Bluesman: Given the name of the blog, this seems right up my alley

In case anybody missed it, here's the funniest thing I've seen this week: Chip Zdarsky's notebook of Marvel Comics story ideas.  It's a milk-snortingly hilarious collection of sexual pairings between characters, lampooning the popular trend of "serious" attempts to make superhero comics "adult" while still obsessively making sure all the characters' powers are used correctly and whatnot.  Or maybe it's just funny because he says "fuck" a lot.  Whatever.

And, although I realize this is kind of old, I wanted to point out this article about Shigeru Mizuki's manga about war.  It's got some fascinating details about his experiences as a soldier in World War II and the manga he created about the subject.  There's even a translated story called "War and Japan" which deals directly with the atrocities committed by Japan and how the nation should deal with them instead of trying to ignore and forget them.  It finishes with a personal anecdote that I find amazingly emotional, dealing with themes like guilt and forgiveness.  Check it out if you haven't before.  And how about some translated Mizuki manga here in the West, please?

Bluesman

Written by Rob Vollmar

Art by Pablo G. Callejo

Who doesn't love the blues?  It's a quintessential American art form that makes for great listening today, but many of us probably don't stop to consider its true origins.  In our current, fairly enlightened times, it can be easy to forget some of the ugly racial history of the United States and how entire groups of people were treated as subhuman, even though the law had supposedly declared them equal.  Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo examine this culture in Bluesman, a story about a traveling musician in the 1920s, and it's a fascinating look into an era that few of us even realize took place.

While the story of Lem Taylor is fictional, it seems all too real, as we see him and his colleague Ironwood Malcott travel through Arkansas looking for work.  Lem plays guitar, and Ironwood piano; they end up in a small town called Hope, playing in a bar on the outskirts of town.  And even though they're lucky enough to be offered a chance to travel to Little Rock and record their music, circumstances soon transpire that dash their hopes forever.

Of course, if Ironwood, an older, more experienced man, had any restraint, all might have turned out okay.  But even though Lem begs him to do otherwise, he ends up chasing after a girl, getting involved in a lovers' quarrel, and causing a violent scene that leaves Lem on the run and afraid for his life.  This also drags in a local sheriff, who gets stuck in between trying to solve the mystery and trying to hold off a mob of angry white people who are aching to participate in a lynching. 

It's a pretty engaging story that Vollmar weaves here, and Callejo does his best to bring it to life, but he makes the decision to use a "woodcut" style that might hamper the expressiveness a bit.  In the early chapters especially, the art often seems pretty awkward, with the thick lines perhaps causing some lost definition.  Still, Callejo does a fine job of making characters expressive, and I especially like the way he distinguishes them racially.  Black characters, who make up the majority of the cast, don't just have extra shading to make their skin darker, but their features seem more African, especially in the prominent, rounded cheekbones:

Callejo does seem to have some problems depicting hands, sometimes contorting them into odd shapes or making fingers look like disconnected ovals:

But he makes them look good in other scenes; I especially like the skeletal appearance of Ironwood's hands when he plays the piano:

The art does improve as the book progresses, and Callejo turns in some really nice work, using techniques that call to mind Thomas Ott's scratchboard art at times, and showing that when he puts in the time to use finer lines, the details really sing:

I do wonder at the effectiveness of the depiction of music, however.  While it's not a huge part of the story, some key scenes see Lem and Ironwood playing the blues, and Callejo usually depicts the music as notes running along the top of the panels:

Not being a musical person, I don't know if these notes mean anything, or would sound anything like the actual tune being played; rather, they seem like a visual signifier for generic "music", and they don't seem to convey anything besides the fact that music is being played.  That's a difficult feeling to convey in comics, and artists have tried a variety of effects to that end, like crazily distorting the notes or showing them flowing through the artwork itself.  But the version used here isn't especially effective, seeming kind of stiff and at odds with the characters' reactions to the music.

The story takes several twists and turns, but it eventually leads to a big, satisfying climax, although it might be a little over the top with everything that happens.  It's nicely done though, and as a cap on the emotional arc of the story, it works beautifully.  And there's also a nice epilogue that immediately calls said climax into question.  It's a nicely-written book, and a great look at an era that wasn't all that long ago, even if it seems so far away.  Let's not forget the lessons of the past, all right?

This review was based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

The Black Diamond: Bypassing everything else out there

In case I don't get around to mentioning it, some movies I saw recently: Burn After Reading is pretty entertaining, if not anywhere near the Coen brothers' best work. I did like the oddly distancing stylistic techniques, like the bombastic score that made it sound like everything was important and world-shaking, when in actuality it was pointless nonsense. Good times, even if it's not going to be winning any Oscars.

On the other hand, The Visitor might be my favorite movie of the year, with an affecting story of personal connection among unlikely people, and a heartbreaking examination of the effects of the U.S. immigration policy. Damn good movie; check it out if you get the chance.

Also, I've got a review of Criminal volume 2 #6 over at Comics Bulletin. That's a good series.

And to business:

The Black Diamond: Get in the Car and Go

Written by Larry Young

Art by Jon Proctor

Damn that Graeme McMillan. His introduction to the collected version of The Black Diamond is so insightful, any attempt at critical analysis that I attempt could invite charges of plagiarism. It's a nice bit of preparation for the book, going over a lot of the themes and ideas, but not going too over the top with the praise. That's why he makes the big bucks, I guess.

But it helps to have somebody like McMillan to splash some water on you before you jump into the pool, because simply reading the back-cover summary won't prepare you for the story within. Larry Young seems to promise a "love-letter to the 1970s drive-in movie", but he delivers something much stranger, more of an examination of storytelling, full of misdirection as to where the plot is headed and what it's really all about.

