I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Naruto: The Crack
I read Naruto, Vol. 62: The Crack
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
Saturday, August 10, 2013
I Reads You Review: The Wake #1
DC COMICS/Vertigo – @vertigo_comics
WRITER: Scott Snyder
ARTIST: Sean Murphy – @Sean_G_Murphy
COLORS: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Sean Murphy with Jordie Bellaire
VARIANT COVER: Andy Kubert with Brad Anderson
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (September 2013)
Part One
The Wake is a new 10-issue miniseries created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy. Snyder has described The Wake as a “deep-sea, sci-fi, horror epic, with elements of post-apocalyptic storytelling...” The series follows a marine biologist who investigates new threats from the depths of the ocean.
The Wake #1 takes place in three different time periods. Two hundred years in the future, a young woman and her dolphin companion are on a quest in a half-drowned city. In the present, Lee Archer, a marine biologist in exile (sort of), is approached by Agent Astor Cruz of the Department of Homeland Security. Cruz is calling upon Archer to examine and to give her analysis of something that was found at the bottom of the ocean. The final chapter of the first issue takes place 100,000 years ago with a cave painter.
The Wake #1 is a great big tease. In recent decades, comic books are published in which stories are “decompressed,” and those stories are told in arcs that can run five or six issues or more before the conclusion. This means that comic book writers have to find ways to keep readers interested in buying multiple issues. There are often single panels, scenes made of several panels, or sequences of pages that are more about sensation than storytelling. Ultimately, a reader could pay $18 to $30 for what is basically a short story that is told as a 100+ page graphic narrative, so titillation is needed to give the reader a reason to keep buying future issues.
The Wake #1 barely classifies as a chapter. It is bits and pieces of various prologues with some nice “gotcha” moments and shocking-reveal panels to make investing in a second issue seem worth it a comic book reader/comic book customer. The Wake #1 is not a bad comic book.
Sean Murphy’s art that is published in color has a clean, attractive drawing style, and Scott Snyder is a good modern comic book writer. Both have done quality and entertaining work, so on the reputation of the creators alone, The Wake is worth a look. If lesser known or even unknown creators had created The Wake, I doubt Vertigo would be publishing it. Maybe, Image Comics would. That said, I do look forward to trying the second issue.
B
http://www.seangordonmurphy.com/
www.vertigocomics.com
Friday, August 9, 2013
Happy Birthday, Bob McLeod
Bob McLeod, the co-creator of the New Mutants, renowned inker, and children's book author, celebrates his birthday. He has also been a mentor to me, so I wish him a Happy Birthday and many more.
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Thursday, August 8, 2013
Library Wars: Mom, Stop!
I read Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 10
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free comics).
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free comics).
Valiant Comics for August 2013
VALIANT Solicitations for AUGUST 2013
BLOODSHOT #0
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by CHRISCROSS
Cover by DAVE BULLOCK (JUN131317)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by MATT KINDT (JUN131318)
Wraparound Gatefold Variant by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO (JUN131319)
Discover the declassified secret history of Project Rising Spirit’s Bloodshot program and its most successful soldier – as told by superstar creator Matt Kindt (MIND MGMT, Justice League of America) and fan favorite artist ChrisCross (Superman/Batman)!
From the darkest days of World War II and Korea, and through the hell of Vietnam and Afghanistan, Bloodshot's origin leaves a bloody trail of discarded lives and forgotten families. But which memories are real? Which families? Which children? Is Bloodshot many men...or no man at all? Is he simply a soulless killing machine or something more? Who is responsible? And why have they engineered the most dangerous weapon ever conceived by man? This issue holds the answers…but also reveals that we may have been asking the wrong questions all along…
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
HARBINGER #15
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art & Cover by BARRY KITSON (JUN131326)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by TREVOR HAIRSINE (JUN131327)
Variant Cover by KHARI EVANS (JUN131328)
Variant Cover by RIAN HUGHES (JUN131329)
HARBINGER WARS AFTERMATH!
ALL-NEW ARC, ALL-NEW JUMPING-ON POINT!
