Digital Comics: Digital new releases available from your local comic book shop are marked below. [DIG] = Digital version available. [DIG/P+] = Print-Plus digital/print combo pack available. For more information, go to www.digitalcomicsreader.com.
PREVIEWS PUBLICATIONS
MAY132305 GAME TRADE MAGAZINE #161 $3.99
MAY130001 PREVIEWS #298 JULY 2013 [DIG/P+] $4.50
MAY130004 PREVIEWS #298 JULY 2013 CUSTOMER ORDER FORM PI
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
APR130968 ADVENTURE TIME #17 MAIN CVRS $3.99
APR131169 AIR GEAR GN VOL 28 (MR) $10.99
APR130765 ALTERNATIVE COMICS #4 (MR) $5.99
MAR131274 AMAZING AGENT LUNA GN VOL 09 $11.99
APR130810 ARCHIE COMICS SPECTACULAR SCHOOL DAZE TP $5.99
APR131319 ARONS ABSURD ARMADA OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 (MR) $18.99
APR131218 ATOMIC ROBO SAVAGE SWORD OF DR DINOSAUR #1 $3.50
FEB131089 AVALON CHRONICLES HC VOL 02 $19.99
APR130923 BART SIMPSON COMICS #84 $2.99
APR131011 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #2 (MR) $3.99
APR131235 BEAST OF WOLFES BAY GN $17.99
APR130814 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #213 [DIG/P+] $3.99
APR131280 BLOODSHOT (VU) TP VOL 02 RISE AND THE FALL $14.99
APR131220 BODIE TROLL #2 $2.99
MAR131056 BOYS DEFINITIVE EDITION HC VOL 05 (MR) $95.00
MAR131195 CLOCKWERX HC (MR) $29.95
FEB130691 CRAWLING SKY #4 [DIG] $3.99
APR130878 CROSSED BADLANDS #31 (MR) $3.99
APR130880 CROSSED BADLANDS #31 TORTURE CVR (MR) $3.99
APR130879 CROSSED BADLANDS #31 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99
DEC121073 DF AVENGERS #1 STAN LEE SGN ED $399.99
MAR131296 DMC DEVIL MAY CRY VERGIL CHRONICLES #2 $3.99
APR130856 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ASSASSINS #12 CVR A HANSON [DIG] $3.99
APR130857 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ASSASSINS #12 CVR B CUCCA $3.99
MAR131196 EYES O/T CAT YELLOW ED HC (MR) $34.95
APR130862 FATHOM ELITE SAGA #2 CVR A MARION [DIG] $3.99
APR130863 FATHOM ELITE SAGA #2 CVR B CALDWELL $3.99
MAR138319 FLIGHT GN VOL 01 NEW PTG $24.00
APR131320 GA GEIJUTSUKA ART DESIGN CLASS GN VOL 05 $12.99
APR131329 GFT ANNUAL 2013 A CVR QUALANO (UNLEASHED PT3) (MR) $5.99
APR131330 GFT ANNUAL 2013 B CVR SALGADO (UNLEASHED PT3) (MR) $5.99
APR131347 GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #86 A CVR KROME (MR) $2.99
APR131348 GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #86 B CVR REYES (MR) $2.99
APR131343 GFT WONDERLAND #12 A CVR KROME RED DRESS (MR) $2.99
APR131344 GFT WONDERLAND #12 B CVR LILLY (MR) $2.99
APR131345 GFT WONDERLAND #12 C CVR KROME PURPLE DRESS (MR) $2.99
APR131340 GFT WONDERLAND DOWN RABBIT HOLE #2 A CVR SPAY (MR) $2.99
APR131341 GFT WONDERLAND DOWN RABBIT HOLE #2 B CVR CHEN (MR) $2.99
APR131342 GFT WONDERLAND DOWN RABBIT HOLE #2 C CVR SEIDMAN (MR) $2.99
DEC121210 HARVEY HORRORS WITCHES TALES SOFTIE TP VOL 01 $24.99
APR131321 HIGURASHI WHEN THEY CRY GN VOL 22 FESTIVAL ACCOMPANYING ARC $18.99
MAY131266 HOMESICK GN $15.99
MAR131276 JACK THE RIPPER HELL BLADE GN VOL 04 (MR) $11.99
APR130847 JIRNI #3 ASPEN RESERVED CVR $3.99
APR130846 JIRNI #3 DIRECT MARKET CVR [DIG] $3.99
FEB138628 KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES TP $19.00
APR131172 KITCHEN PRINCESS OMNIBUS TP VOL 04 $19.99
MAR131201 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #199 $5.99
APR131123 MAGIC WIND GN VOL 01 $12.99
APR130924 MALEVOLENT MR BURNS #1 $3.99
APR131030 MASKS #8 $3.99
MAR130802 MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS O/T GUARD VOL 2 #1 $3.50
FEB131025 NEW SCHOOL HC $39.99
APR131323 PANDORA HEARTS GN VOL 16 $11.99
APR130972 PEANUTS VOL 2 #9 [DIG] $3.99
APR130766 POWER OF 6 TWISTED APPLES PART 1 $4.95
