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Upcoming 2/11/2009

February 10, 2009 by

A quick look at this week’s ComicList:

A panel from Lewis Trondheim's blog-comic, <i>Little Nothings</i>

A panel from Lewis Trondheim's blog-comic, Little Nothings

All due respect to the other fine items shipping on Wednesday, but the clear pick of the week is the second print collection of Lewis Trondheim’s excellent, observational blog-comic, Little Nothings, this one called “The Prisoner Syndrome.” The first collection was a real treat, one of the most entertaining books of 2008.

Here’s some good timing. DrMaster is releasing a set of two volumes of Yuki Fujisawa’s Metro Survive right on the heels of their inclusion on the 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. It sounds like just the thing for people who enjoyed Minetaro Mochizuki’s tense survival drama Dragon Head (Tokyopop), which was everyone, right? Or at least everyone who read it?

Linda Medley’s gently fractured fairy tale Castle Waiting (Fantagraphics) is one of the few pamphlet comics I still buy. It’s a real charmer, though I always suspect I’d do better to buy it all in a big collected chunk. That’s probably because I was introduced to the series that way. If you haven’t had the pleasure, I strongly recommend you track down the hardcover collection of the first volume of stories.

I need to get on the stick and catch up with Park SoHee’s charming royal soap opera Goong (Yen Press), as I seem to be about a volume behind. The fourth shows up on Wednesday.

Filed under: ComicList, Drmaster, Fantagraphics, NBM, Yen Press 2 Comments

2008 series conclusions

December 23, 2008 by

Here, in alphabetical order and without any real comment, are ten series that concluded in 2008 that I really enjoyed:

  • Cat-Eyed Boy, by Kazuo Umezu (Viz)
  • Dororo, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
  • Dragon Head, by Minetaro Mochizuki (Tokyopop)
  • The Drifting Classroom, by Kazuo Umezu (Viz)
  • Emma, by Kaoru Mori (CMX)
  • ES: Eternal Sabbath, by Fuyumi Soryo (Del Rey)
  • Forest of the Gray City, by Uhm JungHyun (Yen Press)
  • Genshiken, by Kio Shimoku (Del Rey)
  • Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
  • Train + Train, by Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma (Go! Comi)

    • I know there’s another volume of Emma coming out in 2009, but the core story concluded in 2008. Also, I warned you I would mention Dororo more than once. I could have done the same with Cat-Eyed Boy, but I liked Dororo better.

    Filed under: CMX, Del Rey, Go! Comi, Tokyopop, Vertical, Viz, Yen Press 2 Comments

    Kids' stuff

    December 18, 2008 by

    For whatever reason, I’m really enjoying the “best of/favorite” lists from group blogs this year. Case in point: the round-up from the crew at Good Comics for Kids.

    I may not agree with every choice (Life Sucks? Seriously?), but it’s a great cross-section of different kinds of books for different age groups. And maybe it’s just me, but I often find lists focused on a younger audience full of books that could just as easily populate a general “best of/favorites” list. But that might just be me.

    And speaking of good comics for kids, I just got around to reading the second volume of Satoko Kiyuduki’s Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro (Yen Press). What an odd, sweet, gently unsettling little book this is. I think it may need some Flipped love in the near future.

    Filed under: Awards and lists, Linkblogging, Yen Press Leave a Comment

    Upcoming 10/29/2008

    October 28, 2008 by

    This week’s ComicList offers a happy hodgepodge of choices, from cross-cultural curiosities to comic strips to creepy classics. (It also allows for a lot of alliteration.)

    First and foremost is the fourth volume of Adam Warren’s razor-sharp but still endearing super-hero and fan-service parody, Empowered (Dark Horse). Rarely is the enduring fortitude of the human spirit celebrated with such enthusiastic bad taste.

    I can rarely resist a travelogue comic, and Enrico Casarosa’s The Venice Chronicles (AdHouse) looks like an extremely pretty one.

    A new volume of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s old-school horror manga, Parasyte (Del Rey) is always a welcome arrival, and the fifth installment shows up Wednesday.

    As much as I enjoy Vertical’s manga releases, I’ve missed the design genius of Chip Kidd. I can kind of get over it thanks to the arrival of Kidd’s Bat-Manga! (Pantheon).

