I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
I Reads You Review: SAMURAI JACK #4
IDW PUBLISHING with Cartoon Network – @IDWPublishing and @cartoonnetwork
WRITER: Jim Zub – @jimzub
ARTIST: Andy Suriano – @wolfboy74
COLORS: Josh Burcham
LETTERS: Shawn Lee
COVER: Andy Suriano
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (January 2014)
Samurai Jack created by Genndy Tartakovsky
“Samurai Jack and the Threads of Time” Part 4
Samurai Jack, the comic book adaptation of the Emmy-winning animated television series, Samurai Jack (2001-2004), reaches the penultimate issue of “The Threads of Time” storyline. The Samurai Jack five-issue comic book miniseries is written by Jim Zub and drawn by Andy Suriano.
As you now, Samurai Jack focuses on a samurai known as “Jack,” who is trapped in a dystopian, futuristic Earth. It is ruled by an old enemy of Jack’s, a tyrannical, shape-shifting, demonic wizard named Aku. Jack wanders this future, trying to find a method by which he can travel back in time to the era in which he belongs, Feudal Japan. Then, he can try to keep Aku from creating this troubled future.
Samurai Jack #4 finds Jack continuing to search for the Threads of Time. With them, he can wind into the Rope of Eons and therefore, rewind himself home. He already has four strands.
Jack now travels through a remote area beset by a terribly frigid winter. Jack arrives in a village searching for food and other provisions for his journey. What he finds instead is a beaten populace that serves the needs of the vain and greedy, immortal Queen Krystle the Ageless. And even Jack’s martial prowess may be no match for her power and her robotic army.
Once again, I am not surprised that I enjoyed reading Zub and Suriano’s Samurai Jack. As I review this miniseries, I keep saying that this Samurai Jack comic book is not merely an adaptation of the cartoon; it is the real Jack. This time, I also have to acknowledge the colors by Josh Burcham. He brings this story to life as much as Zub and Suriano by creating mood and atmosphere. Burcham also gives this story’s setting the sense of being a character.
I still hope this Samurai Jack miniseries turns into a Samurai Jack regular series.
A
www.jimzub.com
www.IDWPUBLISHING.com
youtube.com/idwpublishing
facebook.com/idwpublishing
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
Marching to I Reads You
It's March 2014. Welcome to I Reads You, a ComicBookBin web and sister publication (www.comicbookbin.com). 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.
Will The Sandman: Overture #2 finally come out and play with us?
All images and text appearing on this publication are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.
Will The Sandman: Overture #2 finally come out and play with us?
All images and text appearing on this publication are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
I Reads You Review: SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1
DC COMICS – @DCComics
WRITER: Scott Snyder
PENCILS: Jim Lee, Dustin Nguyen
INKS: Scott Williams
COLORS: Alex Sinclair, John Kalisz
LETTERS: Sal Cipriano
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Alex Sinclair
VARIANT COVERS: Jim Lee, Bruce Timm, Dave Johnson, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Neal Adams, Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, Lee Bermejo, Brett Booth
40pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (August 2013)
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Last year, DC Comics unleashed a new ongoing Superman comic book series to coincide with the release of Man of Steel, the 2013 relaunch of the Superman film franchise. Superman Unchained is from burning-hot writer Scott Snyder and superstar-for-over-two-decades artist Jim Lee with his longtime inker, Scott Williams.
Superman Unchained #1 (“The Leap”) opens with a brief (kind of) prologue that takes place in Nagasaki, Japan on April 9th, 1945. We move to the present (which seems like a near-future) and find Superman trying to stop a space station called the Lighthouse from causing an epic catastrophe when it crashes to Earth.
Superman has suspects for the Lighthouse event, which include Lex Luthor (on his way to prison) and a cyber terrorist group known as Ascension. The Man of Steel is probably wrong on his suspects, and there is a lot that he doesn’t know. But Superman doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
Superman Unchained #1 is one busy comic book. Scott Snyder, obviously in love with his dialogue, packs this first issue with so much talk and exposition. This first issue is like a box of “Raisin Bran” (or one of its knock-offs) infested with raisins – just too much of a good thing. The story is a slick piece of sci-fi-lite, complete with digital displays and shiny tech. The story, however, doesn’t really get hot until the last page of “The Leap.” Of note, there is also a two-page epilogue drawn by Dustin Nguyen.
Speaking of busy, that’s Jim Lee’s pencils. Lee draws so much anemic line work and so many scritchy-scratch lines that we should be thankful for Scott Williams ability to rein in Lee’s excesses and eccentricities. As usual, Alex Sinclair’s colors turn the art into comic book eye candy. I have to admit that I’ll be back for future issues.
B
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Manga Review: TIGER AND BUNNY Volume 4
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
CARTOONIST: Mizuki Sakakibara
PLANNING/STORY: Sunrise
ORIGINAL SCRIPT: Masafumi Nishida
ORIGINAL CHARACTER DESIGN: Masakazu Katsura
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Labaamen and John Werry, HC Language Solutions
LETTERS: Stephen Dutro
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6235-3; paperback (February 2014); Rated “T” for “Teen”
180pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.
Produced by Sunrise, Tiger & Bunny is a science fiction and superhero anime series. It ran for 25 episodes in 2011 and yielded a one-shot manga during its original television run in Japan. Shortly afterwards, manga and comic book artist Mizuki Sakakibara began producing a regular manga series based on anime, also entitled Tiger & Bunny.
Tiger & Bunny takes place in a world where 45 years earlier, super-powered humans, known as NEXT, started appearing. Some of them fight crime as superheroes in Stern Bild (a re-imagined version of New York City). They promote their corporate sponsors while appearing on the hit television show, Hero TV (or HERO TV). The story focuses on veteran superhero, Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (Wild Tiger), and the newest NEXT sensation, Barnaby Brooks, Jr., the “Super Rookie,” whom Tiger calls “Bunny.”
As Tiger & Bunny, Vol. 4 (Chapters 14 to 17) opens, the heroes take on the deranged NEXT killer, Lunatic. Lunatic’s vigilante activities against murderers and other violent criminals has unsettled the public, and that makes the NEXT less popular. In a bid to make things better, Apollon Media launches the “Believe in Heroes Campaign.”
That begins with a lecture at the Hero Academy, which trains the NEXT to be heroes. Kotetsu and Barnaby are the lecturers, and Origami Cyclone joins them. This return to the academy, however, brings up a tragic incident involving Origami and a fellow student. Also, the heroes play babysitters to a special child.
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s the Tiger & Bunny manga, probably the best superhero comic book not being published by DC Comics or Marvel Comics. And it is just as good as many of DC and Marvel’s best titles.
As I warned you before, dear readers, you should probably take my reviews of Tiger & Bunny with that proverbial grain of salt (or any of other seasoning), because I am a big fan of this series. Instead of mocking superheroes, Tiger & Bunny is a comedy about superheroes with convincing “superhero-fantasy action violence.”
Tiger & Bunny Volume 4 offers more of what Tiger & Bunny mangaka, Mizuki Sakakibara, does best – adapt the anime into a comic book with heart and humor. Readers will feel the heartrending story of Origami and his friend, but they will laugh at the inept babysitters. Tune in tomorrow – I’m ready for more now.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)