Fallen Angel #1 (IDW): Peter David’s intriguing DC anti-heroine settles into her new digs at IDW, though the mysterious, menacing city of Bete Noire is still her most significant co-star. I’ve no idea if this first issue would make any sense to a reader who didn’t follow the original DC series. That said, I think it does a nice job explaining prior circumstances while highlighting some interesting new dynamics among the citizens of Bete Noire. Painted art by J.K. Woodward is lovely, but it might almost be too highfalutin for this particular story. I thought the pulpy, almost crude quality that previous illustrators brought to the book served it very well. I’ll certainly stick around to try and get used to it, though, as I’m very eager to see where David takes this story.

Nodame Cantabile Vol. 3 (Del Rey): Tomoko Ninomiya’s manga about music students hits its stride with this volume, telling a longer and more focused story while retaining the quirky, character-driven charms of the previous two. This time around, lecherous Maestro Stresemann has dumped leadership of the quirky S Orchestra into protagonist Chiaki’s hands. The would-be conductor is torn between ambition and impatience as he deals with an ensemble full of talent but decidedly lacking in focus. Can Chiaki pull the group together without cracking under the strain? It’s fun, funny stuff that plays to Ninomiya’s strengths – putting quirky, endearing characters in a room and letting them bounce off of each other in entertaining and unexpected ways.

Owly: Flying Lessons (Top Shelf): I always mean to review Andy Runton’s lovely, heartwarming books when they come out, but I find myself at a loss when I sit down to write. I think it’s partly due to the fact that I find the Owly books so comforting and such pure pleasure that I can’t quite bring myself to examine them too closely. I’d rather just bask in them. This one has all the ingredients of the previous two (wonderful illustrations, lovable characters, and a moving and optimistic story), but it’s even more accomplished, with higher emotional stakes. Runton has built a delightful world here.

Paris #2 (Slave Labor Graphics): Second verse, same as the first. I’ve heard croissants described as “just enough flour to hold the butter together.” That would apply here as well, with Andi Watson creating just enough of a narrative framework for Simon Gane’s ravishing illustrations. I love croissants, and I love Paris.

Holiday visits home always drive me towards minimalism. It seems like my parents have an aversion to bare flat surfaces. There’s no place to set anything down, except maybe on a stray coaster.

So as much as I love kitchen gadgets, I’m always reluctant to buy new ones. My partner is even more cautious about them than I am, and I swear I’ve caught him looking resentfully at the toaster.

But all of that became meaningless in the face of this year’s gift from my oldest sister. Oh, immersion blender, how I’ve coveted you. How I’ve cursed your absence from my life when transferring something from stove to countertop blender. How I thrilled to the short work you made of that pot of squash soup yesterday.

Now I feel like an infomercial. I see myself simultaneously making soup, bread crumbs, and smoothies, with just a quick rinse under hot water between projects. Maybe a faded sitcom actor from the ‘70s will stop by my kitchen to marvel at the blender’s efficiency, versatility, and value. I might even cultivate a suspicious Australian accent.

***

My partner made a small snowman on the porch railing. Since then, it’s gotten unseasonably warm, and the snowman’s deterioration has been disturbing. For a while, it looked like The Scream. Now, it’s just kind of dingy and obscene. I hope it’s gone by lunchtime.

***

For anyone who was wondering, my dog’s paw injury has almost fully healed. He also managed to convince our vet that further treatment was pointless, as he’s too much of an energetic spas for anything short of complete immobilization to have any recuperative value. We’re still holding off on unrestricted romping for a week or so, which has both dogs rather grumpy.

***

The last thing I need at this point is more reading material, but new comic book day waits for no one, I guess. The first of Dark Horse’s Harlequin Manga arrive, racy Violet Response and snuggly Pink A Girl in a Million. I went racy with my pre-orders, mostly out of morbid curiosity. That almost never works out for me.

