#IReadsYou Review: POKÉMON: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution

POKÉMON: MEWTWO STRIKES BACK – EVOLUTION
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Machito Gomi
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERS: Susan Daigle-Leach
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1552-7; paperback; (August 11, 2020); Rated “A” for “All Ages”
128pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £7.99 UK

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise managed by the Pokémon Company, a company founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.  The franchise was created by Japanese video game designer and director, Satoshi Tajiri, in 1995.  The franchise began in 1996 as a pair of video games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, for the original “Game Boy” handheld game console.  Pokémon is centered on fictional creatures called “Pokémon.”  Humans, known as “Pokémon Trainers,” catch and train the Pokémon to battle each other for sport.

The Pokémon franchise includes a number animated television series (known as “anime”) and animated films.  There are also Pokémon manga (comics), and many are simply comic book adaptations of the Pokémon video games, anime, and films, although there are some manga that feature original stories set in the world of Pokémon.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution is a 2019 computer-animated Pokémon film.  It is the 22nd film in the Pokémon film series, and it is also a remake of the first Pokémon film, Pokémon: The First Movie.  Released in 1998, it is also know as Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back.

In 2019, manga writer-artist Machito Gomi produced a manga adaptation of Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution.  It was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, CoroCoro Comic, from May 15 to June 14, 2019.  VIZ Media is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a single-volume, paperback graphic novel.

As Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution opens, a new Pokémon is born.  It wonders where it is and what it is.  It soon learns that it is “Mewtwo,” a clone of the mythical and greatest Pokémon of all time, “Mew.”  Before long, Mewtwo meets the crime lord, Giovanni, the leader of the the criminal organization, “Team Rocket.”  Giovanni reveals to Mewtwo that it was his doing that initiated the creation of Mewtwo, but when the crime lord reveals his diabolical plans for Mewtwo, the newly born and cloned Pokémon rebels.

Escaping from Team Rocket headquarters, Mewtwo heads to New Island where it seeks to find meaning to its life, but also plots revenge against human creators.  Soon, Mewtwo calls forth the world's best Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon to Pokémon Castle to face his challenge.  Ash Ketchum and Pikachu and their friends, Brock and Misty, and their Pokémon find themselves at the center of Mewtwo's rampage.  With the future of the Pokémon world at stake, will our heroes be able to overcome Mewtwo’s challenge…and will Mewtwo be able to find a new meaning for its life?  A surprise Pokémon appearance and a miracle may answer such questions.

THE LOWDOWN:  For adults, the Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution manga will be a quick read.  However, open adult minds will enjoy this manga as much as young readers will most assuredly enjoy reading it.

The Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution graphic novel is also a “kodomo manga” (comics for children), but because it is an adaptation of an important installment in the Pokémon franchise (the first Pokémon film), it could have a broad appeal across the generations of Pokémon fans, which goes back to the mid-1990s.

I am being totally honest when I say that Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution is both the best Pokémon manga or graphic novel that I have ever read and also is one of the most enjoyable comics that I have read this summer.  Why is it a sheer delight?  Writer-artist Machito Gomi captures the things that make Pokémon fun:  the characters, the relationships, the positive attitude, the competition, the possibility for redemption, and the Pokémon.

Gomi's cleaning drawing style, which has a graphic style similar to certain kinds of anime, and the graphical storytelling both make for clear storytelling.  The toning also gives the story a sense of weight and creates an atmosphere of mystery and dramatic tension that makes it feels as if there is something on the line for the characters.  They all have something to lose, especially our heroes.

So I will call Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution one of the summer's delightful comic book and young reader graphic novel surprises.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Pokémon manga will want Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution.