APR131324 PUELLA MAGI KAZUMI MAGICA GN VOL 01 INNOCENT MALICE $11.99
DEC121029 RED SONJA #77 $3.99
APR131064 RED SONJA UNCHAINED #3 $3.99
MAR130947 REGULAR SHOW #2 MAIN CVRS [DIG] $3.99
MAY131019 SHADOW TP VOL 02 REVOLUTION $19.99
APR131325 SPICE AND WOLF GN VOL 08 (MR) $12.99
MAR130938 STEED AND MRS PEEL ONGOING #9 [DIG] $3.99
MAR130976 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #80 DLX ED (MR) $19.99
APR130979 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE TP VOL 11 (MR) $24.99
APR131326 TRIAGE X GN VOL 03 (MR) $13.99
APR130767 TRUE SWAMP STONEGROUND & HILLBOUND (MR) $4.95
APR130996 UNCANNY #1 $3.99
MAR131349 UTSUBORA STORY OF A NOVELIST OMNIBUS TP $18.95
FEB130946 VAMPIRELLA #30 $3.99
APR131217 WAR MACHINE GN (MR) $17.99
MAY131065 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS TP VOL 04 (MR) $16.99
APR131288 X-O MANOWAR (VU) #14 (PD) REG LOZZI $3.99
APR130909 ZEBRAFISH SPF 40 TP $9.99
JAN131163 ZIPPY DINGBURG DIARIES TP $29.99
MAGAZINES
MAR131501 AVENGER DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 10 $14.95
APR131381 COMIC SHOP NEWS #1358 PI
APR131383 COMICS REVUE PRESENTS JUN 2013 $19.95
MAR131445 DC BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA FIG COLL MAG #10 BATMAN #311 $20.00
MAR131444 DC BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA FIG COLL MAG #9 BATMAN #5 $20.00
MAR131446 DC SUPERHERO CHESS FIG COLL MAG #34 WONDER WOMAN WHITE QUEEN $16.00
APR130696 DISNEY PRINCESS MAGAZINE #14 $4.99
APR131440 DOC SAVAGE DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 67 $14.95
MAR131489 G FAN #101 (RES) $6.95
JAN131378 ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #41 $15.00
MAY131455 LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS #30 $9.95
APR131439 LOCUS #629 $7.50
MAR131297 MONSTER HIGH MAGAZINE #3 $4.99
BOOKS
MAR131498 COSPLAY MADE IN JAPAN HC $39.95
APR131328 DISSOCIATION OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA HC $15.99
MAY131439 DOCTOR WHO IN TIME & SPACE ESSAYS 1963-2012 $45.00
MAY131405 FEVER PITCH SC VOL 01 HOT GIRLS OF ELIAS CHATZOUDIS HOT GIRL $14.95
MAY131433 GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS IN CLASSROOM SC $45.00
APR131433 MAN OF STEEL INSIDE LEGENDARY WORLD OF SUPERMAN HC $45.00
APR131434 MAN OF STEEL OFF NOVELIZATION MMPB $7.99
MAY131434 MYTH OF THE SUPERHERO SC $24.95
MAR131497 NEIL GAIMAN OCEAN AT END OF LANE NOVEL HC $25.99
FEB131148 SUMMER WARS MATERIAL BOOK SC $39.99
MAY131478 TELEVISION WESTERNS EPISODE GUIDE ALL US SERIES 1949-1996 SC $39.95
MAY131479 TRUE BLOOD DRINKS & BITES HC $18.95
MAR132225 WARHAMMER 40K MACHARIAN CRUSADE FIST OF DEMETRIUS HC $24.99
MAR132227 WARHAMMER 40K THE SOUL DRINKERS SECOND OMNIBUS SC $17.50
MAY131462 WOMEN OF HAMMER HORROR HC $49.95
APR131438 WORLD WAR Z ART OF FILM SC $19.95
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Children of the Sea: Final Volume
I read Children of the Sea, Vol. 5
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Yaoi Review: Sleeping Moon Volume 1
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga
CARTOONIST: Kano Miyamoto
TRANSLATION: Christine Dashiell
LETTERS: NRP Studios
COVER: Kono Miyamoto and Courtney Utt
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5550-8; Rated “M” for “Mature”
186pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK
Kano Miyamoto is a prolific creator of boys’ love manga and of independent or amateur comics (doujinshi). Sleeping Moon is a yaoi manga graphic novel series from Miyamoto. Yaoi manga is a subset of boys’ love manga (BL) and features explicit depictions of sex between male characters. The series follows a college student trying to unravel a family curse.
