Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 16, 2014

IMAGE COMICS

MAY140618     ALEX + ADA TP VOL 01     $12.99
MAY140582     APHRODITE IX CYBER FORCE #1 CVR A SEJIC     $5.99
MAY140583     APHRODITE IX CYBER FORCE #1 CVR B SEJIC     $5.99
MAY140584     APHRODITE IX CYBER FORCE #1 CVR C SILVESTRI     $5.99
FEB140519     APHRODITE IX REBIRTH TP VOL 02     $17.99
MAY140620     BAD DOG TP VOL 01 IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY (MR)     $19.99
MAY140697     BURN THE ORPHANAGE REIGN OF TERROR #3 CVR A GRACE & S     $3.50
MAY140698     BURN THE ORPHANAGE REIGN OF TERROR #3 CVR B WARD & SH     $3.50
MAY140606     CAP'N DINOSAUR ONE SHOT     $3.99
MAY140622     CHEW OMNIVORE ED HC VOL 04 (MR)     $34.99
MAY140574     DARK ENGINE #1 (MR)     $3.50
MAY140626     DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 01 REAGAN YOUTH (MR)     $9.99
MAY140712     MANIFEST DESTINY #8     $2.99
APR140585     RAT QUEENS #7 (MR)     $3.50
MAY148087     SHUTTER #2 2ND PTG (MR)     $3.50
MAY148088     SHUTTER #3 2ND PTG (MR)     $3.50
MAY140734     STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #5 (MR)     $3.50
MAY140740     UMBRAL #7 (MR)     $3.50
MAY140745     WICKED & DIVINE #2 (MR)     $3.50
MAY148075     WICKED & DIVINE #2 CVR B ZDARSKY     $3.50
MAY140746     WILDFIRE #2 CVR A LINDA SEJIC     $3.99
MAY140747     WILDFIRE #2 CVR B STJEPAN SEJIC     $3.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for July 16, 2014

