December 24, 2006 Johanna HarperCollins One comment

The Cartoon History of the Modern World

Larry Gonick’s books are impressive: they’re wickedly funny, culturally insightful, and more educational than some college classes I’ve attended. His latest series, following up from the The Cartoon History of the Universe books… well, I’ll let the PR explain it: Cartoon History of the Modern World Part I covers the history of ancient Mexico, the Spanish conquests, the Portuguese empire in Asia and Brazil, national and religious upheavals in Europe and India, the colonial ventures of France, Britain, and the […]

December 24, 2006 Johanna Archie Comics 4 comments

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Revisited

It’s about time! Archie finally got around to collecting the first four issues of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch revamp, Sabrina #58-61 (2004), as a digest. Although the content is strongly manga-influenced, as written and drawn by Tania del Rio, it has little else in common with that format — this book is color, it’s only 112 pages (a little more than half the length of most manga), and it’s priced halfway between Tokyopop’s young readers price point ($6) and […]

December 23, 2006 Johanna Other Manga Publishers 6 comments

Emma

Emma is a beautifully illustrated period piece by Kaoru Mori that explores a forbidden relationship in Victorian London. Emma is maid to a former governess, whose young charge William has now grown into a prominent gentleman. He’s interested in Emma after their chance meetings, but he’s unsure of whether to say anything, especially given how strictly class lines are socially enforced. William’s clumsy attempts to demonstrate his affection only reinforce the difference. He thinks nothing of buying a new pair […]

December 23, 2006 Johanna Other Manga Publishers One comment

Penguin Revolution Volume 1

The author of Land of the Blindfolded, Sakura Tsukuba, has another story about a girl who sees things others can’t. In Penguin Revolution, Yukari sees wings on people who have the talent to be stars. Since Dad’s a flake who’s almost taken them to ruin, Yukari dreams of stability; her goal is to become a public servant. She’s nonplussed when she once again sees wings on a classmate. As if all that wasn’t enough, it turns out that the classmate […]

December 22, 2006 Johanna Other Publishers Leave a comment

Love and Capes #2

I really enjoyed the first issue, and I’m thrilled to see that there’s more. It’s even better for being a Christmas issue. After Abby and her boyfriend Mark (who’s also the Crusader) attend a friend’s wedding, we get to the meat of the issue: What should Mark get Abby for Christmas? And how will holiday family visits go? Although the situations can be familiar, the humor stays fresh. Actually, it probably works so well because the reader sortof kindof knows […]

December 22, 2006 Johanna Del Rey Manga Reviews Leave a comment

ES (Eternal Sabbath)

Thank you, readers, for recommending this title by Fuyumi Soryo — I enjoyed it! It’s intriguing in its premise and characters. The almost-stand-alone first chapter works as a lengthy introduction to ES, later renamed Ryousuke. He’s a psychic, capable of adjusting people’s memories and reading their impressions. We first meet him playing a kind of parlor trick. Someone asks him to pay for something he’s taken or used, he stares at them briefly, they blankly look back… and then they […]

December 21, 2006 Johanna First Second 2 comments

The Fate of the Artist

Eddie Campbell’s latest, The Fate of the Artist, is more experimental than his previous works. It’s something of a grab bag, with comic pages, fake strip clippings, prose pages with inset doodles, and photo comics, among other techniques, suggesting the detritus of a cluttered, but fascinating, mind. The reader may not be sure what to make of the title page subtitle and caption: “His Domestic Apocalypse: An Autobiographical Novel, with Typographical Anomalies, in Which the Author Does Not Appear as […]

December 20, 2006 Johanna HarperCollins 7 comments

Fun Home

Alison Bechdel has been writing and drawing the lesbian soap opera Dykes to Watch Out For for decades. Her comic strip characters are true to life, with one in particular resembling her and her attitudes closely. In her new book, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, she sets aside the fictionalization to present a memoir of her childhood. The book revolves around her relationship with her father. As she describes him, he was an obsessive redecorater, consumed with the 18-year historical […]

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