Manga and Comic Reviews
After 14 (really 28) volumes of “Prison School,” it’s safe to say that mangaka Akira Hiramoto has a pretty well-defined style. It involves utterly ridiculous situations played completely straight, and served up with a near-constant stream of fanservice. That’s not all he’s capable of (and one day it’ll be time to talk about “Me and […]
After much preparation, it’s time for the Shuchiin Academy Culture Festival! There are haunted houses and maid cafes galore, and oh so much drama to go around. That’s mainly because Kaguya and Miyuki have finally made up their minds about how they feel regarding each other. Now they’re just looking for the right time and […]
I wasn’t planning on writing a review of this volume, or any of the other first volumes coming out of the “Dawn of X” relaunch. No, my original plan was to bring in Myron and Rob (who was supposed to be with us on that podcast but had some last-minute scheduling conflicts) so we could […]
Vol. 1 of Coates’ run reminded me of the most annoying parts of Ed Brubaker’s run. Vol. 2 gave us a good super-hero-in-a-super-prison story. Vol. 3 does a bang-up job of threatening to derail my interest in this series. Part of that’s due to a confusing plot which initially starts off with the return of […]
The last time we were in “Oblivion,” I mentioned that the Faceless Men were a genuinely interesting challenge facing Nathan Cole and the rest of the cast. Vol. 4 manages to dispel a lot of that interest early on. That’s when we find out that they’ve managed to learn English and are able to communicate […]
Doctor Doom is unquestionably one of Marvel’s A-List villains. Even though his main nemeses are the Fantastic Four, it’s always a big deal whenever he shows up to tangle with another hero or team like Spider-Man or the Avengers. While the character’s stature and popularity have been enough to warrant a few solo miniseries over […]
Are you ready for a BLOOD FEUD?! It looks like that’s where the story’s headed not too far into vol. 4 as Mob’s brother Ritsu fully awakens to his own powers (with some questionable help from Dimple). Unfortunately for him, this has come along at a time when his emotional stability has taken a hit, […]
Vol. 4 sees this series falling back on its bad old habits of collecting only a couple of issues of the regular series and padding out the paperback with extra one-shots. But hey, that title at least promises an epic fight, right? Kinda/sorta. While Slott has always been willing to incorporate the latest changes in […]
The first half of this volume carries on much as the previous one did. With writer Jason Aaron, and artist Mahmud Asrar (and Gerardo Zaffino back for another issue here) giving us some decent but unspectacular “Conan” stories. We see the barbarian recruiting a group of working girls to get some revenge, returning home to […]
Here’s a follow-up where its ceiling and floor are closer together in terms of quality. Where vol. 1’s strength was in its portrayal of protagonist Luna Brewster’s mental issues, vol. 2 loses a little bit in that regard. It’s been a year since the conspiracy-fueled bloodshed at her house, and Luna is now back at […]