Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The story of two young women named Nana moving to Tokyo as their adult lives begin, previously a manga series and a feature film, here is retold as a series of anime episodes. The two Nanas meet by accident on the train and then fall into becoming roommates. One Nana is a tough rock chick, coming to the big city to form a band and succeed at music; the other is following a guy, because she doesn’t know what to […]
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I went to see Whiteout last weekend with a couple of friends, and obviously, I didn’t feel the need to rush out my opinions on it. That’s because most everyone is in agreement: it’s not a very good movie. Estimates suggest an opening weekend gross of around $5 million, less than the horror film Sorority Row, which was made for about a third of Whiteout‘s $35 million production cost. That’s considered a disappointment, and word of mouth hasn’t been good. […]
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Guest review by Ed Sizemore Gesicht has been assigned to guard Adolf Haas and his family. Haas’ former colleagues have decided he’s a liability and want him dead before he can reveal too many of their secrets. But Gesicht is starting a personal crisis as buried memories begin to surface, revealing shocking details of his past. Also in this volume, Hercules faces off against Pluto, while Uran, Professor Ochanomizu, and Professor Tenma all have to come to grips with what […]
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While reading this lengthy interview with Jill Thompson (link no longer available), done to promote her new miniseries with Evan Dorkin, Beasts of Burden, I was very sad to see her say this: I’ve done all the Magic Trixie books that Harper Collins is interested in, so I’ve got a trilogy, and that’s cool. I’d like to do more stories eventually, but right now I’m focusing on Beasts of Burden and looking forward to get Scary Godmother started back up. […]
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After being disappointed by the sitcom-like mediocrity of the second book in this series, I was pleased to see that this latest installment went back to what I liked in the series opener: shojo school drama lightened with a humorous approach to gender expectations. There’s more in this volume about Love Chick, the manga Juta creates based on the adventures of his friends Asuka and Ryo. Since Asuka is the otomen of the title, a manly boy who nevertheless likes […]
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Here’s a two-minute fight scene clip from Superman/Batman: Public Enemies in which Superman faces off with President Lex Luthor. I like the revised look of the characters, reportedly based on Ed McGuinness’ art — there seems to be more feeling in the faces, and it’s nice to see them getting away from the ridiculously flat square jaws of the Bruce Timm-inspired designs — but the shoebox-flavored straight-line cars are a bit amateurish. The DVD will be released September 29 as […]
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The movie adaptation of the graphic novel Whiteout opens tomorrow. Artist Steve Lieber, who illustrated the comic written by Greg Rucka, was kind enough to answer some questions about how the two different media versions of the story compare. When Whiteout was first being published, did you envision it in another medium as well? STEVE LIEBER: Back when I first read the comics script, Whiteout struck me as very likely to get other-media interest. It works as a movie, obviously. […]
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The next original DC animated film is Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, due out on DVD on September 29. Based on a comic story by Jeph Loeb about Lex Luthor becoming President of the U.S. and declaring the heroes illegal, the movie features LeVar Burton as the voice of Black Lightning, one of the many DC heroes battling the title characters. The following interview text was provided by Warner Home Video, as were previous interviews with John C. McGinley (Metallo) and writer […]
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