Open discussion for comics from October 31

It's new comics day! What are you planning to read, and what did you think about those books?

Here's the list of new books for October 31 from the Diamond website. Also, note that the Batman and Son set from DC Direct comes out today - if any of you pick those figures up, let us know what you think.

And finally, I've turned off registration for comments, since it seemed to pretty much dry up what had previously been a huge flow of comments on entries. You no longer have to log in or register to post your opinion.

About Heroes Episode 76

This week, Brent Kossina, our most regular reviewer, joins us for a discussion of: Flash 233, Robin 167, Countdown 27, Tales of the Sinestro Corps - Superman Prime, What If Planet Hulk, Green Lantern Corps 17, Gotham Underground 1, Blue Beetle 20 and X-Men 204. We also read e-mails, and make jokes at each others' expense (you know, the usual).

About Heroes, Episode 76

Marvel Zombies 2 # 1 Review

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Sean Phillips
Cover: Arthur Suydam

Hey Marvel Zombie fans, the sequel to the original series has arrived! The entire team responsible for the original Zombie series is back for an adventure set forty years after the conclusion to the original Marvel Zombies. The Galactus powered Zombies have literally eaten their way throughout the universe and find they are out of food. The Zombies have replaced their missing body parts and also added some new recruits to their ranks. These cosmic additions include: Zombie Thanos, Zombie Gladiator, and Zombie Dark Phoenix (which makes no sense, but this series isn't supposed to be taken that serious.) The Zombies remembers that Reed Richards had a machine that could transport people to other worlds, so they decide to head back to Earth. Zombie Thanos doesn't get to play though; Zombie Hulk makes quick work of "purple chin" and knocks his head off! The Zombies do stop for a snack before heading to Earth: Ego the living planet! This was very twisted and surprising, but that is what this series is all about!

Back on Earth, Black Panther rules over the survivorsof the original series. Black Panther's grandson finds the head of Hawkeye and takes the head to his grandfather. The people think since Wasp is functioning fine after fending off her hunger, maybe Hawkeye can be saved as well. The acolytes are getting frustrated in having to follow an old and decrepit king, and the threat of mutiny is looming large. One night as Black Panther and his wife sleep, an acolyte assassin stabs Black Panther. Wasp comes running in and realizes that in order to save BP, she must bite him. The bite takes effect and saves the Panther, but it also turns him. The Wasp loves the taste of meat and blood and attacks the Panther's wife, but T'Challa stops her and the two eat the intruder/assassin instead. BP realizes he and the Wasp must go back into containment facilities and wait out the hunger.T'Challa is a noble king and is still protecting his people despite the growing hunger. I feel that this can't end well and all hell will break loose soon.Meanwhile, the Zombies are headed towards Earth.

Thoughts/Comments:Well that was fun, but pretty much what I expected.This issue really felt more like a set-up to the next four issues. The only part of the book that really got my attention was when the Panther was bitten by wasp after being stabbed. Still, there were a lot of great and fun moments in the book. I loved Hulk knocking Thanos' head right off his body. The Zombies eating Ego the living planet was a hoot, and Hawkeye's head being found was pretty funny and a nice nod to the original series. I still have no clue how Zombie Dark Phoenix fits in, but as I said before this series has its own rules and continuity. The art was solid and the cover by Suydam was wicked! Kirkman retained his wit and humor and really made the zombies wacky and wild, just like before. I can't wait to see where the story goes and I have a feeling a second printing witha new Suydam cover will be available soon. I'd give this a B+ since it does a great job of setting up where the series will go from here.

Monday Manga Reviews: from Chess pieces to dead chicks that won't stay dead!

Clamp No Kiseki Volume 8
Creators: CLAMP
Publisher: Tokyopop

If you’ve ever read manga or even heard about manga, I’m sure some time or other you have come across the work of CLAMP. CLAMP is an all female manga creator group from Japan. There are four members of this group: Mokona, Satsuki Igarashi, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Ageha Ohkawa. These ladies are responsible for such creations as Magic Knight Rayearth, Chobits, Angel Layer, Tsubasa, X/1999, xxxHolic, and Tokyo Babylon. They celebrated 15 years together in 2004 and these wonderful books with chess pieces were released in Japan for fans. Thanks to the great folks at Tokyopop these wonderful books are now available again in America. Since volume 7 the price of the collector’s item has dropped to $19.99 and they come inside of a blister card packaging. In this set you get a book about X/1999 in full color pages, interviews, 6 pages of brand new manga, and a timeline and family line of all the characters in X. Of course the grand price is really the three small chess pieces that come with this set: Shiro Kamui from X, Mokona, and Modoki. If you collect all twelve of the box sets you can have, the greatest chess pieces (in my opinion) ever made. These books are not just for fans of CLAMP, but toy collectors as well. A

I’’s Volume 15
Story & Art: Masakazu Katsura
English Adaptation: Arashi Productions
Publisher: Viz

If there is one thing that I will always remember about Katsura, it has to be those gorgeous gorgeous covers. I can’t think of a time that his covers on DNA^2, Shadow Lady, or Video Girl Ai has not blown me away. He draws the most realistic beautiful women I have ever seen. Funny enough when you flip through one of his books, you can tell it’s still the same artist, but the pictures are done in a different style. Reaching for a Dream concludes the story of Ichitaka and his obsession over his classmate Iori. It seems that Iori now has her own personal stalker. There is a confrontation that takes Ichitaka out of commission and makes Iori realize that she is in love with him and that her dream happens to be his dream as well. As Ichitaka finally wakes up he gets all his strength to tell her how he finally feels about her. There is a sweet little ending as the book closes and I will really miss these characters. The downside is that there were some chapters that just dragged on for far too long that got in the way for character development. The art, as always is phenomenal and breathtaking. I really hope to see more of Katsura’s work in the US. A-

Museum of Terror: Tomie Volume 1
Story & Art: Junji Ito
Translation: Naomi Kokubo
Publisher: Dark Horse

Now, from hearing our podcast last year about horror comics, you should know how much I love the horror comics genre. If there is one thing that the Japanese know how to do; is how to scare the hell out of me. There is nothing better than watching creepy things when I’m at home alone. I never really get creeped out by watching horror movies or ghost stories on TV. This past weekend in the spirit of Halloween I decided to read a few horror stories. One of the books was of course was Museum of Terror. It is pretty much a collection of short stories about a girl named Tomie. Where she came from or how old she is I think has become relevant. The only thing that is for certain is that you can’t kill the creepy bitch. She regenerates from a chopped up head or even her liver. There were times when I had to take a break, because I kept looking in the corners of my room. I threw the damn book one time from being just creeped out by the sick pictures. Ito really builds a mythos around this character and you start feeling bad for the cast of characters that runs into her. The art ranges from plain and clear to dark and gothic, but that is because the stories range from publications in 1987 to 1995 I can’t recommend this book highly enough to people that enjoy being scared! Trust me, this will do the job. A+

Psycho Busters Volume 1
Story: Yuya Aoki
Manga: Akinari Nao
Publisher: Del Rey

So what would happen if after wanting to be left alone to play video games and read comics a naked girl appears in my bedroom? Obviously Kakeru and I have a completely different idea of what we would do. Of course there is only so much you could do with a naked astral projection….err anyways. It turns out that the girls name is Ayano and she takes Kakeru to the psychic’s hideout. There is a government group that is also after this special group of people. It seems that Kakeru might be a little more powerful than most people think. I don’t know what it was but the story really did very little for me. I really didn’t care for any of the characters and the story was just bland. The art is clean and very clear especially with all the action sequences. I think the best part about the book is the character designs. Funny enough I was reading Teen Titans and New X-men and couldn’t help but compare the books. I went into this book expecting a video game story retold through manga because of the name and cover and I was still disappointed. A group of powerful teenagers is an idea that has been done before and far better. I am willing to give volume 2 a chance though. C

Reborn! Volume 1
Story & Art: Akira Amano
Translation: JN Productions
Publisher: Viz

I didn’t think that right after I finished the finale to the Sopranos I would be reading a book about the mafia in Japan. No, not the Yakuza, but the real Italian mafia. Looking at that cover, I really didn’t know what to expect from Reborn! I have never read a portrayal of the mafia, or at least one this extremely ridiculous. Due to some kind of family tree goof up by his great great grandfather, Tsuna is the only candidate left to become the Vongola family boss. Disguised as a tutor, Reborn is really there to prepare Tsuna for this task. He is also packing magic bullets such as the Deathparation bullet, that makes you face your own death and think of all the regrets you have, it makes you come back to life and give you the power to achieve your dying wish. For Tsuna this was just the simple task to tell the girl he has a crush on how he really feels for her. By the end of volume one he has recruited on soldier in Hayato Gokudera and made one enemy in the pint sized Lambo. I’m not sure who this story is intended for; if not for the guns I could see this being a kid’s story. The art is very comedic, but can be right down serious and grasp your attention when needed. I have mix feelings about the book, don’t get me wrong it’s good and I want to keep reading it, but I’m just not sure how long the charm will last. B

The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan volume 1
Story: Futaro Yamada
Manga: Masaki Segawa
Publisher: Del Rey

If you read my review of Basilisk you know I was a big fan of that manga. This is done in the same way and it’s just a different chapter in the Ninja Scroll chronicles. Think of this as Basilisk with different characters and unfortunately not as freaky or ugly looking designs. This story is about, you guessed it about revenge! The Seven Spears capture the Hori men and kill the Hori women in front of them. With the exception of seven young women that were saved by Princess Sen. They later take the men to be executed in front of Akinari, Lord of Aizu. The women swear to avenge their fellow Hori and under the tutelage of legendary swordsman Jyubei Mitsuyoshi this might be a possible task. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but the story just didn’t peek my interest like Basilisk. It may have to do with the fact that in almost every two pages in the first chapter there is nothing but footnotes, to inform the reader about everything in this era in Japan. And it could have been just me, but I really didn’t feel like reading a novel; especially when the title of the book has ninja on it. About halfway through the book I got really hooked on the story and started caring for the characters and Jyubei just screams out badass! Of course this is because of my previous knowledge of this legendary character! The art is just as solid as it was in Basilisk. The same foggy faded look is done with the CG backgrounds and the characters all stand out because of the great character designs. The first volume is just a set up to what I’m sure will be a bloody massacre in volumes to come. B+

Harbinger: The Beginning Review

This Review was submitted by Dennis Feeback

By Jim Shooter, David Lapham, and Bob Hall

The Scoop: This 192-page deluxe hardcover edition collects the full Harbinger origin story from Harbinger issues 0-7 digitally recolored and remastered, and also features an all-new "Origin of Harada" story written by comics legend JIM SHOOTER and illustrated by BOB HALL (Shadowman). This "Origin of Harada" story includes its own original cover and features the first appearance of a new character in the Valiant Universe! Valiant's goal is to make this deluxe hardcover edition something special for Valiant fans and a great introduction to the Harbinger saga for new Valiant fans. The book retails for $24.95.

The Package: The book has a really nice dust jacket featuring artwork of the main character and the main villain. Back cover has a description of the contents. The books cover is black with the Harbinger logo embossed on the front with the new Valiant logo on the back.

The book its self is pretty nice, it contains Harbinger #’s 0-7 completely recolored with the newest technology. This is the part I was most worried about before seeing the book, as I thought the colors on the original books were just fine and really unique for the time. However, I had nothing to worry about. It is recolored with more detail added; it is VERY faithful to what came before.

Now what didn’t I like? Not much. The only problem I had with the book at all was some of the pages were awfully rough. It felt like they didn’t have good materials to scan from. Issue 5 seemed to be the worst example of this. For a book that’s only about 15 years old, this just seems like the book was rushed. But really, this is just me nit picking.

Final Thoughts: I don’t think there was a bigger Valiant fan back in the 90’s than me. I loved and lived this stuff. I even went crazy and bought all the variants and gold covers. I was all about Valiant until Jim Shooter was canned.

Harbinger was one of my faves at the time, so it was nice to revisit the book again. It would be really nice to see more of these collections but due to the legal wrangling between two factions of Valiant this may never happen. This collection contains story lines that pretty much kick off the entire valiant cross continuity, so hopefully this can be followed up on.

As for the new 8 pager? Well, it was pretty good. In some ways it was like Big Jim Shooter never left. It certainly felt like a classic Valiant story. Jim slipped right back into writing Harada. But will this new character ever be seen again? Will Big Jim return for new Valiant comics? The answers to all these questions are unknown.

