January 19, 2006 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews 3 comments

Tokyo Boys & Girls Volume 1

Author Miki Aihara created the first manga I got involved with, Hot Gimmick, so I was a guaranteed customer for her next project, Tokyo Boys & Girls. This series doesn’t have the flair or uniqueness of that one, but it’s a decent read. Mimori is a cute fifteen-year-old entering high school and wishing for her first boyfriend. She’s spunky, standing up to teachers and trying to do the right thing regardless of what people think. She quickly becomes friends with […]

January 19, 2006 Johanna Image Comics Leave a comment

Coyote

If you weren’t reading comics in the 80s, you might not be familiar with Coyote. He’s one of the transitional characters that appeared during that period: a superhero that doesn’t appear to be such at first glance, originally published by a new company (Eclipse) instead of an old stalwart, and creator-owned by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. The origin story reprinted here originally appeared in Eclipse Monthly in seven parts, although it was written as one long story. That format […]

January 19, 2006 Johanna Comic News 4 comments

Waiting for Planetary

Dave Lewis ponders Waiting for Planetary in a piece (link no longer available) that explores the nature of serial comics. I wonder now if Planetary shouldn’t be kept off schedule. I wonder now how long we can delay the inevitable. I wonder if, with less than a half-dozen issues remaining, how many more years Planetary can be sustained. It sounds tongue-in-cheek, I know, but I’m being sincere. Has anyone stopped buying Planetary because of the delays? Have stores stopped ordering […]

January 18, 2006 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Creeping Terror Tales

I originally read these two creepy stories by Sandy Jarrell as a minicomic, but both are now available to read online. The first, Don’t Play, the Game’s Not Safe, is about a bunch of kids trying to scare each other with trance-like games. This story does a fabulous job of realistically capturing kids playing around with the unknown, imagining grisly fates for each other. The art, pacing, expressions, and shading are all great, and the writer knows just when to […]

January 18, 2006 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Destined Love

Destined Love is a cool little meta-superhero comic set in the late 60s by Sandy Jarrell with Vance Sumner. It blends Astro City-like superhero daily life and real cultural history in the format of a nurse romance. It’s an ambitious project that could go wrong so many ways but doesn’t. Annie meets the superhero Bastion of Freedom while treating one of the people he’s recently saved, and they have dinner together. She’s curious about his relationship with one of his […]

January 18, 2006 Johanna Marvel One comment

X-Factor Flashback: #70-89 (1991-1993)

Because I enjoyed the Peter David-written Madrox miniseries, it was recommended that I try his earlier run on X-Factor. He started on X-Factor #70 in September 1991 with the wrapup to some big X-Men crossover. It’s full of lots of chatter, too many guest stars, and showy character bits, as when Wolverine swallows a cigarette instead of extinguishing it. That’s the kind of thing that would normally interrupt a story, but since there’s not really one here, instead, they’re character-defining […]

January 18, 2006 Johanna Comic News Leave a comment

Ignore Captain Carrot’s Return

The Howling Curmudgeons point out the many many things wrong with Geoff Johns’ return of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew. Personally, I thought the last page was the best example of why people say “show, don’t tell” I’ve seen in a long while. It’s nothing but characters telling each other what had happened previously. BORRRRRRING! And unnecessarily nasty, like so many DC comics these days, and completely unbelievable if you knew anything about the characters before this issue. […]

January 17, 2006 Johanna Comic News Leave a comment

Richmond Signing February 11

Velocity Comics in Richmond, Virginia, is having a signing on Saturday, February 11 from 2-5 PM to mark the release of Local #3, which is set in Richmond. According to the flyer, guests include: Brian Wood (writer of Local and Demo) Ryan Kelly (artist of Local) Becky Cloonan (artist of Demo and American Virgin) Rick Spears & Rob G. (Teenagers from Mars, Dead West) Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War) Jim Rugg (Street Angel) Thomas Scioli (Godland) Jasen Lex (Gypsy Lounge) […]

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