About Heroes

Deja-vu: A Love StoryStory Youn in-wanArt: Lots!Translation: Woo Sok ParkAdaptation: Ren ZatopekPublisher: TokyopopFunny enough, just a couple of weeks ago I rented Déjà vu with Denzel Washington and I thought the movie was great. When I saw the title to this book, I really wasn’t in the mood for a love story. About an hour and a half later I was so glad that I picked up the book, because I couldn’t put it down. The title includes spring, summer, fall, and winter because Dejavu is a story of unfulfilled love that takes place through different seasons and years. Through different seasons and different eras in time, two lovers cross…

Buso Renkin vol.1Story & Art: Nobuhiro WatsukiTranslation & Adaptation: Mayumi KobayashiLettering: James GaubatzPublisher: Viz I first got a small taste, or rather the first chapter of Buso Renkin in volume 28 of Rurouni Kenshin. I really didn’t think much of it then; just another guy gets granted powers by sheer luck and has to save a girl from being eaten by monsters. Although completely different than Kenshin, the story was one that I didn’t find unique. However, after reading the first volume of this series, Renkin shows a great promise. Kazuki Mutou is mortally wounded when attempting to save a girl from a strange monster, but is given a new…

Black Cat vol. 1Story & Art: Kentaro YabukiTranslation: JN ProductionsAdaptation: Kelley Sue DeconnickPublisher: Viz I really never know what to expect from certain titles. Especially when it comes to titles of manga. Black Cat has nothing to do with superstitions or a certain voluptuous silver haired burglar that hangs with Spider-man. The story is about Train “Black Cat” Heartnet and his partner Sven Vollfie. They are known as sweepers, which is just another word for bounty hunters who take on the most dangerous kind of work. By the time we get to the core of the book we meet the thief Rinslet Walker, who is in need of help from…

Emma Vol. 1Story & Art: Kaoru MoriTranslation & Adaptation: Sheldon DrzkaPublisher: CMX I know that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but every time I walked by the manga section of my local book store and saw the cover to Emma it would remind me of OEL (original English Language) manga art. Like the guys that do Megatokyo or Fred Perry’s Goldigger. So I was really surprised when I realized that this book was authentic. Even looking at the art inside of the book reminds me of some fan art I have seen. Emma tells the story of a young Victorian/Edwardian maid and her forbidden romance with a…

Aventura Volume 1Art & Story: Shin MidorikawaTranslation & Adaptation: Elina IshikawaPublisher: Del Rey When I looked at the title I really thought that Del Rey was starting to publish their manga in Spanish. Just from looking at the cover it looks like something I used to watch when I was a child in Peru. So yeah, I have a soft spot for kids that team up with carnivorous animals. To my surprise it turned out to be more than just a bond between human and mammal. It was more of a cross between Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Prydain Chronicles. Randit is an orphan who isn’t the…

Jim Henson’s Legends of The Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars Volume 1Barbara Randall Kesel, Heidi Arnhold, and Max KimTokyoPop The artists did a wonderful job of creating a Jim Henson/Brian Froud world in this prequel to the awesome movie, The Dark Crystal. Fans of this cult classic will definitely appreciate the attention to detail – from the way the Gelfling’s three fingered hands are kind of blocky to the way their upper lips and noses protrude from their faces. But as far as story goes…, it’s pretty slow at the beginning. Lahr’s village is destroyed by the Garthim, creatures that kidnap the Gelfling race for the Skeksis, who in turn…