Review: SNOW WHITE WITH THE RED HAIR Volume 2

SNOW WHITE WITH THE RED HAIR, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Sorata Akiduki
TRANSLATION: Caleb Cook
LETTERS: Brandon Bovia
EDITOR: Marlene First
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0721-8; paperback (July 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
208pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.

Snow White with the Red Hair is a shojo manga from creator Sorata Akiduki.  It focuses on a feisty herbalist who saves a prince from a poisoned apple, and, in turn, is saved by him.

In Tanbarun Kingdom, there is born a girl with beautiful hair that is as red as apples.  When she grows into young womanhood, Shirayuki's red hair earns her the unwanted attention of Prince Raj of Tanbarun.  Prince Zen, the second prince of the neighboring Clarines Kingdom, rescues Shirayuki and brings her to Wistal, Clarines' capital.  Zen moves her into Wistal Palace, where Shirayuki hones her skills as an herbalist, and thus, a love story begins.

As Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 2 (Chapters 5 to 8) opens, Shirayuki begins her apprenticeship as a “court herbalist.”  She also meets her mentor, Ryu, who is a prodigy as an herbalist.  But he is 12-years-old!  Later, Shirayuki joins Zen and a small military contingent as they travel to Fort Laxdo.  There, Shirayuki earns her first official duty – quell an illness that has struck down the men of the fort.

[This volume includes the manga short story, “Connect Us,” and bonus manga pages.]

I did not read the first volume of the Snow White with the Red Hair manga.  My VIZ Media rep sent me the second volume, and I found that I did not have a difficult time figuring out the story dynamics of the series.

Snow White with the Red Hair Graphic Novel Volume 2, if this is your first volume, will introduce a cast of likable characters.  I find myself intrigued by the fact that Shirayuki is an herbalist, and I like the offbeat manner in which creator Sorata Akiduki is developing the relationship between herbalist and prince.  Akiduki adds more than a touch of darkness by introducing an important character late in this volume.  Snow White with the Red Hair is not great, but fans of The Water Dragon God may find that this is their kind of shojo manga.

B+
7 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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Review: ELVIRA Mistress of the Dark #1

ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK No. 1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Dave Acosta
COLORS: Andrew Covalt
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
EDITOR: Kevin Ketner
COVER: Joseph Michael Linsner
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: J. Bone; Kyle Strahm with Greg Smallwood; Craig Cermak with Brittany Pezzillo; Robert Hack with Francesco Francavilla; Craig Cermak; Joseph Michael Linsner; Kyle Strahm
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2018)

Rated Teen+

Elvira: Timescream – Chapter One: “Frankenstein is the Name of the Doctor”

“Horror hosts” present low-budget, low-grade, and cult films to television and radio audiences, with an emphasis on horror, science fiction, and/or B-movies.  Some horror hosts adopt an alternate identity, creating a character they play, such as when actress, Maila Nurmi, became the horror host character, “Vampira” in 1954 for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California.

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the hostess character, “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery, which ran for eleven issues and one special issue (1987).  In 1993, Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.  Eventually, Claypool would be sole publisher, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark ran for 166 issues until 2007.

Elvira returns to comic books in Dynamite Entertainment's new four-issue, comic book miniseries, also entitled Elvira Mistress of the Dark.  It is written by David Avallone; drawn by Dave Acosta; colored by Andrew Covalt; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark #1 (“Frankenstein is the Name of the Doctor”) find Elvira on the set of her latest B-movie.  During a break in filming, she returns to her trailer to find a coffin in the middle of the floor, but it isn't just any old coffin.  It emits a time vortex, and Elvira soon finds herself pushed in and tumbling through time.  First stop, the summer of 1816 and a certain villa near Lake Geneva.

Writer David Avallone and artist Dave Acosta are the creative team behind Dynamite Entertainment's most excellent crossover comic book, the four-issue miniseries, Twilight Zone: The Shadow (2017).  A moody, stylish, atmospheric piece, the narrative focused on reckoning for The Shadow.

