Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 19 2014

DARK HORSE COMICS

NOV130069 ARCHIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 09 $59.99

NOV130059 BLOOD BROTHERS TP $12.99

JAN140127 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #117 $3.50

JAN140134 BTVS SEASON 10 #1 MAIN CVR $3.50

JAN140150 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #34 (MR) $7.99

JAN140092 HELLBOY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SAMPLER BUNDLE PI

NOV130011 HELLBOY FIRST 20 YEARS HC $19.99

JAN140146 SKYMAN #3 $2.99

JAN140179 STAR WARS DARTH VADER & CRY OF SHADOWS #4 $3.50

JAN140180 STAR WARS DAWN O/T JEDI FORCE WAR #5 $3.50

JAN140133 STRAIN THE FALL #9 $3.99

JAN140175 TERMINATOR ENEMY OF MY ENEMY #2 $3.99

JAN140152 WHITE SUITS #2 $3.99

JAN140168 WITCHER #1 $3.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 19 2014

IMAGE COMICS

JAN140622 A VOICE IN THE DARK #5 (MR) $3.99
DEC130558 APHRODITE IX #9 CVR A SEJIC $2.99
DEC130559 APHRODITE IX #9 CVR B SEJIC $2.99
DEC130571 FIVE GHOSTS #10 $2.99
JAN140590 FUSE #2 (MR) $3.50
JAN148144 FUSE #2 CVR B ROSSMO (MR) $3.50
JAN140591 GHOSTED #8 (MR) $2.99
NOV130507 LAZARUS #7 (MR) $2.99
JAN140537 NOAH HC (MR) $29.99
DEC138055 PETER PANZERFAUST DLX HC CURR PTG $39.99
SEP130628 PROPHET #43 $3.99
NOV130519 ROCKET GIRL #4 $3.50
JAN140556 SAGA TP VOL 03 (MR) $14.99
DEC130595 SEX CRIMINALS #5 (MR) $3.50
JAN140538 SOVEREIGN #1 (MR) $2.99
DEC130598 TEN GRAND #8 CVR A SMITH (MR) $2.99
DEC130599 TEN GRAND #8 CVR B PORTACIO & ATIYEH (MR) $2.99
JAN140621 UNDERTOW #2 (MR) $2.99
DEC138395 UNDERTOW #2 CVR B CONLEY (MR) $2.99
JAN140625 ZERO #6 CVR A MULLER & DEL REY (MR) $2.99
JAN140626 ZERO #6 CVR B FRANCAVILLA & MULLER (MR) $2.99
JAN140627 ZERO #6 CVR C DRAGOTTA & MULLER (MR) $2.99
JAN140628 ZERO #6 CVR D STEWART & MULLER (MR) $2.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for March 19 2014

