Manga and Comic Reviews
Since I’ve spent the day at Wondercon, here’s some quick thoughts on one of the categories from the Eisner award nominations that were announced this week. “Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia” usually winds up meaning “Best Manga” as is the case this year. After all, this specific category was essentially created after […]
There’s a lot of suffering to endure in this series. On one hand, there’s the suffering endured by the inhabitants of the Swiss cantons who are hemmed in by the Wolfsmund gate at Sankt-Gotthardt Pass as they struggle against Bailiff Wolfram’s apparent omniscience in regards to their plans. On the other, there’s the suffering the […]
After a brief stopover in Nazi Germany, we now return to the kind of antics you usually see in Kieron Gillen’s comics. That is to say clever takes on superhero tropes, immensely witty writing and lots of talk about music. This third volume of “Young Avengers” is also its last and gives us what is […]
Regular visitors to this site will know that I love pretty much everything that Kieron Gillen has written. The man has shown a fairly amazing facility to find new and clever takes on old characters and familiar scenarios in titles like “Uncanny X-Men” and “Journey Into Mystery.” Though his output has been solely focused on […]
This volume focuses on the adventures of a boy, a hermaphrodite and a tentacle. That’s not to say that this series has turned into a hentai manga, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that since Tsumugi is now represented by a phallic-looking tentacle. It’s an amusing development in what turns out to be one of […]
A little over a year and a half ago I wrote an article about Marvel’s plans to collect the first four issues of this series in a $25 premiere hardcover. Their plan, at the time, appeared to be finding a way to squeeze every last sale they could out of their biggest ongoing series launch […]
What should’ve been a blockbuster event — Miles Morales confronts Ultimate Venom — falls regrettably flat here. Bendis skillfully updated one of Spider-Man’s best villains by strengthening the relationship between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock and tying it to research done by their parents. Such care and planning is virtually absent here. This version of […]
This title, the second in Marvel’s new line of original graphic novels, has a low bar to clear in terms of quality after Warren Ellis and Mike McKone whiffed it in “Avengers: Endless Wartime.” So it’s nice to report that writers Mark Waid and James Robinson have given us an enjoyable, self-contained Spider-story that distinguishes […]
It sounds weird to say this, but the fact that the first volume of “Saga” struck me as only being “good” was probably the best thing about it in hindsight. With the unanimous praise it received and impressive sales it racked up, I was expecting the world from its initial collected edition and didn’t quite […]
This title went on a hiatus a year ago in order to allow writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque time to take care of some outstanding prior commitments (see: Snyder on “Superman Unchained” and “The Wake”) and to pursue other opportunities (see: Albuquerque on “Animal Man”). I thought it was a good idea because […]