The second issue of Andi Watson and Simon Gane’s crazy pretty Paris arrives via Amaze Ink/Slave Labor Graphics. I’ve really enjoyed gaping at the first issue.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon offers up the second volume of The Times of Botchan, by Natsuo Sekikawa and Jiro Taniguchi. Jog has a fine summary of the title’s merits here.

We just got back from seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and really, there are lots of worse ways to spend an afternoon.

The palette of the film works much better on a big screen than it did in a preview on television. It looked garish at that scale, but it’s richer. The whole film is beautiful, actually, and the CGI elements have enough personality to overcome the moments when they look kind of clunky.

I loved the books as a kid, and I keep meaning to reread them. If my memory can be trusted, they did a very solid job of translating the story. There are some movie-ish moments (a tag line at the end of a dramatic sequence that feels like you’ve seen it in a hundred movies already, even if the line itself is different), but there aren’t too many (like in Chris Columbus’s Harry Potter movies).

The strongest elements of the movie were the performances of Georgie Henley as Lucy and Skandar Keynes as Edmund, the most pivotal of the four Pevinsie children who stumble through the wardrobe and into Narnia. Henley in particular almost has to carry the film on her tiny shoulders. She’s tasked with convincing the audience of the wonder and humor and terror of Narnia, and she pulls it off without seeming like she’s even trying. Keynes is perfectly sullen, resentful, and alienated without going over the top or making you despise him. He’s a believably unhappy kid, and he plays remorse equally well. (Rose Curtin had talked about certain movies having a shojo manga vibe to them. Henley and Keynes, with their huge, endlessly expressive eyes look like manga characters come to life.)

William Moseley as Peter and Anna Popplewell as Susan have less interesting roles as caretakers and scolds of the younger children, and they don’t really do anything to surpass expectations. They’re okay, and they’re attractive, but they’re the solid, responsible siblings, and they’re never as much fun as the black sheep or the innocent. Moseley isn’t quite up to the arc that’s constructed for him, but I don’t really know if better acting would have helped.

Lots of reviews have raved about Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. She’s clearly having a ball, but she was much too rock star for my tastes. There wasn’t any genuine menace, just extremism. (There was a badly animated version in the 1970s, and I remember that version of the witch being absolutely terrifying.)

All in all, though, it’s pretty good entertainment for matinee prices. I should add that if you’re a parent thinking of taking a pre-schooler to this, you might reconsider. There was a three- or four-year-old down the row from us, and she spent the entire film either bored out of her mind or sobbing in terror. Make of that what you will.

It’s nice to be home. It was a good visit with family, and I particularly enjoyed seeing Rose and Steven, but driving six hours each way with two bored dogs in the car isn’t quite as restful as sitting on the sofa and watching Project: Runway marathons with a box of Wheat Thins and a tumbler full of cranberry vodka.

Fortunately, I pulled the selfish gift trick and gave my partner the audio version of Susanna Clarke’s brilliant Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I was a little concerned, as the reader, Simon Prebble, also participated in the audio version of The Egyptologist, and that was 50% lethal. I’m happy to report that Prebble wasn’t responsible for the parts that made me wish for death. It’s a great reading of the book, and all of the footnotes are included. It helped the drive go much faster.

To celebrate our safe return, I headed over to Amazon to use some gift credits. Ah, more Buddha, and Moto Hagio’s A, A1.

By the way, Buddha is one of the many titles featured in Love Manga’s wonderful Best of 2005 round-up. I love David and Immelda’s approach, and I’m flattered that they asked me to participate. (I’m also delighted that Yotsuba&! kicked so much behind.)

If you’re looking for ways to spend end-of-year found money, I offer some options in this week’s Flipped, which has to qualify as one of my laziest columns ever.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a case of Three Buck Chuck that isn’t drinking itself.

Only two more days! How did time pass so quickly?!

Two David-centric holiday events come to an end on Saturday, Dec. 24.

