I Reads You Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE #7

JUSTICE LEAGUE #7
DC COMICS – @DCComics

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS: Gene Ha
COLORS: Art Lyon
LETTERS: Patrick Brosseau
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams, with Alex Sinclair
VARIANT COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson
40pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated “T” for Teen

“The Villain’s Journey” Prologue

Why am I just reviewing the seventh issue Justice League now? This month will see the eleventh issue published since #7 first appeared. Well, the reason is a compilation of excuses: infrequent trips to a not-near-enough local comic book shop (LCS), finances, time, acquisition, etc. You might add that I was reluctant to read an issue of The New 52 Justice League that Jim Lee did not draw. That’s a shame because this issue’s artist, Gene Ha, delivers some nice looking pages.

Justice League #7 opens in present day Baltimore, Maryland. An army biological warfare specialist named Dr. Samuel Street was exposed to the “Spore” virus. Now, Street is a villain called “Spore,” and he creates “Seeds,” which are mindless flesh-eating creatures that he can control telepathically. Plus, Street/Spore is holding his ex-wife hostage. Enter the Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Cyborg.

This story has a second focus, Colonel Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman’s would-be lover, Trevor is head of A.R.G.U.S. – Advanced Research Group Uniting Super Humans. A.R.G.U.S. is both a support group for the Justice League and an intermediary between the League and the U.S. government. Now, Trevor faces a Congressional debriefing, and these members of Congress want answers.

I think this issue stands out because of the focus on Steve Trevor. Writer Geoff Johns gives us the same action and squabbling that he has written into the Justice League since the series’ re-launched back in 2011. Johns gets personal with Trevor, showing both the man of action and the man who is a good boss and a lovesick puppy. Gene Ha is the right artist for Trevor’s story, and he certainly does some good action scenes for the League. Still, Ha’s subtle touch in drawing faces better serves this character focus on Steve Trevor.

Justice League #7 has a back-up feature. Once again, DC Comics is trying to do something with Shazam-Captain Marvel. This time with Johns and artist Gary Frank, and perhaps I can say that maybe it works a little better than the previous efforts over the last 30 years. But in the long term, dark Captain Marvel just won’t work. There is something inherent in the character that suggests light-hearted fantasy. DC and its writers just don’t seem to have the imagination, with a few exceptions, to do anything really interesting with this character.

B+

[Justice League currently includes a Shazam back-up story by Geoff Johns (writer), Gary Frank (artist), Brad Anderson (colors), and Nick J. Napolitano (letters).]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan - Conflict

I read Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 13: Conflict

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

Yaoi Review: PUNCH UP! Volume 3

PUNCH UP!, VOL. 3
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga

CARTOONIST: Shiuko Kano
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERING: Joanna Estep
COVER: Shiuko Kano with Shawn Carrico
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4354-3; paperback (January 2013); Rated “M” for “Mature”
202pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

A prolific, female Japanese manga creator, Shiuko Kano is known for her boys’ love and yaoi titles, such as the “Steppin’ Stone” series and Play Boy Blues. Punch Up! is a yaoi manga series from Shiuko Kano. The series focuses on Maki Motoharu, an unpredictable architect, and his boyfriend, Kouta Ohki, a 19-year-old, foul-mouthed, young ironworker who has fashion model looks. Yaoi manga is a subset of boys’ love manga (BL) and features explicit depictions of sex between male characters.

At the beginning of Punch Up! Volume 3 (Acts 7 to 9), Motoharu’s career as an architect is soaring. But he isn’t completely happy because he is jealous of Kouta. Yuya Fukazu, the man who took Kouta’s virginity, is back in the picture. Motoharu thinks that he is finding Fukazu in Kouta’s presence too often. Motoharu’s suspicions create hard feelings between him and Kouta, as well as making Kouta unsure about himself and also depressed. Kouta finds himself desperate to prove his love.

Then, a terrible accident occurs. A 15-year-old close to them returns. And Kiyoto Ohki, Kouta’s transgender brother, arrives.

The Punch Up! yaoi manga is a conflict-driven narrative. The love is real. The sex is hot. However, love and sex come with conflicts between lovers; even friends and colleagues squabble. I don’t want to give away the big turn-of-events that happens in this volume, but conflict and love become entwined more than ever. It’s good character drama, although it also seems a bit stretched too far in some places.

The best sex scenes happen in a bonus story, “Maki Motoharu’s Recreation Special.” The story starts off as a hand-made, drawn-in-a-tablet comic created by Kouta. Talk about explicit – male genitalia and orifices don’t get the shadowy-blurry art treatment. This is definitely a behind-the-counter / backroom edition. Readers looking for intense romance and explicit depictions of gay sex will want to Punch Up! Enjoy!

B+

www.SuBLimeManga.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Bleach: The Blood Warfare

I read Bleach, Vol. 55

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

I Reads You Review: THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GestHawk, Volume 1

THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GEISTHAWK, VOLUME 1
LEGENDARY COMICS

CREATORS: Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner
WRITER: Matt Wagner
PENCILS: Simon Bisley
INKS: Rodney Ramos
COLORS: Ryan Brown
LETTERS: Sean Konot
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Alex Sinclair
ISBN: 978-1-937278-02-1; paperback (October 2012)
72pp, Color, $7.99 U.S., $9.99 CAN

Legendary Comics is a division of the American film production company, Legendary Pictures, Inc. Legendary Pictures has co-produced such hit films as 300 (based on the Frank Miller graphic novel) and Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films. Having dealt with movies based on comic books, Legendary Pictures founder and CEO, Thomas Tull, has decided to get directly into the creation and publication of comic books.

