Black Rose Alice: The Mystery Novelist and the Vampire

I read Black Rose Alice, Vol. 3

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter and at Grumble.

I Reads You Review: DARTH VADER #1

DARTH VADER #1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

STORY: Keiron Gillen
ART: Salvador Larroca
COLORS: Edgar Delgado
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
COVER: Adi Granov
VARIANT COVERS: Alex Ross, Simone Bianchi, Mark Brooks, J. Scott Campbell, John Cassaday, John Tyler Christopher, Adi Granov, Greg Horn, Greg Land, Salvador Larocca, Alex Maleev, Mike Del Mundo, Whilce Portacio, Mico Suayan, Skottie Young
40pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (April 2015)

Rated T

Book 1: Vader

Marvel Comics' new line of Star Wars comic books yields a second series.  Entitled Darth Vader, it is written by Keiron Gillen, drawn by Salvador Larroca, colored by Edgar Delgado, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.  Of course, this series focuses on the signature Star Wars villain, Darth Vader.

It might seem odd to that Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, is so popular.  Throughout six Star Wars films, Vader, either as himself or as his original identity, Anakin Skywalker, has been portrayed as a killer, a mass murderer, a child killer, a war criminal, a torturer, a traitor, a liar, and as the lap dog of Emperor of the evil Galactic Empire.  While people would generally find anyone of the above descriptions repugnant, to say nothing of possessing more than one, Darth Vader is a fictional character is an escapist fantasy.  Instead of being repugnant, Vader is alluring

It is granted that countless people around the world take the Star Wars narrative seriously.  While Darth Vader may be like Adolf Hitler, he is not in actuality like Hitler.  So fans can love the fictional Vader, while hating even a fictional depiction of Hitler.  Got it?  We don't have to take Vader so seriously in order to find him a most delicious bad guy.

Darth Vader #1 (Book 1: Vader) opens after the events that took place on Cymoon (as seen in Marvel's recently launched Star Wars comic book series).  Vader is on the planet Tatooine to negotiate with Outer Rim crime lord, Jabba the Hutt.  The story then takes readers to the period shortly before Vader arrived on Tatooine.

We learn that the Emperor is exceedingly displeased at the Rebel Alliance's destruction of the Death Star and also with the Rebel attack on Cymoon.  The Emperor both blames Vader and tasks him with repairing the damage done to “his” empire by the recent setbacks.  Vader realizes that his position is now precarious, so how will he respond?

As I started reading Darth Vader #1, I did not expect much – I have to admit.  The art is good, but it is by Salvador Larroca, who is always good and has been for over a decade.  Just after the halfway point in this first issue, I started to understand that Darth Vader the comic book looks like it is going to be a character drama about and character study of Vader.  He will be neither the henchman/contagonist of the original Star Wars film trilogy nor the shallow and petulant youth of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Keiron Gillen will give Vader not only motivation, but also personality, including a sense of pride and an ability to be pricked and wounded emotionally and psychologically.  Vader will have to respond, to defend, and to protect himself in sometimes imaginative and sometimes foolish ways.  Larroca will bring that to life in vivid, potent, and eye-catching storytelling.

Could Darth Vader be the better Star Wars ongoing series?

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

I Reads You March(es) On in 2015

Let's kick off March 2015.  Welcome to I Reads You, a little sister publication of the ComicBookBin (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.

I Reads You Review: NARUTO Volume 66

NARUTO, VOL. 66

Creators: Masashi Kishimoto; Mari Morimoto (Translator), John Hunt (Lettering)
Publishing Information: VIZ Media (@VIZMedia); 192 pages, $9.99 (US), $12.99 (CAN), £6.99 U.K.
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4215-6948-2 (ISBN), paperback (July 2014)

Rated: “T” for “Teen”

Uzumaki Naruto is a young shinobi (ninja) with a knack for mischief.  Once, he was the biggest troublemaker at the Ninja Academy in the shinobi Village of Konohagakure.  However, Naruto was also two things:  special and an outcast.  When he was a baby, his parents (father Minato and mother Kushina) imprisoned a nine-tailed fox spirit (Kurama) inside his infant body.  Now, 16-years-old and incorrigible as ever, Naruto is still serious about his quest to become the world’s greatest ninja.

Guided by their secret ally, Uchiha Obito, Akatsuki villains Uchiha Madara and Kabuto declare war on the Five Great Nations of the ninja.  This begins the Fourth Great Ninja War, and the five great shinobi leaders, known as the Gokage, form the Allied Shinobi Forces to fight this war.  Obito and Madara's goal is to revive the monstrous tailed-beast, Ten Tails.

As Naruto, Vol. 66 (entitled The New Three – Chapters 628 to 637) begins, Obito and Madara have indeed revived Ten Tails.  While Madara guides Ten Tails, Obito faces his one-time teammate, Hatake Kakashi, who is also Naruto's teacher and mentor.

All is not lost for the shinobi forces.  The Four Lords Hokage arrive, including someone dear to Naruto.  Speaking of our favorite teen ninja, Naruto and Sakura Haruno are reunited with their prodigal teammate, Sasuke Uchiha – Cell 7.  Will they be enough to stop Ten Tails?  Meanwhile, troublemaker Lord Orochimaru and his partners, Suigetsu and Karin, make their play.

It has been almost 11 months since I last read a volume of the Naruto manga.  Naruto is my favorite comic, and I put off keeping up with it, as I read other things.  I recently snagged two volumes, including Naruto Volume 66.

