She-Hulk v3: Time Trials - I've only read the first two chapters. The artwork is growing on me; I'm learning to appreciate it. In particular I love how disheveled and geeky Jen looks while sitting at the breakfast table with John and Pug. Many of the other facial expressions are great too, especially on Jen or She-Hulk's face.
Dan Slott's writing is impressive. I love the humorous touches he puts in the story. If I had to pick one reason why I read this book I think it would be for the humor.
Phoenix v9: Strange Beings/Life - I'm not enjoying this one as much as I have some of the previous volumes. In particular, I'm not entirely comfortable with the way Tezuka uses different cultures in his stories; in this case the Incas of South America. I suppose he didn't expect that it would ever see publication outside of Japan or consider his depictions to be negative. I'm not sure that his depictions of other cultures are negative but they do rub me the wrong way; like he is taking the name (Inca, in this case) and then adding the characteristics he wants that culture to have. He seems to be creating a cultural identity for a non-Japanese culture that seems to me is more a creation of his imagination than it is based in fact. That bothers me.
Also maybe I've read a little too much Tezuka in the recent past and need to take a break, at least from Phoenix.
Showing posts with label phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phoenix. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, February 28, 2005
Comic Book Notes (LJ) Feb 2005
02/03/05
Previews Catalog Part 1
Marvel - not much here, just GLA # 1, and Strange # 5. Not wild about this miniseries, but I wanna see how it winds up. I can't see myself ordering anything else from Marvel this month. I wanted to order Exiles Book 8, but I need to take a break from ordering trade paperbacks. They are starting to pile up again. Wolverine: Enemy of the State HC has me intrigued. I know it got hyped, so it probably isn't as good as it looks, but I do like John Romita Jr.'s artwork. Other collections? How about Black Widow: Homecoming or She-Hulk: Superhuman Law? They both look like fun reads.
Dark Horse - Steve Rude's The Moth is finally out in trade paperback form. I perused the comics at the comic shop. It has a retro look to it that I like and the story looked kind of zany. Not this month, but it goes on my list.
DC - Batman: Faces TP written and drawn by Matt Wagner. I'm willing to give it a try, but not this month. No trade paperbacks, thank you! I will get Breach # 4. This series looks cool. I just got issue # 1, and haven't read it yet, but it just has one of those looks to that make me wanna get it. I hope it lives up to expectations; mine at least. Justice League Elite # 10? But of course. If I was going to get a trade paperback and I wanted it to be something different then I might get Strontium Dog: The Early Cases. Looks cool. Bounty hunters are cool.
Image - Invincible # 0 looks like a cost effective purchase at 50 cents. It is yet another series that I have heard good things about and want to try. The Iron Ghost # 1 looks very cool. Definitely looks reminiscent of The Shadow.
So far I am ordering:
- GLA # 1
- Strange # 5
- Breach # 4
- Justice League Elite # 10
- Invincible # 0
- Iron Ghost # 1
There still all the smaller publishers to go through, but not tonight. Hopefully tomorrow or over the weekend.
02/04/05
Here's the list of trade paperbacks that I want to buy. Overtime I will buy some of them. I doubt that I will ever get them all. Some I may lost interest in before I get them or may just get dropped off the list without being purchased.
02/05/05
Previews Catalog Part 2
ADV Films - Not just films, manga too. Only thing to mention here is Ray. Story about a girl who is raised to be harvested for her body parts, but who escapes and attempts to live a normal life. Sounds good to me, but not this month.
Alias Enterprises LLC - Deal with the Devil looks too good to pass up. I don't know the writer or artist, but its the first ish of a four issue mini and looks too good to pass up. And it is only 75 cents. Other than that Alias seems to have quite a few T&A looking titles, like 10th Muse and Judo Girl, that catch my eye but that I think I will pass on. OK maybe not all of them feature scantily female characters, but I still think I will still pass on the rest.
Devil's Due Publishing - Breakdown continues to be a fun ride, so I will continue to buy. Plot? Good guy turns into a vigilante after his family gets wiped out by the baddies.
