Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
I’m a huge fan of Posy Simmonds’ work, at least those bits — Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovery — that have made it over the pond. I was very curious about Mrs Weber’s Omnibus, given that it collects six of her previous books, published between 1979 and 1993: Mrs Weber’s Diary True Love Pick of Posy Very Posy Pure Posy Mustn’t Grumble With what I’ve mentioned and the short cartoon collection Literary Life, that’s everything she’s done that aren’t children’s books. […]
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This second volume in the series by Mari Yamazaki has all the same great elements from the first book — the oddly addictive story of an ancient Roman using baths to travel through time, the wonderfully detailed art, the author’s notes “Rome & Baths, the Loves of My Life”, the oversized hardcover format, and the translation notes in the back. About the only thing that isn’t as good as the first book is the cover — the nifty clear plastic […]
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I really liked the early volumes of Yumi Unita’s Bunny Drop, when it was about raising an adorable child. By this book, Rin is firmly a teenager, trying to make her own decisions in life. Unfortunately, I don’t find her motives plausible or all that interesting to read. As volume 8 opens, Rin has been visiting her birth mother and her husband (a meeting begun in volume 7). Rin’s adoptive father Daikichi is concerned that seeing the mother with a […]
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After being disappointed in the slow pacing of the previous volume, I was surprised to see how much happened in this new installment by Keiko Suenobu. Limit volume 4 opens with a death, which brings the suffering and precarious position of the survivors into sharp relief. From that point, it’s a fast read. Everyone’s screaming at each other, confused over what they don’t know about the people they have to depend on. Several characters even reach the point of doubting […]
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This is an obvious prediction to anyone who’s been paying attention, since the Marvel Knights Animation motion comic releases from Shout! Factory tend to follow the path of the Marvel movies, and The Wolverine is due in theaters July 26. The next motion comic DVD will be available on July 9, adapting the Wolverine: Origin comic “written by Eisner Award winner Paul Jenkins from a story by Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins, and Bill Jemas with captivating artwork by Andy Kubert […]
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In advance of the coming movie, Disney Publishing has released a Monsters University Storybook app for iPhone and iPad. It’s fun to play with! You start by taking your picture for a student ID, which you can decorate with cartoon mouths, horns, eyeballs, and more to “monsterify” yourself. The “Read” option tells you the story of the movie (I assume), about how Mike Wazowski went to Monsters University to become a Scarer, with lightly animated screens and movie clips. (You […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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