Otomen: Jewel (Sachihana) of His Eye

I read Otomen, Vol. 14

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

Book Review: 1356: A Novel

1356
HARPERCOLLINS – @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Bernard Cornwell
ISBN: 978-0-06-196967-6; hardcover (January 2013)
432pp, B&W, $28.99 U.S.

Bernard Cornwell is a British author of historical novels. Cornwell is best known for his cycle of novels starring Richard Sharpe, a rifleman in the Napoleonic Wars. This series was adapted into the Sharpe television movies.

1356: A Novel is Cornwell’s latest novel. This is the fifth book in Cornwell’s “The Grail Quest” series, which focuses on a 14th century English archer, Thomas of Hookton. 1356 is the first Hookton novel since Heretic (2003).

1356 is set in France. The story finds Thomas of Hookton leading a company of mercenary archers and ravaging the countryside of Gascony. Hookton must complete a crucial task before joining Edward, Prince of Wales, a real-life figure. He is now better known as the Black Prince and was the eldest son of King Edward III of England. In 1356, the Prince’s army will fight in what is known as the Battle of Poitiers, a real-life event. Fought on September 9, 1356, it was a major battle in the Hundred Years’ War between England and France.

The novel opens in September 1356. In the besieged town of Carcassonne, Fra Ferdinand, a Black Friar, secretly finds La Malice, a legendary sword shrouded in mystery. Legend has it that the sword could decide the outcome of a war.

Across France, the English army is destroying, when it isn’t plundering and raping. Towns close their gates, and the countryside stands alert for danger. The French army and its Scottish allies, embittered by the defeats handed to them by the English, await the order of King Jean of France to start a war. Is the French King, however, ready to fight the Black Prince and his forces?

Meanwhile, Thomas of Hookton (also known as le Bâtard) is determined to find La Malice. His quest for the sword will take him on a quest to unravel the mystery of an obscure saint. He will become embroiled in the tumultuous marriage of the violent, vindictive, and vulgar Count of LaBrouillade and his wife, Bertille. Thomas will find himself targeted by William, Lord of Douglas, a Scot who is in France specifically to fight the English, and Douglas’ allies, the ambitious Louis Bessières, Cardinal Archbishop of Livorno and Papal Legate to King Jean. With his wife and child in tow, Thomas leads his feared army of men-at-arms and archers, the Hellequin, on his greatest quest since his search to find the Holy Grail.

Without going into extravagant purple prose, Bernard Cornwell paints the world of 1356 to life. Although I had never before read one of his books, I found myself standing in the middle of walled towns under siege. The landscape of France, from vineyards to small valleys and hills were before my eyes. The attire and costumes and the armor and weaponry, all unfamiliar to me, sprang to life in my mind. It seems that Cornwell’s gift is to set a table, unfamiliar as it may be to readers, and make them feel welcomed.

There is a cover quote on 1356 from George R.R. Martin (the creator of A Game of Thrones) that reads, “Bernard Cornwell does the best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present.” I haven’t read enough to agree with that, but I must admit that from strategy and troop movement to sword thrusts and intestines on the ground, Cornwell is the real deal. He does not do the empty-calorie manliness of Hollywood battle scenes that one might find in films like Braveheart and Gladiator (both good films). Cornwell gets to the heart of the matter – victory is survival, and some of those seven deadly sins are the fuel that drives a combatant to victory.

Still, I have higher praises for Cornwell and 1356. I really did not want this book to end. Whenever I returned to it, after having to stop reading, I felt like I was returning to old friends as soon as I opened the book. I was there, off to the side (of course), but watching everything. With 1356: A Novel, Bernard Cornwell takes the reader to another time and makes the reader never want to leave, no matter how bloody and gory the action becomes.

A

www.bernardcornwell.net

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Tenjo Tenge: The Final Full Contact

I read Tenjo Tenge, Vol. 11

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics.)

I Reads March 2013

This blog marches on.  It's pun time in March 2013!

Welcome to I Reads You, a ComicBookBin blog (www.comicbookbin.com). We blog about the things we read: mostly comic books, comics, and related books. Sometimes, we’ll write about or link to other topics: typically books, politics, and entertainment.

