Yaoi Review: PUNCH UP! Volume 3

PUNCH UP!, VOL. 3
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga

CARTOONIST: Shiuko Kano
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERING: Joanna Estep
COVER: Shiuko Kano with Shawn Carrico
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4354-3; paperback (January 2013); Rated “M” for “Mature”
202pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

A prolific, female Japanese manga creator, Shiuko Kano is known for her boys’ love and yaoi titles, such as the “Steppin’ Stone” series and Play Boy Blues. Punch Up! is a yaoi manga series from Shiuko Kano. The series focuses on Maki Motoharu, an unpredictable architect, and his boyfriend, Kouta Ohki, a 19-year-old, foul-mouthed, young ironworker who has fashion model looks. Yaoi manga is a subset of boys’ love manga (BL) and features explicit depictions of sex between male characters.

At the beginning of Punch Up! Volume 3 (Acts 7 to 9), Motoharu’s career as an architect is soaring. But he isn’t completely happy because he is jealous of Kouta. Yuya Fukazu, the man who took Kouta’s virginity, is back in the picture. Motoharu thinks that he is finding Fukazu in Kouta’s presence too often. Motoharu’s suspicions create hard feelings between him and Kouta, as well as making Kouta unsure about himself and also depressed. Kouta finds himself desperate to prove his love.

Then, a terrible accident occurs. A 15-year-old close to them returns. And Kiyoto Ohki, Kouta’s transgender brother, arrives.

The Punch Up! yaoi manga is a conflict-driven narrative. The love is real. The sex is hot. However, love and sex come with conflicts between lovers; even friends and colleagues squabble. I don’t want to give away the big turn-of-events that happens in this volume, but conflict and love become entwined more than ever. It’s good character drama, although it also seems a bit stretched too far in some places.

The best sex scenes happen in a bonus story, “Maki Motoharu’s Recreation Special.” The story starts off as a hand-made, drawn-in-a-tablet comic created by Kouta. Talk about explicit – male genitalia and orifices don’t get the shadowy-blurry art treatment. This is definitely a behind-the-counter / backroom edition. Readers looking for intense romance and explicit depictions of gay sex will want to Punch Up! Enjoy!

B+

www.SuBLimeManga.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Bleach: The Blood Warfare

I read Bleach, Vol. 55

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

I Reads You Review: THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GestHawk, Volume 1

THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GEISTHAWK, VOLUME 1
LEGENDARY COMICS

CREATORS: Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner
WRITER: Matt Wagner
PENCILS: Simon Bisley
INKS: Rodney Ramos
COLORS: Ryan Brown
LETTERS: Sean Konot
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Alex Sinclair
ISBN: 978-1-937278-02-1; paperback (October 2012)
72pp, Color, $7.99 U.S., $9.99 CAN

Legendary Comics is a division of the American film production company, Legendary Pictures, Inc. Legendary Pictures has co-produced such hit films as 300 (based on the Frank Miller graphic novel) and Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films. Having dealt with movies based on comic books, Legendary Pictures founder and CEO, Thomas Tull, has decided to get directly into the creation and publication of comic books.

Tull joined American comic book legend, Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage), to create a new series of graphic novels, The Tower Chronicles. A proposed trilogy, The Tower Chronicles will see each of its three books serialized in four parts (volumes or issues). The first book/trilogy is The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, written by Wagner and drawn by Simon Bisley, himself a legend for his work on Lobo for DC Comics.

The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 introduces John Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter. Tower will travel the world and go to its darkest recesses to find and destroy some of the most unfathomable monstrosities and creatures. But John doesn’t work for free. Prospective clients must go through Tower’s lawyer, Romulus Barnes, and they must be able to pay Tower’s considerable fees.

One of his newest clients is Agent Alicia Hardwicke of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. With nothing else working, Hardwicke turns to Tower to help her capture a serial killer called the “Piranha Killer.” However, this murderer is not a serial killer, and Agent Hardwicke does not believe in Tower’s world of supernatural creatures. Where do they go from there?