Evil Twin Comics - Action Philosophers # 1? Yes. Why? Looks too silly for me to pass up. I need to at least give it a try.
ibooks - Blacksad # 2 looks good, but at $12.95 its a little more than I feel like spending this month, even though at 56 pages it isn't very long. The first book was just plain gorgeous. Blacksad # 3? Nah, I don't buy sketchbooks.
IDW - Easy Way #1 looks interesting, but I'm not wild about the $3.99 cover price. Maybe someday they'll collect it in a trade paperback.
Second to Some Studios - I can't remember how long it has been since the last issue came out, but Fade From Blue # 10 is finally being solicited. Final chapter.
Viz LLC - Midori's Days Book 1, also known as Midori no Hibi. I was reading it on a snoopycool.com, but its no longer available there. I might just buy it, but not this month.
That's about it so let's see. From the second half of the catalog I am ordering:
- Deal With the Devil # 1
- Breakdown # 6
- Action Philosophers # 1
- Fade From Blue # 10
No trades this month.
02/06/05
Batman: The Long Halloween - I've read the first six (of thirteen) chapters. I love the artwork and the story isn't bad, but haven't I read this story before? Maybe it wouldn't seem as dated as if I had read it when it first came out. What I mean is that it reminds me a lot of Batman: Hush, in that it is a pageant. Batman is trying to solve a mystery and as he works he crosses paths with a number of prominent characters (Joker, Harvey Dent, Solomon Grundy, Catwoman, Riddler) from his past/present. Instead of focusing on his relationship with any one or two of these characters the point of the story seems to be to showcase, Tim Sale's art if nothing else. I like the characterizations and as I said before I love the art. I just wish there was more to the story.
02/15/05
Haven't written much about what I've been reading lately. Not much change to the list of trade paperbacks I am reading other than the fact that I started reading Queen & Country Book 1, but here it is anyway:
Recently Finished Reading
- Human Target Book 2
- Marmalade Boy Book 4
Currently Reading
- Batman: The Long Halloween
- Phoenix Book 2: A Tale of the Future
- Queen & Country Book 1
Have Not Started Reading Yet
- Scion Book 4
- Kare Kano Book 4
- Marmalade Boy Book 5
- Marmalade Boy Book 6
- Maxx Book 3
- Y: The Last Man Book 2
- Love Fights Book 2
Ordered But Have Not Received Yet
- Ministry of Space
- Stray Bullets Book 1
- Enemy Ace (DC Archive Edition)
- Losers Book 2
- Hysteria Book 2
The online solicitations for DC Comics (to be realeased in May) are out. There are only a few things that jump out and make me want to buy them.
The Golden Age TPB - DC is finally releasing a new printing of this miniseries, that I have heard so much about. Gotta have it, but I might wait until it comes out and not preorder.
Hawkman Book 3 - Just a year after the last TPB collection came out here it is.
Losers Book 3 - I have yet to read book 2, but I will probably be buying this one somewhere down the line.
02/22/05
Later that afternoon we checked out two of the bigger comic book stores in NYC. The first, Midtown Comics, had a huge selection, but for the most part it was mainstream (DC, Marvel, Image, etc.) and not much in the way of back issues on the racks. The second comic book store, Jim Hanley's Universe, was much more to my liking. It had a bigger selection of independents than it did of mainstream. I found the two back issues of Heroes Anonymous that I was missing.
02/23/05
Y: The Last Man Book 2 - I'm only one chapter in, but so far so good. Who woulda thunk that this series could be this good. It is entertaining on more than one level, too. It is exciting and amusing. It makes me think about trying Ex Machina, another series written by Brian K. Vaughn.
Flipping back and forth between unflopped manga and American comic books sometimes gets me confused and I start reading from the wrong side of the page. Lately I've started reading Naruto and Gantz @ degreeanime.com. While I wait for the pages to load I sometimes read from comic books.
Batman: The Long Halloween - Still reading it. Love the artwork. It is very dark and expressive. I'm not gaga about the coloring job, but I think it goes well with the sort of story that is being told and the work done by the penciler/inker, Tim Sale. I also like the detail in the artwork. It isn't always realistic. For instance the Joker's toothy smile looks positively and unrealistically horrific. And just because the work is detailed doesn't mean that you can see all the fine lines on every characters face. Anyhoo, I've got about 3 more chapters to go in this monster epic.
