Psyren: Nova

I read Psyren, Vol. 14

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

Review: D.GRAY-MAN 3-in-1 Edition Volume 1

D.GRAY-MAN 3-IN-1 EDITION, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Katsura Hoshino
TRANSLATION: Mayumi Kobayashi, Toshifumi Yoshida
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Mayumi Kobayashi, Lance Caselman
LETTERS: Elizabeth Watasin
EDITOR: Nancy Thislethwaite
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5567-6; paperback (July 2013); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
576pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $16.99 CAN, £9.99 UK

Debuting in 2004 in Japan’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, D.Gray-man is a manga (comic) series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino.  The series stars a boy named Allen Walker, who becomes a member of the Black Order, an organization of Exorcists.  These Exorcists make use of an ancient substance called “Innocence,” which they use as weapons to combat the Millennium Earl and his army of demons, the akuma.

Allen lives in a fictional version of 19th century Earth, where he searches for Innocence.  Some Innocence has bonded with his left arm to form an anti-akuma, bladed weapon.  Allen is also a very special Exorcist, and the Earl knows that.

VIZ Media is currently republishing D.Gray-man in its 3-in-1 editions.  This is a kind of mini-omnibus paperback that collects three volumes of a manga series as a single graphic novel.  D.Gray-man: 3-in-1 Edition Volume 1 reprints D.Gray-man, Volumes 1 to 3

D.Gray-man, Vol. 1 (entitled Opening; Chapters 1 to 7) introduces Allen Walker, a boy who hunts akuma.  They prey on the weak and grieving, so Allan finds the akuma in the middle of a tragic tale of a priest and his wife.  Then, there is the story of John, who wants to be an exorcist, and his friend, Leo, who is seduced by the Earl.  Later, Allen is recruited by the Black Order, which allows him to learn about Innocence and its history.

D.Gray-man, Vol. 2 (entitled Old Man of the Land and Aria of the Night Sky; Chapters 8 to 16) finds Allen and fellow Exorcist, Yu Kanda, on a mission.  They travel to the city of Mater, in southern Italy, to retrieve Innocence, but what they find is a Level 2 akuma that can copy other beings’ powers.  The mission is complicated by the fact that Kanda does not like Allen, especially after the new exorcist befriends a man named Guzol and the singing doll, Lala.

D.Gray-man, Vol. 3 (entitled The Rewinding City; Chapters 17 to 26) opens with the attack of Komlin, a labor-saving robot that takes its programming too seriously and incorrectly.  Then, Allen and fellow Exorcist, Lenalee, find themselves trapped in “The Rewinding City.  The encounter Miranda Lotto, a woman connected to the mystery of the city, and also Master Record, a surprising adversary.

One of the good things about VIZ Media’s 3-in-1 editions is that they allow readers to get a look at the early chapters of manga series in what amounts to 500-page chunks.  Early in the series, D.Gray-man resembles an amateur comic (doujinshi).  At that point, series creator Katsura Hoshino is still obviously discovering her creation and getting a feel for it (or “feeling it out”).  With each chapter, the narrative gradually becomes more polished.  By the end of Vol. 3, the story is not only stronger, but it is also more self-assured, as Hoshino reveals more back story and mythology.  Even the art is stronger compositionally, and the graphic design more practical, even if it remains flashy and stylish.

The D.Gray-man manga has some similarities to various Batman and X-Men comic books.  Its fight scenes remind me of superhero fight comic books, resembling in spirit and tone what readers will find in The Avengers or a Justice League comic book.  I highly recommend D.Gray-man, and I think D.Gray-man: 3-in-1 Edition Volume 1 is the best place to start.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

SuBLime Has the "Right Stuf" for Second Anniversary

GLOBAL YAOI PUBLISHER SuBLime CELEBRATES 2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH SPECIAL MANGA SALE AT LEADING ONLINE RETAILER RIGHT STUF

Diverse Yaoi Imprint Marks Second Birthday With Up To 50% Off Selected Yaoi Manga Bundles And Individual Volumes

SuBLime, the global yaoi manga publishing initiative between VIZ Media and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate), marks its 2-year anniversary with the announcement of a special sale on print editions of a variety of celebrated yaoi manga titles from its catalog at leading anime/manga online retailer/distributor Right Stuf.

For a limited time through January 20th, yaoi readers can take advantage of 50% off select SuBLime manga bundles. This is an ideal opportunity to enjoy a specially curated selection of acclaimed SuBLime series for half-off their regular print MSRP. Access the complete list of SuBLime sale titles at RightStuf.com. For our global readers, RightStuf does ship internationally.