But that main high-concept is a good one: 50 years in the future, the air travel industry has collapsed, and it has been replaced in the United States by the eponymous elevated intercontinental highway where miscreants and nonconformists can live away from the regular Joe Sixpacks. Dentist (orthodontist?) Don McLaughlin's wife is the daughter of the Black Diamond's designer, and when she is kidnapped from a conference in Baltimore, he has to race across the country from his home in San Francisco to save her. That's a great plot-starter, and while it's not like Young doesn't deliver some thrills related to "Doctor Don"'s quest, he also spends entire chapters ignoring it while characters have conversations that only occasionally involve the plot. It could be called Tarantino-esque, especially since the dialogue is quite mannered and not at all "realistic" (not that that's a problem; Young can write some pretty entertaining backs-and-forths), but this even takes a step beyond the film auteur's stylish postmodern revamping of old genres; these characters don't just discuss pop culture, but the mechanics of storytelling itself.

There's also the gradual encroachment of a larger conflict, as the government decides to end the lawlessness of the Black Diamond, sending the army to clean things up. This provides some interesting commentary about global politics and the U.S.'s reliance on oil (a fanciful notion; we're supposed to believe there will be any left in 50 years?), but it ends up providing an odd separate narrative that frankly isn't as interesting as the main one. And even that main "gotta save my wife" quest, which does have some great moments (see below), ends kind of abruptly. Overall, the story doesn't take as much of a narrative arc as a rising curve that just kind of stops. It's definitely an odd duck of a story, and while Young does acknowledge it with his "meta" ending (which even goes so far as to step out of the story and provide script excerpts and a sort of author insertion via captions, it's still kind of unsatisfying.

Or is it? As mentioned, Young is definitely participating in some misdirection, and he seems to delight in confounding expectations. He's busy describing the rules of how stories work, so why not blatantly break those rules? Whether this bothers you enough to be a dealbreaker probably depends on how adventurous you are in what you like to read, or at least what sort of tolerance you have for Young's shenanigans.

And of course, you might or might not like Jon Proctor's art, which has its own stylized appeal (or lack thereof). The character work in early chapters could charitably be described as awkward:

But he does noticeably improve on that front as the story progresses (even if we still occasionally have trouble telling characters apart). And even at those opening stages, the real appeal of his artwork begins to shine through: the dynamic design sense. The sleek lines of cool cars and the long stretches of roadways make for some excellent page design:

And his thick, ragged brush strokes provide some wild rubble and explosions, along with some expressive sound effects:

As the book progresses, Proctor's designs get more and more out there, eventually leading to crazy art-deco panel layouts filled with eye-searing washes of fluorescent color:

And in the finale, he turns the army's presence into repetetive, iconic imagery that calls to mind Soviet propaganda:

It's striking stuff, and a large part of the appeal of the book. Young's storytelling has a freewheeling quality that might lose the reader at times, but the book is rarely boring to look at.

Overall, I don't know if I could recommend this unreservedly; it's too quirky and strange for somebody expecting a bunch of car chases or something. But if you're willing to open your mind a bit and try to let Young's weird energy in, it's incredibly enjoyable, and unique enough of an experience to be pretty noteworthy. If that sounds like your kind of thing, well, you've probably already read it, but if you haven't, do check it out.

This review was based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

This week, I'm still plugging along

Well, looks like at least one person likes these weekly release posts, so I'll try to keep doing them.  We'll see how long it lasts.

New comics this week (Wednesday, 10/22/08):

Batman Gotham After Midnight #6

I doubt I would really be that interested in reading this miniseries (maxiseries?) by Steve Niles and Kelley Jones, but from what I've seen Caleb Mozzocco mention, it looks pretty crazy, mostly because of Jones' art.  I'm not really a fan of Steve Niles, so it's possible that it reads like crap, so maybe the best choice is to just watch Caleb highlights as he points out stuff like the Bat-unicycle.

Criminal Vol 2 #6

More adventures of our put-upon cartoonist/counterfeiter.  I should have a review of this issue up at Comics Bulletin tomorrow.  Hmm, maybe I should get around to reading it...

Final Crisis #4

I stopped reading this, but I kind of regret it.  I guess Darkseid took over Earth with a spam email campaign?  Who knows what kind of wackiness Morrison will come up with next.  I'm sure I'll read all about it, and maybe I'll get around to finishing the thing when it's collected.

Final Crisis Submit #1

I guess this is some sort of filler/tie-in that was supposed to come out in the planned gap between a few issues of the main series.  But that series is late (surprise, surprise), so it's just showing up whenever.  There's another one called Resist that will show at some point, and Grant Morrison actually wrote that one, but in the meantime, if you want to see Black Lightning do something or other in a world ruled by evil, here you go.  At least Doug Mahnke's art will probably look nice.

Or Else #5

You know, I've read a little Kevin Huizenga, and while he's pretty good, I'm not as enamored of him as many seem to be.  Maybe I need to read more.  Here's my chance, I guess, with the latest issue of his ongoing series that occasionally collects mini-comics (but not always?  Maybe some new material?), I think.  This issue: a "special report" on household insects!

Samurai: Legend #2

Marvel/Soleil.  I never read the first one, so I don't know if it was any good.  Sure looks pretty.  But it looks like the one to watch out for is the third issue.  Its cover is freaky.

Unknown Soldier #1

A new Vertigo series sees a reworking of the classic war comics character (which was already revamped by Garth Ennis ten years ago or so), placing him in Uganda amidst the brutal regional strife.  Written by Joshua Dysart, with art by Alberto Ponticelli.  Could be good?

Adventures Of Luther Arkwright TP 2nd Edition

I should really check this series out at some point, since I dig Bryan Talbot, and I often hear that it is quite good.  I'll hit the library one of these days, but here's a nice, shiny, new version for those of you who want it quick.

Classics Illustrated Vol 3 Through the Looking Glass HC

I generally don't bother with these comics adaptations of literary classics, although I'm occasionally curious, usually due to the artist.  That's certainly the case here, since this version is illustrated by Kyle Baker.  That definitely sounds worth a look-see.