The Tower Chronicles and its lead character, John Tower, are like a blending of Marvel Comics’ character, Blade; the New Line Cinema film series starring Blade; and the character Harry Dresden from author Jim Butcher supernatural detective book series, The Dresden Files. And that’s not a bad thing, because this first volume of The Tower Chronicles is well produced with a well-executed story.

Matt Wagner’s story is expectedly secretive about John Tower’s past, but he tells a fast-paced story full of exciting action-fantasy violence that simply drags the reader along – if he or she likes this kind of genre. The characters are familiar types from various genres and mass entertainments: pulp crime, TV female law enforcement officers, vampire lit, etc., but Wagner punches them up with snappy banter and effective dialogue.

What really makes this stand out is Simon Bisley’s pencil art. As inked by Rodney Ramos and colored by Ryan Brown, Bisley’s compositions are offbeat, which makes the graphical storytelling here different from any other urban fantasy or monster hunter comic books. You can be forgiven for mistaking the Bisley-Ramos union for its resemblance to the work of Paul Gulacy, who would be good for the series should Bisley be unable to continue. For added measure, the team of Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair provide the cover for The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1, and a good cover it is.

I enjoyed The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 enough to want to seek out the rest of the series, some of which has already been released. If you’re missing a good Blade comic book, certainly try this more-than-adequate substitute.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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Slam Dunk: Power Match

I read Slam Dunk, Vol. 26

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

Review: PEANUT graphic novel

PEANUT
SCHWARTZ & WADE BOOKS – @randomhousekids

WRITER: Ayun Halliday – @AyunHalliday
ARTIST: Paul Hoppe @HoppeIndustries
LETTERS/COLORS: Paul Hoppe
ISBN: 978-0-375-86590-9; paperback (December 2012)
216pp, B&W with some color, $15.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Ayun Halliday is the writer and illustrator of her autobiographical zine, The East Village Inky. Paul Hoppe was born in Poland and grew up in Germany, where he published two graphics novels. Together, Halliday and Hoppe are the authors of an original graphic novel entitled, Peanut, published this past December. Written by Halliday and drawn by Hoppe, Peanut tells the story of a girl who pretends to have a peanut allergy in order to make an impression at her new school.

When her mother tells her that they were moving from Cedarwood to Plainfield, teen Sadie Wildhack knows that she will also have to undergo the torture of moving to a new school. Before she starts at Plainfield Community High School (PCHS), Sadie hatches a diabolically hilarious plan to gain the attention of her new classmates. She will tell them that she has a peanut allergy. Sadie even buys a medical alert bracelet. And it works!

Her stories of a life spent avoiding peanuts and the tale of once going into anaphylactic shock make an impression. Sadie manages to snag some new friends. There is a teen boy, Christopher “Zoo” Zuzuki, with whom she becomes close – call it teen love… maybe. She shares secrets and gossip with new gal pal, Louann.

All is not perfect. Her best friend back in Cedarwood, Cheryl, rarely calls or returns phone calls. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Howard Larch, is always on the lookout for peanut danger, and she owes Miss Anderson, the school nurse, some paperwork. And one little lie often sires more little lies, on the way to a great big mess.

Out of nowhere, I recently received a review copy of Peanut, and a quick glance through the large comic book told me that I would not like it. Turns out, I was wrong. Peanut is actually a good read, and now I can see why it was made “A Junior Library Guild Selection.” It is a young adult graphic novel that captures the snakepit/wonderland that is high school, both with blunt honest and genuine warmth.

Writer Ayun Halliday offers some conflict between Sadie and the others denizens of PCHS, but the best struggle is the one inside Sadie – to tell the truth or not. It carries Peanut through some drier moments of the narrative that seem like padding. Sadie’s rough path to honesty will have readers racing to get to the end of the story. Artist Paul Hoppe uses a clean style of vigorous line work, and that makes the compositions hop with activity. If Charles M. Schulz had drawn the Peanuts gang in high school, it might look like Paul Hoppe’s art style in Peanut.

