Often, our only perception of an artist is the work he creates. As such, chances are you wouldn’t recognize Norm Breyfogle on the street— it’s fitting, in a way, considering the character with which he is most often associated.
Norm drew Batman for DC Comics for six years, from 1987 until 1993. This was a renaissance period for the character, and Breyfogle’s vision of Batman wasn’t quite like any before him— Breyfogle’s Batman was sleek, expressive and sinister, and he was the first artist that seemed truly conscious of the transformation …

“Step right up!” — it’s the perfunctory call of carnival hucksters and scam artists; almost a dare. It’s also sometimes a sincere invitation to see something extraordinary, as is the case with the title of Jeffery Straker’s album— he’s definitely got something to show.
I say “show” because of the visual quality of the songs. There’s so much energy and fun here the effect is almost psychedelic, like being drunk on a rainbow. A set of wickedly theatrical piano-driven chamber pop songs, Step Right Up is in every jubilant note a manifesto of …

Sheep and Wolves, Jeremy C. Shipp’s short story collection follow-up to his debut 2007 novel, Vacation, is not a quick read. Though only 160 pages, this collection demands an investment deeper than its length would suggest. Wearing the skin of the absurd while hiding the guts of a literary paranormal investigation, the collection defies casual reading and easy categorization. Sheep and Wolves must be approached carefully, chewed slowly, and swallowed cautiously.
The tales, rarely more than 10 pages in length individually, are challenging enough to traditional modes of storytelling that one …

Whatever jaded pretensions you think you’ve been permanently sealed into, they’re not permanent. Armored in irony and solipsism, we’ve become experts at shielding ourselves against simple emotions, and the possibility of ever again having to feel or acknowledge them. But when you hear something as barely laid as what Joshua Bartholomew is dealing out on his first full-length— a double album of expertly crafted pop balladry entitled And So It Begins— you find all those defenses, under the right light, are so thin they’re see-through.
Oh, you resist. The word love …