Final Rating: B. One letter grade was removed for the poorly scanned pages from the later issues.

Foolkiller # 1 Review

Author: Gregg Hurwitz
Artist: Lan Medina
Colors: Andy Troy
Cover: Lan Medina & Matt Milla

It seems like if you were a fan of comics in the 90's right now you would be feeling really nostalgic with the return of New Warriors, Terror, and now Foolkiller. If memory serves me correctly and it usually does when it comes to comics. Actually that is about all my memory is good for anymore. This incarnation of The Foolkiller will be numero 4. I remember one being a Spider-man villain, one scarring his own face, and one that dressed up like Zorro without a hat. Funny enough the Zorro looking one is brought up in this issue.

If you are expecting an origins issue from the first chapter you are in for a surprise. Instead we are told the story through the eyes of a looser enforcer, Nate. He has an obsession with finding the vigilante after he gets his wife and little girl killed. He keeps getting his information from people that have seen the vigilante. This new incarnation of Foolkiller seems to have nothing to do with the previous name-bearers. What we get in the first issue is that there is a new vigilante out on the streets getting rid of, yeah you guessed it fools. In really grim death scenes, it seems they are really using that mature label, even with the lack of sex. It never really shows the Foolkiller killing anyone, just the aftermath of his work. By then end of the book Nate does come face to face with FK and his big, black, and meanass looking dog!

I really don't know where I stand with this book. I find the main character to be really annoying and I feel no sympathy for him. He practically handed his family over to the bad guys and they were killed because he decided to steal $40,000. The new Foolkiller himself doesn't really stand out as a great character, hell he seems like the Punisher, but with a few more extreme ways of handling stuff. I wouldn't even compare him to the Punisher, more like Solo. The story really doesn't stand out in any unique way; I could get this kind of story from any Steven Segal or other vengeance movies from the early 90s. The art is very fitting of the tone and feel that I got from the book. Now, I don't know where I stand because I really enjoyed his art, it made the book move so smooth; He really is the saving grace of this book for me. His facial expressions are done with fantastic detail. The story moves like a movie due to his fantastic angles and backgrounds. This is not a book for me, but I can see other people enjoying it more than I did. So if you’re into Fuck yeah action, horrible protagonists, gang raping, and guys breaking little girls' necks....this might be up your alley. D+

X-men # 204 Review

Author: Mike Carey
Artist: Mike Choi & Scot Eaton
Colors: Sonia Oback

This is it. The epilogue to Blinded by the Light also serves as the prequel to Messiah Complex. It is also the ending of the Endangered Species chapters. With Beast coming to a conclusion about the end and the past, what’s going to happen to all the depowered mutants? Will Iceman be the only active member of Rogue's team? Will Gambit stay evil? Will I keep reading X-men even if Chuck Austen and Pat Lee take over the book?

If you were expecting answers to those questions, you won't find them here. Bobby is feeling guilty for the choices he made that led to Cannonball getting brain damage. Blindfold has more dark visions of things to come. Meanwhile Cyclops is trying to come to terms with losing his son.....again, while Emma tries to be understanding. The Marauders are trying to get the Books of Destiny out of Rogues head and Bobby confronts Scott about the future of the team. Ohh yeah and Scarlett Witch tells Beast a really pointless story that makes her possible role in Messiah Complex confusing.

Carey really shined in this issue and I can't point out what it really was but everything just read so well. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed an X-men comic this much. I have to say the best part about the issue was the confrontation between Bobby and Scott. Two original X-men arguing over Rogue's leadership abilities and whether the team should be shut down or not, brings back memories of the team hanging out at Harry’s. It really shows how much Bobby has grown from being the joker of the team to one that takes responsibility for his fallen comrades. I remember Professor X during the Inferno saga making a comment that Bobby could be the most powerful mutant, because he could freeze the world. I loved the interaction between Gambit/Rogue/Mystique, because you really don't know what is on their true agenda.

Mike Choi's artwork was the perfect choice for a story like this. I can see that he is growing as an artist. The older characters are now looking their proper age and I can actually tell the men apart. I think the only complain I have was his portrayal of Mr. Sinister. He looks too Vampire Lestat for me, but everything else looks fantastic. I wouldn't mind having him as a regular artist. Even though the ending of Endangered Species was very anticlimactic, with the exception of Beast burying all the victims of Neverland, I am still very excited about Messiah Complex. It's been a few years since a big X-over (I think Operation Zero Bullshit was the last one). It almost brings out the 12 year old in me looking at the upcoming covers for the cross-over. A

Gotham Underground #1

Writer: Frank Tieri

Action Comics #857

Writers: Geoff Johns & Richard Donner

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime

Writer: Geoff Johns & Sterling Gates

Aboutheroes Comic 05

Because Nobody Demanded it aaaand because I had a long meeting that I was supposed to be paying attention to and taking notes. Anyway I wanted to do something a little different this time around. So I hope you enjoy my own MARVEL VS. DC moments.

Comics from October 24 - open discussion thread

Here's what I'll be reading this week; what are you looking forward to?

• ACTION COMICS #857
• AUTHORITY PRIME #1
• BLUE BEETLE #20
• COUNTDOWN 27
• COUNTDOWN SPECIAL THE FLASH 80-PAGE GIANT
• FLASH #233
• GEN 13 #13
• GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #1
• GREEN ARROW YEAR ONE #6
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #17
• JLA CLASSIFIED #45
• ROBIN #167
• SUPERMAN #669
• SUPERMAN BATMAN #41
• TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS SUPERMAN PRIME #1
• TEEN TITANS #52
• UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #2
• WALKING DEAD #43
• ANNIHILATION CONQUEST WRAITH #4
• CABLE DEADPOOL #46
• DAREDEVIL #101
• SHE-HULK 2 #22
• ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #115
• X-MEN #204
• X-MEN DIE BY THE SWORD #2
• X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #5
• HACK SLASH #5
• TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION #2
• TRANSFORMERS MEGATRON ORIGIN #4

She-Hulk # 22 Review

Author: Peter David
Penciler: Shawn Moll
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Covers: Mike Deodato Jr. & Ed Mcguiness

Preparing myself for this issue, I caught up reading She-Hulk 1-21 by Dan Slott. I remember enjoying the 12 issue run that Slott wrote, before it got canned and damn, is the ongoing series just as fun! Sure some of the guest stars were completely written out of character. But seriously who took this book that seriously? Nobody! And that’s what made it so damn flawless. Instead of cancelling the title when Slott left, veteran writer Peter David has stepped up to try to fill that gap that most people will miss. Of course he is no stranger to the Hulk family at all.

I can safely say that Peter David has decided not to write Slott's She-Hulk, instead giving Jennifer Walters a whole new status quo and a leap in time a few months. That in my opinion is Peter David’s most wise decision. Some other writer might have tried to imitate Slott's writing and it would have been disastrous. I think distancing himself from Slott's work is the best approach. I am a bit upset that after all the trouble that Slott went through to get Jenn back to law, she is now a bounty hunter. But, I guess that it makes more sense than her being an Agent of SHIELD. Lately the villains had been pulled from other Marvel books, so it was nice to be reminded that She-Hulk also has a great rogue gallery.

The big trouble is there’s no real flow here from last month’s issue to this one. Nowhere in the book was it mentioned that we were skipping ahead a few months. Hell, if you didn't read any interviews with David you might have been a little lost at first, but I would like to think most people could have figured it out. David has promised that he will fill in some of the blanks later. That’s fair enough, but it does make this book feel rather disjointed and it might turn some readers off if they didn't know his agenda.

I was never a big fan Rick Burchett's art work. I thought it was too dull and just bland because despite the humor, She-Hulk is still a super-hero book. So, Shawn Moll’s artwork is a big improvement. Moll has a more detailed and has a more traditional style. The art really comes alive visually and the action is top notch. Sure he's not the greatest artist and still has plenty of bolts to tighten up, but I think he really flatters David's script. The new direction is simple, but I can see it working down the line. Peter David is more than capable of sending the character in a bold new entertaining direction. I mean seriously if you've gotten into the character by now, it really won't kill you to stick around a few issues to see where the direction takes us. B-

Crying Freeman Manga Review

Story: Kazuo Koike
Artist: Ryochi Ikegami
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Publisher: Dark Horse

You might recall that during the ending of our manga podcast I briefly mentioned the name Ryoichi Ikegami. I was specifically talking about his work on Crying Freeman and Sanctuary. This put the idea in my head of going back and reading all those comics that I had from Viz back in the day. Then I noticed that just recently Dark Horse had released 5 omnibus trades collecting the series uncut in its original right to left format. I know the wonderful job they have been doing with the Gun Smith Cats trades, so I was really excited about reading them like this for the first time.

If you’ve ever heard anyone talk about manga then the name Kazuo Koike should ring a bell. He’s the writer of such great works as Lone Wolf and Cub, Samurai Excutioner, and Lady Snowblood. Funny enough, he also did the Hulk manga back in the early 70’s in Japan. Ikegami is also a popular artist in Japan and once you take a glimpse at his artwork you can understand why. Most of his work has been translated here in the States such as: Mai the Psychic Girl, Sanctuary, Strain, Wounded Man, and Offered. Even Marvel released the Spider-man manga that he drew back in the 70’s. This story is different than any other Koike stories I have read, because it’s set in a modern era (of course this book was originally published in 1986).

This story begins with a bang! Literally as Emu Hino, a 28 year old artist witnesses two Yakuza (Japanese mafia) hits performed by the same assassin. The assassin cries after he kills his targets, and it's this moment of vulnerability that Emu focuses on so much so she develops an unhealthy fixation on him. When I say unhealthy, she wants to lose her virginity to him before he kills her on her 29th birthday. Because she knows that once an assassin tells you their name, you become the next target. She starts painting portraits of his crying face litter her studio. Instead, he ends up falling for her and eventually they get married. We learn that his name is Yo Himomura and he is an assassin for the 108 Dragons, the Chinese Mafia. But to most in the criminal underworld, he is known as Crying Freeman, the killer who sheds tears after he kills his victims. Yo was once an up and coming pottery artist, until he got hold of some negatives that the 108 Dragons wanted back. However, thinking that he was doing the right thing he sent the negatives to the police. In retaliation, the 108 Dragons kidnapped him, used put post-hypnotic suggestions to turn him into the perfect assassin. He was trained and then set loose under their control. He has lost all free will and that is the only thing he wants back, hence the codename: Freeman.

As the story unfolds, Yo has become used to the idea of being an assassin and now does it willingly. After Yo and Emu get married they have to destroy their past and old identities. Emu is now known as Fu Ching Lan, the beautiful "Tiger Orchid." And Yo, now Long Tai Yang “Sun Dragon" is set to become the 108 Dragon’s new leader. But as usual some people are not best pleased with this, and there are plenty of murders, kidnapping, and violence. It’s funny to see how Freeman uses his body as an instrument against women. Deadly enemies such as Bai Ya Shan, Dark Eyes, and Kimie become allies after falling or sleeping with Freeman. He reminds me a lot of Batman in that way. Apparently, I’m not the only one that seems to think so as you can see here . Koike really tries to get the point across that you can’t trust anyone in the underworld, but if you have a giant dragon tattooed on your body and have a certain aura, women will just fall on their knees….not a bad idea. The latter two volumes have more adult elements than the first three. There is kidnapper that gets off on watching Freeman fight and some really disturbing scenes with her masturbating while her body is being blown up. In the Journey to Freedom, Freeman begins his long path to freedom by indirectly taking on all of the remaining underworld powers of Japan. I felt the end of the series was a bit rushed or maybe it was me just wanting some more Freeman action!

I can say that the shrink-wrapping and parental advisory sticker speaks honestly of the manga's content rather than being a bloated attempt to look cool like some other comics out today. I’m not one to usually complain but sometimes I feel the pornographic scenes and extreme violence come out a little pointless. We have grown people just walking around naked all the time. I also love the fact that not even once do we see Freeman work out and stay so buff. I guess he just works out the ladies and the bad guys. So yes plenty of extreme violence, which leads to my other minor gripe during sexual acts, an erect penis, or a woman opening her legs in anticipation of pleasure and bam we get whiteout, or ridiculous shading, or even pixilation. That is some weird censorship! I guess you obviously get the idea that the characters are having sex, but it’s strange that some things are censored. But, let me clarify, these minor gripes take nothing away from the fantastic story.