Cream of Tank Girl HC

Artbook!  Yep, it's all sorts of Jamie Hewlett ephemera involving the series, including art, posters, covers, scripts, rare strips, etc.  Sounds like fun.

French Milk GN

A new graphic novel from Lucy Knisley, about a trip that she and her mom took to Paris.  Looks quite interesting.  Here's an interview she recently did with Tom Spurgeon (for some reason, that link leads nowhere, so here's a Google Cache version of the page).

Haunt of Horror Lovecraft HC

Well, Nina Stone hates this, but I generally dig Richard Corben, and I liked the one issue of the series I read, so I should try to get to the rest of them at some point.  However, I would recommend searching out the three issues of the series rather than buying this overpriced hardcover; it'll save you eight bucks.

Heavy Liquid HC

Paul Pope is awesome.  That's all you really need to know if you're wondering whether to buy this.  Seriously, if you haven't read it, you need to resolve that shit ASAP.  You don't know what you've been missing.

I Live Here HC

Actress Mia Kirshner (The L Word) spearheaded (wrote?) this multimedia book that focuses on refugees and displaced people all over the world.  It's notable for containing comics by Joe Sacco and Phoebe Gloeckner, among others.  Is it a Bono-esque prestige project, or a good bit of art and journalism?  We'll see, I guess.

Magic Trixie GN Vol 2

Ooh, this came out quick.  I loved the first volume of this Jill Thompson kids' series, so I'm sure I'll enjoy the second.  In this one, our little witch sleeps over at her friends houses, seeing what it's like to live as a monster, werewolf, vampire, etc.  Sounds fun, and I bet it will look beautiful.

Moresukine Updated Weekly From Tokyo GN

I thought this already came out, but just in case, it's worth a mention.  It's a collection of journal-ish strips from German cartoonist Dirk Schwieger, chronicling his time in Japan, in which he had people give him suggestions for activities to do and make comics about.  Here's an excerpt.  I would love to read the whole book sometime.

No Formula Stories From The Chemistry Set Vol 1 GN

An anthology of comics from the Chemistry Set webcomics collective, which includes such luminaries as Kevin Colden, Dean Haspiel, Michel Fiffe, and many others.  I'm not sure, but you might be able to read all the stories at the preceding link.  Still, if you want to support these fine fellows (and ladies), buy the book.  I bet it's a pretty good read.

Northlanders TP Vol. 1 Sven The Returned

Brian Wood!  Vikings (emo or otherwise)!  Violence!  If you missed out on the first storyline of this Vertigo series, here's your chance to catch up.  It's pretty good stuff.

Sky Doll Prem HC

Here's the collection of Marvel/Soleil's weird European series.  If you thought the individual issues were overpriced at six bucks each, just check out this collection, which will run you twenty-five.  I like that Marvel is publishing European stuff, but they run the risk of pricing people out of the market for them.  But if you can afford it, feel free to check it out.

Sprit Femme Fatales TP

Movie tie-in!  DC's capitalizing on the Frank Miller movie by putting out this collection of stories featuring Will Eisner's sexy, sexy dames.  I would be all over this (if I could afford it), except I imagine many of the stories were already printed in that Best of the Spirit trade from a few years ago that I already have.  I hate buying comics twice.

Trains Are...Mint GN

Oliver East's travelogue/autobiography about traveling on trains and by other means of transportation.  I've heard about this book, and it has generally gotten good reviews.  Maybe I'll have to check it out.

United States Constitution A Graphic Adaptation TP

This doesn't seem like the most visually-stimulating material, does it?  I guess it worked for the 9/11 report, but still, there are some things that should probably remain in their original medium.  I hope they find a unique way to illustrate the three-fifths compromise though; there's a nice piece of American history.

Warren Ellis Aetheric Mechanics GN

It's the latest in Warren Ellis' line of Apparat graphic novels, which don't seem to have much of a unifying principle outside of being about whatever the hell Ellis wants to write about.  This one takes place in an alternate 1907, with a detective named Sax Raker searching for an elusive killer.  Art is by Gianluca Pagliarani, whom I've never heard of.  I'll always give Ellis a chance, so I'm hoping this will be good.

We Can Still Be Friends GN

The English-language debut of German cartoonist Mawil; it's a humorous look at a breakup, or something.  Here's a review by Alan David Doane.

Will Eisners The Spirit Pop-Up Graphic Novel HC

Hey, this is a cool idea.  It's a pop-up version of the original series' last two issues.  Better than the Spider-Man pop-up book?  Maybe!

Y The Last Man Vol 1 Deluxe edition HC

Ooh, it's the fancy (read: expensive) version of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's acclaimed series.  If you wanted to spend more on the book, here's your chance.  This collects the first ten issues for $30.  I guess if you haven't read the series, this is an opportunity, but since I'm always budget-minded, I would go for the softcover version.  Unless you really want the collector's item or something.  If so, you got any money you want to give me?

Art Of Bleach All Colour But The Black TP

A book for John Jakala, and kids with lots of disposable income.  Enjoy, dudes.

Classical Medley Vol 1 TP

A new CMX manga, about a prince who has to flee when his parents' kingdom is taken over by evil forces.  Oddly, everybody is named after musical stuff, so maybe it's all symbolic of something or other.  Interesting?  Or pointless?  U-decide!

Crayon Shinchan Vol 5 TP CMX Edition

Bastard kids, they'll ruin your life.

Gon Vol 6 TP New Printing

Fucking dinosaurs, they always wreck shit.

Love Quest GN

This yaoi manga from Yen Press has what sounds to be one of the most pointless romantic conflicts ever: two rival boys get sucked into a fantasy world, and the only way out is to kiss.  Just do it, dudes!  You've got a good reason; it doesn't automatically make you gay.  You don't even have to tell anybody!  Somehow, I don't think it'll go that way.

Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol 1 GN

I watched the first season of this anime series recently, and it was pretty good.  But it was actually based on a series of novels, so this manga must be either an adaptation of the anime, or another tie in to the books.  Thus, it's probably not great.  I could be wrong though; maybe it'll be great.  Oh yeah, it's about a high school girl who wants the world to be more interesting than it is, and it turns out that she has a psychic power to bring fantasies to life.  But she doesn't know it, and although she is surrounded by magic and science-fictional characters, they all keep their natures secret from her, instead sharing with the real main character, a boy named Kyon.  It's interesting stuff, so I guess you could check the manga out if you don't get a chance to see the anime (but if you do see the anime, I would recommend watching in the original Japanese, rather than the dubbed version.  Just sayin').

Real Vol 2 GN

More of Takehiko Inoue's wheelchair basketball series.  I loved the first volume, so I imagine this will also be excellent.  Check it out, if you haven't already.

-----

And that appears to be everything.  Hopefully I'll have something up tomorrow; I started working on it yesterday, but a certain member of my family was having a terrible time going to sleep, and it kind of ruined any other activities for the evening.  How inconsiderate.  So, stay tuned.  Later!

Shojo Beat: In which I try to get all critical and whatnot

Hey, internet arguments can be fun!  Not that I'm inviting people to disagree with me here (because I'm obviously right when it comes to Shojo Beat), but I've been enjoying the discussion fostered by Noah Berlatsky's review of the first volume of 100 Bullets.  It's one of those cases where I hope people can actually discuss differences of opinion without getting their feelings hurt because somebody didn't like their favorite comic book.  It didn't quite work out that way, but I found it to be an enjoyable talk.

Anyway:

Shojo Beat

November 2008

There's a nice editorial in this month's issue, in which editor Narasu Rebbapragada talks about how at the Shojo Beat panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, they received a lot of feedback from readers about what they wanted to see in the magazine.  The consensus seems to be: more manga and anime news, more video game coverage, and more content about Japanese culture.  Sounds good, and the magazine gets right to it: this issue sees a new feature in which some Japanese high school students answer questions about their lives and tastes (and vice versa), another entry in what seems to be a regular video game column (this one mentions LittleBigPlanet and Samba de Amigo, among others), and more of the usual DIY instructions and recipes.  Oh, and a poster for Ouran High School Host Club, which might elicit celebration among some, but not me, since I haven't read it.  I guess it's supposed to be good?  Maybe I'll give it a try sometime.  Also, there are some nice illustrations by Pascal Campion:

I like the trees in that one.  Anyway, manga:

St. Dragon Girl

By Natsumi Matsumoto

I guess there's supposed to be a heart in that title, but screw it; I have enough trouble figuring out if she's supposed to be a saint.  This is the preview chapter for the month, giving a glimpse at what seems like a promising series.  The story goes: Momoka is from a family of martial artists, and her longtime friend/secret crush Ryuga's family uses magic to fight demons.  In order to protect his cousing Shunran from a serpent demon who decides to take her as his bride, Ryuga summons a super-powerful dragon spirit, but in one of those oh-so-wacky manga complications, it ends up entering Momoka instead of him.  So she has the power of this awesome spirit, but Ryuga can control it by sealing it off with his magic, so they have to work together to defeat the bad guy (and any future villains, I'm sure).  It's a nice setup, with plenty of potential for fun stories, and Matsumoto goes out of her way to establish romantic tension, with both leads all but confessing their secret love for each other.  I'm not so keen on the art style, but it's nothing terrible.  The huge eyes and severely pointed chins remind me of Arina Tanemura, and unfortunately, so does the occasionally hard-to-follow action.  But I do like some of the designs and layouts:

So maybe it could turn out to be pretty good.  It's always hard to judge a series by its first chapter; sometimes series will obviously not be worth following, but mediocre-to-decent series can often go either way.  Let's hope this is one of the good ones.

Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time

By Tohko Mizuno

Even though I dislike it immensely, I continue to read this series each month.  Sometimes I wonder why I bother, since it usually just angers me, but I think at the least it highlights how even the series that I don't always like (hello, Vampire Knight) can at least tell a competent story.  But I decided not to bother reviewing it each month, because I don't want to waste the energy coming up with a different way of saying "it sucks and I hate it" every 30 days.  But I had to mention it this month, if only because of the following page, which, while not exactly summing up everything I dislike about the series, at least manages to display one facet of its perfect storm of awfulness:

So, a little background (which probably won't make the image any clearer):  the guy in the foreground is Tenma, and he's attacking Akram, the mask-wearing demon bad guy.  Problem number one: Tenma is weilding some sort of magic sword, which we briefly saw being handed to him by another character several pages earlier.  But on the previous page, he was rushing at Akram in such a way that the sword was obscured; that choice makes it seem like the sword appeared out of thin air.  And its appearance on this page, with only the hilt being visible in the corner of the panel, deemphasizes the fact that he even used it at all.  Problem number two: you can see a strap just below Tenma's left armpit that appears to be breaking.  At first, I thought this was some sort of harness that Tenma was wearing, or something connected to the sword, but then I realized that it's actually Akram's belt.  Apparently, that means the sword slash cut through the belt, which doesn't seem possible from the angle shown.  On the next page, we see that blood is dripping from Akram's hand, so maybe Tenma cut him from the shoulder all the way down to the waist.  it's impossible to tell from the angle here, and it looks very awkward and non-dynamic.  Problem number three: the arrow.  What the hell is going on with it?  It was fired by another character on the previous page, but he was facing the other direction.  Then it was shown hovering in front of Akram's face, traveling (hovering?) in the same direction as it is here.  The angled black area surrounding the tail of the arrow seems to indicate some sort of "cut" (but not an effective one, since the arrow extends outside of that area, making it seem like part of the main, full-page panel), but does it mean it missed Akram completely?  Or did it hit him?  It isn't visible on subsequent pages, so it doesn't seem to be an important detail; what was the point of including it here?  Problem number four: the flow of the page.  The speed lines and angle of Tenma's arms pull the eyes down and toward the left of the page (and also emphasize how the negative space surrounding his right forearm make him appear to have a gigantic wrist if you don't look carefully), but the word balloon, the "SLASH" sound effect, and the arrow all pull the eye toward the bottom right, making the page a distracting jumble of movement rather than a clear depiction of movement.  Ugly, ugly, ugly.  And don't even get me started on the pointless flower petals.

