Alex Dueben

Hartford

Contributor at Comics Journal Magazine

Writer, Critic, Storyteller. He/him. alex.dueben at gmail

Articles

Malka Older on Using Genre to Explore New Ideas

1 week ago | crimereads.com | Alex Dueben

As a writer Malka Older is known for her science fiction series The Centenal Cycle. She is also an aid worker and sociologist, the Executive Director of Global Voices, and a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University. In 2023 she launched a new series, The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, which is s science fiction mystery set on Jupiter. It’s also a second chance romance between a police investigator and an academic who in the first book are thrown together years after they broke up.
Shaina Steinberg on Writing Historical Fiction Set in Los Angeles

1 month ago | crimereads.com | Alex Dueben

Shaina Steinberg is a screenwriter and novelist whose second book in the Bishop and Gallagher series is just out from Kensington Books. The story of Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, two OSS operatives who meet again after the war – years after leaving government service and breaking up with each other – each returned to Los Angeles, struggling to find something unlike the lives they left behind.
Anthony Horowitz on Mystery, Metafiction, and a New Susan Ryeland Novel (and Show)

1 month ago | crimereads.com | Alex Dueben

Anthony Horowitz’s biographies often state that he “may have committed more (fictional) murders than any other living author,” which may be true. Best known in the US for his work in television as the creator and primary writer of Foyle’s War, a writer for the show Poirot and the developer of the long-running Midsomer Murders, Horowitz is also the writer of the young adult Alex Rider series of novels.
Chris Offutt on Outlaws, Scofflaws, and Kentucky Noir

Mar 26, 2025 | crimereads.com | Alex Dueben

Chris Offutt has long been a “writer’s writer” acclaimed for his short story collections, memoir and novels. And though he spent his earlier career raising children and working occasionally in Hollywood, in recent years he’s been busier and more prolific than ever. Offutt’s new novel The Reluctant Sheriff is his fourth novel featuring Mick Hardin, and his fifth novel to be released in the past decade.
'Why I don't believe in glory': An interview with Charlton Comics alum, Will Franz

Mar 13, 2025 | tcj.com | Alex Dueben

Will Franz had a short career in comics. With the exception of a few stories in the decades since, Franz began writing for Charleton Comics as a teenager in 1967 with " The Sniper ," in Charleton Premiere #19 , and his career ended just a few years later. Between 1967 and 1970 he wrote a number of short comics for the company, including " The Organist and the SS " and " Kewpie Dolls " which appeared in titles like Army War Heroes , Attack , Fightin' Army , Fightin' Marines , War Heroes .
Remembering John Cassaday, Dec. 14, 1971-Sept. 9, 2024

Jan 20, 2025 | tcj.com | Alex Dueben

John Cassaday died in his longtime home of New York City on Sept. 9. He was 52. Born Dec. 14, 1971, in Fort Worth, Texas, Cassaday first broke into comics at Boneyard Press and Caliber Press in the early to mid-1990s. But it was after meeting writer Mark Waid at the Big Apple Con in New York that his career took off. "John came up to me at a convention in the '90s at Madison Square Garden, showing me his work in hopes of a critique," Waid said. "I had nothing to critique.
7 Great Books Written By Podcasters

Jan 13, 2025 | podcastreview.org | Alex Dueben

In his new book The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past, Nate DiMeo does what he has been doing in audio form for years: telling small, true stories about the past in resonant ways. The book serves as an excellent example of public history, showcasing how historical events can be retold and made relevant to contemporary audiences. It features many beloved stories from DiMeo’s podcast of the same name, reflecting a trend among podcasters have followed by writing companion books.
Bi Book Club: Lavash at First Sight

Nov 14, 2024 | bi.org | Alex Dueben

Taleen Voskuni’s Lavash at First Sight (2024), is a refreshing romance that tells the story of two bi women navigating love, family, and career. Both women are confidently out to their families, allowing the novel to focus on the warmth and exhilaration of a budding romance. When we meet Nazeli “Ellie” Gregorian, she’s managing a high-stakes job at a Bay Area startup, only for her boyfriend and coworker to break up with her moments before a crucial presentation.
Fogbound: On Dash Shaw’s “Blurry”

Oct 21, 2024 | mubi.com | Alex Dueben

If you know Dash Shaw’s films but haven’t read his books, you might be unsure what to expect when picking up his newest graphic novel, Blurry. My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (2016) is a high-school melodrama that dovetails with a disaster plot: soon after a student discovers that the school building is not up to code, an earthquake sends the building into the sea. The characters, rendered with thick lines, are often tinted and filled in by expressive bursts of color.
Hurricane Nancy - The Comics Journal

Jul 23, 2024 | tcj.com | Helen Chazan |Alex Dueben

Swollen breasts, gaping cunts, and cocks shooting off semen inside swelling liberated wombs may be the height of vulgarity to some, but it's Nancy Burton's stippling that makes that fine word - vulgar - spring into my mind first at the sight of her art. That crude, disorganized, precise pressing down of ink onto paper in little dots, spread across the page to cast shadows, texture, across her images like a trail of stubble, like dust and cobwebs, like acne, like pubic hair.