Itsuwaribito: Onihime – Demon Princess

I read Itsuwaribito , Vol. 10

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

Voice Over: Lunchtime Broadcast #2

I read Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 2

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

I Reads You Review: ARCHIE #634

ARCHIE #634
ARCHIE COMICS – @archiecomics

SCRIPT/PENCILS: Dan Parent
INKS: Rich Koslowski
LETTERS: Jack Morelli
COLORS: Digikore Studios
COVER: Dan Parent
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

Archie Marries Valerie: Part 4 of 4 – “Here and Now!”

In Spring 2014, I started reading the Archie comic book series for the first time in years.  Archie #631 began a storyline that focused on a hypothetical romantic relationship between Archie Andrews and Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats.  Apparently, the two characters had been paying special attention to one another for some time.

After Valerie and her family move to Archie’s hometown of Riverdale, the two become closer.  When the relationship takes a turn towards the really serious, Valerie goes for a walk down Memory Lane.  This is a magical street somewhere in Riverdale that allows characters to see possible futures.

Archie #634 (“Here and Now”) concludes the “Archie Marries Valerie” story arc.  The issue opens to find Archie and Valerie quite happy and touring as a musical act.  Things change dramatically when the two introduce their young daughter, Star, into their act.  Suddenly, the family finds itself getting unwanted attention.  Also, Memory Lane shows Valerie other possible futures.

When Archie #634 was originally published last year, it sold out before I could get to the comic book shop.  A year and a half later, I took advantage of a Mile High Comics sale to finally get a copy.  I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the story now as much as I did last year.  I wish that it would run longer, if for no other reason than to have regular Josie and the Pussycats, a childhood favorite about which I am still crazy in love.

Cheers to Dan Parent, the writer and lead artist behind this comic book.  As a big Josie and the Pussycats fan, I appreciate this story, but, in general, this is also a fun Archie comic book to read.

I’ll repeat myself:   if you ever read and liked Archie, you will read and like Archie again with this storyline.

A

www.archiecomics.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

A Devil and Her Love Song: Shin's leaving...

I read Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 12 (A Devil and Her Love Song)

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

Book Review: NOS4A2

NOS4A2
WILLIAM MORROW/HarperCollins – @WmMorrowBks and @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Joe Hill – @joe_hill
ILLUSTRATIONS: Gabriel Rodriguez
COVER: Shutterstock (Gingerman)
ISBN: 978-0-06-220058-7; paperback (October 15, 2013)
718pp, B&W, $17.99 U.S.

NOS4A2 is a 2013 horror novel from short story writer and novelist, Joe Hill, his third novel after Heart-Shaped Box and Horns.  Joe Hill is the penname of writer Joseph Hillstrom King, who is also one of author Stephen King’s sons.  Comic book fans may also know Hill as the writer and creator of the ongoing comic book series, Locke & Key.  NOS4A2 contains illustrations by artist Gabriel Rodriguez, who has drawn most of Locke & Key.

NOS4A2 (which can be pronounced, “Nosferatu”), focuses on two characters.  The first is Victoria “Vic” McQueen, whom we meet as a preteen and follow into adulthood.  Vic has a secret gift for finding things:  a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions, etc.  When riding her Raleigh Tuff Burner bicycle, Vic thinks of something she has to find, and the Shorter Way, a rickety covered bridge appears.  She rides into the bridge, and it takes her wherever she needs to go in order to find the thing for which she is looking.  It does not matter if the location is across her home state of Massachusetts or across the country.

The other character is Charles Talent “Charlie” Manx.  He is a murderer, who has a special way with children.  Manx likes to take children (mostly of elementary and junior high age) for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity license plate.  This old car, also simply known as “The Wraith,” allows Manx to slip right out of the everyday, “real” world, and into a world created out of his imagination.  Manx calls this world “Christmasland,” a bizarre amusement park where everyday is Christmas.  There, the children never age or die, and they stay with Manx forever.

One day, Vic McQueen went looking for Manx.  She became the only child to escape him.  Now, he is back for revenge against Vic and is more than willing to use her son, Bruce Wayne Carmody, as a pawn.

I found NOS4A2 to be imaginative, but also weird.  It mixes the character melodrama of Stephen King and the warped realities of Peter Straub (who has collaborated with Stephen King).  NOS4A2 is also too damn long.  Stephen King had published numerous novels before he could get away with being unedited (see The Stand).  Joe Hill has only been publishing for a short time, but already no one at his publisher was apparently willing to step in and cut this sumbitch of a novel down about 200 pages… or maybe even in half.

There are parts of this novel that are riveting, many involving Charlie Manx’s assistant, Bing Partridge.  In fact, Manx is a good villain and monster.  He is even worth discussing in detail.  Is Manx technically a child molester?  Vic McQueen, our hero, is not quite as good.  She has some similarities to Isabella “Bella” Swan of the Twilight novels, but Vic is not as endearing as Bella.  Vic takes Bella’s moodiness and turns it into mental distress that is more tedious than sympathetic.

NOS4A2 is a good read, but I often found myself not wanting to bother with it.  The last 200 pages really grabbed my attention and imagination.  I don’t think of this as a negative book review of NOS4A2; still, I have to be honest.  I think that NOS4A2 is a good book gone bad by its length.

