Kimi Ni Todoke: Happy Moment

I read Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 18

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

Book Review: SPIDER WOMAN'S DAUGHTER

SPIDER WOMAN’S DAUGHTER
HARPERCOLLINS/Harper – @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Anne Hillerman
ISBN: 978-0-06-227048-1; hardcover (October 1, 2013)
320pp, B&W, $26.99 U.S.

The late author Tony Hillerman (1925–2008) was best known for his series of “Navajo Tribal Police novels,” which began with The Blessing Way (1970).  The series main protagonists are Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.  These two characters were last seen in The Shape Shifter (2006), Hillerman’s final book.

Spider Woman’s Daughter is the debut novel from award-winning reporter and nonfiction book author, Anne Hillerman.  Anne is the daughter of Tony Hillerman, who was a New York Times bestselling author.  In Spider Woman’s Daughter, Leaphorn and Chee are back for the first time since The Shape Shifter.  However, Spider Woman’s Daughter is not quite a “Leaphorn and Chee” novel (although the copy “A Leaphorn & Chee Novel” graces the cover).  The book’s central character, the one through which the bulk of the narrative is told, is Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito, who is also Jim Chee’s wife.

Set in New Mexico, Spider Woman’s Daughter opens one ordinary morning at the Navajo Inn during a breakfast gathering of select Navajo Nation cops.  This is how the promotional material for Spider Woman’s Daughter describes what happens during this meeting:

It happened in an instant: After a breakfast with colleagues, Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito sees a sedan career into the parking lot and hears a crack of gunfire. When the dust clears, someone very close to her is lying on the asphalt in a pool of blood.

Perhaps, I am not supposed to reveal this, dear reader, but the book has been out for three months, (as I write this review).  Plus, the shooting happens on page three of the story, anyway.  That someone very close to Bernie is Inspector Joe Leaphorn.

With Leaphorn fighting for his life in a Sante Fe hospital, every Navajo Nation cop and also the local FBI office is determined catch the unidentified gunman.  Bernie wants in on the investigation, but regulations strictly forbid an eyewitness to the shooting from being involved in the investigation.  Bernie’s superior, Captain Largo, orders her to take a leave of absence from the job and to not get involved in the case.  He threatens to fire her if she disobeys his direct orders.

Of course, Bernie is not going to sit this investigation out, especially when her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, is put in charge of finding the shooter.  Bernie and Chee discover that the shooting is tied to an old case upon which Leaphorn worked.  This case, which could unveil the shooter’s identity, may have involved Chee.  Leaphorn has had a decades long career and has been involved in countless cases, so which case is it?

Spider Woman’s Daughter is part police procedural and part murder mystery, both wrapped inside of a cop drama that follows a female Native American police officer.  I want to describe this book as a character drama because Bernie, as a character, is far more interesting than the plot, which alternately simmers and meanders for 200+ pages.  It is only in the last five or so chapters of this book’s 22 chapters that the mystery really starts to hop.

Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito is an intriguing character.  There is a lot to her.  Her thoughts and actions are unpredictable, but not in some wild and chaotic way.  To me, Bernie seems human.  Anne Hillerman gives her weight and substance, so that I find her sticking to my imagination.  I want to get to know her, and, most of all, to follow her around.  Fiction, especially novels, needs to have a character worth following.  Spider Woman’s Daughter has that in Bernie, and hopeful we can follow her in future novels, as Leaphorn and Chee take a backseat to her.

B+

www.annehillerman.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Fantagraphics Books Announces "Massive" Look at Gay Erotic Manga

MASSIVE: GAY EROTIC MANGA AND THE MEN WHO MAKE IT

Release — October 2014
Format — Softcover, 272 pages
Edited & Translated by: Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins
Designed by: Chip Kidd

UNPRECENDENTED INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF GAY MANGA

Featuring works by Jiraiya, Tagame, Ebisubashi, Ichikawa +more. Designed by Chip Kidd.

Fantagraphics Books is thrilled to welcome the team behind The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame (PictureBox) to the family. Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It due out October 2014. This is the most recent entry in Fantagraphics’ queer comics lineup, which also features the anthology No Straight Lines, the graphic novels 7 Miles a Second and Bread & Wine, and manga by Moto Hagio and Shimura Takako.

The Massive anthology showcases Japan’s most talented and influential gay manga artists, including Gengoroh Tagame, Jiraiya, Seizoh Ebisubashi, Kazuhide Ichikawa, Gai Mizuki, Takeshi Matsu, Fumi Miyabi, and Kumada Poohsuke. In Massive, many of these artists’ works are featured in English for the first time; this collection offers an intimate, in-depth look at a criminally overlooked component of Japanese queer culture. In addition to comics and illustrations, Massive features photographs of the artists and their workspaces; cultural and historical context; and interviews with the creators about what it’s like to be a gay erotic artist in Japan.

Edited by Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins, and designed by Chip Kidd, this unprecedented survey of manga "made by gay men for gay men" is an essential addition to the queer comics canon; it will introduce the genre often referred to as "bara" (a misnomer for gay manga that has taken on new meanings online) to a new, international audience.

Massive was originally scheduled as a PictureBox Spring 2014 release until its publisher, Dan Nadel, announced that he is ceasing operations. Although we’re sad to see PictureBox shutter its doors, everyone involved is delighted to give Massive a new home. "I'm thrilled that Massive, an essential guide to the world of gay manga, is going to see print next year. Anne Ishii, Graham Kolbeins, and Chip Kidd are the best guides imaginable to this fascinating work and the men who make it," says Nadel.