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

FEB141405     ACG COLL WORKS FORBIDDEN WORLDS SLIPCASE ED VOL 06     $64.99
MAY141187     ADVENTURE TIME #30     $3.99
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FEB140959     ALL NEW SOULFIRE #6 DIRECT MARKET CVR B     $3.99
APR141054     ALONE GN VOL 01     $13.95
MAR141208     ANOMAL GN     $9.95
APR140852     ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #252     $4.99
MAY141640     ARMOR HUNTERS #2 MASK CVR (AH)     $3.99
MAY141271     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 BLANK AUTHENTIX CVR     $3.99
MAY141266     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 CVR A PARRILLO     $3.99
MAY141267     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 CVR B FRANCAVILLA     $3.99
MAY141268     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 CVR C BRADSHAW     $3.99
MAY141269     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 CVR D SUYDAM     $3.99
MAY141265     ARMY OF DARKNESS HITCHED #1 MAIN CVR LEE     $3.99
MAY141564     ATOMIC ROBO KNIGHTS OF GOLDEN CIRCLE #3     $3.50
MAY141498     AUTEUR #5 (MR)     $3.99
MAY141135     BLACK MARKET #1     $3.99
APR140949     BRYAN LEE O MALLEY SECONDS GN     $25.00
APR141128     CAPT ACTION CAT #3     $3.99
MAR140809     CAVEWOMAN JOURNEY #2 CVR B DURHAM     PI
JAN140996     CLIVE BARKER NEXT TESTAMENT #11 (MR)     $3.99
APR141168     CODENAME ACTION TP VOL 01     $19.99
MAY141090     CROSSED BADLANDS #57 (MR)     $3.99
MAY141093     CROSSED BADLANDS #57 FATAL FANTASY CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141092     CROSSED BADLANDS #57 TORTURE CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141091     CROSSED BADLANDS #57 WRAP CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141167     CURSE #1 ECCC EXC     $9.99
MAR141144     DF AMAZING SPIDER MAN #1 GOLD ELITE LEE SGN     $699.99
FEB141259     DF ELEKTRA #1 SGN HADEN BLACKMAN     $29.99
NOV131060     DF INHUMANITY #1 FRACTION SGN     $29.99
JAN131138     DF UNCANNY X-FORCE #1 HUMPHRIES SGN ED     $19.99
MAY141077     DICKS END OF TIME #2 (MR)     $3.99
MAY141078     DICKS END OF TIME #2 OFFENSIVE CVR (MR)     $3.99
APR141204     DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE HC VOL 05 PHANTOM BLOT     $34.99
MAY141236     DOC FRANKENSTEIN TP VOL 01 MESSIAH OF SCIENCE RESURRECTED     $16.99
MAY141306     DOODLE JUMP #2     $3.99
MAY141722     GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #100 A CVR ADAMS (AOFD) (MR)     $5.99
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MAY141080     GOD IS DEAD #16 (MR)     $3.99
MAY141081     GOD IS DEAD #16 CARNAGE WRAP CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141082     GOD IS DEAD #16 END OF DAYS CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141083     GOD IS DEAD #16 ICONIC CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY141168     HACKTIVIST HC (MR)     $24.99
MAY148125     HARBINGER #23 2ND PTG     $3.99
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MAR141014     IZNOGOUD GN VOL 08 ROCKETS TO STARDOM     $11.95
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MAY141274     LADY ZORRO #1     $3.99
APR141056     LARGO WINCH GN VOL 14 RED HOT WRATH     $11.95
MAY141170     LAST BROADCAST #3 (MR)     $3.99
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MAY141014     LIFE WITH ARCHIE COMIC #36 ADAM HUGHES CVR     $4.99
MAY141016     LIFE WITH ARCHIE COMIC #36 FIONA STAPLES CVR     $4.99
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MAY141012     LIFE WITH ARCHIE COMIC #36 MIKE ALLRED CVR     $4.99
MAY141015     LIFE WITH ARCHIE COMIC #36 RAMON PEREZ CVR     $4.99
MAY141475     LILY RENEE ESCAPE ARTIST GN     $7.95
APR141057     LUCKY LUKE TP VOL 46 PONY EXPRESS     $11.95
MAY141033     MEGA MAN #39 REG CVR     $2.99
APR141270     MONSTER HIGH HOPES & SCREAMS GN     $10.00
APR141243     ONE IS ENOUGH GN (MR)     $9.95
APR141206     PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 09 1953-1954     $35.00
MAY141500     PRINCESS UGG #2     $3.99
MAY141457     SANCTUM HC (MR)     $29.95
MAY141127     SIMPSONS COMICS #213     $2.99
NOV130790     SONIC SAGA TP VOL 05 ENERJAK REBORN     $11.99
APR140869     SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #262 REG CVR     $2.99
JAN140886     SONIC UNIVERSE TP VOL 07     $11.99
MAY141158     SONS OF ANARCHY #11 (MR)     $3.99
MAY141046     SOULFIRE ANNUAL #1 DIRECT MARKET CVR A     $5.99
MAY141366     SPIDER TP VOL 03 CITY OF CRIME     $19.99
APR141404     STREET FIGHTER IV HC VOL 01 WAGES OF SIN     $34.99
MAY141255     THE DEVILERS #1     $2.99
MAY141280     THE SHADOW #0     $3.99
MAY141162     TRANSLUCID #4     $3.99
MAY141651     UNITY #9 REG SUAYAN (AH)     $3.99
MAR141295     WWE SUPERSTARS ONGOING #6     $3.99
MAY140980     YOUTH IS WASTED GN     $14.95

MAGAZINES
MAR141337     2000 AD PACK MAY 2014     PI
MAY141556     2000 AD SUMMER SCI-FI SPECIAL 2014     $7.00
APR141672     CEREAL GEEK MAGAZINE #13     $17.00
APR141673     CINEFEX #138     $12.50
MAY141862     COMIC SHOP NEWS #1413     PI
APR141674     DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES SPECIAL MAGAZINE     $14.99
MAR141609     DIABOLIQUE #21     $9.98
MAY141865     DOCTOR WHO ESSENTIAL GUIDE #2 THE TARDIS     $19.99
MAR141608     DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE #474     $9.99
MAY141872     HORRORHOUND #48     $6.99
MAR141596     ILLUSTRATORS MAGAZINE #7     $24.99
FEB141639     MARVEL CHESS FIG COLL MAG #8 THOR WHITE BISHOP     $16.00
FEB141665     RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE #146     $9.95
MAR141617     SCREAM MAGAZINE #24 (MR)     $8.99
DEC131442     STAR TREK STARSHIPS FIG COLL MAG #16 FERENGI MARAUDER     $20.00
JAN141528     STAR TREK STARSHIPS FIG COLL MAG #18 BAJORAN LIGHT SHIP     $20.00
AUG131728     VIDEO WATCHDOG #177 (MR)     $8.95
MAY141882     WALKING DEAD MAGAZINE #9 NEWSSTAND ED (MR)     $9.99
MAY141883     WALKING DEAD MAGAZINE #9 PX ED (MR)     $9.99

