I Reads You Review: VANILLA, VOL. 1 (YAOI)

Creator: Riyu Yamakami (cartoonist); Sachiko Sato (translation)

Publishing Information: Juné Manga/DMP, paperback, 192 pages, $12.95 (US)

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-56970-754-8 (ISBN-13); 1-56970-754-5 (ISBN-10)

Drama/Romance; Rated “M” for “Mature 18+”

Vanilla is a yaoi graphic novel from creator Riyu Yamakami. Originally published in the late 1990s, Vanilla was published in two trade paperbacks by Digital Manga Publishing under its Juné Manga imprint a few years ago. The story focuses on a high school student just starting to accept his gay inclinations when he falls deeply in love with a teacher who does not believe in confessions of love.

Vanilla, Vol. 1 introduces high school student, 17-year-old Ichiro Morio, who is just one of the boys, except that he really isn’t. Morio’s friends are always talking about the girls they would like to “get with.” Morio is not really crazy about dating girls. He has his eyes on the new chemistry teacher, the cold and callous Yoshitaka Saeki.

Morio notices that Saeki is also indifferent towards the girls who throw themselves at him. Saeki, however, is not into romance and sentiment, so can the romantic Morio melt his teacher’s cool apathy?

Readers who prefer their boys’ love to be deeply romantic will love Vanilla. The lead character, Ichiro Morio, is old-fashioned in that he believes that romantic love must absolutely come before physical intimacy. He is practically scandalized by one-night stands and recreational sex in general. Thus, Riyu Yamakami gives the readers page after page of Morio thinking about love, his schoolmates’ lusts, and, of course, his aloof teacher. This is romance-shojo masquerading as yaoi because it is about young love more than it is about hot sex.

While this volume only has brief graphic depictions of sex between male lovers, the passion and yearning slowly simmers, constantly building up anticipation. In fact, whenever the characters share some physical contact, the narrative seems to explode with a burst of energy. I look forward to the next volume.

A-

http://www.junemanga.com/

Happy New Year and a Brave New I Reads You Frontier

Welcome to I Reads You, my blog about the things I read (mostly comic books, comics, and related books) and about the things I come across worth reading (mostly about comic books, politics, and entertainment). Sometimes I’ll comment on “real” books and the mass media.

I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I have another blog: http://www.negromancer.com/. I also write for the Comic Book Bin (which has smart phones apps).

We just finished our first calendar year, and we look forward to another one - thanks to you, dear reader.

All images appearing on this blog are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.

I Reads You Review: MILESTONE FOREVER #1

MILESTONE FOREVER No. 1

DC COMICS

WRITER: Dwayne McDuffie

PENCILS/INKS: John Paul Leon (framing sequence)
PENCILS: Mark D. Bright
INKS: Romeo Tanghal
LETTERS: Sal Cipriano
COLORS: Snakebite
COVER: Admira
48pp, Color, $5.99

Milestone was a comics imprint published through DC Comics’ from 1993 through 1997. The brainchild of Milestone Media, a collective of African-American comic book creators, the imprint produced comic books featuring minority characters, specifically African-American characters and superheroes. The imprint published several titles including Hardware, Icon, and Blood Syndicate. One of them, Static, gave birth to an Emmy Award winning animated series, Static Shock.

Except for sporadic appearances in DC Comics series, Milestone’s characters mostly disappeared. In the summer of the 2008, Milestone Media co-founder Dwayne McDuffie announced that the Milestone characters would be merged into the DC Universe. Milestone’s universe was known as the “Dakotaverse,” named for the fictional Midwestern city, Dakota, where most of the early stories were set. Published earlier this year, Milestone Forever is the event comic book miniseries that chronicled the events leading to that merger.

Milestone Forever #1 stars the core Milestone characters, but opens with a framing sequence focusing on a character named Dharma. He initiated the “Big Bang,” the event gave characters like Static their superpowers. Now, Dharma needs those same superheroes to save the universe. Meanwhile, the Dakotaverse heroes are having their own issues. They are caught in a struggle begun by Holocaust between the old and new versions of the Blood Syndicate.

Thanks to the pencil art of Mark D. Bright, Milestone Forever #1 has a thoroughly 1980s vibe. Bright’s page design often emphasizes large panels, half-splash pages, and sometimes full splash pages – the better to capture superhero combat. The style recalls John Byrne’s art on his short run on the Hulk in the mid-80s and John Romita, Jr.’s art on Cable and Uncanny X-Men in the early 1990s. This is old school superhero comics (in a good way), but with colorist Snakebite’s fiery hues to give the art a modern touch.

I like Milestone, more now than I did in its original incarnation, but I don’t know if Dwayne McDuffie’s script offers anything new that would attract readers who ignored Milestone a decade-and-half ago. For Milestone fans, this is a nice goodbye that looks like the way it used to be.

B+

[This issue has pin-up pages, including a Hardware illustration by J.H. Williams.]

