About Heroes

Coyote Ragtime Show vols. 1 & 2
Story: Ufotable
Design: Haruo Sotozaki
Art: Tartan Check
Publisher: Broccoli Books

I really don’t understand the title of this boo, but I can say that I really love that cover. An old guy and a little girl holding guns. If that doesn’t scream badass, I really don’t know what does. Planet Graceland is about to be destroyed within seven days. The pirate king Blues has stashed treasure in this planet and seven days is enough time for Mister to bust out of jail and try to get this treasure. However, the treasure is not all that he is going to find, because the dead pirate king also left him his daughter Franca for Mister to take care of. As if the police wasn’t the only trouble, now the master criminal Madame Marciano wants that treasure for herself and sent the 12 (hot) sisters to deliver Mister and Franca to her. I’m so glad I read volumes 1 and 2 back to back, because the first volume was used as a set up to introduce the characters, their attitudes, and settings. But volume 2 really pumps out the action, suspense, and insane galactic shoot outs. Unfortunately, the characters are real stereotypical, but not to the point where they are annoying. Check’s artwork really has me hooked too; it’s clean and crisp and knows when to deliver some great-ass kicking scenes. While volume 1 sets up everything and the pacing is a little slow, volume 2 really puts you in the edge of your seat. B+

Densha Otoko vol. 1
The Story of the Train Man Who Fell in Love With a Girl
Story & Art: Wataru Watanabe
Original Story: Hitori Nakano
Publisher: CMX

I happen to think of myself as pretty knowledgeable of the Japanese culture, pop or not, so I was really surprised that I had never heard of this “train man”. To be honest from the cover I thought it was about a train that develops feelings for a girl. I was way off, let’s just say leave it at that. This is one of many stories that were inspired by a true story about an otaku that stands up against a guy harassing a girl in a train. They end up developing a relationship from this meeting that eventually inspired novels, manga, a TV series, and a movie. This particular version is about Train (the characters are never referred to by name), who is your regular dorky looking otaku and his encounter with a smoky old man that was bothering Hermes. Most of the time in this volume is taken to show the reader how much of an otaku Train is. He looks for romantic advice in chat rooms like Yahuu japan.com. By the end of the book he does get a big dinner date with Hermes and we’ll see where this relationship will go. The art varies between crisp and realistic to just foggy and unreal in typical manga form; this is most prominent whenever Train panics. I really enjoyed the story and the characters and I’m very jealous of Trains toy collection. I can’t wait for the next volume. B

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor
Story & Art: Masamune Shirow
Translation: Frederik L. Schoot
Publisher: Dark Horse

So here is the deal: If you haven’t read the Ghost in the Shell Manga or Ghost in the Shell 2, go out and buy them right now. They have both been translated by Dark Horse and are both phenomenal and different enough from the movie to keep you entertained. To save some time in this review, if you don’t know what Ghost in the Shell is and shame on you. “Here”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_shell is a great little entry to catch you up. This particular volume is a collection of stories that were never before translated and fit between the ending of GIS 1 and the beginning of 2. Four different stories that that deal with the Section 9 daily work and what they do to fight crime in the digital world and in our real world. So if you are expecting to see Major Kusanagi in these stories, you might be a little disappointed. I can tell you that she does make some nice cameos though. Unfortunately while we do get some great action sequences and fantastic vehicle chases, we get more of the extreme hard to follow dialogue when Masamune tries to dive in to the nature of human consciousness. This is evidenced by the voluminous notes on his sources and they are found all over this volume. On the plus side it is a small complain and the footnotes help the story move along. To me, it’s always been about the artwork and Shirow can draw some attractive women and some gorgeous and detailed settings. This is a fantastic presentation that Dark Horse put together because the design of the book is exquisite. Going back to this world of cyberpunk and futuristic science brings back so many memories and I wish at least once a year I could get to revisit. A-

Oh My Goddess! vol. 6
Story & Art: Kosuke Fujishima
Translation: Dana Lewis
Adaptation: Alan Gleason & Toren Smith
Publisher: Dark Horse

