May 20, 2013 KC Fantagraphics One comment

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Old Castle’s Secret

Review by KC Carlson Fantagraphics’ latest Carl Barks Disney Library volume stars Donald Duck and collects most of Barks’ Donald stories from 1948. For those keeping track, The Old Castle’s Secret is Volume 6 of the Library, which Fantagraphics is issuing in random order — so far, alternating with volumes starring Uncle Scrooge. Like the other Donald Duck volumes in the series, this collects three full-length Donald stories (usually from Dell’s Four Color series), 11 ten-page stories originally from the […]

May 19, 2013 Johanna Comic Book Films 4 comments

Lego Batman: The Movie — DC Super Heroes Unite

Out on Tuesday is Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite, a long title for a short (71 minutes) computer-animated original movie. It’s awfully cute. This film caused lots of giggling at our house, part just from the weirdness of seeing these characters as Lego, but more from how fun it all was. (I worry that some six-year-old is going to be disappointed that his Lego figures don’t walk and talk and clap by smacking their U-shaped hands […]

May 19, 2013 Johanna Movie Reviews One comment

Beautiful Creatures (The Movie)

After reading the manga, I was curious about the movie adaptation, mainly because Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, and Jeremy Irons were in it. (I’ve still never read the book, and I don’t plan to. Two versions of this story are enough.) I could tell from the opening this was going to be a tough sell. I liked the idea of Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man too smart for his small Southern town, but his exaggerated accent voiceover at the […]

May 19, 2013 Johanna First Second Leave a comment

Genius

Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen, the creative team behind the moodily engrossing House of Secrets and the “meditation on creativity using Superman” book It’s a Bird…, have reunited for a look at Genius. First Second puts out so many great books for kids and teens that I think of them as an all-ages publisher, but Genius is clearly for adults. Not for any naughty content, but because the themes and fears expressed here aren’t going to resonate with younger […]

May 16, 2013 Johanna Kodansha Manga Reviews One comment

Missions of Love Volume 3

I very much dislike the tendency for snappy manga heroines, the observant ones with a bit more bite to them than the usual good girl, to lose their spark as soon as love enters the picture. It’s too old-school “taming of the shrew” for me, playing into the idea that a smart girl who refuses to hold her tongue just needs romance to calm down and be properly feminine. Which is why I find the way this series has turned […]

May 14, 2013 Johanna Comic Book Films One comment

Thor: The Dark World Due Out November 8

With one successful superhero movie in theaters now, it’s still not too soon for Marvel to start promoting the next one. Here’s the first trailer for Thor: The Dark World, arriving in theaters November 8. Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor, with Natalie Portman apparently unfortunately used as a bargaining chip to pressure him. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is always fun, plus this sequel adds Christopher Eccleston and Zachary Levi to Kat Dennings and Jaimie Alexander (as the bad-ass Sif). In […]

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

May 14, 2013 Johanna Movie News Leave a comment

Adele Blanc-Sec Movie Announced for Blu-ray and DVD

The French movie adaptation of Jacques Tardi’s graphic novel series The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec has been announced for Blu-ray and DVD from Shout! Factory. Set in 1912, the film was directed and produced by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and starred Louise Bourgoin. It will be available in the US on August 13 with English and French audio tracks and English subtitles. Bonus features announced so far include a making-of featurette, a music featurette, and deleted scenes. The […]

May 14, 2013 Johanna Movie News One comment

I, Frankenstein Has Great Cast for an Action Thriller, Plus Lenticular Poster

I don’t normally care that much about “action thrillers”, as this movie is billed, because they tend to be too violent for me, but I’m impressed by the cast of I, Frankenstein, due in theaters January 24, 2014. Here’s the synopsis: Set in a dystopic present where vigilant gargoyles and ferocious demons rage in a battle for ultimate power, Victor Frankenstein’s creation Adam (Aaron Eckhart) finds himself caught in the middle as both sides race to discover the secret to […]

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