Sleeping Moon, Vol. 1 introduces 27-year-old college student, Akihiko Odagawa. He returns to his family’s ancestral home in order to solve the mystery of a rumored curse that brings early death to the male descendants in his lineage, the Sakaki Family. There, he meets his Aunt Akiko and her two children, twin brother and sister, Ren and Eri.
Eri remains mostly unseen because she has some kind of illness, and though he is distant at first, Ren begins to make moves on Akihiko. That isn’t the most shocking thing. While in the home, Akihiko experiences a time slip that takes him back 100 years in the past. There, he meets student, Eitarou Shinjou, who looks strikingly like Ren. Can the two men bridge time to unravel a family curse?
Not really sexual in terms of content, Sleeping Moon, Volume 1 is a supernatural mystery. There really is not a strong current of romance, for that matter. Instead, it is ghosts plus time travel; that can be an interesting combination, and it is here. The ghosts and spirits are especially creepy and menacing, and, in the early chapters, Kano Miyamoto teases them just enough to string the reader along with sightings and dark auras to stir the echoes of fear.
There is something oddly sweet about the time travel angle. This is a mysterious and less sci-fi kind of time travel. It is impressionistic and spiritual; therefore, this kind of “time slip” seems earthier than the usual future-tech histrionics. Yes, I do want more sex scenes in the next volume, but I also want to solve the mysteries of this engaging manga. Readers looking for romance, mystery, and the supernatural will want to try Sleeping Moon.
B+
www.SuBLimeManga.com
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Review: The Black Bat #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics
WRITER: Brian Buccellato
ARTIST: Ronan Cliquet
COLORS: Mat Lopes
LETTERS: Rob Steen
COVERS: Jae Lee (A), Joe Benitez (B), Ardian Syaf (C), Billy Tan (D), Marcos Martin (subscription cover)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.
Rated T+
“The Black Bat” was a character that appeared in Black Bat Detective Mysteries, a short-lived, 1930s pulp magazine, published for six issues. The first Black Bat is thought to have had an influence on The Batman, either through Bob Kane (the man solely credited with creating Batman) or Bill Finger (the first Batman writer and essentially the co-creator of the character) or both. There was also a second version of The Black Bat, influenced by the first.
Dynamite Entertainment recently returned this pulp hero from the 1930s to comics. Dynamite’s The Black Bat comic book stars Tony Quinn, a brash defense attorney for the mob who compromises his ethics for financial gain. When Tony refuses to commit murder, his gangster employers torture and blind him. It is a covert agency that rescues and gives Quinn a chance to make amends. Tony dons a cape and cowl and becomes the Black Bat in a quest of redemption to right the wrongs of his past
The Black Bat #2 opens with Tony as the Black Bat about to break up a drug shipment for the city’s drug lord, Oliver Snate. Tony’s baptism in fire becomes literal when a moral dilemma complicates the mission. Meanwhile, anger in the city continues to rise over the unsolved case of the missing policemen.
The first time I saw images of the cover art for The Black Bat #2, I was struck by how much it all looked similar to various Batman images and graphics. [I wonder how many times you can poke the lion that is DC Comics’ legal department?] Actually, instead of Batman, The Black Bat #2 reads like a blending of Doug Moench’s Moon Knight and Mike Baron’s The Punisher, and I rather enjoyed it.
