Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for October 11, 2017

DARK HORSE COMICS

AUG170061    BRIGGS LAND LONE WOLVES #5 (OF 6) MAIN    $3.99
AUG170062    BRIGGS LAND LONE WOLVES #5 (OF 6) VAR OLIVER CVR    $3.99
JUN170081    FALLOUT 4 TP POSTER COLLECTION    $24.99
AUG170058    GROO PLAY OF GODS #4    $3.99
AUG170066    HALO ADULT COLORING BOOK TP    $14.99
JUN170044    HARLEQUIN VALENTINE HC 2ND ED    $12.99
AUG170037    HARROW COUNTY #26    $3.99
JUN170036    HARROW COUNTY TP VOL 06 HEDGE MAGIC    $17.99
JUL170026    HCF 2017 HELLBOY BRPD 1953 WITCH TREE RAWHEAD BLOODY BONES (    $PI
AUG170026    HELLBOY & BPRD 1955 OCCULT INTELLIGENCE #2 (OF 3)    $3.99
JUN170017    HELLBOY IN HELL LIBRARY EDITION HC    $49.99
JUN170065    MICHAEL CHABON ESCAPISTS TP    $19.99
AUG170020    NEIL GAIMAN AMERICAN GODS SHADOWS #8 MACK CVR (MR)    $3.99
AUG170019    NEIL GAIMAN AMERICAN GODS SHADOWS #8 MAIN (MR)    $3.99
JUN170115    OH MY GODDESS OMNIBUS TP VOL 06    $19.99
JUN170080    OVERWATCH ANTHOLOGY HC VOL 01    $19.99
JUN170096    PLANTS VS ZOMBIES LAWN OF DOOM HC    $9.99
JUN170101    SERENITY EVERYTHINGS SHINY ADULT COLORING BOOK TP    $14.99
JUN170077    TERMINATOR ORIGINAL SERIES TEMPEST & ONESHOT HC    $39.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for October 11, 2017

IMAGE COMICS

AUG170545    ATOMAHAWK #0 (MR)    $5.99
AUG170605    BIRTHRIGHT #27 CVR A BRESSAN & LUCAS    $3.99
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JUL170732    BLACK CLOUD TP VOL 01 NO EXIT (MR)    $9.99
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JUL178856    BLACK SCIENCE #32 CVR D B&W WALKING DEAD #5 TRIBUTE VAR (MR)    $3.99
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MAY170680    DYING AND THE DEAD #6    $3.99
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AUG170688    KINGSMAN RED DIAMOND #2 (OF 6) CVR B B&W ALBUQUERQUE (MR)    $3.99
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JUL170750    LUTHER STRODE COMP SERIES HC (MR)    $49.99
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AUG170745    WALKING DEAD HC VOL 14 (MR)    $34.99
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AUG170771    WICKED & DIVINE #32 CVR B STEVENSON (MR)    $3.99
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JUL178850    YOUNGBLOOD #6 CVR D B&W WALKING DEAD #1 TRIBUTE VAR    $3.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for October 11, 2017

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

AUG171366    ADVENTURE TIME 2017 SPOOOKTACULAR #1    $7.99
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JUL171387    GOLD DIGGER HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2017    $3.99
MAR171304    GOLD DIGGER TP GOLD BRICK IX    $49.99
JUL171841    GOOD TIMES ARE KILLING ME HC    $21.95
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JUL172095    HATSUNE MIKU PRESENTS EVERYDAY VOCALOID PARADISE GN VOL 01 (    $14.99
AUG171971    JACKASS GN (MR)    $12.99
AUG171124    JIMMYS BASTARDS #4 (MR)    $3.99
JUL171807    JOHN CARTER THE END TP    $19.99
AUG171609    KISS VAMPIRELLA #5 (OF 5) CVR A DOE    $3.99
AUG171610    KISS VAMPIRELLA #5 (OF 5) CVR B IHDE    $3.99
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AUG171846    KOBANE CALLING GN    $19.99
JUN171315    LADYCASTLE TP    $14.99
AUG171327    LAZARETTO #2 (OF 5)    $3.99
AUG171803    LETTERS FOR LUCARDO GN VOL 01    $15.00
JUL172194    LITTLE NIGHTMARES HC    $16.99
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MAGAZINES
APR172379    007 MAGAZINE OMNIBUS VOL 01    $25.99
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AUG172402    FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #289 (RES)    $29.99
AUG172388    JUXTAPOZ #202 NOV 2017    $6.99
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AUG172398    SCARY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #106    $9.95
AUG172417    STAR WARS A NEW HOPE CELEBRATION SPECIAL HC    $19.99