A year ago, in a review of Vol. 65 for the ComicBookBin website, I wrote that Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto was doing some of his best storytelling.  That is still true.  Naruto is on the precipice of making its next big leap, but first this, long war of the tailed-beast needs to wrap up.  Kishimoto is using this time in the narrative to not only make shocking reveals, but also to reunite many characters and to dig into the past of some.  As always, Kishimoto gives his readers a reason to keep reading, because Naruto Vol. 66 is as good as the promise made by Vol. 65, which sets a high standard for Vol. 67.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Read Webcomic Grumble: Chapter One - Page 18

Page 18 is here: http://www.comicbookbin.com/grumbleone018.html

Review: JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: Part 1 – Phantom Blood Volume 1

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 1 - PHANTOM BLOOD, VOL. 1

VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
CARTOONIST: Hirohiko Araki
TRANSLATION: Evan Galloway
LETTERS: Mark McMurray
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7879-8; hardcover (February 2015); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
260pp, B&W with some color, $19.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN, £12.99 U.K.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a multi-genre, shonen manga created by Hirohiko Araki.  It first appeared in the Japanese manga anthology magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, in 1986, but has been in Ultra Jump for the last decade.

VIZ Media is making the legendary manga available in English for the first time as a series of deluxe edition graphic novels with color pages and new cover art.  A multi-generational tale, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure centers on the heroic Joestar family and their never-ending battle against evil.  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure begins with the “Phantom Blood” arc.  It is the story of two brothers; one ambitious, but also cruel and evil, and the other is dignified and strives to be a just man.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 11) opens far in the past, as an ancient ritual reveals the power of a mysterious stone mask.  Centuries later, in Great Britain, a cliff side accident brings together two men, Lord Joestar and Dario Brando.  The former is a grateful gentleman; the other is a thief who, by chance, appears to be a kind and helpful man.

Then, the story leaps forward to 1881.  Lord Joestar adopts Dario's son, Dio Brando, and brings the lad into his home.  However, Dio immediately begins to plot against his new brother, Jonathan Joestar, only son of Lord Joestar.  Although Jonathan makes an effort to bond with his adopted brother, he finds that Dio only causes him grief and pain.  Secretly, Dio plans to usurp Jonathan as heir to the Joestar family.  The return of the ancient stone mask will change both fates and plans.

I had heard of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga, which was first published in 1986 in Weekly Shonen Jump, but I cannot remember when.  VIZ Media recently sent me a copy of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood Volume 1 for review, which surprised me because I had assumed that this was going to be a digital release.

As I am unfamiliar with this series, I do not know how it evolves over time as story.  I imagine the visual and graphical style of the art also changes.  Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 is certainly bizarre in terms of the overall graphical storytelling and the visual presentation.  Creator Hirohiko Araki has an awkward, chunky approach to drawing male characters.  Jonathan and Dio grow into behemoths who smash and crash into each other, and into anyone else who wants to fight them.  There is a strangely beautiful quality to this odd, ungainly cartooning of the human figure and head and face.  I found myself eager to see how characters would look from one panel to the next.

The story is a blast to read.  I read it in big chunks, stopping only when I had to do something else.  Honestly, I hated to come to the end this volume.  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is outlandish, and the fights are wild affairs that seem like comic book parodies of the fights in martial arts movies.  There is also a cliffhanger quality to each chapter that demands that readers come back to see more of this kooky manga that blends horror and fantasy adventure.  In fact, I already want more.  Fans of unusual shonen manga will want to try the Shonen Jump Advanced series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Review: PUNKS: The Comics #4

PUNKS: THE COMIC #4
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

CREATORS: Joshua Hale Fialkov and Kody Chamberlain – @JoshFialkov @KodyChamberlain
COVER: Kody Chamberlain
VARIANT COVER: Joe Infurnari
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (January 2015)

Rated T+ / Teen Plus

Yeah, I was late getting to the comic shop, so I am late with a review of the fourth issue of Punks: The Comics.  By the time I was able to get to the shop, the only copy left sported a variant cover by Joe Infurnari.  I really wanted the main cover, which featured a send-up of Todd McFarlane's “classic” cover for Spider-Man (August 1990).

Punks: The Comic is the revival of writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Kody Chamberlain's 2007 small press comic book, Punks.  Chamberlain produces Punks' “original art” with a cut-and-past, do-it-yourself technique and style.  Punks focuses on a quartet of cut-ups:  Dog (a bulldog head on a human figure), Skull (human skull on figure), Fist (a male fist on figure), and Abe Lincoln (images of President Abraham Lincoln's head on various figures).  It's like paper dolls and puppet theater turned inside out and inside again.

As Punks: The Comic #4 opens, Abe, Skull, Fist, and Dog return from their latest (mis)adventure.  Well, dear readers, that means the end of the latest issue of Punks, but wait...  Didn't this issue just begin?  See the stars try to end their show.  And in the “classic” Punks, Dog turns into an alien butt hole surfer, or something like that.

[Punks: The Comic #4 includes some story pages from the original Punks comix.]

Early in my reading of Punks: The Comic #4, I found something to steal for my own writing.  As they say, talent borrows; genius steals.  Who knew that a story about getting to the end of the story could be so much fun.  I think I can build at least a three-issue miniseries out of that.

In the reprint story, Punks proves that it was ahead its time, literally.  I think Punks: The Comics may be trying to match its own surreal and cockamamie beginnings.  Punks is still just scratching at the black ice surface of its potential.  I hope “mainstream” North American comics has a place for this especially funny comic book.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.