Avallone and Acosta deliver something quite different with Elvira Mistress of the Dark.  Avallone's story is campy, kind of like a rollicking romp of a horror movie that plays loose with the history of horror fiction.  Acosta's illustrations recall classic Warren Publications horror comics with humor that is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and the storytelling is perfect for the mood.

Andrew Covalt's coloring of Acosta's  illustrations is visually and graphically striking.  It is a deft mixture of sparkling color effects and and something like the colorful and sometimes garish cinematography of Hammer Film Productions (the legendary British film studio that produced numerous horror films).  As usual, Taylor Esposito's lettering is solid and perfectly captures this first chapter's mood and also Elvira's snark, sarcasm, and wit.  Esposito even delivers comedy gold on the characters' screeching and yelling.  “Edgar Allan Freaking Poe!, indeed.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark is blessedly cursed with an excellent creative team.  I can't wait for the second issue.  Maybe, these guys could produce a readable Harley Quinn comic book.

9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: STAR WARS: Vader - Dark Visions #1

STAR WARS: VADER – DARK VISIONS No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum
ART: Paolo Villanelli
COLORS: Arif Prianto
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
EDITOR: Mark Paniccia
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Akira Yoshida a.k.a. C.B. Cebulski
COVER: Greg Smallwood
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Giuseppe Camuncoli & Elia Bonetti; Leinil Franics Yu with Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (May 2019)

Rated T

“Part 1 of 5

Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions is a new five-issue, Star Wars comic book miniseries from Marvel Comics.  The series presents characters who view the Star Wars universe's ultimate villain, Darth Vader, in ways that are different from how most familiar Star Wars characters view the Sith Lord.  Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions is written by Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum.  The art team for the first issue is comprised of illustrator Paolo Villanelli; colorist Arif Prianto; and letterer Joe Caramagna.

Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions #1 opens on a lush green, but devastated world where we meet a young native boy.  The boy, who also narrates this story, refers to his world as “Cianap.”  His people live underground, but enjoy a brief time above ground, a time called “the Slumber.”  While enjoying the current season of the Slumber, our narrator witnesses a fireball that explodes above Cianap's atmosphere.  This conflagration is the result of a fierce battle above the planet between forces of the Galactic Empire and of the Rebel Alliance.

One of the participants in the battle is Darth Vader, whose TIE fighter is damaged, forcing him to crash land on Cianap.  When Vader emerges from his fighter, to the boy, he looks like a “Black Knight.”  To the boy, this Black Knight may be the one to save his world from the god called “Ender.”

Fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, especially the Star Wars novels, remember the series of novels now known as the “Thrawn trilogy.”  In the second novel of the three, Dark Force Rising (1992), Princess Leia visits the planet, Honoghr, where the denizens of the world view Darth Vader as a savior (a matter which turns out to be a bit more complicated).  When I first read the novel, I became intrigued by the idea of people and sentient beings who viewed Vader as some kind of hero or savior, especially people that did not directly serve or work for the Empire.  In the years since, I have waited for someone to take that idea present in Dark Force Rising and expand on it.

In this standalone story that is Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions #1, the writer Dennis Hallum (who previously wrote under the pen name, “Dennis Hopeless”) offers a nice tale that satisfies may craving for Vader-as-hero.  Hallum's story has a fairy tale quality, and it strips Darth Vader of the complexities that surround the character and focuses on his power and on the striking nature of his black costume-suit and physicality.  At thirty pages in length, this story, which is more like a campfire tale, is a nice Star Wars tale, a desert for readers who are used to the main Star Wars narratives, which often seem like the storytelling equivalent of a elaborate, dark, and heavy 12-course meal.

Artist Paolo Villanelli's illustrations for Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions #1 have an eye-catching quality and remind me of the work of Bryan Hitch.  Villanelli's storytelling here is stirring and always seems to be striving forward, carrying the reader just as the boy-narrator is dragged along by the circumstances of an epic battle.  Colorist Arif Prianto offers a muted palette that still manages to make the story crackle, and, as usual, Joe Caramagna delivers lettering that makes the story bigger.

