I Reads You Review: SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #49

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #49
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Sholly Fisch, Paul Kupperberg
PENCILS: Robert Pope, Fabio Laguna
INKS: Scott McCrea, Fabio Laguna
COLORS: Candace Schinzler-Bell, Heroic Age
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte; Travis Lanham
EDITOR: Aniz Adam Ansari
COVER: Scott Jeralds and Candace Schinzler-Bell
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (November 2014)

Rated “E” for “Everyone”

“Ruh-Huh!”  So you, dear readers, are back for another I Reads You review of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? comic book series.  As regular readers of this blog know, I bought a subscription to this latest Scooby-Doo comic book series via a fundraiser held by my nephew’s school last year, which involved selling magazine subscriptions.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #49 opens with “A Midsummer Night's Scream” (written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by Robert Pope and Scott McCrea).  The Mystery Inc. gang is visiting a Shakespeare festival, “Shakespeare Outdoors,” for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Not long into the evening's performance, mischievous faeries suddenly appear to terrorize and scare the audience.  But are they real faeries?  It's the latest Scooby-Doo mystery.

“Attack of the 50-Foot Shaggy!” (written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Fabio Laguna) finds the gang at Westnorthern University, home of the country's best library of the supernatural, “William Hanna Library.”  Shaggy and Scooby, however, are not in the mood for a research marathon.  Looking for food (of course), the duo comes upon a scientific demonstration.  There, a delicious roasted chicken causes Shaggy to be zapped by a ray from the Archer Molecular Enlargement Device.  Now, Shaggy can't stop growing, but is everything as big as it seems?

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #49 is one of those issues of a Scooby-Doo comic book that I really enjoyed reading.  Even as a life-long Scooby-Doo fan, I have to admit that not all Scooby-Doo comic books are like that.  The plot for “A Midsummer Night's Scream” is an odd one for a Scooby-Doo story, and I think it would make a good plot for an entry in Warner Bros. Animation's line of Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD films.  “Attack of the 50-Foot Shaggy!” this issue's reprint story (originally published in Scooby-Doo #159), is also this issue's better story.  It plays like an actual mystery in that the reader must play close attention to the story art in order to solve the mystery.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Review: WORLD TRIGGER Volume 1

WORLD TRIGGER, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Daisuke Ashihara
TRANSLATION: Lillian Olsen
LETTERS: Annaliese Christman
EDITOR: Hope Donovan
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7764-7; paperback (October 2014); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.

At the age of 27, Daisuke Ashihara's manga, Room 303, won second place in the 75th Osamu Tezuka Awards.  World Trigger is Ashihara's second manga to run in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump.

World Trigger is set in Mikado City.  One day, a gate to another world opens in Mikado City, and invincible monsters emerge from the gate.  They destroy much of the city and kill hundreds of citizens.  These monsters are called “Neighbors.”  An elite band of warriors, the Border Defense Agency or “Borders,” for short, co-opt Neighbor technology and now fight back against their incursions.  Osamu Mikumo, a 15-year-old high school student, is a Border trainee.

In World Trigger, Vol. 1 (Destroy thy Neighbor!, Chapter 1 to 7), Osamu meets the new student at his school.  He is a blond-haired, 15-year-old named Yuma Kuga.  Yuma is new to the ways of Japan, but he is feisty.  He is also a Neighbor.

The World Trigger manga is a typical shonen manga in that it has a boy hero.  It is atypical in that its boy hero is not really good at his chosen heroic profession.  A member of his organization's natural enemy is also his friend.  That new friend also covers for Osamu during an incident that makes Osamu look like a giant-killer, which he is not.

World Trigger Volume 1 is straight-forward and easy to follow.  Creator Daisuke Ashihara is clever in the many different ways in which he inserts back story, terminology, science, and technology that the readers need to know in order to understand World Trigger.  Lillian Olsen's breezy translation picks up on the story elements that readers need to know and also on the series' comic tone.

