August 23, 2010 Johanna Comic Book Films 6 comments

I Saw Scott Pilgrim

Actually, I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on opening night, but then I went on vacation and forgot to post about it. Oops. I don’t think my recommendation would have helped, though, since the negative judgments came in fast and furious, whether it was hatred for the presumed ‘hipster’ audience, the wrong release date (up against the much more testerone-y Expendables), the inability of geeks to open a movie, the tendency of the presumed target audience to download films […]

August 22, 2010 Johanna Motion Comics 2 comments

Iron Man: Extremis Is Marvel’s Second Motion Comic DVD Release

Marvel and Shout! Factory have announced the second in their line of motion comic collections on DVD, after Astonishing X-Men (out September 28). Iron Man: Extremis is due out November 30. As described by the press release, Adapting the critically acclaimed storyline by superstars Warren Ellis and Adi Granov, Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) faces his greatest threat ever — a terrorist transformed into an unstoppable force with the powerful bio-engineered Extremis super-soldier serum! Now Tony Stark redefines Iron Man’s […]

August 22, 2010 Johanna Tokyopop Manga Reviews One comment

The Dreaming Collection

Queenie Chan‘s atmospheric boarding school mystery The Dreaming has been reprinted in a single-volume bind-up of the three previous books. This re-release puts a new edition of the story on the shelves while the upcoming movie is being funded and entering production. Regardless of the motives, this single-volume edition is a superior way to read this suspense-filled tale. (And the original intent of the author; the publisher requested it be released in three separate books, which required some editing and […]

August 20, 2010 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews 2 comments

Bakuman Volume 1

Review by Ed Sizemore Akito Takagi is 14 years old and dreams of being a manga writer. However, he’s not a good artist, so he needs one as a partner. Moritaka Mashiro is Akito’s classmate and a gifted artist. He wanted to be a manga artist until he saw his uncle work himself to death in that job. After much arm twisting, Akito convinces Moritaka to join him. Together, they seek to become successful manga creators (called mangaka). Bakuman is […]

August 19, 2010 Johanna Comic News 26 comments

When “Pirate” Comics Are Ethical

I’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up for travel, a few days away and then a business trip, so I’ve been pondering the virtue of digital comics. I’ve also been inspired by this edition of the NY Times Ethicist, in which a reader asks for the columnist’s opinion on downloading a “pirate” copy of a book he has already purchased in order to avoid lugging a three-and-a-half-pound book on his trip. The answer given begins as follows: An […]

August 17, 2010 Johanna DC / Vertigo One comment

The Spirit #4

I don’t know that the world needs another set of Spirit tales, especially since the character was always under-sketched, a cipher that allowed Will Eisner (and those who worked for him) to wander the city streets of the underclass. So there isn’t a lot of character fandom or a unique reason to bring this fedora-wearing mystery man back. But since DC’s done it, let’s look at the latest issue. The Spirit #4, written by David Hine, art by Moritat, is […]

August 16, 2010 Johanna Manga News One comment

Tokyopop Releases Hetalia Digitally a Month Before Print

Tokyopop has announced (via Facebook) that, while the anticipated Hetaila: Axis Powers series will be available in print on September 21, you can buy it digitally through digital download partner Zinio right now. For its 148 pages, the digital price is $5.99 US; in print, it’s $12.99. That illustrates Tokyopop’s variable pricing — why it’s not the now-standard price of $10.99, I don’t know. Either they expect it to sell worse than other titles, and need to profit more on […]

August 16, 2010 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews Leave a comment

Flower in a Storm Volume 2

Because of the need to wrap up the series quickly in this second and final volume of the series, the flow here is choppy, but there’s still plenty of entertainment in its escapist, action-movie take on romance. In the first chapter, we meet Ran’s arranged fiancee Rinko, who was picked by his parents because it’s so important to the family business that he have the right wife. My first thought was, why can’t anyone have distinguishable names? I was already […]

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