Fruit Baskets Forever

Powers v7: Forever - Read chapter 5 (of 7) this morning. I thought Powers v6: collection was awesome. The epic scale of story blows the previous collection out of the water. It (volume 6) was prologue and epilogue to this story. The way that Bendis and Oeming have pulled elements together and gone back to touch on things that were touched on before and give them new meaning really impresses me.

Fruit Baskets v1 - I wasn't sure if I would ever pick this up again but now I have, primarily based on the fact that it was listed as one of the top 5 shoujo series by Danielle Leigh. Its the only series on the list that I have tried reading. Some of the other series sound interesting too.

First time reading Fruits Basket I thought it was good but it didn't feel like the right thing for me at the time. Now that I taking a break from Kare Kano and am thinking about taking a break from Hot Gimmick it seems like a good time to pick it up again. I don't expect to feel like it is the best thing since sliced bread but I am hoping that I will get more out of it than I did the last time.

My recollection is that I liked the main character (Tohru Honda) but wasn't as taken with the rest of the cast.

Top Runs

What a great idea! Comics Should Be Good has compiled a list of favorite comic book runs. Some of them are collected in trade format and some are not. Either way I've decided to copy the list and then see how much of the titles that interest me are available in trade or hardback format.

I'm also curious as how age affected the preferences of the voters. For that matter what was the average and median age of the voters. I doubt that they collected this sort of data. Still it would be interesting to compare a list of the preferences of younger and older comic book readers.

Comic Book Notes (LJ) Dec 2005

12/07/05

Maxx Vol. 4 - Why do I read this series? I can't seem to follow the larger storyline. I love the artwork. I think I love the mystery of it. Also there are some seriously disturbing characters in this series. And it tends to be very surreal.

12/16/05

Should I give Iron Wok Jan another try? I'm thinking I should. I've only read the first volume. That was back in early 2004 when I first started reading manga. I liked it but I wanted to try other things. I almost picked up a copy of volume 2 at the Liberty Comics the other day.

No new issue of Rocketo solicited this month, although there is a collection of the first 6 six issues in the Image section of the catalog. I'm tempted to order it for my mother. I think she would really like the pictures. Its a great all ages book. I don't think she would be interested in edgier more adult comics that I like to read.

I'm looking at the catalog right now and I am thinking of buying Supermarket # 1. Its written by Brian Wood. I've heard good stuff about his work but have yet to sample it. Anyway, the book is from IDW and it's $3.99, kind of pricy for a single ish in the US but I need to order a few comic books each month. Besides I've got a shelf full of unread trades.

Okay, maybe it isn't a shelf full, but from taking a quick look I count seven trades:

- Adam Strange: Planet Heist
- Captain America Vol. 1: Winter Soldier
- Conan Vol. 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories
- Invincible Vol. 1: Family Matters
- Losers Vol. 3: Trifecta
- Sandman Vol. 1: Nocturnes and Preludes
- Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

plus two volumes of manga:

- Kare Kano Vol. 6
- Phoenix Vol. 3: Yamato/Space

then there are the ones that I've ordered but haven't received yet:

- Human Target: Final Cut
- She-Hulk Vol. 2: Superhuman Law

So I don't exactly need to order any more trades at the moment. Although I probably will order one. I'm thinking Powers Vol. 2: Roleplay. I've been itching for more Powers ever since I finished the first collection. Love the dialogue and the humor.

12/24/05

I bought my first issue of Back Issue magazine today, # 13. The cover was hard to resist. It features an article on "The Death of Romance Comics" which is just part of a group of articles called Beyond Capes. For the most part the only other sort of comics covered in this section are kung-fu comics. Just too quirky an issue for me to pass up. Plus there is an article on Will Eisner's A Contract With God.

I picked up three comic books while at the store:

- Blood of the Demon # 2
- Blood of the Demon # 3
- Solo # 6

I read Blood of the Demon # 1 a few months ago and enjoyed it. I wanted to read more but wanted to wait for the trade. It doesn't look like there is going to be a trade so I ain't waitin' no more. John Byrne co-writes and draws the artwork. His work (writing and art) doesn't always please me but this one I like so far.