That’s your last day to take part in Dave (Yet Another Comics Blog) Carter’s Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive.

It’s also your last chance to win some lovely free manga from David (Love) Taylor and Immelda (Manga) Alty from their Advent Competition.

What, you thought I was going to urge you out into the shopping fracas? Please.

I should apologize in advance for any typos in this post. I have a cat helping me. She’s what might delicately be called “full-figure,” and she’s perched herself on the control/caps lock quadrant of the keyboard. I’d move her, but my wrist might break.

Anyway, here’s a survey of the first volumes and manga oddities listed in the January 2006 edition of Previews.

Dark Horse continues to make horror fans very, very happy. This month, they offer Lullabies from Hell by Hideshi Hino. I can see retailers and booksellers reacting with horror if that’s the actual cover art for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – The Lost Memory Novel (Junichi Fujisaku). Less potentially frightening is Haibe Renmei Anime Manga, based on the anime created by Yoshitoshi Abe.

ADV tries to catch your eye with the tag “Kill Your Parents” for the first volume of Anne Freaks (Tomohiro Nagai). It’s a horror/crime-fiction fusion featuring teens, cults, and what’s clearly a fairly drastic generational schism.

Another month, another new release from Del Rey. This time, it’s KageTora (Akira Segami), featuring “romance, action, comedy (and) ninjas!” Fresh!

Digital Manga unleashes what seems like a ton of varied material. There’s My Only King from “The Queen of Yaoi” Lily Hoshino. I’ve been wanting to see some of the more unusual, instructional titles, so Project X 240Z (Akira Yokoyama) has me curious. It’s the biography of the Datsun 204Z. No, seriously. I liked the manga version of Only the Ring Finger Knows, but I was left wanting to read more about the characters. Now, DMP offers the first of three novels tied to the series, The Lonely Ring Finger (by no one, apparently). Desire was another solid entry in DMP’s yaoi line, and that title’s artist, Yukine Honami, joins with writer Serubo Honami for Sweet Revolution, which sounds kind of like an all-boy Ultra Maniac.

Ice Kunion debuts Hissing (Kang EunYoung).

Tokyopop seems positively restrained this time around. There’s the first volume of Life (Keiko Suenobu), which promises “a foreword from a licensed psychologist who has worked with teens” on the various hot-button issues addressed in each volume. First up is cutting, apparently. I shouldn’t blame Yuna Kagesaki’s Chibi Vampire for having a title similar to Chibi Zombies, should I? No. Fans of Demo might keep an eye out for East Coast Rising, written and illustrated by Becky Cloonan. It features “some of the toughest, ‘durrtiest’ hooligans to sail the Hudson River.” It’s probably unfair of me, but hip misspellings do not fill me with confidence.

With hits Fake and Gravitation under its belt, it’s no surprise Tokyopop offers another “sexy and sophisticated bi-shonen” title, Asami Tojoh’s X-Kai. But they try to offer a little something for everyone, including “the long-awaited fan-service spectacular” Yubisaki Milk Tea (Tomochika Miyano). Fan service and cross-dressing? We’ll see. We’ll also see how fan service translates into prose with the first Love Hina Novel, written by Kuruo Hazuki with illustrations by Ken Akamatsu. Somewhat buried in the listings is the Rising Stars of Manga – UK & Ireland Edition, featuring seven stories by aspiring cartoonists.

Okay, maybe this isn’t quite as restrained as I initially thought. There are also first volumes of Priceless (Young-You Lee) and Magical x Miracle (Yuzu Mizutani). Shout Out Loud (Satosumi Takaguchi) launches in the Blu line, featuring young anime voice actors/hockey players in love.

Viz only has a handful of new titles, or maybe it just seems that way by comparison. Norihiro Yago’s Claymore launches in the Shonen Jump Advanced line. Fans of Hayao Miyazaki might be interested in the Kiki’s Delivery Service Film Comics. In the Shojo Beat line, there’s Yoko Maki’s Aishiteruze Baby.

