Comics and More

On this week's Comics-and-More Podcast, we review works by Jonathan Hickman. Reviewed: The Red Wing #1 (of 4) Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra FF #7 Jonathan Hickman & Greg Tocchini Part One Part Two Part Three For further reading: War of Kings #1-6 Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Paul Pelletier Secret Warriors #1-28 Jonathan Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis & Stefano Caselli

Jeremy A. Bastian This is an utterly beautiful book.  A quick flip-through of the collection and I was immediately impressed by the art, but after reading the entire thing through, I would say with certainty that this is one of the best books that will come out this year.  The story has the sort of whimsy and imagination that stories like Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz were able to capture, but it feels fresh and original here, probably mostly due to the imagination of the creator, and his enchanting main character, the cursed pirate girl herself, who is a very capable young girl on a quest to find her father, a pirate king.  Along the way, our protagonist meets any number of strange creatures, and gains some good friends, as she maneuvers through pirate-infested waters and causes a good deal of mischief along the way.  While I love the feisty pirate girl and the adventure she's on, it's really that amazing art that drew me in and won me over compl...

The first Comics-and-More Podcast!  A new weekly feature!  Enjoy! Reviewed: Moon Knight #1 Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Daredevil #1 Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera Part One Part Two

Here are the books you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow! Franco-Belgium All-Ages Comics - Fantagraphics is bringing some acclaimed Post-Herge all-ages comics to American audiences, and this week sees two of them coming to stores that people should be watching for: Gil Jordan, Private Eye: Murder By High Tide HC by M. Tillieux, a funny fast-paced detective story, and  Sibyl Anne vs. Ratticus HC by R. Macherot, featuring a mouse in a story that's described as a Pixar version of Wind In the Willows . Other Noteworthy Releases Alan Moore: Storyteller HC Amazing 3D Comics HC Atomic Robo (Volume 5): Deadly Art of Sciene TP Black Widow: Kiss or Kill TP Days Missing (Volume 2): Kestus HC Defiance GN Fables #107 I Give To You GN The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III: Century #2: 1969 The Raven HC Red Sonya (Volume 8): Blood Dynasty TP Rip Kirby (Volume 4) HC Seeds GN Smurfs (Volume 7): The Astro Smurf GN Spider-Man: The Complete Ben...

Monster Hunter Orage (Volume 1) Hiro Mashima I picked up this manga just because I thought that it sounded like a lot of fun, before realizing that it was by the creator of Fairy Tail , another manga that I was really impressed with.  And I wasn't let down by this title either.  Like with Fairy Tail , the artwork and fast-paced storytelling of Monster Hunter Orage reminded me a lot of the insanely popular  One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, with expressive cartoony characters, and a good mix of humor and action.  And like both of those other titles, the main protagonist, Shiki Ryuuhou, is a fun-loving, but kind of dim guy with a heart of gold.  He's a monster hunter, taught from a young age by Greylee, a man who he came to regard with reverence, like a father figure.  Since Greylee died in a horrible accident, Shiki has taken it upon himself to finish his learning as a monster hunter and carry out the task of finding the...

Jim Woodring Jim Woodring's latest is his second full-length graphic novel, hot on the heels of last year's Weathercraft .  And while Weathercraft  takes place in the same world as (and has an appearance from) his character Frank, that work stars Manhog.  Congress of the Animals features his beloved creation Frank himself, as he maneuvers through the dreamlike landscape he lives in, meeting strange creatures left and right during an adventure that has him traveling far and wide.  It's hard not to compare this to Weathercraft , the only other work I've read by Jim Woodring, which I actually preferred to Congress of the Animals , although I enjoyed them both.  Like Weathercraft , this new work is completely silent, showcasing Woodring's amazing talent to convey a story without a word, with seemingly little effort.  It's just an eye-popping visual feast of amazing illustrations in this crazy world where Woodring can put whatever he wants on the page, to a s...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops on Wednesday! Sergio Aragones Funnies #1 - Highly regarded humor cartoonist Sergio Aragones (co-creator of Groo , MAD artist) debuts his new humor comic from Bongo Comics this week! Other Noteworthy Releases Angel Omnibus (Volume 2) TP Avengelyne #1 Bleedout HC Daredevil #1 Ender's Game: Speaker For the Dead HC Fraggle Rock (Volume 2) HC Kim Harrison's Hollows (Volume 1): Blood Work HC La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room GN Locke & Key: Clockworks #1 (of 6) Neptune GN New Mutants Classic (Volume 6) TP Old City Blues HC Spawn: New Beginnings (Volume 1) TP Thor: Heaven and Earth #1 (of 4) Turf HC Walt Disney Treasury: Donald Duck (Volume 2) TP War of the Green Lanters: Aftermath #1 (of 2) X-Men/Steve Rogers: Escape From the Negative Zone HC

