Author Jeremy Dauber performs his exhaustive history of comics in America with skill and levity. Dauber speaks in a conversational tone, his love for the medium obvious. The audiobook would be easier to follow with pauses between chapters, but that's a minor criticism. The work is replete with less-than-glamorous stories of the industry, which listeners will find fascinating. Contemporary comics fans may find the first two hours a bit slow, as they focus on comics drawn during the American Civil War. The pace picks up with the 1920s and 1930s and the introduction of familiar characters such as Popeye, Superman, Batman, and Captain America. Dauber takes note of the underground comics of the 1970s and the later independent comics movement, which is still with us.
Pub Date: March 1, 2022
Duration: 17 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Opening with the film-like sounds of a gathering storm at sea and a group of captive African women staging a desperate battle for their freedom, this combined memoir/audio play/graphic novel bursts with energy, inspiration, and little-known historical facts throughout. Based on Rebecca Hall’s pioneering research into women-led slave revolts, the story becomes personal when Hall, portrayed with verve by DeWanda Wise, insists that slavery should be taught as an integral part of American history. Subsequently, she is dismissed from teaching at prestigious law schools and universities until, finally, a high school class, played by the spirited ensemble cast, insists that the truth about Black women, unsung and unnamed, must come out. History should always sound this alive.
Pub Date: June 17, 2022
Duration: 1 hr, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781039402393
Publisher: Podium Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Swinton’s magnetic performance of this 10th anniversary edition adds meaningfully to the legacy of Laing’s...
Tilda Swinton is a joy to listen to in this homage to loneliness and paean for intimacy. Laing’s landmark work of unconventional art history proves to be as relevant as it was in 2016, if not more so, in an increasingly atomized, post-pandemic world where many, if not most, social interactions happen through our phones. Loneliness, in Laing’s eyes, is not a singular experience, and certainly not a moral failing, but a fact of human nature. Swinton’s clean, polished tone is subtly compassionate to the very real, relatable sufferings of the profiled urbanite artists. This account of our saddest human state is full of rich, hopeful detail.
Swinton’s magnetic performance of this 10th anniversary edition adds meaningfully to the legacy of Laing’s magnum opus.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 37 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250442710
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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