In the wake of Harbinger Wars, start reading here as Joshua Dysart and new series artist Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man, FF) begin the next year of Harbinger with a mind-bending trip to the outer limits of the Valiant Universe!
It’s been a brutal few months for Peter Stanchek and the Renegades, culminating in the harrowing events – and losses – of the Harbinger Wars. But now the members of the team have woken up to the Best. Day. Ever. As Lou Reed sang, it’s just a perfect day, problems left all alone. But for Peter Stanchek – a kid who deserves a good day – something seems off…like all is not what it seems…
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 14th!
--
QUANTUM AND WOODY #2
Written by JAMES AMSUS
Art by TOM FOWLER
Cover by RYAN SOOK (JUN131320)
Variant Cover by TOM FOWLER (JUN131321)
Variant Cover by RIAN HUGHES (JUN131322)
Off to a bad start!
Eric and Woody Henderson have accidentally blown up their father’s life’s work – and themselves along with it! Now, as their bizarre new superpowers begin to manifest, will they be able to outmaneuver the squad of trigger-happy cops that think Eric and Woody are to blame for their dad’s murder? Plus! The mysterious cabal targeting the world’s worst superhero team only gets creepier. Seriously, it's like an iceberg of creepy. Only 10 percent is showing! And Quantum and Woody are about to crash right the %$!@ into it!
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 7th!
--
X-O MANOWAR #16
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by LEE GARBETT
Cover by PATRICK ZIRCHER (JUN131323)
Variant Cover by DAVE BULLOCK (JUN131324)
Old soldiers, new enemies.
X-O Manowar and the Eternal Warrior. Once they were brothers-in-arms, comrades sworn to the same cause. But now they find themselves on opposing sides of a battle for the very fate of civilization itself. Aric of Dacia, and the immense power that he wields, have the potential to the plunge the world into a new era of war, and the only man who can broker a world peace also happens its to be its most fearsome warrior. But can Gilad settle this conflict with words rather than weapons? And does he know how? As the world watches, two of Valiant’s most fearsome heroes will meet once again – and the outcome of their latest clash will decide the fate of us all.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #12
Written by FRED VAN LENTE
Art by PERE PEREZ
Cover by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO (JUN131332)
Variant Cover by JUAN DOE (JUN131333)
Caught in the jaws of the Faraway!
General Redacted has laid claim to the greatest secret in a time-lost dimension that’s practically built on ‘em. Must be a doozy, huh? Well, it’s big enough that Redacted and his army of alien greys are laying waste to anyone and anything that approaches their occupied lands of the Faraway. Now, it’s down to Archer & Armstrong to run the greatest infiltration/liberation/inebriation mission history has ever known, which would be a cakewalk if its wasn’t for all the UFOs, hostile natives and, of course, the dinosaurs. Yup, could definitely do without those dinosaurs.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 14th!
--
SHADOWMAN #9
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art by NEIL EDWARDS
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON (JUN131330)
Variant Cover by ANDREW ROBINSON (JUN131331)
The deepest cut of all.
Jack suffers a devastating betrayal as Master Darque's ultimate plan stands revealed. Now, with the Brethren on the verge of wiping out Dox and the Abettors and the Deadside threatening to explode into our world, Jack will have to call on everything he's got to stop them…or lose everything trying.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 7th!
--
X-O MANOWAR VOL. 3: PLANET DEATH TPB (JUN131325)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by CARY NORD and TREVOR HAIRSINE
Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN
The invasion is here – and X-O Manowar is the invader! From superstar creators Robert Venditti, Cary Nord and Trevor Hairsine, jump on board one of the year’s most ambitious series as X-O Manowar ignites an interstellar war and changes the landscape of the Valiant Universe forever!
Aric of Dacia, a fifth century Visigoth armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon, is all that stands between the Earth and all-out annihilation at the hands of the alien race that abducted him from his own time. Now, the day of Aric’s reckoning has finally come. As his Visigoth forefathers sacked Rome, Aric will take the battle directly to his oppressors on the Vine homeworld of Loam. He will decimate their armies, he will level their cities – and he will not stop until the whole of their empire is reduced to ash. This is PLANET DEATH!
