Kerry Vineberg

San Francisco

Writer at Freelance

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comicsbeat.com

Articles

Second Shift is a sleeper sci-fi of corporate dystopia in space

2 days ago | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Writer/Artist: Kit AndersonPublisher: Avery Hill PublishingPublication Date: June 2025Stories in the science-fiction genre often help us wrestle with societal issues in an approachable, illuminating way. Kit Anderson’s first full-length graphic novel and second graphic book, Second Shift, out later this month from Avery Hill Publishing, can be enjoyed on a plot level alone, but in keeping with sci-fi tradition, its quiet depths also contain multitudes.
Ginseng Roots is Craig Thompson’s triumphant return

1 month ago | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Creator: Craig ThompsonPublisher: PantheonPublication Date: April 2025It was a privilege to read Ginseng Roots, out now from Pantheon, a contemplation of Craig Thompson’s childhood working in ginseng farming and its effects on his present life, an extensive exploration of ginseng’s interactions with society across time and space, and an excuse to shine a light on the lived experience of many in his community, both local and international.
Shred or Dead, skateboarding hijinx from a new comics talent

2 months ago | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Writer/Artist: D. Bradford GamblesPublisher: Top ShelfColor me impressed. Newcomer D. Bradford Gambles’ skateboarding action graphic novel Shred or Dead, out now from Top Shelf, has rolled onto the comics scene with style and substance. I wasn’t sure exactly what I would get, but an action-comedy about world-saving skaters sounded like fun. And the book is super fun, but it’s also much more satisfying than I expected.
Dreamover captures the epic highs and lows of adolescent love

Jan 31, 2025 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Writer/Artist: Dani DiazPublisher: Top ShelfI have a bias towards stories that intensify the experience of something real using fantasy. Dreamover, Dani Diaz’s debut graphic novel—out now from Top Shelf—skillfully does just that. Dreamover is a funny, thoughtful young adult tale about a girl, Amber, and a boy, Nico, who have been best friends forever and confess that they have crushes on each other at the end of middle school, in the year 2008.
Disciples of the Soil

Jul 11, 2024 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Cartoonist: B. MurePublisher: Avery Hill PublishingPublication Date: July 9Price: $12.95Buy Disciples of the Soil. I might be doing it wrong. I read Disciples of the Soil by B. Mure, out now from Avery Hill Publishing, with no prior exposure to the Ismyre series, of which this is the fifth volume. However, Mure provides a helpful character list up front with pictures and roles, which helped me quickly get into the flow.
DANDELION explores an invention's fate in bold sci-fi graphic novel

Jun 28, 2024 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Creator and Writer: Sabir PirzadaArtists: Martín Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey, Eric Koda, Roy Allan Martinez, Gegê Schall, Thomas Campi, Adrian Rivero, Juha Veltti, Marquis RogersColors: Juha Veltti, Jacob Phillips, Lee LoughridgeLetterers: Aditya Bidikar, Taylor EspositoPublisher: Image ComicsPublication Date: June 19Price: $16.99Buy Dandelion. I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for climate change dystopia stories.
In Perpetuity voyages to a noir Los Angeles afterlife

Jun 21, 2024 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Cartoonists: Peter Hoey and Maria HoeyPublisher: Top ShelfPublication Date: April 25, 2024Price: $19.99Buy In Perpetuity on Bookshop.org. The latest graphic novel from cartoonist siblings Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey, In Perpetuity, released on April 25 by Top Shelf, is a surreal, humorously bleak take on how the afterlife might not be through with us.
Safer Places collects 21 achingly good tales of nature & connection

May 9, 2024 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Writer/Artist: Kit AndersonPublisher: Avery Hill PublishingPublication Date: May 23, 2023From the very first pages of Kit Anderson’s Safer Places—out May 23 from Avery Hill Publishing–I could tell I was in capable hands. The collection lives up to its title, establishing a rich and transporting sense of place in each story. Given that this is Anderson’s first graphic novel, which launched on Kickstarter in January, it is likely to be many people’s first taste of her work, as it was mine.
We Are Not Strangers

Sep 22, 2023 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

Writer/Artist: Josh TuiningaPublisher: AbramsPublication Date: September 12, 2023It’s often by being specific that a story can take on the most universal qualities. In We Are Not Strangers, out now from Abrams, creator Josh Tuininga grounds his family story and first graphic novel in ultra-specific references. Expect to learn more about Sephardic Judaism, Japanese-American life, and the immigrant experience in Seattle’s Central District in the 1940s.
A love letter to The Nib, in its final days

Aug 4, 2023 | comicsbeat.com | Kerry Vineberg

When I first heard about The Nib shutting down, I felt like I’d been gut-punched. It’s weird, but it had felt like, somehow, The Nib would always be there, supporting amazing comics journalism, political cartoons, memoir, and short nonfiction comics. It became an institution. I remember meeting The Nib founder and editor Matt Bors at an Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco sometime around 2010. I stopped at his table to buy a book, and chatted with him briefly about his work.