Manga and Comic Reviews
The first volume of this series was something that I wanted to like more than I actually did. A thoroughly irreverent take on some traditional fantasy tropes, its wiseass sensibility only took it so far. Unless you’re very, VERY good, then at some point you’ll actually need to start adding some actual substance to the […]
The first volume of this felt a bit too much like “Lex Luthor Team-Up,” or “Versus” as was more often the case. Having Luthor travelling the world to find black orbs that were supposedly the remnants of the Black Lantern rings from “Blackest Night” felt more like just an excuse for writer Paul Cornell to […]
Though the structure of this series tends towards the episodic, showcasing the various situations its cast of low-Earth-orbit window washers finds itself in, there have been hints of an uber-arc to tie everything together in previous volumes. You’d figure that with how young window washer Mitsu’s father disappeared all those years ago that mangaka Hisae […]
Not only was this worth the year-long wait from the release of vol. 9, but my reaction upon finishing it was basically, “Damn! I can’t wait to see what happens next!” “Real” is in a position similar to other series like “Berserk,” “Black Lagoon,” “Yotsuba&!” and “Blade of the Immortal,” where the long waits between […]
I wouldn’t trade “New X-Men,” “All-Star Superman,” or his ongoing “Batman” run for anything, but I still wish Grant Morrison would find the time to do more weird and imaginative creator-owned series like this. As the story goes, Joe is your average teenager who is currently having the mother of all diabetic freak-outs. Now instead […]
Earlier this year it was announced that artist Lee Bermejo would be writing and drawing a special Christmas-themed “Batman” original graphic novel. Though I’ve known the man to be very good a drawing characters and settings that have a dark, “realistic” look to them but never come off as distractingly photo-referenced (in the way that […]
In his first volume of “Punisher MAX,” Jason Aaron did a great job of staking out his own territory with the title by acknowledging the character’s roots in the Marvel Universe and making Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk the main antagonist. Here, he shows us something else that will only help separate his run from the […]
Seeing this on the shipping lists a couple weeks ago was a pleasant surprise as I had completely forgotten it was coming. After years of mini-series and one-shots, this marks the first “Hellboy” story to be published as an original graphic novel. That said, it’s kind of thin for this sort of thing as it […]
Back in vol. 13 of “Invincible,” when Nolan Grayson and Allen the Alien were scouring the galaxy for resources they could use against the Viltrumite threat, one of the places they visited came with this awesome footnote from writer Robert Kirkman: “Holy crap! He’s talking about ‘Tech Jacket!’ You should totally order that trade paperback […]
Here’s some free advice to Marvel: When you’re collecting a story that includes the much-hyped death of a major character and want it to remain a surprise for those who haven’t had it spoiled for them, DON’T include a quote on the back that gives it away. Great job with that. As for the volume […]