Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
From the latest Wizard, page 23. To tie into the Nov. release of Frank Miller’s bootylicious cover to All-Star Batman and Robin #5, we whipped up this fun and saucy mix-and-match game. Below you’ll find eight lovely apple-bottoms (one of which is Miller’s cover); your job is to identify the character by her rump and match it to the artist below. Answers for these gluteus masterpieces are at the bottom (naturally). Does Wizard think women should be treated as cows, […]
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Tony Consiglio’s 110 Percent may have been overlooked by many readers because of its subject matter. It’s the story of three middle-aged women who are fans of the boy band 110 Percent. Although many comic readers will understand and perhaps sympathize with the dedication and even obsession of these women, it takes a willingness to approach their story that unfortunately, some may not have. These women aren’t young, cute, or sexy; they’re not even mildly attractive as they take their […]
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Unlike its predecessors in this series (Cup Noodle and 240Z), Project X – The Challengers – Seven Eleven – The Miraculous Success of Japan’s 7-Eleven Stores is relatively restrained in its adjectives. The thrust of this story is the development of the convenience store, driven by youthful amateurs, and the way it revolutionized the retail industry. The introduction (written in 2001) hopes that it will serve as an inspiration to the salary-men disturbed by the then-current recession. Which makes me […]
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Miriam Engelberg, who wrote about her struggles with breast cancer in the autobiographical Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person, has passed away. A close friend sent out an email which included the following: Miriam Engelberg died at home earlier today. She had her family and close friends with her and was not in a coma. As far as I can tell, she didn’t suffer and was spared the intense pain many go through with cancer. I like to think the […]
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Ian Brill wonders why used bookstores won’t buy manga (link no longer available). This is a question I’ve wondered about as well, although from the other side. I’d like to find used manga at cheap prices, but even the biggest used bookstores I’ve been to, the ones with decent graphic novel sections, don’t carry much. Is that because there’s too much to evaluate, and stores don’t want to be stuck with the titles no one wants? I can see a […]
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One of the Vertigo launch titles, Enigma still delivers power and insight today. Michael Smith is a normal man, trapped in routine, who over the course of the book discovers a childhood comic book hero come to life and experiences a sexual awakening. Since it’s written by Peter Milligan, readers won’t be surprised by the surreal way these elements are handled. Michael’s been dreaming about a masked man, a superhero called the Enigma. There’s also a mass murderer called the […]
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The creative team behind Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden — story by Dave Roman; art by John Green — went even wackier with this minicomic series. The tagline says it all: “The ANGST of being a teen — the THRILL of being a boat!” There’s not much more to it. Teen Boat goes to school, has a crush on the new girl, and has to put up with the local bully. Being able to turn into a small yacht […]
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I very much enjoyed watching The Lake House. The premise is intriguing — two people fall in love while living in the same house in different years through their unexplained ability to send notes to each other — and the execution is lovely, with plenty of impressive visuals to get lost in. The house is as impressive as it needs to be for a title character, a glass box on a lake near Chicago, pretending to be open but surprisingly […]
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