Tull joined American comic book legend, Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage), to create a new series of graphic novels, The Tower Chronicles. A proposed trilogy, The Tower Chronicles will see each of its three books serialized in four parts (volumes or issues). The first book/trilogy is The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, written by Wagner and drawn by Simon Bisley, himself a legend for his work on Lobo for DC Comics.

The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 introduces John Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter. Tower will travel the world and go to its darkest recesses to find and destroy some of the most unfathomable monstrosities and creatures. But John doesn’t work for free. Prospective clients must go through Tower’s lawyer, Romulus Barnes, and they must be able to pay Tower’s considerable fees.

One of his newest clients is Agent Alicia Hardwicke of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. With nothing else working, Hardwicke turns to Tower to help her capture a serial killer called the “Piranha Killer.” However, this murderer is not a serial killer, and Agent Hardwicke does not believe in Tower’s world of supernatural creatures. Where do they go from there?

The Tower Chronicles and its lead character, John Tower, are like a blending of Marvel Comics’ character, Blade; the New Line Cinema film series starring Blade; and the character Harry Dresden from author Jim Butcher supernatural detective book series, The Dresden Files. And that’s not a bad thing, because this first volume of The Tower Chronicles is well produced with a well-executed story.

Matt Wagner’s story is expectedly secretive about John Tower’s past, but he tells a fast-paced story full of exciting action-fantasy violence that simply drags the reader along – if he or she likes this kind of genre. The characters are familiar types from various genres and mass entertainments: pulp crime, TV female law enforcement officers, vampire lit, etc., but Wagner punches them up with snappy banter and effective dialogue.

What really makes this stand out is Simon Bisley’s pencil art. As inked by Rodney Ramos and colored by Ryan Brown, Bisley’s compositions are offbeat, which makes the graphical storytelling here different from any other urban fantasy or monster hunter comic books. You can be forgiven for mistaking the Bisley-Ramos union for its resemblance to the work of Paul Gulacy, who would be good for the series should Bisley be unable to continue. For added measure, the team of Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair provide the cover for The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1, and a good cover it is.

I enjoyed The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 enough to want to seek out the rest of the series, some of which has already been released. If you’re missing a good Blade comic book, certainly try this more-than-adequate substitute.

A-

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

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

Slam Dunk: Power Match

I read Slam Dunk, Vol. 26

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

Review: PEANUT graphic novel

PEANUT
SCHWARTZ & WADE BOOKS – @randomhousekids

WRITER: Ayun Halliday – @AyunHalliday
ARTIST: Paul Hoppe @HoppeIndustries
LETTERS/COLORS: Paul Hoppe
ISBN: 978-0-375-86590-9; paperback (December 2012)
216pp, B&W with some color, $15.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Ayun Halliday is the writer and illustrator of her autobiographical zine, The East Village Inky. Paul Hoppe was born in Poland and grew up in Germany, where he published two graphics novels. Together, Halliday and Hoppe are the authors of an original graphic novel entitled, Peanut, published this past December. Written by Halliday and drawn by Hoppe, Peanut tells the story of a girl who pretends to have a peanut allergy in order to make an impression at her new school.

When her mother tells her that they were moving from Cedarwood to Plainfield, teen Sadie Wildhack knows that she will also have to undergo the torture of moving to a new school. Before she starts at Plainfield Community High School (PCHS), Sadie hatches a diabolically hilarious plan to gain the attention of her new classmates. She will tell them that she has a peanut allergy. Sadie even buys a medical alert bracelet. And it works!

Her stories of a life spent avoiding peanuts and the tale of once going into anaphylactic shock make an impression. Sadie manages to snag some new friends. There is a teen boy, Christopher “Zoo” Zuzuki, with whom she becomes close – call it teen love… maybe. She shares secrets and gossip with new gal pal, Louann.

All is not perfect. Her best friend back in Cedarwood, Cheryl, rarely calls or returns phone calls. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Howard Larch, is always on the lookout for peanut danger, and she owes Miss Anderson, the school nurse, some paperwork. And one little lie often sires more little lies, on the way to a great big mess.

Out of nowhere, I recently received a review copy of Peanut, and a quick glance through the large comic book told me that I would not like it. Turns out, I was wrong. Peanut is actually a good read, and now I can see why it was made “A Junior Library Guild Selection.” It is a young adult graphic novel that captures the snakepit/wonderland that is high school, both with blunt honest and genuine warmth.

Writer Ayun Halliday offers some conflict between Sadie and the others denizens of PCHS, but the best struggle is the one inside Sadie – to tell the truth or not. It carries Peanut through some drier moments of the narrative that seem like padding. Sadie’s rough path to honesty will have readers racing to get to the end of the story. Artist Paul Hoppe uses a clean style of vigorous line work, and that makes the compositions hop with activity. If Charles M. Schulz had drawn the Peanuts gang in high school, it might look like Paul Hoppe’s art style in Peanut.

I would like to see co-authors Halliday and Hoppe work together again, on the strength of Peanut. Unlike Sadie Wildhack, I’m not lying about that.

A-

http://ayunhalliday.com/

http://paulhoppe.com