Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
This final volume of one of my favorite CMX series comes at a sad time — not only is The Name of the Flower ending, but so is the manga line overall. This may be the last CMX book I review, which adds a melancholy air that’s well-suited to the bittersweet tone of the story. It’s all about learning to survive the pain of loss, and the hope of love afterwards to fight depression and give life some purpose again. […]
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Fighting Sexism How do you find out what girls want in comics? Try asking them! Author Hope Larson (Mercury, Chiggers) conducted an informal survey among her LiveJournal and Twitter followers, asking almost 200 girls and women about their comic reading. Now, she’s summarized the results (link no longer available). There are a number of similarities. Most female fans were hooked before their teens. TV adaptations and male relatives were key introductions. They’re looking for satisfying characters, compelling stories, and strong […]
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In the wake of yesterday’s news that DC is shutting down CMX, a variety of reactions hit the internet. Here are some of the strongest and smartest. David Welsh reviews DC Comics’ history of forgetting that it had a manga imprint. When Diane Nelson took over for Levitz, it surprised absolutely no one that CMX was not among her talking points, probably because DC didn’t have the right to repackage CMX properties in other media, so who cares? We need […]
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Brigid Alverson at Robot 6 reports that DC is closing the CMX Manga imprint as of July 1 due to “the challenges that manga is facing in the American marketplace”. (Update: As of 5/21/10, DC has removed the CMX website as well.) CMX launched in October 2004, and while their early title list was uneven, lately, they had been releasing a number of enjoyable titles, including Stolen Hearts My Darling! Miss Bancho The Name of the Flower The Lizard Prince […]
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by Chica Umino; adapted by Akemi Wegmuller; due out June 1 This volume ends the series. Since I stopped reading around book 4, I’m perhaps not the best person to evaluate how satisfying a conclusion it is. Also, I still dislike Hagumi, the elfin artist whom most of the guys are in love with, which creeps me out, since she (purposefully) looks like a child. Half the book finishes the main story, and apparently the only thread left to resolve […]
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Otomen is the anti-Star Trek. There, the rule was that only the even-numbered movies were good. With this series, I seem to enjoy the odd-numbered books more than the even. Which means that, yes, I was disappointed in this volume — but I have great hopes for the next one! As the author, Aya Kanno, mentions in an early note to the readers, “the plot is all over the place, isn’t it?” Asuka is feeling uncomfortable with the demands placed […]
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by Hinako Ashihara; adapted by John Werry With the conclusion of High School Debut, Sand Chronicles is now tied with Nana for my favorite shojo series. This volume concludes the main story, but there are two more books coming with additional bonus stories. To bring things full circle, in this book, the adult Ann is setting out to revisit the sand museum in Nima that provided her the hourglass token that drove so much of her young life. Once again, […]
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Each story I read with these mice siblings is better than the one before. I think it’s because the characters grow on me with exposure — I get more sense of them and their adorable little personalities. In Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker, the third book in the series (after Just Pretend and The Big No-No!), cousin Bo comes to visit. Benny and Penny have to hide all their toys, because Bo always breaks them. Bo is grabby […]
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