Phoenix Book 2 - Still reading it too. I guess I am close to the halfway point. This is a very different story from the first book. I can't wait to see how things work out in the end. Osamu Tezuka's artwork is sheer genius. Visually he tells a story as well as any artist I can think of. The flow from one panel to the next is smooth and logical.
That's it for now. I still have quite a few comics and trade paparebacks waiting in the wings to be read.
02/25/05
Breach # 1 - I like it. It reads more like something that Marvel would publish, but I like it. What's it about? An experiment 20 years ago gone wrong. Man horribly transformed. Story begins in December 2005. That is not a typo. Then the story flashes back to show how (in 1985) he was transformed. Of course he left a wife and kid behind. Angst. The first issue more or less just tells his origin. What comes next? I can't wait to read the next issue and find out why he, his wife, best friend and a couple others were in a helicopter than crashed in Siberia.
Previews Catalog Part 1
Marvel - not much here, just GLA # 1, and Strange # 5. Not wild about this miniseries, but I wanna see how it winds up. I can't see myself ordering anything else from Marvel this month. I wanted to order Exiles Book 8, but I need to take a break from ordering trade paperbacks. They are starting to pile up again. Wolverine: Enemy of the State HC has me intrigued. I know it got hyped, so it probably isn't as good as it looks, but I do like John Romita Jr.'s artwork. Other collections? How about Black Widow: Homecoming or She-Hulk: Superhuman Law? They both look like fun reads.
Dark Horse - Steve Rude's The Moth is finally out in trade paperback form. I perused the comics at the comic shop. It has a retro look to it that I like and the story looked kind of zany. Not this month, but it goes on my list.
DC - Batman: Faces TP written and drawn by Matt Wagner. I'm willing to give it a try, but not this month. No trade paperbacks, thank you! I will get Breach # 4. This series looks cool. I just got issue # 1, and haven't read it yet, but it just has one of those looks to that make me wanna get it. I hope it lives up to expectations; mine at least. Justice League Elite # 10? But of course. If I was going to get a trade paperback and I wanted it to be something different then I might get Strontium Dog: The Early Cases. Looks cool. Bounty hunters are cool.
Image - Invincible # 0 looks like a cost effective purchase at 50 cents. It is yet another series that I have heard good things about and want to try. The Iron Ghost # 1 looks very cool. Definitely looks reminiscent of The Shadow.
So far I am ordering:
- GLA # 1
- Strange # 5
- Breach # 4
- Justice League Elite # 10
- Invincible # 0
- Iron Ghost # 1
There still all the smaller publishers to go through, but not tonight. Hopefully tomorrow or over the weekend.
02/04/05
Here's the list of trade paperbacks that I want to buy. Overtime I will buy some of them. I doubt that I will ever get them all. Some I may lost interest in before I get them or may just get dropped off the list without being purchased.
02/05/05
Previews Catalog Part 2
ADV Films - Not just films, manga too. Only thing to mention here is Ray. Story about a girl who is raised to be harvested for her body parts, but who escapes and attempts to live a normal life. Sounds good to me, but not this month.
Alias Enterprises LLC - Deal with the Devil looks too good to pass up. I don't know the writer or artist, but its the first ish of a four issue mini and looks too good to pass up. And it is only 75 cents. Other than that Alias seems to have quite a few T&A looking titles, like 10th Muse and Judo Girl, that catch my eye but that I think I will pass on. OK maybe not all of them feature scantily female characters, but I still think I will still pass on the rest.
Devil's Due Publishing - Breakdown continues to be a fun ride, so I will continue to buy. Plot? Good guy turns into a vigilante after his family gets wiped out by the baddies.
Evil Twin Comics - Action Philosophers # 1? Yes. Why? Looks too silly for me to pass up. I need to at least give it a try.
ibooks - Blacksad # 2 looks good, but at $12.95 its a little more than I feel like spending this month, even though at 56 pages it isn't very long. The first book was just plain gorgeous. Blacksad # 3? Nah, I don't buy sketchbooks.
IDW - Easy Way #1 looks interesting, but I'm not wild about the $3.99 cover price. Maybe someday they'll collect it in a trade paperback.