Collecting the complete PLANET DEATH saga from X-O MANOWAR #9-14 by New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (Green Lantern, The Surrogates) and superstar artists Cary Nord (Conan) and Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis), start reading here to find out why X-O Manowar's one-man revenge mission has IGN declaring "X-O Manowar still kicks butt. Bring on Planet Death."
"Downright amazing." - Comic Vine
"Venditti continues to execute his vision with deadly precision. Everyone should be on board…" - Bloody Disgusting
Collecting X-O MANOWAR #9-14
ISBN: 978-1-939346-08-7
$14.99/T+/144 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
VALIANT MASTERS: ETERNAL WARRIOR VOL. 1 – THE FIST AND STEEL HC (JUN131334)
Written by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, JIM SHOOTER and KEVIN VANHOOK
Art by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, JOHN DIXON and YVEL GUICHET
Cover by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH
For a thousand generations, Gilad Anni-Padda has defended the innocent and dealt out justice as the Eternal Warrior – the undying champion of the Geomancers, the Earth’s chosen Fist and Steel. An unsung veteran of every war ever waged, Gilad’s hard-fought quest from the ancient world to modern day Los Angeles is about to force him to the forefront of the Valiant Universe – and into a brand new kind of battle alongside the likes of Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, and his own long-lost brother, Armstrong.
Featuring never-before-collected work by Eisner Award-winning comics legend Barry Windsor-Smith, along with all-time classic stories by Jim Shooter, Kevin VanHook, John Dixon and more, this Valiant Masters volume re-presents Eternal Warrior (1992) #1-7 and Archer & Armstrong (1992)/Eternal Warrior (1992) #8.
Collecting Eternal Warrior (1992) #1-7, Archer & Armstrong (1992)/Eternal Warrior (1992) #8.
ISBN: 978-1-939346-06-3
$24.99/T+/186 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 28th!
BLOODSHOT #0
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by CHRISCROSS
Cover by DAVE BULLOCK (JUN131317)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by MATT KINDT (JUN131318)
Wraparound Gatefold Variant by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO (JUN131319)
Discover the declassified secret history of Project Rising Spirit’s Bloodshot program and its most successful soldier – as told by superstar creator Matt Kindt (MIND MGMT, Justice League of America) and fan favorite artist ChrisCross (Superman/Batman)!
From the darkest days of World War II and Korea, and through the hell of Vietnam and Afghanistan, Bloodshot's origin leaves a bloody trail of discarded lives and forgotten families. But which memories are real? Which families? Which children? Is Bloodshot many men...or no man at all? Is he simply a soulless killing machine or something more? Who is responsible? And why have they engineered the most dangerous weapon ever conceived by man? This issue holds the answers…but also reveals that we may have been asking the wrong questions all along…
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
HARBINGER #15
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art & Cover by BARRY KITSON (JUN131326)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by TREVOR HAIRSINE (JUN131327)
Variant Cover by KHARI EVANS (JUN131328)
Variant Cover by RIAN HUGHES (JUN131329)
HARBINGER WARS AFTERMATH!
ALL-NEW ARC, ALL-NEW JUMPING-ON POINT!
In the wake of Harbinger Wars, start reading here as Joshua Dysart and new series artist Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man, FF) begin the next year of Harbinger with a mind-bending trip to the outer limits of the Valiant Universe!
It’s been a brutal few months for Peter Stanchek and the Renegades, culminating in the harrowing events – and losses – of the Harbinger Wars. But now the members of the team have woken up to the Best. Day. Ever. As Lou Reed sang, it’s just a perfect day, problems left all alone. But for Peter Stanchek – a kid who deserves a good day – something seems off…like all is not what it seems…
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 14th!
--
QUANTUM AND WOODY #2
Written by JAMES AMSUS
Art by TOM FOWLER
Cover by RYAN SOOK (JUN131320)
Variant Cover by TOM FOWLER (JUN131321)
Variant Cover by RIAN HUGHES (JUN131322)
Off to a bad start!
