Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 26, 2020

IMAGE COMICS

NOV190136    DEATH OR GLORY #9 CVR A BENGAL (MR)    $3.99
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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 26, 2020

MARVEL COMICS

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Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for February 26, 2020

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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BOOKS
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#IReadsYou Review: SPIDEY #1

SPIDEY No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Robbie Thompson
ART: Nick Bradshaw
COLORS: Jim Campbell
LETTERS: Travis Lanham
COVER: Nick Bradshaw with Jim Campbell
VARIANT COVERS: Humberto Ramos with Edgar Delgado; Skottie Young; Gyimah Gariba (Hip Hop Variant)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (February 2016)

Rated  “T”

Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

The Spider-Man that readers first met in Amazing Fantasy #15 (cover dated: August 1962) and then, in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (cover date: March 1963) was secretly a teenager and high school student named Peter Parker.  Over the years, a legion of Spider-Man writers depicted Peter Parker graduating from high school, going to college, becoming a college graduate student, a working stiff, a freelancer, an employee, etc.

If my memory is correct, Peter Parker was living on his own and might have been a grad student in the first Spider-Man comic books I ever read.  However, the first time I encountered Spider-Man in comics was a reprint of the story from Amazing Fantasy #15.  That was a seminal moment for me as a burgeoning comic book fan.  From that point on, I basically always favored the teenage Peter Parker, so the first time I saw an adult Parker, I found it odd.  It is not that I did not like a grown-up Parker; I simply preferred reading about a teen-aged Peter Parker being Spider-Man.

So my interest was piqued when I read that as part of the “All-New, All-Different Marvel,” Marvel Comics was going to launch a comic book that focused on the early days of Peter Parker's adventures as Spider-Man.  Entitled Spidey, this series is written by Robbie Thompson; drawn by Nick Bradshaw; colored by Jim Campbell; and lettered by Travis Lanham.

Spidey #1 finds Peter Parker having to be the Amazing Spider-Man on his way to class at Midtown High School.  It is the field trip to Oscorp that causes the real trouble when Doctor Otto Octavius crashes the party.

I tried to be a cynical old guy and not like Spidey #1, but it is the kind of throwback, retro Spider-Man comic book that I like to read on occasion.  In fact, I am ready for the second issue (which I think has been released as of this writing).  This is an action-adventure comic book that recalls classic Marvel, but without the storytelling density.  After all, early Marvel Comics squeezed an epic into practically each issue their most popular series.

Spidey writer Robbie Thompson offers something like a comic book version of the Saturday morning animated television series, “The Spectacular Spider-Man” (2008-2009).  Thompson pretty much sticks with standard characterization on all characters, including the supporting players, Gwen Stacy and Flash Thompson, so readers will recognize the characters they have come to love.  Thompson also manages two Spider-Man-in-action sequences, while offering the high school melodrama that is integral to any Spider-Man comic book

Artist Nick Bradshaw does his best Art Adams circa Monkeyman and O'Brien, but Adam's detailed style is made practical rather than stylish in Spidey.  Appearance aside, Bradshaw's storytelling is solid, balancing lite high school drama with explosive action.  And as every Spider-Man comic book artist should do, Bradshaw makes Spider-Man look good in action.  I don't know if Bradshaw will be remembered as a great Spider-Man artist, but he is starting off as an effective one.

So if readers are looking for a Spider-Man comic book for young readers, rather than complaining they can find Spidey.  It will entertainment them, also.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: CANDY COLOR PARADOX Volume 3

CANDY COLOR PARADOX, VOL. 3
SUBLIME MANGA/Shinshokane – @SuBLimeManga

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Isaku Natsume
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: Vanessa Satone
EDITOR: Marlene First
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0496-5; paperback (September 2019); Rated “M” for “Mature”
194pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Candy Color Paradox is a yaoi manga from manga creator, Isaku Natsume (Dash!).  Yaoi manga is a subset of boys' love (or BL) manga, which depicts amorous situations between male romantic leads.  Yaoi manga usually features explicit depictions of sex between those male leads.

Candy Color Paradox follows two reporters:  investigative reporter, Satoshi Onoe, and photojournalist, Motoharu “Kabu” Kaburagi.  Their boss at the news agency, Shinkan News, forces them to work together.  Onoe and Kaburagi bicker, but eventually become colleagues... and lovers.

As Candy Color Paradox, Vol. 3 (Chapters 1 to 5) opens, Onoe and Kaburagi are on an undercover assignment... that goes wrong.  No problem:  their boss, Kiuchi, gives Kabu a new partner, a young reporter and new hire named Kasai, who comes over from a rival agency.  A little jealous, Onoe discovers that not only is Kasai talented, but he also has a score to settle with Onoe.  Kasai has decided that keeping Kabu's attention on him and away from Onoe is also goal.  He seems to be winning until his ambition puts his and Onoe's life in danger with the mysterious Kenyu Group.

[This volume includes the bonus stories, “Necktie A-Go-Go!,” and “A Bar by the Station, 8:00 PM,” “Happy Vacation,” and “Kaburagi's POV,”and it has an afterword.]

The Candy Color Paradox manga is a yaoi manga that is also a workplace comedy-drama.  However, this opposites-attract love story does give the readers scenes of boys' love lovemaking and yaoi-type sex.

Candy Color Paradox Graphic Novel Volume 3 focuses on workplace melodrama and rivalries, whereas the previous volumes focused on the characters' personalities and attitudes about their friends and loved ones.  I enjoy these characters, and I like that they are reporters.  However, I found this volume to be a bit dry at times.  Onoe vs. Kasai ain't as intense or as interesting as creator Isaku Natsume probably thought it would be.