BOOKS
SEP161940    ASSASSINS CREED HAWK TRILOGY HC    $24.95
AUG172283    BLACK WIDOW YA NOVEL TPB RED VENGEANCE    $9.99
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AUG172305    WORLD OF READING THIS IS THOR SC    $4.99

Review: SO CUTE IT HURTS Volume 15

SO CUTE IT HURTS!!, VOL. 15
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Go Ikeyamada
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Tomo Kimura
LETTERS: Joanna Estep
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9328-9; paperback (October 2017); Rated “M” for “Mature”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

So Cute It Hurts!! is a shojo manga from creator, Go Ikeyamada.  Also known as Koba Cute in Japan, VIZ Media has the license to publish an English language edition of the manga,  It released the entire manga as a 15-volume graphic novel series.

So Cute It Hurts!! focuses on a high school girl, Megumu “Mego” Kobayashi,  She has a twin brother, Mitsuru Kobayashi.  Megumu is a full-on otaku and a history nerd, while Mitsuru, the popular and successful high school jock, is terrible at history.  One day, dark-haired Mitsuru concocts the idea that he should put on a blonde wig and dress up as Megumu and attend her school, Tosho High.  Meanwhile, Megumu will wear a dark wig, dress like Mitsuru, and take his history exams.  This is not the last time the twins will switch places, especially when love is involved.

So Cute it Hurts!!, Vol. 15 (Chapters 72 to Final Chapter) opens four years after the Great Tohoku Earthquake and nearly nine years after the story began.  This is the wedding day of Megumu, now 23-years-old, and her longtime boyfriend, Aoi Sanada.  After so much tragedy, can this day be the beginning of happily-ever-after?

[This volume includes two “Bonus” stories; an interview with Go Ikeyamada; the story, “The Goddess Never Turns Back?!” and an “Afterword.”]

The So Cute it Hurts!! manga started out as “T” rated shojo-manga-cute.  The series took a surprising turn as its rating went from “T” (for Teen) to “M” (for Mature), as Megumu and Aoi became... intimate.

So Cute it Hurts!! Volume 15 is the final volume of the series, and it closes the series with a mixture of cute and grown-up.  This “cute,” however, has to do with teen characters who have made the transition into adulthood, and adult relationships and roles.  That includes parenthood and cute kids!  I often find myself having problems with final volumes, but in the final volume of So Cute it Hurts!!, creator Go Ikeyamada gives the characters the happiness they deserve

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------

Review: KAMISAMA KISS Volume 25

KAMISAMA KISS, VOL. 25
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Julietta Suzuki
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Tomo Kimura
LETTERS: Joanna Estep
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9382-1; paperback (October 2017); Rated “T” for “Teen”
208pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

LIMITED EDITON includes
Kamisama Kiss Volume 25 with a new cover
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9848-2; paperback (October 2017); Rated “T” for “Teen”
208pp, B&W, $17.99 U.S.
Kamisama Kiss: Kamistravaganza – hardcover art book – 5 x 7 1/2
Hardcover; 64pp, Color & B&W

Kamisama Kiss is a supernatural romance shojo manga from manga creator, Julietta Suzuki.  It was originally published in the Japanese shojo manga magazine, Hana to Yume.  VIZ Media began publishing Kamisama Kiss in English as a paperback graphic novel series in 2010.

The series focuses on high school student, Nanami Momozono.  She was kicked out of the apartment she shared with her father after he left town to avoid his gambling debts.  Later, Nanami saved a strange man named Mikage, so he generously offered her his home.  Nanami later discovered that Mikage had tricked her into taking his job as the tochigami (local god) of the Mikage Shrine.  To make matters worse, Nanami fell in love with her head shinshi (or familiar), Tomoe, a fox yokai who hates humans.

As Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 25 (Chapters 144 to 148 to Final Chapter) opens, Nanami prepares for her final year of high school.  She is getting ready to leave the Mikage Shrine, and she also has been accepted into a junior college.  That means rejoining the human world for good.  Tomoe is ready to become a human and leave the world of the yokai.  Obviously, Nanami and Tomoe will be together, but will they be together as husband and wife?

Kamisama Kiss Volume 25 offers a happy ending that is also bittersweet, which I had expected since I began reading this manga.  This is the end of Nanami and Tomoe's story for now, and the ending and a promised new beginning are as genuinely magical as Kamisama Kiss has ever been.  This is a graphic novel series that deserves to be reread and discovered by new readers.

