Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
BTOOOM! by Junya Inoue reads like a combination of Survivor and Lost filtered through a video-game overlay and the now-expected forced murder plot. Ryouta is unemployed, which gives him plenty of time to become one of the world’s best players of BTOOOM!, a new online video game in which you kill opponents with bombs, not guns. The next time he awakens, he’s on a tropical island, forced to play the game for real along with a mixed group of others. […]
Read more
I don’t want to start a genre debate, since those can easily and quickly become tedious, but I’m hoping that the two shojo titles (manga for girls) Viz announced with a mature rating come close enough to josei (manga for women) as to scratch that itch. It’s nice to see them spacing out the series launches, too, so it’s not much of an economic hit to sample them. I’m most interested in the first two, what with the workplace setting, […]
Read more
My fear that Kaoru Mori was going to follow anthropologist Mr. Smith away from the original bride Amir is thankfully not justified. As the series continues, the story sprawls, with chapters introducing new characters as Smith meets them as well as other chapters continuing to follow life with Amir. As volume 4 opens, we see more of what has happened with Amir’s family after they were unable to capture her back. Their reputation is damaged, which might ultimately result in […]
Read more
This third volume was a tad disappointing. After the excitement in the first two books of the series, establishing the situation of schoolgirls struggling for survival after a morbid bus crash, I expected to see more twists and revelations with a similar high level of emotional effect. However, Limit volume 3 feels as though the author, Keiko Suenobu, realized that there was potential in this concept to run a long while, so she started padding the storytelling and introducing more […]
Read more
The latest in the series of translated French graphic novels commissioned by and celebrating the Louvre Museum — previous volumes were Glacial Period, The Museum Vaults, On the Odd Hours, The Sky Over the Louvre, and Rohan at the Louvre — is the first that really resonated with me. In An Enchantment, Christian Durieux tells a classic story of a man and a woman, strangers to each other, and one magical night in the setting of the museum. The unnamed […]
Read more
I previously reviewed this book of illustrated essays by Darryl Cunningham when it was published in the UK and called Science Tales: Lies, Hoaxes, and Scams. For the US release of How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial, due in April, the chapter on “Electroconvulsive Therapy” (which tied nicely into Cunningham’s previous book, Psychiatric Tales) has been replaced by one on “Fracking”. Also, “The Facts in the Case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield” has been retitled […]
Read more
Raina Telgemeier has announced her next book, Sisters. It’s billed as a companion to 2010’s Smile, her autobiographical story about growing up with dental work. Sisters, portraying Raina’s relationship with her younger sister, is due out in 2014 and is the first of a two-book deal with Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. She posted this sample art on her site, at the first link above. Anything Raina does is a must-buy for me, and I’m glad to see more about her family […]
Read more
I adore Hope Larson‘s work. Every single book she’s done has made my recommended list, from last year’s A Wrinkle in Time through Mercury and Chiggers to her early Gray Horses and Salamander Dream. With Who Is AC?, Larson is writing a magical girl story for artist Tintin Pantoja to draw. A magical girl is a manga convention, with Sailor Moon being the best-known example in the U.S. Because of the manga roots, Pantoja was a good choice to work […]
Read more