I have to admit to some disappointment that Paul O’Brien didn’t review Civil War #4 in this week’s X-Axis. Nobody takes a controversial and/or dreadful Marvel comic out for a spin like O’Brien. He does neatly address the issue of continuity in this Usenet thread. And John Jakala fills the void with a look at potential pro-registration contingency plans still lurking in the shadows.
Moving on to the topic of superhero comics that aren’t sickening, ICv2 notes that Bleach (Viz – Shonen Jump) has been gently blessed with the Cartoon Network Effect. David Taylor at Love Manga and Brigid at MangaBlog both offer some analysis.
Here are even more manga reviews:
- It will probably never climb too far in the BookScan charts (since it hasn’t already), but Dragon Head (Tokyopop) keeps getting love from the blogosphere. This time, Bill (Pop Culture Gadabout) Sherman praises the book over at Blogcritics.org. (Found via The Comics Reporter.)
- At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson looks at Day of Revolution (Digital Manga Publishing).
- Updated to add: TangognaT looks at manga and graphic novels for younger readers at Chicken Spaghetti.
- Updated again because: It’s Manga Monday over at Comics-and-More. Dave Ferraro takes a look at two titles from Viz’s Editor’s Choice line, Blue Spring and Flowers & Bees.
At The Beat, Heidi MacDonald sets up a comments area for SPX planning. At CWR, Johanna notes that the show is still looking for volunteers. I had a great time volunteering last year, and the show as a whole was a lot of fun. I won’t be able to make it to the show this year, though.
In this week’s Flipped, I chat with David Wise about Go! Comi’s first year on the eve of their next round of releases.
I had great luck doing some manga shopping up in Pittsburgh on Saturday, finding titles that just didn’t seem to make it over the mountains into West Virginia. The only mild irritation came from those stupid theft-deterrence tags that Borders insists on sticking into their inventory. I can appreciate the need to discourage shrinkage, but I live in fear of ripping out a word balloon with the sticky backs on those things.
