Sakura Hime is Under the (Blood) Cherry (Blossom Sword) Moon

I read Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura, Vol. 1

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

Shiki Tsukai 32nd to 41st Season

I read Shiki Tsukai 7/8

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).  This is a mini-omnibus that collects Shiki Tsukai Volumes 7 and 8.

Nura Rise of the Yokai Clan: Rikuo vs. Gyuki

I read Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 2

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

Leroy Douresseaux on AFTER DARK #3

AFTER DARK #3

RADICAL PUBLISHING

 

CREATORS: Antoine Fuqua and Wesley Snipes

WRITER: Peter Milligan
ARTIST: Leonardo Manco
PAINTS: Kinsun Loh, Jerry Choo, Sansan Saw
LETTERS: Clayton Cowles
COVER: Tae Young Choi
56pp, Color, $4.99

His legal troubles did not stop movie producer and actor Wesley Snipes, best known for the Blade film franchise, from helping to create a comic book. With director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Snipes created After Dark, a science fiction comic book miniseries from Radical Publishing. Hellblazer alums Peter Milligan and Leonardo Manco actually produce the comic book, with Milligan the scriptwriter and Manco the artist.

Set in the future, After Dark takes place on an Earth that exists in a state of near-perpetual darkness. Civilization is mostly confined to domed cities, with Solar City being the most populated. The populace either lives in a drug-addled stupor or engages in rioting because of boredom. The rulers of Solar City decide that Angel, a messianic figure who hasn’t been seen in decades, can tame the populace. They enlist Omar, a Bedouin drifter, to guide a rag-tag team composed of specialists and known criminals into the wilds outside Solar City to find Angel.

As After Dark #3 opens, words gets out that Angel has been found and that she is coming to Solar City. That means a happy ending, right? It’s not that simple and neither is Angel, and friends become enemies.

I give credit to the creators for making this last issue of After Dark so… dark. It’s gritty, violent, tragic, and even for a few, small moments, poignant. At 150 pages of narrative, one would think that this story is long enough. It’s not. After Dark isn’t a miniseries so much as it is an epic, and there needed to be much more room in the story for the characters. It is almost as if Peter Milligan’s storytelling is too big for this miniseries. Still, After Dark is an interesting, darker-than-usual, dystopian fiction that offers a large, rich assortment of attention-grabbing ideas and elements.

B+

Shonen Jump Website to Profile its Stars

VIZ MEDIA’S SHONEN JUMP WEBSITE OFFERS EXCLUSIVE NEW CONTENT AND CELEBRATES “SJ HEROES WEEK” ONLINE
 
SHONEN JUMP Pays Homage To All The Great Manga Heroes That Have Appeared In VIZ Media Graphic Novels And The Magazine
 
VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced that its SHONEN JUMP website will feature a special week-long “SJ Heroes Week,” during which it will publish a different manga (graphic novel) hero profile online every day from March 27th to April 1st.
 
The SJ Heroes Week coincides with the new commemorative 100th issue of SHONEN JUMP magazine, which is on sale now. Fans and subscribers can log on to the SHONEN JUMP website at www.ShonenJump.com for fresh daily updates of all-time favorite manga heroes. A second round of SHONEN JUMP Heroes, to be featured in the upcoming May 2011 print edition (on sale April 5th), will post on the website during the second half of April with expanded entries for each manga character. This content further extends the magazine’s new subscriber initiatives featured on the SHONEN JUMP website.

SHONEN JUMP’s print and website redesign for 2011 welcomed the new decade with a fresh, contemporary look and notably expanded content. These new features complement several digital subscriber-only premiums, as well as the online debut of a brand new manga series, NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN (rated ‘T’ for Teens). This is SHONEN JUMP’s first title to be serialized digitally on ShonenJump.com. The redesigned site offers fresh content updated daily that includes special Manga Spotlight Features, Manga Profile Features, Anime Episode Updates, Weekly Fan Art submissions, Trading Card Game Tips, Video Game Features and much more!

“SHONEN JUMP magazine is the most popular manga magazine today, with over a million readers in its original language version in Japan, as well as hundreds of thousands of fans in the U.S.,” says Joel Enos, SHONEN JUMP Senior Editor. “And now SHONEN JUMP is expanding its online coverage with new daily updates to give readers more of what they want – features on manga, anime, card games and video games, plus exclusive online manga content for subscribers. During the next two months, we’ll also profile SHONEN JUMP heroes from a variety of SHONEN JUMP’s most loved manga series. From international sensations like NARUTO and ONE PIECE to beloved classics like DRAGON BALL, we will spotlight every SJ hero that ever came out in the U.S. in either graphic novel format or in the magazine!”

For more information on SHONEN JUMP Magazine and other Shonen Jump titles, please visit http://www.shonenjump.com/.

