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Upcoming 1/20/2010

January 19, 2010 by

I’m sorry, but that page from Natsume Ono’s not simple just haunts me. And the book is on this week’s ComicList, so I have an excuse. But I wrote about the book at length yesterday, so I’ll move on to the other fine offerings due to arrive in shops on Wednesday.

Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, noted comiXology columnist, and webcomic creator is back making comics in the form of King of RPGs (Del Rey), illustrated by Victor Hao. It’s about a recovering online gamer who gets drawn into the old-school dice-and-graph-paper version of the titular pastime. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of the review copy Del Rey sent, and I plan to finish it today between bouts of self-medication. Because I really feel gross. Heal me, satirical comics.

I don’t specifically know what blend of unsettling medical oddities, low comedy and crazed melodrama lurks in the ninth volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack (Vertical), but it doesn’t really matter. I know that all three of these ingredients will be present in sufficient volume to make the purchase of said book entirely worthwhile. As long as there’s at least one totally unnerving sequence with Pinoko, I’ll feel my money has been spent well.

I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever again read a Yuji Iwahara comic that’s as good as Chikyu Misaki (CMX), and Cat Paradise certainly isn’t it, but it’s pretty enjoyable all the same. The third volume arrives Wednesday, promising more mayhem at a cat-friendly boarding school where the student council fights an insurgence of gruesome demons. Iwahara mentioned in a text piece that he wanted to do a straightforward school adventure, but it’s Iwahara, so the definition of straightforward is somewhat loose.

And now for the Viz portion of the program, where this publisher leaves us impoverished but stocked with quality comics. Yes, it’s Signature week. As I mentioned, I’ve already blathered on about not simple and Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters, and you’d think those two comics would be enough for any publisher in a given week, but wait, as the purveyors of kitchen appliances of questionable utility claim, there’s more!

Instead of dwelling too much on the incipient loss we’ll all suffer, I’ll just point you to this press release about the final A la Carte volume of the excellent culinary manga, Oishinbo. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that Viz re-launches this series at a later date, because there’s certainly enough material in the wings.

We’re nearing the conclusion of Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto, with the penultimate volume due Wednesday. (There’s lots more of Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys yet to come, just to ease the imminent separation anxiety.) And surely, after all of my incessant nagging, you’ve all caught up on the previously published volumes of Takehiko Inoue’s Real and are poised and ready to buy the seventh, aren’t you?

Filed under: ComicList, Del Rey, Linkblogging, Vertical, Viz, Yen Press 1 Comment

Upcoming 1/13/2010

January 12, 2010 by

This week’s ComicList gives us all an opportunity to dig out from under last week’s avalanche. There are still items of note, of course.

“David,” you may ask, “just how many comics about people who see dead people or other supernatural beings can one actually read?” My answer is, “All of the ones that sound any good at all.” Your answer may be different, obviously. This week’s entry into the crowded, often awesome genre is Lola: A Ghost Story (Oni) by J. Torres and Elbert Or. Bask with me in the enticing familiarity of the blurb text:

“Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother — a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town. The same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse’s heard as a child. Man-eating ogres in trees. Farmhouses haunted by wraiths. Even pigs possessed by the devil. Upon his grandmother’s passing, Jesse has no choice but to face his demons and whatever else might be awaiting him at grandma’s house.”

I’ve reached the point that I would inject Banri Hidaka’s V.B. Rose (Tokyopop) directly into a vein if such a thing was possible, but I’ve been a little slow in exploring her other licensed work. For instance, Tears of a Lamb (CMX) reaches its conclusion with the seventh volume. This just means that I can order the whole thing in one massive, presumably discounted order and spend an entire weekend reading it. A plot that features both eating disorders and amnesia sounds like a really good week on All My Children in its long-ago prime, and that’s always a selling point for me.

Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Oni 1 Comment

Upcoming 1/6/2010

January 5, 2010 by

2010 hits the ground running, at least in ComicList terms. I hope you got cash for Christmas or are fit enough to supplement your income by shoveling the driveways of neighbors.

