Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Voices of Love by Kanae Hazuki is the first release from Luv Luv Press, an imprint of Aurora Publishing promising “passionate manga for women”. And that’s what they deliver. This volume contains five love stories that don’t shy away from nudity and sex scenes. (That explains the Mature 18+ rating.) When I first read them, I thought, “This is just what I’ve been looking for: yaoi, only girl/boy.” Then I realized just what that said about how my brain has […]
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I’ve been thinking lately, as Tokyopop’s OEL series come to their ends, about whether these young creators have been given the help and support they need. Tokyopop claims shared copyrights on these works, for which one presumes they had some input into them. (The suspicious say that it’s just a way to manipulate creators unaware of their business choices and take more profit and control.) However, judging solely by the way I’ve found the final series volumes severely disappointing, the […]
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Michiko is still pursuing her dream of being a model in Walkin’ Butterfly volume 2 by Chihiro Tamaki, even though she has little understanding of what’s involved. Her first task is to learn how to walk in high heels. She gives up quickly, embarrassed to be so tall, but more because she has no work ethic, no understanding of the time and effort needed to achieve meaningful goals, without quick gratification. Her lack of patience makes her too eager to […]
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I’ve had the pleasure of talking with cartoonist Rachel Nabors a couple of times at conventions, and I’ve reviewed several of her comics. She’s quite an inspiration, since she’s been freelancing since she was 18. Now she needs your help. Due to the screwy way we handle health coverage in the US, Rachel makes too much money to get assistance with a major dental procedure but not enough to actually pay for it. All the details are in the link. […]
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It’s time for part two of looking at Archie sales figures. I’ve copied over the numbers from the previous post. Remember, these are the Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation figures that Archie files with the government. The first number is the Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months; the second is No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date. Title Average Nearest Issue Archie #581 27,498 28,885 Archie & Friends #116 14,699 13,143 Betty #171 12,731 […]
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Comics Now! is a new quarterly magazine put together by some of the folks behind the Comic Geek Speak podcast. (Editor in Chief is Bryan Deemer; Editor is Kevin Freeman; and Peter Rios is the Assistant Editor.) It “striv[es] to provide fair and equal coverage to ALL segments of the comic book marketplace, mantaining a ‘FAN to FAN’ perspective, and by striving to promoting [sic] the readability of comic books over the collectibility.” Those are all great goals, and they […]
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This story of two boys falling in love in high school and the struggles they face was previously published as a series of minicomics by Abby Denson, and I think I preferred those to this square-bound graphic novel presentation. The art is so minimal and rough — it looks in some cases as if it was done with a Sharpie — that the book format of Tough Love: High School Confidential doesn’t show it to advantage. On photocopy paper, roughly […]
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My, Moyoco Anno’s Happy Mania moves quickly. In the first volume, Shigeta’s problem is “why can’t I get a boyfriend?” Now, after a failed fling with a DJ, she’s loudly insisting she doesn’t need a man and she’s “going to live for work.” Once she gets a job, that is. She’s still depending on nice-guy Takahashi, though, to help in times of crisis (which with her is every other day) and to take her out and cheer her up. Then […]
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