La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room Natsume Ono In 2003, Natsume Ono, the creator who would later bring us such great works as not simple and House of Five Leaves , made her debut with the webcomic La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room .  That initial work has now been collected by Viz for American audiences.   La Quinta Camera  is about an apartment in Italy shared by four middle-aged men who have become good friends over the years.  The fifth room is rented out to exchange students, so the occupant is constantly changing, continuously introducing them to someone new and keeping things interesting for them.  In the very first chapter of the book, we are introduced to Charlotte, a female student from Denmark, who happens to encounter each of the men throughout the city before ending up at the apartment building where she is mistakenly placed by her school.  It was a really nice introduction to the series and its characters, but I was...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops on Wednesday... Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis (Volume 3) TP - This is an awesome run of superhero comics by a master of the medium.  Alan Davis creates some of the best comics of the 90's here, and if you're not reading these collections, you're missing out. Other Noteworthy Releases Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis (Volume 2) HC BPRD: Hell On Earth - Monsters #1 (of 2) Captain America #1 Classic Next Men (Volume 1) TP Dark Avengers HC Dollhouse: Epitaphs #1 (of 5) From Bloom County To Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed SC RASL #11 The Red Wing #1 Sam & Twitch Complete Collection (Volume 1) HC Spider-Man: The Death of Jean Dewolff HC Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies TP Ultimate Comics: Fallout #1 (of 6) X-Men: Lifedeath HC X-Men: Schism #1 (of 5)

Here are the books, coming to comic shops in September, that I think may get overlooked, or that I'm just plain excited about... DC Comics - September sees the relaunch of the entire DC Universe line, with some very impressive talent involved.  The highlights are Justice League #1 (Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Scott Williams), Justice League International #1 (Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan), Aquaman #1  (Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado), Wonder Woman #1 (Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang), DC Universe Presents #1 (spotlights different superheroes of the DC Universe, beginning with Deadman, from Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang), Action Comics #1 (Grant Morrison, Rags Morales and Rick Bryant), Superman #1 (George Perez and Jesus Merino), Superboy #1 (Scott Lobdell, RB Silva and Rob Lean), Batman #1 (Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion), Batgirl #1 (Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes), Batwoman #1 (Finally, by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Bl...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to this week, coming to comic shops tomorrow (some later in the day due to the holiday)... Wandering Son (Volume 1) HC - Fantagraphics is beginning the publication of the Wandering Son  manga series this week, by Shimura Takako, about a dreamy quiet boy who wishes to be a girl, and an outgoing girl who discovers his desire, and adds her own confession: that she would like to be a boy.  Should be interesting, and if the cover's any indication, it's going to be a beautiful book. Other Noteworthy Releases Art of Doug Sneyd HC Deadworld Classic (Volume 2) TP Elric: The Balance Lost #1 Fallen Angel: Return of the Son TP Flight (Volume 8) GN George RR Martin's Fevre Dream GN Green Arrow (Volume 1): Into the Woods HC Infinity Inc (Volume 1): The Generations Saga HC Locke & Key (Volume 4): Keys To the Kingdom HC Magic Knight Rayearth Omnibus Edition (Volume 1) Mameshiba On the Loose GN Meet Mameshiba ...

Uki Ogasawara One week later and already I've purchased and read a second manga on my nookcolor.  It makes impulse-buying very easy when you can shop right at your fingertips from your own home.  Anyways, I was trolling through the yaoi manga available the other night and I liked the look of the art from this title, so I took a chance and purchased it.  Black Sun definitely does not shy away from the nudity.  If you're looking for a very erotic experience, this is your title, but it's definitely for the 18+ crowd.  It's sexy, with enough of a plot to make you care somewhat for the characters, and get you from one steamy scene to another.  The title follows Prince Leonard de Limbourg, who is captured as attacking soldiers seize Gerun Fortress while he is in command.  Prince Leonard offers to go quietly if the invaders let his soldiers go, and General Jamal Jan takes Leonard up on his deal, although tests his word immediately as he humiliates Pri...

Vera Brosgol This latest offering from First Second Books features a teenage protagonist struggling to fit in at a private school.  Having moved from Russia, she's done her best to drop her accent and adopt the clothing and mannerisms of her peers, but her family and the other nerdy Russian boy at her school make it difficult to sweep her heritage under the rug completely.  And she's lonely, as she has very few friends.  That changes, however, when she tumbles into a well, where she discovers a skeleton, and the ghost of the girl who belongs to it.  Although freaked out at first, Anya quickly makes friends with the ghost, and finds that having a ghost as a best friend has advantages.  Her new friend also helps her open her eyes to those around her as, it seems, the people in her life aren't always exactly what they seem, a point that hits home with how she's been faking her way through life herself.  Anya's Ghost is a fun read along the lines ...