It’s been available in English for a few years, but that doesn’t stop me from making the hardcover collector’s edition of Fumiyo Kouno’s glorious Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Last Gasp) my pick of the week. In my opinion, this is still one of the finest comics from Japan ever to be licensed. Don’t believe me? Check out reviews from Lorena (i ♥ manga) Nava Ruggero and Kate (The Manga Critic) Dacey.

I only know what Drawn & Quarterly tells me about Imiri Sakabashira’s The Box Man, but I do know that they’ve got excellent taste in comics from Japan (and everywhere else). What does the publisher promise? An “absurdist tale in a seamless tapestry constructed of elements as seemingly disparate as Japanese folklore, pop culture, and surrealism. Within these panels, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the animate and the inanimate, the real and the imagined, a tension that adds a layer of complexity to this near-wordless psychedelic travelogue.”

Quick, something a little more undemanding! CMX to the likely rescue! They debut The World I Create, written and illustrated by Ayami Kazama. It’s about students with the ability to create virtual realities, and it looks kind of charming.

I was crazy about godly pantheons as a kid, particularly the Greek. It never translated into a particular love for comics versions of characters like Hercules, but I was always fascinated, probably because the mythology was so much like a soap opera with extra smiting. As I really admired George O’Connor’s abilities as a cartoonist in Journey into Mohawk Country as well, I’ll definitely give First Second’s Zeus: King of the Gods a good long look.

I’m apparently not supposed to call them “pamphlets” any more, though I thought that was the preferred term over “floppies.” “Flimsies” it is. There are two such publications out this week that show much promise: the fourth issue of Brandon Graham’s King City (Image) and the second issue of Stumptown (Oni), written by Greg Rucka, illustrated by Matthew Southworth, and colored by Lee Loughridge. Thanks again for making my browser crash, Image.

Now, for the costliest portion of our program: the new shôjo, which I will simply list in alphabetical order because there’s so much of it:

  • Happy Café vol. 1, written and illustrated by Kou Matsuzuki, Tokyopop: I love romantic comedies set in restaurants, so I’ll certainly pick this up at some point.
  • Nana vol. 20, written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Viz: More awesome rock-and-roll drama.
  • Natsume’s Book of Friends vol. 1, written and illustrated by Yuki Midorikawa: I thought this supernatural series got off to a strong start.
  • Sand Chronicles vol. 7, written and illustrated by Hinako Akihara: Oh, the beautiful ache of growing up.
  • V.B. Rose vol. 7, written and illustrated by Banri Hidaka, Tokyopop: Awesome stuff about wedding dress designers and their impulsive apprentice.

    • So what looks good to you?

    Update: I forgot to mention this one, but Marvel does a really quick turnaround on producing a trade paperback of its Marvel Divas mini-series, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Tonci Zonjic. I enjoyed it very much in flimsy form, though I’m sad to see that they apparently use that hideous J. Scott Campbell cover for the collection. You’ll understand if I don’t illustrate this paragraph with a thumbnail, won’t you?

    Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Drawn & Quarterly, First Second, Image, Last Gasp, Marvel, Oni, Tokyopop, Viz 2 Comments

    Upcoming 12/23/2009

    December 22, 2009 by

    I’m sure there’s a lot to delight many people on this week’s ComicList, but I find myself underwhelmed and a little bit relieved by that. My “to read” pile is sufficiently tall to get me through the upcoming holiday, so taking a break from compounding the problem is welcome.

    There is one book of particular note this week, though I already own all of the comics collected in it: Evil Twin Comics releases More Than Complete Action Philosophers, written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Ryan Dunlavey. Van Lente and Dunlavey take a wild and wooly approach to educating about the lives and belief systems of some of history’s great philosophers, and the results are always lively and informative. I have a particular nostalgia for this title, as I discovered it at my first visit to a Small Press Expo and got my copies signed by Van Lente and Dunlavey. (“Keep thinking!”) If you enjoyed R. Sikoryak’s marvelous Masterpiece Comics (Drawn & Quarterly), then this would be an excellent piece of follow-up reading.

