What I’ve Been Reading 4/1/09
Today was one of the rare Wednesdays where NOTHING I wanted was scheduled to ship, and the comic shop didn’t get in anything I asked them to order for me… Of course, that really won’t make a difference here since I generally don’t comment on the comics I’ve just bought for this column. I have to read them first to do that. Anyway, here are some noteworthy titles that came out in the last few weeks:
Daredevil: Lady Bullseye Or for those of you keeping track at home, vol. 6 of the Ed Brubaker/Michael Lark run. While most of Brubaker’s run on “Daredevil” has been very good, most of his stories have a tendency towards making Matt Murdock/Daredevil’s life off-puttingly depressing. Which is to say that while Daredevil does a lot of beating down thugs in his comics, his storylines ultimately end with someone issuing a mental or physical beatdown to the man himself. The last volume, “Cruel and Unusual” was a welcome, if slight, change of pace where Matt Murdock finally got to score a solid victory against the bad guys. “Lady Bullseye,” on the other hand, gave me the impression for a good portion of its length that the pendulum had swung back in the other direction and we were going to get another story about the bad guys screwing over Murdock once again. Fortunately, that’s not entirely the case, as Lady Bullseye herself is more than just a female version of one of Dardevil’s greatest foes (Bullseye himself only features tangentially in her origin), she’s also one of the Hand’s deadliest ninja assassins, and therefore Brubaker’s gateway to doing his “Daredevil vs. Ninja” story. The results are generally quite good, with Lark (and company) proving adept at ever at bringing action and life to any kind of scene, and Brubaker offering up an interesting rationalization for why Lady Bullseye is trying to destroy Murdock’s life (it’s only to offer him a better one, honest). Bonus points are awarded for the introduction of Master Izo, the mentor of Daredevil’s mentor, and a character who has all the skills and know-how you’d expect from a wizened, blind, Asian martial-arts master, but none of the decorum. He’s also one step ahead of the bad guys here, and that helps make him my new favorite character in the comic.
Berserk vol. 28 If you’re thinking that I’ll be reviewing every volume of “Berserk” that comes out for this column… then you’re probably right. We’ll see how it goes from here. If anything, I might have to stop talking about it if the quality continues to be this consistent (yes, it’s still very, very good). While this volume is pretty much focused on setting things up for the rest of the arc, that setup happens to be pretty good. For starters, we’re treated to the introduction of a mysterious little boy who might be Caska and Guts’ “missing” child. (I say “missing” because it was implied that the kid was used as the catalyst for Griffith’s reincarnation; but, if it is him then it means Griffith has more problems than the King of Kushan breathing down his neck, and makes things much more interesting as a result). The psychic girl who was introduced as part of Griffith’s entourage is reintroduced here, and becomes fast friends with Schierke (a friendship that will no doubt end in tears once they find out about the company each other keeps). Most importantly for future volumes is that the restoration of Caska’s mind is also teased… but as with so much in the series, what seems like a good thing may be anything but. Though some fans might be dismayed that there’s not as much action in this volume as there has been in the previous ones, there’s still an epic oceanside fight between Guts’ crew and lots of nasty sea monsters. Overall, this volume leaves me with the same feeling that all the others do: wanting to buy the next one right now if I could.
Nana vol. 15 I often wonder why I keep reading this series because there is no real plot “hook” or “high concept” behind the series. It’s just a character-driven story about two women with the same name, both friends, and one who becomes a rock star with her band, while the other winds up marrying one. Fortunately mangaka Ai Yazawa is good at creating interesting characters that you don’t mind following around as they go about their lives (it also helps that she’s a pretty good artist). So how was this volume? Well… *stops and pulls out the “If you haven’t been reading the series, this isn’t a good place to start, but fans will still like it” sign* Now that that’s over with, this volume’s shining moment is the high-stakes negotiating game Takumi plays with the publishers of a tabloid in order to keep them from publishing scandalous pictures of Reira and Ren. Even though the man is cold, calculating, and downright devious about having Trapnest (his band) succeed, he’s not evil or about to ruin anyone’s life over it, and that sets him apart from a lot of other music industry types we see in fiction. I’m also hoping that the time jump hinted at in the last few pages turns out to be true, because that will blow the door wide open for potential story ideas. So I’m still on board, and I’d recommend that anyone who likes good character-driven stories start reading this from the beginning. Even though this is shojo manga (actually it’s closer to josei, but that’s another discussion), it’s not girly enough to make it unappealing to guys, or else I would’ve stopped reading it long ago.