Second to Some Studios - I can't remember how long it has been since the last issue came out, but Fade From Blue # 10 is finally being solicited. Final chapter.
Viz LLC - Midori's Days Book 1, also known as Midori no Hibi. I was reading it on a snoopycool.com, but its no longer available there. I might just buy it, but not this month.
That's about it so let's see. From the second half of the catalog I am ordering:
- Deal With the Devil # 1
- Breakdown # 6
- Action Philosophers # 1
- Fade From Blue # 10
No trades this month.
02/06/05
Batman: The Long Halloween - I've read the first six (of thirteen) chapters. I love the artwork and the story isn't bad, but haven't I read this story before? Maybe it wouldn't seem as dated as if I had read it when it first came out. What I mean is that it reminds me a lot of Batman: Hush, in that it is a pageant. Batman is trying to solve a mystery and as he works he crosses paths with a number of prominent characters (Joker, Harvey Dent, Solomon Grundy, Catwoman, Riddler) from his past/present. Instead of focusing on his relationship with any one or two of these characters the point of the story seems to be to showcase, Tim Sale's art if nothing else. I like the characterizations and as I said before I love the art. I just wish there was more to the story.
02/15/05
Haven't written much about what I've been reading lately. Not much change to the list of trade paperbacks I am reading other than the fact that I started reading Queen & Country Book 1, but here it is anyway:
Recently Finished Reading
- Human Target Book 2
- Marmalade Boy Book 4
Currently Reading
- Batman: The Long Halloween
- Phoenix Book 2: A Tale of the Future
- Queen & Country Book 1
Have Not Started Reading Yet
- Scion Book 4
- Kare Kano Book 4
- Marmalade Boy Book 5
- Marmalade Boy Book 6
- Maxx Book 3
- Y: The Last Man Book 2
- Love Fights Book 2
Ordered But Have Not Received Yet
- Ministry of Space
- Stray Bullets Book 1
- Enemy Ace (DC Archive Edition)
- Losers Book 2
- Hysteria Book 2
The online solicitations for DC Comics (to be realeased in May) are out. There are only a few things that jump out and make me want to buy them.
The Golden Age TPB - DC is finally releasing a new printing of this miniseries, that I have heard so much about. Gotta have it, but I might wait until it comes out and not preorder.
Hawkman Book 3 - Just a year after the last TPB collection came out here it is.
Losers Book 3 - I have yet to read book 2, but I will probably be buying this one somewhere down the line.
02/22/05
Later that afternoon we checked out two of the bigger comic book stores in NYC. The first, Midtown Comics, had a huge selection, but for the most part it was mainstream (DC, Marvel, Image, etc.) and not much in the way of back issues on the racks. The second comic book store, Jim Hanley's Universe, was much more to my liking. It had a bigger selection of independents than it did of mainstream. I found the two back issues of Heroes Anonymous that I was missing.
02/23/05
Y: The Last Man Book 2 - I'm only one chapter in, but so far so good. Who woulda thunk that this series could be this good. It is entertaining on more than one level, too. It is exciting and amusing. It makes me think about trying Ex Machina, another series written by Brian K. Vaughn.
Flipping back and forth between unflopped manga and American comic books sometimes gets me confused and I start reading from the wrong side of the page. Lately I've started reading Naruto and Gantz @ degreeanime.com. While I wait for the pages to load I sometimes read from comic books.
Batman: The Long Halloween - Still reading it. Love the artwork. It is very dark and expressive. I'm not gaga about the coloring job, but I think it goes well with the sort of story that is being told and the work done by the penciler/inker, Tim Sale. I also like the detail in the artwork. It isn't always realistic. For instance the Joker's toothy smile looks positively and unrealistically horrific. And just because the work is detailed doesn't mean that you can see all the fine lines on every characters face. Anyhoo, I've got about 3 more chapters to go in this monster epic.
Phoenix Book 2 - Still reading it too. I guess I am close to the halfway point. This is a very different story from the first book. I can't wait to see how things work out in the end. Osamu Tezuka's artwork is sheer genius. Visually he tells a story as well as any artist I can think of. The flow from one panel to the next is smooth and logical.
That's it for now. I still have quite a few comics and trade paparebacks waiting in the wings to be read.