Still, Chapter 5 (entitled “Drop. 05” here) is a nice ending.  The story closes with a nice sex scene, and the extra stories are comic vignettes focusing on the leads and their closest friends and associates.  That's nice, too,  Adrienne Beck's translation and Vanessa Satone's lettering are good.  So in the end, Candy Color Paradox, Vol. 3 is nice and good.  I'd like the next volume (which were recently published) to be very nice and very good.

7 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

For up-to-date news and release information, please visit the SuBLime website at SubBLimeManga.com, or follow SuBLime on Twitter at @SuBLimeManga, Facebook at facebook.com/SuBLimeManga, Tumblr at http://sublimemanga.tumblr.com/, and Instagram at @sublimemanga/.


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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

#IReadsYou Review: ALL-NEW INHUMANS #1

ALL-NEW INHUMANS No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: James Asmus and Charles Soule
ART: Stefano Caselli
COLORS: Andres Mossa
LETTERS: VC's Clayton Cowles
COVER: Stefano Caselli
VARIANT COVERS:  Stefano Caselli with Andres Mossa; John Tyler Christopher; Jim Cheung with Justin Ponsor; Marco D'Alfonso (Hop Hop variant); Yaya Han photographed by Judy Stephens (cosplay variant)
36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (February 2016)

Rated T+

The Inhumans are a race of super-humans in Marvel Comics.  This race was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and first appeared in Fantastic Four #45 (cover dated: December 1965).  They are a strain of humanity that began with genetic manipulation by visitors to Earth from an alien civilization (the Kree) long ago in human prehistory.  Exposure to the mutagenic Terrigen Mist (a process known as Terrigenesis) reveal if a person is an Inhuman.

Little more than a B-list character group, the Inhumans are in ascendancy in the Marvel Universe, especially during the last three years.  In 2013, Marvel even launched a new comic book series, entitled Inhuman.  The launch of the “All-New, All-Different Marvel” comes with the Inhumans continuing to rise to prominence.  The latest Inhuman comic book series is All-New Inhumans.  This series is written by James Asmus and Charles Soule; drawn by Stefano Caselli, colored by Andres Mossa; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Once upon a time, I was enthralled by the X-Men's story of a small band of outcasts fighting to save a world that feared and hated them.  The racism, bigotry, and prejudice that the X-Men faced seemed genuine, and writer Chris Claremont hit upon something that spoke to readers with such honesty and a sense of verisimilitude.  I practically counted the days until each issue of Uncanny X-Men hit the shelves of the local newsstand, was place in a spinner rack at a local drugstore or supermarket, or was placed on the new release table at the closest comic book store.

That was before Marvel Comics started publishing multiple X-Men related titles and even more miniseries, one-shots, specials, etc.  After that, the X-Men seemed like nothing more than a weekly prank that Marvel Comics pulled on its loyal customers.

All-New Inhumans #1 recaptures the best of that X-Men spirit of an outsider group under siege.  The hatred against the Inhumans is potent, and writers James Asmus and Charles Soule depict the haters as desperate humans who are more fearful than evil.  The language of distrust from the politicians in the back-up story is honestly composed.  And because we need that, the main story offers engaging fight comics and Inhuman soap opera.

The art by the team of Stefano Caselli and Andres Mossa and the art by Nico Leon in the back-up are both high-quality, befitting of what is apparently going to be an important comic book in Marvel's line.  I eagerly look forward to more, and I heartily recommend this comic book.

A-

[This comic book includes a extra story written by James Asmus; drawn by Nico Leon; colored by Andres Mossa; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW Volume 2

A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Makoto Hagino
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: Eva Grandt
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1059-1; paperback (January 2020); Rated “T” for “Teen”
172pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

High school student, Konatsu Amano, learns that her father has gotten a job overseas.  Konatsu has to leave Tokyo and the life she’s always known and relocate to a small seaside town, Nagahama, to stay with her aunt.  On her first trip to her new school, Nanahama High School, Konatsu arrives at the open house for the school's “Aquarium Club,” where she meets a like-minded teen girl, Koyuki Honami.  She might be the one to bring the introverted Konatsu out of her shell.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Vol. 2 (Chapters 5 to 8) opens with Konatsu and Koyuki in an embrace that Koyuki initiated.  They suddenly part, embarrassed by the moment.  Now, it seems that Koyuki is avoiding Konatsu, but luckily, Koyuki's father, Mr. Honami, a teacher at the high school, has a way to fix what ails them.  So what's next for the Konatsu and Koyuki after this bonding experience.  Plus, Konatsu's father returns to Japan for a visit.

[This volume includes an illustrated “Afterword” and bonus manga.]

The A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow manga is a light-hearted, LGBTQ-themed manga from VIZ Media.  It is similar in tone and spirit to That Blue Sky Feeling, a manga about a straight teen boy who has a very close relationship with a gay teen boy.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow Graphic Novel Volume 2 depicts the first complications in Konatsu and Koyuki's still new relationship – the first bumps in the road on their journey of love.  In fact, Vol. 2 is thematically about complications and obstacles, but not too complicated or obstacles too weighty.  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow is rated “T” (for “Teen”), so this is a gentle romance in which “getting physical” means hugs and holding hands.

John Werry's translation and English adaptation is gentle and sweet and appropriate for the tone of the narrative.  Eva Grandt's lettering plays the dialogue like soft melodies, and that's okay.  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow is something different, and I am curious to see where this story goes.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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