Vinland Saga Coming in Fall From Kodansha

In October, Kodansha Comics will be publishing the first book of Vinland Saga, the story of Vikings in medieval England in the 1000s. This historical manga, already up to 12 volumes in Japan, is by Makoto Yukimura, author of the much-missed Planetes. I’m not a huge Viking fan, but I was very impressed by how interesting he made outer space garbage collecting in Planetes, so I’m definitely interested in giving it a try. This will be Kodansha’s first hardcover, made […]

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Superman: Unbound Extras, Voices, and Images

We have some new images from Superman: Unbound, starring Matt Bomer (Superman), Molly Quinn (Supergirl), and Stana Katic (Lois Lane). I like how expressive the characters look. Newly announced voices include Frances Conroy as Ma Kent, Wade Williams as Perry White, Diedrich Bader as Steve Lombard, and Stephen Root as Zor-El. I think I’m going to have a hard time with Jimmy James as Supergirl’s dad — I kid! Root is quite talented and I’m sure will voice the character […]

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BTOOOM! Volume 1

BTOOOM! by Junya Inoue reads like a combination of Survivor and Lost filtered through a video-game overlay and the now-expected forced murder plot. Ryouta is unemployed, which gives him plenty of time to become one of the world’s best players of BTOOOM!, a new online video game in which you kill opponents with bombs, not guns. The next time he awakens, he’s on a tropical island, forced to play the game for real along with a mixed group of others. […]

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Viz Announces Mature Shojo Titles — Close Enough to Josei?

I don’t want to start a genre debate, since those can easily and quickly become tedious, but I’m hoping that the two shojo titles (manga for girls) Viz announced with a mature rating come close enough to josei (manga for women) as to scratch that itch. It’s nice to see them spacing out the series launches, too, so it’s not much of an economic hit to sample them. I’m most interested in the first two, what with the workplace setting, […]

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A Bride’s Story Volume 4

My fear that Kaoru Mori was going to follow anthropologist Mr. Smith away from the original bride Amir is thankfully not justified. As the series continues, the story sprawls, with chapters introducing new characters as Smith meets them as well as other chapters continuing to follow life with Amir. As volume 4 opens, we see more of what has happened with Amir’s family after they were unable to capture her back. Their reputation is damaged, which might ultimately result in […]

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Limit Volume 3

This third volume was a tad disappointing. After the excitement in the first two books of the series, establishing the situation of schoolgirls struggling for survival after a morbid bus crash, I expected to see more twists and revelations with a similar high level of emotional effect. However, Limit volume 3 feels as though the author, Keiko Suenobu, realized that there was potential in this concept to run a long while, so she started padding the storytelling and introducing more […]

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An Enchantment

The latest in the series of translated French graphic novels commissioned by and celebrating the Louvre Museum — previous volumes were Glacial Period, The Museum Vaults, On the Odd Hours, The Sky Over the Louvre, and Rohan at the Louvre — is the first that really resonated with me. In An Enchantment, Christian Durieux tells a classic story of a man and a woman, strangers to each other, and one magical night in the setting of the museum. The unnamed […]

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How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial

I previously reviewed this book of illustrated essays by Darryl Cunningham when it was published in the UK and called Science Tales: Lies, Hoaxes, and Scams. For the US release of How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial, due in April, the chapter on “Electroconvulsive Therapy” (which tied nicely into Cunningham’s previous book, Psychiatric Tales) has been replaced by one on “Fracking”. Also, “The Facts in the Case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield” has been retitled […]

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