02/25/05
Breach # 1 - I like it. It reads more like something that Marvel would publish, but I like it. What's it about? An experiment 20 years ago gone wrong. Man horribly transformed. Story begins in December 2005. That is not a typo. Then the story flashes back to show how (in 1985) he was transformed. Of course he left a wife and kid behind. Angst. The first issue more or less just tells his origin. What comes next? I can't wait to read the next issue and find out why he, his wife, best friend and a couple others were in a helicopter than crashed in Siberia.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Comic Book Notes (LJ) Jan 2005
01/03/05
I haven't been reading a whole lot lately. I've been kinda busy with other stuff. I finished off Ranma 1/2 Book 4 and Hana-Kimi Book 1, over a week ago. I'm winding down on Rex Mundi Book 1 and Scion Book 3.
Marmalade Boy Book 4 - I just started it. I'm not even halfway through the first chapter, which is kinda long. It opens with Miki and her best friend, Meiko, spying on Miki's step-brother, Yuu. He has been spending a lot of time with another good-looking guy, Satoshi. Naturally, everyone at school starts suspecting that they are gay, including Miki who doesn't want to believe it because she has a crush on Yuu.
I love the dialogue and how the characters convince themselves (of Yuu and Satoshi's relationship) without concrete evidence to back up their suspicions. Meiko, getting over her own soap-operatic moment in the sun in Book 3, is tickled pink over the possibilities. Miki only makes things worse for herself by eavesdropping on Yuu and Satoshi, and then trying to figure out what they are talking about in a round about sort of way. Anyhow I find it all very amusing.
01/04/05
I just read (on Newsarama)about Will Eisner passing away last night. I've read a few of his graphic novels. I think I have two of them, Fagin the Jew and another older one. Never got around to reading The Spirit.
I've been thinking more about buying some of the DC Archive Editions of this series and other series. I don't want to get them every month, but maybe once every three months I'll pick one up. They usually sell for 35% off (the $50 cover price) at MailOrderComics.
I'd love to pick up some of the Archive Editions that were drawn by Joe Kubert like Enemy Ace, Sgt. Rock, and Adam Strange. I'm primarily interested in Silver Age Archive Editions, but I'd also like to get New Teen Titans by Wolfman, Perez, and Giordano. Watching Teen Titans on TV really makes me wanna go back and read and reread the stories from the late-70's and early 80's.
Well I don't feel quite as bad as I did after reading the obit. Still, it is sad to be without such a prolific and influential talent. At least we still have his stories.
01/06/05
Well, my monthly shipment should be arrive today. I found out yesterday that two trade paperbacks that were scheduled to be included will not be, so I'll only be getting two trade paperbacks instead of four. :(
On time - Batman: The Long Halloween, Queen & Country Vol. 1
Late - Ministry of Space, Love Fights Vol. 2
At this point I'm just glad to be getting a shipment. I haven't had the time to make it to the comic shop lately and I ran out of new comic books a couple weeks ago. I've been living off of trade paperbacks (Rex Mundi Book 1, Scion Vol 3), manga (Marmalade Boy Vol. 4), and back issues (X-Men: The Hidden Years, Marvel: The Lost Generation, Superman & Batman: Generations 3, Route 666, Dreadstar).
S&B:G3 sucks by comparison to the previous two mini-series. Most of the issues are forgettable. Some of the artwork looks incomplete and most of it is very roughly drawn.
M:TLG is much better by comparison to S&B:G3 but that's not saying much. I bought both these series a couple years back and am just getting arounf to reading them. At least I don't feel like I completely wasted my money on them.
01/07/05
* Comic books arrived on time. Batman: The Long Halloween is a long book, longer than I realized, about 350 pages long. I spent about an hour going through the Previews catalog. There wasn't too much that caught my eye that I hadn't already earmarked.
* I hear it on NPR: an interview with Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Gotham Entertainment Group, which has licensed the Marvel Comics characters to be distributed in South Asia. Their first publication is Spider-Man India, featuring Pavitr Prabhakar as Peter Parker.
Link: Fresh Air for Thursday January 6, 2005 (you have to scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to find the link to the audio of the interview. It is about 20 minutes long.
