this heartfelt debut exploring trauma, forgiveness and revenge
James Smart
23, Mar, 2022 @11:00 AM
Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy review – belonging and betrayal
A child of the elite crosses the divide from east to west, in this atmospheric and gloriously vivid novel
James Smart
18, Feb, 2022 @7:30 AM
The Raptures by Jan Carson review – visions in a Northern Irish village
This story of a haunted young girl is an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, a dark supernatural mystery and an account of mass trauma
James Smart
08, Jan, 2022 @7:30 AM
Best comics and graphic novels of 2021
Alison Bechdel on her exercise obsession and a spectacular cold war epic from Marvel veteran Barry Windsor-Smith are among this year’s finest
James Smart
07, Dec, 2021 @3:00 PM
What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky review – a tonic in troubled times
Worldly woes come to a small village in this German bestseller sprinkled with fairytale magic
James Smart
25, Aug, 2021 @11:00 AM
In. by Will McPhail review – only connect
The cartoonist’s debut graphic novel is a fresh and moving account of a withdrawn young man waking up to the world
James Smart
24, Jun, 2021 @8:00 AM
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith – a great, grim slab of postwar angst
This long-awaited epic makes superhuman strength an unsettling backdrop to family drama
James Smart
06, May, 2021 @6:30 AM
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