8 out of 10

Monday, August 10, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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#IReadsYou Review: KAKURIYO: Bed and Breakfasts for Spirits Volume 6

KAKURIYO: BED & BREAKFAST FOR SPIRITS, VOL. 6
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Waco Ioka
ORIGINAL STORY: Midori Yuma
CHARACTER DESIGNS: Laruha
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Tomo Kimura
LETTERS: Joanna Estep
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1042-3; paperback (September 2020); Rated “T” for “Teen”
152pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits is a Japanese shojo fantasy manga written and drawn by Waco Ioka.  It is based on Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (also known as Afterlife Inn Cooking), a Japanese light novel series written by Midori Yūma and illustrated by Laruha.  The manga has been serialized in Enterbrain's josei manga magazine, B's Log Comic, since 2016.  VIZ Media is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shojo Beat” imprint.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits focuses on Aoi Tsubaki, who inherited something great and terrible from her grandfather, Shiro – his ability to see the spirits known as ayakashi (yokai).  Aoi, however, also inherited Shiro's massive debt to the ayakashi, and now, she’s been kidnapped and taken to Kakuriyo (the spirit world) to settle that debt.  Kijin a.k.a. “the Ōdana,” who is an ogre and the owner of  the inn, “Tenjin-ya,” wants Aoi to marry him to settle the debts her grandfather owes him... or she can be eaten by demons.  But Aoi is determined to settle those debts on her own terms.

As Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 6 (Chapters 24 to 30) opens, Aoi looks forward to preparing a meal for the royal couple, Lord Nui and Lady Ritsuko.  She is overjoyed at what this could do for “Yūgao,” her little restaurant located behind Tenjin-ya.  So, Aoi will travel to the “Eastern Lands” to do some grocery shopping at a fancy imported food market.

Before she can buy a single ingredient, however, Aoi is spirited away and held captive in what seems like a giant crate.  Aoi worries that she won't gain her freedom in time to cook for the royal couple.  A good opportunity will be the least of her problems if she can't escape from the suddenly flooding prison in which she finds herself.

[This volume includes end notes.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits manga has turned out to be as good as I thought it would be.  Of course, I am a sucker for shojo manga starring yokai (also known by the term “ayakashi”), and I have yet to find one I did not like.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits Volume 6 epitomizes the series' dual tone, being both sweet and gentle and also dark and mysterious.  Aoi is by nature a giving person whose warmth and generosity are most on display when she is cooking for and feeding even strangers who appear on her doorstep.  On the other hand, Aoi will stand up for herself and her grit and determination carry her into the unknown with the readers following her into the mystery that is Kakuriyo.

Tomo Kimura's light and sugary English adaptation also captures the series' darker moments with an engaging sense of mystery.  Joanna Estep's lettering always strikes the right tone, from the warmth of meal time to the allure of discovery and exploration.  I can't wait for the next volume.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of yokai manga will want to read the Shojo Beat series, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits.

A
9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: X-FORCE #1

X-FORCE No. 1 (2020)
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Benjamin Percy
ART: Joshua Cassara
COLORS: Dean White
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
EDITORS: Chris Robinson and Lauren Amaro
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Akira Yoshida a.k.a. C.B. Cebulski
COVER: Dustin Weaver
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Mark Bagley and John Dell with Israel Silva; Russell Dauterman with Matthew Wilson; Juan Jose Ryp with Jesus Aburtov; Adi Granov; Tom Muller; Todd McFarlane with Jason Keith
44pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (January 2020)

Parental Advisory

X-Men created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee; X-Force created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza

“Hunting Ground”

The X-Men are a Marvel Comics superhero team and franchise created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Jack Kirby.  In The X-Men #1 (cover dated: September 1963), readers were introduced to a group of characters that had unique powers and abilities because they were “mutants.”

Summer 2019, Marvel published writer Jonathan Hickman's revamp, reboot, and re-imagining of the X-Men comic book franchise via a pair of six-issue comic book miniseries, House of X and Powers of X (pronounced “Powers of Ten”).  October welcomed “Dawn of X,” the launch of six new X-Men titles, although all except one, bore titles that have been previously used.  The new series were Excalibur, Fallen Angels, Marauders, New Mutants, X-Men, and the subject of this review, X-Force.

This new X-Force comic book is written by Benjamin Percy; drawn by Joshua Cassara; colored by Dean White; and lettered by Joe Caramagna.  According to Marvel, the new X-Force team is the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the mutant world.  One-half is the “intelligence branch;” that would be the group of Beast, Jean Grey, and Sage.  The other half is “special ops,” with a unit composed of Wolverine, Kid Omega and Domino.