The main thrust of this series is really the story of one man forced into dark practices and his consequential guilt. The characters were unique and would lure me to keep turning the pages. I couldn’t put the book down and the entire book remains utterly compelling from cover to cover. The plotting is mature and complex and its artwork reflects this effortlessly. I really don’t do Ikegami’s work justice by talking about it. It’s so fluid, so lifelike, so beautiful, so detailed, and so damn perfect. The great thing is that which each volume you can also see him evolve that art style to perfection. The bottom line is that for 15 bucks where else are you going to get 400 pages of great ass kicking action? It is so great to have these books reprinted and it was great to re-read them again after so many years. I highly recommend this great series and I promise whether you read manga or not, you will be hooked. A-

Marvel: One More Delay

About Heroes Episode 75

Reading your e-mails, really, really quickly; we got a lot of great feedback on both our Heroes episode and the Fabian Nicienza interview, thanks! Also, we hit on some new books, including Death of the New Gods 1, New Excalibur 24, Justice League of America 14, The Sword 1, Wolverine Origins 18, Countdown 28 and Catwoman 72, along with a few others.

About Heroes, Episode 75

Here is the submission that Keith Robinson(Powerbomb1411) is sending to image. Good luck Keith!

Monday Manga Reviews: Bleach, Exaxxion, Naruto, Evangelion, Mermaid Melody, and Shakugan No Shana!

Bleach Volume 21
Story & Art: Tite Kubo
English Adaptation: Lance Caselman
Publisher: Viz

After the Soul Society story arc that lasted for over 15 volumes do you think that Kubo is going to let Ichigo and co. rest? Hell no! We get back to business. Everyone but Rukia returns to the land of the living to get back to everyday life and Ichigo is given a deputy pass to return to Soul Society whenever he pleases. Everything is quiet for about a chapter and then we are introduced to the new kid in class Shinji Hirako, who happens to be a Vizard (Soul Reapers that have become Hollows). There is also a new threat: The Arrancar (Hollows with Zanpaku-tos). Believe it or not, this book has two big revelations towards the second half: The return of Ishida’s father and the unearthing of Ichigo’s father as a Soul Reaper. I can’t believe that this book is still this fun and I every time I can’t imagine the plot getting better; I am proven wrong with some great chapters. Sure Kubo isn’t a master story teller, but he sure can deliver one damn good story. A

Cannon God Exaxxion volumes 1 & 2
Story & Art Kenichi Sonoda
Translation: Dana Lewis & Adam Warren
Publisher: Dark Horse

This is what Kenichi Sonada was doing during his big break from Gunsmith Cats and let me tell you, this is nothing like GSC. Hoichi “Gun” Kano is the Grandson of the world’s famous inventor Hosuke Kano. He is also a student at Howa High School in Musashino City, Japan. For the last 10 years Earth has been in contact with an alien race knows as the Riofaldians. At the tenth anniversary of first contact with the Riofaldians, an Elevator Ship is unveiled and designed for orbital transport to and from the Riofaldian home world and Earth. However, this was just a ploy to take control of the Earth, using their advanced technology and large Riofaldian work force on Earth to their advantage. It is now up to Hoichi, with the help of Hosuke an old scientist famous for his anti-Riofaldian stance), Akane (his friend from highschool), and Isaka (a humanoid created by Hosuke). You can tell that Sonoda borrows heavily from old science fiction movies for his concepts and designs. The robots are round and metallic and are void of any contemporary mech-and-tech design found in today's big robot movies or today's manga. The sixties black and white flick, The Day the Earth Stood Still, is the chief influence on this manga in both story and design. Not a bad choice for primary influence but I was very surprised at the lack of innovation and original ideas in Sonoda's tale. I have faith that Sonoda will be able to keep me entertained. C+

Naruto Volume 17
Story & Art: Masashi Kishimoto
Translation: Mari Morimoto
Publisher: Viz

First Bleach and now Naruto, I really can’t get enough of these Shonen Jump title. The price of eight bucks a pop makes this even better. Just in case you aren’t aware of what Naruto is…think Harry Potter with Dragon Ball Z (sort of). Naruto is the story of a young teenage orphan trouble-maker, who is desperate to become the greatest ninja in his village. He goes through all kinds of adventures, slowly maturing, but always willing to compete against his arch-rival Sasuke. Whilst Naruto’s mischievous nature gets him into a lot of trouble, his determination to become the best is unsurpassable. Unfortunately though, Sasuke seems to be top of the class in everything, and will be an incredible opponent to better. In this volume we get a glimpse of Sasuke’s past with the appearance of his older brother, Uchiha Itachi. This is the guy that killed his own parents, because he couldn’t let anything get in the way of perfecting his techniques. The artwork in this manga is fantastic, with great detail on every single character, and an impressive selection of background features that perfectly blend in with the surroundings. The story is excellent and engrossing, catching the reader’s interest immediately, and constantly improving with each chapter. Due to the brilliant way it is done, it is incredibly hard to stop reading this book. They keep pumping out three volumes a month and it’s hard to not buy them all. A

Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 10
Story & Art: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Original concept: Gainax
Publisher: Viz

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I saw Evangelion. 10 years since this series changed the way I looked at anime forever. Granted I had been watching anime for 20 + years now, but nothing moved me quite the way Evangelion did. The manga dives deeper into the story than the anime could. The artist Sadamoto was the lead character designer on the anime and is the perfect artist for this book. After two years since volume 9 came out, Sadamoto finally completed the 10th volume of the series and I hope we don’t have to wait as long for the final two volumes. Volume ten picks up right from the middle of the battle with the Angel Armisael, when tendrils from the being seize Unit 00 and try to assimilate the pilot, Rei Ayanami in a very disturbing scene. Ready to launch, but left on the pad is Shinji is Unit 01, pleading his estranged father, Gendo Ikari, to let him go into the fight to help Rei. Already on the scene and also under attack is Kaworu Nagisa, the mysterious Fifth Child, who through internal monologues hints he can defeat this angel, but will not show the power he possesses to do so yet. Sadamoto has taken the reins in clearly explaining some of the mysteries with more background stories and more dialogue, while remaining true to the essence in an almost shot for shot and word for word of the series. I can’t believe how much I really love Evangelion until I read this series and it makes me realize how much I have missed the characters. A

Pichi Pichi Pitch: Mermaid Melody volume 7
Story & Art: Pink Hanamori
Scenario: Michiko Yokote
Publisher: Del Rey

After seven volumes the story finally comes to a conclusion. Well, the story’s main battles really ended with volume 6, but it’s in this volume that you learn the fate of the characters you have been reading about. The big story is of course Lucia’s destiny. When she becomes ill with fever, it is at last revealed just when the real first time she met Kaito was. It laid the groundwork for her future, but she had no idea how big that future would be! A startling turn of events will seal her fate once and for all. Don’t fret though, this has been a warm and fun manga throughout so don’t worry about anything too angst ridden. This is a series about princesses and happily ever after endings. The layout of this manga is great. Pink Hanamori goes into a lot of detail with regards to the characters of this manga. She writes about their backgrounds and personalities as if they were real (basing some of the characters in this manga on real people helps to achieve this) and she happily elaborates on some of the finer points of the storyline. The detail is really apparent and makes a very big difference to the way this manga develops. Without so much depth, the story wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting. There are also additional stories in the final volume. Something kept me reading the book so the author was doing something right. I was a little confused at times, but nothing that kept me from enjoying the story. B

Shakugan No Shana
Story: Yashichiro Takahashi
Art: Ayato Sasakura
Character Design: Noizi Ito
Publisher Viz

Yuji Sakai, a high school student, expected his very normal life to last forever. However, this expectation is quickly shattered one day while on his way home. The world suddenly freezes in time, leaving Yuji to watch in horror as blue flames engulf the people around him. Soon a monster resembling a large doll appears and begins sucking the flames into its mouth, until it notices Yuji. Surprised with Yuji's insusceptibility to the time-stop (fuzetsu), it jumps with glee. Just about Yuji is about to be devoured by the creature, a sword wielding girl with shows up. She introduces herself as a Flame Haze who now goes by the name of Shana. I have to say that I was really disappointed in this book, because the whole story is rather hard to follow and it can get real confusing. The art is really full of energy and Sasakura can show great facial expressions and still handle some fantastic art sequences. But like I said with a cover like that I was expecting something else and was disappointed with how the story played out. C

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man # 24 Review

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Joe Quesada and Danny Miki
Colors: Richard Isanove
Cover: Quesada and Isanove

One More Day continues in this final issue of FN Spider-Man. The issue really felt kind of like a repeat of what has been going on with Peter and May for the last few months, but there was a very nice continuity treat in this issue. So why this saga promises to pretty much destroy the Peter/MJ marriage, the story still hasn’t pissed me of quite just yet.

Spidey decides to go and visit Dr. Strange in hopes of finding a way to save May. I’m a bit confused why Peter goes to push the doorbell considering he is a member of the New Avengers and should already know how to get inside. Anyway, Peter tells Dr. Strange what has happened to May and he is desperate to do anything to save her life. (We know Peter, you have been saying that over and over for months now!) Dr. Strange explains dying is a part of the natural order of the universe, and that cannot be stopped, changed, or interrupted no matter how noble the cause. Dr. Strange summons the hands of the dead to let Peter go and visit multiple places in our time, hoping to find some information. Peter visits friends and foes alike in seeking a cure for May. Among some of those he visits: Storm and Black Panther, Reed Richards, the Beast, Dr.Doom, Dr. Octopus, Morbius, Dr. Curt Conners, the Night Nurse, Dead Girl from X-Statix, and a few more. However, they all tell Peter the same thing: there is nothing they can do to help May. She is going to die, and Peter will have to live with that guilt.

After returning to his normal body, Dr. Strange goes to get Peter a drink while he recovers from traveling the space/time continuum. Peter is not ready to quit, and uses Latin to recite a spell to send his astral form back in time. He reaches back to Amazing #538 where the Civil War crossover ended. He cannot stop the sniper but tries to warn himself from going into the hotel room. The Peter of that time stops, almost sensing his astral form (Yay, continuity!) and May ends up getting shot anyways. Then the nightwalkers arrive, beings destined to protect the space/time continuum and prevent anyone from altering their destiny. They injure Spidey, biting him with their mystical chompers.

Dr. Strange arrives to help the injured Spidey, taking him even farther back in time when he wasn’t at his Sanctum Sanctorum. Dr. Strange puts Spidey in a room as his injuries heal, when a knock is heard on the other side of the door. Spidey recognizes the voice: it’s his own! No, we aren’t talking clones. This is a scene from early in the Straczynski run, from Amazing Spider-Man volume 2, issue #42 where Spidey fought the Shade who was abducting homeless kids off the street. The dialogue is the same and it really ties up a loose end from years ago. Back inside, Dr. Strange and Spidey return to our time, and the good doctor tells Peter to go be with May in her final hours. Hold her hand and be with her is the doctor’s advice, but Peter isn’t ready to stop just yet. Outside, Peter remembers Dr. Strange’s words and is lured to a small girl offering to help him out. The girl looks like a young MJ, and I’ve got a feeling she is evil. This can’t end well.

Thoughts/Comments:

Not bad considering this saga is totally going to undo something I love about Spider-Man and his history. Let’s start with the good, the art was beautiful! Quesada is the man when it comes to art, and I loved how he drew Dr. Strange and all the magic going on. Second, the nod back to issue #42 was really kick ass. It makes the original story all the better knowing that Peter is also on the other side of that door. The nightwalkers were cool looking and made for some very cool visuals. OK, on to the bad. This issue still felt like a repeat of what we already know: Peter wants to save May; no force on Earth will stop him. WE GET IT ALREADY! Geez, how many times has this been said in the past 4 or five issues of Amazing Spider-Man? The double page spread of Peter visiting friends and foes was really cool, but this issue still felt kind of slow. The little girl at the end is probably Loki or Mephisto in disguise, which will end up somehow undoing the marriage in order to save May.

Notice the red bird flying around in part one and this issue? Probably means something evil is about to happen. I also wish there was some kind of letters page in this issue thanking Peter David for his work on this title since this is the last issue. Also, can we please have MJ in the story a bit more? If this is their final story as husband and wife at least give her a bigger part in the story. I’m still intrigued on how this will end, but this issue gets a B- from me. Hopefully part three will pick things up.

Transformers: Two Disc DVD Set Review

Written by: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight, Rachel Taylor, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, etc.