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

NOV130758 16-BIT ZOMBIES #1 $3.99
JAN141306 AAMA GN VOL 01 SMELL OF WARM DUST (MR) $19.95
DEC131245 ACG COLL WORKS ADV INTO UNKNOWN SLIPCASE ED VOL 05 $64.99
JAN141015 ADVENTURE TIME #26 MAIN CVRS $3.99
JAN140976 ANNE BONNIE #1 $3.99
DEC130858 ARCHIE FUNHOUSE DOUBLE DIGEST #3 $3.99
JAN141132 ARMY OF DARKNESS OMNIBUS TP NEW PTG VOL 01 $29.99
JAN141145 BAD ASS #3 (MR) $3.99
JAN140977 BART SIMPSON COMICS #89 $2.99
JAN140835 BASEWOOD HC $19.95
NOV131003 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #9 $3.99
DEC131166 CANNON WALLY WOOD TP $35.00
JAN141275 CLASSICS ILLUS DLX HC VOL 11 SEA WOLF $17.99
JAN141274 CLASSICS ILLUS DLX SC VOL 11 SEA WOLF $13.99
DEC130924 CROSSED BADLANDS #49 (MR) $3.99
DEC130926 CROSSED BADLANDS #49 TORTURE CVR (MR) $3.99
DEC130925 CROSSED BADLANDS #49 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN140990 CURSE #3 $3.99
JAN141168 DF LEGENDERRY #1 STEAMPUNK ADV FAT JACKS LTD ED $10.00
NOV131190 DOCTOR WHO TP FLOOD $24.99
DEC130801 FEMFORCE #166 $9.95
JAN141240 GENSHIKEN SECOND SEASON GN VOL 04 $10.99
JAN141450 GFT ROBYN HOOD LEGEND #1 A CVR LASHLEY $2.99
JAN141451 GFT ROBYN HOOD LEGEND #1 B CVR FRISON $2.99
JAN141452 GFT ROBYN HOOD LEGEND #1 C CVR SEJIC $2.99
JAN141453 GFT ROBYN HOOD LEGEND #1 D CVR RUFFINO $2.99
JAN141447 GFT WONDERLAND #21 A CVR MCTEIGUE (MR) $3.99
JAN141448 GFT WONDERLAND #21 B CVR CUCCA (MR) $3.99
JAN141449 GFT WONDERLAND #21 C CVR CHEN (MR) $3.99
JAN141444 GFT WONDERLAND ASYLUM #3 A CVR MILLER (MR) $3.99
JAN141445 GFT WONDERLAND ASYLUM #3 B CVR EHNOT (MR) $3.99
JAN141446 GFT WONDERLAND ASYLUM #3 C CVR NAKAYAMA (MR) $3.99
OCT130824 GHOST COP #3 $3.99
JAN140951 GOD IS DEAD #9 (MR) $3.99
JAN140952 GOD IS DEAD #9 CARNAGE WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN140953 GOD IS DEAD #9 END OF DAYS CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN140954 GOD IS DEAD #9 ICONIC CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN140938 GRAVEL COMBAT MAGICIAN #2 (MR) $3.99
JAN140940 GRAVEL COMBAT MAGICIAN #2 HORROR CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN140939 GRAVEL COMBAT MAGICIAN #2 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99
JAN141134 GRIMM #11 $3.99
JAN141360 HARBINGER BLEEDING MONK #0.2014 PULLBOX CRAIN $3.99
JAN141359 HARBINGER BLEEDING MONK #0.2014 REG HENRY $3.99
OCT131227 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #206 $5.99
JAN141097 LEGENDERRY A STEAMPUNK ADV #3 $3.99
DEC131235 LETTER 44 #5 $3.99
JAN140988 LOKI RAGNAROK & ROLL #2 $3.99
JAN141412 MARCH STORY GN VOL 05 (MR) $12.99
NOV131239 MONSTER MASSACRE HC VOL 02 (MR) $22.99
JAN141334 NEMO ROSES OF BERLIN HC (MR) $14.95
DEC130994 OKKO HC VOL 04 CYCLE OF FIRE $19.99
JAN141307 PARK GN (MR) $24.95
JAN140827 PRINCELESS TP VOL 01 NEW PTG $11.99
JAN140981 RUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS #1 $3.99
DEC131210 SAINT MAN WHO WAS CLEVER GN $9.99
DEC131066 SHADOW #23 CALERO SUBSCRIPTION CVR $3.99
DEC131065 SHADOW #23 MOTTER CVR $3.99
DEC131064 SHADOW #23 ROSS CVR $3.99
JAN141375 SHADOWMAN #16 ORDERALL DAUTERMAN $3.99
JAN141374 SHADOWMAN #16 REG DE LA TORRE $3.99
JAN140978 SIMPSONS COMICS #210 $2.99
JAN141261 SIXTH GUN #39 $3.99
DEC130868 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #258 REG CVR $2.99
OCT130854 SPOTLIGHT GN $14.95
DEC130846 STEAM ENGINES OF OZ TP VOL 02 GEARED LEVIATHAN $19.95
JAN141004 SUICIDE RISK TP VOL 02 $16.99
SEP131128 THE SPIDER #18 $3.99
JAN141234 UQ HOLDER GN VOL 01 $10.99
JAN141304 US BANZAI BATTALION JUST ANOTHER BUG HUNT GN $19.99
JAN141413 VAGABOND GN VOL 35 (MR) $9.95
DEC131232 WASTELAND #52 (MR) $3.99
NOV131167 WASTELAND TP VOL 09 THOUSAND LIES (MR) $14.99
JAN140877 WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #38 $4.99
JAN148062 WWE ONGOING #2 2ND PTG $3.99
DEC131231 WWE ONGOING #3 $3.99
JAN141358 X-O MANOWAR #23 ORDERALL RANEY (AH) $3.99
JAN141357 X-O MANOWAR #23 REG CAFU (AH) $3.99
JAN141238 XXXHOLIC OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 $19.99