The following print bundles are available for 50% off:

AWKWARD SILENCE by Hinako Takanaga • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers •
Bundle Set Includes Vols. 1-4 • MSRP: $25.98 (U.S. / CAN)
Satoru Tono is too shy to speak to classmate Keigo Tamiya. Instead he fills his sketchbook with drawings of the boy he likes. But perhaps Keigo has noticed him too...?

HIS FAVORITE by Suzuki Tanaka • Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens •
Bundle Set Includes Vols. 1-5 • MSRP: $32.48 (U.S. / CAN)
Yoshida is short, scrawny, and generally unattractive. To make matters worse, all the girls in his class hate him because Sato, the hottest guy in school, always uses hanging out with him as an excuse to turn them down. Is Yoshida just a convenient excuse or is there something more? Could this odd couple even make things work?!

PUNCH UP! by Shiuko Kano • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers •
Bundle Set Includes Vols. 1-4 • MSRP: $25.98 (U.S. / CAN)
High-flying architect Motoharu Maki loves looking at hot guys, and where better to find a lot of good-looking, well-toned hotties than a construction site? But after one visit, Motoharu winds up with an unexpected commitment. Ironworker Kouta Ohki is young, foul-mouthed, and not at all Motoharu's type!

Also, don’t miss special savings on all bundled manga packages featuring multiple titles by these celebrated yaoi manga creators:

Yaya Sakuragi Bundle – SALE MSRP $32.48
BOND OF DREAMS, BOND OF LOVE, Vols. 1-4
HIDE AND SEEK, Vol. 1

Youka Nitta Bundle – SALE MSRP $27.98
EMBRACING LOVE, 2-in-1 Omnibus Edition, Vol. 1
SPIRITUAL POLICE, Vol. 1
STARTING WITH A KISS, Vols. 1-2

**Titles are rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers.

Readers can also purchase individual print editions of the above mentioned series for $6.76 each – a 48% saving off regular MSRP (omnibus editions are $8.84).

Also visit SuBLimeManga.com for an array of additional yaoi manga titles that are available digitally in a download-to-own format for $5.99 (U.S. / CAN) each and are viewable as a PDF on any enabled eReader device or computer, or also accessed via the online manga viewer found on the web site.

For up-to-date news and release information, please visit the SuBLime website at www.SuBLimeManga.com, or follow SuBLime on Twitter at @SuBLimeManga and Facebook at facebook.com/SuBLimeManga.

About SuBLime
SuBLime is a global yaoi/boys’ love manga publisher, and is a partnership between VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate). This bold, global publishing initiative will present English-speaking fans everywhere with a broad selection of high quality titles. SuBLime will offer titles digitally worldwide available at www.SuBLimeManga.com, with many available in Download-to-Own format, and selections in print also available in English-language editions worldwide.

I Reads You Review: Justice League of America's VIBE #1

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA’S VIBE #1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

WRITERS: Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg
PENCILS: Peter Woods
INKS: Sean Parsons
COLORS: Brad Anderson
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
COVER/VARIANT COVER: David Finch
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (April 2013)

Rated T (Teen)

Vibe created by Gerry Conway and Luke McDonnell

I recently reviewed the Justice League Annual #2 (October 1984).  It introduced a comic book character named Paco Ramone, a breakdancer and local hero who went by the name, “Vibe.”  Paco had shockwave-casting powers, and those powers earned him a spot in the Justice League.  Paco would appear in the last three years of the original Justice League of America comic book series (1960-1987); then, he would be killed-off as the series came to a close.

Vibe is back.  He is cleaned-up, politically correct (hate that term), and has his own comic book series, Justice League of America’s Vibe.  [This series had already been cancelled by the time I read the first issue.]  In DC Comics’ The New 52, even dead, scorned, and marginal characters can get another chance to shine.

Justice League of America’s Vibe #1 is set in Detroit, Michigan and opens five years prior to the main story.  It introduces Francisco “Cisco” Ramon.  He and his older brothers, Armando and Dante, have a front row seat to Darkseid’s invasion of earth, which was chronicled in The New 52 re-launch of Justice League (2011).  Five years later, Cisco is still grieving a loss, when a stranger offers him the opportunity to get payback against a certain Parademon.  A hero named Vibe is born.