My all time favorite movie of 2007 hit DVD on Tuesday. Yes fans, Transformers have finally made it to live action and the DVD is pretty amazing, much like the movie itself. Now before I start this review, this is for the two disc DVD set. There are various different sets out there at different stores with many various special features (Transforming DVD Case, Transformers Beginnings Bonus Disc, etc.) to choose from.

The story of the movie itself is pretty straightforward. The powerful allspark has ventured to Earth. The allspark is the source on unlimited power and both the valiant Autobots and the maniacal Decepticons are seeking this energy source for their own purposes. The allspark is basically kind of like an updated source of energon or maybe even a pumped up version of the matrix from the 80’s animated series.

The allspark landed on Earth many years ago, and is now hidden in a secret military base monitored by the government. The movie begins with an attack on a military base by a Decepticon soldier. This leads to the military becoming aware of these strange beings arriving on Earth, and Frenzy, another Decepticon warrior is assigned to find information about the allspark. This scene comes into play later as the President and his crew flies aboard Air Force One. This sets up all the military involvement in the film along with the computer analysis experts Maggie and Glenn. I don’t want to talk much about the humans and military in this review though, because I’m more into the Transformers themselves. So that’s as far into the military stuff in this movie I want to mention for now. Anyways, the story is basically about Sam Witwicky.

Sam is a high school student who is about to buy his first car. Little does Sam know, the car he ends up with is the heroic Autobot soldier Bumblebee. Sam is in possession of a pair of his grandfather’s glasses.
The glasses have the encoded location of where the allspark resides on Earth. Sam’s grandfather came in contact on an icing expedition years ago which led him to come face to face with a dormant and frozen Megatron. Megatron scanned the glasses belonging to Sam’s grandfather with the location of where the allspark is hiding on Earth. Sam eventually begins to befriend Mikaela who becomes involved in this entire adventure. Sam and Mikaela eventually find out Bumblebee is a robotic alien who is trying to find Sam’s glasses and protect them from further Decepticon attacks. Bumblebee summons Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots by shooting a signal into the stars.

When the Autobots arrive on Earth, they take the form of various vehicles and explain to Sam that they need his grandfather’s glasses. Optimus describes what the allspark is, who Megatron is, and how there are already Decepticon forces on Earth. The entire group goes to Sam’s house to find the glasses, but the military has to get involved once again.

The sector seven main agent eventually takes Sam and Mikalea into custody, and Bumblebee is also taken prisoner. Optimus and crew decide not to intervene in freeing Bumblebee right away and vows that they will protect the humans no matter what. Later on, the government becomes involved with sector seven and everyone realizes that Sam has been in contact with the Autobots and realizes what is going on. Sam and everyone is taken to a secret location where the frozen body of Megatron resides. They also reveal they have the allspark and are keeping it hidden at the Hoover Dam. But like all action movies, hell quickly breaks loose. Megatron is unfrozen, the Decepticons rally and the Autobots roll out. The military and the Autobots do their best to defend the city and humans from a massive Decepticon attack. Sam is given the allspark after it is shrunk down by Bumblebee and he has to make his way to a nearby rooftop. This is a great moment in the movie where all the Autobots and Decepticons fight one another, with the military doing their best to help. Mikaela even hooks the injured Bumblebee up to a tow truck and drives him around, letting him continue to battle despite being blown apart earlier in the film. The real treat of this scene comes in a certain line of dialogue delivered by Optimus Prime, “By the end of this day Megatron, One Shall Stand and One Shall Fall!”

Sam continues to make his way to the rooftop to hand the allspark over to the military in a helicopter.
Megatron is still after Sam, finally confronting the boy on the rooftop. Sam stands strong, refusing to give in to Megatron’s demands. Optimus comes and saves Sam, and Optimus finally tells Sam to shove the allspark into his chest. This will kill Optimus, but it will keep the allspark from falling into Megatron’s hands. Sam realizes that if he kills Prime he will only break the hearts of millions of Transfans once again, so he shoves the allspark into Megatron’s chest. With their leader down, the other Decepticons run away or are defeated/destroyed. By movies end, Sam and Mikaela are about to do it on Bumblebee in vehicle mode with the other Autobots watching. Optimus broadcasts a message to the stars telling his fellow Autobots to come to Earth and help them protect their newly adopted world. This leaves the door open for a sequel, and do any of you other fans really think Megatron won’t be back? All they did was dropping him into the ocean, he can totally come back!

Thoughts/Comments:
The DVD itself is OK. The packaging is very plain. On one side is a picture of Optimus, the other side has a picture of Megatron. But the background is white and not very cool looking. The single disc DVD has a much better cover in my opinion. On disc one, the movie is available for play and there is commentary by Michael Bay. Disc two has three different selections. The first selection is called “Their World” and it has four featurettes about the humans involved in the film. They talk about how the military was involved and how Bay loves the military. There is another feature talking about how they cast Sam, Mikaela, and other human characters in the film. They talk to Steven Speilberg about his love for TF and why he wanted to make this movie. This stuff is OK, but I’m really more interested in the robots.

The next part of the DVD is called “Their War” and features lots of stuff about the Transformers themselves. The best featurette is called Rise of the Robots and talks about the G1 cartoon, how it originated in Japan, how the producers and stars loved TF in their younger days (Shia even mentions the original 1986 animated movie! They even play the theme song to the movie as he talks about it!) and they even show Peter Cullen doing some voice work for the film.

The next part deals with the Autobots and the vehicles used for their earth forms in the movie. Sadly, they don’t mention Cullen or interview him for this segment. The next featurette is about the Decepticons and it is pretty much like the Autobot one in showing which military vehicles were used to bring the cons to life in the film. The final featurette is about the allspark and other elements used in brining the robots to life.
The last part of the second disc is called more than meets the eye, and it is really just showing how they filmed the Scorponok desert attack scene. There is some cool concept art shown, and also a few trailers for the film. The bonus disc is cool, but I wish there was a bit more about the history of the Transformers cartoon in here. I wish they talked to Peter Cullen more, and a music video or two would have been nice.
Also, Wal-Mart sold the single version of the film with a bonus disc called Transformers: Beginnings that was narrated by Peter Cullen. I bought the double disc set and it didn’t have this feature on it. This feels like a kick in the pants to TF fans who wanted all the bonus stuff with their film.

In the end, I give the film an A+. It really was incredible both story wise and computer animation wise. Having Peter Cullen and nods to old TF fans was just icing on the cake. The DVD set however was a bit of a let down, earning it a B-. I’m sure there will probably be an extended DVD set come out later on before the TF sequel hits in 2009 though. So anyways, go buy this movie! You will be glad you did!

Spider-man 4 confirmed! Sam Raimi not so much :(

I know we are not a news source, but sometimes I hear things that just has to be brought up. I can deal with Dunst not coming back, but Raimi is almost a must for the formula to work. This was posted on IMDB:

"Spider-Man is returning for a fourth installment of the superhero franchise, but without director Sam Raimi in the director's chair. Raimi directed the first three movies and co-wrote 2007's Spider-Man 3 - but the filmmaker is stepping back to let someone else create their own vision for the web-slinging adventure. He tells MTV.com, "Right now, a writer is being sought to write the next installment. We're in the very early stages. I won't be working on the story. It'll be a brand-new writer coming in with a brand-new story - a fresh take on the Spider-Man series. We're hearing different versions right now and really enjoying the different stories. Hopefully, we'll hear one that sounds right for the fourth installment." When asked if would produce the movie, rather than direct, Raimi replies, "Yes, that's right. In this case, it's more in the writer's hands. I'm going to let the writer envision where Peter Parker would go to next."

Maybe they'll get Joel Schumacher or Brett Ratner on the project!

Death of the New Gods #1

Writer: Jim Starlin

Mighty Avengers #5

Justice League of America #14

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie

Disgaea 2: Chaos at the Colosseum! Palm Figures Complete Set Review

For a couple of years now I have been addicted to a tactical RPG called Disgaea. If you know a little about me, I gave up on RPGs years ago (Final Fantasy VII really killed it for me). For some reason I always found myself glued to these two Nippon Ichi Playstation 2 games. When I say glued I mean over 100 hours of gameplay. Do you know what I could have accomplished in those 200 hours? Probably nothing more productive than reading bad comics, but still. If you’ve read my reviews in Beckett Anime Magazine you know I am a big fan of Gashapon (Capsule Toys). So what exactly happens when two of my favorite things collide? A slice of heaven my friend….a big slice.

These figures are more than just capsule toys though; they are the perfect collector items for Disgaea fans or just fans of anime/video game figures. Alright, so on to the review. Let’s talk about the packaging first. Man, Japanese people love their packaging! Not only are all the characters packaged in individual boxes, but the boxes themselves are packaged in a big white discreet box. There are 12 boxes, because each figure resides in their own container and each container is gorgeously decorated with images from the game. Inside each of those mini-boxes is a clear plastic display case and a black bag. I guess this is so you’ll be surprised when you actually figure out which figure you get and let me tell you it’s half the fun trying opening those black bags and hoping it will be the ninja(yeah my personal favorite). The plastic displays are a perfect display case for the figure and the legoish circles means you can stack the figures to save room.

This set includes 12 fully pre-painted figures that you have to assemble, but not to the extent that you will need glue or carving knives. Each Figure stands 2.5" tall and the case measures 3"×2"x2". Unlike the Japanese release that come randomly packed you actually get a complete set when purchasing the box. The set includes: Adell, Etna, Rozalin, Yukimaru, Axel, Hanako, Taro, mage, ninja, archer, thief, and the mystery figure Pleinair. These figures are made by the Japanese company Toranoana. There is so much detail that went to each figure, you can really tell that Toranoana put time into making each mold and applied paint. Speaking of paint, for figures this small I am completely impressed with the lack of paint bleeding and chipping. These small figures are completely flawless and their assigned weapons are easy to attach.

The only negative things I can really say about this set is I really wish that they had released another secret figure besides Pleinair; it seems that each set now comes with her. They could have at least given her a different animal to hold. I do recommend taking your time when putting the figures together, because now and then a hand can go flying if you try to force it in and these things are a pain to find again. Those are just really small gripes because overall this new set is completely flawless and I can’t recommend these small figures highly enough. The first two sets were limited to 500 boxes and 650 boxes so I’m assuming the same thing is going on here. So do yourself a favor and don’t put it off until they are gone. A

You can find the Disgaea 2 Chaos at the Colosseum figures at Rosenqueen.com they have the best prices and are the official NIS store here in America. You can’t go wrong with this place!

About Heroes Episode 74

Josh (Joshiebear) joins us via Skype for this episode, where we finally get back to talking about new books! Discussion includes Green Arrow & Black Canary 1, Superman 668, the Richard Donner run on Action Comics, Green Lantern 24, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 24 & One More Day, Nova 7, Runaways 28, Booster Gold 3, Captain America's new look, Howard the Duck, X-Factor and Metamorpho Year One.

About Heroes, Episode 74

Manga Reviews: From puppets in love to crazy aliens!

