I am a big fan of the first volume of Michael Kupperman's surrealistic sketch comedy of a comic Tales Designed to Thrizzle. It's one of the funniest comics books I own. So I'm really bummed to report that the second volume of Thrizzle isn't anywhere near as funny as the first. Part of that might come from familiarity—a lot of the book is given over to Kupperman's adventures of Mark Twain and Albert Einstein, which is a good, funny idea that simply can't feel as fresh as it was when it was first presented. I laughed out loud several times reading Thrizzle Volume Two—the train coloring book insert amused the hell out of me, and "McGritte, the Surrealist Crime Dog" is a genius invention—but I laughed more reading the first volume. Still, Kupperman is expanding as an artist here, trying new panel layouts, interesting design tricks, and even experimenting with photo comics at one point. This isn't somebody coasting on his previous credits; it's an artist stretching his talents into new places.

Transposes is a comic book that tells the true stories of six transgender men. Some of the stories span whole lifetimes, others cover only a couple weeks. Some of the men seem confident telling their stories, others are obviously defensive and shielded. All the stories have been adapted from interviews into comics by Dylan Edwards, which doesn't allow for much of a stylistic shift between the stories. But the good news is that Edwards is a fine cartoonist. His characters are expressive and they each have their own unique looks and body language. His illustrations are clear and easy to understand, which is perhaps the most important characteristic for a book like Transposes to have. This is a comic that could serve as an inspiration for transgendered men who are going through difficult situations, or for people who are curious to learn more about the transgender experience.