For more information on the production team behind Massive and its artists, please visit gaymanga.tumblr.com and fantagraphics.com/massive.

New Orleans Comic Con Has Neal Adams "Miracleman #2" Variant

Marvel Comics & Wizard World Reveal 'Miracleman 2' Exclusive Variant Interlocking Cover By Neal Adams For New Orleans Comic Con

Marvel Will Offer Exclusive Books At All 16 Wizard World Shows Including 'Miracleman #2' At New Orleans Comic Con, February 7-9; VIP Attendees Receive Free Color Version; B&W Limited Edition Available For Purchase

NEW YORK, January 2, 2014 – Marvel Comics and Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) have announced a program by which VIP attendees at each of the 16 scheduled 2014 Wizard World Comic Con pop culture conventions will receive exclusive variant covers of the best Marvel titles, continuing with Miracleman #2 at New Orleans Comic Con (Feb. 7-9). The limited-edition book, with cover illustrated by comics legend and Eisner Award Hall of Famer Neal Adams, features an interlocking cover with Adams' Miracleman #1 from Portland Comic Con (Jan. 24-26), and will be available in both color and black & white sketch editions.

The colored version of Miracleman #2 will be limited to 3,000 copies and provided free at registration to all Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con VIP attendees, including any celebrity VIP packages. The Black & White sketch version is limited to just 2,500 copies and will be available for sale at the Wizard World Store on the convention floor. Quantities per purchase may be limited.

Adams is scheduled to be on site at the event to sign copies (autograph fees may apply). Leading professional comic grader CGC will also be on hand to accept books for grading and Signature Series.

Wizard World Comic Con events bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. A first-class lineup of topical programming takes place at each event, with celebrity Q&A's, comics-themed sessions, costume contest, movie screenings, evening parties and more. Sunday is also Kids Day, with an array of activities and programming specially designed for the younger Wizard World fans.

Wizard World Comic Con is also the place for cosplay, with fans young and old showing off their best costumes throughout the event. Fans dressed as every imaginable character – and some never before dreamed – will roam the convention floor, often stopping by the Show Stage, the ideal place to see and be seen.

For more on the 2014 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, go to http://www.wizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.

About Wizard World:
Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

About Marvel Entertainment, LLC
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information, visit marvel.com.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.

Wizard World 2014 Schedule

January 24-26 – Wizard World Portland Comic Con

February 7-9 – Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con

March 7-9 – Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con

March 28-30 – Wizard World Louisville Comic Con

April 4-6 – Wizard World St. Louis Comic Con

May 2-4 – Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con

May 30-June 1 – Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con

June 19-22 – Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con

August 1-3 – Wizard World San Antonio Comic Con

August 21-24 – Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

September 12-14 – Wizard World Richmond Comic Con

September 26-28 – Wizard World Nashville Comic Con

October 2-4 – Wizard World Austin Comic Con

October 31-November 2 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con

November 7-9 – Wizard World Tulsa Comic Con

November 21-23 – Wizard World Reno Comic Con


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Oresama Teacher: Ghosts of Banchos Past

I read Oresama Teacher , Vol. 15

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free comics).

Happy New I Reads You Year

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2014 and welcome to I Reads You, a ComicBookBin blog and sister publication (www.comicbookbin.com).  We write about the things we read:  mostly comic books, comics, and related books.  Sometimes, we’ll write about or link to other topics:  typically books, politics, and entertainment.

Stick around for news about new comics and offers.  Thanks for stopping by and please, come again.

All images and text appearing on this publication are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 31 2013

NOTE: Due to the New Year's holiday, a Tuesday release date is scheduled for these books and merchandise to be in stores 12/31/2013.

DC COMICS

OCT130224 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #8 $3.99
OCT130217 ALL STAR WESTERN #26 $3.99
OCT130143 AQUAMAN #26 $2.99
AUG130303 BATMAN ARKHAM UNHINGED HC VOL 03 $24.99
OCT130249 BATMAN ARKHAM UNHINGED TP VOL 02 $14.99
SEP130278 BATMAN JUDGE DREDD TP $19.99
OCT130198 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #26 $2.99
OCT130202 BATWOMAN #26 $2.99
OCT130265 BEWARE THE BATMAN #3 $2.99
OCT130196 CATWOMAN #26 $2.99
OCT130182 DAMIAN SON OF BATMAN #3 $3.99
OCT130271 DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1 $2.99
OCT130288 FABLES #136 (MR) $2.99
OCT130147 FLASH #26 $2.99
OCT130131 FOREVER EVIL ARGUS #3 $2.99
OCT130218 GREEN TEAM TEEN TRILLIONAIRES #7 $2.99
OCT130230 HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #9 $2.99
OCT130283 HELLBLAZER TP VOL 07 TAINTED LOVE (MR) $19.99
OCT130232 INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US #12 $3.99
OCT130129 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #26 (EVIL) $3.99
OCT130213 LARFLEEZE #6 $2.99
OCT130270 MAD MAGAZINE #525 $5.99
OCT130214 RED LANTERNS #26 $2.99
OCT130244 SUPERBOY TP VOL 03 LOST (N52) $16.99
OCT130172 SUPERMAN #26 $2.99
OCT130252 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL TP VOL 08 $16.99
SEP130208 SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #5 $3.99
SEP130210 SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #5 COMBO PACK $4.99
OCT130205 TALON #14 $2.99
OCT130222 TEEN TITANS #26 $2.99
OCT130296 TOM STRONG AND THE PLANET OF PERIL #6 $2.99
OCT130257 VERTIGO ESSENTIALS AMERCIAN VAMPIRE #1 (MR) $1.00