Leroy Douresseaux on FINDER: VOICE

FINDER: VOICE

DARK HORSE BOOKS

 

CARTOONIST: Carla Speed McNeil

ISBN: 978-1-59582-651-0; paperback
216pp, B&W, $19.99 U.S., $21.99 CAN

I knew Carla Speed McNeil for a few years back in college, when we both worked for the student newspaper. She was a cartoonist and also contributed a comic strip (entitled “Sane as it Ever Was,” I think). I thought then that she was quite talented. When she showed me a sketchbook filled with pencil figure drawings of humans and animals, I knew that she was going to do fantastic work in comics, if she chose to pursue that.

She was humble and thought I might be exaggerating. I was right. She was wrong. I’m a prophet. Welcome to the Church of Leroy!

Carla Speed McNeil has been producing her comic book (now webcomic), Finder, which she describes as “aboriginal science fiction,” since 1996. McNeil self-published the Finder comic book series through her company, Lightspeed Press, for 38 issues. Finder the webcomic is available on the publisher’s website.

Dark Horse has just published the most recent Finder graphic novel/story arc in a trade paperback entitled Finder: Voice. Finder takes place in the far distant future, on a vastly depopulated Earth. The series is set primarily in domed city-states that are dominated by wealthy clans. In the lands outside the domes, various hunter-gatherer cultures thrive.

Voice is set in the domed city of Anvard, where society is dominated by an intricate network of clans, including the flamboyant Llaverac. Rachel Grosvenor is Llaverac on her mother’s side and Medawar (another clan) on her father’s side. Now, Rachel is in the midst of the 557th Annual Llaverac Clan Confirmation Competition. Winning or finishing near the very top means that Rachel will be formally welcomed into the clan, which will secure her and her family’s future. A mugging and the theft of a priceless and indispensable family heirloom wrecks her chances. Rachel’s hunt for the heirloom sends her spiraling into Anvard’s dark underbelly (the other side of the tracks, so to speak), and a legendary Finder may hold the key to her future. But can Rachel find the Finder?

There are many things that stand out about Carla Speed McNeil’s work on Finder: the deft handling of a huge ensemble cast, the intricate character relationships, the complex internal mythology, etc. What always stands out to me is how expressive her art is. Comics are a visual storytelling medium, of course, but that is a rather simplistic way of looking at the medium. Comics use graphics that include drawings, sound effects, word balloons, captions, lettering, etc. to not only tell a story, but to also convey a range of emotions, as well as establish settings, moods, and time periods.

As a whole, McNeil’s graphic storytelling is lush and highly-detailed. It is a meticulous graphical symphony of sights, sounds, smells, and sensations, if not tastes. A reader can break down the composition of each panel and see that every line is a conveyance. The flowing drapery informs the readers of the opulence and importance of the clan confirmation competition. Heavy word balloons carry the weight of angry words. Swaying brush strokes suggest the wild and fevered rhythm of Ascian dance. Grassy cross-hatching unveils the lavish, stately home that marks Rachel’s victory.

Finder is the little independent, self-published comic book that is a great, big old science fiction comic book. Through her vivid, expressive storytelling, Carla Speed McNeil presents a world that is at once familiar and old, but also brand new. Finder is a ticket to adventure through a mesmerizing, new science fiction world.

A

http://www.lightspeedpress.com/

Review: BLUE EXORCIST: Volume 1

BLUE EXORCIST, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA

CARTOONIST: Kazue Kato
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: John Hunt, Primary Graphix
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4032-0; paperback; Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
202pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Rin Okumura was raised by Father Fujimoto, a famous exorcist, but a fateful argument with the Father reveals the terrible secret of Rin’s origin.  The Demon Lord Satan is Rin’s father.  Now, Rin is determined to reject his demonic blood line and enrolls in True Cross Academy Private High School, where he will train to be an exorcist!

In Blue Exorcist, Vol. 1, daddy comes a calling.  Satan arrives to claim his son, Rin, but Rin has other plans.  Plus, Rin learns a shocking secret about his younger, fraternal twin brother, Yukio, who hasn’t inherited the demonic bloodline.

THE LOWDOWN:  Sometimes, I read the first volume of a manga series, and it so impresses me that I am ready to give it a high grade right from the beginning.  Or it does not impress me, and I give it a low mark.  A Shonen Jump manga, Blue Exorcist has potential, but I’m not ready to grade it, yet.

Created by Kazue Kato, Blue Exorcist is an action/fantasy with comedic elements.  Thus far, the stories are told in episodes that are built around the larger story arc and internal mythology.  I like the comedy and the bickering between characters.  I think that regardless of the imaginatively designed characters and inventive fantasy, Blue Exorcist’s strength will be in the characters, and right now, the series seems strong.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Teen readers will like the action and comedy of the “Shonen Jump Advanced” title, Blue Exorcist.

Revised and Posted on I Reads You blog:  Thursday, October 29, 2020

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