Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
I wasn’t looking for another series to read, but I tried the first issue of this new-style anthology, and I was hooked. House of Mystery: Room and Boredom collects the first five issues of the series. Cain and Abel, the DC horror comic hosts from the 70s who lived in the Houses of Mystery and Secrets, respectively, make a two-page cameo at the beginning, but after that, it’s all new. The House of Mystery is now a bar outside dimensions. […]
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The first Luv Luv Press title, Voices of Love, was intriguing to me, just because it was very unusual in the U.S. to see manga romance stories for women with explicit sex included. (Although there had previously been the occasional explicit shojo story.) The next two, Real Love and Love for Dessert, were pretty bad, since they seemed to emphasize the sex at the expense of believable (or in some cases, any) characterization and storytelling craft. So how do the […]
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I’m surprised I’m still enjoying this manga as much as I am, because I would have expected that as it loses its shiny!newest! feel, I would be getting a little bored of it. But I’m not. I think that’s because the author, Kazune Kawahara, keeps the teen relationship realistic while plugging in lots of funny stuff and keeping the events moving. Plus, Haruna is just so enthusiastic a personality, she’s a blast to read about. As volume 6 opens, she’s […]
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Issue #45 guest-stars the Toxic Avenger in a Tromaville comic crossover. I’ve never seen those movies, so I can’t speak to how faithful it is, but with “Toxie” on trial for being a public nuisance, the two properties blend well. After being a town hero, Toxie finds that the people have turned on him in a story narrated by “Judge” Lloyd Kaufman (real-life Troma President and jack-of-all-trades). Turns out that it’s really all a plot by an evil developer wanting […]
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Issue #3 has, within a framing sequence, three short stories featuring some of the best characters in the series — but then I realize that most of the characters are interesting to me, and I want to know more about all of them. So anyway… regular artist Craig Rousseau draws the first one, about what sasquatch-man Big does on his week off. He’s accompanied this time by water-sprite Merrow, whom I don’t recall seeing before but quickly came to love, […]
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Ah, this makes me happy. Love and Capes #8 is more great romantic superhero comedy from Thom Zahler. I was laughing from the cover, where Darkblade shakes down the artist to get featured on the cover. As the issue opens, Abby is having a hard time letting her sister Charlotte go study in Paris. Abby’s got her own concerns, though, as she’s planning her wedding to Mark, aka the Crusader. It’s the little things that make this so funny to […]
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Recently, cancellations have been announced for Manhunter (ending with #38) and Spider-Girl (with #30, although that’s after a previous 100-issue run). Both have faced cancellations before, only to be “saved” more than once; the Spider-Girl title had something like four or five reprieves. Both have devoted fan followings with voices out of scale to their size (by which I mean, they’re talked about more than actually bought). And both star women. That last has Valerie D’Orazio concerned (link no longer […]
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I wasn’t old enough to appreciate how good Max Headroom was when it was on the first time. Now, having recently rewatched the 14 existing episodes, the question of the day is: why isn’t this on DVD?!?! Although it ran from 1987-1988, it’s a remarkably modern show. Visually, its Brazil-meets-Blade Runner approach, using older technology (like manual typewriter keyboards) to suggest the future, is watchable without seeming outdated. In terms of content, the plots tackled still-timely subjects like identity in […]
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