I like Ashihara's loose, slightly-unpolished art style and his clean compositions and storytelling.  This first volume is surprisingly and highly entertaining.  Is it fluke?  I hope not.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

I Reads You Review: SPIDER MAN 2099 #1

SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2014) #1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

WRITER:  Peter David
ARTIST: Will Sliney
COLORS: Antonio Fabela
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
COVER: Simone Bianchi
VARIANT COVERS:  Rick Leonardi and Dan Green with Antonio Fabela; J. Scott Campbell with Nei Ruffino; J.G. Jones; and Skottie Young
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2014)

Spider-Man 2099 is a Marvel Comics superhero created by writer Peter David and art Rick Leonardi that first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #365 (cover dated: August 1992).  This character is, of course, based on the original Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.  This alternate Spider-Man character was created for Marvel Comics' “Marvel 2099” line of comic books.

Spider-Man of 2099 is Miguel O'Hara (the first Latino Spider-Man), a brilliant geneticist living in New York in the year 2099 A.D.  He was attempting to recreate the abilities of the original Spider-Man in other people, which led to the accident that caused half his DNA to be re-written with a spider's genetic code.  Miguel gained amazing powers and became Spider-Man of the year 2099.

He received his own series, Spider-Man 2099, which was set in a future dystopian America that was governed by corrupt mega-corporations.  Now, there is a new Spider-Man 2099 series, written by Peter David, drawn by Will Sliney; colored by Antonio Fabela, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Spider-Man 2099 #1 opens with some backstory, which tells readers that Miguel O'Hara.  Employed by mega-corp, Alchemax, he is the young genetics genius whose experiments turned him into the Spider-Man of the year 2099.  Miguel travels back to the present to save his father, Tyler Stone, the head of Alchemax in 2099, by saving the life of his grandfather, Tiberius Stone, in the present.

O'Hara finds himself stranded in 2014.  To protect his identity in the future, while living in the present, Miguel uses the name Mike O'Mara.  He sets about establishing his new life in the present, but something from the future has followed him.  Why does T.O.T.E.M. want to destroy Spider-Man 2099?

I had not planned on reviewing Spider-Man 2099 #1.  It was just another Marvel Comics, “All-New Marvel NOW!,” number-one issue that I was going to give a try.  I had the comic book for several weeks before I decided (as an afterthought) to read it.

I had forgotten how often I have enjoyed Peter David-written comic books, but Spider-Man 2099 #1 reminded me.  The story is simple and straight-forward in this first issue, but David wonderfully sets it up to launch a quality ongoing series.  While Will Sliney is not a spectacular artist, his compositions and storytelling capture the humor and action in David's script.  This looks to be a solid comic book, and not just another “acceptable” Spider-Man title.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Nisekoi: False Love - Typhoon

I read Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 5: Typhoon

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I Reads You Review: DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1

DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1 (OF 4)
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

WRITER:  Charles Soule
PENCILS:  Steve McNiven
INKS:  Jay Leisten
COLORS:  Justin Ponsor
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
COVER:  Steve McNiven and Jay Leisten with Justin Ponsor
56pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (November 2014)

Rated T+

Part One: “The End”

Marvel Comics is killing Wolverine.  How long will he remain dead?  I guess that is not really the point.  I'm just supposed to enjoy the event miniseries in which Wolverine dies.  Entitled Death of Wolverine, it is written by Charles Soule, pencilled by Steve McNiven, inked by Jay Leisten, colored by Justin Ponsor, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos.

Death of Wolverine #1 (“The End”) opens in the backwoods of British Columbia; the time is now.  Logan/Wolverine is dying because he has lost his healing factor.  Now, he cannot heal supernaturally fast after being injured in his frequent battles, fights, duels, etc., so it has taken a toll on his body.  Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, of course) has told Logan that he can find a way to reactivate his healing factor, but it will take time.

Logan does not have that time.  People are coming after Wolverine to kill him.  In fact, here come some guys now.

I wanted to be cynical.  Killing Wolverine?  Ha!  He'll be back real soon.  Still, one look at that card stock cover for Death of Wolverine #1, with its snazzy graphic design and beautiful (of course) Steve McNiven art, and I was sold on this miniseries.  The story, by the impressive Charles Soule, is downbeat and downright depressing.  The wonderfully detailed line work and texture by McNiven, the precise and artful inking by Leisten, and the glorious hues of colorist Justice Ponsor make the story even more heartbreaking.  There is a real sense of finality to this tale... thus far.