I would like to see co-authors Halliday and Hoppe work together again, on the strength of Peanut. Unlike Sadie Wildhack, I’m not lying about that.

A-

http://ayunhalliday.com/

http://paulhoppe.com

Only Conan Novel, "The Hour of the Dragon" Returns to Comics

DARK HORSE COMICS TO PUBLISH KING CONAN: THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON!

ADAPTING ROBERT E. HOWARD’S ONLY CONAN NOVEL!

Dark Horse Comics is thrilled to announce the return of a fan-favorite Conan creative team. Writer Timothy Truman, artist Tomás Giorello, and colorist José Villarrubia are set to adapt Robert E. Howard’s only Conan novel in two six-issue miniseries.

The first series, titled The Hour of the Dragon will run through October 2013 and continue in a second arc titled King Conan: The Conqueror starting in February 2014.

More about The Hour of the Dragon: King Conan has faced many threats to his throne in Aquilonia—but none more deadly than a traitorous alliance backed by the resurrected sorcerer Xaltotun, at whose command mountains crumble!

With The Legend of Conan announced for 2014, King Conan is essential reading!

Praise for Timothy Truman, Tomás Giorello, and José Villarrubia:
“With both King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel and King Conan: The Phoenix on the Sword Truman, Giorello, and Villarrubia have been making some the greatest Conan adaptations ever made. I look forward to their next series. Hour of the Dragon, Dark Horse. Twelve issues. It will be beautiful” – Comics Bulletin

For a sneak peak at the variant cover and a full-color interior page, check out the exclusive on MTV Geek!

King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon #1 is on sale in comic stores everywhere May 29!


About Dark Horse
Founded in1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent such as Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Brian Wood, Gerard Way, Felicia Day, Guillermo Del Toro and comics legends such as Will Eisner, Neal Adams, and Jim Steranko, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties such as The Mask, Ghost, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Its successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Mass Effect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Emily the Strange, Tim Burton’s Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys, Serenity, and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publishers of both creator-owned content and licensed comics material.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 6 2013

DC COMICS

DEC120296 ANIMAL MAN #17 (ROT) $2.99

OCT120248 BATGIRL HC VOL 02 KNIGHTFALL DESCENDS (N52) $24.99

NOV120261 BATGIRL TP VOL 01 THE DARKEST REFLECTION (N52) $14.99

DEC120281 BATWING #17 $2.99

DEC120274 DETECTIVE COMICS #17 (DOTF) $3.99

DEC120276 DETECTIVE COMICS #17 COMBO PACK (DOTF) $4.99

DEC120298 DIAL H #9 $2.99

NOV128200 DJANGO UNCHAINED #1 2ND PTG (MR) $3.99

DEC120249 EARTH 2 #9 $2.99

DEC120361 FAIREST #12 (MR) $2.99

DEC120180 GREEN ARROW #17 $2.99

DEC120316 HUMAN BOMB #3 $2.99

DEC120357 INSURGENT #2 $2.99

DEC120321 LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #5 $3.99

DEC120351 LOONEY TUNES #211 $2.99

NOV120301 NEW DEADWARDIANS TP (MR) $14.99

DEC120294 PHANTOM STRANGER #5 $2.99

DEC120352 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #30 $2.99

DEC120322 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #10 $3.99

DEC120308 STORMWATCH #17 $2.99

NOV120270 SUPERMAN FOR TOMORROW TP $24.99

OCT120268 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL TP VOL 07 $19.99

DEC120297 SWAMP THING #17 (ROT) $2.99

NOV120274 WONDER WOMAN ODYSSEY TP VOL 02 $16.99

DEC120251 WORLDS FINEST #9 $2.99

DEC120313 YOUNG ROMANCE NEW 52 VALENTINES DAY SPECIAL #1 $7.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

NOV120313 DC COMICS THE NEW 52 GREEN ARROW ACTION FIGURE $22.95