Eden: It’s An Endless World Volume 1
Story & Art: Hiroki Endo
Translations: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Publisher: Dark Horse

I’ll be honest and say that what initially peeked my interest about this book was that gorgeous cover. It’s reminiscent of something Katsuhiro Otomo would have drawn back in his Memories book. The Wonderful character designs and technology all blended into one, hell at first glance I thought this was nothing more than a rip-off Otomo book. But it’s so much more than that, so much more. Enoah and Hannah are two kids around the age of fifteen, living in and around a Biosphere facility along with their mentor Layne. Layne is a man suffering from late-stage symptoms of a disease that is wiping out all of humanity in the future. We learn in flashbacks, that their parents were part of a group of scientists and military officers that gathered in the sterile base to escape the disease. But something went wrong, and now the three of them are the only ones left. The kids are immune, and as they get closer to adulthood, they are wondering whether to stay there or venture out into the unknown world and see if there are any other survivors. The second half of the story we fast-forward 20 years in the future and are introduced to Enoah’s son Elijah. He’s just a lonely guy trying to find his own worth and wanting to be with a woman. It is a very intriguing story, with some gorgeous art, violent action, and a question about where your place is on Earth. The characters of Eden are very meticulously drawn and there are some fantastic technological details found in these pages, the humanoid creatures are creepy and would make Steven Spielberg proud. This book was great and I highly anticipate the next volume. A-

Midori Days Volume 8
Story & Art: Kazurou Inoue
Translation: JN Production
Publisher: Viz

Before I jump on the review of the final installment of Midori Days, I figure a little background information is called for. Our protagonist is High school delinquent Seiji Sawamura, who is desperate to have a girlfriend, especially after being rejected by 20 girls as of late. Like most guys, he's afraid that he will end his life with his right hand as his only companion. Apparently, that doesn't change when one day he wakes up and discovers that his right hand has become a puppet version of a girl named Midori Kasugano, who confesses that she has had a crush on him for the last three years. Somehow when Midori’s body was put in a coma, her soul gets transported to his right hand. Since his right was known as the Devil’s Right Hand because of his fighting skills, he now has to hide the tiny girl torso from everyone and can’t punch his way out of situations. Sounds like a weird set-up and let me tell you it is. I didn’t know how this book could go on for eight volumes, because I really thought it had just one hook, but everything you can think of is addressed in all eight volumes. I think the supporting cast really made these books work. Shuichi alone could carry the book, him and his disturbing obsession with toys (hits close to home). My problem with the ending is that it didn’t have enough closure for me, it seems like they just ended abruptly. They finally admit their love for each other and the ending is left open. I guess after 8 volumes I wanted a little more. It’s was good to see her in her real body though. B-

Nodame Cantabile Volume 11
Story & Art: Tomoko Ninomiya
Translation & Adaptation: David & Eriko Walsh
Publisher: Del Rey

I never really thought I would dig a manga that was about music, to be honest I think the closest book was Violinist of Hamlin. I figure I would give this genre of manga a try and see where it took me. Shinichi Chiaki is the top piano student and a great violinist at the Momogaoka College of Music, but Chiaki doesn't care about playing these instruments as much as he dreams of someday being a conductor. For some reason he has several deeply rooted fears about traveling, and so finds himself trapped in Japan. Because he's trapped, Chiaki starts to question exactly how far he can possibly go in music, especially when he's passed over again and again for others he believes less worthy of musical scholarship and fame. Recently dumped by his girlfriend, passed over for a chance to go overseas, and removed from his star spot in the piano competition because he walked out on his piano instructor, Chiaki snaps. This is when he meets Nodame, or Megumi Noda. Nodame is a free and filthy spirit who reminds Chiaki that music can be fun and what drew him to be a conductor in the first place. The early volumes of Nodame were pretty humorous and kept me entertained, but around volume 5 I lost interest. The jokes were repetitive and the situations were very predictable. I’m so glad that I jumped back on with volume 10. Because we are now out of Japan and Nodame and Chiaki are both in Paris studying music and the characters have become more likeable and have developed since the early volumes. So to sum it up, the stories move really slow at times, but it picks back up with later volumes. C+

One Piece Volume 15
Story & Art: Eiichiro Oda
Translation: JN Production
Adaptation: Lance Caselman
Publisher: Viz

When we last left Luffy’s crew they were still on the island of giants. Now the extreme weather of the Grand Line has made Nami sick and the rest of the gang have to find an island and a doctor. They eventually make it to Drum Island, where its eternally winter. Now all they have to do is find the witch that is somewhere on this island. Of course it won’t be that easy with constant wars going on, gigantic killer rabbits, and avalanches. All this and we get the first appearance of Tony Tony Chopper, who at this time is hanging out with Dr. Kureha. I can’t think of any other shonen manga that evokes more emotion than One Piece, well at least to me. Every time I read this book, I am reminded of how amazing the art and story are. Just when I think it doesn’t get any better than this, I am surprised by another exciting chapter of this series. I am so impressed to see so many characters running around in this book, yet each one of them looks different than the other. Each new threat that is introduced in every chapter has something unique about them. From a corrupt king who eats everything (and I mean everything including people) to a man who turns into a bison. This manga will have you laughing, crying, and cheering for more. One Piece is the grand opus of manga, and everyone who reads shonen manga owes it to themselves to read this truly EPIC manga series. I can’t think of a better shonen series to get people to understand what that particular genre of manga is. A+

Q-Ko-Chan: The Earth Invader Girl Volumes 1 & 2
Story & Art: Ueda Hajime
Translation & Adaptation: William Flanagan
Publisher: Del Rey

It’s really hard not to compare Q-Ko-Chan to Hajime’s two volume FLCL series. Both series have cute girls, giant robot wars, insane alien protagonist, and very confusing stories that are addicting to read. I love the fact that Hajime has taken a pretty basic story about a boy and an alien and just made it more exciting and different with his amazing artwork. Sure this story is nothing more than just about robots and aliens, but really that’s just the surface of the deep story. It’s about belonging, relationships, jealousy, and just wanting to be a part of something bigger than you think you are. Not only is the story amazing, but the artwork is even better and it is what really sells me on this series. Hajime is able to define characters with long, sweeping strokes of the pen, lines at distinct angles from one-another. It’s completely unbelievable how simplistic yet detailed his art can be (just check out the lack of backgrounds to see what I mean). There isn’t a lot of detail crammed into each figure, but there doesn’t really need to be. From octopus-like aliens to cute schoolgirls, each character has their own unique and striking look that will stick with you as a reader. It’s almost surprising what Hajime can do with a few or at times, lots of lines to define a figure on the page. Even after you’ve read and think you have absorbed the story of Q-Ko-Chan, you’ll keep going back to it to simply gaze at the art again and again. This is one of those incomprehensible stories that still managed to appeal to me based purely on the strength of its art and the love that is put into each gorgeous panel. A-

Tanpenshu Volume 1
Story & Art: Hiroki Endo
Translations: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Publisher: Dark Horse

After reading Eden volume 1 I really wanted to read the second volume, but since I didn’t have the second volume I went on and read Endo’s other book Tanpenshu. To my surprise Tanpenshu seemed to be written by someone else and it didn’t feel the same as Eden. I say that because none of the stories have a sci-fi feel to it. I’m a huge fan of short story collections such as Memories, Rumic World Trilogy, and Four Shojo Stories just to name a few. I guess in a way I wish more people in America would enjoy them as much as I do, just so we could get some more books from Japan here. So anyway this book has three different short stories. The stories in Tanpenshu examine the darker side of the human psyche, exploring the root causes of disturbing, sudden, and extreme acts of violence. The first story, “The Crows, the Girl, and the Yakuza,” focuses on the relationship between Aoki, a mobster with brutal enemies, and a homeless girl who tends a mob of crows. The second, “Because You’re Definitely a Cute Girl,” explores the disturbing inner world of Makino, a high school student traumatized by the recent death of her mother and older sister. The final story in the anthology, “For Those of Us Who Don’t Believe in God,” introduces us to a college theater troupe that is staging a play about prolific American serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. I have to say that the strongest out of the three stories to me was the first; it reminded me of Old Boy in a way or a John Woo film. To my surprise I think I enjoyed this book a slight more than Eden. It may have to do with the realistic stories or the characters that one can relate to easier. A

MANLY pic of the week...

btw, this it totally ganked from a livejournal community that is absolutely hilarious called 'scans daily'.

When you look at this picture, there's a lot assaulting your eyeballs. I've reduced the size of the picture to warn you. Before you click on it, know that it contains enough manly qualities to ACTUALLY MELT YOUR FACE OFF. Click at your own discretion.

Naked "Manly" Chest - Check
Gun
Two Guns - Check
Rockets
Motorbike
Motorbike with Rockets on it - Check
Random White Woman On Floor - Check
Black Eagle with Thunderbolt in it - Check
Shooting A Dark Skinned Man - Check
Yup, this pic is dangerous.

X-men: Die By the Sword # 1 Review

Author: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Juan Santacruz
Inker: Raul Fernandez
Colors: Rob Ro

The title is a little misleading, yes I know some of these characters have been X-men at one time, but this is nothing more than an Exiles and New Excalibur cross-over. Considering that Chris Claremont is writing both titles and both teams have ties to each other, it was only a matter of time before these groups came together.

After the victory over Albion, Excalibur's leader Captain Britain decides to throw a little party. The Exiles team decides to drop in on Excalibur so that Psylocke can see her brother and Thunderbird his lost love Nocturne. As the teams meet, however, a new threat emerges in Cross time, the space between universes, which may require both teams to defeat. It looks like Mad Jim Jaspers is back from his big hiatus (I don't think I've seen the guy since the original Captain Britain run or the Trial of Magneto). It also looks like James is also bringing the Fury along for the ride. And a new character who takes out Captain Britain is introduced: Rogue-Mort....but I think it's supposed to be Rouge-Mort which is French for Red-death! That's right; her power is that she is constantly on the fucking rag! Damn....that's all I got to say about that.

This miniseries really doesn't need to exist because this is a story that probably would have been far better served by simply crossing between the two titles. It's amazing how Chris Claremont can make anything into a huge threat and makes me believe it. Hell, even the Impossible Man had me sweating at times when he would attack the X-mansion. However, some characters like Thunderbird are acting different. How come he didn't ask about the baby? When did Betsy realize that Longshot had lost his memories? Where did that random kiss between Wisdom and Dazzler come from? I hate to talk bad about anyone's art, but I have to say that the art in this book was pretty bad. I really give people the benefit of the doubt, but some of these pictures are just horrendous. It really looks rushed on some panels are just sloppy, the tear on Roma's face is the size of her nose. The character design on the rag queen is atrocious. She's got a fucking gigantic zipper in the front of her costume....nice. I really hope all the plotlines are resolved by the end of the series, because I really don't want the New Exiles running into Merlin and Roma. C+

New Warriors # 5 Review

Author: Kevin Grevioux
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Cover: Nic Klein

I am so glad I gave this series a fair chance, because it is up there amongst my favorite comics to have debuted this year. Hell, with Civil War Aftermath and Initiative logos all over the first two covers I really didn't think this book would be on my pull list. I love it when I am wrong and to quote my friend Chris, pleasantly surprised.

The team loses two members when Longstrike is killed by the Zodiac and Sofia is severely injured helping the Warriors. After arguing over whose fault it really was that got Longstrike killed, Thrasher has enough and decides to disband the New Warriors. Sofia has a near death experience and the two detectives are still investigating the identity of Night Thrasher that leads them to technology from Wakanda and Black Panther. That really is all that happens in this issue, since it is mainly a brawl for the first half of the book.

Five issues in and we still don't know half the people that make up this team. It was revealed that Longstrike was Tattoo which makes me think that Phaser is Radian and that there are way too many of Morrison's X-men on this team. Now I really fear for the identity of Night Thrasher (damn, I hope he’s not one of the Cuckoos or Quentin). I wish there were more surviving members on the team like Silhouette or Rage.

It seems that with each issue Medina is producing some really kinetic shit. His pages have so much energy in them, from action scenes to facial expressions. Of course there is a drawback to his art and it's the way the characters look. Jubilee has never had a rack that big and Beak was never a supermodel. Although the story feels a little decompressed at times it is still a fun book to read and this is the closest I have seen Marvel rival the new Teen Titans book. Young Avengers who? A-

Open discussion thread - books from October 10/11

What did you think about the comics that came out this week? Also, what format would you like these weekly discussion threads to take? Should I list the major releases, or just assume that you already know what you're buying? This one's a bit late, but from now on, they'll go up Wednesday morning.

I've not read many of this week's books yet, but I do have one question, to start discussion: If Mighty Avengers had shipped on time, would this week's New Avengers issue have anything to do with its cover?

Punisher War Journal #12

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1

Writer: Judd Winick

Spider-Man: Friend of Foe? Review

So a few days ago I beat the collector in myself into submission and convinced myself to rent this game instead of buying it. Kudos, inner sense of right and wrong. Kudos.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe? is a fluff game. I was worried as soon as I saw the tag-screen load up before the menu that said "Official Spider-Man 3 Merchandise" Ooph. I immediately red-flagged the game in my head and then pressed onward into 12 hours of mind-numbing button-mashing and story that'd make your brain explode if you didn't just gloss over it so that I could have something to contribute this week on the front page, haha.

Wanna hear the story? No? Too bad! Zomg Spider-fans! Little did we all know, but the meteor that fell to earth with the venom symbiote in Spider-Man 3 also had a bunch of small shards that broke off of it that spread all over the world with symbiote fragments in them! Somebody's using them paired with holograms to do.....stuff! Bad stuff! And whats worse, they're mind-controlling your foes to working for them!