BOOKS
APR141541     ALARY SKETCHBOOK #3     $30.00
APR141567     CG CHARACTERS FROM SKETCH TO FINISH SC     $35.00
MAY141804     DC YR BOARD BOOK LG BATMAN SHAPES     $12.99
MAY141806     DC YR BOARD BOOK LG CATWOMAN COUNTING     $12.99
MAY141808     DC YR BOARD BOOK LG SUPERMAN COLORS     $12.99
MAY141810     DC YR BOARD BOOK LG WONDER WOMAN ABCS     $12.99
FEB140949     GLENN FABRY SKETCHBOOK SC VOL 02 REMARKED ED (MR)     $75.00
MAY141824     GORGO PRODUCTION BACKGROUND SC     $24.95
MAY141835     JAMES BAMA AMERICAN REALIST HC SALE BOOK     $14.95
MAY141837     PRINCE VALIANT PAGE HC SALE BOOK     PI
MAY141782     RB WHITE SKETCHBOOK VOL 01 (MR)     $20.00
APR141408     SUBSTRATA OPEN WORLD DARK FANTASY SC     $44.99
MAY141793     TREKKERS GUDE TO COLLECTIBLES UNAUTH 2ND ED     $29.95

Sweet Rein: Mating Season

I read Sweet Rein, Vol. 3

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter.

Review: THE STRAIN #2

THE STRAIN #2
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
SCRIPT: David Lapham
ART: Mike Huddleston
COLORS: Dan Jackson
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Mike Huddleston
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S. (January 2012)

Part 2: “The Occultation”

Early in 2013, Dark Horse Comics made PDF copies of all 11 issues of its horror comic book series, The Strain, available to comic book reviewers on its mailing list.  As an incentive, Dark Horse offered to give any reviewer who reviewed all 11 issues of The Strain copies of the two trade paperbacks that collected the series.  This offer was part of the promotional effort for the follow-up series, The Strain: The Fall.  I took up that offer and reviewed all 11 issues of The Strain for the ComicBookBin.

I have previously posted my review of The Strain #1 also on my “I Reads You” blog.  Over the course of the coming weeks, I will post the reviews of issues 2 to 11 on this blog in anticipation of “The Strain,” the television adaptation of the original novel.  The first episode is scheduled to debut on Sunday night, July 13, 2014 on cable channel, FX.  [By the way, Dark Horse reneged on that offer of the free trade paperbacks, at least to me.]

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

The Strain was a 2009 vampire novel from filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan.  It was the first book in The Strain trilogy.  Back in 2011, Dark Horse Comics began producing a comic book adaptation of the first book, also entitled The Strain, with script adaptation by David Lapham and art by Mike Huddleston.

The central character of The Strain is Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).  Dr. Goodweather is the head of the Canary Project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats.  Goodweather and his second-in-command, Nora Martinez, may have found such a threat at J.F.K. International Airport in New York City.  That’s where a Boeing 777 went dead silent after landing, with window shades pulled down and all lights out.

As The Strain #2 opens, Goodweather and Martinez are examining a strange container that was found on the Boeing.  Does it have something to do with the 206 people found dead on the plane?  Meanwhile, the three people who were the sole survivors of the flight grow restless.  They are also useless to Goodweather and Martinez when it comes to solving the mystery of what happened on that flight.

New players enter the story.  Mysterious plutocrat, Eldritch Palmer, and the elderly Professor Abraham Setrakian head to New York City.  As the Big Apple prepares for a rare event, the Occultation, something deadly begins to claim its first victims.

This review comes over a year after The Strain #2 first reached comic book shops, but a horror comic book this good will be worth reading years after its publication.  Writer David Lapham delivers a page-turner that rages like the latest pot-boiler on the bestsellers list.  This tale grows more chilling and riveting with each scene.

