May 27, 2008 Johanna Manga News 2 comments

Tokyopop in Trouble: Manga Pilots

In their continuing strategy of signing up young wannabes before they have much experience in determining what a good deal looks like, Tokyopop has launched Manga Pilots (link no longer available). … promising manga creators are selected and hired by our editorial team to create a 24-to-36-page “pilot”–a short-form manga that will be used to determine whether or not a full-length manga will be created. The Manga Pilot will be published online for TOKYOPOP community members to review, rate, and […]

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter / Under the Hood

May 26, 2008 Johanna Movie News 5 comments

Warner’s Watchmen DVD Plans

According to today’s NY Times, Warner will be releasing a straight-to-DVD animated movie tentatively called Tales of the Black Freighter five days after Watchmen opens in theaters. It “follows a side Watchmen storyline about a shipwreck… The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called Under the Hood that will delve into the characters’ backstories.” The story postulates these kinds of promotions as a way to attempt to reverse soft DVD sales — last years’ figures declined for the first […]

May 25, 2008 Johanna Fantagraphics 2 comments

Castle Waiting

This handsome hardcover collects (if I’ve gotten this right), The Curse of Brambly Hedge, issues #1-14 of the mostly self-published series (as well as those put out by Cartoon Books), and short stories from Scatterbrain #1 and the second Trilogy Tour special. Regardless, now that all this Castle Waiting is under one cover, the original appearances are irrelevant. This is the format that suits the material. The book’s old-fashioned look acknowledges the tradition behind the story’s setting — all those […]

May 23, 2008 Johanna Television Reviews 5 comments

Live-Action Honey and Clover TV Series

I knew there was a Honey and Clover live-action movie, although I haven’t yet seen the DVD, but I was surprised to find that there was also a live-action TV show. It ran 11 episodes earlier this year, and so far (two in), I like it better than the manga. Pictured, by character name, clockwise from top: Morita, Mayama, Takemoto, Hagumi, Yamada Mainly that’s because with actors, things aren’t so exaggerated. Hagumi isn’t so young-looking or ethereal as to be […]

May 22, 2008 Johanna DC / Vertigo 3 comments

Incognegro

Incognegro weaves historical elements — lynchings, blacks passing for white, the Harlem Renaissance — into an entertaining, action-packed thriller that makes its points violently, so that they strike home. Zane Pinchback is a reporter for a black newspaper in the early 30s. He’s light-skinned enough to pass for white, so he ventures down south to report on the murders of black men that the white papers don’t bother covering. He’s tired of it, though, afraid of continuing to risk his […]

May 21, 2008 Johanna Tokyopop Manga Reviews 4 comments

Aria Volume 2

Where volume 1 covers autumn, as Aria volume 2 begins, winter is coming. The first chapter introduces the snowbugs, small creatures mistaken for dandelion puffs. They have seasonal lifecycles, coming out only in the cold and leaving right before the first snow. Lead character Akari is at least a teenager, with a career, but in the beginning of the book, when she’s never seen a fire in a fireplace, she seems very young. On the other hand, she’s from a […]

May 21, 2008 Johanna Tokyopop Manga Reviews 4 comments

Aria Volume 1

Kozue Amano’s Aria volume 1 introduces the glorious water world of Aqua. (We know it better as Mars, now flooded and renamed.) Akari is a gondolier in training in the tourist city of Neo-Venezia. Those in her profession are called undines, after the mythological water spirits, and her joy and grace cause her to live up to the inspiration. As the book begins, it’s autumn, and Akari’s appreciating the signs of the changing season. Her open, deep eyes express her […]

May 20, 2008 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews 4 comments

Nana Volume 8

I’ve recommended the Nana series up to this point, but now, reading this volume, it’s clear that everything that’s happened so far has just been prologue. Volume 8 opens with a flashback to Nana coming to Tokyo. Knowing what’s happened since puts it in deeper perspective, or a new reader can start here and fill in the background later. The long-time reader will notice a key difference, though: the singer Nana is now narrating, so we get to see how […]

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