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

Review: THE ANSWER! #1

THE ANSWER! #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Dennis Hopeless and Mike Norton
SCRIPT: Dennis Hopeless
ART/COVER: Mike Norton
COLORS: Mark Englert
LETTERS: Crank!
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Part 1 of 4

Mike Norton is the creator of the Eisner Award-winning web comic, Battlepug. Dennis Hopeless is a writer for Marvel Comics (Avengers Arena). The Answer! is a new, four-issue comic book miniseries created by Hopeless and Norton. The series focuses on a librarian and an odd, masked crime fighter.

In The Answer! #1, we meet Devin McKenzie, an insomniac librarian who works at a research library. Devin has a knack for solving puzzles, which results in an out-of-the-ordinary 30th birthday gift from her mother. The gift leads to the “apeiron” website and Chip Carney, an ominous-seeming motivational speaker. When things go crazy, things get really crazy when Devin meets The Answer!, a masked crime fighter with a giant exclamation point on his face mask.

The cover for The Answer! #1, by co-creator and series artist, Mike Norton, does not convey how different this series is. I don’t know if The Answer! is a superhero; he seems like a costumed hero/masked man type – more like The Spirit than Batman. So The Answer! comes across less like a superhero fantasy and more like a mystery series featuring a resourceful heroine. This is a girl-on-the-run tale, and of course, there is a man of mystery who happens to understand the conspiracy set against our girl-hero.

And I love it. I like Norton’s clean, traditional art, which owes more to Alan Davis than to Bryan Hitch. Dennis Hopeless’ script is smart, funny, and (dare I say) sassy, like its heroine. Although I think that this first issue offers too much teasing, for my taste, I am delightfully surprised, and I want to read #2, now! Readers wondering if they can find something both offbeat and good will find The Answer!

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: THE ANSWER! #2

THE ANSWER! #2
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Dennis Hopeless and Mike Norton
SCRIPT: Dennis Hopeless
ART/COVER: Mike Norton
COLORS: Mark Englert
LETTERS: Crank!
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Part 2 of 4

We’re still waiting for The Answer! The Answer! is a four-issue comic book miniseries created by writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Mike Norton. Norton is the creator of the Eisner Award-winning web comic, Battlepug, and Hopeless is a writer for Marvel Comics (Avengers Arena). The series focuses on Devin McKenzie, a research librarian, and The Answer!, an odd, masked crime fighter with a giant exclamation point on his face mask.

As The Answer! #2 opens, Devin McKenzie has been on the run with The Answer! ever since he broke into Newberry Library, the research library where she worked. Now, the mismatched pair faces off against a small army of brawny men dressed in medical scrubs. While the hero fights off the muscular brutes, a mysterious trio absconds with Devin. The three strangers claim to be from an organization and quasi-secret society called the Brain Trust, and they say they want Devin’s smarts.

The novelty of The Answer! being different from other superhero comics has slightly worn off for me. The series is, at this point, still hiding too many things. This goes beyond “the mystery deepens” and has just become withholding-info-just-to-be-cute. Still, The Answer! makes me think of the 1980s ABC romantic-comedy and crime series, Moonlighting, so I’m ready to read #3.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Top Shelf Announces Book About "From Hell"

"A man-behind-the-curtain look at a seminal graphic novel... an indispensable reference." -- Kirkus Reviews

From Hell occupies a monumental place in the history of the graphic novel: a Victorian masterpiece of murder and madness which has won numerous awards, spawned a major Hollywood film, and remained a favorite of readers around the world for over two decades.

Now, Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics present THE FROM HELL COMPANION, an astonishing selection of Alan Moore's original scripts and sketches for the landmark graphic novel, with copious annotations, commentary, and illustrations by Eddie Campbell. Here for the first time are a set of pages, including some of Moore's greatest writing, which have never been seen by anyone except his collaborator. Joining them are Campbell's first-hand accounts of the project's decade-long development, complete with photos, anecdotes, disagreements, and wry confessions. Arranged in narrative order, these perspectives form a fascinating mosaic, an opportunity to read FROM HELL with fresh eyes, and a tour inside the minds of two giants of their field.

THE FROM HELL COMPANIONby Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
-- Deluxe softcover with French flaps, 7.5" x 10.5"
-- 288 pages (32 full-color pages)
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-303-3
-- $29.95 (US)
-- Audience: Mature readers (18+)
-- Shipping in May 2013

www.topshelfcomix.com