Wednesday, February 29, 2012

I Reads You Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE #4

JUSTICE LEAGUE #4
DC COMICS

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS: Jim Lee
INKS: Scott Williams
COLORS: Alex Sinclair with Gabe Eltaeb
LETTERS: Patrick Brosseau
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams, with Alex Sinclair
VARIANT COVER: Andy Kubert with Alex Sinclair
40pp, Color, $3.99/$4.99 (combo pack) U.S.

I consider Justice League to be the flagship title of “The New 52,” DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero comic book line. And what a flagship it is – all big and shiny and full of pretty art and big action scenes. As I’ve written in previous reviews, Justice League may be mediocre for all I know, but I’m too in love with this series to think of it as anything other than fantastic.

Justice League #4 (“Part Four”) opens in the Red Room at S.T.A.R. Labs in Detroit, as Victor Stone emerges from his Promethium transformation. Shocked at what he’s become, Victor is about to discover just how transformed he is. In the wake of his sudden appearance, Aquaman must prove his mettle to some among the small gathering of superheroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash. Now, the adversary behind the inter-dimensional/alien invasion of Earth will be revealed.

It has been three months since I read the third issue of Justice League, which was a good thing. I needed to take a step back. The plan was to come back with the ability to take a critical look at this series. To hell with that! I love this new Justice League.

I was not a fan of Geoff Johns because I had read next to nothing of his work prior to this Justice League series, but I like what he is doing here. He has created an engaging dynamic between the characters, mixing rivalry, jealousy, and heroism into a pleasing character ensemble.

But let’s get serious. This is the Jim Lee show, with his able assistants, inker Scott Williams and colorist Alex Sinclair, also shining in their skill sets. I think action movies have influenced Lee’s storytelling as much as any comic book writer, artist, or writer/artist. Practically every page, even the ones with multiple panels, features one big panel that creates a sense of scale for the reader. It is as if Lee wants to remind us that this isn’t just another superhero fight; this is a Bruckheimer/Bay movie.

Williams’ macho inking makes the art seem real, but not photo-real, by depicting detail in everything from Steve Trevor’s uniform and gear to Victor Stone’s new body. Alex Sinclair’s colors shimmer, pop off the pages, and sometimes surprisingly, subtly create mood. Yes, I was right last year. This is good.

For extras, there are two pages of Flashes sketches by Francis Manapul and a (faux) dossier on S.T.A.R. Laboratories employees.

A


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 29 2012

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DEC110238 BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #1 $3.99

DEC110235 BATMAN ODYSSEY VOL 2 #5 (OF 7) $3.99

DEC110205 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #24 $2.99

DEC110309 GEARS OF WAR #22 $2.99

DEC118159 JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 2ND PTG $3.99

DEC110188 JUSTICE LEAGUE #6 $3.99

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JUL110255 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ARCHIVES HC VOL 10 $59.99

DEC110275 LEGION SECRET ORIGIN #5 (OF 6) $2.99

DEC110304 LOONEY TUNES #205 $2.99

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DEC110302 TINY TITANS #49 $2.99

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DEC110328 UNWRITTEN #34.5 (MR) $2.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 29 2012

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Saturday, February 25, 2012

I Reads You Review: THE STRANGE CASE OF MR. HYDE #3

THE STRANGE CASE OF MR. HYDE #3 (OF 4) DARK HORSE COMICS

WRITER: Cole Haddon
ART: M.S. Corley
COLORS: Jim Campbell
LETTERS: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
32pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

Published by Dark Horse Comics, The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde is a four-issue comic book series from writer Cole Haddon and artist M.S. Corley. The series connects Jack the Ripper with characters from the novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by author Robert Louis Stevenson, to create a riveting suspense thriller and Victorian murder mystery.

The narrator is Inspector Thomas Adye of Scotland Yard who is trying to catch the Whitechapel Murderer (Jack). He seeks the help of Dr. Henry Jekyll, who is also Mr. Edward Hyde, because the man who is Jack the Ripper is apparently using the same formula that turns Jekyll into Hyde.

As The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #3 opens, London is made aware that Leather Apron, the man whom Inspector Adye arrested for the Whitechapel murders (in the second issue), is not the culprit. Jack the Ripper dares Adye to attend a party at the Griffin House, the London residence of Lord Griffin, a personal advisor of the Prime Minister.

Certain that he will need help handling the monstrously strong Ripper, Adye brings Dr. Jekyll with him to the party. However, Adye comes to believe that the Ripper has tricked him or has he? And the Ripper’s identity is revealed.

The third issue of The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde is practically a Victorian buddy movie and action comedy. The bawdy humor is as smooth as it is salacious. The action comes in novel set pieces that are bloody, but equally inventive.

Many readers probably saw the results of the big reveal that comes at the end of this issue at least earlier in this issue. Writer Cole Haddon seems to believe that the fun of reading is in getting to revelations rather than picking through clever tricks to hide the truth. Artist M.S. Corley’s quirky graphics and solid storytelling bring this fun to life in a way that makes you want to read your favorite passages over and over again.