Trade Paperbacks and Manga
Currently Reading
+ Rex Mundi Book 1: The Guardian of the Temple
+ Scion Book 3: Divided Loyalties
+ Marmalade Boy Book 4
Waiting to be Read
+ Batman: The Long Halloween
+ Queen & Country Book 1: Operation Broken Ground
+ Human Target Book 2: Living in Amerika
+ Kare Kano Book 4
+ Scion Book 4: Sanctuary
+ Marmalade Boy Book 5
+ Marmalade Boy Book 6
Ordered
+ Ministry of Space
+ Love Fights Book 2
+ Maxx Book 3
+ Stray Bullets Book 1
+ Y: The Last Man Book 2
01/08/05
So I went to liberty Comics and splurged today. Well, I spent more than I usually do. I bought X-Men Unlimited # 6 which features a story written and drawn by the crew that used to write and draw Negation: Paul Pelletier, Dave Meikis, and Tony Bedard. It was okay. It was no where near as good as Negation. What was missing of course was Laura Martin's colors. That and a decent story. Anyone could have written this one.
Comparisons to Negation: The way the four women in this story interacted did remind me kind of the way the main female characters in Negation interacted. Emma White would obviously be Evinlea. Kitty Pryde would be Corrin. I guess Storm would be Shassa, but the correlation isn't as strong. That leaves Sage to be Iress.
I also bought...
+ Teen Titans # 19 - final issue in the Titans of Tomorrow story
+ She Hulk # 9 - the art is by Paul Pelletier and I've heard good things about this series
+ Phoenix Book 2: Future - a year after I bought the first volume in this series I finally got the second one. Written and drawn by the godfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka. I really enjoyed the first book. Not short, but the first book was very good so I have high hopes for this one.
01/09/05
She-Hulk # 9 - Very amusing. Jen trying to learn to control her new strength. Hercules being sued (by a supervillain) for being too aggressively heroic. Very amusing, the whole thing was very tongue in cheek. I may just have to pick up the next issue. It didn't hurt that Paul Pelletier did the pencils.
01/11/05
Teen Titans # 19 - Good but not great. Not good enough to convince me to continue buying this series. I have yet to be truly impressed or satisfied with Geoff Johns writing. I tried JSA for a while and didn't care for it, now I tried Teen Titans and was equally un-wowed. I did enjoy the whole Titans of Tomorrow story. It wasn't bad, but I get the impression that it was the time travel elements and not the writing that worked for me.
Human Target Book 2 - Chapter one of this book (six of the series) is one of those stories that I thinks works a little better if you know the ending in advance. The story was plodding along and I wasn't that impressed with it until I saw the twist in the tale. Then it hit pretty hard. This chapter is a self-contained story. The Human Target is hired to impersonate a priest who is being theatened by a local heavy. Christopher Chance (The Human Target) isn't a religious man, but after spending some time in the role of the priest he finds himself starting to sense that maybe there are things he should believe in. Then he encouters the heavy, and finds out why he has been trying to 'off' the priest: he was molested by the priest when he was a boy. Maybe I should have seen in coming. The story is set in Boston. Anyhow that casts the story in a very different light. I won't give any more of the story away, but I did like how it ends. Still I think there should have been some foreshadowing as to the true motivations of the heavy and the true nature of the priest.
01/19/05
Midori no Hibi is no longer available at SnoopyCool. There ain't much available anymore at SnoopyCool, but from what I understand the anime of Midori no Hibi is going to be released in March, by ADV. I haven't heard anyword on when the manga will be available.I managed to download te first two-and-a-half books before the SnoopyCool went down in December.
No Fallen Angel in April, according to DC. The next and probably last issue, # 20, will come out in May.
Last issue of Adam Strange comes out in March. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for the trade of that?
I'm still not going to order the individual issues of Identity Crisis. Even though DC is rereleasing all of them in March. I'm waiting for the trade, even if I have to wait until 2006. There are plenty of other things to read in the meanwhile.
Human Target is ending with # 21. The second trade collects up through # 10. I guess that means that there will be two more trade collections, hopefully.
Iron Ghost from Image looks good. Written by Ron Marz, it looks like a riff on The Shadow. It is a mini and only runs six issues. I'll probably wait for the trade.
