Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura is a visually striking puzzle of a story playing with parallelism. Shun Mizorogi is a noted author who, after a number of years blocked, has recently begun publishing again (a story called Utsubora, just as this one is). He’s also taken up with a beautiful young woman named Aki. At the beginning of the story, he’s just gotten a call from the police; Aki has jumped off a building and been […]
Read more
Bloodhound: Brass Knuckle Psychology reprints an excellent (but flew under the radar) series published by DC Comics in 2004 by Dan Jolley, Leonard Kirk, and Robin Riggs. I talked about the series history a little when the book was announced, since I was a fan during its original release. Kurt Busiek also addresses the topic in his foreword to the book. But that doesn’t matter, because what we have here isn’t nostalgia — “oh, I’m so glad a favorite is […]
Read more
After the release of Wolverine: Origin last month, Shout! Factory has announced the next Marvel Knights motion comic DVD release will be Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk, due out September 10. Another Wolverine title makes sense, given this summer’s The Wolverine movie release. I hadn’t thought about Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk since its release, since it was notorious for taking a ridiculous amount of time to continue, probably because it was written by Damon Lindelof (Lost), whom one assumes had other […]
Read more
I’m not sure what to say about an animated superhero film that starts with the Serenity Prayer followed by the murder of Barry Allen’s mother (Grey DeLisle). There’s an early establishment of the theme, “if only I’d run a little faster”, as Barry’s driving force, unhelpful as it is. (There’s no point in anyone’s life dwelling on “if only”.) Aside from the quick, awkward emotional beats that start Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, there’s plenty of action. In the first […]
Read more
After releasing the historically important shojo manga Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka, two years later Vertical brings out the sequel, The Twin Knights. It’s just as wacky and action-packed as its predecessor, and it has the same Disneyesque look. And just as before, there’s a cross-dressing princess. Princess Sapphire, the hero of Princess Knight, is now Queen of Silverland, and she’s just given birth to twins. However, the court nobles are already fighting about whether Princess Violetta or Prince Daisy […]
Read more
One of the neat things about the release of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox was getting to see the Electronic Press Kit clips Warner sent out. For instance, here’s a set of Nathan Fillion talking about fandom. In this one, he compares his three times voicing Green Lantern. (Prior to this, he played the character in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (where he talked about the character’s appeal) and Justice League: Doom (where he also provided an interview about the role).) […]
Read more
I really enjoyed Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales when it came out a couple of years ago. (His later book, How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial, was released in the US this past spring.) It was originally released in the UK before being reprinted in the US. Now, the paperback edition is out in the UK with 40 new pages, which is made up of two new chapters and new chapter headings. Cunningham explains the […]
Read more
Since I’ve been reading one “kill them off one by one” video-game-in-real-world title, I figured I’d try another. Doubt by Yoshiki Tonogai has the appeal of depending more on suspense, less on gory decadence. I’ve actually played a card game similar to the premise here, although in the manga, it’s done with cell phones for that modern touch. It’s called “Rabbit Doubt”. The setup is that there’s a group of “rabbits”, only one of them is secretly a wolf. The […]
Read more