    If you want something to read right now, here are some links:

  • Kate Dacey runs through the shipping list and tracks some of the recent Best Manga of 2009 lists that are out there. The most recent example is Deb Aoki’s excellent list of Best Continuing Manga of 2009.
  • Writing for CTV News, Reed Stevenson takes a look at Europe’s manga market. Any article that starts with a Van Gogh anecdote and uses Paul Gravett as a source is worth a look.
  • Over at The Comics Journal, Shaenon K. Garrity weighs in on the state of manga translation and the question of authenticity versus readability: “The thing is, you can’t have both.” Let it be known that I favor readability.
    • Filed under: ComicList, Evil Twin, Linkblogging 1 Comment

    Upcoming 12/16/2009

    December 15, 2009 by

    I was right. There have been a number of great new manga series this year. A cursory glance at some of the new volumes included in this week’s ComicList proves it.

    The founder of the feast this week’s is Viz’s Signature imprint, which leads things off with the second volume of Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea. It’s easily one of the most beautiful comics you’ll read this year, and Igarashi seems to be building an interesting contemporary fable about mysterious children and disappearing fish. You can read it online for free at Viz’s SIGIKKI site, but I like holding the actual object. Also, if lots of people buy Children of the Sea, we might get Igarashi’s Witches sometime in the future.

    Please don’t misunderstand me. I think Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto is a fine comic in every respect, easily one of the best of the year. It’s a wonderfully constructed thriller with a higher-than-average number of important things on its mind. I admire it tremendously, I really do. But I love Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys with its twists and turns, healthy doses of humor and wistfulness, and its energetic quirkiness. I also think it’s one of the best comics of the year, and the fact that it’s more… well… fun than Pluto pushes it just a note higher on my personal scale. The sixth volume of 20th Century Boys arrives this week.

    I’m still not entirely sure why the phrase “Fumi Yoshinaga’s most ambitious work to date” doesn’t make people lift their heads like deer becoming aware of a mighty predator crashing through the forest. Even her lighthearted comics have an enduring quality that’s kind of rare in mainstream entertainment. So I’m a little disappointed that Yoshinaga’s Ôoku: The Inner Chambers hasn’t cast a wider net among critics. Yes, bits of the translation are awkward, but for my money, there are few finer working cartoonists than Yoshinaga, and the opportunity to enjoy the acclaimed apex of her career to date is just so damned cool. The second volume of Ôoku graces better comic shops on Wednesday.

    I’m finally getting used to actually looking at Image’s listings, since they’re publishing some comics I’m really enjoying. (I thought I’d never have to do that again after they gave up on Glister. Who knew?) This week, it’s the fourth issue of spelunking thriller Underground, written by Jeff Parker, illustrated by Steve Leiber, and colored by Ron Chan. A determined ranger tries to protect a pristine cave from an unscrupulous developer and his well-armed minions.

    Oh, and while I’m not following the series myself, manga karma points must go to Del Rey for its rescue of Akimine Kimiyo’s Samurai Deeper Kyo. For those of you who don’t remember, Tokyopop had reached the thirty-fourth volume of this thirty-eight volume series before Kodansha reclaimed rights to all of its properties from Tokyopop. Lest its fans become profoundly (and understandably) embittered by that turn of events so close to the finish line, Del Rey is publishing two-volume collections of the final six volumes, the first of which arrives Wednesday.

    Filed under: ComicList, Del Rey, Image, Viz 2 Comments

    Upcoming 12/09/2009

    December 8, 2009 by

    Time for a look at this week’s ComicList:

    Digital Manga brings us a little of that old-school shôjo charm in the form of Itazura na Kiss, written and illustrated by Kaoru Tada. The book has already received warm welcomes from the likes of Danielle Leigh, Johanna Draper Carlson and Kate Dacey, which is a very promising sign indeed.