X-Force #1 (“Hunting Ground”) opens with a question.  What happened to Domino?  Meanwhile on Krakoa, the living island and mutant nation-state that is a home for all mutants, Wolverine is hunting for predators on an island where there should be none.  As he says, however, there is always a predator, and “...when you're safe, you're soft.”  Black Tom Cassidy feels something bad coming, even if Professor X says otherwise.  But this new mutant world would not need an “X-Force” in a perfect world, and this is not a perfect world...

The original X-Force team first appeared in New Mutants #100 (cover dated: April 1991) and was the creation of writer-illustrator Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza.  The team's first leader was the mutant, Cable, and X-Force took a more militant and aggressive approach towards its enemies than did the X-Men did as a team.

In this first issue, writer Benjamin Percy takes that to heart, and his story makes X-Force #1 a potboiler from page one to the last.  I don't want to spoil anything, although as I write this review, X-Force #1 is about two months old.  Still, I do want to say that “Hunting Ground” offers surprises and thrills throughout.  Of the four “Dawn of X” first issues that I have read thus far, this one is easily the best.

Joshua Cassara's art is gritty and dark and his graphical storytelling has that sinister edge that reminds me of Grant Morrison's lovely science fiction-conspiracy comic book series, The Invisibles (DC Comics/Vertigo).  Dean White's coloring is correctly garish and gives this story a nightmarish and apocalyptic feel.  There is a disquieting mood in letterer Joe Caramagna's mostly quiet lettering for this first issue, which is just right.

I definitely plan to read more of this new X-Force, even if its just the first trade paperback collection.  I feel safe in recommending it to you, dear readers.

7.5 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and  syndication rights and fees.


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Book Review: THE CONTENDER: The Story of Marlon Brando

THE CONTENDER: THE STORY OF MARLON BRANDO
HARPERCOLLINS – @HarperCollins @HarperBooks

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: William J. Mann – @WilliamJMann
ISBN: 978-0-06-242764-9; hardcover (October 15, 2019)
736pp, B&W, $35.00 U.S.

Who is Marlon Brando?  Some would, will, and will always tell you that he was and is the greatest American film actor of all time.  Marlon Brando won two Academy Awards, for his performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) and again for his performance as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972).  His performance as Terry Malloy is considered the performance that changed film-acting in American motion pictures.

Marlon Brando the Hollywood legend was born Marlon Brando Jr. on April 3, 1924 to Dorothy Julia “Dodie” (Pennebaker) and Marlon Brando Sr. in Omaha, Nebraska.  He grew up in Libertyville, Illinois (where he met Wally Cox, an actor who would be a lifelong friend), and even attended a military school.  But who was Marlon Brando?

The award-winning film biographer, William J. Mann (Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn), presents a deeply-textured, ambitious, and definitive portrait of Marlon Brando.  The greatest movie actor of the twentieth century was also elusive, and Mann brings his extraordinarily complex life into view as never before in the biography, The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando.

The most influential movie actor of his era, Marlon Brando changed the way other actors perceived their craft.  His natural, honest, and deeply personal approach to acting resulted in performances, especially in A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, that are considered to be without parallel.  Americans hailed Brando as the “American Hamlet.”  He was the Yank who surpassed Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, and Ralph Richardson, the holy trinity and the royalty of British stage and screen, as the standard of greatness in mid-twentieth century acting.

Brando’s impact on American culture, however, went beyond acting.  He was was also one of the first American movie stars to use his fame as a platform to address social, political, and moral issues, and he courageously and boldly called out the United States' deeply rooted, persistent racism.

The Contender illuminates this cultural icon for a new age, and Mann, its author, argues that Brando was not only a great actor, but also a cultural soothsayer.  Mann reveals that Brando was a Cassandra warning America about the challenges to come.  Brando’s admonitions against making financial gain the primary purpose of nearly every aspect of the nation's culture, and his criticisms that the news media's obsession with celebrity and other shallow and ultimately unimportant subjects were prescient.  Many public figures, from fellow Hollywood actors to politicians and media figures, criticized Brando's public protests against racial segregation and discrimination at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Yet less than half a century later, Brando's actions as an activist and an advocate have become the model many actors follow today.

