March 24, 2006 Johanna Other Manga Publishers 3 comments

Iron Wok Jan! Volume 1

This cooking manga by Shinji Saijyo is gloriously and gleefully over-the-top, with similarities to the popular Iron Chef TV series. Jan Akiyama is a talented young chef who unfortunately knows just how skilled he is. Trained by his grandfather, a legendary “master of Chinese cuisine”, his ego is his biggest battle to overcome in understanding just what cooking is all about. He thinks it’s all a competition, demanding he always be the best. Winning is all that matters to him, […]

March 24, 2006 Johanna Other Manga Publishers One comment

Iron Wok Jan! Volume 13

Jan has been competing against a rich amateur chef in a battle focusing on liver. The amateur spends freely to obtain gourmet goodies like foie gras, while Jan faces him down with unexpected variants, including fish and chicken livers. When Jan’s food is tasted, the factor of whether or not a dish can be easily recreated becomes an important part of the ranking. It’s refreshing to see the series get back to a focus on ingredients in this volume by […]

March 21, 2006 Johanna Oni Press / Lion Forge 6 comments

Wet Moon: Feeble Wanderings

In Sophie Campbell’s Wet Moon, Cleo’s just moved into a new dorm room at college. When she and her friends get together, they gossip and worry about what other people think of them. The point of this book isn’t what happens, though, but mood and atmosphere, captured through believable actions and conversation. The way Campbell draws Cleo is terrific. She’s chunky, a solid presence, but cute, and she looks even younger than she is, emphasizing her vulnerability. Her pierced nose […]

March 20, 2006 Johanna Pantheon 4 comments

Persepolis

Persepolis is, as subtitled, the story of author Marjane Satrapi’s childhood. It’s an experience few readers will be familiar with — although certain aspects of youth are universal, she grew up in Iran, the child of protesters with a grandfather who was once the son of the emperor. In only eight years, she experienced the Islamic Revolution, the overthrow of the Shah, and war with Iraq. Her childish perspective, retold from a vantage point years removed, is fascinating to read. […]

March 19, 2006 Johanna NBM / Papercutz One comment

Brownsville

Brownsville is a quality book, obviously a labor of love and skill from two talents, writer Neil Kleid and artist Jake Allen. The presentation is handsome, an easy-to-read hardcover at a reasonable price. The themes are universal, dealing with loyalty, different kinds of families, and the urge to belong. The subject is important, a well-researched story of the Jewish mob of the 1930s. It also happens to be one I’m simply not interested in. I don’t care for gangster stories, […]

March 18, 2006 Johanna Other Publishers 4 comments

Suspended in Language

Subtitled Niels Bohr’s Life, Discoveries, and the Century He Shaped, Suspended in Language is written by Jim Ottaviani and has art by Leland Purvis, with additional work by Jay Hosler, Roger Langridge, Steve Leialoha, Linda Medley, and Jeff Parker. As Bohr was finishing college, physics was entering a revolutionary state. Einstein and Planck had introduced relativity and the idea that measurement couldn’t be exact. Building on their foundation, Bohr used his invention of quantum mechanics to improve the classical model […]

March 17, 2006 Johanna Other Publishers One comment

Fallout

Subtitled J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb Szilard fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and began trying to convince others of the possibilities resulting from atomic fission and its resulting energy, both good and bad. Throughout the 40s, he and other scientists worked to find the funding and material, especially uranium, for their experiments in the field, all the while arguing over whether the rules of science and publication of data had changed […]

March 16, 2006 Johanna Manga News One comment

Manga Pricing by Sex

I had seen MangaBlog calling Viz sexist for pricing Shojo Beat (girls’) titles at $9 while Shonen Jump (boys’) titles were $8. I didn’t pay much attention because 1. I’m used to it. Women’s haircuts are more expensive than men’s regardless of amount of hair. Women’s shirts, even when visually the same as men’s, cost more to dry clean. Women are charged more when variable pricing applies in certain industries, like cars. Etc. 2. it seems like something of a […]

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