Artist Mike Huddleston continues to deliver potent graphical storytelling, and his control over atmosphere grows with each page.  Yes, he’s still on the way to being a master of horror, and we benefit from it with a great horror comic book.  I am chomping at the bits to read the third issue of The Strain.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Review: NATSUME’S BOOK OF FRIENDS Volume 16

NATSUME’S BOOK OF FRIENDS, VOL. 16
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Yuki Midorikawa
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Lillian Olsen
LETTERS: Sabrina Heep
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6782-2; paperback (June 2014), Rated “T” for “Teen”
196pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S. $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

One of my favorite manga is Natsume’s Book of Friends, created by mangaka, Yuki Midorikawa.  I think it is also one of the best comic books published in North America the past three years.

Natsume’s Book of Friends focuses on Takashi Natsume.  He is a high school boy who can see the spirits and demons called “yokai.”  This ability has been a curse and has set him apart from others.  Takashi, an orphaned teen, finds a stable home with Tôko and Shigeru Fujiwara, a kindly couple who are distant relatives.

Natsume also has a companion in Nyanko-Sensei, a guardian yokai.  Takashi learns that he has inherited two things from his mysterious grandmother, Reiko Natsume: “the Sight” and her “Book of Friends,” a tome in which Reiko wrote the names of yokai.

As Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 16 (Chapters 64 to 67) opens, Natsume discovers strange, graffiti-like writing on the blackboard in his second period classroom.  While he engages that mystery, he meets his friend, Taki Tohru.  Taki can see yokai when they enter one of her spell circles.  She recently discovered a spell circle created by her late grandfather, and she used it to help a yokai.  This yokai, however, still remains near Taki’s house, and if he doesn’t want revenge, Natsume wonders, what does he want?

Next, Natsume visits Kaname Tanuma, his friend who can sense when yokai are present.  Kaname is going to visit his Aunt Satomi, who is remodeling an inn she owns and operates.  She wants some help cleaning the place for a few days.  Two of their school friends, Nishimura and Kitamoto, join Natsume and Kaname on a trip to the inn to work in exchange for room and board.  Not long after arriving, Natsume discovers the presence of a yokai that has stolen something important, endangering all their lives.

[This volume includes a bonus story, “Out of Season Blossoms.”]

As I have stated before, I had no idea that I would like the Natsume’s Book of Friends manga so much after I read the first volume of the English adaptation a few years ago.  This unique manga is the kind of literary fantasy that would fit in at Vertigo, the DC Comics’ imprint which focuses on adult-oriented fantasy comics (among other genres).

It would also be at home with juvenile and young adult graphic novels offered by publishers like First Second Books and Scholastic.  In fact, if Neil Gaiman was listed as the author of Natsume’s Book of Friends, this series would already be a bestseller, be a multiple Eisner Award-winner, and have won at least one Hugo Award.  The film or television rights would have been snapped up after the first graphic novel was published.

Instead, Natsume’s Book of Friends seems largely unknown outside of manga fans.  I wonder what the highest position on the New York Times bestselling manga list is that Natsume’s Book of Friends has achieved.

Natsume’s Book of Friends Volume 16 is one of the volumes that are perfect for new readers.  Neither of the two main stories (each running two chapters) involves the series’ internal mythology beyond the fact that Taki and Kaname are reoccurring characters.  Vol. 16 is a good example of the wonderful sense of magic and enchantment this series offers, and it proves that this series should be a big hit.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

I Reads You Review: Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1

Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #1
DELUXE COMICS

WRITERS: Dann Thomas; Stephen Perry; Steve Englehart
PENCILS: George Perez; Keith Giffen; Dave Cockrum
INKS: Dave Cockrum; Rick Bryant
COLORS: Paty Cockrum
LETTERS: John Workman
PIN-UPS: Jerry Ordway; Steve Ditko and Greg Theakston; Stan Drake; Pat Broderick
COVER: George Perez
48pp, Color, $2.00 U.S., $2.75 CAN (November 1984)

The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a team of superheroes that appeared in comic books originally published by Tower Comics from 1965 to 1969.  The original T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents team was an arm of the United Nations.  Their name, T.H.U.N.D.E.R., is an acronym for “The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves.”

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents the comic book series was published for 20 issues.  Two of the most popular T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Dynamo and NoMan, had short lived series.  Tower Comics closed, and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents characters did not appear in new comic book stories until 1983.  For the next four or five years, five different entities published T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comics.

