Paul Gravett looks at the influence of the British boys' comic Eagle, home of Frank Hampson's Dan Dare, which was favorite childhood reading for John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Bryan Talbot, among others.

Casey Brienza isn't just a manga reviewer, she's a grad student studying paratext, the trappings of manga that make it manga. That's more interesting than it sounds—check out her slideshow and brief writeup of the importance of trim size to American manga, and the way it was not only standardized but was used to define non-Japanese books as manga.

Faith Erin Hicks contemplates the uses of drawing as she compares Naoki Urasawa's Pluto with Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and throws in some thoughts on Kate Beaton for good measure.

Richard Bruton, who is not in the target audience by any means, picks up Twilight: The Graphic Novel and finds it... not terrible. Sean Kleefeld, meanwhile, finds some interesting parallels to a vintage comic (mainly, both seem to be incoherent).

Tintin dissenter Noah Berlatsky remains unmoved by The Castafiore Emerald, although his son loves it.

Chris Sims and Mike Sterling deliver their monthly beatdowns of Previews.

Kent Worcester reviews Art in Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940-1980, which is the sort of book that would make me stay up nights.

Johanna Draper Carlson reviews two print editions of webcomics, The Night Owls and Louis Trondheim's Little Nothings: Uneasy Happiness.