Ooku: Japan Goes Dutch

I read Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 9 (Ooku: The Inner Chambers)

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

I Reads February 2014

It's February 2014.  Welcome to I Reads You, a ComicBookBin web and sister publication (www.comicbookbin.com).  The ComicBookBin has free smart phone apps and comics.  We write 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 publication are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.

This is my comic book of the month:

Graphic Novel Review: A FROZEN WORLD

A FROZEN WORLD
EYEKON PUBLISHING – @afrozenworld

CARTOONIST: Nick Andors
ISBN: 978-0-9895312-1-4; paperback (2014)
120pp, B&W, $15.95 US

Suggested for mature readers – Thriller, horror, sci-fi

Artist and illustrator Nick Andors sent me a copy of his new original graphic novel, A Frozen World, for review.  This black and white comic links four stories and, according to Andors, is “…a psychological thriller filled with twists and turns...”

A Frozen World is set in Irongates, which is basically a city as an endless expanse of concrete and iron.  In this futuristic urban dystopia, cloud-piercing buildings stretch as far as the eye can see and also belch smoke that smears the skyline.

The first story focuses on an unnamed scavenger who introduces us to Irongates.  His nocturnal activities put him at odds with the city authority, as he violates the 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew known as “Lockdown.”  The night we meet him, the scavenger is just looking for smokes and finds that and more.  Next, we meet 86-year-old Geoffrey.  He works for “Body Patrol,” the organization that picks up the bodies strewn on the streets and disposes of them.  The day we meet Geoffrey falls on a tragic 60th anniversary, and we get to see his bizarre ceremony of remembrance.

Next, Anneka is a young girl consumed by the fear inside her, but as she grows older, fear becomes hate.  Anneka runs from her abusive past and to a life of murder and mayhem.  However, her brutality initiates a war with The Hidden Hand, the most powerful entity in Irongates.  The final story focuses on Ivan, who concludes A Frozen World by revealing his deepest and strangest secret.

Nick Andors describes A Frozen World as being “in the vein of The Twilight Zone…”  Both Andors’ graphic novel and Rod Serling’s classic television series do share a visual sensibility.  Both use the black and white visual to create a sense of mystery.  Light and shadow form the landscape for the interplay of the known and the unknown.  Andors takes advantage of black and white graphics to create a world in which danger hides in the dark, and where the light reveals the rotten fruit of danger’s labor.

I have to admit that the opening story made me think of director John Huston’s classic film noir, The Asphalt Jungle (1950), in particularly, cinematographer Harold Rosson’s photography for that film.  As the scavenger walks the city, there is even a touch of Warren Ellis’ late comic book series, Transmetropolitan.

I think that the reason A Frozen World sparks my imagination and memory is because it so evocative.  It has a dreamlike quality, but it uses common imagery and elements so that the story is familiar, allowing a broad range of readers to understand this dream.  Conceptually, Irongates is recognizable – the dystopian metropolis or the urban hell-scape.  That is the familiar. The players and their actions within this dream, however, are subject to different interpretations, depending on the reader.

If, as one of the characters says, the world of Irongates is frozen, the characters certainly are not.  Through exposition, dialogue, and action, Andors builds the characters, transforming them from the ciphers to which we are introduced into the complex, engaging players they become.  For all that they and Andors tell us, we can never be sure of them, and Andors makes them worth exploring.

I found myself wanting to plumb the depths of these characters, even if ultimately, I was wrong about them.  So what if I project upon these characters motivations and personalities the author never intended.  That isn’t an assault on an author; rather, it is a sign of how I have grappled with the author’s narrative.

Early in this year that finds much of the United States and Canada frozen, we already have a top-quality original graphic novel.  I hope that readers leave their usual favorite story worlds and take a trip to A Frozen World.

A-

https://www.facebook.com/AFrozenWorld
https://twitter.com/@afrozenworld
http://afrozenworld.com (the book is available for purchase on the author’s website)

Other reviews and commentary concerning A Frozen World:
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/commentary/45606/

http://www.craveonline.com/comics/lists/617243-the-20-best-graphic-novels-of-2013