Writer Brian Buccellato is more than competent, offering familiar “street level” comic book tales, with a character made interesting because his determination is matched by his ignorance. Ronan Cliquet is also more than competent as a graphical storyteller, and his composition and page design is nice. Cliquet’s art improves Buccellato’s script in terms of storytelling.
I liked The Black Bat #2. I might read future issues, but as I have access to digital review copies from Dynamite Entertainment, that declaration might be something of a cheat. Still, The Black Bat has promise.
B
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
Review: The Black Bat #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics
WRITER: Brian Buccellato
ARTIST: Ronan Cliquet
COLORS: Mat Lopes
LETTERS: Rob Steen
COVERS: J. Scott Campbell (A), Joe Benitez (B), Ardian Syaf (C), Billy Tan (D), Marcos Martin (subscription cover)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.
Rated T+
Dynamite Entertainment has brought The Black Bat back from the public domain comic book graveyard in a new comic book series. The character that appeared in Black Bat Detective Mysteries, a short-lived, 1930s pulp magazine, published for six issues. The first Black Bat is thought to have had an influence on the creation of The Batman.
The Black Bat #1 opens with the Black Bat kicking ass. He’s looking for Silk, a police snitch who will become his assistant. The story also goes into flashback mode in order to take a look at the man who would become the Black Bat, Tony Quinn. He was a brash defense attorney for the mob who compromised his ethics for financial gain. It cost him a lot, but now as the Black Bat he can seek redemption… or vengeance?
Images and graphics in The Black Bat resemble image and graphics in and perhaps the spirit of Batman comic books. However, what writer Brian Buccellato offers is closer to “street level” comic books that Marvel Comics has produced over the years, featuring characters like Daredevil, Moon Knight, and The Punisher. It’s vigilante vs. organized crime, and the superhero costume seems extraneous in the moody, urban fiction edge of Buccellato’s script.
Artist Ronan Cliquet has a graphic style and visual sense that is perfect for the comics yarn Buccellato spins. Cliquet’s compositions and designs are flashy in a Batman mode, but a bit earthier. Once again, crime fiction edges out costumes. Dynamite Entertainment’s The Black Bat does have potential.
B+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
Friday, June 21, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Review: DREAM THIEF #2
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics
STORY: Jai Nitz
ART/LETTERS: Greg Smallwood
COVER: Ryan Sook
MISC. ART: Kevin Nowlan, Rob Croonenborghs, Andrew MacLean, Ryan Browne, Jeremy Mohler
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2013)
Dream Thief is a new five-issue limited series from Bram Stoker Award-winning writer Jai Nitz (“Best Illustrated Narrative,” 2004) and artist Greg Smallwood. The series focuses on John Lincoln, whose body and mind become possessed after he dons a strange mask.
Lincoln is an Atlanta-based carouser and pot-smoker/connoisseur. He tends to get drunk and wake up in strange places; often those places are the bedrooms of women who are not his girlfriend, Claire. After a visit to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, John awakens, wearing an Aboriginal mask he stole from the museum. Now, John’s problems have been replaced by blood stains and an unsteady memory that suggests he’s been disposing of bodies. He’s even killed his girlfriend.
As Dream Thief #2 opens, John is still trying to deal with the spirits of the dead who possess his mind and body while he sleeps. Now, he has a head full of another dead man’s memories, a young man named Jimmy Oliver. Tossed out of the U.S. Army for being gay, Jim found love and a career in the grungy underworld of drugs and pornography. Now, the Dream Thief has to enter that world on a vengeful errand.
When Dark Horse Comics made a PDF of Dream Thief #1 available to reviewers, I read it on a lark because it was a first issue. That was a moment of fortune in my life as a comic book reader. Dream Thief is just a damn good comic book and a great read.
Jai Nitz has written a fine, creepy dark fantasy, and he has an engaging character in John Lincoln. Lincoln is even better as the “Dream Thief,” whom Nitz uses, in this issue, to tell a poignant story of a young man lost. Dream Thief is partly a lovely character story, one that recalls Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.
The scope of the talent of artist Greg Smallwood expands, practically with each page of this series. He draws Dream Thief as if it were a crime comic book, but he also captures the supernatural-infused nature of the narrative. I don’t think anyone could do a better job with Dream Thief than Smallwood is doing.
Comic book readers looking for excellence have a dream lover in Dream Thief.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
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