I hope the rest of Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions is like this really nice first issue.  I heartily recommend it to Star Wars comic book readers.  And it gives me what I want – characters who have a view askew of Darth Vader.

8 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: STAR WARS: Lost Stars Volume 1

STAR WARS: LOST STARS VOL. 1
YEN PRESS – @yenpress

[This review was originally posted on Patreon. Please, visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

ORIGINAL STORY:  Claudia Gray – @claudiagray
STORY ADAPTATION: Yusaku Komiyama
ART: Yusaku Komiyama
LETTERS: Abigail Blackman
ISBN: 978-1-975326-53-1; paperback (May 2018); Rated “T” for “Teen”
258pp, B&W, $13.00 U.S., $17.00 CAN

Star Wars: Lost Stars is a 2015 young adult science fiction novel written by Claudia Gray.  Set in the Star Wars universe, this novel offers a narrative the occurs before, during, and after the events depicted in the original Star Wars film trilogy:  Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983).  Gray's story focuses on two childhood friends from different backgrounds who eventual find themselves on different sides of a galactic war.

LINE Manga, a manga-reading app, published a manga adaptation of Star Wars: Lost Stars, adapted, written, and drawn by Yusaku Komiyama.  Yen Press is currently reprinting the Star Wars: Lost Stars manga in a series of paperback graphic novels. Star Wars: Lost Stars Volume 1 reprints the first six chapters of the manga.

Star Wars: Lost Stars, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 6) introduces Thane Kyrell, a hotshot pilot for the Rebel Alliance who finds himself right in the middle of the “Battle of Hoth.”  After the battle, Thane has time to think upon his past because he was once a lieutenant in the Galactic Empire, but his memories go further back – fourteen years prior to be specific.

Thane was born on the planet Jelucan to the higher caste group, “the Second Wave.”  He befriends, Ciena Ree, a girl who belongs to the lower caste, “the First Wave,” the original settlers of Jelucan.  As children, Thane and Ciena have an unexpected and shocking encounter with a powerful Imperial officer shortly after the Galactic Empire makes Jelucan an Imperial world.  That leads to the two friends eventually being accepted into the Royal Imperial Academy, but as the two teenagers move through rigorous training and study, they discover that they see Imperial culture differently.

I have not read Claudia Gray's Star Wars: Lost Stars original novel, but after reading the manga/comics adaptation, I want to start right away (time permitting).  I can say that Yusaku Komiyama's adaptation results in clean graphical storytelling.  From a narrative and graphics standpoint, the Star Wars: Lost Stars manga does not focus on the lore of Star Wars so much as it does focus on a personal or character drama within the larger story, which I assume the novel does.  The story of Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree is the focus and the larger galactic war is the backdrop.

As for the illustrations, the characters do look like what readers may expect of characters drawn by a manga or mange-influenced artist.  As for the visual elements of Star Wars:  costumes and clothing; ships and crafts, weapons and tools, and interior and exterior environments and spaces, Komiyama draws everything to look like authentic Star Wars.  Komiyama does this as well as the best Star Wars comic book artists who have drawn Star Wars comics for Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

Komiyama really emphasizes the dialogue and the moments that define the birth and growth of Thane and Ciena's relationship.  Even when the story focuses on one or the other, the story is about their relationship.  Star Wars fans, however, will be excited to know that this first volume recreates scenes from both Star Wars: New Hope (Episode IV) and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V), and some beloved characters make appearances or even play a sizable role in the story.

Star Wars: Lost Stars Volume 1 is the first Star Wars manga that I have read, and I like it a lot.  I am anxious to read the second volume.  It is not perfect, but I won't let perfect be the enemy of good.  I would not compare this manga to the some of the best Dark Horse and Marvel Star Wars comic books, but for young readers, probably as young as middle school age, Star Wars: Lost Stars Volume 1 is true Star Wars.

7.5 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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