Hey, the extras are cool!  I love the generous helping of McNiven sketchbook material.  Len Wein uses his interview to give props to the late Dave Cockrum.  Gotta love that.  Yeah... I didn't think that I would end up looking forward to the Death of Wolverine miniseries, but I am, even as I (surprisingly) dread the death of Wolverine.

A-

Death of Wolverine includes bonus material:

• sketches and other preliminary art for the series by Steve McNiven
• commentary by McNiven
• an interview with Wolverine co-creator Len Wein that includes art from The Incredible Hulk #181 (Wolverine's first full appearance)
• Death of Wolverine #1 – Director's Cut, which includes pages from the script for issue #1 with pencil, ink, and color versions of art from the first issue

----------------------------
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

I Reads Halloween 2014

It's October 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.

All images and text appearing on this publication are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for October 1, 2014

DC COMICS
AUG140256     ACTION COMICS #35 (DOOMED)     $3.99
JUN140299     AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #5 (MR)     $2.99
AUG140247     AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS #6     $2.99
AUG140314     BATMAN 66 MEETS GREEN HORNET #5     $2.99
JUN140262     BATMAN 75TH ANNIVERSARY TP COLLECTION     $49.99
AUG140324     BATMAN ESSENTIALS THE BLACK MIRROR SPEC ED #1     $1.00
AUG140263     BATMAN ETERNAL #26     $2.99
JUN140211     BATMAN SUPERMAN #14     $3.99
JUN140214     BATMAN SUPERMAN #14 COMBO PACK     $4.99
JUL140237     BATMAN TP VOL 04 ZERO YEAR SECRET CITY (N52)     $16.99
AUG140279     DETECTIVE COMICS #35     $3.99
AUG140282     DETECTIVE COMICS #35 COMBO PACK     $4.99
JUN140304     FABLES DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 09 (MR)     $29.99
AUG140362     FAIREST #30 (DEFY) (MR)     $2.99
JUL140278     FAIREST TP VOL 04 OF MEN AND MICE (MR)     $14.99
JUN140306     FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS TP VOL 02 (MR)     $14.99
AUG140310     FLASH SEASON ZERO #1     $2.99
AUG140201     GOTHAM ACADEMY #1     $2.99
AUG140272     GRAYSON #3     $2.99
AUG140211     GREEN ARROW #35     $2.99
AUG140298     GREEN LANTERN #35 (GODHEAD)     $2.99
AUG140300     GREEN LANTERN #35 COMBO PACK (GODHEAD)     $3.99
AUG140296     GREEN LANTERN NEW GODS GODHEAD #1     $4.99
AUG140368     HINTERKIND #12 (DEFY) (MR)     $2.99
AUG140320     INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US YEAR TWO ANNUAL #1     $4.99
MAY140375     INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US YEAR TWO HC VOL 01     $22.99
AUG140222     JUSTICE LEAGUE #34     $3.99
AUG140225     JUSTICE LEAGUE #34 COMBO PACK     $4.99
AUG140241     JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #10     $2.99
JUL140251     JUSTICE LEAGUE BEYOND 2.0 POWER STRUGGLE TP     $16.99
AUG140207     LOBO #1     $2.99
AUG140345     LOONEY TUNES #221     $2.99
AUG140367     NAMES #2 (MR)     $2.99
AUG140217     NEW 52 FUTURES END #22 (WEEKLY)     $2.99
AUG140308     SWAMP THING #35     $2.99
JUL140263     TEEN TITANS GO TITANS TOGETHER TP NEW PTG     $12.99
AUG140347     TINY TITANS RETURN TO THE TREEHOUSE #5     $2.99
JUN140191     WONDER WOMAN #34     $2.99
JUN140273     WONDER WOMAN HC VOL 05 FLESH (N52)     $24.99
JUL140247     WONDER WOMAN TP VOL 04 WAR (N52)     $14.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES
MAR140311     ARKHAM ORIGINS 3 PACK DEATHSTROKE JOKER COPPERHEAD     $54.95
MAR140304     DC COMICS ICONS SUPERMAN 1/6 SCALE STATUE     $99.95
MAR140303     WONDER WOMAN ART OF WAR STATUE BY ADAM HUGHES     $79.95