Now go smash stuff for a long long time. Yup, that's about it. I dunno what you would expect from any story with Mysterio as the mastermind villain, but yeah, this games not about the plot, it's basically about running around with your favorite spidey-affiliates beating up the same 3 enemies over and over with different skins and slightly different attacks. It is fun to play with all the character, of which there are ahem:

Spider-Man, Silver Sable, Prowler, Black Cat, Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, New Goblin, Venom, Sandman, The Lizard, Scorpion, Rhino, Iron Fist and Blade. Yeah I know, it sounds great, but that's where the perks end. The game feels like a much more fluid Ultimate Alliance when you start playing because the attacks you use are so stylish and super-keen, however, after playing for awhile you realize dying doesn't have any negative effect and it's incredibly easy to be cheap and just tank through the game, or incredibly boring to try and use your 5 basic attacks in some interesting way and take forever to get through the game. There's also a Vs mode, but as my friend and I found, it's basically just a competition to see who can be cheaper and not let the other player get a move off, which I'll admit, is fun in it's frustrating hilarity. The game is incredibly easy though overall. My friend and I found that we basically used this as something to keep our hands and subconsciouses semi-occupied while we talked about completely unrelated things. It's fun to unlock new characters and hope they'll be fun, but they're all boring and disappointing save for Venom and Doc Ock.

The graphics aren't very impressive, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to take place in a cartoon-version of the movie spidey-verse. I could imagine this being tied into the upcoming cartoon show, but it isn't. The gameplay consists of using basic melee moves and various grapple moves, consisting of: throw your enemy, slam your enemy on the ground, or jump in the air and THEN throw your enemy on the ground. All sidekicks have 1 or 2 special moves, but they're basically 3 things. Radial attack, Projectile attack, and 'Hit Really Hard' attack. Gah, I'm making this too complicated. IN CONCLUSION....

This game is really easy. Rent it if you have to play it, and then grab your kid or your little brother or someone who equates to that and then bust your way through a bunch of symbiote hologram hybrids and then bop old Mysterio on the fishbowl and save the day, just don't expect much variety. I give this game a C-, not as good as the Spider-Man 3 videogame, and that's not good either....

B.P.R.D. - Garden of Souls #1-5

Writer(s): Mike Mignola & John Arcudi
Art: Guy Davis

The story starts off with a flashback to London, 1859. There is a mummy’s unrolling at the focus of a socialite party, upon unwrapping though….well… the mummy is found to still be ALIVE. Flash forward to present day wherein Abe Sapien receives a delivery, a cigar case with the intials L.E.C. In past stories it has been hinted that Abe Sapien once was a man named Langdon Everett Caul, what’s more Caul also was at the “unrolling” party in 1859. As you progress through the issues bits of story slowly start coming together more and more, until Abe reaches an island where he hopes to have some questions answered. There is more but, I’d rather not ruin it for you.

So bottom line, is this worth taking the time to pick up? Maybe. The story starts off a bit rough, you have three or four different plotlines in the works which makes it hard, for a “newb” to BPRD, to understand what’s going on. The inside cover page breaking down each member of the BPRD and their current status helps a little but…yeah…this is not a book to just pick up lightly. By the third issue you get a little more of a understanding of what all is going on and more depth/insight into certain characters. What’s a tad disappointing throughout the whole story is, your never really given a clear concise background on what type of person Abe had been before his transformation, sure there are bits but, I just wanted more. The side-plot involving Liz Sherman didn’t seem to really connect to anything relative to this story. Captain Benjamin Daimio’s story while interesting seems a tad underused, and better utilized in a story focused more on his own past, then in a storyline that seemingly is about Abe Sapien’s past.

The artwork within these issues is great. Guy Davis draws some tight, sharp lines, helping to give each panel the hard grittiness that has become a staple in Mignola projects. Oh as a complete aside…Davis can draw some bad-assed ole' school robots (before it was all the cool “new-thing” in Bioshock)

Kudos go to Dave Stewart and his coloring of these issues as well.

So, in closing, though intriguing in story and in art, this story is intended for those already grooving on the BPRD mojo, all of you new to BPRD, read BPRD: The Dead first, then come back and read this sucker. B+

Manga Reviews: Aqua, Murder Princess V. 1 & 2, Nabi, and Manga: The Complete Guide

Aqua Volume 1
Story & Art: Kozue Amano
Translation: Alethea & Athena Nibley
English Adaptation: Barbara Randall Kesel
Publisher: Tokyopop

After reading the entire book I found out it was a prequel to another manga entitled Aria. I have never read Aria, but I completely understood this manga, so it is safe to say that it is a stand-alone story. This particular story takes place on Mars, which is now called Aqua, because 90% of the planet’s surface is now water. It seems that in a city called Neo-Venezia, gondoliers are now known as Undines. Our main character Akari Mizunashi hopes to become an undine and gets accepted by the Aria Company as an apprentice. She has traveled all the way from Man-home, which I assume to be Earth. This book is about her adventures becoming an Aqua and the friends she meets. I was pleasantly surprised when I read this book, because I thought that it was going to be one of those stereotypical stories how one girl’s dream is to become the best Aqua. Surprisingly it reminded me more of a Studio Ghibli story more than anything. I have to say the thing that stands above everything else in this book is the gorgeous art. It may be a stretch here, but I think if they were to rebuild Venice on Mars, it would look like Neo-Venezia. I really like how so much detail is given to every single panel, but it doesn’t outshine the main characters. That cover alone just yells gorgeous art with expressive characters (wait till you see the Martian cats). If you are looking for fast paced action, you aren’t going to find it in this title and it does move a bit slow at times, but it is still a fun read. This is one of those feel good stories that really makes me glad I read manga. B+

Manga: The Complete Guide
Author: Jason Thompson
Publisher: Ballantine Books

Before I get into the review I want to make you understand something. I swore up and down never ever to get a complete guide to manga book or anything of the sorts. I have been reading manga for the past 17 years and I thought I didn’t need anyone to explain anything about Manga to me since I considered myself a connoisseur of the genre. Then came Tokyopop and released 40 books a month (not that I’m complaining) and after that other companies started releasing more and more manga. It was just impossible to keep up with what was current. Now that you know how I felt about owning something like this book, I’m going to tell you how much you need this book. For the past week I have been reading and looking up information on Manga and guess what? I don’t need Wikipedia or Google, because it’s all right here in one big book. Every single manga released in America whether completed or not is in this book, but not only information on the creators or how many volumes it runs, but a mini synopsis of the story and a small review to go along with it. As if that wasn’t enough Jason takes us into the different genres of manga such as dojinshi, josei, otaku, and yuri to name a few; and explains the difference and the history behind each genre. There is a history of manga in Japan and then in the states. With over 540 pages of information and complete history lessons, you can't go wrong with this wonderful book. I can’t praise this book high enough or do it justice by naming some of the chapters. If you are a manga reader, you need this book. If you want to get into read this manga, you need this book. Even if you are a veteran of manga and think that you know everything about it, you still need this book. I think I got my point across. A+

Murder Princess Volume 1
Story & Art: Sekihiko Inui
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
English Adaptation: Jason R. Grissom
Publisher: Broccoli Books

This book's cover really caught my attention. A hot chick, red eyes, a sword, and blood splattered in the background. Sold! In the Kingdom of Forland, the evil Professor Akamashi and his two androids (who are little girls) have killed the king and want to claim his throne. Princess Alita is sent to find her brother and has an unfortunate confrontation with a root of a tree and falls off a cliff. Lucky for her the brunt of the impact is taken by the bounty hunter Falis’ head. When their two heads came in contact they seemed to have switched personalities and everyone is fine with this, because Falis is a sword wielding bad-ass while Alita is a wimp in comparison. The story is very simple and the villains are not really that bad of villains, more cartoony Wiley E. Coyote threat than World domination threat level. I have to say that this book works if you turn your brain off, but hell there is nothing wrong with that. This is advice from someone that reads comics and watches movies in the same way. Let the art take you away and enjoy it for what it is, just an adventure manga with some fantastic artwork. Speaking of which, the action sequences are right down amazing. It’s impressive to see someone draw characters in such detail, yet so clean during sword slashings. The story picks up towards the end with a twist, but really nothing to keep most people interested, but to be honest I did keep reading it for the art alone. B-

Murder Princess Volume 2
Story & Art: Sekihiko Inui
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
English Adaptation: Jason R. Grissom
Publisher: Broccoli Books

Everything that was laid out in the first volume is wrapped up in this book. Prince of Forland, Kaito who is Alita's older brother and eight years her senior returned at the end of the last volume, but not with hugs and kisses for his little sister, but with a sword slash to the stomach. She has spoken very fondly of him, bragging of his swordsmanship as well as his kindness. Prince Kite left the country to hold peace talks with Forland's western neighbor, the kingdom of Grandel, but no one has heard from him since. When he comes back, it is revealed that he is the man the Black Knight that accompanies Cecilia. Cecilia is a sorceress who is tracking Alita's every move and has a connection with Falis. This book seemed to have read faster than volume 1 there was just so much action after action with very little room for Falis’ background story. I am still surprised at how clean the gory looks. Even when Professor Akamashi blows up and his hand falls to the floor; the art style is so clear and crisp, I don’t think I get the reaction I am intended to get. Nevertheless it was still a fun read about choices and friendship. I kept checking the back of the book to see if maybe it was based on a game or something, because seriously the character designs are right out of an RPG. It seems that Broccoli books really gave this book the royal treatment. The artwork looks amazing on the thick white pages and the texture on the cover makes the characters really stand out. The book itself feels solid and could probably take a beating and still be unharmed. I enjoyed this one more than its predecessor, but the same flaws still plagued the book. B

Nabi the Prototype
Story & Art: Yeon-Joo Kim
Translation: Woo Sok Park
English Adaptation: Liz Forbes
Publisher: Tokyopop

Nabi is a collection of stories that are a lead up to an upcoming on-going series titled Nabi. In this particular collection we are given glimpses into the lives of So-Ryu , Myon-Un, and Ryu-Sang. The first story is about how So-Ryu is a hostage of her father’s enemies and eventually falls for a warrior that is to be her protector. In the second story Myon-Un and Ryu-Sang, who is a tough boy on the exterior but cares deeply for Han-Ah. The stories were a bit confusing and disjointed. I don’t think I have read enough of these characters to feel emotionally attached to them so their connections are rather meaningless to me. There is not enough separation between the stories and I got confused on where some of the characters went when starting a new segment. It will be interested to see how all these characters intertwine with each other in the main title. But as of right now, it’s just little stories that I cared very little about. The artwork is completely lovely and stunning. Character designs look classy with some elaborate costumes. The eyes on the character remind me of the large dominating eyes of Clamp’s artwork. To say that the saving grace of the book is the artwork would be an understatement. B-

About Heroes Episode 73

This week, we interview Fabian Nicieza about the fate of Cable & Deadpool, the life of a freelance writer (inside and outside of the comic industry), his work from the mid-80's on to today, and we get a few tasty hints of what's to come from one of our favorite authors.

About Heroes, Episode 73

The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society #1

Writer: Sean McKeever
Artists: Jamal Igle & Rob Hunter

If you thought the last foray into the multiverse was a superfluous tour of Wildstorm, and that these one-shots would do nothing to add to the DCU, grab this comic.  If you liked the Wildstorm issue, grab this comic.  There is a lot to like in this issue.  Unlike the format last time where it was essentially and expanded story from the pages of the abysmal Countdown, this issue delves directly into the character of the Jokester who is currently hitchhiking with the "Challengers of the Beyond" in the pages of Countdown.  We meet the Jokester, who's real name is never given, who was a struggling comic until he found his gimmick in making fun of Owl-Man, the Batman counterpart of Earth-3.  This soon rocketed his popularity until Owl-Man came to collect his revenge and sliced the Jokester's mouth open, creating the permanent smile.  Jokester decides to fight Owl-Man and his sidekick Talon (last seen in 52, and the 2-page spread of Titans in Titans Around the Wold) and eventually joins up with the Riddler Family (The Riddler, Three-Face, and Duela Dent).  We find out Duela's true origin, so anyone confused by where she came from in this New Earth look to this issue.  I really enjoyed this issue because we got an origin of a character, and it really let me get a feel of the earth, unlike last issue.  The best part?  The "Challengers" only appear in the 2 last pages of the book! 

Jamal Igle does the art on this book, and it looks a little different from the great work he was doing over on Nightwing.  While I'm glad DC got a well-known artist to do this one-shot, I'm sad that he had to leave Nightwing to do it, as the book kind of fell apart when he left, and he was only on it for seven issues.  In interviews he gave the impression that he was going to be on Nightwing for the long run with Marv Wolfman, similar to his long Firestorm run.  But alas, that turned not to be true.  Igle brings his best work to the issue, and with the writing from Sean McKeever it helps the comic seem important and worthwhile and not superfluous.  If you are even vaguely interested in Earth-3 or the Jokester, pick up this book, you will not be dissapointed. B+

P.S.  The Earth-3 Crime Society is different from the Crime Syndicate in the Anti-Matter Universe created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely in their great graphic novel.  Also, apparently, that Anti-Matter Earth still exists and is different from this Earth-3.  Go figure.  That's what they are saying over at Newsarama...