I was surprised to discover that DC Comics was publishing an ongoing series starring Vibe, a minor and notorious, but apparently well-remembered character.  Diversity in the hi-souse – Yay! Yay!  Seriously, Vibe?  But it turns out that Justice League of America’s Vibe is actually a pretty good comic book – at least the first issue is.

Peter Woods is a more-than-competent comic book artist, and he gives every panel here – even the character drama panels – a bit of dynamism.  Wood’s style is unspectacular, but he’s good with figure drawing – a must for a superhero comic book artist.

The writing by Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg is solid and even a little dazzling.  It is nothing distinctive or stand-out; this isn’t Alan Moore doing a Vibe makeover, after all.  There is enough intrigue and the characters are interesting.  I just may try to read the other nine issues of this now-cancelled series.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Kou Yoneda Presents SuBLime "NightS"

GLOBAL YAOI PUBLISHER SuBLime OPENS 2014 WITH THE HOTLY ANTICIPATED NEW STORY COLLECTION NIGHTS – AVAILABLE NOW

Six Sensuous Romantic Tales From One Of Japan’s Most Acclaimed Yaoi Creators Debut In Print And Digital

SuBLime, the global yaoi manga publishing initiative between VIZ Media and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate), opens 2014 for yaoi fans with today’s release of NIGHTS, a collection of passionate yaoi stories by creator Kou Yoneda.

NIGHTS is rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers and carries a print MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN. A digital version is also available for an MSRP of USD $5.99 and offers readers two methods of digital access to the volume on www.SuBLimeManga.com – a DRM-free downloadable PDF that is viewable on any enabled eReader device and computer, and via the online manga viewer found on the web site. A free online preview is also available on the SuBLime website.

NIGHTS is a collection of masterful, sensual stories by one of Japan’s most popular yaoi creators! In the title piece, Masato Karashima is a “transporter,” a man paid to smuggle anything from guns to drugs to people. When he’s hired by yakuza gang member Masaki Hozumi, he finds himself attracted to the older man, and what starts out as a business transaction quickly spirals into a cat-and-mouse game of lust and deception. In “Emotion Spectrum,” a high-school student tries to be a good wingman for a classmate, with an unexpected result, while “Reply” is told from the alternating perspectives of an emotionally reserved salesman and the shy mechanic who’s in love with him.

“Kou Yoneda is one of the yaoi genre’s most acclaimed creators and we are very excited to release NIGHTS, her first new work since 2011,” says Jennifer LeBlanc, Editor, SuBLime. “Her latest title contains six exquisitely drawn romantic tales that feature a handsome cast of extremely sexy men, and also includes special bonus content and additional full-color pages created especially for this edition. We invite global yaoi fans to dive into the passion that happens once the sun goes down in this hot new release available now!”

Kou Yoneda made her manga debut in 2009 with No Touching at All, also available in English, which became an instant critical and commercial success. She followed up with A Singing Bird Can’t Fly and has also published a variety of doujinshi (independent comics) under the circle names "Raw" and "NITRO Koutetsu."

For up-to-date news and release information, please visit the SuBLime website at www.SuBLimeManga.com, or follow SuBLime on Twitter at @SuBLimeManga and Facebook at facebook.com/SuBLimeManga.

About SuBLime
SuBLime is a global yaoi/boys’ love manga publisher, and is a partnership between VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate). This bold, global publishing initiative will present English-speaking fans everywhere with a broad selection of high quality titles. SuBLime will offer titles digitally worldwide available at www.SuBLimeManga.com, with many available in Download-to-Own format, and selections in print also available in English-language editions worldwide.

I Reads You Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE Annual 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE ANNUAL #2
DC COMICS – @DCComics

WRITER: Gerry Conway
PENCILS: Chuck Patton
INKS: Dave Hunt
COLORS: Carl Gafford
LETTERS: Ben Oda
COVER: Chuck Patton and Dick Giordano
48pp, Color, $1.25 U.S. (October 1984)

One of my favorite single comic book issues is Justice League Annual #2, originally published in 1984 (cover date October 1984).  It was the first Justice League comic book that I ever read, and the only one for a long time afterwards (if I remember correctly).

Entitled “--The End of the Justice League!,” this annual is written by Gerry Conway and drawn (pencil art) by Chuck Patton.  The story focuses on Aquaman’s efforts to build a “new” Justice League, after summarily disbanding the “old” League.  The League had apparently struggled during the “Earth/Mars War,” in part due to the League’s most powerful members not being present during the conflict.  This was summarized in the first eight pages of this annual.  I had not read the issues of the ongoing Justice League of America series that contained the “Earth/Mars War” story.