A


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: UGLIES: Shay's Story

UGLIES: SHAY’S STORY
BALLANTINE BOOKS/DEL REY

CREATOR: Scott Westerfeld
WRITERS: Scott Westerfeld, Devin Grayson
ART: Steven Cummings
TONES/LETTERS: Yishan Li
ISBN: 978-0-345-52722-6; paperback
208pp, B&W, $10.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN

Scott Westerfeld is an American science fiction author who has written several book series aimed at the young adult market (YA). One of them is the Uglies series, a quartet of science fiction and fantasy novels that began in 2005 with the publication of Uglies (Simon Pulse). The Uglies is set 300 years in the future in a time in which everyone is turned “pretty” by extreme cosmetic surgery. The Uglies’ central character is Tally Youngblood, a teen girl who rebels against this forced conformity.

Uglies: Shay’s Story is the first of two original graphic novels set in the world of the Uglies and tells new stories through the eyes of Tally’s friend, Shay, another teen girl. Uglies: Shay’s Story is scripted by Devin Grayson from a story by Scott Westerfeld and is drawn by artist Steven Cummings.

As Uglies: Shay’s Story begins, Shay is a few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, the age at which one undergoes “the Surge,” which is the rite-of-passage surgery that will transform her into a “Pretty.” Currently, she is an “Ugly,” an ordinary human who has not had the surgery. Shay befriends “the Crims” (criminals), a group of fellow teens who say they don’t want to have the surgery. She joins the Crims: Zane, Croy, Astrix, and Ho by exploring past the monitored borders and going into the forbidden, ungoverned wild. This journey makes her think about her future. Shay must decide the path she will choose: become a Pretty or remain one of the Uglies.

Like the source material (the Uglies novels, of course), Uglies: Shay’s Story deals with adolescent themes of emotional and physical change. What really drives Shay’s Story is conflict. The central conflict is a personal one: preservation of one’s personal will versus the longing to conform. The other line of conflicts pits a dystopian society’s need for uniformity against the Uglies’ rebellious urges.

The conflicts play out in the most interesting ways because the players are teenagers about to enter adulthood, but who are also about to enter a world of choice and responsibility. Is becoming a “Pretty” about evolution and accepting adulthood? Are the teens who runaway just afraid to grow up? Uglies: Shay’s Story is a pop concept tailor-made for Hollywood, but the narrative plays out as a coming-of-age story that wants to be more complicated than the latest hot thing. It’s exciting and edgy, like our teenage years.

B+

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 22 2012

DC COMICS

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OCT111358 VIDEO WATCHDOG #166 (MR) $8.95

Sunday, February 19, 2012

43rd NAACP Image Awards Winners in Literary Categories

The 43rd NAACP Image Awards winners were announced in a ceremony, February 17, 2012 and broadcast live on NBC.

The 43rd NAACP Image Awards winners - Literature Categories:

Fiction: Reshonda Tate Billingsley, "Say Amen, Again" (Gallery Books)

Nonfiction: Hill Harper, "The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place" (Gotham Books)

Debut author: Lyah Le Flore, "The Strawberry Letter" (Ballantine/Random House)

Biography/autobiography: Harry Belafonte, "My Song" (Knopf)

Instructional: T.D. Jakes, "The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships from the Inspired Word of God" (Atria Books)

Poetry: James Golden, "Afro Clouds & Nappy Rain: The Curtis Brown Poems" (iUniverse)

Children: Tony Dungy (author), Ron Mazellan (illustrator), "You Can Be A Friend" (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Little Simon)

Youth/teens: Jeff Burlingame, "Jesse Owens: I Always Loved Running" (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)

Friday, February 17, 2012

Review: The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty

THE ART OF THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY
VIZ MEDIA

WRITER: Studio Ghibli
ARTISTS: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Hayao Miyazaki, Ai Kagawa, Akihito Yamashita, Studio Ghibli
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Takami Nieda
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3064-2; soft cover
248pp, Color, $34.99 US, $39.99 CAN, £25.00 UK

The Secret World of Arrietty, a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film, opens in the United States today. Known as The Borrower Arrietty in Japan, it is the latest animated feature film from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation and film studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Miyazaki is known for such animated films as the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, the Oscar-nominated Howl’s Moving Castle, and also Princess Mononoke. The Secret World of Arrietty is based upon The Borrowers, the 1952 children’s fantasy novel by Mary Norton.

Although he drew key art sketches and co-wrote the screenplay, Miyazaki is not The Secret World of Arrietty’s director. That honor goes to rising star Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who also did the concept and rough character sketches for Arrietty. Now, readers can take a look behind the scenes of the production of The Secret World of Arrietty in a new book, The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty.

The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty is a full color collection of preliminary concept sketches and rough character sketches, concept sketches, concept art, background art, and character sketches and designs. The book also includes film stills and the complete voice-over script, illustrated with black and white images from the film.

The television campaign to promote The Secret World of Arrietty’s release to theatres is quite good, the best that I’ve seen for a Studio Ghibli movie since the U.S. release of Princess Mononoke. One could also view The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty as promotion for the film; just thumbing through it is enough to convince someone to see the movie. All the beautiful art, sketches, and assorted graphics from the books are tempting samples from the film.

Certainly, fans of the animated films of Studio Ghibli will want this book. Not only is The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty a behind-the-scenes look at the drawing and visual storytelling process of creating The Secret World of Arrietty, but it is also a dreamscape showing off the tremendous artistic and film talent that works at Studio Ghibli.

The Art of the Secret World of Arrietty also has several pages of sketches produced by the master himself, Hayao Miyazaki. These concept sketches have an impressionistic quality, as if Monet had created them as studies for paintings he would later produce. $34.99 is a bargain just to have the Miyazaki sketches.