If you have read my past reviews or listen to the podcast whenever we talk about manga, you know that Oh My Goddess is among my top three favorite manga of all time. Not only is the art beautiful, but the stories compelling and it just makes you fall in love with the characters more and more. Each characters sounds so different and unique and yes, while Fujishima is responsible for this; I really don’t think that the translation and adaptation team gets enough credit for their work. The well written dialogue and detailed narration makes the stories so much more enjoyable. This volume picks up where we last left off with Belldandy and Skuld trying to stop their sister from releasing the Ultimate Desctruction weapon. What terrible master Urd doesn’t know is that she was just being used by the Great Fenrir Wolf that infects his hosts and can never be put down. So what happens when Keichi is infected by this virus? Well, I really want people to pick up this book, so let’s leave it at that. Of course that’s only the first half of the story because the second half of the book is a cute little short story about little Urd and a date with a boy. It’s really difficult to find flaws in these early volumes of Oh My Goddess and it’s not because I’m biased, it’s just because they are that damn good. A

Sword of the Dark Ones vol. 2
Original Story: Yasui Kentaro
Story & Art: Kotobuki Tsukasa
Co-designer: TASA
Publisher: CMX

I have been anxiously awaiting this volume. Ever since the cliffhanger ending from the first book kept me wanting for more. Harman Cartel vs. Leroy Schwartz. In believe that Leroy is the partner that Cartel has been looking for, he lets Schwartz (and the reader) know about his lycanthrope powers. That when cornered against an enemy Leo can turn into a wolf-like creature and release his full potential. Funny enough Schwartz true form is more demon like than anyone expected. While he does succeed in making Leroy release his true form, we are introduced to yet another character, a Dark One by the name of Charvert. Yes I wanted to see a fight between Cartel and Schwartz, but I really didn’t need one that dragged on for more than 100 pages. It was one amazing fight though, panel after panel of blood splattering and missing limbs. It was intense to say the least. I wish we had more story though, because I just found out that this series is only 3 volumes long and I have no idea how they plan on wrapping up all the loose ends in one more volume. However, I still look forward to the next installment. B

Tanpenshu vol. 2
Story & Art: Hiroki Endo
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Lettering: Steve Dutro
Publisher: Dark Horse

The second collection of stories by Eden’s Hiroki Endo is finally here. Well, here being in the sense of my hands, but it has been in stores since June of 2007. These are all collected short stories Endo did before his Sci-fi epic Eden was released. This book collects four stories in which three of the stories have teen and early-twenties protagonists, and of course, much like the first volume sex is important, if not explicit in all. Hang, is a sci-fi story in which Megumi loves Shokichi, who also happens to be in love with her, but her relationship with her big brother really drives him crazy. Her brother, by the way exists, after the loss of his body, in an artificial head equipped with recording capabilities. He wants the two to have sex so he could record it. Like I said it’s a weird relationship between sister and artificial brother. In High School Girl 2000 Endo (himself) reminisces about having sex and lost youth. There is a two part story called Platform and it’s about a younger son's vengeance on his gangster father for exploiting the girl he loves. Then there was the funny Boys Don't Cry, in which two classmates have unrequited loves of a different kind. Every single panel is food for the eye, I swear. The stories are moving and the art carries them to a new level. Highly recommended A+

Variante vol. 1
Story & Art: Iqura Sugimoto
Translation & Adaptation: Sheldon Drzka
Lettering: Melanie Olsen
Publisher: CMX

When I read the premise of this book the first thing that came to mind were those cheesy 80s and 90s movies where an normal innocent person gets a limb transplanted from a psycho killer and it also reminded me of the movie Idle Hands. But this book is so much more than that. It’s a mix of horror, mystery, and all in your face action! Hosho Aiko died when she was 15 years old. But, before she was killed she saw her parents get brutally murdered by a creature. She then awakens in a hospital and when the monster that killed her parents shows up, she remembers everything and her arm turns into a monstrous powerful weapon. Now she is drafted as an employee of Atheos to battle Chimeras that are attacking people. But can she cope with an arm that has a mind of its own? The story is very gory and violent at times so there is a reason for that mature readers warning on the book. It does add to that element of creepiness that sets the tone to expect from the rest of the series. While the artwork is detailed and dark, for some reason some of the adults still manage to look like kids. For example the investigating agent Sudo and Dr. Kochigawa look like teenagers. I really dug this series and I can’t wait to find out what happens to poor Aiko. A-