Action Comics #856

About Heroes Facebook group

Josh started a facebook group for all of us at About Heroes, and I would like to invite anyone who has facebook and has yet to be either mine or Josh's friend to add the group. It is a quick and easy way for me to get news out to people who I think probably don't frequent the site as much as "you" faithful watchers do. It shouldn't be hard to find, just search groups and type in "About Heroes." Or, you could use this link: About Heroes on Facebook.

I've uploaded a lot since the relaunch of the site, including pictures, our cartoons by Omar, and the comic strip by Omar. Check it out!

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Power Cosmic DVD review

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Power Cosmic DVD Set
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Doug Jones, Andre Braugher, Beau Garrett
Writers: Don Payne, Mark Frost (Inspired by Stan and Jack’s FF #48-50)
Director: Tim Story

October is a fantastic (pardon the pun) month for DVD releases! Aside from FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer, fans also get Transformers and Spider-Man 3 released on DVD in the coming weeks. To get the party started I’ve decided to review the newest FF movie, which came out this past Tuesday. Also, Stuart Immonen has nothing to do with this review! So let’s get this party started on what I found to be an awesome DVD set featuring Marvel’s first family and their cosmic ally, the Silver Surfer.

The movie is a very rigid adaptation of the classic Surfer/Galactus storyline from FF #48-50. The film starts off with Galactus destroying a world off in space and the Surfer heading towards Earth. When the Surfer arrives, strange phenomenons occur all around the globe including power outages, strange weather patterns, and even oceans turning to stone. Meanwhile, Sue and Reed are about to get married but find themselves hounded by the media due to their newfound celebrity status as super heroes. In Latveria, Dr.
Doom is awakened by the Surfer’s cosmic energy and quickly proceeds to plot his revenge on the fabled foursome. Ben is getting serious with Alicia and Johnny is still his same old self, dating models and desperate to plan Reed’s bachelor party. Reed finally agrees to proceed in making the marriage happen when things start to get bad for our heroes and our planet.

After dancing with some lovely ladies in a bar, Sue and General Hager arrive with some dire news. The general tells Reed that strange occurrences have been happening around the world and the energy source is unlike anything seen before. Reed is told to build a device to monitor these energy anomalies, but Reed is determined to get married first and keep his promise to Sue and his family.

Doom is also tracking the energy source, which leads to a confrontation with the Surfer. The Surfer is creating huge craters inside the Earth at various places around the world. This is a cool twist on the Surfer being a true herald to Galactus. Instead of just floating around doing nothing till his master arrives, the Surfer is actually creating these holes for Galactus to feed on when arriving to consume Earth. Doom naturally wants the Surfer to work with him, which leads to Doom being ignored and attacking the Surfer. The Surfer retaliates, and the energy he shoots at Doom cures him of his horrific scars and burns. Meanwhile, Reed and Sue are tying the not, and even Stan Lee can’t miss this momentous occasion. (Great cameo by Stan, very similar to the comic where he and Jack Kirby were turned away from the wedding.) But like all things in the Marvel Universe, things don’t go as planned. The Surfer shows up and fries the device that Reed built, ending in a helicopter crash ruining the wedding. Johnny flies after the Surfer in one the best sequences of the film, only to be thrown away from the surfer with little ease. Clearly, this being is extremely powerful and a true threat to the planet and team. Later, General Hager really hammers the problem out to the FF, and Johnny tries to impress Captain Frankie Raye with little to no luck. The FF agrees to help out though, despite the General’s feelings for the celebrity heroes.

Reed and Sue realize they aren’t normal and will never have a regular life to raise children. This leads to them realizing they are going to disband the team after this business with the Surfer is finished.
Johnny hears this and gets pissed, leading to more inner turmoil and strife among the team. On top of this, Johnny’s encounter with the Surfer has left him being able to trade powers with his other team mates upon the simplest touch. Things continue to go bad for the team and the planet as the Surfer continues to create craters all around Earth. The team is drifting apart and Doom is enlisted to help detain the surfer, creating only further doubt and confusion among the FF. As the Surfer is spotted in the woods, Reed and Doom’s devices are set in place and actually create a powerful pulse signal that separates the Surfer from his board. Sue almost connects with the Surfer before he is brought down by the army, giving audiences the notion that this being isn’t exactly evil. Still, if they were true comic fans they would know this anyway.

At the base, the Surfer is tortured by the army scientists. Doom is determined to experiment on the Surfer’s board, revealing his ulterior motive in helping the army out. The FF realizes that they need to help the Surfer out after Sue learns that the Surfer isn’t the destroyer and that the board is luring the destroyer to Earth. (Just call him Galactus people! This make this as comic bookish as can be. The destroyer sounds too generic!) Doom reveals his true colors by killing General Hager and claiming the Surfer’s board for his own. The FF frees the Surfer and realizes that Doom now has the board. Reed summons the Fantasticar to help catch up with Doom. The next few sequences are pure action, showing that the film makers really did an awesome job in bringing the Fantasticar to life. By this time, Sue is dying after Doom throws a spear at the Surfer and sue intervenes. The spear hits Sue’s chest, saving the Surfer. (This is very similar to how Duke saved Falcon in the animated G.I. Joe movie from 1987. At least Sue didn’t “go into a coma” though!) Now the Surfer realizes that Earth and its people are special, and it’s a good thing since Galactus has arrived.

Doom is still super powerful so Johnny takes all the powers from his team-mates and becomes the Super-Skrull, I mean super Johnny. Johnny separates Doom from the board and the Surfer and his powers are restored. The Surfer saves Sue and decides to defy Galactus. In a final effort, the Surfer is successful in sending Galactus away from Earth. Galactus does not die! I’ll mention the commentary where that was revealed in a moment. With the world safe, Reed and Sue have a fast wedding and then the team takes off to tend to an emergency elsewhere on the planet.

Now onto what makes this DVD set awesome. First, listen to the commentary by director Tim Story. Tim gives lots of juicy details about what was kept from the movie. First, Tim is a true comic fan mentioning many of the various Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stories and how they were used as inspiration. Tim also mentions Ultimate Extinction and how all the huge computers Reed had in that mini-series were used in the interior of the Baxter Building shots. Tim also mentions how General Hager was intended to be Nick Fury for this film. Marvel is developing a SHIELD movie so they couldn’t use Nick Fury. But the scene where Reed chews out General Hager came from a comic where Reed told Nick Fury to show him and his team respect. Also, the issue of Galactus was explained.

Galactus is not a storm cloud. Galactus is hidden in the cloud. He is a being behind all the smoke and was hidden on purpose. Tim did this because the proposed Silver Surfer spin-off is in the works, and he said that he wanted that movie to be where Galactus is fully seen. He felt like he owed it to the director of Silver Surfer to have that honor and it really makes a lot of sense to do it like that. Also, at the end the Surfer did not kill Galactus. Tim said that he merely sent Galactus away, and the big G could show up once again in a future FF movie. So that really makes me enjoy the film a whole lot more. It’s cool they wanted to use Nick Fury and I love that Galactus is not a cloud and the Surfer didn’t kill him.

Disc two is full of special features. There is a great documentary on how they made this film. It involves all the pre-production and production moments. Very cool insight into how this film was created. There are tons of featurettes detailing how they designed the Fantasticar, how John Ottman did the musical score for the film, and a great documentary on the Surfer’s history throughout the comics. This included interviews with Stan Lee, Ron Marz, Jim Starlin, J.M. Dematties, and other Surfer comic creators. There are theatrical trailers for this film, FF1, and X-Men 1-3. Also, there is a preview trailer for the upcoming Futurama film “Bender’s Big Score” hitting this holiday season. There are other special features on this disc but I don’t have the DVD with me right now so I am forgetting some things. Still, it’s a great set with tons of cool insight on how this film was made.

All in all, this is a fun film and a great DVD package. I’ll give the movie itself a B+ and the DVD set an A . Go get it if you are a fan of comics, the FF, or the Surfer himself. If you love Galactus like I do, be patient and wait for the upcoming Silver Surfer spin-off.

Welcome to About Heroes 2.0

You made it! Wonderful! Since you're reading this, you're seeing About Heroes on its new server. There have been a few changes around the site, such as:

Reconceived category structure and tags

To your right, you'll see a list of categories. Our category structure is now much more flexible, as the site's logic is no longer dependent upon maintaining strict categories. We'll be breaking down reviews into their respective companies, and adding tags to entries to make things easier to find. Also, we now have room to add categories for things like the webcomic and joshiebear's pics of the week, among other things. Also, we'll be going back through the archives, recategorizing entries and adding tags little by little as time goes on.

Forums and comment registration

One of the largest changes is that we've done away with the old forums. A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated in them; unfortunately, since the forum had been languishing from inactivity and spam, we've closed it for now. Instead, we're going to focus on the comment mechanisms that everyone already uses for feedback. Since these will now be the primary mode of discussion, we've changed comments so that you have to register to comment on an entry. This extra step, which is only annoying once (you can set a cookie so the site remembers you), will not only protect the identities of our commenters, but will also do a lot to stop spam before it gets started.

There are still some changes going on, and I know that Internet Explorer 6 fucks up the page when it tries to render it (if you're still using IE 6, it'd really be in your best interests to at least upgrade to IE 7). I'll be fixing that and some minor aesthetic and content issues over the coming days. If you have any questions about the new site, sound off below.

Air Gear Volumes 1 - 5 Review

Story & Art: Oh! Great
Translation & Adaptation: Makoto Yukon
Lettered: NMSG
Publisher: Del Rey

From the creator of Tenjho Tenge, Oh! Great (Ito Ogure) comes Air Gear. When I heard about this manga, I thought to myself: "Great another manga trying to cash in on extreme sports!" I really do love it when I put my foot in my own mouth (actually, I am not that talented). This manga is everything taken from Rollerboys, Solarbabies, The Warriors, and mixed in with some fantastic new elements.

The story is pretty basic; Airtrecking is an x-treme sport where skaters wear high-tech skates and then battle in teams for territory and fame. Each skate has a memory chip inside to record the stats of the skater. In the first volume we are introduced to Ikki Minami, a high school gang-leader who is also hailed as the Babyface of East Side. He suffers a humiliating defeat by the Stormrider air-trecking gang Skull Saders, who then go on to target the friends and classmates he can't protect. When I say humiliating, the guy gets all his clothes torn off and gets stuff shoved up his ass. We are also introduced to his foster family, the Namayoma sisters, notably Ringo, Ikki's childhood friend, Mikan, Ume, and oldest sister Rika. Ringo, Mikan, and Ume mysteriously reveal themselves as the legendary "Sleeping Forest," assisting Ikki in entering the Airtreck world to redeem his pride; While keeping the true nature of their Stormrider identities secret from everyone else. Eventually Ikki is able to defeat The Skull Saders and earn their emblem, which is a way airtreckers show they defeated a rival gang. He gains the respect of his peers again and moves on to the next challenge. The mysterious Simca, who is also an airtrecker and happens to work at a parts store provokes Ikki to take on Inuyama with a promise of something special as a reward. You guessed it....this is more than a kiss and coming from Simca, that is a deal! It seems Simca can tell that Ikki is destined for bigger things than just airtrecking.

The next three volumes involve Ikki going up against Bucha and Akito/Agito who later end up joining his team. Koarasumaru is the name they choose to go by, which literally translates to small-crow-blade. In a way this makes sense because Ikki throughout all the volumes has been nicknamed crow boy and has a pet crow. There is a scene with a teacher that has a panty flash in almost every page. If that is not enough, there is an entire panel of our hero, stripped naked, sorry ladies it's blurred out, and then taking a shit out on a building rooftop. Its fun to watch Ikki pull his team together and see one of his friends reach a personal revelation; Go Kazu, who knew he had it in him? By the end of the fifth volume we finally get to see Riku (the oldest sister) come back and tell us where she has been since volume 1. She never wanted Ikki to become an airtrecker, but her reasons are still unknown to us. We are also introduced to Sora, who happens to be in a wheelchair. So it might have something to do with her and Sora's past why she can't stand to see Ikki ride in those skates.

