Naruto: Battle

I read Naruto, Vol. 57 (Naruto (Graphic Novels))

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

"Love and Rockets" Celebrates Birthday at Comic-Con International 2012

30 Years. Three. Zero. In 1982, Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez published their first comic with Fantagraphics, which debuted at that year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. In 2012, Fantagraphics Books announces the best anniversary present you can give the comics making trio: a year of celebrating Love and Rockets.

Jaime Hernandez remembers his first Comic-Con well. “The first time we spotted Love and Rockets some guy was already selling it for half-off.” Fellow professionals took an interest in the Hernandez brothers’ creation. “Chris Claremont walked up and joked that all the women on the cover should have ‘X’es on their belts,” Jaime joked. “I brought along some pages from the next issue and Frank Miller looked through them ‘studying’ my inking style.”

Thirty years later, fans will line up around that same block to get books signed at this year’s Comic-Con International, where Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez are invited special guests of the show and will even have a special section devoted to their work in the official convention souvenir program. Look for a major Love and Rockets-related announcement to be made at the show as well during the Love and Rockets panel on Saturday.

Fantagraphics and the Hernandez Brothers will debut three new books at the show. First up is the newest work by Gilbert and Jaime, Love and Rockets: New Stories #5, featuring Gilbert’s return to Palomar and Jaime’s much-anticipated follow up to “The Love Bunglers” (from #4). Also debuting is God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls, Jaime’s superhero epic combining material from Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 and #2 plus 30 all-new pages by Jaime. Meanwhile, don’t forget the children: Comic-Con also hails the release of Gilbert's children-focused graphic novel, The Adventures of Venus.

Fantagraphics is also partnering with Graphitti Designs for the 30th Anniversary and debuting six new Love and Rockets t-shirts at the show. SDCC attendees might want to pack one shirt less for the show, instead picking up one of these colorful designs featuring their favorite Hernandez characters for a great price of $18.99 each, available at the Fantagraphics booth.

Panel by panel and page by page, Fantagraphics is proud to have a thirty year relationship with such prolific creators as the Hernandez Brothers and welcomes all SDCC attendees to come to the Fantagraphics Booth (1718-1722) and visit these special guests, who will be signing daily. Also, don’t miss the 30th Anniversary of Love and Rockets panel on Saturday at the con, from 1:30pm – 3:00pm in Room 24ABC. Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth will moderate a lively trip down memory lane with all three Hernandez Brothers and make a major announcement regarding the future of the series.

For more information as it is released, check the Fantagraphics blog for announcements. Thirty years of the Love and Rockets is at your fingertips!

Review: BATMAN: EARTH ONE (OGN)

BATMAN: EARTH ONE
DC COMICS

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS: Gary Frank
INKS: Jonathan Sibal
COLORS: Brad Anderson
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3208-5; hardcover
144pp, Color, $22.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN

Unlike many comic book readers, I have not been a fan of Geoff Johns, the popular comic book writer best known for his work on Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, and JSA. I neither like nor dislike him. I have not read many comic books written by Johns, and what I have read led me to wonder why fans and fans who are critics liked him so much. By the time I got to the middle of Batman: Earth One, I said to myself, “Oh, that’s why they like him so much.”

Three years ago, DC Comics announced plans to publish new graphic novels that would retell or re-imagine the beginnings of Batman and Superman. Each character would have his own ongoing series of original graphic novels depicting his earliest moments as a superhero and crime fighter. Each graphic novel would be a stand-alone story set on a new Earth with an all-new continuity. Superman: Earth One arrived in October 2010 and was hit – mainly because it was so good.

Over a year and a half later, Batman: Earth One arrived in comic book stores on July 4, 2012, and DC Comics generously provided me with a copy for review. This original hardcover graphic novel is written by Geoff Johns, penciled by Gary Frank, inked by Jonathan Sibal, and colored by Brad Anderson. Batman Earth One is a new interpretation of a classic character and retells Batman’s origins by altering players, events, conflicts, and motivations to one degree or another.

The Gotham City of Batman: Earth One is a gritty, contemporary city. This troubled metropolis is rotten top to bottom, with corrupt politicians ruling from the top and a vile street-level criminal class at the bottom that seems to kill with impunity. Enter a masked man the press is calling “Batman.” Neither hero nor vigilante, he is just an angry young man named Bruce Wayne. Fallible, lonely, and vulnerable, Bruce is Batman and wants no help on his mission of vengeance, but he is about to learn that grit and determination are not enough in cold, cold-bloodied Gotham.