Aquaman demands that members of the “new” League be committed, full-time, and fully-active members.  This leads to the exit of Firestorm, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Red Tornado from the League.  Elongated Man and Zatanna are able to remain with Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter offers his services.  From that starting point, the rest of the story is about the League accepting new members and searching for new headquarters (as the JLA satellite had been destroyed during the war with Mars).  The team eventually finds a new home in Detroit, Michigan.

Vixen, an African-American female character who had previously worked with Superman, makes a strong move to move into the League, after hearing about the call for new League members.  Another volunteer is the second generation hero, Steel, the grandson of the original Steel.  Steel’s admission into the League gives the Justice League access to their new headquarters in Detroit.  Moving to the Motor City / Motown introduces the League to two new members, the shockwave-casting and break-dancing Vibe and the camouflage and quick-to-disappear, young mystery woman, Gypsy.

Reading Justice League Annual #2 again, I cringe a little, but not because I think that it is a bad comic book.  Sure, artist Chuck Patton’s awkward anatomy, ham-fisted compositions, and meat-and-potatoes design can be kindly described as old school.  On the other hand, I am impressed with Gerry Conway’s juggling of multiple characters and find that endearing.  His script is somewhere between pure newspaper comic strip soap opera and typical superhero ensemble character drama.  I think I cringe because this comic book seems so analog to me simply because of the kinds of comic books I have read in the years since I first read it.

Now, Conway’s character drama and the story in general might seem quaint.  Indeed, some of it is old-fashioned.  I am not bothered by the Latino character, Vibe, although he says “chu” when he wants to say “you” way too many times.  The character is only a stereotype on the surface, as he does reveal another persona or guise when he is around his family that is different from his “street” persona.

I do remember first hearing about this annual from other comic book fans.  Naturally, they hated the break-dancing superhero and also the idea of even having a break-dancing superhero, which they claimed was a stereotype.  These fans seemed to miss the point that the history of comic books, especially superhero comic books, is heavily populated with racial, ethnic, national, regional, religious, etc. stereotypes.  What made Vibe worthy of extra fan venom?  I liked Vibe as a kid, and I still do as an adult.

If Conway did any stereotyping, it was with the female characters, who were a bit man-hungry, even a slutty.  In general, though, I liked this cast.  This new Justice League was the featured team beginning in Justice League of America #233 (I think) and lasted until Justice League of America #261, which saw the end of the original Justice League comic book series, before its re-launch as Justice League in 1986.

Right now, I think I want to go back and experience the original Justice League of America comic books series in its final three years.  Call this a nostalgia thing.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 15 2014

DC COMICS

NOV130265 ASTRO CITY #8 $3.99
NOV130180 BATGIRL #27 (GOTHTOPIA) $2.99
SEP130269 BATMAN DARK KNIGHT HC VOL 03 MAD (N52) $24.99
NOV130254 BATMAN LIL GOTHAM #10 $2.99
NOV130266 COFFIN HILL #4 (MR) $2.99
NOV130131 CONSTANTINE #10 (EVIL) $2.99
SEP130281 CREATURE COMMANDOS TP $19.99
SEP130265 DC VS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #4 $2.99
NOV130139 FOREVER EVIL ROGUES REBELLION #4 $2.99
NOV130199 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #27 $2.99
NOV130213 INJUSTICE YEAR TWO #1 $2.99
NOV130147 JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #2 $2.99
NOV130126 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #11 (EVIL) $3.99
NOV130129 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #11 COMBO PACK (EVIL) $4.99
NOV130187 NIGHTWING #27 $2.99
NOV130258 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #41 $2.99
NOV130141 SUICIDE SQUAD #27 (EVIL) $2.99
NOV130162 SUPERBOY #27 $2.99
NOV130155 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #4 $3.99
NOV130157 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #4 COMBO PACK $4.99
NOV130153 WORLDS FINEST #19 $2.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

AUG130366 DC COMICS SUPER HEROES BATMAN BUST $49.95
SEP130328 DC COMICS SUPER VILLAINS CAPTAIN BOOMERANG AF $24.95
SEP130326 DC COMICS SUPER VILLAINS DEADSHOT AF $24.95
SEP130327 DC COMICS SUPER VILLAINS HARLEY QUINN AF $24.95