Manga and Comic Reviews
New volumes of this series are an annual event and always one worth celebrating. Take this volume for instance, which covers over a decade of time yet doesn’t feel rushed at all. It also has an intriguing cliffhanger to pick up on. After reforming the shogunate and filling its coffers again, Yoshimune was riding high […]
If seeing junior high kids die after piloting the giant mecha Zearth has been enough drama to sustain this series over eight volumes, then showing us how their sole elementary school pilot accepts her fate should be even more dramatic. Right? That’s only partly true here. As we found out at the end of the […]
I’ve written before about how great expectations can really affect my enjoyment of a given work. Brian Vaughan, Kaoru Mori, and Ed Brubaker have all found themselves on the receiving end of this sentiment at some point. “Tropic of the Sea,” is a special case. You see, this is the longest manga work from Satoshi […]
Consider this the beginning of the end for Hiroaki Samura’s epic. With Shira out of the way in spectacular fashion, the narrative now shifts back to Habaki Kagimura and his Rokki-dan’s efforts to wipe out the rest of the Itto-ryu and the maverick sword school’s work to counter that. That’s made clear as the bulk […]
So there was an article on Bleeding Cool last week talking about a new way for publisher marketshare to be measured that Marvel and Dark Horse have been pushing for. This new system would track retail share per item sold by Diamond. So rather than just a flat percent for “unit share” and “dollar share,” […]
I’ve never seen any of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” films, yet based on their reputation I can’t help but wonder if this volume provides a very similar experience. Nearly every page in this volume is dedicated to wholesale destruction as Tokyo is decimated by the alien crafts that crash into the city and proceed to lay […]
Now this is why I love Vertical. Publishing josei — young women’s — manga is not yet a common occurrence in North America and what examples of it we do have trend more towards slice-of-life stories that deal with their protagonists’ love lives in either a comedic or dramatic context. “Helter Skelter” is a suspense-bordering-on-horror […]
My main enjoyment from this series has come from seeing Tsutomu Nihei apply his distinct style to some decidedly conventional material. The results have been of an “acquired taste” so far, but this volume may signal the story’s transition into something legitimately entertaining for all. While the focus is still on the conflict between the […]
The successful partnership between Dark Horse and Joss Whedon got another shot in the arm this week. In case you haven’t heard, there’s currently a new “Firefly/Serenity” series in the pipeline from the publisher. No word on when this will actually hit the stands, but the safe money is on the nebulous term of “sometime […]
Another Comic-Con has come and gone, and while my wallet took a major hit, I came back with a lot of great comics that I’ll be talking about over the coming months. I’ve already got plans for one podcast based on what I’ve picked up, so expect my thoughts on “The Killer” by Matz and […]