Meanwhile, Alfred Pennyworth, a former Royal Marine and friend of Bruce’s late father, Thomas Wayne, is reaching out to Bruce, and only getting his hand slapped. Detective James Gordon is so marginalized that many of his colleagues don’t even know he exists. Mayor Oswald Cobblepot, the man who dresses in a tuxedo that deserves the term, “penguin suit,” rules Gotham City, and when people get in his way, they get a birthday surprise – even if it isn’t their birthday. Searching for the real killers behind his parents’ deaths, Bruce feels unstoppable as Batman, but Gotham City is about to show him that he can be stopped and maybe even killed.

This graphic novel is something like a “Batman Family” story because what Johns has written is an ensemble piece. I don’t want to spoil this for people who have not yet read the book, so I’m going to be careful describing the characters and details. You have probably read many Batman comic books in which Bruce Wayne is like a supporting character. Sometimes, it is almost as if he really isn’t Batman; it is as if he is just another supporting player.

Here, Johns makes Bruce Wayne dominant; Batman is a guise, a vehicle for his quest for vengeance rather than being some kind of separate identity or personality. In this story, even in scenes that feature Batman, Bruce Wayne’s personality comes through the mask. I think that approach of dealing with Batman as a man rather than as a “superman” gives Johns more freedom. He can dig into the supporting characters and make them fuller characters, and not just the people who orbit Batman. Johns’ take on James Gordon is the most complex and thoughtfully fashioned version of the character since Batman: Year One (which was first published a quarter-century ago). The extent to which Johns is able to enrich supporting characters is exemplified by this novel’s snazzy Harvey Bullock, a mercurial character who constantly surprises by the things he says and does.

Now, as much as I have praised Johns, I think the true star of Batman: Earth One is artist Gary Frank. Frank gives this graphic novel its sense of being contemporary fiction, of being more modern crime thriller than superhero comic book. Frank takes the meaty, but elegant style of Brian Bolland and the photo-realistic compositions of Bryan Hitch and creates his own style, one that creates art both powerful and graceful.

In Batman: Earth One, the figure drawing has an immensely physical appearance, suggesting the power and grace of the human body. Here, the fight scenes are like a blend of Jack Kirby’s superhero art (as inked by Joe Sinnott) married to a neo-classical painting style (think Jacques-Louis David’s The Oath of the Horatii). Frank draws Batman’s costume as a costume and not as plastic armor (like in the movies). It even seems as if you can see Batman’s junk moving in his trunks.

Batman: Earth One is already on my best comics of the year list. I want a second volume… now.

A+

Review: SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE (OGN)

SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE
DC COMICS

WRITER: J. Michael Straczynski
PENCILS: Shane Davis
INKS: Sandra Hope
COLORS: Barbara Ciardo
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2468-4; hardcover
136pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $23.99 CAN

Superman: Earth One is a graphic novel series that re-imagines and retells Superman’s early years. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Shane Davis, the first volume of Superman: Earth One was first published in October 2010. It is a damn good read, and I consider it to be the best retelling of Superman’s early days since John Byrne’s still-excellent, Superman: Man of Steel.

Superman: Earth One focuses on a 20-year-old Clark Kent. This farm boy arrives in Metropolis, but he isn’t like other 20-somethings looking to begin their adult lives. Clark can fly, see through walls, and burn objects with his gaze. He goes on job interviews, and leaves his potential employers in shock and awe because of his talent, knowledge, and skills. Still, young Clark is alone and without purpose, but the arrival of otherworldly visitors will reveal his history and may give him purpose – if he so chooses.

I don’t want to say more about the plot and story details. I want the reader to be delightfully surprised over and over again as I was. I initially avoided reading about Superman: Earth One, partly because I thought it would be mildly entertaining, nothing more and certainly not worth my time. I used some Leroy mojo and got DC to give me a review copy, and the review copy put some hoo doo on me. After the first few pages, I really thought that this was just warmed over Smallville, but soon, I was dreading that this fun would end. I think Superman: Earth One does falter early on and in places at the end, but its strengths gloss over such imperfections.

J. Michael Straczynski gives everything about Superman and Clark Kent a sense of purpose and meaning. This is indeed a darker Superman, but not in a grim and gritty or cynical way. Clark Kent lives in a world where people use power, aggression, and self-centeredness to serve their ends. Young Kent is not only trying to figure out what he should do, but also why he should do it. He is looking for signs, but those signs most resonate with him. Plus, Straczynski writes a page-turning action yarn here, so this is thoughtful and explosive.

Shane Davis, who seems to be channeling Carl Potts-era Jim Lee, turns Straczynski’s script into a visually potent comic book. Davis captures Kent’s brooding, stubborn nature with clarity, and presents the science fiction elements and action scenes with energy, a sense of movement, and power that the static images of comic books usually don’t have.

Superman: Earth One is the Superman book that everyone who reads Superman should be reading. Or put it this way: if you know about Superman, you probably need this book in your hands.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 11 2012

DC COMICS

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