MAGAZINES
JAN141557 CEREAL GEEK MAGAZINE #12 $17.00
JAN141544 COMIC SHOP NEWS #1396 PI
JAN141546 COMIC SHOP NEWS SPRING 2014 PREVIEW PI
DEC131460 DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE #470 $9.99
OCT131528 DRAW #27 (MR) $8.95
SEP131546 FANGORIA #331 $10.99
DEC131471 FILMFAX #136 $9.95
DEC131465 SCARY MONSTERS 2014 YEARBOOK MONSTER MEMORIES $8.95

BOOKS
JAN141475 ART OF CARETTA HARD CANDY SC (MR) $14.95
JAN141476 ART OF JOE PEKAR NAUGHTY GIRLS SC VOL 01 (MR) $14.95
DEC131435 ASSASINS CREED IV BLACK FLAG BLACKBEARD LOST JOURNAL HC $39.99
JAN141316 BANZAI GIRLS STRIPPED DOWN SC $14.95
SEP131343 DAISUKE MORIYAMA ART WORKS CHRONICLE SC $39.99
AUG131471 DRAGONS DOGMA OFF DESIGN WORKS SC $44.99
AUG131474 HATSUNE MIKU GRAPHICS VOCALOID SC VOL 01 $34.99
JAN141506 STEPHEN KING FILMS FAQ SC $24.99
JAN142325 WARHAMMER 40K DEATHWATCH XENOS HUNTERS SC $14.00
NOV132509 WARHAMMER 40K MARK OF CALTH MMPB $9.99
DEC131867 WE ARE INDIE TOYS MAKE OWN RESIN CHARACTERS SC $29.99
JAN141522 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE EMPIRE STRIKETH BACK HC $14.95
JAN141507 ZOMBIE FILM FROM WHITE ZOMBIE TO WORLD WAR Z SC $29.99

Blue Exorcist: Mephisto's Ramblings

I read Blue Exorcist, Vol. 11

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

I Reads You Review: 300 #1

300 #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY/ART: Frank Miller
COLORS: Lynn Varley
EDITOR: Diana Shutz
32pp, Color, $2.95 U.S., $4.15 CAN (May 1998)

Chapter One: Honor

With the recent release of the new film, 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to the worldwide smash hit film, 300.  I decided to re-read the comic book upon which 300 is based.  That would be 300, a 1998 five-issue, full-color comic book written and illustrated by Frank Miller with painted colors by Lynn Varley.  300 was initially published as a monthly comic book, cover dated from May 1998 to September 1998.

Historically inspired, 300 is Frank Miller’s fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to it.  Miller tells the story from the perspective of Leonidas of Sparta, but a fictional version of this king.

300 #1 (Chapter One: “Honor”) opens in 480 B.C. in the middle of a march by a group of Spartans.  We learn that King Leonidas of Sparta gathered 300 of his best men and marched them towards what is likely a suicide mission.  King Xerxes leads a Persian invasion towards tiny Greece, and Leonidas may have provoked Xerxes.  Now, Leonidas and his 300 march towards the “Hot Gates.”

300 was controversial upon its release and seems to remain so.  It was criticized for being historically inaccurate (by Alan Moore, among others), racist, and homophobic, to name a few.  I found it chauvinistic and a bit xenophobic, and perhaps a little racist.  However, I think the 2007 film adaptation is shamefully and gleefully racist, and it makes a sham of history simply to be racist.  I have decided to reread the comic book series, but to put some space between reading each issue – perhaps a month or two.  The reason is that I want to see how I feel about and what I think of each issue individually.

If anything, I think 300 is more about personal expression of ideas and of art than it is a political, ideological, and social statement, although I think that the series does all three to one extent or another.  Miller has apparently said that the 1962 film The 300 Spartans inspired 300, which he saw as a young boy.  I cannot help but wonder to what extent did it affect and shape his ideas and also his relationship to the world as a cartoonist, artist, and a creator in a medium that the wider American public views as children’s entertainment.  That was true even more so when Miller became a professional comic book artist in the late 1970s.

