Shelf Abuse

Storytelling, comic books and self-publishing

Tag: small press

  • The Tumor Graphic Novel Review

    The Tumor Graphic Novel Review

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    2008 Written and illustrated by: Ben Jelter Dejected underachiever Greg lives alone, routinely belittled by his mother and working a dead-end job. Seemingly Greg’s predicament could not get any worse when he discovers a rapidly expanding tumour on his neck. However, the tumour soon detaches itself from him and begins to grow and assume the…

  • Interview with Death Falcon Zero Co-writer Daniel Boyd

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    I recently spoke with Daniel Boyd, co-author of the illustrated novel Death Falcon Zero vs. The Zombie Slug Lords. Daniel is both an acclaimed filmmaker and film professor at West Virginia State University, who several years ago entered pro wrestling at the ripe age of 48. His wrestling alter ego, Professor Danger, appears in the…

  • The Tumor by Ben Jelter Preview

    The Tumor by Ben Jelter Preview

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    My piscine attention span has today been directed towards to The Tumor, a self-published graphic novel by illustrator Ben Jelter, described as “a surreal graphic novel about a lonely man named Greg who grows a tumor that comes to life.” Jelter’s art is undeniably unique, reminding me in places of Francis Bacon and the Gaiman/McKean…

  • Death Falcon Zero vs. The Zombie Slug Lords Preview

    Death Falcon Zero vs. The Zombie Slug Lords Preview

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    “The Living Dead and the Deadly Living Clash on Charleston’s West Side.” I’ve come across an intriguing graphic novel entitled Death Falcon Zero vs. The Zombie Slug Lords, an enticing amalgam of those two sacred B-movie commodities; zombies and er… pro wrestling The book, in which a disgraced former masked wrestler battles the walking dead…

  • Controversial Categories – Why We Should All Read More Independent Comics

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    We’ve all opted for the obvious option at some point in time, and stuck with what we’ve known. Most of us do it every day, in the smallest of ways. We’ve all ordered steak and chips from the menu when we know we really should have sampled something more exotic. We’ve all sat in a…

  • Are Comics Books?

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    Okay, so that’s a stupid question. Or at least it may initially sound like one. In terms of publication and distribution, and their dependency on advertisements, comics are clearly magazines by definition. Which would then make graphic novels compiled magazines… which they are clearly (I hope) not. But the fact is that “comic book” is…

  • The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb Book Review

    The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb Book Review

    by

    Carl Doherty
    in

    MQ Publications By: Robert Crumb Though the debate over whether Crumb’s work is juvenile pornography or inventive, sexually-charged satire has hopefully been left behind with the seventies, it is difficult to believe that the “nasty, negative, misanthropic sex pervert” – as Crumb himself describes his public image in this book’s introduction – has a sweeter…