Review: LOVE STAGE!! Volume 2

LOVE STAGE!!, VOL. 2
SUBLIME MANGA– @SuBLimeManga / (Asuka Comics CLDX)

STORY: Eiki Eiki
ART: Taishi Zaou
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: Wally
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7992-4; paperback (July 2015); Rated “M” for “Mature”
192pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Written by Eiki Eiki and drawn by Taishi Zaou, Love Stage!! is a boys' love manga.  Boys' love (or BL) manga depicts amorous situations between male romantic leads.  Love Stage!! focuses on college student, Izumi Sena, an average, but cute guy from a family of celebrities.  He becomes romantically entangled with Ryoma Ichijo, one of Japan's most popular young male celebrities.

When Love Stage!!, Vol. 2 (Chapter 6 to 10) opens, Izumi runs into Ryoma, although he had been avoiding the popular young star ever since their misguided moments of foreplay play.  And they keep running into each other.  Ryoma is finding it harder and harder to deny himself; he totally has the hots for him, but this is also true love...

Meanwhile, Izumi, an unrepentant otaku (fanboy), wants to be a mangaka (a creator of manga).  He has no time for romance, and he certainly does not want to love another guy.  Izumi is focusing all his efforts on being a published manga creator.  Rei Sagara, who manages the Sena family's celebrity endeavors, wants to make Izumi an idol.  Sagara makes a deal with Izumi regarding his future, and when things go bad, Izumi runs not to Sagara, but into the arms of Ryoma?!

[This volume includes two bonus chapters.]

The Love Stage!! manga is a delightful romantic comedy.  Its sense of humor is thoroughly well-developed, which helps sell the romance.  When comedy is working, love has such an easier time blooming.

Love Stage!! Volume 2 reveals Ryoma to be a true romantic.  Yeah, he wants to do some X-rated things to Izumi, which he does; believe me when I say that Love Stage!! earns its “Mature” rating.  Still, readers buy the notion that what Ryoma wants is real love.  Ryoma's feelings and Izumi's oblivious uke routine create a push-pull rhythm that helps to keep the narrative tight; there is virtually no extraneous or filler material here.  Real funny, really sexy, and true love: this is a excellent series.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Bryan Hitch
PENCILS: Bryan Hitch
INKS: Daniel Henriques with Wade von Grawbadger and Andrew Currie
COLORS: Alex Sinclair with Jeromy Cox
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
COVER: Bryan Hitch with Alex Sinclair
VARIANT COVERS: Bryan Hitch with Alex Sinclair; Howard Porter with Hi-Fi (Joker 75th Anniversary Cover)
56pp, Color, $5.99 U.S. (August 2015)

Rated “T” for “Teen”

“Power and Glory”

The Justice League is DC Comics' ultimate superhero team.  Conceived by Gardner Fox, the team first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 (cover dated: March 1960).  The Justice League received its own comic book series, Justice League of America (cover dated: October 1960), which is the name by which the team was known for decades.  The name “Justice League” was emphasized as a comic book title beginning with the debut of Justice League #1 (cover dated: May 1987).

The name Justice League of America (or “JLA”) returns bigger and badder than ever in the new “DCYou” series,  Justice League of America.  It written and drawn by Bryan Hitch; inked by Daniel Henriques (with Wade von Grawbadger and Andrew Currie); colored by Alex Sinclair (with Jeromy Cox); and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos.

Justice League of America #1 (“Power and Glory”) opens with the destruction of Earth and the death of Superman.  Say what?!  Superman has been summoned to The Infinity Corporation in New York City.  There, he meets Alexis Martin and an arrogant, self-declared genius named Vincent.  They have shocking news about the fate of existence and its connection to Superman.

Meanwhile, something powerful and hungry is spirited from “The Maw,” the super-max prison in Metropolis.  This creature will give Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, and Cyborg all they can handle and more.  Also, Aquaman has a date with a god in Atlantis.

In StormWatch Volume 2 #4, Bryan Hitch and writer Warren Ellis unleashed “widescreen comics” on American superhero comic book readers.  The costumed super-powered people were big.  The action was bigger, and the destruction was massive.  Bryan Hitch, obviously influenced by fellow British comic book artist, Alan Davis, took Davis stylish compositions and lush brushwork and made it heavy.  It was like Davis pumped up on P.E.D.s (performance enhancing drugs).  Ellis's big stories and Hitch's double-X-L art made StormWatch, a dumpster, frivolous Wildstorm comic book, an exciting read and a buzzed-about comic book.  Hitch would later bring widescreen to Marvel's The Ultimates, a re-imagining of the Avengers, written by Mark Millar.

Now, Bryan Hitch brings massive widescreen, as both writer and artist, to the Justice League.  Not only is the graphical storytelling in Justice League of America #1 big; the issue itself has 50 pages of story, which is massive compared to today's anemic 20 and 22-page comic books.  And, in a shared victory for both quantity and quality, Justice League of America #1 is worth the $5.99 cover price.

Hitch offers a story that is worthy of both the Justice League as a team and of its individual members.  “Power and Glory” isn't overly complicated, but it offers action in a epic manner that is similar to “Justice League” (2001-2004) Cartoon Network animated series.

I'm excited about Bryan Hitch's Justice League of America, which he apparently has been working on for more than a year before the series debuted.  Over my time of reading comic books, I have been ambivalent about the Justice League, but both Justice League and Justice League of America comic book series have made me more excited about this franchise than I have ever been.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

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