A


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: Lucille graphic novel

LUCILLE (OGN)
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARTOONIST: Ludovic Debeurme
TRANSLATOR: Edward Gauvin
LETTER: Christopher Ross
ISBN: 978-1-60309-073-5; paperback
544pp, B&W, $29.95 U.S.

Rated: Mature (18+)

Born in 1971, Ludovic Debeurme is a French comic book artist. After studying at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), he was published in the anthology, Comix 2000, and later went on to become an acclaimed graphic novelist. Debeurme’s breakthrough work was Lucille, a graphic novel published by Futuropolis in 2006 and honored at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Top Shelf Productions gave Lucille its English-language debut in 2011.

The novel is set in rural France and centers on two teenagers from families that are dysfunctional to one degree or another. Lucille Flavinsky is a 16-year-old and suffers from anorexia. Abandoned by her father, Lucille battles her mother’s attempts to get her medical help.

Arthur is a teenaged boy whose father, Vladamir, is a fisherman and an alcoholic. Arthur strongly resists inheriting his father’s profession and his father’s family’s traditions. After two chance encounters, Lucille and Arthur become a couple, star-crossed lovers soon on the run to Italy. However, they cannot run away from their families’ complex legacies, nor can they outrace their own personal complexities.

Lucille has a broad reach and scope, playing like both modern fiction and like some potboiler genre piece. Its creator, Ludovic Debeurme, excavates the nuances and intimate details of the lead characters and also reveals essential moments in the lives of many of its supporting characters. That is why Lucille is definitely not a comic book and is certainly a graphic novel. Lucille is complex, and the narrative flows naturally, always frustrating our expectations, but rewarding our patience – so much so that I must wonder if the narrative did not also frustrate its creator.

Several years ago, I was briefly acquainted with a young woman who was suffering from anorexia. She thought she was fat (though she was not) and unattractive (again, not true, at least from my perspective). She had that pale, young waif look that some young women are lucky or opportunistic enough to turn into a career as a model and/or starlet. I found her more pitiful than I felt pity for her. I have to admit to not exactly being sympathetic to women suffering from anorexia, but I’m working on that. This is the reason why my feelings about Lucille fluctuated so much. She annoyed me as much as she intrigued me.

Like the larger narrative, however, Lucille the character is fascinating and mysterious. She is subtle and yet powerful, like Debeurme’s simple line work and evocative compositions. Lucille is tender and stubborn, both the book and its title character. This is a mesmerizing work, and I started out not wanting to read it. I felt obligated because Top Shelf sent me a review copy, but now I can’t act as if this stunning book has not touched me. I am still thinking about it, and because this is the first chapter of a longer story, I want to read on.

A-

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Stephen Eric Bronner: At Home With the Bigot

At Home With the Bigot
By Stephen Eric Bronner, Reader Supported News
14 February 12

Reader Supported News Perspective

Republicans and their conservative allies insist that racism is a thing of the past. But their party still serves as the bastion of anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-black, and anti-feminist activism. Not since the Great Depression has its lower-middle class base experienced such disorientation and disruption. President George W. Bush left them with two failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bursting of the sub-prime housing bubble and the crashing of the derivates market in 2007. And then, on top of it, came the electoral defeat in 2008 that produced the first black president of the United States. Military miscalculation abroad, economic collapse at home, and burning political humiliation fueled the stubborn radicalism and small-minded resentment of what would become the Tea Party. Coming from non-urban areas mostly in the South and the Mid-West, but also from white immigrant enclaves in some big cities, its members have their own forms of moral cognition. They have little use for globalization, the welfare state, new social movements or the "adversary culture" inherited from the 1960s. Wearing revolutionary garb and tricorn hats, disrupting town meetings devoted to healthcare and other social issues, bullying progressive congressional representatives and holding rallies of their own, they constitute a new generation of reactionary activists calling for "revolution" - though, naturally, only one that will protect their privileges and interests.

The Tea Party meshes libertarian capitalists preaching the gospel of the free market and reactionary populists intent upon rehabilitating "family values," rehabilitating religion, and a parochial vision of community. Over the last century, for the most part, these trends were diametrically at odds with one another: Libertarians had little use for rabble-rousing bigots, religious fanatics or the like, while populists hated big business, open markets, and the scientific culture of modernity. Ronald Reagan initially brought these contradictory trends together. He blended the anti-union and de-regulating interests of elites committed to the classical principles of the free market with the cultural conservatism and hyper-nationalism of the old "moral" majority and burgeoning religious movements. George W. Bush built on that coalition. But there was new urgency for an organizational alliance between liberations and populists following the economic collapse of 2008 and subsequent presidential victory of Barack Obama. Fears of dramatic state intervention into the economy blended with horror over the symbolic implications of having a black president for the image of community associated with old television shows like Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and Happy Days. Out of this alliance and these anxieties, indeed, the Tea Party was born in 2009.