I could probably come up with more nitpicks, but that will suffice to show how just one page of this story is aggravating to read from a simple movement and panel-flow viewpoint.  That doesn't even begin to address the nonsensical, convoluted plot; the tiresome, paper-thin characters; or the heroine who only seems to exist in order to whine a lot and be rescued by the various male characters.  This is a terrible series, and I would be much happier if the magazine dumped it.

Honey Hunt

By Miki Aihara

Well, Miki Aihara doesn't seem to be changing her ways anytime soon; as with her other notoriously insecure characters, Honey Hunt's Yura is a stumbling wreck, barely able to get a few coherent sentences out of her mouth, which is not a good quality for an aspiring actress.  It does make for some funny scenes though, as she heads off to auditions, giving one wooden performance after another:

I love the square eyes.  It's actually an interesting character study though; Yura charged into this acting thing with little in the way of a plan outside of "defeating" her mother.  Why her father's agent thought she would be a good person to throw support behind is anybody's guess, although we do get a hint of some sort of spark in this chapter's climax, which ends up being pretty triumphant even in its small measure of victory.  But until that point, she comes off as ridiculously dense, treating love interest Q-ta's suggestion that she "put herself out there" and actually try to make her prospective employers like her as if it's an amazing revelation.  But I guess you have to start small.  And I'm hoping Aihara continues to develop her heroine into a fuller person.  Or tear her down relentlessly; that could also be fun.  We'll see what happens.

Vampire Knight

By Matsuri Hino

As I've often said, this series can have its moments, but I get bored when it gets bogged down in vampire politics and arcane manipulations among members of the Night Class.  Actual plot developments are nice, or real secrets revealed, which we got a hint of a few chapters ago, when Yuki was trying to delve into her past.  Unfortunately, we've moved on from those scenes between chapters, and now she and Zero are back at school, moping around like usual.  And, we end up hanging around with vampires, including a boy named Senri Shikiwho might have been introduced at some point earlier in the series, but damned if I can remember it.  It looks like he's going to be important though, as a creepy scene involving a recovering vampire corpse serves to set up a new villain who might or might not be the mastermind behind the plot against Kaname (and maybe Yuki as well).  I have no idea what happens in that scene, but it involves a bath of blood and some sort of skinless nastiness:

So I can sort of accept it, just for the freakiness quotient.  There's also a kind of weird scene between Yuki and Zero, as he continues to rely more and more on her blood:

That sort of thing evokes sighs at the soap-operatic convolutions of their relationship, but I have to admit that it's compelling.  If this series stopped running in the magazine, I would probably end up missing it and wondering what ended up happening.  While I often say that it's not my cup of tea, I can see why it's popular, and can attest that it grows on you if you give it the chance.  That's either a recommendation or a warning; take it as you like.

Crimson Hero

By Mitsuba Takanashi

More setup here; I'm sure we'll get to some dramatic volleyball action eventually (next month, unless Takanashi manages to delay it some more), but this time around, we get more buildup and small character moments.  While there does seem to be some time-wasting going on, some of those moments are pretty great, especially one in which the girls' team realizes how much Rena, their smallest-statured member, is working to be able to compete among the more athletically-inclined members of the squad.  When the others discover her practicing her serves on her own, Takanashi gives us a great depiction of the determination on her face:

We also get some interesting character development as Nobara starts to wonder about her relationship with Yushin.  They decided to hold off on starting an actual romantic relationship until they both reached the Spring Tournament (the national championships, basically), but this has created an odd tension between them in which they both have to hold back from acting on their desires.  Into this gap has stepped Keisuke, Nobara's childhood friend who has already confessed his love for her, and while she wants to be friends with him, she might not be able to prevent things from developing into something more.  It's a nice, subtle progression, and I expect it will blossom into some excellent confrontational moments somewhere down the road.

So, yeah, this is good stuff.  Look at what a girl it's turned me into.  Ooh, does she love him, or him?  I love reading this magazine, but sometimes I do feel like I have to follow it up with something like MPD Psycho or Gantz.

Honey and Clover

By Chica Umino

We've got another couple of laid-back chapters this month; Umino should probably bring Morita back soon to liven things up a bit.  But that's not to say that there aren't some nice moments here, including Mayama being forced to make the decision to chase after Rika, even though he knows she will probably never love him.  Also nice: Ayu realizing that the heartbreak that Mayama has been putting her through is exactly what she has been doing to the neighborhood boys, all of whom have been nursing a crush on her for years.  It's a good moment of realization (although Umino goes over the top with it and plays the results for comedy), as suddenly, all her heartbreak turns upon itself and makes her reevaluate her feelings about everything important to her.  Nicely done.

But my real favorite moment here involves Takemoto's senior project a giant tower that he's become obsessed with, nearly turning catatonic.  It looks like he might get a rejection from the judges: 

But Professor Hanamoto saves the day by giving it a title: "The Tower of Youth".  This leads to a hilarious turn in the judges' opinion:

But it hits home, because what they're describing is Takemoto to a T.  Hanamoto seemed to think he was giving Takemoto a hand, but he managed to sum up the latter's character extremely well, giving insight to the readers.  Again, nicely done.

So, while this might not be the best part of the series, it's still quite good.  I love this series.