    Viz unleashes the third volume of one of my favorite new series of 2009, Detroit Metal City, written and illustrated by Kiminori Wakasugi. Viz’s solicitation text is on the oblique side, as always (“Death metal screams the despair of dying heathens! What the hell kind of song would you sing?!”), but I feel safe in promising hilariously distasteful mistaken identity satire.

    There’s a lot of other stuff apparently on the way from Viz, much of it wonderful, but it’s all got the disclaimer, “release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution.” Chances are it’s already in bookstores but won’t be in comic shops for a week or so.

    Yen Press will make fans of funny manga very happy this week with two by Kiyohiko Azuma. They’ve taken a crack at an omnibus collection of Azuma’s hilarious comic strip, Azumanga Daioh, featuring the highs and lows of a group of high-school girls. ADV published something similar a couple of years back, but Yen is promising a fresh translation. I’m undecided as to whether or not to buy it over again.

    Also from Azuma is the seventh volume of the charming and witty Yotsuba&!, which Yen also rescued from ADV limbo. If there was a comics industry award for good karma, Yen would be the frontrunner.

    Filed under: ComicList, DMP, Linkblogging, Viz, Yen Press 1 Comment

    Upcoming 11/3/2009

    December 1, 2009 by

    Comics will arrive on Thursday this week, which gives you an extra day to brace yourself for the joy. Let’s look at the current ComicList:

    Adam Warren and Dark Horse explore the possibilities of the pamphlet with the Empowered Special: The Wench With a Million Sighs. Expect a lot of alliteration as the “scruple-free storyteller soon reveals how all of Empowered’s many frustrations at work, at home, and even in the bedroom can be conveyed strictly through the vocabulary of her extraordinarily expressive exhalations.”

    Prepare for bittersweet emotions aplenty as CMX publishes the final volume of Kaoru Mori’s deeply lovely Emma. Happiness at the arrival will blend with sorrow in the knowledge that this is the last time. Will Emma and William make their way down the aisle, or will societal pressures separate them? Whatever happens, expect mono no aware aplenty.

    Fortunately, Del Rey offers choices to lift one’s spirits. There’s the second volume of Nina Matsumoto’s excellent comic fantasy, Yokaiden, and the fourth volume of Koji Kumeta’s dense, often scathingly funny Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.

    Digital Manga offers pretty much all of the Makoto Tateno you can handle with the first volume of an omnibus version of Yellow and the debut of its sequel, Yellow II.

    Image offers the third issue of Brandon Graham’s excellent King City, originally published in tankoubons by Tokyopop, now released in pamphlet form. Here are a few preview pages over at Comic Book Resources.

    A press release that arrived in my in-box yesterday describes Yuki Yoshihara’s Butterflies, Flowers (Viz) as a gateway to josei for shôjo fans. “As shojo manga readers mature and their interests expand,” Director Brand Marketing Candace Uyloan notes, “we are delighted to be able to offer titles that are aimed at a grown up audience.” Works for me. Of course, Chica Umino’s excellent Honey and Clover has been serving a similar purpose for a while now, straddling the border between shôjo and josei with quirky aplomb. The art-college romantic comedy reaches its eighth volume this week.

    Just based on Taiyo Matsumoto’s well-deserved reputation as a person who makes great comics, I expect that his GoGo Monster (Viz) might make a strong showing on some “Best of” lists this year. I haven’t read it yet myself, but if it’s anywhere near as good as Tekkonkinkreet, it will be very good indeed. I’m hoping there will be a copy at the bookstore today when I go to pick up Red Snow.

    Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Dark Horse, Del Rey, DMP, Image, Viz 5 Comments

    Upcoming 11/25/2009

    November 24, 2009 by

    Time for a look at this week’s ComicList:

    CMX expands its line of endearing shôjo with the debut of Asuka Izumi’s The Lizard Prince. It’s about the complications that arise when a princess falls in love with a prince who occasionally turns into a lizard, and I really enjoyed the review copy that CMX sent. It’s one of those romantic series that’s more about sustaining a relationship in the face of obstacles than the advent of a romance. Strong-willed Princess Canary and softie Prince Sienna know they love each other; it’s just petty details like her reptile-averse mother, his mysterious background, and his not-entirely-controllable transformations that keep their happiness from being absolute. Part of the charm of the series is that Canary and Sienna really seem to enjoy tackling problems and working through them. Izumi’s art is very attractive, and she’s got a cheerful sense of humor that makes the stories breeze by.

    This one’s been in bookstores for over a month, but if you confine your graphic novel purchases to specialty shops, this is the week you can pick up Masayuki Ishikawa’s Moyasimon (Del Rey). Country boys Tadayasu and Kei enroll in agricultural college in the big city, where weirdness awaits. Tadayasu can see and speak to bacteria (or at least hear their chirpy prattle), making him an object of particular interest to the professor and handful of fellow students who know of his ability. Hard science and low comedy combine as Tadayasu and Kei learn about the power of bacteria and their sometimes disastrous impact on the digestive system. The series gets off to a solid if not riotous start, and I’ll certainly stick around to see how it develops. [Update: Johanna Draper Carlson has a theory on why it took so long for this book to reach shelves, along with a review.]

    Fanfare/Ponent Mon delivers two titles this week. There’s the second and final volume of Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood, which I reviewed here. It’s very likable stuff, beautifully drawn by Taniguchi.

    There’s also the English-language debut of Willy Linhout’s Years of the Elephant. It’s about the aftermath of a young man’s suicide and the devastating impact on his family. According to the publisher, “The book was initially intended as self therapy to help Linthout deal with the loss of his son however, the originally modest project unleashed a flood of reactions and therapists now use the book as a recognised aid for coping with grief.” I picked it up at SPX, and I will duly move it to the top of the pile of things to read.

    Tokyopop makes me really happy by continuing its slow-but-appreciated roll-out of new volumes of Ai Morinaga’s Your and My Secret, in this case the fifth, a license originally held by ADV then left to limbo. It’s more mistaken-identity comedy about a horrible girl and a meek boy who switch bodies and alternately recoil at or revel in the consequences. For bonus points, this volume features a school trip to Hokkaido, one of my very favorite settings for manga and a place I hope to visit someday.

    I’m intrigued by This Ugly Yet Beautiful World just based on its title. It’s a manga adaptation by Ashita Morimi of an apparently popular anime by Gainax/Konomini Project. It sounds like your standard “dweebs meet amnesiac space princess” fare, but it’s got a great title. (Seriously, does Japan have an agency that deals with amnesiac space princesses? They could use one.)

    Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Del Rey, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop 3 Comments

    Upcoming 11/18/2009

    November 17, 2009 by

    Chris Mautner published an appreciative primer on the great Osamu Tezuka over at Robot 6, and it’s nicely timed. This week’s ComicList offers new volumes of one of Tezuka’s enduring classics and a series based on another of his icons.

    Vertical keeps the medical madness coming with the eighth volume of Tezuka’s Black Jack. Mautner notes that the comic is “not for the squeamish, and like Astro Boy it’s very episodic, with Jack pulling off one fantastic operation after another. Those who can handle the occasionally bit of surgically sliced organs and flesh will find this to be a worth their time however.” I tend to fall into the squeamish category, and I find Black Jack to be a continuing source of delight, so take that for whatever it’s worth.

    The very talented Naoki (Monster, 20th Century Boys) Urasawa’s re-imagining of Tezuka’s Astro Boy classic, “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” continues in the sixth volume of Pluto. It’s a nifty blend of science fiction and murder mystery, and it’s my second-favorite Urasawa series currently being published by Viz.