The GOP was quick to recognize its importance. Seasoned operatives of the Republican Party were soon offering their advice and leadership. They originally thought the Tea Party might be manipulated. But the opposite took place: the tail wound up wagging the dog. There is an old saying: styles make fights. The new rhetoric was supplied by Fox News and a score of feral media demagogues, among whom Glenn Beck and Michael Savage were merely the most venal. Evangelicals and far-right groups associated with them and others like them, and the Tea Party routinely began referring to President Obama as the Anti-Christ and as an Imam. The bigot applauded. Advertisements compared him and his family to chimpanzees, portrayed the White House with rows of watermelons on the lawn, and implied that the president is a crack addict. But the problem apparently was not the bigot's friends who supposedly hate blacks: it was rather Obama who clearly hates whites. The new president was seen as the advocate of the (black) welfare cheat, the (Latino) immigrant, the anti-Christian (Arab) terrorist, the supposedly overpaid (lazy and shiftless) union worker, and anti-family (feminist and gay) forces. The Tea Party channeled the bigot's prejudices. It would become easy for him to identify with the (white) business elite whose (seemingly color-blind) policies attacking the bureaucratic welfare state appeared intent upon recreating a patriarchal world of white privilege.

Lingering economic recession, fear of radical social and economic reform, and fanatical mobilization (coupled with disillusionment of those expecting yet more radical changes by the new regime) brought about the sweeping victory of the far right in the Congressional elections of 2010. Now it was the Republicans' turn to applaud. The Tea Party was not simply nuts. Challenging the seemingly sacrosanct image of FDR and the New Deal, whatever its racist and intolerant elements, the Tea Party had become the agent of what might be termed capitalist fundamentalism. This meant highlighting the "invisible hand" of the market and the individual (not the accumulation process and class) as the units of social analysis. The state budget could now be equated with a household budget and everyone would now echo the mantra of Margaret Thatcher: "There is no society, there are only individuals." The welfare state would now be condemned (once again) not merely as wasteful - but immoral. Hard work brings rewards. Individuals are responsible for themselves, not others. Lack of ambition and foresight by individuals are the causes of unemployment and poverty. No free rides! Evangelicals know the "truth": no abortions, no condoms, and no gay marriage - women back to the kitchen and gays to the closet.

With the increasing influence of the Tea Party upon the Republican Party, indeed, the once modest home afforded the bigot turned into a mansion. Rooms would prove available especially for someone who is neither white nor male and who seemingly represents the less privileged. Women like former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin or Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-Minnesota) reaffirm the house-wife or the "soccer mom" in the face of an economy in which the single breadwinner has become an anachronism. A gay couple (two male earners) is trotted out occasionally to congratulate the Tea Party for its libertarian values. There is the Latino Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla), who is apparently terrified by the immigrant mob threatening to invade from South of the border. The bigot has also made friends with an African-American or two. Hermann Cain received his applause for insisting that Blacks were "brain-washed" into supporting the Democratic Party, thereby confirming the bigot's old belief that they are too stupid to favor egalitarian and redistributive policies on their own. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas champions tough love while his (white) wife champions the Tea Party. Then there is Congressman Allen West (R-Fla), whose idea of tolerance is to tell liberals "to get the hell out of the United States" and then identify the Democratic Party with the Nazi propaganda machine. This cast of characters, it should be noted, is not simply useful for propagandizing the undecided: it also reinforces the bigot's idea of what makes a real person of color or a real woman. These political figures validate the benevolent image of a bygone America in which taxes were low, government was small, women were in the kitchen, and the only important color was white.

The clock has already been turned back. A study released on October 29, 2011, by the Bertelsmann Stiftung showed that the United States has plummeted into the bottom five among the thirty nations comprising the industrial world in "Overall Social Justice Rating," "Overall Poverty Prevention Rating," Overall Poverty Rate," "Child Poverty," and "Income Inequality." Libertarian economic policies championed by the Tea Party endanger democratic deliberation, diversity, and cosmopolitan ideals. New socio-economic burdens and constraints also threaten disadvantaged groups. People of color will disproportionately suffer from a flat tax as well as other regressive attempts to shrink the tax base and, subsequently, bankrupt the welfare state. African-Americans and Latinos will be disproportionately impacted by attempts to demand photo-ID, literacy tests, and the like in order to vote. Redistricting and racist zoning regulations are recreating segregation while the uncurbed use of private money in election campaigns is disenfranchising the working people and the poor. Privatizing the prison system has sharply increased incarceration, especially among minority groups: people of color constitute 70% of inmates, nationally, and one in three African-American males is currently either awaiting trial, in jail, or on parole. Since convicts cannot vote, hundred of thousands of primarily African-Americans and people of color are currently being disenfranchised by what has been called the "new Jim Crow."

There is hardly a policy proposal forwarded by the GOP that does not disadvantage people of color, women, and working people - and, worse, there is hardly a single major Republican politician willing to publicly challenge the rhetoric or the proposals of the far right and the Tea Party. The mainstream has justified the extreme. All candidates for the Republican presidential nomination of 2012 seem to worry about a "disappearing white majority" as they take turns in attacking the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "food stamp presidents," and critics of religious dogmatism (as well as the Crusades). White supremacists of varying shades try to recruit and mix with luminaries of the Republican Party at conferences like that hosted by the American Conservative Union. Fragments of half-baked conspiracy theories float around in the minds of many grassroots activists in the Tea Party. Obama may look like he is in charge but (especially since he is black) the more paranoid insist that he is being controlled by more powerful interests and organizations like the Bilderberg banking group, the Trilateral Commission, Freemasons, Islamic terrorists, or Jews - or all of them working in concert. Conspiracy theory is common currency in the Tea Party and, again, there is hardly a single Republican willing to condemn it. Such talk makes no sense and thus frustration grows, resentment increases, and rage intensifies. It is taken out not merely on African-Americans but on other outsiders as well: gays, immigrants, Arabs, and Jews. Bigotry has become a commonplace of political life in the United States. The jargon of prejudice, sometimes veiled and sometimes not, is now so prevalent that most people simply shrug their shoulders. And the Tea Party has been in the vanguard. The influence of their words on action may be indirect: but it is, nonetheless, palpable.