-------------------

"Lorna, Relic Hunter" Has Darwyn Cooke Cover

ARCHEOLOGICAL GIRL FIGHT

 

Lorna, Relic Wrangler faces off against the forces of evil in March release from Image Comics

 

Fun fact: Washington D.C.'s occult architecture was configured to roll out the red carpet for an extra-dimensional Dark Lord. And only one woman can rescue mankind from certain doom!

In March, Image Comics will tell the tale of mankind's savior in LORNA, RELIC WRANGLER, a one-shot adventure written by Micah S. Harris (HEAVEN'S WAR) and illustrated by Loston Wallace (Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Batman Animated Series), Michael Youngblood, and Olli Hihnala. Eisner-award winning artist Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier, Richard Stark's Parker) provides the gorgeous cover, while Dean Yeagle supplies a pin-up worthy variant cover.

"Lorna's passions were never those of your typical southern belle," Harris says. "Now, from her trailer park HQ, she tracks the uncanny on a global scale."

"Lorna is Mary Ann and Ginger combined with a mint julep twist of Laura Croft," Wallace adds. "Sexy, funny, and devilishly smart, Lorna fearlessly faces down supernatural dangers wearing cut-off jeans shorts. What's not to like?!"

To defeat a nefarious evil entity, Lorna, Relic Wrangler, must pilfer a mysterious artifact from a Memorial in the heart of our nation's capitol. What she doesn't know is that she's offering herself up as a sacrificial party favor in the process! Lorna also has to face down her high school nemesis -- now a cat-suited villainess -- in a girl fight for the ages!

LORNA, RELIC WRANGLER, a 32-page, full-color one-shot from Image Comics, will be in stores March 23, 2011, for $3.99.


Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit http://www.imagecomics.com/.

Final Volume of Shaman King Due Next Week

AN EPIC ADVENTURE REACHES ITS CLIMAX IN SHAMAN KING MANGA FINALE, NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA IN JANUARY

 

VIZ Media unleashes the final volume of Hiroyuki Takei’s SHAMAN KING as the long-running manga (graphic novel) series reaches a grand climax. The concluding installment, Volume 32, (rated ‘T’ for Teens; MSRP: U.S. $9.99 / $12.99 CAN) hits nationwide on January 4th, 2011.

 

Yoh Asakura has spent years training for the Shaman Fight, an epic tournament to determine who will become the Shaman King and shape humanity's future. Unfortunately for Yoh, every shaman in the world is also vying for the same prize.

To most people, ghosts are the stuff of horror stories and nightmares. But to Yoh Asakura, a transfer student at Shinra Private Junior High, they're his friends! Yoh Asakura is a shaman, one of the gifted few who can speak to spirits by channeling ghosts into his body – like the long-dead samurai Amidamaru. He can also allow them to possess him and use their powers. But a modern-day shaman faces great responsibilities, because spirits – and the people who work with them – can be very dangerous indeed. In the series’ grand finale, A Song Someday, Yoh and his gang finally reach the end of the line after all these years and all the hard work. Who will be crowned the next Shaman King, and who will go home in defeat?

Unconventional author/artist Hiroyuki Takei began his career by winning the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize. After working as an assistant to famed artist Nobuhiro Watsuki (RURONI KENSHIN, published by VIZ Media), Takei debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997 with Butsu Zone, an action series based on Buddhist mythology. His multicultural adventure manga SHAMAN KING, which debuted in 1998, became a hit and was adapted into an anime TV series. His new series ULTIMO (also published by VIZ Media), a historic collaboration with comics legend Stan Lee (co-creator of many iconic superheroes including Spider-Man™, the Fantastic Four™, and the X-Men™), is currently being serialized in the U.S. in SHONEN JUMP. Takei lists Osamu Tezuka, American comics and robot anime among his many key influences.

Do a Dollop of Dengeki Daisy

I read Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 3

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 29 2010

DC COMICS

OCT100196 ACTION COMICS #896 $3.99

OCT100289 ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #2 $2.99

APR100302 AME COMI ARTEMIS PVC FIGURE $60.00

APR100301 AME COMI CATWOMAN V.1 PURPLE SUIT VAR PVC FIGURE $60.00

SEP100159 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #1 $3.99

APR100309 DC CHRONICLES GREEN LANTERN STATUE $99.99

APR100308 DC CHRONICLES THE FLASH STATUE $99.99

OCT100256 DC COMICS PRESENTS JLA #1 $7.99

OCT100254 DC COMICS PRESENTS THUNDER AGENTS #1 $7.99

OCT100177 DETECTIVE COMICS #872 $3.99

SEP100206 FLASH #8 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99

OCT100188 GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #18 $2.99

OCT100222 GREEN ARROW #7 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99

OCT100214 GREEN LANTERN #61 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99

OCT100228 JLA THE 99 #3 (OF 6) $3.99

OCT100229 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #46 $2.99

FEB100290 MICHAEL KEATON AS BATMAN BUST $80.00

AUG100235 RED EYES ONLY #1 $4.99

OCT100231 TEEN TITANS #90 $2.99

OCT100287 TINY TITANS #35 $2.99