    Of course, it’s not all Tezuka this week. There’s also Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki. I’ve really been looking forward to this volume, since I’ve never been able to consistently cook rice well, and I’m hoping it has some good advice mixed in with the toxic father-son posturing. Even if it doesn’t help me with my rice issues, I’m sure I’ll enjoy reading it.

    Speaking of things I’ve been enjoying, it’s nice to be able to get in on the ground floor of Yellow Tanabe’s Kekkeishi over at Viz’s Shonen Sunday site. The print version of the series is up to its 19th volume. The Shonen Sunday site has added some other fun series like Yakitate!! Japan (over-the-top bread-baking battles) and Case Closed (teen sleuth trapped in the body of a little kid).

    The cheap among us will rejoice at the arrival of the softcover version of Rick Geary’s Treasury of XXth Century Murder: Famous Players, the Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor. I read a prose version of the story a long time ago, so it will be interesting to see Geary’s telling. Of course, it’s always interesting to see Geary’s telling of anything.

    Filed under: ComicList, Linkblogging, NBM, Vertical, Viz 1 Comment

    Upcoming 11/11/2009

    November 10, 2009 by

    In her look at this week’s comics, Kate Dacey delivers a succinct takedown of the latest example of that just-won’t-die-or-evolve artifact, the list of recommendations to help comics fans convince the ladies in their lives to share their hobby. I don’t really have anything to add, but I will just note that most of the women I know online who read manga are omnivores. They greet new romantic shôjo and new blood-and-guts seinen with equal enthusiasm. To my way of thinking, this makes the frequent exclusion of manga from these chick-bait graphic novel guides even more baffling.

    Anyway, here’s what looks good to me on the latest ComicList:

    I read a review copy of Tamio Baba’s Deka Kyoshi (CMX), about a detective going undercover as a teacher, joining forces with a mildly psychic student, and helping kids with their often dangerous problems. My reaction to the book tracks pretty much exactly with Brigid Alverson’s: “The stories are nice little self-contained dramas, but they never veer far from the predictable.”

    UltimateVenus5It seems to be a week where publishers who’ve had something of a low profile lately deliver some new goods. There are new volumes from DrMaster, Seven Seas, and Go! Comi. I’m most enthusiastic about the Go! Comi offering, the fifth volume of Takako Shigematsu’s Ultimate Venus. It’s about an orphan who learns that she’s the granddaughter of a very wealthy, very formidable woman, and must prove her worth to inherit the family fortune. I can’t say I yet love it in the way that I loved Shigematsu’s Tenshi Ja Nai!!, but I loved that series a lot and heartily recommend it to people who like wacky, mean-spirited romantic comedy. Ultimate Venus is a bit tamer, but it’s still very enjoyable.

    Viz finally rolls out a VizBig version of Rumiko Takahashi’s long-running, much-loved InuYasha, which is a welcome development for people who might enjoy the anime but be a bit daunted by the 42 existing volumes of the manga.

    ikigami3Of more specific interest to me is the third volume of Motoro Mase’s Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, from Viz’s Signature line. Though I’m ambivalent about the series overall, I’ve liked it enough to review the first and second volumes of this series about a draconian government program that targets random people for death to help the remainder of the citizenry better appreciate life. A government functionary must notify these unlucky learning tools of their fate, and readers get to watch the victims flip out during their last hours. I still feel like it needs to go somewhere beyond episodic individual drama, but I’m intrigued enough to stick around. And the third volume has an awesome tag line: “Sometimes people do shoot the messenger.”

    What if you could bring your cat to school? What if you and your cat were given amazing powers, and all you had to do in exchange was keep horrible demons at bay? These are the central questions addressed by Yuji Iwahara’s Cat Paradise (Yen Press). The second volume is due out on Wednesday and promises more mystery and adventure at a purportedly feline-friendly institute of learning.

    catparadise2

    Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Drmaster, Go! Comi, Linkblogging, Seven Seas, Viz, Yen Press 1 Comment
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