    While I strongly suspect The Venice Chronicles will be much more to my narrative-friendly tastes, I’m sure there will be much to admire in Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel (PictureBox).

    I’ve heard nothing but raves about the anime adaptation of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and I keep meaning to put it in the queue, but I’m just not that much of an anime geek. And besides, I tend to like to read the manga first. (Except in the case of Inu Yasha, because that series is like 75 volumes long, so I’ll stick with the animated version for now.) But thanks to Yen Press for launching the series this week. Yen is also delivering the second volume of Satoko Kiyuduki’s four-panel fairy tale, Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. I really enjoyed the first volume, so this is another welcome arrival.

    Filed under: AdHouse, ComicList, Dark Horse, Del Rey, Pantheon, PictureBox, Yen Press 6 Comments

    Upcoming 8/13/2008

    August 12, 2008 by

    You would think that the comics pick of the week would be a gimme. I mean, Fanfare/Ponent Mon is releasing Hideo Azuma’s Disappearance Diary. In fact, you generally only need to type “Fanfare/Ponent Mon is releasing…” to guarantee pick-of-the-week standing. And Disappearance Diary is an excellent, unusual comic book that’s absolutely well worth your time and money. (I reviewed the book here.) So it’s a lock, right? But…

    It’s also generally true that you can begin a pick-of-the-week sentence with “NBM is releasing a new installment of Rick Geary’s Treasury of…” and feel reasonably confident that you won’t be easily contradicted. So we also have Geary’s Treasury of 20th Century Murder: The Lindbergh Child to greedily anticipate. (Seriously, if you haven’t treated yourself to any of Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder books, you need to be nicer to yourself. Much, much nicer.)

    More often than not, you can begin a pick-of-the-week sentence with “New from First Second is…”, though not if that sentence finishes with “Life Sucks.” Eddie Campbell (collaborating with Dan Best) seems like a much safer bet, and I will certainly pick up a copy of The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard at some point.

    Okay, moving on from the pick-of-the-week face-off, we reach the eye-catching oddity. First of all, Viz seems to be publishing its own Gantz equivalent, with Rei Hiroe’s Black Lagoon. I admit that the price point ($12.95) was what first caught my eye, because it made me think they’d added something to the Signature imprint. But no, it’s a rated-“Mature” book about mercenaries with characters named things like “Revy Two Hand,” which triggers both my curiosity and my Not for Me Alarm.

    Lastly, a return to my comfort zone. I very much enjoyed the first volume of Uhm JungHyun’s Forest of the Gray City, originally from ICE Kunion. Yen Press has picked up the manhwa consortium’s catalog, and the second volume of Forest arrives Wednesday. It has a very josei feel to it, featuring a working woman who takes in a hunky male boarder to pay off some of her debts. It’s got lovely art and a smart, sexy vibe overall.

    Filed under: ComicList, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, First Second, NBM, Viz, Yen Press 5 Comments

    Upcoming 8/6/2008

    August 5, 2008 by

    Some highlights from this week’s ComicList:

    The one and only time I ever put on a pair of roller blades, a bee flew up my shirt. While nothing so dramatic resulted from previous encounters with ice or roller skates, I realized long ago that any attempt to increase locomotion via enhanced footwear would result only in comic relief for onlookers. It also led me to suspect that my center of gravity is actually located in another person’s body. That said, I’m still swayed by early praise for Hisaya Nakajo’s Sugar Princess: Skating to Win (Viz). Theoretically, figure-skating manga should have the gayest supporting cast ever, but I suspect I will be disappointed on this front.

    In other princess news, this time involving actual sugar, Del Rey releases the seventh volume of Kitchen Princess by Natsumi Ando and Miyuki Kobayashi. This series was as blandly unsatisfying as a Hostess Donette in the early going, but it’s gradually turned into wonderfully melodramatic shôjo crack over time. Plus, you get recipes in every volume.

    As I’ve mentioned, I’m thrilled that Yen Press is carving out a mini-niche of four-panel comics. I thought Ume Aoki’s Sunshine Sketch was just okay; I’d probably have enjoyed it more in smaller doses, as it was originally published. On the other hand, I can’t wait for the second volume of Satoko Kiyuduki’s Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. This week marks the arrival of S.S. ASTRO: Asashio Sogo Teachers’ Room by Negi Banno, which sounds like a lot of fun. The harried employees of Japan’s school systems are among my favorite supporting characters in manga, so I’m looking forward to seeing them get the spotlight.