Everyday violence (that mostly goes unreported) against homosexuals, immigrants, and minorities is simply a routine fact of American life. Doctors performing abortions outside the larger cities do so at their own risk. The virtual obsession of the Tea Party with the right to own firearms (including AK-47s) does not merely express a desire to hunt ducks. Mainstream politicians of the Republican Party again fall into line. Sure: explicit calls for the use of violence come only from the margins. Just as the conservative mainstream has helped legitimate the Tea Party, however, the Tea Party is giving new hope to fanatics who stand even further on the right. The Republican Party has lacked the courage to take on the bigots in its own ranks - and its toleration of the Tea Party validates precisely what its ideologues wish to deny: racism is alive and well in the United States. And, all the while, the bigot is smiling. The approving winks that he gets are evident everywhere. What one reaps is what one sows. The prejudices of times past have not disappeared. One just needs to know where to look. Talk about the "end of racism" has become a bad joke. Conservative politics attests to its continuation. The Tea Party will probably find itself in the trashcan of history once Republicans suffer some serious electoral defeats. But its mass base will undoubtedly survive and take new organizational forms as it always has in the past - from the "Know-Nothings" to the KKK to McCarthy to the "Silent Majority" and the "Moral Majority" and God knows what other fringe groups. For the foreseeable future, however, the bigot has no need to worry. With the Republican Party, indeed, he has once again found himself a happy home.

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

Stephen Eric Bronner is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of Global Relations at the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights: Rutgers University. The Senior Editor of Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture, he is currently working on a manuscript entitled The Bigot for Yale University Press.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Hayate the Combat Butler: Vegas Vacation

I read Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 19

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps and comics).


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

DC COMICS

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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

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IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

IDW PUBLISHING

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Dark Horse from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

DARK HORSE COMICS

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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

IMAGE COMICS

DEC110543 ACTIVITY #3 $3.50
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DEC110514 PIGS TP VOL 01 HELLO CRUEL WORLD (MR) $12.99
NOV118136 PROPHET #21 VAR CVR 2ND PTG $2.99
NOV110470 SUPER DINOSAUR #8 $2.99
AUG110428 WITCHBLADE #151 FOIL STAMP & SGN ED $14.99
OCT110579 WITCHBLADE #153 CVR A CHRISTOPHER $2.99
OCT110580 WITCHBLADE #153 CVR B BERNARD & BENES $2.99

Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for February 15 2012

COMICS

NOV111138 AI ORE GN VOL 04 $9.99

DEC111002 ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #1 $3.99

SEP111102 ATHOS IN AMERICA HC $24.99

NOV111131 BAKUMAN TP VOL 09 $9.99

DEC110818 BETTY & VERONICA #258 $2.99

NOV111125 BLEACH TP VOL 38 $9.99

NOV111129 BLUE EXORCIST GN VOL 06 $9.99

OCT110769 CAVEWOMAN 2010 HEROES SIGNED SKETCHBOOK (MR) PI

NOV111139 DAWN OF THE ARCANA TP VOL 02 $9.99

NOV111141 DEVIL & HER LOVE SONG GN VOL 01 $9.99

DEC111055 DF VAMPIRELLA VS DRACULA #1 EXC VIRGIN CVR $14.99

OCT111164 DOMINO LADYS THREESOME #1 $4.50

OCT110887 FEMALE FORCE CHER ONE SHOT $3.99

OCT110756 FEMFORCE #158 $9.95

NOV110929 FLASH GORDON ZEITGEIST #3 $3.99

NOV110672 GLAMOURPUSS #23 $3.00

OCT110773 GOBS #4 (OF 4) $3.99

OCT110772 GOLD DIGGER #135 $3.99

AUG111283 GRIMM FAIRY TALES THE LIBRARY #4 A CVR PEKAR $2.99

AUG111284 GRIMM FAIRY TALES THE LIBRARY #4 B CVR QUALANO $2.99

NOV111140 HARUKA BEYOND THE STREAM OF TIME GN VOL 15 $9.99

NOV111119 HAYATE COMBAT BUTLER TP VOL 19 $9.99

DEC110917 HELLRAISER MASTERPIECES #8 (MR) $3.99

OCT110775 HOW TO DRAW & DESIGN STEAMPUNK SUPERSIZE TP $24.99

NOV111120 INU YASHA VIZBIG ED GN VOL 10 $17.99

DEC110821 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #178 $3.99

NOV111137 KAMISAMA KISS TP VOL 07 $9.99

NOV111121 KEKKAISHI GN VOL 30 $9.99

DEC111115 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 09 NEW PTG $12.99