In commemoration of this final volume, there is a Kamisama Kiss Volume 25 Limited Edition.  It features a cover that is different from the regular edition cover, and it comes wrapped in a bundle with a mini art book, Kamisama Kiss: Kamistravaganza.  The book includes a bonus story set a decade in the future, some full-color art, and some pencil sketches Suzuki drew for the final chapter.  In America, we call those “pencil sketches” pencil art, because they look more detailed than sketches.

A+
10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: BATMAN BEYOND #1

BATMAN BEYOND No. 1 (2016)
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Dan Jurgens
ART: Bernard Chang
COLORS: Marcelo Maiolo
LETTERS: Travis Lanham
COVER: Ryan Sook
VARIANT COVER: Martin Ansin
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (December 2016)

Rated “T” for Teen

Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

“The Return” Part One: “Escaping the Grave”

The animated television series, “Batman Beyond,” debuted in January 1999.  Set in a futuristic Gotham City (Neo-Gotham), the series introduced a teen-aged Batman, Terry McGinnis, a 17-year-old high school student.  A reformed troublemaker, the athletic teen had a sense of personal justice, but circumstances lead him to steal the “Batsuit.”  Eventually, an elderly Bruce Wayne accepted Terry as the new Batman and guided the teen in his exploits.

This future Terry McGinnis-Batman crossed over into DC Comics and eventually became part of its mainstream universe (the DCU).  Although he was briefly replaced as future Batman by an older version of Tim Drake (the third teen to become Batman's sidekick and partner, Robin) McGinnis is back as Batman of the future in the Rebirth relaunch of the comic book series, Batman Beyond.  This new series is written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by Bernard Chang, colored by Marcelo Maiolo, and lettered by Travis Lanham.

Batman Beyond #1 (“Escaping the Grave”) opens in Jokerz Town.  This is a downtrodden neighborhood in Neo-Gotham ruled by a gang that calls itself the Jokerz.  Terry's friend, Dana Tan, is held prisoner by the leader of the Jokerz, Carter.  He is plotting to return life to the corpse of Batman's ultimate adversary, The Joker.  Terry is ready to take on the gang, but he is ready to be Batman again.

I plan on reading future issues of this incarnation of Batman Beyond because it is one of my review assignments for the @ComicBookBin.  DC Comics provides CBB with PDF copies-for-review of most of its titles.  On my own, I am not sure that I would be a regular reader of Batman Beyond; I tried to get into the 2015's DCYou relaunch of the series (which featured Tim Drake as Neo-Gotham's Batman), but it did not intrigue me enough to make the effort to find or buy issues, beyond the first issue, which I actually liked.

I am a little intrigued by this Jokerz story line, but the story does not grip me.  Writer Dan Jurgens' script is professionally competent, but lacks imagination, so the result is pedestrian work.  Bernard Chang's art and Marcelo Maillot's colors result in unattractive art, but competent storytelling.  Honestly, if this book does not improve, it will be little more than just more Batman product.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: SWEET BLUE FLOWERS Volume 1

SWEET BLUE FLOWERS, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Takako Shimura
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: Monalisa De Asis
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9298-5; paperback (September 2017); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
384pp, B&W, $24.99 U.S., $33.99 CAN, £16.99 UK

Sweet Blue Flowers is a yuri manga from creator Takako Shimura, whose manga, Wandering Son, was published in English by Fantagraphic Books.  “Yuri” is “girls' love” manga, a genre which depicts romantic situations between female characters.  Sweet Blue Flowers is a coming-of-age manga that depicts love and friendship between girls from two high school.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 7) introduces two girls.  Akira Okudaira attends Fujigaya Women's Academy High School.  Fumi Manjome attends Matsuoka Girls' High School.  Akira and Fumi were friends when they were in kindergarten; Akira comforted Fumi who was a crybaby.

Now, the girls are starting high school, and although they are attending different schools, they leave for school at the same train station, where they reunite on the first day of school.  Now, Fumi is glad to have Akira back in her life, but Fumi is coming off a failed romance.  Fumi will need Akira more than ever.

[This volume includes the two afterwords, “The Kamakura Quest” and “The Mansion Visit,” and the bonus story, “Little Women –Orie and Hanako–.”]

The Sweet Blue Flowers manga is the second yuri manga that I've read, following After Hours (from creator Yuhta Nishio).  VIZ Media provided me with review copies of the first volumes of both titles.

Sweet Blue Flowers Volume 1 can be confusing because there are so many girls and so many conflicting feelings, which is actually appropriate.  Takako Shimura can use all these characters and conflicting motivations and desires to create the sense of confusion these teen girls have about themselves and their feelings and emotions.  I find myself rooting for all of them, and this soapy teen melodrama is irresistibly readable.

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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