    Filed under: ComicList, Del Rey, Viz, Yen Press 3 Comments

    Blood splatter doesn't matter?

    August 4, 2008 by

    This week’s Flipped is up over at The Comics Reporter. I join the chorus of voices wondering if the audience for cute, folklore-driven romantic comedy is also hungry for panty shots of beheaded corpses, and vice versa. In a weird way, I kind of hope it is.

    Filed under: Flipped, Yen Press 8 Comments

    Upcoming 7/23/2008

    July 22, 2008 by

    In honor of Entertainment Weekly’s recent redesign, I’m going to start putting random phrases in boldfaced type. Okay, no, I’m not. Well, maybe just this once.

    Now, on to this week’s ComicList:

    Yen Press releases the first issue of its anthology, Yen Plus, featuring licensed work from Japan and Korea and original series from the likes of James Patterson and Svetlana Chmakova. (How often do you get to type phrases like that? Maybe I should bold it.) Is anyone else frightened by Pig Bride as a title? Outside of VH1’s slate of reality shows, how can a series live up to that name?

    The thing about Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder series (NBM) is that I’ll mention every book in the series every time it shows up on a shipping list, because Geary is just that good. This week’s re-release is the paperback version of The Murder of Abraham Lincoln, which I reviewed here.

    Del Rey rolls out two new series this week. First up is Kasumi, written by Surt Lim and drawn by Hirofumi Sugimoto. It’s about a girl who can turn invisible, and Leroy Douresseaux liked a lot. Deb Aoki interviewed the creators for About.Com.

    The other debut, Kujubiki Unbalance, created by Kio Shimoku and Koume Keito, is about as meta as it gets. Those who read Shimoku’s wonderful Genshiken will recognize the series as the oft-referenced touchstone property of a bunch of the characters in that book. (If you can’t be counted among those who read Genshiken, you might want to correct that.)

    Last but not least is the second volume of Yuko Osada’s fun travel adventure, Toto. Sure, it’s got plucky ‘tweens with big dreams, but it also has an adorable, weaponized dog.

    Filed under: ComicList, Del Rey, NBM, Yen Press 2 Comments

    From the stack: Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro

    July 4, 2008 by

    I have a confession to make. Interested as I am in new players in the manga market, I haven’t delved too deeply into the catalogue of Yen Press. I admire Keiko Tobe’s educational soap opera, With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child, and I’m thrilled that they’ve absorbed ICE Kunion’s manhwa titles (particularly Goong and Forest of Gray City), but the rest of their titles seem kind of generic. And I can barely keep up with the generic manga I already enjoy. (If I’m missing something spectacular, please let me know.)

    The one solicitation that was able to crack my indifference was Satoko Kiyuduki’s Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. Between the charmingly odd title and the fact that it’s in the four-panel strip form, I had to take a look. I’m glad I did. I’m partial to low-key weirdness, and this title offers that quality with aplomb.

    Taciturn Kuro is wandering the countryside toting a coffin and investigating rumors of a witch. She’s accompanied by a talking bat named Sen and, later, a pair of rambunctious, cat-like twins named Nijuku and Sanju. Between the coffin on her back, her secretiveness, and the almost-unrelieved black of her wardrobe, she’s not an especially winning presence, and she’s got too much on her mind to concern herself with charming strangers. She manages, though, in an unassuming way.

    That’s because Kiyuduki has populated Kuro’s world with people who are kind and curious rather than superstitious and stingy. They share information, and turn to Kuro with their problems, triggering gently uplifting adventures. Kuro’s got substantial burdens of her own, but she helps when she can. There’s a streak of benevolent self-interest to her adventures as well, and it’s fun to watch her multi-task.

    If Kuro was merely glum and resolute, she’d be kind of dull. It’s nice that Kiyuduki gives her a sarcastic side and allows her to indulge in the occasional fit of temper. As for Sen, if you’ve seen one talking-bat sidekick, you’ve seen them all, but I tend to find talking-bat sidekicks welcome more often than not. Nijuku and Sanju are charming kids. They’re funny, inquisitive, and occasionally bratty, and Kiyuduki doesn’t overplay their moments of kid logic. Their growing dependence on Kuro and Kuro’s almost reluctant fondness for them is moving and subdued.