Trade-wise, this month I decided to pre-order the second trade of The Losers (DC/Vertigo), Hysteria Book 2 (Oni Press; written and drawn by Mike Hawthorne), and the DC Archive Edition of Enemy Ace.
OK, that's enough for now. Time to read some more comic books.
I haven't been reading a whole lot lately. I've been kinda busy with other stuff. I finished off Ranma 1/2 Book 4 and Hana-Kimi Book 1, over a week ago. I'm winding down on Rex Mundi Book 1 and Scion Book 3.
Marmalade Boy Book 4 - I just started it. I'm not even halfway through the first chapter, which is kinda long. It opens with Miki and her best friend, Meiko, spying on Miki's step-brother, Yuu. He has been spending a lot of time with another good-looking guy, Satoshi. Naturally, everyone at school starts suspecting that they are gay, including Miki who doesn't want to believe it because she has a crush on Yuu.
I love the dialogue and how the characters convince themselves (of Yuu and Satoshi's relationship) without concrete evidence to back up their suspicions. Meiko, getting over her own soap-operatic moment in the sun in Book 3, is tickled pink over the possibilities. Miki only makes things worse for herself by eavesdropping on Yuu and Satoshi, and then trying to figure out what they are talking about in a round about sort of way. Anyhow I find it all very amusing.
01/04/05
I just read (on Newsarama)about Will Eisner passing away last night. I've read a few of his graphic novels. I think I have two of them, Fagin the Jew and another older one. Never got around to reading The Spirit.
I've been thinking more about buying some of the DC Archive Editions of this series and other series. I don't want to get them every month, but maybe once every three months I'll pick one up. They usually sell for 35% off (the $50 cover price) at MailOrderComics.
I'd love to pick up some of the Archive Editions that were drawn by Joe Kubert like Enemy Ace, Sgt. Rock, and Adam Strange. I'm primarily interested in Silver Age Archive Editions, but I'd also like to get New Teen Titans by Wolfman, Perez, and Giordano. Watching Teen Titans on TV really makes me wanna go back and read and reread the stories from the late-70's and early 80's.
Well I don't feel quite as bad as I did after reading the obit. Still, it is sad to be without such a prolific and influential talent. At least we still have his stories.
01/06/05
Well, my monthly shipment should be arrive today. I found out yesterday that two trade paperbacks that were scheduled to be included will not be, so I'll only be getting two trade paperbacks instead of four. :(
On time - Batman: The Long Halloween, Queen & Country Vol. 1
Late - Ministry of Space, Love Fights Vol. 2
At this point I'm just glad to be getting a shipment. I haven't had the time to make it to the comic shop lately and I ran out of new comic books a couple weeks ago. I've been living off of trade paperbacks (Rex Mundi Book 1, Scion Vol 3), manga (Marmalade Boy Vol. 4), and back issues (X-Men: The Hidden Years, Marvel: The Lost Generation, Superman & Batman: Generations 3, Route 666, Dreadstar).
S&B:G3 sucks by comparison to the previous two mini-series. Most of the issues are forgettable. Some of the artwork looks incomplete and most of it is very roughly drawn.
M:TLG is much better by comparison to S&B:G3 but that's not saying much. I bought both these series a couple years back and am just getting arounf to reading them. At least I don't feel like I completely wasted my money on them.
01/07/05
* Comic books arrived on time. Batman: The Long Halloween is a long book, longer than I realized, about 350 pages long. I spent about an hour going through the Previews catalog. There wasn't too much that caught my eye that I hadn't already earmarked.
* I hear it on NPR: an interview with Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Gotham Entertainment Group, which has licensed the Marvel Comics characters to be distributed in South Asia. Their first publication is Spider-Man India, featuring Pavitr Prabhakar as Peter Parker.
Link: Fresh Air for Thursday January 6, 2005 (you have to scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to find the link to the audio of the interview. It is about 20 minutes long.