Yaoi Press offers Saihôshi, the Guardian (Kôsen). What happened to Prince Anel’s shirt?

Listed in the Previews Book Store section is Go! Comi’s Crossroad by Shioko Mizuki. But I think that’s been listed before, hasn’t it? Even if it has, it gives me a chance to mention how much I like Go! Comi’s website.

If you note any omissions, egregious misspellings, or plain old flubs, let me know.

*

Edited to add Boogiepop, a horror/mystery novel, and the first volume of the manga adaptation, Doesn’t Laugh, by Kohei Kadano and Kouji Ogata, published by Seven Seas Entertainment. (Thanks, Anonymous!)

When something like the Speakeasy situation happens, I usually just sit back and look at what smarter people have to say on the subject. Because really, what I know about the economics of comics publishing and anything resembling high finance could comfortably fit in half of a hollowed-out Skittle, with plenty of room left over. (And to anyone who got a good chuckle out of the use of “comics” and “high finance” in the same sentence, you’re welcome.)

But reading the updates and analysis and noting that the fourth issue of Elk’s Run is due out today, I find myself a little more wistful than I would normally be at yet another industry implosion.

I met the Elk’s Run crew at SPX this year. In the brief exchange, they struck me as smart, enthusiastic people, proud of their comic and eager to get it into as many hands as they could. They were happy with the move from self-publishing to Speakeasy, though they gave no indication of letting up on their personal efforts to promote the book. They seemed to be having fun.

And I have to admit, it was in large part their likeability that had me walking away with the first three issues. (Okay, they were offering them at a really good price, too.) After I read the issues, they seemed like even more of a bargain, because they’re really solid entertainment. I’m definitely in for the remainder of its run.

And it makes me a bit depressed to see these smart, enthusiastic, talented creators plagued by delays and shifting fates and choosing between paying their letterer and buying groceries. As writer Joshua Hale Falkov said to Buzzscope:

“We can’t afford Previews ads anymore; we’re drastically cutting back on our convention appearances this year; and, we’re switching all of our comp list over to digital copies of the books. Right now, all we care about is getting the book out, and come hell or high water we’re going to do it.”

It’s unfortunate, to say the least. I mean, I know that these are hardly the first creators to contend with publisher screw-ups, nor will they be the last, but there’s vague additional sting this time around. I hope Falkov and company find a better situation for their next project.

So what can drive me out of this funk? Today’s arrival of the third volume of Owly: Flying Lessons (Top Shelf). Even the anticipation has me a little giddy.

By pure coincidence, a recent chunk of my reading pile consisted of graphic novels with school settings. Looking at them back to back, it’s fun to see the different ways creators use their locations.

In Chigusa Kawai’s La Esperança (Digital Manga), the school campus is an elegant, thematically apt backdrop for the coming-of-age romantic melodrama. The unifying traits of her protagonists are guilt and redemption, so it’s only appropriate that the school is run by nuns. Innocent Georges has constructed an entire personality around not causing others pain in a misdirected attempt to atone for the sins of his family. Experienced Robert’s guilt over an unspecified incident manifests itself in provocation, particularly of painfully agreeable Georges. Robert wants to strip away what he thinks is Georges’s goody-two-shoes façade. Whether that’s out of projected self-loathing or envy, a romantic desire to liberate Georges from his self-restraint, boredom, or some other motive remains to be seen.

Their sparring plays out in the school’s majestic chapels, crumbling towers, and lush grounds. Classmates provide running commentary, first fascinated with brash (and older) newcomer Robert, then with bratty young royal Frederic. While a bit of a rich-kid stereotype, Frederic is a potent symbol of Georges’s self-imposed dilemma. Georges readily agrees to serve as Frederic’s “official friend,” subjecting himself to Frederic’s fits of mood and temper in the process. The student body keeps a close eye on their beloved, likeable Georges, shockingly in the thick of these polarizing new personalities. It makes the environment even more complex and organic.