This is the third issue of Solo I've bought. This one features the art of Jordi Bernet, an artist I am unfamiliar with. The blonde on the cover might have moved me to open the comic book, but the artwork on the interior moved me to buy it. Just from glancing at the book I'd say Bernet's artowrk reminds me of a cross between Matt Wagner and Alex Toth. The genres of the five stories in order are horror, noir, prison, western, and superhero (Batman). Looks like a fun read, even if it was a bit pricey at $4.99.

12/25/05

X-mas went well. I only got one item I asked for, Buddha Vol. 2 by Osamu Tezuka, but that's okay. I ate well and I like the presents I did get.

Comic Book Notes (LJ) Nov 2005

11/06/05

At the comic book store I picked up the first volumes of Genshiken and Hikaru no Go. Unless I buy a bootleg copy on eBay its gonna be a while before I get to see anymore on the Hikaru no Go anime, so I'm gonna try the manga instead. It looks very well drawn and reproduced. Genshiken is a series about an otaku club. I've heard good things about it. I passed on buying volume 6 of Kare Kano because I'm stil reading number 5.

11/16/05

Hikaru no Go - I read the second chapter this morning before heading to work. So far the story is very close to the anime, with a few minor divergences. The biggest difference that I can see (so far) is that through the first 13 episodes of the anime there is little or no mention of Hikaru's family, whereas in the manga both his mother and grandfather have made appearances. *shrug*

11/17/05

I think I am just going to order one trade this month, She-Hulk Vol. 2. Next month I am planning to order Powers Vol. 2. On another comics related note I listened to episode 72 of Comic Geek Speak. I've given up on trying to listen to every ep of this show. This one caught my eye because it had a discussion of Marvel vs. DC.

11/22/05

Right now, I'm listening to an old ep (#7) of CGS in which the geeks discuss Sin City.

11/23/05

I need to read some more comic books. I picked up Maxx Vol. 4 this morning. I only had time to read a few pages of the second chapter. I have a hard time following the story. It flows a little too freely. The artwork is the real draw. It more than compensates for the wild twists and turns that the plot takes.

I listened to another episode (# 16) of CGS tonight.

11/28/05

Ya know what sucks? Doing most of your comic book reading through trades. It makes it impossible to keep up with the current stories. At best I am six months behind the pace; at worst a year or more in arrears. *sigh*

I want to read the exciting stuff going on in the DCU, but I'd rather wait for the trade. I haven't even read Identity Crisis yet. I know how it turned out, but I still want to read it. Some people loved it. Others hated it. I still want to read it. I am also intrigued by some of the other special series like The OMAC Project and Villains United. And then of course someday, hopefully before the next US presidential election, I think I would like to read Infinite Crisis.

There's plenty of other stuff to get caught up on. Stuff like Y: The Last Man and Conan. In the manga department there's Kare Kano and Hikaru no Go.

I could go on, but I am tired and should probably take a nappy. No wonder I can't keep up with all these series. :)

Comic Book Notes (LJ) Oct 2005

10/02/05

I'm really enjoying Madrox: Multiple Choice. I think it would make for a pretty cool movie. I think it would take a talented actor and a good director to pull it off, but I think it could be done. It doesn't hurt that the story is written by Peter A. David. That's what drew me to this mini-series, initially. I've also heard lots of good things about it. PAD has a good handle on the material, keeping it both suspenseful and humorous. I just love the premise. He's taken a guy who can multiply himself (which seems like a pretty simple idea) and added wrinkles to it that most comic book writers would never come up with. I love it how some of the duplicates actually turn on him. It all very noir, and somewhat existential.

10/04/05

Y: The Last Man - One Small Step (Vol. 3) - Just one more chapter to go. I really dig this series. This could be a one note comic book but the creators are doing an excellent job IMO of exploring the different angles of what would happen if something (a plague?) wiped out all the men on earth, except one. The whole breakdown in mass communications and transportation systems alone provides plenty of fodder for stories. Its good to see the creators taking advantage of that.