In The Contender, William J. Mann shows the sides of Marlon Brando that many moviegoers never imagined him to have.  From his childhood traumas to the evolution of his professional life and the growing mess of his personal life, Marlon Brando is revealed anew.

THE LOWDOWN:  William J. Mann's biography of Marlon Brando is a story that runs over 600 pages.  That is not counting the section entitled “Marlon Brando Stage and Television Credits;” a two-page “Sources” section; and a 60-page “Notes” section.  Mann's The Contender is not only “psychologically astute” as the book's press materials state; it is also painstakingly and masterfully researched.  Mann's research is based on new material, previously revealed material, and interviews with the people who knew Marlon Brando, some of whom died during the time Mann worked on this book.

Mann's book is not a Hollywood tell-all, nor is it a celebratory festival of Brando's work.  The Contender explores the man that Brando was, and being a ground-breaking, celebrated, and revered actor was only part of the man.  To that end, The Contender and its author told me things that I did not know about Brando.  I did not know that he was “sexually fluid,” having sexual relationships with both men and women.  I did not know that he was a hopeless philanderer and womanizer; Brando cheated on every woman he dated or was married to – often with multiple women.

I did not know that Brando did not consider acting to be something important.  He certainly had a fidelity to his vocation, as seen in his numerous performances on film, but he did not take the profession seriously.  He did not tolerate people whom he believed took acting too seriously.

I had no idea that Brando supported human rights causes for African-Americans and supported the Civil Rights movement, both financially and in person, up to the time of his death.  He participated in numerous marches, including some in the American south.  Brando was also a participant in the 1963 “March on Washington.”  Brando was also a vocal and tireless advocate for Native Americans, which including him declining his best actor Oscar for The Godfather at the 45th Academy Awards on March 27, 1973 in protest of the way the U.S. had treated American Indians.

It is not so much that Mann tells Brando's story in vivid detail, which he does.  It is also that Mann uses his prose to transport readers back to the times and places of many key moments in Brando's life.  Mann puts us there, right next to his subject, and the result is the story that makes you think and feel the man, his life, and his times.  This is a big book for a monumental figure in American culture.  The Contender is a dazzling biography, the kind befitting our nation's greatest actor.

It took me forever to read this biography – seven months.  By the time, I finished, however, I wished there were more.  The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando is for all time the biography for Marlon Brando fans and admirers, present and future.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans and students of Hollywood films and of Marlon Brando will want to read The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando.

[The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando includes sixteen pages of photographs.]

A
8 out of 10

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


https://williamjmann.com/
https://twitter.com/WilliamJMann

Facebook: @Harper1817
Instagram: @HarperBooks


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: MARAUDERS #1

MARAUDERS No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Gerry Duggan
ART: Matteo Lolli
COLORS: Federico Blee
LETTERS: VC's Cory Petit
EDITOR: Jordan D. White
EiC: Akria Yoshida a.k.a. “C.B. Cebuski”
COVER: Russell Dauterman with Matthew Wilson
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Mark Bagley and John Dell with Israel Silva; Aaron Kuder with Jordie Bellaire; Rick Leonardi with Richard Isanove; Tom Muller; Todd Nauck with Rachelle Rosenberg; Philip Tan with Jay David Ramos; Russell Dauterman with Federico Blee
44pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (December 2019)

Rated T+

The X-Men created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

“I'm on a Boat”

The X-Men are a Marvel Comics superhero team comprised of individuals with unique powers and abilities granted to them because they are “mutants.”  Created by editor-writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the X-Men debuted in the comic book, The X-Men #1 (cover dated: September 1963).

Over its six decades of existence, the X-Men comic book franchise has been revived, revamped, relaunched, and re-imagined.  The latest remodeling came via a pair of six-issue miniseries, House of X and Powers of X (pronounced “Powers of 10”), which were written by Jonathan Hickman.  Afterwards, October welcomed “Dawn of X,” the launch of six new X-Men titles, although all except one bore titles that had been previously used.  The new series are Excalibur, Fallen Angels, New Mutants, X-Force, X-Men, and the subject of this review, Marauders.