Sand Chronicles

By Hinako Ashihara

This month sees some excellent drama, full of realistic examination of relationships.  Ann travels back to Shimane with Fuji, and tries to work out her relationship with Daigo.  It's breathtaking to watch; Ashihara isn't settling with the fantasy of young love; their relationship has to grow up along with them.  This leads to heartbreaking scenes like this one:

They've got a lot to work out, from being able to communicate without hurting each other to figuring out how to interact with others without endangering their own relationship.  That's the problem with love affairs that start out when people are young; the relationship tends to stay at the same level, and they eventually outgrow each other.  That's why I worry, as sweet as these two are, that they're doomed.  We'll see what ends up happening, but I commend Ashihara on her realistic, adult depiction of how people interact with each other, and on the way characters react to each other.  As sad as it can be, it's beautiful to watch play out, and that's the mark of a good storyteller.  This is good stuff.

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And that seems to be everything.  Next month: more!

Greyshirt is a sneaky fellow

No new comics list again this week?  I'm sick again, somehow.  Dammit.  Does this mean the end of the long-running feature?  Maybe!

Anyway, I've got another thing to write later this week, but for right now, I wanted to mention a series that I recently finished reading and thought was quite good:

That would be Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset, a 2002 miniseries by Rick Veitch (and a few others), telling the origin of his and Alan Moore's Eisner-inspired character from the Tomorrow Stories anthology series.  I picked up all the individual issues out of my store's discount bin a long time ago, and I finally got around to reading them.  I don't know why I waited so long, but I'm sorry I did; it was an excellent series, using a large variety of storytelling techniques to weave a complex, years-long tale.  Each issue sees a story that tells some of the Spirit-esque character's history, and another features a crime story that involves him in some way, similar to those Will Eisner Spirit stories that were more about playing with the medium and doing something innovative than his supposed main character.  Veitch got a nice lineup of friends to help him out with these, including David Lloyd, Dave Gibbons (who only gets to write one story, rather than provide any art), Hilary Barta, John Severin, Russ Heath, Al Williamson, and, um, Frank Cho.

And to make matters more interesting, each issue contains a section that emulates the newspaper which shares the series' title, and it's a fully-fleshed-out paper, with articles, comic strips, ads, horoscopes, classifieds, personals, and gossip and advice columns.  And while some of these flesh out the comics stories in the issues, others give clues about the backstory and set up plot points for future issues.  Most interestingly, the cover of each (comics) issue doesn't refer to anything that happens in the comics sections, but instead a story that is told in one of the newspaper articles.  It's a nice, intricate package, and it's incredibly fun to take it all in.

And those comics stories are excellent as well, using all sorts of Eisner-like formal play.  One story sees a comics writer (who writes a gangster series based on the exploits of the young main character; lots of layers here) narrate the tale from outside of the panels; he even shows up in a later story to affect things.  In another, a song provides a framing story for another flashback. One short story uses the metaphor-heavy narration that Veitch would put to use a few years later in his 9/11-themed graphic novel Can't Get No.

So, yeah, it's good stuff.  If you like Veitch and managed to miss out on this, you owe it to yourself to hunt down either the original issues or the collected version.  Don't miss out as long as I did.

Janes in Love: We'll have to assume that they all lived happily ever after

Quick link:  Check out Plok's "Kirby Zodiac", with a Jack Kirby character for every sign.  Good stuff.

Janes in Love

Written by Cecil Castellucci

Art by Jim Rugg

Much virtual ink has been spilled about the demise of DC's Minx imprint, and while I don't really have anything new to add on the subject, I will say that it's a shame, since books like this deserve to get wider recognition.  The line had its ups and downs, but it seemed like there was some good quality content coming, as if they were finally getting their act together and figuring out exactly what sort of comics they wanted to publish.  And like that , it was gone.  Sure, the last few books will straggle out, and maybe a few (at least one more volume of The New York Four, please) will find homes elsewhere under DC's umbrella, but the initiative is over.  Looks like the kids will just keep reading manga.

But that doesn't mean we can't look at the extant Minx books, especially this highly-anticipated (by me, anyway) sequel to the line's very first entry, The Plain Janes.  That first volume had a notorious non-ending that completed only the most minimal of plot resolutions or character arcs, mostly leaving everything up in the air.  Given the chance to finish off the story, Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg don't make that same mistake; this time around, they manage to flesh out their characters more, work in some new internal and external conflicts for the main group of characters, and finally bring the whole thing to a satisfying close.

As the volume begins, Jane and her friends are still trying to beautify their small town through "art attacks", but increased scrutiny from the cartoonishly mean local sheriff are making it hard for them.  At the same time, the Valentine's Day dance is coming up, so they all have the dilemma of finding dates and getting caught up in teenage crushes.  Main Jane isn't sure what's going on with her relationship with Damon, the boy who helped her with P.L.A.I.N. and got caught.  And to add more drama, Jane's mom is getting more nervous about safety, and after an anthrax attack that kills an old journalist friend of hers, she shuts herself up in their house and refuses to leave.

After more and more trouble involving the legality of their art attacks (they are technically engaging in vandalism, after all), Jane embarks on a quest to obtain a grant for their art and transform an empty lot into a public garden, showing maturity as she attempts to move beyond childish prankishness.  It's a nice development, and it makes for a good main plot for the book.  But the other, minor plots work as well, especially the one that gives the book its title.  All the Janes get lovestruck in one way or another, and they have varying levels of success, which creates tension within the group.  Sports-loving Polly Jane gets agressive right off, approaching a boy and informing him that they are now dating:

But the other Janes aren't as straightforward, and PJ's excitement at having a boyfriend just alienates them.  That's the kind of thing that makes for high drama for teenagers; while it seems pretty low-stakes to those with the distance of age, there's no such thing for the high school set.  That also gives Main Jane's weirdly standoffish relationship with Damon an air of realism; while they obviously like each other, for whatever silly adolescent reason, neither of them can work up the nerve to actually talk to each other about it.  That might not make for the most explosive drama, but it's something that everybody can recognize as true-to-life, since we've all gone through similar experiences at some point.