One of those entities was Deluxe Comics (a division of Singer Publishing Company, Inc.).  Believing that the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents property was in the public domain, Deluxe launched its own T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic book series, entitled Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.  Wood was the driving creative and editorial force behind the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents:  creating the characters, writing and editing the stories, and providing much of the art, in one form or another.  Singer eventually cancelled Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents after losing a lawsuit over ownership of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents characters and concepts.

I have a soft spot for Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents because I genuinely liked the characters and Deluxe’s comic book series.  Most of all, I like this series because it introduced me to Wally Wood.  At the time I first read this series, I only knew Wood’s name through a small obituary printed in the back of Marvel Comics titles published a few months after Wood’s death in 1981.  [I don’t remember the comic book in which I first saw the obit; it may have been Marvel’s Star Wars.]

As it was in the original Tower Comics series, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. is an acronym for “The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves.”  This is a combination spy agency and international police force that deals with threats to Earth, from dictatorships to outlandish threats such as alien invasions.  The organization also helps with natural disasters.  Some agents are given mechanical devices, including what is called a “Super Suit,” that gives them limited super powers.  These agents are known as “Super Agents.”  Agents without super powers are part of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad.

Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 is a quasi-anthology comic book.  It opens with two short stories; one focuses on a Super Agent (The Raven) and the other on a potential new Super Agent who has possession of a former agent’s Super Suit (Menthor).

The first story, “Code Name: The Raven” (written by Dann Thomas and drawn by George Pérez and Dave Cockrum) finds the titular hero soaring over the sheikdom of Bahrain.  His destination is a club called “The Falcon’s Roost,” where he has an interesting encounter with the host, Abu Jahl, and a dancer known as “Phoenicia.”

In the second story, “A Change of Mind” (written by Stephen Perry and drawn by Keith Giffen and Rick Bryant), we meet Connie, the young woman who now possesses the helmet of the deceased Super Agent, Menthor.  Some part of John Janus, the original Menthor (who died early in the first T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series), his spirit or consciousness, remains in the helmet.  Now, Janus taunts Connie as she pursues Eddie, a vicious hood who calls himself the “Prince of the Streets.”

The third story launches Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and opens with an attack on the android NoMan.  Sam Short, the “Chief” of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, calls the Super Agents and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad to action.  He sees the attack on NoMan as an attack on the entire organization, but little does he realize how far the attackers will go and how far into the past this attack originates.

Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 is a comic book that is definitely of its time.  As a story, it reads like the kind of 1980s reboot that existed before Alan Moore’s reboots and re-imaginations of such series as Swamp Thing and Marvelman.  Once Moore’s work began to take hold of comic book readers’ imaginations, it also began to fundamentally change comic books.  Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents reads like a comic book that could have been written by the top-tier writers and writer/artists of the early to mid-1980s, such as John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Marv Wolfman, and Walter Simonson to name a few.

In that context, this comic book is still a joy to read three decades later.  Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 is quaint, but not corny.  Still, I could not help but read it and think of what someone like Warren Ellis could have done with T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in the mid to late 1990s or even today.

The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents’ existence as an actual comic book series has been so sporadic over a 50-year period.  Thus, the concept has not endeared itself to a large enough group of readers to sustain it as a long-running series.  It is essentially stillborn, and I doubt that its admirers are large enough to even be referred to as a cult.  Nostalgia won’t sustain the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.  Still, I wonder how long Deluxe Comics’ version would have lasted had a lawsuit not ended it.

As much as I have written in this review/article about Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, I surprisingly cannot find the words to talk about the art in this issue, from storytelling to pinups.  I have been a fan of almost every artist in this comic book, at one time or another.  I think George Perez, Keith Giffen, and especially Dave Cockrum are the standouts.

Cockrum is a quintessential superhero comic book artist because his graphic style, his compositions, and his storytelling lend themselves to comic book storytelling.  Cockrum, who passed away a decade ago, could take all the weird visual elements of superhero comics:  the costumes, settings, people, creatures, and beings and then, normalize them so that weird fantasy became soap opera with fantastic elements.  Cockrum’s storytelling is poignant and dramatic although he does not have a dazzling, showy style.

Luckily and thanks to eBay, I found Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.  I look forward to reading more, and I wish this series had had a longer run.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

Nisekoi: False Love - Making Sure

I read Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 4: Making Sure

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is calling for donations.  Follow me on Twitter.