B

www.joehillfiction.com
www.facebook.com/joehill


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

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 11 2013

DC COMICS

OCT130285 ASTRO CITY #7 $3.99
OCT130200 BATGIRL #26 $2.99
OCT130190 BATMAN #26 (ZERO YEAR) $3.99
OCT130193 BATMAN #26 COMBO PACK (ZERO YEAR) $4.99
OCT130225 BATMAN BLACK & WHITE #4 $4.99
OCT130264 BATMAN LIL GOTHAM #9 $2.99
OCT130278 COFFIN HILL #3 (MR) $2.99
OCT130138 CONSTANTINE #9 (EVIL) $2.99
OCT130254 DC COMICS ESSENTIALS ACTION COMICS #1 (N52) $1.00
AUG130289 DC NEW 52 VILLAINS OMNIBUS HC $150.00
SEP130283 DOCTOR MIDNITE TP NEW PTG $14.99
OCT130290 FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS #6 (MR) $2.99
OCT130133 FOREVER EVIL ARKHAM WAR #3 $2.99
OCT130209 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #26 $2.99
AUG130309 JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE CREATING THE DC UNIVERSE HC $75.00
SEP130170 JUSTICE LEAGUE #25 (EVIL) $3.99
SEP130173 JUSTICE LEAGUE #25 COMBO PACK (EVIL) $4.99
OCT130141 JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #1 $2.99
OCT130125 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 (EVIL) $3.99
OCT130128 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 COMBO PACK (EVIL) $4.99
OCT130152 KATANA #10 $2.99
OCT130231 LEGENDS DARK KNIGHT 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR #1 $9.99
OCT130197 NIGHTWING #26 $2.99
OCT130268 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #40 $2.99
OCT130234 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 ALIEN #1 $3.99
OCT130137 SUICIDE SQUAD #26 (EVIL) $2.99
OCT130180 SUPERBOY #26 $2.99
AUG130298 SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS HC VOL 03 END OF DAYS (N52) $24.99
SEP130275 SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS TP VOL 02 BULLETPROOF (N52) $16.99
OCT130156 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #3 $3.99
OCT130159 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #3 COMBO PACK $4.99
OCT130151 WORLDS FINEST #18 $2.99
SEP130299 YOUNG JUSTICE TP VOL 04 INVASION $12.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

JUL130287 AME COMI POISON IVY HARLEY QUINN HOLIDAY 2 PACK AF $99.95
JUN130315 BATMAN ARKHAM CITY THE RIDDLER STATUE $124.95
JUN130309 BLUE LANTERN 1:1 SCALE POWER BATTERY PROP W RING $199.95

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 11 2013

MARVEL COMICS

OCT130670 A PLUS X #15 $3.99
OCT130678 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700.2 $3.99
OCT130680 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700.3 $3.99
OCT130778 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700.3 BY PIERFEDERICI POSTER $8.99
OCT130777 AVENGERS #24.NOW BY RIBIC POSTER $8.99
OCT130649 AVENGERS AI #7.INH $2.99
SEP130807 AVENGERS EPIC COLLECTION TP FINAL THREAT $39.99
OCT130730 CABLE AND X-FORCE #17 $3.99
OCT130702 CAPTAIN AMERICA #14 $3.99
OCT130703 CAPTAIN AMERICA LIVING LEGEND #4 $3.99
SEP138351 CAPTAIN MARVEL #17 2ND PTG ALPHONA VAR $3.99
OCT130675 CATACLYSM ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #2 $3.99
OCT130673 CATACLYSM ULTIMATES #2 $3.99
SEP130793 DAREDEVIL BY MARK WAID PREM HC VOL 06 $19.99
SEP130797 DEADPOOL BY DANIEL WAY COMPLETE COLL TP VOL 02 $34.99
OCT130717 EMERALD CITY OF OZ #5 $3.99
SEP130818 ESSENTIAL HULK TP VOL 07 $19.99
SEP130808 IMMORTAL IRON FIST COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01 $39.99
OCT130648 INHUMANITY AWAKENING #1 $3.99
OCT130776 INHUMANITY BY BRADSHAW POSTER $8.99
OCT130696 MARVEL KNIGHTS HULK #1 $3.99
OCT130718 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #3 SYU $2.99
OCT130719 MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #21 SYU $2.99
OCT130775 MARVELS AGENTS OF SHIELD POSTER $8.99
OCT130706 MARVELS CA FIRST AVENGER ADAPTATION #2 $2.99
OCT130640 MIGHTY AVENGERS #4.INH $3.99
SEP130810 MINI MARVELS TP COMPLETE COLLECTION $24.99
OCT130715 NOVA #11 INF $3.99
SEP130704 SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN NOW #6 $2.99
SEP130815 THANOS TP INFINITY ABYSS NEW PTG $24.99
OCT130700 THUNDERBOLTS #19 INF $2.99
OCT130647 UNCANNY X-MEN #15.INH $3.99
OCT130728 WOLVERINE #12 $3.99
OCT130727 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #39 $3.99
OCT130737 WOLVERINE MAX #14 (MR) $3.99