NOV111142 LIBRARY WARS LOVE & WAR VOL 07 $9.99

DEC110822 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #17 $3.99

NOV111004 LOW MOON HC (NEW PTG) (O/A) $24.99

NOV111022 MADWOMAN O/T SACRED HEART GN (MR) $24.95

NOV111122 MAOH JUVENILE REMIX TP VOL 09 $9.99

OCT110875 MISADVENTURES OF ADAM WEST ONGOING #1 $3.99

DEC111125 MOONIE VS. PHOBIA SPIDER QUEEN TP (MR) $10.00

NOV111143 NATSUMES BOOK OF FRIENDS TP VOL 11 $9.99

DEC111148 NINJAGO GN VOL 02 MASK OF THE SENSEI $6.99

DEC111149 NINJAGO HC VOL 02 MASK OF THE SENSEI $10.99

OCT110862 NINJAS VS ZOMBIES #6 $3.99

NOV111132 NURA RISE O/T YOKAI CLAN GN VOL 07 $9.99

NOV110978 OLYMPIANS GN VOL 04 HADES LORD OF DEAD $9.99

OCT110889 ORBIT JOHN LENNON $3.99

NOV111144 OTOMEN GN VOL 12 $9.99

DEC110925 PLANET OF THE APES #11 $3.99

NOV111136 POKEMON ADVENTURES PLATINUM GN VOL 04 $7.99

OCT110890 POLITICAL POWER MITT ROMNEY ONE SHOT $3.99

NOV110678 PRINCELESS #4 $3.99

OCT110879 QUATERMAIN #1 $3.99

NOV110946 QUEEN SONJA #27 $3.99

AUG111123 RETURN O/T MONSTERS PHANTOM DETECTIVE VS FRANKENSTEIN $3.99

SEP110731 RICHIE RICH GEMS #44 $3.99

NOV110950 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #21 $3.99

DEC110944 ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #5 $3.99

NOV111145 SAKURA HIME LEGEND OF PRINCESS SAKURA GN VOL 06 $9.99

OCT111262 SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY FILM COMIC VOL 01 $16.99

OCT111263 SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY FILM COMIC VOL 02 $16.99

OCT110881 SHERLOCK HOLMES VICTORIAN KNIGHTS #1 $3.99

NOV111135 SHONEN JUMP MARCH 2012 $4.99

DEC110904 SIMPSONS COMICS #187 $2.99

NOV111130 SLAM DUNK GN VOL 20 $9.99

DEC110828 SONIC UNIVERSE #37 $2.99

NOV110737 SONIC UNIVERSE TP VOL 02 30 YEARS LATER $11.99

NOV111146 STORY OF SAIUNKOKU GN VOL 06 $9.99

NOV111133 TEGAMI BACHI GN VOL 08 $9.99

OCT110781 THE LAST ZOMBIE INFERNO TP $14.95

NOV111128 TORIKO GN VOL 08 $9.99

OCT111011 VAMPIRELLA #14 $3.99

SEP111049 WAREHOUSE 13 #4 $3.99

OCT111028 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #10 (MR) $3.99

DEC110984 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS TP VOL 02 PIRATE QUEEN (MR) $17.99

DEC111154 WASTELAND #34 (MR) $3.99

NOV111021 WHISPERS IN THE WALLS GN (MR) $19.95

NOV111134 YU-GI-OH 5DS GN VOL 02 $9.99

AUG110773 ZOMBIE RECOGNITION GUIDE GN $14.95

MAGAZINES
SEP111384 AMAZING FIGURE MODELER #51 $8.00
SEP111391 G FAN #98 $6.95
NOV111096 STAR WARS CLONE WARS MAGAZINE #10 $4.99
NOV111867 WHITE DWARF #385 PI

Monday, February 13, 2012

I Reads You Review: THE STRANGE CASE OF MR. HYDE #2

THE STRANGE CASE OF MR. HYDE #2 (OF 4)
DARK HORSE COMICS

WRITER: Cole Haddon
ART: M.S. Corley
COLORS: Jim Campbell
LETTERS: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
32pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde is a four-issue comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The film weaves together the Jack the Ripper legend with characters from the novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by author Robert Louis Stevenson. Ultimately, the series pits Mr. Edward Hyde against the Whitechapel Murderer (Jack the Ripper) with, Thomas Adye, a London police inspector caught in the middle.

Inspector Adye believes that the Whitechapel Murderer is empowered by the same serum that turned Dr. Henry Jekyll into Edward Hyde. The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #2 finds Adye returning to the bowels of Scotland Yard to meet with Hyde’s creator, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and now, Adye has to make a deal with this devil. Soon, Adye, Jekyll, and two police officers are off to Whitechapel where violence, bloodshed, death, and a taste of Hyde are waiting for Adye.

As I wrote in my review of the first issue of The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde, this is a great read, and it remains so. I love the eye-catching visual style of series artist, M.S. Corley, which recalls woodcut engraving and Kevin O’Neill’s art on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series. Corley’s unique graphics capture a down and dirty, but attractive late-century London, and convey the tension and excitement of the action sequences. Think of this as Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes in comics.

The best thing that writer Cole Haddon gives the readers in this second issue is more of Dr. Jekyll. Haddon’s supernaturally sly Jekyll has a devilish charm that would scare even the Devil himself. I found myself anticipating his every word, so much that I’ve read the pages in which he appears several times.

A


Sunday, February 12, 2012

"Arthur: The Legend Continues" at 2012 MegaCon

“In a time before ours his story ended and the legend was born. In a time after ours, his story begins again!”

Cosmic Times presents

Arthur: The Legend Continues Volume I - The Collected Edition

Written By Martin T. Pierro - Artwork by Cristhain "Crizam" Zamora

About Arthur: The Legend Continues:
With the world as we know it gone, mankind is on the verge of extinction yet still struggling to find purpose and hope.

From the ancient past a glimmer of light shines and a legend returns to claim his throne. Facing challenges never imagined in his time, King Arthur shall rise again and bring the mighty Excalibur to the throats of all who wish to do harm to his people.