In the last couple chapters in this volume the story turns away from Yorick (the last man) and focuses on a troupe of actors who are traveling the country (US of course). I found the comparisons made to what the theater was like before women were allowed to participate interesting (given of course that there are no men to participate). It was also interesting because for the most part the comic book so far has been about the struggle to survive and for Agent 355 and Dr. Mann to get Yorick to a lab in California. Despite the breakdown in society here are some women actually interested in producing art.

10/10/05

I picked up my comics today. Just three comic books (Rocketo # 2, Breach # 9, and Action Philosophers! Self-Help for stupid ugly losers # 1), two trades (Losers Vol. 3 and Walking Dead Vol. 1), and a magazine (Proculture Addicts # 85) and the latest Previews catalog (of course). I've started reading Exiles Vol. 9. There are definitely some similarities between this book and Negation (which I will NEVER stop talking about) and while I miss how deadly serious (in a life or death sort of way) Negation could be, one thing it did not have that Exiles does is humor. I love how Tony Bedard twists and plays with the Marvel Universe. It must be a fun book to write.

10/24/05

I'm tempted to start reading black and white graphic novels on the bus and metro. I've been reading Understanding Comics on the commute to and from work. I haven't really paid too much attention to what people think of it. I don't think I'm ready to read anything too recognizable on the metro, so color is out for now, at least on the public transportation.

Comic Book Notes (LJ) Sep 2005

09/01/05

Tonight I...

...read another chapter of Hawkman Vol. 3. I don't think I will be buying anymore Hawkman trades, to include the JSA/Hawkman crossover trade: Black Reign. It just ain't the same. It has lost its shine. Besides there's plenty of other stuff I'd like to try.

09/13/05

Breach - I got my Previews catalog finally. I flipped through the comics sections, taking notes of things I might want to pre-order or wait for the trade on. I was going through the DC section when I noticed that # 11 will be the last issue of Breach. It was so low on most people's radar screen that this is how I found out about it. I tried a google search and it barely registered.

Oh well, that makes two DC series that have been canceled out from under me in the past year. Fallen Angel was the other.

09/15/05

I'm listening to the 50th episode of Comic Geek Speak. I figure they must be up to # 52 or 53 by now. I haven't checked lately. Other than the Book of the Month # 3 episode (Walking Dead Vol. 1) I have listened to all the other episodes I've downloaded. # 50 is three hours long. I won't finish listening to it tonight, but it sure is geeky of me to go on rambling like this about how many eps I've listened to.

Did I mention that the comic books don't seem to be quite the guilty pleasure these days as they were a few weeks ago. Its not that I'm not enjoying them, but they just aren't quite the guilty pleasure for me that they once were. I think it must be all the anime I've been watching. It is my current guilty pleasure. I guess that means that anime are the new comic books? Dunno.

09/17/05

Black Heart Irregulars # 1 - Just read it this afternoon. I'm pondering pre-ordering # 3. I've already pre-ordered # 2. I enjoyed # 1 enough to want to read more. Its a black-and-white comic book from a small publisher, Blue King Studios. It is set in the Middle East. The first issue takes place in Bagdad. Hints have been dropped that future storylines will take place elsewhere in that part of the world. The main character is the leader of a rogue private military company, Black Heart. I'm suure of their or the writer's motivations. Hard to tell if the writer is sympathetic toward them; whether he sees them as military vets who have gone around the bend or what? It seems that they have decided to fight the "war on terrorism" themselves, without authorization from the US Government, or any other government for that matter. I think they are all Americans. The CIA is checking up on them in the first issue. In some ways in reminds me of The Losers. I think that is part of what attracted me to the book. Anyhoo, I enjoyed it. I'm intrigued. I want to read more.

