About Heroes

Ghostbusters: Ghost Busted
Story: Nathan Johnson & Matt Yamashita
Art: Chrissy Delk, Maximo V. Lorenzo, Michael Shelfer, & Nate Watson
Layout & Lettering: Michael Paolilli & Lucas Riviera
Publisher: Tokyopop

Who you gonna call? Come on! How else was I going to start this review? Being a child of the late 70’s early 80’s how could I pass up on chance to catch up with some old friends? Of course judging by the cover you can see that they were given the manga touch up. Even though it’s not traditional manga, but an OEL style separated into six stories. All the characters show up from the original Real Ghostbusters cartoon: Ray Stanz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, and even a slimmer cameo. I mentioned that the book was split up into six separate stories, well there lies part of the problem. The first and last story aren’t connected to the core of the book, which is the middle four chapters. I’m really surprised that they didn’t choose one artist for an attempt to bring the classic show back. The problem is that the art is not cohesive and I think going with a more detailed/realistic artist would have been a better choice. It’s not that the art is horrible in any sense, but it just felt like some people that won a contest were drafted to draw this book. With a license item like Ghostbusters I’m really surprised they went that route. Even the stories feel a little off, because sometimes it reads like it’s based on the cartoon and other times like it’s based on the movies. I do have to say that the two writers have a complete understanding of the Ghostbusters mythos. While not the greatest Ghostbusters comic, it certainly better than the IDW comic that just recently came out. I’m sure fans of the GB world are going to pick this up. C+

I Luv Halloween: Ultimate Twisted Edition
Story: Keith Giffen
Art: Benjamin Roman
Publisher: Tokyopop

Every time I would walk past this book at the local book shop I would pass it up because I really thought it was nothing more than a kid’s book. I never noticed Keith Giffen’s name attached to the book. This is the guy that wrote some of the best Justice League, Annihilation, Blue Beetle, and Rocket Raccoon stories ever told. Not to mention the great English adaptation of the classic Battle Royale. Well, enough of the writer and why I wouldn’t pick up these books. Let me tell you, I was completely blown away by this collection! Completely blown away and ended up loving I Luv Halloween. It reminded of a mix of Tim Burton, Jhonen Vasquez, Battle Royale, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Rugrats. That’s about the only way I can describe the mixed bag of goodies I got from this Halloween treat. The story is simple; every Halloween a group of kids get together to go trick or treating. These kids are all lead by the Skull mask wearing Finch and his younger sister Bubbles, who seems insane ,as you can tell by her fascination with pulling out people's molars. When they leave their house to begin the evening's festivities we see that their abode looks abandoned - and that the corpses of their parents, all zombified, are still sitting around. When we meet the rest of the group we see that another kid is dressed are dressed up as a pig, cat, and devil. Blood must be spilled when instead of candy the kids receive apples from an old lady. That seems to be the ongoing gory joke every Halloween. The reader is really thrown into a world which on the surface is similar to ours, but underneath has jarring and fascinating differences that work with the story elements toward more and more unlikely scenarios. Some of the scenes left me really disturbed and others I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically.
The hints of supernatural twists in this volume are enough to drive me to the next one, which promises an elaboration of the only glimpsed at zombie theme. In this collection we are witnesses to three different Halloweens that are all brought to you in color this time! We also get an additional story not released previously. I can’t recommend a more twisted book at this time! Don’t be silly like me and pass this book up!A+

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Story: Various
Art: Various
Translation: Alethea Nibley
Publisher: Del Rey

Objection!!! That’s right…that’s how we are starting this! I have been telling Dan since he decided to become a lawyer that instead of going to Law school, he should just play the Phoenix Wright games. Now he doesn’t even have to play the games by Capcom on the DS, but just read the stories by Del Rey. I’m a huge fan of the lawyer game and have played the original three, so when I saw that the manga came out, I was really excited. All your favorite characters and sidekicks are back in this manga, Phoenix, Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Franziska, and of course my favorite bubbly assistant Maya. What you will get in this book is a collection of 20 different cases and a collection of four panel manga. There is plenty of wacky humor and messed up plots to drag everyone along that isn’t familiar with the Phoenix Wright games. Being familiar with the series will come in handy when references are made to the video games, as well as the ever enjoyable inside jokes. It is definitely full of subtleties that a lot of Phoenix Wright fans would pick up on. Unfortunately it does it this quite often and it could exile those that aren’t familiar with the characters. I loved seeing the different takes on the characters. There are different art styles from various artists; it is actually quite intriguing to see Phoenix Wright and company drawn in each artist's personal style. Some I swear are taken right from the cut scenes in the game. Another point I would like to make is that some of the stories felt rushed and just ended with an anticlimactic end. It didn’t take that much from the enjoyment though, because I was hooked from beginning to end and I can’t wait for volume 2. B+

Vampire Hunter D vol.2
Story: Hideyuki Kikuchi
Adaptation: Saiko Takaki
Translation: Duane Johnson
Publisher: DMP

I don’t think I’ve made it clear how much I love LOVE Vampire Hunter D! Let me set the record straight, I fell in love with the series back in the early 90s when I watched the original anime. I fell in love with the style, the animation, D, and the music. I even used the music in my wedding this past June. Just in time for Halloween I decided to read the second volume of this fantastic series. If you’ve never heard of Vampire Hunter D…well the lowdown in this book is: This is a post apocalyptic future where vampires are a ruling nobility in sharp decline. However, humans are still around and live in a medieval state with fringes of technology. In Tepes, a small town built around ancient nobility ruins, four children went missing ten years ago and only three returned with no memory of what occurred. Now the village has hired D to investigate the mystery surrounding the disappearances. What really blows me away is that Takaki captures his cold beauty perfectly while retaining his less than loveable personality. I think that Takaki was a little more rushed in doing this adaptation because some of the panels look a little sketchier than others. In a way I feel like the first volume better, but that’s because I enjoyed the original novel much more than the sequel. It's a shame that it could not have followed the novel exactly, but for the most part I cannot make a complaint against that. I was still very thrilled to be reading it. It seems that in the manga D is humanized a little more than in the original novel. Will I read the third manga? Hell yeah! I anxiously await the third volume. A