For the most part the overall translation of Air Gear was handled very well. The dialogue translation does a good job capturing the slang street talk of the characters. I can see kids talking like this and even some of the slang is new to me. Some Japanese expressions are left un-translated and only explained in the glossary, which I really love Del Rey for putting at the end of their books. There was so much information I picked up from just one volume. This is information you can of course take with you to other manga. The writing ties the symbolism of all of the birds in the story and the personality of each of the characters is very evident in the way they interact with each other. I assume the lettering has to be given props for their beautiful handling of the emblems and gang names when they announce it. My only gripe is the use of Instant Messaging lingo. Such as WTF, Oh Noes, STFU, and others. I really don't see what the purpose of these internet acronyms are in a book like this. It obviously adds nothing to the story and it looks unprofessional. The text is also very easy to follow and you won't get lost in any of the panels trying to follow dialogue.

Let's talk about the art for a second. If you weren't aware of it Oh! Great was an adult manga artist and let me tell you, when you see his women you can really tell. He is an amazingly gifted artist, who doesn't seem to limit himself, because each volume looks better than the previous one. His action sequences are amazing to say the least. When the characters throw punches or kicks it really looks like it hurts. He is a master at drawing backgrounds, dynamic figures, and the character designs are right out of the glory days of 2D fighters. The flow from panel to panel is flawless and the over exaggerated expressions completes the perfect look for a manga. There are plenty of fanservice moments that will get the attention of not only guys but the ladies as well. Speaking of fan service, I am a bit disappointed that Del Rey didn't keep the original cover to volume 2 with Simca on the cover (To your left you'll see the original cover). Although it wasn't much of a change, I get frustrated when other people's artwork are edited. Few are as skillful at anatomy as Oh!Great, who uses his skating theme to depict the human body with such fluid grace it looks to come to life at times. Although I find it funny that sometimes his women seem to be posed in rather hentai situations, but I'm not one to complain.

When I first started reading this book it seemed to borrow its elements from other manga, but like I said it ends up infusing plenty of its own elements and balances evenly between action, comedy, and a high school drama to prevent it from becoming another sports manga that gets easily forgotten. The plot flows smoothly, even though it can be dialogue heavy at times it is majorly entertaining throughout. The only problem I see is that each volume takes forever to get the point across. It is very much like Dragonball Z in that each volume holds a bigger and badder threat, but in this case the protagonist is not losing his life and the sake of humanity, only his skates. Not much of a complaint, but I certainly hope it doesn't lose its steam that it finally picked up after the first volume. After reading this manga it makes me want to put on my old roller blades or just play my Jet Grind Radio on my Dreamcast. B

About Heroes Episode 72

It's our first episode of About Heroes about Heroes, the amazingly popular television show about folks with super powers!

About Heroes, Episode 72

Fabian Nicieza to join us for an interview

Writer extraordinaire Fabian Nicieza is joining us for a podcast interview Monday October 8th at 9pm (Eastern time). Over twenty years writing comics Fabian's work has graced such titles as Action Comics, X-men, Nightwing, X-force, Cable, New Warriors, Thunderbolts, Nomad, Alpha Flight, Captain Marvel, Deadpool, New Mutants, Justice League, Turok, Troublemakers, Gambit, and of course the almighty Cable and Deadpool! These are just a few of the comics he has worked on over the years. We love for our listeners to participate and ask questions. All you have to do is leave your questions in the comment section. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you wish. We will try to read as many as we can. This again is brought to you by the magic of Skype, Wi-Fi, and Jeff (drwhofan) Hartz!

Cable and Deadpool # 45 Review

Author: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Reilly Brown
Inker: Jeremy Freeman
Colors: Gotham

Seriously, Marvel! You want to cancel this wonderful book and replace it with Cable? I'm a big Cable fan, but I never thought the character was solid enough to carry his own book (even though it lasted over 100 issues). Having both Cable and Deadpool in one book makes perfect sense. It always brings that perfect balance of funny and serious.

Now I see what Deadpool is going to do. This is Marvel's answer to Booster Gold! How fucking awesome would that be to have Deadpool travel back in time and mess up events in Marvel history! I'm sold; here is my 2.99 take it now. Having saved the world from Hydra, the Penetraitor's damaged armor caused a hiccup of sorts, in time last issue. It took Deadpool and Bob Agent of Hydra, and leaves them in the midst of World War II, just in time to team up with Captain America and Bucky on the trail of the mad scientist Arnim Zola. Deadpool is excited to be working with the living legend, while Bob finds himself torn between his Hydra training focusing his hatred on Cap and the fact that Captain America is just fucking awesome. I found it funny to see how Bucky was acting more like Winter Soldier than Bucky. Perhaps Deadpool going back made Bucky become the Winter Soldier. Man, I really am sold on this idea of Deadpool going back in time. If you haven't read Deadpool (volume1) # 11...you really need to read that hilarious issue of Deadpool going back in time to Amazing Spider-Man # 47.

Here I thought Bob was a one-joke character to have a prominent role in this book, but damn Nicieza proves me wrong again. I love the fact that the series has ran this long and I hope that Deadpool gets his own book, but only if Nicieza writes it. Because to me Nicieza is Deadpool...and Speedball...and Cable...and Night Thrasher...well you get the point. The art is nice, but could be tighten up some. The characters just seem a little off at times, but the backgrounds are solid. I really dread the day I don't read a C & D book monthly. B+

Manga Reviews: From Horror stories to vampires in love

Ba_Ku
Author & Art: Hakase Mizuki
Translation: Yoohae Yang
Adaptation: Nathan Johnson
Publisher: Tokyopop

It seems that we just did a review of Demon Flowers (Mizuki's other manga). I guess Tokyopop decided to release both titles back to back. This graphic novel contains two short stories that are divided into five segments. In the first story, a guy named Takeshi learns that he is a Baku (a spirit that devours people's nightmares). This is a pretty twisted story with a nice pay-off at the end. Mephisto, not to be confused with the red guy from Marvel comics who has a son by the name of Blackheart. It is rather a story about Mephisto, who has the power to take ghost from this world and lead them to the next. He has issues with one particular suicide victim and can't bring himself to take her to the next world. I guess it's the Halloween spirit in my heart, but I really enjoyed this book. Mizuki's art is dark and brooding, matching the tone of the story. Her characters are really unique, but there really isn't much to say about her backgrounds because there are none. It takes a very talented storyteller to use minimal locations and let the facial expressions tell the story. B+

Berserk Volume 19
Story & Art: Kentaro Miura
Translation: Duane Johnson

Back in 2000, I got to play the Berserk video game on the Dreamcast. This was right after I had watched the anime and I wanted more and more of the story. Let's just say I was confused, Casca was running around like a small child and Guts was chasing after her. Who would have thought that seven years later it would all make sense? When we last left Guts and co. he was chasing after a missing and bewildered Casca. With the help of Puck and Isidro, they manage to finally find her at the hands of the Iron Chain Knights; however she being the way that she is, she is again separated from Guts and is being held captive by Father Mozgus and the rest of his Inquisitors. For some reason even after seeing all the demon sex in the last volume, this one really freaked me out. I think it was because it made me think of what I would do in a situation like Nina's. Would I turn on a friend to save my own neck? Most of us would like to think not, but after seeing the torture chamber of all the heretics, it's a damned situation. I really can't say enough how disturbingly fun this series is. I dread the days when Dark Horse catches up with the current manga in Japan, so I have to wait longer to read one of my favorite books. A

Death Note Volume 12
Story: Tsugumi Ohba
Art: Takeshi Obata
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Publisher: Viz

I was told by someone once to stay away from Death Note, because it was so damn EMO. I always liked the artwork and thought the character designs were fantastic. Then I thought wait a minute! Some of my favorite anime/manga could be classified as EMO. Damn, I'm glad I didn't listen to this person, because it's been one hell of a ride. This is the final volume of this series and even though it was a slow start at first, these last few volumes have been nothing but fun. Mello has just kidnapped Kiyomi Takada, the official mouthpiece of Kira and Light's girlfriend and only love. The cliffhanger from the previous volume is resolved and the final showdown between Near and Light takes place, in a warehouse of all places. Unfortunately the finale ended up being a bit of a drag like the beginning of the series was. Don't get me wrong, it wrapped everything up, but I was expecting a Grand Finale of a battle instead of way too much dialogue and it really avoids the hard questions throughout the manga. The art as always is completely gorgeous with attention to every detail. Hell, it's the reason I started getting Hikaru No Go for Obata's art alone. I still recommend the series because it was still an intense and original detective drama with a bit of a fantasy twist. B-

Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition Volume 3
Story & Art: Kenichi Sonoda
Publisher: Dark Horse

These new omnibus editions are so wonderful. Not only are they presented in the authentic Japanese format, but they are crammed into one giant volume with over 450 pages! How can you not love this book Guns, sex, hot cars, hot girls, insane action, and a guy that can stop a bullet with his bandana! This book screams testosterone! So in this volume Bean makes a bet with Rally. If Rally can stop Bean from making a drug delivery, Bean will quit running drugs. If Rally loses, she promises to quit bugging him. Rally has a few major setbacks. As a result of the events in previous volumes, Rally has lost all of her licenses except for her driver's license. She can't be a bounty hunter, possess a gun, or run her gun shop for at least a month. Towards the end of the book the action begins to slacken, but it remains impressive, and the increase in character development makes up for it and keeps the story interesting. It's a great mix of action and themes such as family interaction and relationships. I love it and literally couldn't put it down. Of course anytime Bean is involved, there will always be racing and the races are always a fantastic part of the story. Plus you have the usual action you can expect from this series and plenty of fan service and who can complain with all those lovely ladies. A-

Legendz Volume 2
Story: Rin Hirai
Art: Makoto Haruno
Publisher: Viz

For some reason every time I looked at this book, I always thought it was Beyblade or another series much like Pokemon or Digimon. So if you can't get enough out of the monster hunting/training/fighting genre, Legendz is here to pick up the slack. In an alternate future, scientists have discovered that some of the creatures of myth did exist. Not only that, they found a way to replicate their spirits within a video game, allowing players to use them as virtual pets that can be used to fight with others. Easy enough concept to get into, but using real (can I say that?) mythological creatures as the basis of the game can have its ups and downs. Ken is a young player who seems to be quite a winner at Legendz and has just moved to a new school. Once there, he's challenged by local bully Housuke. Ken destroys him with his only Legendz character, Shiron the wind dragon. Yuki, an upperclassman, offers Ken the chance to become the owner of his prized Golden Soul Figure. Legendz has most of the overdramatized theme of any game-based manga I have encountered. Ones like Beyblade and Yugioh where the fate of the world is always in the balance make this seem a little tame. But it keeps an innocence that the original season or two of Digimon and Pokemon had. This isn't really my kind of book, because I can never take these stories seriously and I'm never drawn to the characters. However, if you are a fan of tournament battle anime/manga this book is right up your alley. C

Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives
Story: Ellen Shcreiber
Art: rem aka Priscilla Hamby
Publisher: Tokyopop & Harper Collins

I love the idea of a manga publisher and book publisher teaming up to make wonderful books to get kids to read. I think that is why I love manga so much, because growing up it seems that so many kids missed out those fantastic tales from comic books that I was reading. I can walk to a local book store and see so many kids just sitting around reading Harry Potter or manga; it really is quite a display. This little book is definitely aimed at teenagers and probably even Goth teens...I'm really thinking Hot Topic kids here. It is the story of Raven and her boyfriend Alexander, who also happens to be a vampire. This particular novel is about Alexander's cousin Claude and his gang of killer vampires. Raven really fits the stereotype of a Goth girl and to me that is part of the problem with the book. She already has the perfect boyfriend, hell the guy is a vampire, so I am not sure where the character tension is, if there is any. My other problem was with the actual pace of the book, it just seemed off at times. It really seems short, like something I would normally read in one chapter of regular manga. I can't imagine the other books following the same formula. The art by Rem really didn't feel like the usual cheap Ameri/Anime rips that we normally get. It's nothing extraordinaire, but it gets the job done. I have to say the author of the book, Ms. Shcreiber is pretty hot, so I would stay in line to get my copy signed. B-

The Entry Formerly Known As 'Pic of the Week'

Ok, let's face it folks, this just ain't the pic of the week column anymore cuz I update far less frequently as of late. Just have too much on my plate, but I update every now and then, so I'll just have to think up a more clever name. Anyway, here's a couple pics I've found that I like.

Ok kiddies! See you...um...urr...next time (whenever that is).