Madrox: Multiple Choice - Read the first chapter last night. Fun read. I usually enjoy Peter David's writing. That's what drew me to this series. Under normal circumstances I won't touch an X-men book with a ten foot pole. I like the set up. Jamie Madrox, a former superhero, is trying to live a semi-normal existence working as PI in Mutant Town in NYC. Then one night one of his duplicates (that's his superpower, he can create duplicates of himself) comes stumbling back to his apartment almost dead. He dies in Jamie's arms, but not before Jamie can absorb his memories. Unfortunately he doesn't get enough information to figure out who killed his double. That where chapter one (of five) ends.

I'm not wild about the art work in the first chapter. It doesn't have enough flair. Hopefully it will get better. I do like the story so far. As with BHI I wanna read more, which is probably a good thing since I bought the trade paperback collection.

The next movie on my list is American Splendor. Harvey Pekar (the subject of the movie) will be in town next weekend, at the Small Press Expo (SPX). What a coincidence! I didn't arrange it this way. I knew SPX is coming up but I didn't know he is going to be there. I only found out because of an ad in the Express that caught my eye while I was working on the latest Sudoku puzzle. Anyhow, he is going to be the guest of honor at some ceremony (the Ignatz Awards?) they will be having. I don't think I will be going.

09/20/05

Buddha: Kapilavastu (Vol. 1) - Written and drawn by Tezuka Osamu. Based on the story of the Buddha. Tezuka has added to the story as it is told, or at least that is my understanding. This volume barely touches on the story of Buddha himself, other than to tell the tale of his birth. For the most part the story focuses on two young boys, Tatta (a pariah) and Chapra (a slave). The supporting cast includes Chapra's mother, a general who (ignorant of Chapra's caste) adopts him, and a monk who is convinced that Tatta is some sort of saint. At 400 pages it might seem long, but it reads very quickly.

Anyway I loved it. Tezuka's drawings are beautiful. The story has light, amusing moments as well as heavier ones. Everytime I thought I knew where the story was going it seemed to take off in a direction that I didn't forsee it going.

Hawkman: Wings of Fury (Vol. 3) - Ugh! Glad I'm done with it. It wasn't awful, but I can think of plenty of other books I would rather have spent my time re-reading. Maybe I've just gotten tired of reading Hawkman. There are plenty of other superheroes trades out there that I haven't read. I 'll give one of them a try next.

One big drawback to this collection is the seemingly consistent use of fill-in artists. I really liked the regular artists work, from the first two volumes. Flipping through the book it looks like at least half the artwork was done by fill-ins.

Comic Book Notes (LJ) Aug 2005

08/02/05

I got my latest shipment of comic books. I think I have more or less converted to ranks of the trade paperback collectors. I only got four comic books this month, and two trades. My most recent orders run about the same ratio.

I spent some time looking through the latest Previews catalog. So many things to buy, so little time to read.

+ I think I will finally order a few backlisted items that I've been meaning to get: Conan Vol 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories from Dark Horse (by Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord and Dave Stewart) and JSA: The Golden Age.

+ I'm kind of torn over whether to continue ordering Rocketo as a comic book or try waiting for the trade. The only other two comic books I have on my list to order at the moment are Solo # 7 and Breach # 10.

+ New trades and hardcovers that interest me, but that I think I will pass on for now include Batman: Under the Hood, Catwoman: When in Rome, and Young Avengers Vol 1: Sidekicks.

+ The Brave and the Bold Art of Jim Aparo from TwoMorrows looks too good to resist.

Yes there is more that caught my eye, but I've gotta be selective; kind of like I do with the anime. I've managed to resist ordering anymore, so far. I've got a plan that involves buying more, but not for at least a couple more weeks. Hopefully I can manage until then. :P

08/03/05

Powers Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl? - Still reading and still loving it. Brian Bendis sure can write dialogue. Love this story so far. I like the angle (cops investigating the death of a superhero), the characters and the relationships (especially the one between the two detectives Christian and Deena, his new partner; just love watching them clash), the artwork by Michael Avon Oeming (very expressive), and the humor (I almost died laughing at the end of chapter 3 when the little girl asked him if he had figured out what a clitoris was, in front of Deena). Lots to recommend here. Its light reading, but its much better than most of the stuff put out by DC and Marvel.