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Bleach: The Battle

I read Bleach, Vol. 59

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 29 2014

DC COMICS

NOV130218 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #9 $3.99
NOV130205 ALL STAR WESTERN #27 $3.99
NOV130142 AQUAMAN #27 $2.99
NOV130191 BATMAN AND ROBIN ANNUAL #2 $4.99
OCT130238 BATMAN BATMAN AND SON TP NEW ED $19.99
NOV130185 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #27 $2.99
NOV130256 BEWARE THE BATMAN #4 $2.99
NOV130184 CATWOMAN #27 (GOTHTOPIA) $2.99
NOV130168 DAMIAN SON OF BATMAN #4 $3.99
NOV130264 DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2 (MR) $2.99
NOV130152 EARTH 2 ANNUAL #2 $4.99
NOV130271 FABLES #137 (MR) $2.99
NOV130144 FLASH #27 $2.99
NOV130135 FOREVER EVIL ARGUS #4 $2.99
NOV130201 GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #2 $4.99
SEP130268 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS HC VOL 03 LOVE & DEATH (N52) $24.99
OCT130239 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS TP VOL 02 BEYOND HOPE $14.99
NOV130207 GREEN TEAM TEEN TRILLIONAIRES #8 $2.99
NOV130133 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #27 (EVIL) $3.99
OCT130241 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK TP VOL 03 DEATH OF MAGIC (N52) $16.99
NOV130203 LARFLEEZE #7 $2.99
NOV130204 RED LANTERNS #27 $2.99
NOV130225 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 SPECIAL #4 $4.99
NOV130160 SUPERMAN #27 $2.99
NOV130195 TALON #15 $2.99
NOV130211 TEEN TITANS #27 $2.99
OCT130295 UNWRITTEN TP VOL 08 ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLDS (MR) $16.99
NOV130154 WORLDS FINEST ANNUAL #1 $4.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

AUG130365 BATMAN ARKHAM CITY CATWOMAN STATUE $124.95
SEP130331 SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED BMB MINI FIGURES SER 1 PI

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 29 2014

MARVEL COMICS

NOV130665 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN MOVIE ADAPTATION #1 $2.99
NOV130618 AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #23.INH $3.99
NOV130722 CABLE AND X-FORCE TP VOL 03 THIS WONT END WELL $16.99
NOV130658 CATACLYSM ULTIMATES LAST STAND #4 $3.99
NOV130563 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #11.NOW ANMN $3.99
SEP130794 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY PREM HC VOL 02 ANGELA $24.99
OCT138254 INHUMANITY #1 2ND PTG DOE VAR $3.99
NOV130616 INHUMANITY #2 $3.99
NOV130680 MARVEL UNIVERSE HULK AGENTS OF SMASH #4 $2.99
NOV130630 MIRACLEMAN #2 $4.99
NOV130714 MMW X-MEN TP VOL 06 $24.99
NOV130697 NIGHT OF LIVING DEADPOOL #2 $3.99
NOV130646 REVOLUTIONARY WAR KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON #1 $3.99
NOV130726 SUPERIOR CARNAGE TP $17.99
NOV130662 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #26 $3.99
NOV130670 THOR GOD OF THUNDER #18 $3.99
NOV130600 THUNDERBOLTS #21 ANMN $2.99
OCT130754 THUNDERBOLTS TP VOL 03 INFINITY $15.99
OCT130751 ULT COMICS SPIDER-MAN BY BENDIS PREM HC VOL 05 $24.99
NOV130654 UNCANNY AVENGERS #16 $3.99
NOV130687 UNCANNY X-FORCE #17 XFV $3.99
NOV130732 WARLOCK BY JIM STARLIN TP COMPLETE COLLECTION $34.99
NOV130691 X-MEN LEGACY #23 $2.99

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for January 29 2014

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.

IDW PUBLISHING

NOV130374 GHOSTBUSTERS #12 [DIG/P+] $3.99
SEP138354 GI JOE COMPLETE COLL HC VOL 02 RED LABEL ED PI
NOV130375 GODZILLA RULERS OF THE EARTH #8 [DIG/P+] $3.99
NOV130380 HALF PAST DANGER HC $29.99
SEP130429 JOHN ROMITA AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ARTIST ED HC VOL 02 PI
OCT130444 LOAC ESSENTIALS HC VOL 04 ALLEY OOP 1939 $24.99
NOV130354 MR PEABODY & SHERMAN #4 [DIG/P+] $3.99
DEC130453 MR PEABODY & SHERMAN TP $17.99
NOV130398 OTHER DEAD #5 [DIG/P+] $3.99
NOV130309 STAR TREK ONGOING #29 [DIG/P+] $3.99
OCT130430 SUPERMAN GOLDEN AGE SUNDAYS 1943-1946 HC $49.99
NOV130318 TMNT ONGOING #30 $3.99
OCT138105 TRANSFORMERS IDW COLLECTION HC VOL 03 RED LABEL ED PI
NOV130371 TRANSFORMERS REGENERATION ONE #98 [DIG/P+] $3.99