Kawai takes advantage of the sense of place, but also the emotional intensity of the high-school experience. Everyone’s in transition, responding to their parents influence by trying to define themselves utterly independent of it. The hothouse environment of the private school is a really apt setting, beyond being beautifully rendered.

In The Dreaming (Tokyopop), Queenie Chan goes a bit further, making the boarding school setting a menacing character in its own right. Isolated and imposing, Greenwich Private College gives off an unsettling vibe, like Manderley in Rebecca. (It’s even got its own Mrs. Danvers in vice-principal Mrs. Skeener.) Unfortunately, twin transfer students Amber and Jeanie are particularly sensitive to bad vibes. Their lives become consumed in the mysteries of Greenwich, not least of which are the intermittent disappearances of students into the surrounding grounds.

I wonder if the sense of place and mood was established almost too effectively, as it tends to dwarf the impressions the characters might make. Twins Amber and Jeanie and their classmates are so focused on the mysteries of the school that I never really got a sense of them as individuals. Part of the successful balance of horror is giving the audience characters you can, well, mourn if something dreadful happens to them. The students of Greenwich aren’t defined much beyond their shared crisis, and while it’s natural for their school experience to be secondary to the driving plot, it might have created a higher level of investment to see more of them as regular students rather than sleuths and potential victims.

The Dreaming is lovely to look at, though. Chan has a solid, spooky handle on creating this kind of setting and conveying this kind of mood. Varied page composition and panel flow carry the reader along from waking life to the creepy nightmares the twins sometimes share.

In an entirely different neighborhood is dilapidated public institution Cromartie High School (ADV). This worst-of-the-worst temple of learning has a strangely abandoned feel. I don’t ever remember seeing a teacher, even in the background. It’s kind of like Peanuts; you know there must be grown-ups around somewhere, but they aren’t really relevant, and they’d probably only get in the way if they did show up.

CHS is a frequently whip-smart parody of frequently stupid manga, the battle genre where, somehow, an entire school has been conscripted into the service of brawling morons and their Byzantine system of one-upmanship.

But Eiji Nonaka has excised out the actual brawling, providing punchy, six-page treatises on delinquency. The brevity of the stories works in the book’s favor. Not all of the stories succeed, particularly in the first volume. (Nonaka really seemed to find his rhythm by the fourth, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things transition in the second and third.) But some of them are perfect little gems of parody. The structure gives Nonaka the liberty to throw in an idea simply because it seemed like it would be a hoot. If it isn’t, it doesn’t linger, and chances are good that the next three or four will work.

The cast is a cynically eclectic mix of morons and thugs, orbiting around profoundly out-of-place honors student Kamiyama. Nonaka makes good use of their comic possibilities individually and in the ways they interact. CHS is absurd, sometimes stupid, and very, very funny.

Dear non-profit organizations of the world,

During this joyous season of bulk-mail solicitations, I thought I should just clear up what seems to be a fairly common misconception. There is no “Mrs. David Welsh.” As I think back on the information I provided when I made the donation that put me on your mailing list in the first place, I gave you know indication whatsoever of my marital status.

So why didn’t you exercise the tiniest amount of caution in your correspondence? Because some donors might find your heterosexist assumptions the tiniest bit insulting when they live someplace where their life partnership isn’t recognized by law. Some donors might actually decide to never again send any financial support your way because you can’t seem to honor the way they’ve chosen to identify themselves. Some might even briefly wish they could retrieve the donations they’ve already made.

In fairness, you had no way of knowing I was gay and partnered based on the information that accompanied my donation. At the same time, you had no earthly reason to assume I was married, and even less reason to extrapolate that assumption into your database.

Cut it out. Seriously.

Also, to everyone who thinks singing “Jingle Bell Rock” will get more people to drop change into your kettle: You’re very, very wrong.

Warmest holiday wishes,

David