Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
This series has gotten some (deserved) flak for its treatment of women as visual fan service, and I can’t disagree — heck, just look at that cover — yet I’m still reading it when I want adrenaline-teasing escapism that requires no thought. The premise hasn’t changed from the first volume by Junya Inoue. We’re watching people stuck on an island blowing each other up, since only one can survive. There’s a lot of wallowing in violence and abuse, in order […]
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Normally, starting a manga title with the fifth book in the series would be a recipe for disaster, but GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class is easy to jump into, since it’s a collection of four-panel (4-koma) strips. It’s also very approachable, with a cast consisting of art school students. Although I had no idea who the individual girls were, the situations and gags were still funny and touching. The jokes resolve around two main subjects: making art and summer. At […]
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Earlier this month, Kodansha Comics announced that they were launching an ebook program. (In spite of their name, Kodansha publishes manga, including such well-known titles as Akira, The Ghost in the Shell, Fairy Tail, and Sailor Moon.) They announced the debut on “multiple platforms, including Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Google Play”… but not the best-known comic site, comiXology. But then, their American partner is Random House, so they’re focused on the bookstore market and book […]
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I wasn’t going to talk about Happy Marriage?! volume 1 by Maki Enjoji, because it’s slow, boring, and repetitive, but then I saw this review. Now, certainly, everyone is entitled to her opinion, but I couldn’t let the sentence, “Happy Marriage?! won’t disappoint josei fans looking for a new series to follow” stand without providing a counterpoint. I very much would like more josei manga available here, but not titles like this, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to any […]
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Jeff Smith, author of Bone, returns with another adventure epic, this one aimed at adults. This full-color hardcover omnibus contains the complete story of RASL, edited and expanded from the serialized version, giving us the best way to follow all the twists and turns. I intended to sample just some of it last night, but I had to keep going, riding the adrenaline as Rasl jumps from one parallel universe to another. His scientific discovery, aided by Nikola Tesla’s lost […]
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Buzz! shows how comics can make any competition exciting, including a spelling bee. Webster is off to his first day of high school when he stumbles into a back-alley spell-off. The Outlaw King, who’s been kicked out of the official spelling circuit, and the Black Queen are only two of the extreme personalities involved in the field. Webster gets manipulated into competing in the regionals in order to take down the Spelluminati, those trying to control the show. The visuals […]
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Following Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics and Stan Lee’s How to Write Comics comes the more specialized Stan Lee’s How to Draw Superheroes. I suspect, as in the previous volumes, Stan didn’t really write this. A small line on the indicia page credits Danny Fingeroth, Keith Dallas, and Robert Sodaro. It’s packaged by Dynamite Entertainment, which explains the use of their covers. The book might more properly have been called “How to Create Superheroes”, since there’s more of that […]
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Iron Man 3 will be coming to home video on September 24, with a variety of package options. There’s the Blu-ray combo pack, with a DVD and a list price of $40. For $5 more, you can get the same pack with digital copy. For $5 over that, add the 3-D Blu-ray (list price $50). Or for $30, there’s the simple DVD and digital copy. Bonus features are going to include a commentary with director/co-writer Shane Black and co-writer Drew […]
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