Marauders is written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Matteo Lolli; colored by Federico Blee, and lettered by Cory Petit.  Previously, “the Marauders” was the name of a group of assassins employed by the X-Men's adversary, Mister Sinister (now an ally).  As a team, the Marauders' purpose was to assassinate other mutants and to act as a commando strike-force to carry out acts of mass murder.  The new Marauders have been formed to protect and help mutants around the world.

Marauders #1 (“I'm on a Boat”) opens in this glorious new dawn for “Mutantkind.”  Around the world, mutants are entering gateways that take them to Krakoa, the living island and mutant nation-state.  But not everyone can enter those gateways... for various reasons.  One of the most famous members of the X-Men, Katherine “Kate” Pryde (formerly known as “Kitty Pryde”), cannot pass through a Krakoan gateway; for her, it's like walking into a wall.

However, around the world, there are mutants living in countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Krakoa, nor do they recognize mutant sovereignty.  Countries like Russia and Taiwan use various means to block their mutant citizens' access to the gateways.  Aboard a specially-fitted sailing vessel funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, Captain Kate Pryde leads fellow mutants:  Storm, Bishop, Iceman, and Pyro, with Lockheed the dragon, on a mission to sail the seas of the world in order to protect those most hated and feared!

I was not impressed by the first “Dawn of X” title, X-Men, but I like this second one.  It's not that writer Gerry Duggan offers an exceptional first-issue script; it is good enough.  It's that Marauders has a lot of potential to address current issues and geopolitical affairs using the X-Men as allegory or metaphor.  Also, a sailing vessel promises some quasi-pirate fun.

The illustrations by Matteo Lolli are nice, and his graphical storytelling is clean, if not dynamic.  Federico Blee's coloring seems a little too thick and has what looks like smearing in several places.  Cory Petit's lettering is good, but a bit tame for a concept that demands boldness.  Truthfully, Marauders #1 could be the start of something daring or it could be simply the first issue of just-another-X-Men comic book.  So far, I suspect that it will be the latter, which will probably be the case for most (if not all) the“Dawn of X” titles.

7 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and  syndication rights and fees.


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BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for September 16, 2020

BOOM! STUDIOS

JUN200798    BTVS SEASON 12 LIBRARY HC VOL 01    $29.99
JUL200924    FAITHLESS II #4 CVR A LLOVET (MR)    $3.99
JUL200925    FAITHLESS II #4 CVR B EROTICA CONNECTING VAR (MR)    $4.99
JUL200883    FIREFLY #20 CVR A MAIN    $3.99
JUL200884    FIREFLY #20 CVR B KAMBADAIS VAR    $3.99
JUL200930    JIM HENSON DARK CRYSTAL AGE RESISTANCE #11 CVR A MAIN    $3.99
JUL200931    JIM HENSON DARK CRYSTAL AGE RESISTANCE #11 CVR B CONNECT VAR    $3.99
JUL208569    JIM HENSON DARK CRYSTAL AGE RESISTANCE #11 CVR C BERGARA    $3.99
APR201375    JIM HENSON LABYRINTH CORONATION TP VOL 02    $16.99
APR201376    MAGICIANS NEW CLASS TP    $19.99
JUL200927    ONCE & FUTURE #11    $3.99
JUL208570    POWER RANGERS DRAKKON NEW DAWN #1 (2ND PTG)    $4.99
JUL208571    SEVEN SECRETS #2 CVR B NGUYEN VAR    $3.99
JUL200917    SEVEN SECRETS #2 MAIN    $3.99
JUN200780    SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE ORIGINAL GN HC    $24.99
JUL208573    SOMETHING IS KILLING CHILDREN #8 (2ND PTG)    $3.99

Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 16, 2020

DARK HORSE COMICS

JUN200306    BLACKWOOD TP VOL 02 MOURNING AFTER    $19.99
JUN200327    FLOWER OF THE WITCH TP (RES)    $14.99
JUN200331    HENCHGIRL TP 2ND ED (RES)    $19.99
JUL200238    YOU LOOK LIKE DEATH TALES UMBRELLA ACADEMY #1 (OF 6) CVR A G    $3.99
JUL200240    YOU LOOK LIKE DEATH TALES UMBRELLA ACADEMY #1 (OF 6) CVR C R    $3.99