Trade Paperbacks and Manga
Currently Reading
+ Rex Mundi Book 1: The Guardian of the Temple
+ Scion Book 3: Divided Loyalties
+ Marmalade Boy Book 4
Waiting to be Read
+ Batman: The Long Halloween
+ Queen & Country Book 1: Operation Broken Ground
+ Human Target Book 2: Living in Amerika
+ Kare Kano Book 4
+ Scion Book 4: Sanctuary
+ Marmalade Boy Book 5
+ Marmalade Boy Book 6
Ordered
+ Ministry of Space
+ Love Fights Book 2
+ Maxx Book 3
+ Stray Bullets Book 1
+ Y: The Last Man Book 2
01/08/05
So I went to liberty Comics and splurged today. Well, I spent more than I usually do. I bought X-Men Unlimited # 6 which features a story written and drawn by the crew that used to write and draw Negation: Paul Pelletier, Dave Meikis, and Tony Bedard. It was okay. It was no where near as good as Negation. What was missing of course was Laura Martin's colors. That and a decent story. Anyone could have written this one.
Comparisons to Negation: The way the four women in this story interacted did remind me kind of the way the main female characters in Negation interacted. Emma White would obviously be Evinlea. Kitty Pryde would be Corrin. I guess Storm would be Shassa, but the correlation isn't as strong. That leaves Sage to be Iress.
I also bought...
+ Teen Titans # 19 - final issue in the Titans of Tomorrow story
+ She Hulk # 9 - the art is by Paul Pelletier and I've heard good things about this series
+ Phoenix Book 2: Future - a year after I bought the first volume in this series I finally got the second one. Written and drawn by the godfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka. I really enjoyed the first book. Not short, but the first book was very good so I have high hopes for this one.
01/09/05
She-Hulk # 9 - Very amusing. Jen trying to learn to control her new strength. Hercules being sued (by a supervillain) for being too aggressively heroic. Very amusing, the whole thing was very tongue in cheek. I may just have to pick up the next issue. It didn't hurt that Paul Pelletier did the pencils.
01/11/05
Teen Titans # 19 - Good but not great. Not good enough to convince me to continue buying this series. I have yet to be truly impressed or satisfied with Geoff Johns writing. I tried JSA for a while and didn't care for it, now I tried Teen Titans and was equally un-wowed. I did enjoy the whole Titans of Tomorrow story. It wasn't bad, but I get the impression that it was the time travel elements and not the writing that worked for me.
Human Target Book 2 - Chapter one of this book (six of the series) is one of those stories that I thinks works a little better if you know the ending in advance. The story was plodding along and I wasn't that impressed with it until I saw the twist in the tale. Then it hit pretty hard. This chapter is a self-contained story. The Human Target is hired to impersonate a priest who is being theatened by a local heavy. Christopher Chance (The Human Target) isn't a religious man, but after spending some time in the role of the priest he finds himself starting to sense that maybe there are things he should believe in. Then he encouters the heavy, and finds out why he has been trying to 'off' the priest: he was molested by the priest when he was a boy. Maybe I should have seen in coming. The story is set in Boston. Anyhow that casts the story in a very different light. I won't give any more of the story away, but I did like how it ends. Still I think there should have been some foreshadowing as to the true motivations of the heavy and the true nature of the priest.
01/19/05
Midori no Hibi is no longer available at SnoopyCool. There ain't much available anymore at SnoopyCool, but from what I understand the anime of Midori no Hibi is going to be released in March, by ADV. I haven't heard anyword on when the manga will be available.I managed to download te first two-and-a-half books before the SnoopyCool went down in December.
No Fallen Angel in April, according to DC. The next and probably last issue, # 20, will come out in May.
Last issue of Adam Strange comes out in March. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for the trade of that?
I'm still not going to order the individual issues of Identity Crisis. Even though DC is rereleasing all of them in March. I'm waiting for the trade, even if I have to wait until 2006. There are plenty of other things to read in the meanwhile.
Human Target is ending with # 21. The second trade collects up through # 10. I guess that means that there will be two more trade collections, hopefully.
Iron Ghost from Image looks good. Written by Ron Marz, it looks like a riff on The Shadow. It is a mini and only runs six issues. I'll probably wait for the trade.
Trade-wise, this month I decided to pre-order the second trade of The Losers (DC/Vertigo), Hysteria Book 2 (Oni Press; written and drawn by Mike Hawthorne), and the DC Archive Edition of Enemy Ace.
OK, that's enough for now. Time to read some more comic books.
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