Arthur: The Legend Continues takes the legendary king from his "death" on an ancient battlefield to a village on the brink of destruction in a post-apocalyptic future. As the once and future king tries to find his place in this strange new world, he soon discovers that danger lurks around every corner and this new world is more deadly and mysterious than he could possibly imagine

Arthur: The Legend Continues is the flagship series from Cosmic Times and originally premiered at Orlando’s MegaCon in 2009. Now to celebrate the collection of the first volume Cosmic Times has created an extremely limited MegaCon exclusive trade paperback featuring a stunning cover by Dan Mann. Volume I will collect the original 106 pages of the series along with seven never before seen pages of deleted scenes. This exclusive edition will have a limited print run of 25 copies and can only be purchased at MegaCon starting February 17th at the Cosmic Times booth - Indy Press 7. A regular edition will be released soon after.


About Cosmic Times
Established in 2009, Cosmic Times has become a small-press favorite with such diverse titles as Decisions, From Blood and Souled. Publisher Martin T. Pierro (who named Cosmic Times after a fanzine he published back in the mid 80s while still in middle school) is continuing to focus on his goal of making Cosmic Times into a true independent publishing house that focuses on quality storytelling.

More information about Cosmic Times and Arthur: The Legend Continues can be found at -

http://www.cosmictimes.net/.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: THE ART OF PONYO

THE ART OF PONYO
VIZ Media

WRITER: Hayao Miyazaki
ARTIST: Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Takami Nieda
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3064-2; soft cover
272pp, Color, $34.99 US, $39.99 CAN, £25.00 UK

Ponyo is a 2008 animated film written and directed by famed Japanese film director, Hayao Miyazaki, and made by the company he co-founded, Studio Ghibli. Walt Disney Pictures released the fantasy film in North America in 2009. Pixar, the American computer animation company, supervised the production of Ponyo’s English dub.

According to Miyazaki, Ponyo is a reworking of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid,” placed in a contemporary Japanese setting. Readers can learn facts like that and also get a wide open, behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of Ponyo in VIZ Media’s English-language publication of The Art of Ponyo. It’s a treat for people who love “Art of…” books that focus on animated featured films.

The Art of Ponyo features a generous selection of concept sketches, concept art, backgrounds, character sketches and designs, and film stills (of scenes from Ponyo). Readers shouldn’t think for a minute that they won’t get to see any drawings done by Miyazaki. According to the book, he drew all the concept sketches, and the book is littered with wonderful Miyazaki drawings which give us a small peek into this revered director’s creative process. One page even features a storyboard Miyazaki drew himself.

The book includes numerous examples of both Ponyo concept art, which was produced by the staff of Studio Ghibli, and character sketches and designs produced by Katsuya Kondo, the supervising animator of Ponyo. Also included are the complete voice-over script for the English-language release of the film and interviews with four of the guiding hands behind the film, including Kondo and Art Director Noboru Yoshida.

The list of people who will want The Art of Ponyo is long: animation aficionados, fans of Miyazaki, libraries, and people who’ve bought previous Miyazaki-related art books. People who remember the “Art of” books that Hyperion published in the 1990s for Walt Disney animated films (such as The Lion King) will also want The Art of Ponyo, a superbly produced book full of wonderful movie art. Chances are the movie will also be wonderful.

A


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Review: TUROK: SON OF STONE Volume 8

TUROK: SON OF STONE, VOL. 8
DARK HORSE BOOKS

WRITER: Paul S. Newman
ARTIST: Alberto Giolitti
ISBN: 978-1-59582-641-1; hardcover
240pp, Color, $49.99 U.S., $54.99 CAN

The late author and writer of comic books and comic strips, Paul S. Newman, is apparently credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific comic book writer in history. Newman, who died at the age of 75 in 1999, not only wrote for Marvel Comics, but also for the two earlier versions of the publisher, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics. He wrote for DC Comics, Archie Comics, and St. John Publications, among others. Newman is best remembered for his 26-year-tenure writing the comic book series, Turok, Son of Stone.

Turok is a fictional Native American comic book character that first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 (cover dated October/November 1954). In 1956, Turok received his own title, Turok, Son of Stone. The series, which actually began with Turok, Son of Stone #3, was published by Dell Comics, later by Gold Key Comics, and finally by Whitman Comics (an imprint of Turok’s owner, Western Publishing).

A pre-Columbian Indian (Native American), Turok and his brother, Andar, were trapped in an isolated valley populated by dinosaurs, Stone Age-type humans, and other assorted cave men types. Turok and Andar referred to this strange land as the Lost Valley, and the brothers called the dinosaurs, “honkers,” for the noise they made. The brothers struggle to survive while searching for a way out of Lost Valley, which is surrounded by seemingly impregnable and sky-reaching cliffs.

Through its Dark Horse Archives line, Dark Horse Books is reprinting Turok, Son of Stone. Dark Horse sent me a copy of Turok, Son of Stone Volume 8 for review. It reprints Turok, Son of Stone #44-50 (cover dates March 1965 to March 1966), which were published by Gold Key. All the stories are written by Paul S. Newman and are drawn by Alberto Giolitti, an artist of whom I’d never heard.

Seven issues might not seem like a lot of material for an archival collection. At the time of publication, however, issues of the Turok, Son of Stone ranged from 28 to 38 pages of comics and story. And boy, what comics and stories they are.