I think back to the early to mid-1980s.  Frank and few daring (or at least they think they’re daring) creators take a low brow, outsider art form viewed as pabulum for children.  They bring in ideas from other low brow or outsider genres (crime fiction) and creators (Mickey Spillane).  They introduce concepts from movies, television, and comics produced outside of America (samurai films, manga).  They take on the style and storytelling structure and arrangements of classic comic book creators (Will Eisner, Steve Ditko).  Suddenly, Frank Miller is producing the kind of comic books that have not been seen in the states, and his new comics are more explicitly violent, with stylish and striking graphics and visuals.

Suddenly, the big bad system, the media, and those concerned people, parents, citizens, etc. are against complaining about Miller’s work.  So I wonder if 300 is also about Frank Miller the artist and free speech advocate (absolutist?) versus all the people that want popular culture and, in Miller’s case, comics to stay the same.  Hmmm?

Anyway, 300 had some of the most beautiful art seen in comic books at the time of its initial release, and that art remains impressive 16 years later.  Until I read it at Wikipedia, I did not realize that every page of 300 is composed as a two-page spread.  Frank Miller’s graphic style in 300 is similar to what he used in his 1990s series of comic book miniseries, Sin City.  However, this two-page spread format really shows off Lynn Varley’s lush and sumptuous colors.  I don’t know how she did muted and opulent at the same time, but she does.  Honestly, Varley’s colors are what really bring this story to life with a sense of passion, turning Miller’s personal/ideological/historical screed into a story that resonates.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Manga Review: HAYATE THE COMBAT BUTLER Volume 23

HAYATE THE COMBAT BUTLER, VOL. 23
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Kenjiro Hata – @hatakenjiro
TRANSLATION: John Werry
LETTERING: John Hunt
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3906-5; paperback; (February 2014) Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Hayate the Combat Butler is a Japanese shonen manga (comics for teen boys), written and illustrated by Kenjiro Hata.  The series debuted in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Sunday (October 2004), where it is still being published as of this writing.  Hayate the Combat Butler has yielded an anime film and several anime series, with the most recent airing in 2013.

Hayate the Combat Butler is about a boy who starts a new job as a butler and the events he experiences with his employer.  Hayate Ayasaki’s degenerate parents sold their son’s organs to the yakuza to cover their gambling debts, just before they disappeared.  Hayate worked various part-time jobs to pay off those debts.

Then, fate brings Hayate to teenaged heiress, Nagi Sanzenin a/k/a “Ojô-sama.”  She is the frequent target of kidnapping plots and various schemes by people trying to get her money.  Hayate becomes Ojô-sama’s butler, zealously protecting her, while she falls in love with him.

As Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 23 opens, Hayate and Nagi and their friends:  Hinagiku, Isumi, Ayumu, Segawa, and Nishizawa continue their Golden Week vacation in the Greek Isles.  For Hayate, the vacation gives him an opportunity to reunite with Athena Tennos a/k/a “Ah-Tan,” a childhood friend.  He reveals his love for Ah-Tan to Hinagiku, who is actually in love him.

Hayate finally gets a chance to reunite with Athena at her estate, but standing in the way is her combat butler, Makina, and he can kick ass.  Hayate finally enters Athena’s mansion, but there is more fighting to do.  Hayate will have to make some tough choices regarding women and a giant skeleton hand.

It took a while, but over the last year, I have become a fan of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga.  Created by Kenjiro Hata, Hayate the Combat Butler spoofs, mocks, and also gently makes fun of the conventions of anime and manga.  Everything in the otaku wheelhouse is up for some “joshing.”

I consider this latest graphic novel, Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 23, to be a reward for all my reading efforts.  Strictly in the context of the story, Hata summarizes Hayate’s relationships with Nagi Sanzenin and Athena Tennos and how these relationships work.  There are responsibilities and consequences and ties-that-bind to the past.  This series that doesn’t take itself seriously is seriously good.  Readers looking for comedy that pokes fun at the elements of manga and anime can find laughs in the Shonen Sunday manga, Hayate the Combat Butler.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

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

Psyren: Siren

I read Psyren, Vol. 15

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.