There are other nice moments, with Jane's quest to find a way to both make her mother feel safe and realize the beauty of Jane's efforts being especially poignant:

Not to mention the interaction among the Janes, who all act like close friends that care about each other.  And a climactic scene at the big dance makes for a great payoff to all the long-burning storylines.  I could have done without the near-psychotic villainy of the bad-guy sheriff, and a plot about Brain Jayne making a boy-attracting pheromone is a bit too silly for a book like this, but none of these are deal-breakers or anything.

While the plotting is pretty good this time, Jim Rugg's art might be the real star here.  He did a nice job on the first book, but he takes it to a new level here, giving all the characters a nice expressiveness and putting together some really effective layouts.  He even adds some manga-style flourishes that give a punch to some key moments:

It's a great-looking book, and while it's a shame that Castellucci and Rugg won't be able to continue the series, hopefully they will both be able to take what they learned here and apply it to plenty of more good comics in the future.  Hey, it was sure fun while it lasted, wasn't it?

Dororo: Goodbye to the series, and hello to more organs

Well, I was sick yesterday, so I didn't get to the weekly release list.  Sorry, anybody who was waiting with baited breath.  Eh, it was a boring week anyway.

And, in case anybody missed it, I've got a review of Thomas Ott's The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 up over at IndiePulp, and also one of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Season 2 #3 at Comics Bulletin.  Guess which one is worth reading.

Dororo, volume 3

By Osamu Tezuka

Well, this is a bummer of a book, since it's the final one in the series, and it doesn't wrap up so much as just end.  Apparently, Osamu Tezuka moved on to other projects and never really finished the story, although he does find a bit of a stopping point.  It's too bad, since as with the previous two volumes, there's some good stuff here, including some excellent action and well-drawn emotional conflicts.  Our heroes, Hyakkimaru and Dororo, especially get some interesting dynamics here, with the latter fighting against his true nature, which gets revealed offhandedly (but which I won't spoil), and the former trying to find a balance between his desire to regain his body parts and the need to connect with his fellow humans.  One especially poignant story sees Dororo befriend a young horse whose mother was the steed of a great general, but who was possessed by a demon.  Hyakkimaru wants to kill it, excited at the prospect of recovering another organ:

But Dororo just wants his new friend to be happy:

It's an unfortunate conflict, and one that seems obvious in this series, bringing the two protagonists into opposition.  It doesn't last long (demons have got to be killed, you know), but it's an interesting idea, and one that could have used more exploration had the series lasted longer.  But at least we get an awesome scene of Hyakkimaru chopping the legs off a demon horse:

Other excellence in this volume includes a bandit who rides around on a shark:

A bunch of demon-possessed small animals:

And several of the large-scale battle scenes (and their aftermath) that Tezuka did so well:

That last image is pretty incredible, and the scene leading up to it contains one of my favorite of Tezuka's tropes: the villain who reforms somewhat and redeems himself, usually through self-sacrifice.  This one is a bandit who knew Dororo's father, and wishes to use the map on Dororo's back to locate his hidden treasure.  This leads to all sorts of crazy twists, including a battle scene that sees him turn honorable and continue fighting against the forces of a local magistrate long after he is mortally wounded:

I love that stuff.  

This volume, being the final one, also sees Hyakkimaru finally confront his father, even leading a sort of workers' rebellion against his evil rule:

Did I mention that Tezuka does awesome battle scenes?  We get some great stuff here, and while it's not a completely satisfying destination, the journey feels more than worth it.

But even though the large-scale battles and fights are excellent, Tezuka still nails the smaller moments, like Hyakkimaru realizing that he likes having Dororo around:

Or the goofy slapstick-style bits that he occasionally indulges in:

You get a full experience when you read a Tezuka book, from the large to the small, and it's all worth the time spent.  While this series was unfortunately truncated, he has plenty of other material available (even among the fraction that has been translated into English), and every bit of it is good reading.  While he won't be producing any more of it, hopefully it will continue to be imported, and we'll get to experience his genius for years and years to come.

Zot!: This portends well for Scott McCloud's return to fiction

The posts, they continue to be written.

Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection

By Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud is deservedly famous for his comics on comics theory, but his other well-known work, Zot!, is also pretty highly regarded, at least by those who were around for the 80s black and white boom.  A few years ago, I read a collection of the series' first storyline (which was in color, and thus not part of this volume), and while it wasn't bad, it left me wondering what the big deal was.  But now that the rest of the series has been collected, I understand why it is held in such high regard.  After those first ten issues of bright, fun, and fairly lightweight superheroics, McCloud took some time off, and returned with an attempt to do something different and tell some more ambitious stories.  As the series went on, he even dropped the superhero aspects for the most part, choosing instead to focus on realistic human stories.  While that might not seem too shocking today, at the time, it had to be pretty groundbreaking.

While the book shows its age in the obviously youthful mindset of its creator, the still-developing artwork, and the simplicity of the plots (not to mention the way it clings to the safety of the superhero genre), it holds up quite well, providing some entertaining stories and good characters.  McCloud especially did a good job in developing his main character, Jenny, as a sort of depressed teenager who dreams of leaving her ugly, mundane world behind for the brightness and excitement of her sort-of-boyfriend Zot's futuristic, utopian alternate reality.  She seems very real, in that self-obsessed teenage way, and her despair at the broken world around her is hard to watch.  But then Zot returns to her life, and begins turning everything upside down by sometimes whisking her away for adventures fighting goofy villains in his world, and other times deciding to live in the "real world" and try to fight crime and make things better.  In a telling moment, Zot stops a mugging on a trip to New York City, and doesn't find crime-fighting as easy as he does in his dimension:

The contrast between the two worlds becomes a major theme of the series, and while McCloud does allude to some interesting metafictional ideas (time doesn't seem to flow correctly on Zot's world, and everything there seems based on Earth history in some way, as if it is an actual fictional construction that is somehow interacting with the real world), he never really explains them fully, probably because he became more interested in small, realistic stories and less in the big, fantastical superheroics.  In one of the best stories, a supercomputer named Zybox comes to Jenny's world and begins controlling people's minds, trapping Jenny and Zot in artificial mental constructions of reality.  This gives us an entire issue in which Jenny seems to be going crazy, as her friends and family have no memory of Zot and think she is making everything up.  To add to the emotional punch, one scene sees her search her diary for something about her experiences with Zot, but all she can find is references to her parents' divorce.  It's as if she really did make everything up just to escape a painful reality, and it's incredibly hard to watch.  Sure, the idea of being "trapped in a world you never made" is hardly a new one, even twenty years ago, but McCloud executes it very effectively, especially in a scene in which Jenny thinks she sees Zot, but he turns out to be an illusion:

Unfortunately, that issue might be the high point of Jenny's character development; she spends the rest of the series wishing to get away from her world and move to Zot's.  Her parents' divorce even turns out to be real, and not just a part of Zybox's illusions, but we don't see much reaction to it; it simply stays in the background.  That's actually an interesting move on McCloud's part (he avoids the big dramatic family confrontations), but it seems like it should have been addressed eventually, especially after he made the move toward more human, emotional stories.

The other main character, Zot, turns out to be kind of bland.  He's relentlessly cheery and optimistic, and while that makes for some fun scenes when he's facing off against villains, he almost comes off as moronic on Jenny's world.  That's kind of the nature of the character though; he's an idealized hero from an idealized world, unfettered by doubt and pessimism.  Luckily, there are a few moments in which we see him react emotionally to failure and death, a possibility that was never a factor in his world:

McCloud definitely did his best to make him as real as he could, but against the realistic backdrop that increasingly consumed the series, he still seems pretty shallow.

The other, minor characters do come off pretty well, from Jenny's brother Butch, who alternates between teasing and supportive; to Woody, another love interest of Jenny's who is in the unfortunate position of competing with a near-perfect superhero.  Jenny's friends are a well-defined gang as well (especially in the later stories, when they start getting stories that focus on them), consisting mostly of comics nerds who spend a lot of time playing role-playing games.  A punk named Spike seems particularly realistic; he's an obnoxious Wolverine fan who puts together crudely-drawn comics stories and wants to kill anything that moves in their gaming sessions.  Not exactly pleasant, but I've spent time around plenty of little punks like that.

So the characters are pretty good, but how about the stories they live in?  As mentioned, the first two thirds of the book are more straight-up superhero stories, with Jenny and Zot fighting various supervillains, mostly in Zot's world.  They're pretty entertaining, with the occasional stand-out chapter (like the aforementioned head trip being the best).  A goofy bit in which Zot impulsively signs a sponsorship contract for soda pop and ends up under the thumb of a Kingpin-like corporate criminal isn't bad, and a conflict with cyborg artist Dekko gives McCloud an opportunity to show off some cool modern-art imagery:

One other story sort of stands out, in which Zot's nemesis 9-Jack-9 menaces him and some interplanetary diplomats.  It's striking, in that it's darker than most of the stories and deals with death and war, and Jack's target, the young daughter of the diplomatic family, is like a version of Jenny whose depression and desire for escape from her life is taken to extreme, suicidal limits.  But it doesn't really work all that well; McCloud seems to have been trying to inject darkness and try to tell deeper stories, going so far as to reveal a connection between Jack and Zot's uncle Max.  It ends up being a weird tonal change that seems off, especially in Zot's bright, cheery world.  Maybe this is part of what sent McCloud in the other direction, finding emotional depth in the smaller, more mundane moments, rather than drama and death.

Really, the best parts of the "Heroes and Villains" section of the book are the occasional beautiful little moments, like a scene during Zybox's mental takeover of Jenny's earth in which he causes the entire planet to join together in a shared dance:

Or the incredible futuristic cityscapes that McCloud obviously enjoyed drawing:

And here and there, he managed to capture some moments of real natural beauty as well:

There's also a two-part story that McCloud didn't illustrate due to being on his honeymoon; it ended up being finished by Chuck Austen, but the small layouts are included here, and it's a nice, fast-paced action story.  It's a good example of the way McCloud was trying to push himself in new directions and tell different types of stories.

But the real good stuff comes in the final third of the book, as McCloud almost completely does away with superheroics and tells small, down-to-earth stories about Jenny and her friends and family.  The best section is probably a quartet of stories, each focusing on a single minor character.  There's Jenny's mom, who reflects on the past and her crumbling marriage.  Ronnie, a young comics fan who hopes to write his own someday, and his flighty, bohemian girlfriend Brandy each get their own chapter; Brandy's is especially poignant, since we see the personal troubles behind her cheery exterior.  And Jenny's friend Tracy is another good subject, as she deals with her awakening as a lesbian.  It's a sad, realistic depiction, as she is ashamed of herself and longs to be normal; this leads to one of the best moments in the series, after she ends up sharing her feelings with Zot:

Some of the other chapters work pretty well, although an issue-length conversation between Jenny and Zot about sex comes off (probably purposefully) as awkward and unsatisfying, and (as McCloud admits in his notes) a chapter in which Zot wanders around New York trying to find crime to fight and struggling with the backward concept of racism is a bit heavy-handed.  But overall, it's an excellent set of stories, and at the time, for a fun superhero book to step away from its roots and start telling such low-level stories must have been nothing less than mindblowing.  While this sort of thing is commonplace these days, it's fascinating to see some of the medium's early steps toward maturity.  If nothing else, McCloud's developing artwork is exquisite; his real-world images are beautiful and emotionally evocative:

So, while I wouldn't call this a masterpiece, it's a great document of a moment in comics history, and a good source for those who are curious as to whether the creator of Understanding Comics and Making Comics can actually follow his own advice (answer: he can).  McCloud's notes about what was happening in his life as he was making these comics, how he views them now, and his reflections on the themes of the work also make for fascinating reading.  He states in the afterword that he has plans to return to creating fictional comics, and after seeing what he can do (and how much more he has improved in the years since) I for one can't wait to find out what he has in store.