There are few pages of this book in which Paul S. Newman does not have Turok and Andar living with the specter of death hanging over them. However, Newman’s “action comics” are not of the constant titillation or throw-everything-at-the-wall variety. Newman’s storytelling is natural, as he offers tales of survival – man vs. man and man vs. nature. These are thrilling tales of wild adventure in a natural world.

A good example of this is issue #44’s “The End of the World,” in which a meteor shower sends the denizens of the Lost Valley into panic. All the complications the duo faces and all those obstacles to overcome are natural, rather than supernatural, even in a book about dinosaurs. These include a forest fire, a stampede, animal attacks, and tribal warfare. In a way, Newman is practically writing these Turok stories as frontier adventures. Newman doesn’t leave his readers without some weirdness; there is issue #48’s “The Top of the World,” a creepy and scary tale about abominable snowmen.

All of these stories are brought to life as comics by Alberto Giolitti, who was born in Rome, Italy and eventually became an American citizen. In these Turok, Son of Stone comic books, Giolitti is a brilliant storyteller, and his compositions reveal a level of draftsmanship that was likely matched by few of his peers in the mid-1960s. [Right now, I can think of only Alex Toth.] Giolitti’s depiction of the Lost Valley includes exotic jungles, massive cliffs, craggy mountaintops, dank caverns, alien jungles, lush forests, striking desert vistas, and inventive underwater scenes – all done with an illustrator’s grasp of landscapes. Y’all, this Giolitti fellow is incredible. I doubt that there are more than a handful of comic book artists working today who could draw like Giolitti – Mark Schultz, maybe, and I doubt he could draw six issues a year.

Every issue of Turok, Son of Stone also has extras about the natural world, the early history of man, and trivia and details about Native Americans. Although much of this material is probably outdated, it adds a nice touch to the naturalistic storytelling of Newman and Giolitti. I always wondered what the Turok comic books were like. If I’d known they were this good, I would have sought them out a long time ago. At $49.99, Turok, Son of Stone Volume 8 is a bargain because the quality it offers is worth more.

A


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

DC COMICS

DEC110301 ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #16 $2.99

DEC110231 BATGIRL #6 $2.99

DEC110227 BATMAN AND ROBIN #6 $2.99

NOV110198 BATMAN TIME AND THE BATMAN TP $14.99

DEC110229 BATWOMAN #6 $2.99

DEC110259 DEATHSTROKE #6 $2.99

DEC110255 DEMON KNIGHTS #6 $2.99

DEC110251 FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #6 $2.99

DEC110239 GREEN LANTERN #6 $2.99

DEC110258 GRIFTER #6 $2.99

NOV110245 HEROES OF THE DCU SER 2 SWAMP THING BUST (RES) $95.00

DEC110237 HUNTRESS #5 (OF 6) $2.99

NOV110232 IZOMBIE TP VOL 03 SIX FEET UNDER AND RISING (MR) $14.99

DEC110273 LEGION LOST #6 $2.99

DEC110207 MISTER TERRIFIC #6 $2.99

NOV110235 NORTHLANDERS #48 (MR) $2.99

DEC110221 PENGUIN PAIN AND PREJUDICE #5 (OF 5) $2.99

DEC110254 RESURRECTION MAN #6 $2.99

DEC110260 SUICIDE SQUAD #6 $2.99

DEC110215 SUPERBOY #6 $2.99

NOV110203 SUPERMAN THE BLACK RING TP VOL 01 $14.99

DEC110327 UNWRITTEN #34 (MR) $2.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

MARVEL COMICS

NOV110650 ANITA BLAKE VH LAUGHING CORPSE ULT COLL TP $34.99

NOV110623 ASTONISHING X-MEN CHILDREN OF BROOD PREM HC $19.99

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IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

IDW PUBLISHING

DEC110437 ARCHIE BEST OF DAN DECARLO TREASURY ED $9.99
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Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

DARK HORSE COMICS

OCT110031 ART OF THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE HC $39.99

SEP110045 BRIDE OF THE WATER GOD TP VOL 10 $9.99

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OCT110026 STRANGE CASE OF MR HYDE TP $14.99

DEC110050 THE STRAIN #3 (OF 12) $3.50

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

IMAGE COMICS

SEP110362 ARTIFACTS #14 $3.99
AUG110438 ARTIFACTS TP VOL 03 $19.99
DEC110548 BLUE ESTATE #9 (MR) $2.99
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DEC110570 SPAWN #216 $2.99
DEC110449 THIEF OF THIEVES #1 $2.99

Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for February 8 2012

COMICS

NOV111080 2000 AD #1764 $5.25

DEC110939 ADVENTURE TIME #1 $3.99

DEC111170 AMERICAN SPLENDOR LIFE & TIMES OF HARVEY PEKAR GN NEW PTG $20.00

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NOV110687 CAVEWOMAN FEEDING GROUNDS #1 BUDD ROOT SP ED (MR) PI

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JUL111039 DEAN KOONTZ NEVERMORE #6 (OF 6) $3.99

NOV111031 DELTORA QUEST GN VOL 04 $10.99

JUL111079 DF FALL INTO FUN COLL SET $50.00

SEP111074 DF WARLORD OF MARS #14 EX RISQUE RED CVR $14.99

SEP111075 DF WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH #9 EX RISQUE RED CVR $14.99

DEC110861 DICKS COLOR ED #1 (MR) $4.99

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