June 25, 2009 Johanna NBM / Papercutz 4 comments

Famous Players

Rick Geary continues his Treasury of XXth Century Murder series with Famous Players, covering “The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor”. This murder case, long an unsolved mystery, took place in 1922 Hollywood, where moving pictures were just settling into being an industry. William Desmond Taylor was a director for Famous Players, the most prestigious studio of the time, and actress Mabel Normand was the last person to see him alive. When Taylor was found dead, suspicion fell on young […]

June 23, 2009 KC Television Reviews One comment

Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection

Review by KC Carlson There are a lot of good reasons to recommend Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, the new two-disc collection from Warner Bros. The first is right there in the title — it’s all of Chuck Jones’ Tom and Jerry cartoons, whether as a producer, director, writer, or various combinations of all three. There are 34 cartoons in all. In fact, except for two notable non-T&J omissions, this set represents all of MGM’s theatrical cartoon releases […]

June 22, 2009 Johanna Comic News One comment

Comics for Kids: Disney Moves to Boom!, Henson to Archaia

Gemstone let go of the Disney comic license in the U.S. — leading to questions like “how can any company not succeed with the most popular characters ever?” — but not to worry. Boom! Studios will be releasing Disney comics beginning in September. The format will be the same as their other kids’ comics — 24 pages for $2.99. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck stories should make great companions for the existing Pixar and Muppet Disney licenses, already published to […]

June 22, 2009 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews One comment

Detroit Metal City Volume 1

When I first heard about this heavy metal parody by Kiminori Wakasugi, I was sure I’d be too grossed out to make it through. The premise, you see, is that nerdy virgin Soichi becomes the vile, repulsive, hateful, misogynist lead singer of a death metal band on stage, but he really wants to sing sappy pop songs. The comedy comes from the contrast between Soichi’s incompetence at so much of life and his made-up posturing on-stage. I did have to […]

June 21, 2009 Johanna Comic News 3 comments

Wizard Bans Ex-Staffer From Con Without Explanation

If you wanted any more evidence as to how petty Wizard can be … via Tom Spurgeon comes word that Steven Hoveke, former Wizard staffer and current publisher of Square1Press, was banned from Wizard World Philly. He had a table in Artists’ Alley, where he was selling sketchbooks for Walter Simonson and Howard Chaykin, and he appeared there all day Friday. When he returned Saturday, he was denied entry without being given a reason. Later he Twittered that he was […]

June 20, 2009 Johanna TV News Leave a comment

Spectacular Spider-Man Cartoon Starts Second Season

I didn’t realize Spidey has a new cartoon series running on Disney XD. The second season premieres on Monday, June 22, at 7 PM with two episodes. After that, episodes run at 7:30 on Mondays. It’s set in high school, where the character works particularly well. Here are the show descriptions: In the season premiere, “Blueprints”, Peter wants to talk to Gwen about their first kiss, but before he gets the chance, Spider-Man has a run-in with the sorcerer Mysterio. […]

June 19, 2009 Johanna Digital Manga Reviews One comment

Flower of Life Volume 4

I hadn’t realized that the Flower of Life series concluded in this volume. The stories still feel similar to the previous, without the kind of directed wrapup you see in other manga. Some situations are even left open, without clear solution. It’s been a while (two years) since the previous installment, but I found that the characters came right back to me. Plus, there’s a handy catch-up listing to start. Harutaro and Shota are trying to make manga professionally, while […]

June 16, 2009 Johanna Other Manga Publishers One comment

Ballad of a Shinigami Volume 1

by Asuka Izumi; story by K-Ske Hasegawa You may know the term “shinigami” from the popular Death Note series, where the death god is black and goth and scary. Ballad of a Shinigami, based on a light novel series (translated in the U.S. by Seven Seas) and later anime, turns that concept on its ear by featuring a young girl, all in white, as the messenger of death. Except few people actually die in this book — instead, they’re affected […]

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