Donovan Kemp Comic Reviews

Dread The Hall H (2026) was an entertaining anthology comic full of meta references and commentary on fandom as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this entire book multiple times to scan through the different stories for any jokes, references, or cosplays I might have missed in previous readthroughs. That said, I must be honest in saying I have never attended a convention. Although I would love to see a writer, actor, comic artist, etc, that I am a fan of, it seems like such a huge commitment. It might be my anxiety about crowds and situations I can’t control. I think the bigger reason is that my passion or knowledge of my fandoms could seem fraudulent to some people. I consume what I like and am interested in, but I don’t like everything. I just like what I like. And I let others like what they like. I will say if you don’t like something, you can criticize it. However, criticism is not the same thing as hate; hateful behavior has no place in fandom.

Punisher vs. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 is an enjoyable read with nice art. Personally, I still cannot get over how good the writing is, especially the narration. I love how Abnett writes Punisher in this.

Personally, I like and can appreciate black and white books. However, I simply prefer color in my books. It is another piece of art that I enjoy studying/admiring, especially when the same people draw and color their books. Not to mention, I love professional wrestling. I am not as into it as I was when I was younger; however, it is still a passion of mine due to its storytelling and escapism. This book does a surprisingly good job recreating the cliffhanger excitement I had watching wrestling as a kid. I remember so many instances of the show going off the air right after or even right before the big rivalry faced off. I was always a fan of the grittier, more aggressive wrestlers. I loved watching the wrestlers fight. Seeing them finally square off after all of the smack talk and sneak attacks was so cool to me; the bigger the rivalry, the more interested I was.