08/06/05

She-Hulk: Single Green Female (Vol. 1) - Still reading and still loving it. I'm three chapters in. Love the humor. I'm 99% sure I'll buy the second collection, just not sure if I will continue to read it beyond that.

Took a quick peek at Newsarama this afternoon:

= Andy Diggle's new mini-series Silent Dragon looks interesting. I like his work on Losers and I ordered Adam Strange: Planet Heist.

= Ed Brubaker will be taking over Daredevil. That might be enough to give it a try, although given how much I like Brian Bendis work on Powers maybe I should give his DD a try too. I wonder if this means that Brubaker will be stop writing Captain America soon?

08/14/05

Stray Bullets: The Innocence of Nihilism Vol. 1 - Just started reading today. I loved the first chapter. It was so intense. Loved the artwork, loved the story. Its a little rough around the edges. It reminded me of the sort of story found in old EC horror comics. No zombies or supernatural critters, just one young man whose seen a little too much blood and flips out and starts killing people at the slightest provocation. Its the way in which he flips that sold the story for me. He has moments when he bursts out screaming but for the most part it is a quiet transformation, which made it that much creepier and more worth reading to me.

Powers: Who Killed Rerto Girl Vol. 1 - Loved it cover to cover. The first chapter was as good as the last. I wasn't sure they would be able to wrap it all up in the final chapter and satisfy me, but somehow they managed. I haven't read through the bonus material yet, but the story itself (writing and artwork) really impressed me. I'm definitely gonna have to pick up the next volume.

08/20/05

Hawkman Vol. 3: Wings of Fury - Two chapters in. I wasn't so sure after reading the first chapter, but I'm feeling better about it after second one. Hawkwoman's appearance seemed too good to be true. Maybe it is. So far I like it, but there has been a lot of action so far without as much character development. Part of the strength of the series so far (i.e prior to Vol. 3) has been Carter and Kendra's relationship working and otherwise. It had been rocky. She hasn't exactly been able to come to terms with the fact that they were lovers in a former life and has no interest in him. He can't seem to get over the fact that she doesn't want to be closer than his partner fighting crime. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much of that so far. Hawkwoman (Shayera from Thanagar) has stolen the spotlight. The other two Hawks are in the picture, but it is taking me a little time to adjust to the change. I don't think she is a permanent addition to the book.

Stray Bullets Vol. 1: Innocence of Nihilism - Chapter two is even darker than chapter one. At first I thought the second chapter was a different story, but now I think writer/artist David Lapham started at the end (in chapter one) and then goes back (in chapter two) to tell the story from the beginning. Anyway, this is one disturbing book. I love it even though it scares the crap out of me. The art and the writing are gripping. I can feel my eyes bulging out as I read it. So glad I finally ordered it.

Comic Geek Speak - Right now, I'm listening to episode 43. Just a bunch of guys sitting around talking comic books, but its kind of fun. Check it out.

08/29/05

I did go to the comicbook store formerly known as Closet of Comics for the first time in at least two-and-a-half months. I picked up Queen & Country Vol. 2: Operation Morningstar, Kare Kano Vol. 5, and Banana Sunday # 1. I probably spent about an hour prowsing before I finally settled on what to buy. So many things to read, so little time to read them in. Currently I am reading two mangas (Buddha Vol. 1, Battle Royale Vol. 2) and two trades (Stray Bullets Vol. 1, Hawkman Vol. 3).

I also listened to a couple more episodes of Comic Geek Speak. Much fun. I enjoy listening to the guys hash over the logic and value of various comic book series, stories, artists, creators, etc.

...

I keep trying to get caught up with Comic Geek Speak podcasts. I'm falling behind. I'm starting to think that I will be perenially behind. *le sigh*

I should just give up on getting caught up and enjoy the show. The nice thing is that I can do other things while listening.