    Kiyuduki’s illustrations are gorgeously cute, rich in detail with just enough darkness to suit the book’s tone. Character designs are imaginative, and Kiyuduki is particularly adept at facial expressions, from small, nuanced shifts to the full-on tantrums and wide-eyed wonder of the twins. Even without the generous sprinkling of color pages, the landscapes Kiyuduki creates are homey and welcoming.

    Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro is one of those books that feels just right… the right blend of humor and sadness, clarity and myster, charm and creepiness. I really recommend it.

    Filed under: From the stack, Yen Press 6 Comments

    Bumper crop

    June 17, 2008 by

    Enough with the shadowy portents for a bit. Let’s see what lurks in the current Diamond Previews catalog, shall we?

    Dark Horse offers the fourth volume of Adam Warren’s brilliant Empowered about the ups and downs of a good-hearted super-heroine with a singularly unreliable costume and a loyal band of friends. The third volume got a little dark for my tastes, but it was hardly enough to keep me from reading more. (Page 30 and 31.)

    Do I owe it to myself to see if any of the plot points so irritatingly left dangling in The Plain Janes (Minx) are addressed in the sequel, Janes in Love? Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg revisit their group of art guerillas and promise that the teens “discover that in art and love, the normal rules don’t always apply.” I thought they already knew that. (Page 113.)

    Someday I’ll get around to writing about Rutu Mordan’s Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly), which I thought was very good. (I don’t know if I would have put it on my “Best of 2007” list, whatever that might have looked like, but I’d certainly recommend it.) D&Q is following up with a collection of Mordan’s short works, Jamilti and Other Stories, and I’m looking forward to it. I love short stories, and I’m eager to see what Mordan does with that kind of flexibility. (Page 288.)

    Many people, myself included, have written nice things about Hideo Azuma’s Disappearance Diary, due from Fanfare. Anything from this publisher is worth a look, and this book offers an intriguing if slippery look at the low points in the life of the manga-ka. (Page 297.)

    I’ve been having a hard time finding a copy of Jason Shiga’s widely acclaimed Bookhunter (Sparkplug Comic Books) in my retail wanderings, so I’m glad to see it being offered again. (Page 349.)

    Weirdness alert: people are tracking the fates of Tokyopop’s various global titles, and here’s one more to add to the tally. The publisher is offering a prestige collection of one, Boys of Summer: The Complete Season. The solicitation of the Chuck Austen/Hiroki Otsuka baseball comic indicates that the unpublished third volume will appear for the first time here, along with the first two. I’m not recommending, because I’ve read too many comics by Austen as it is, but I thought it was interesting to note. (Page 353.)

    I thought Top Shelf had already solicited Ulf K.’s Heironymus B, but maybe it got delayed. I’ve heard good things about it, so I’ll just gently remind the local shop owner that I’d like a copy. (Page 362.)

    Takehiko Inoue’s much-loved basketball manga Slam Dunk gets another bite at the apple courtesy of Viz in its $7.99 Shonen Jump line. (Page 384.) The publisher is maximizing its Death Note profits with a new series of collector’s editions that offer “color art… premium packaging… new cover art on the dust jacket” and other bonuses. (Page 386.) I’m not quite certain about the plot of Ayumi Komura’s Mixed Vegetables, which seems to be about using marriage to further professional ambitions, but I can’t turn my back on shôjo cooking manga. (Page 387.)

    I swear this had a cooler name when it was first announced, but the first issue of Yen’s anthology magazine, Yen Plus, arrives in August. It features a mix of original and licensed work, and if you ever wondered what hack thriller author James Patterson would do with sequential art, this is your moment. It’s also got Svetlana Chmakova’s follow-up to Dramacon (Tokyopop), Nightschool, so that’s certainly a point in its favor. (Page 390.)

    Filed under: Dark Horse, Drawn & Quarterly, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Minx, Previews, Tokyopop, Top Shelf, Viz, Yen Press 2 Comments
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