Eric and Woody Henderson have accidentally blown up their father’s life’s work – and themselves along with it! Now, as their bizarre new superpowers begin to manifest, will they be able to outmaneuver the squad of trigger-happy cops that think Eric and Woody are to blame for their dad’s murder? Plus! The mysterious cabal targeting the world’s worst superhero team only gets creepier. Seriously, it's like an iceberg of creepy. Only 10 percent is showing! And Quantum and Woody are about to crash right the %$!@ into it!
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 7th!
--
X-O MANOWAR #16
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by LEE GARBETT
Cover by PATRICK ZIRCHER (JUN131323)
Variant Cover by DAVE BULLOCK (JUN131324)
Old soldiers, new enemies.
X-O Manowar and the Eternal Warrior. Once they were brothers-in-arms, comrades sworn to the same cause. But now they find themselves on opposing sides of a battle for the very fate of civilization itself. Aric of Dacia, and the immense power that he wields, have the potential to the plunge the world into a new era of war, and the only man who can broker a world peace also happens its to be its most fearsome warrior. But can Gilad settle this conflict with words rather than weapons? And does he know how? As the world watches, two of Valiant’s most fearsome heroes will meet once again – and the outcome of their latest clash will decide the fate of us all.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #12
Written by FRED VAN LENTE
Art by PERE PEREZ
Cover by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO (JUN131332)
Variant Cover by JUAN DOE (JUN131333)
Caught in the jaws of the Faraway!
General Redacted has laid claim to the greatest secret in a time-lost dimension that’s practically built on ‘em. Must be a doozy, huh? Well, it’s big enough that Redacted and his army of alien greys are laying waste to anyone and anything that approaches their occupied lands of the Faraway. Now, it’s down to Archer & Armstrong to run the greatest infiltration/liberation/inebriation mission history has ever known, which would be a cakewalk if its wasn’t for all the UFOs, hostile natives and, of course, the dinosaurs. Yup, could definitely do without those dinosaurs.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 14th!
--
SHADOWMAN #9
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art by NEIL EDWARDS
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON (JUN131330)
Variant Cover by ANDREW ROBINSON (JUN131331)
The deepest cut of all.
Jack suffers a devastating betrayal as Master Darque's ultimate plan stands revealed. Now, with the Brethren on the verge of wiping out Dox and the Abettors and the Deadside threatening to explode into our world, Jack will have to call on everything he's got to stop them…or lose everything trying.
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 7th!
--
X-O MANOWAR VOL. 3: PLANET DEATH TPB (JUN131325)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by CARY NORD and TREVOR HAIRSINE
Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN
The invasion is here – and X-O Manowar is the invader! From superstar creators Robert Venditti, Cary Nord and Trevor Hairsine, jump on board one of the year’s most ambitious series as X-O Manowar ignites an interstellar war and changes the landscape of the Valiant Universe forever!
Aric of Dacia, a fifth century Visigoth armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon, is all that stands between the Earth and all-out annihilation at the hands of the alien race that abducted him from his own time. Now, the day of Aric’s reckoning has finally come. As his Visigoth forefathers sacked Rome, Aric will take the battle directly to his oppressors on the Vine homeworld of Loam. He will decimate their armies, he will level their cities – and he will not stop until the whole of their empire is reduced to ash. This is PLANET DEATH!
Collecting the complete PLANET DEATH saga from X-O MANOWAR #9-14 by New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (Green Lantern, The Surrogates) and superstar artists Cary Nord (Conan) and Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis), start reading here to find out why X-O Manowar's one-man revenge mission has IGN declaring "X-O Manowar still kicks butt. Bring on Planet Death."
"Downright amazing." - Comic Vine
"Venditti continues to execute his vision with deadly precision. Everyone should be on board…" - Bloody Disgusting
Collecting X-O MANOWAR #9-14
ISBN: 978-1-939346-08-7
$14.99/T+/144 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 21st!
