Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The cover claims 3,856 possibilities in this “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style comic by Jason Shiga, and I can believe it. Unfortunately, the introduction to Meanwhile warns us “most will end in doom and disaster” (also like the CYOA novels) and only one path will “lead you to happiness and success”. On the bright side, that means lots of re-read and play value as the reader tries to figure out the best choices. Jimmy winds up in a mad scientist’s laboratory […]
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It’s sad to note that something as charming as this modern fairy tale for girls was such a complete failure in the U.S. I’ve been ordering the U.K. editions online so I can have a matched set in the cute digest size, with all the neat design touches: glitter highlight on the pastel cover with matching colored shading inside. There are four titles in the series by Andi Watson, starting with The Haunted Teapot. The Haunted Teapot, in addition to […]
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All-Star Superman is inspired by the Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely story/homage to the character’s history and adapted by Dwayne McDuffie. A mission into the sun causes Superman to be given a death sentence by scientist Dr. Leo Quintum. The hero’s cells are “oversaturated with power” from solar radiation. When Superman finds out he’s dying, he decides to stop lying to Lois. He takes her to his arctic fortress, full of marvelous wonders, where they finally have an honest conversation, before he […]
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The 2010 Diamond Gem Award winners were just announced. These awards are nominated by a “panel of Diamond industry professionals”, voted on by comic book shop retailers, and selected based on “quality, creativity, and overall sales impact”, as you might note from the subtitle “Suppliers of the Year”. The winners are the industry “good guys”. For example, DC Comics, which has more retailer-friendly policies, beat out Marvel for Publisher of the Year (for the second year in a row), even […]
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Poor Ed. First, we tried to record a group discussion about the historical manga Ayako (by Osamu Tezuka, published by Vertical) over Super Bowl weekend, but network traffic meant that the Skype conversation kept dropping. Ed and I did some testing of alternate methods, but by the time he rescheduled with the group the week after, I was in the middle of a cold. (Call it vanity, but I refused to be recorded sounded like that, plus I spent the […]
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A year ago, in March 2010, Disney began a series of Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli DVD releases in conjunction with Ponyo coming to DVD and Blu-ray. Since then, there haven’t been any more discs put out in that line — until now. On March 8, Disney will release two more Studio Ghibli films. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Tales From Earthsea Blu-ray/DVD Combo PackList price $39.99 US DVD onlyList price $29.99 US The early Hayao Miyazaki film and environmental […]
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story by Eiji Otsuka art by Housui Yamazaki The last corporation I worked at made a priority of installing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on every floor and in common rooms, due to an unfortunate past incident with a worker who had a heart attack and passed away before emergency services could arrive. The company also provided training to interested employees, in conjunction with CPR instruction. I took it, and I was very impressed at how easy to use AEDs seemed […]
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I gave this series by Kiiro Yumi another try in the hopes that the disappointing elements of the previous volume had been downplayed or changed. Sadly, they haven’t. If anything, the melodrama in Library Wars: Love & War volume 4 has been ramped up, to levels I found ridiculous. The big reveal of the first two chapters — all while we keep hearing how brave Iku is now that she’s been kidnapped — is that Iku’s long-ago hero inspiration is […]
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