--
VALIANT MASTERS: ETERNAL WARRIOR VOL. 1 – THE FIST AND STEEL HC (JUN131334)
Written by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, JIM SHOOTER and KEVIN VANHOOK
Art by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, JOHN DIXON and YVEL GUICHET
Cover by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH
For a thousand generations, Gilad Anni-Padda has defended the innocent and dealt out justice as the Eternal Warrior – the undying champion of the Geomancers, the Earth’s chosen Fist and Steel. An unsung veteran of every war ever waged, Gilad’s hard-fought quest from the ancient world to modern day Los Angeles is about to force him to the forefront of the Valiant Universe – and into a brand new kind of battle alongside the likes of Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, and his own long-lost brother, Armstrong.
Featuring never-before-collected work by Eisner Award-winning comics legend Barry Windsor-Smith, along with all-time classic stories by Jim Shooter, Kevin VanHook, John Dixon and more, this Valiant Masters volume re-presents Eternal Warrior (1992) #1-7 and Archer & Armstrong (1992)/Eternal Warrior (1992) #8.
Collecting Eternal Warrior (1992) #1-7, Archer & Armstrong (1992)/Eternal Warrior (1992) #8.
ISBN: 978-1-939346-06-3
$24.99/T+/186 pgs.
ON SALE AUGUST 28th!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Review: BAKUMAN Volume 20
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
STORY: Tsugumi Ohba
ARTIST: Takeshi Obata
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
LETTERS: James Gaubatz
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5370-2; paperback (August 2013); Rated “T” for “Teen”
176pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
I remember when I first started reading Bakuman three years ago – sometime in early August 2010. It was the start of a beautiful reading friendship.
Bakuman is a manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, and was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from August 11, 2008 to April 23, 2012. VIZ Media has just published the North American edition of Bakuman Volume 20, the graphic novel collecting the final chapters of the series.
Bakuman is about two boys with a dream to make it in the world of manga. Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi meet in middle school. Mashiro loves to draw. Takagi is an aspiring writer, who discovers Mashiro’s talent. Takagi convinces Mashiro that they should unite to create manga. Working under the penname, “Muto Ashirogi,” the boys achieve success over the next decade by getting their manga published in the magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump. The duo’s newest series is Reversi. How long can these two young men make it in the manga-publishing world?
A decade ago, two young men set about to create manga. One of them, Mashiro, promised a fellow student, Miho Azuki, that he would marry her when both their dreams came true. His was to create a manga that would be adapted into an anime, and hers was to be the voice actress who would play the lead role in that anime.
Bakuman, Vol. 20 (entitled Dreams and Reality – Chapters 169 to 176 – the final chapter) opens with dreams imperiled. Miho takes to the radio to address the scandal that threatens to destroy her career and possibly Muto Ashirogi’s.
Muto Ashirogi’s latest manga hit, Reversi, is being adapted into an anime series. Miho seemed destined to play the role of Reversi’s female lead, Naho Minadori, until a controversy. Now, the audition for the part will be broadcast live and has been turned into an Internet contest with a fan vote determining which actress wins the part. Will Miho win the part of Naho, and if she does, will that mean that Mashiro and Miho’s dreams will finally and completely come true? Are there wedding bells in their future?
The Bakuman (stylized as Bakuman。) manga has reached its final volume. There is a happy ending, but Bakuman Volume 20 offers both the present and hints about the future, without going into every detail. This is sort of “make your own happy endings and assumptions,” and that is a good thing.
This is the way of Bakuman’s creators, writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata, the masterminds behind the Death Note manga. Ohba offers fiction, but plays so close to reality. Visually, Bakuman’s storytelling belies its realist streak. Obata’s quirky graphic style suggests the fantastic and surreal nature of cartoons, but his draftsmanship plays it straight. It is as if Bakuman’s masterminds want to say that this series is true – in a manner of speaking.
Bakuman is one of the great recent works of insider fiction, and is likely the best workplace comic book ever produced. I highly recommend Bakuman and look forward to reading it again.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
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