#806 “Berserk” v. 13 & 14: Is this scene necessary?

Berserk 14

Berserk volume 12 left us at a crucial point: The Band of the Hawk were to be sacrificed so that Griffith can join the Godhand. Horrified, Tim and Kumar moved quickly on to volume 13, which left us… horrified, in a less fun way. Casca is raped, in an unnecessarily long, confusing, and (ick) titillating scene (and we have to talk about it, so be warned).

The rest of 13 and the start of 14 finally bring us up to the status quo of the first 2 1/2 volumes, and get us started on a new story of Guts and Puck which…. doesn’t seem to move the story forward at all. While there are good points, our feelings about Kentaro Miura‘s series have become more complicated. And, by the way, how necessary was this 11-volume flashback?

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#675 Gaiman’s “Black Orchid” and “The Books of Magic”

This time, two books by Neil Gaiman: Black Orchid, with art by Dave McKean, and The Books of Magic, drawn by John Bolton and other artists. The challenge of Black Orchid can be to simply figure out the backstory, and how Gaiman changed it! The Books of Magic‘s Tim Hunter character is Harry Potter before Harry Potter; coincidence? Kumar and Jordan look at the evidence.

#224 Our Notes on “Death Note”

Death Note

FLASHBACK! A bored, punk-dressing god of death and a genius high school boy are the main characters in Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. The boy, Light Yagami, receives from the god a notebook with which he can kill people simply by writing their names in it. A plot with many twists and turns ensues. Tim and Kumar review — first without spoilers, and then, 38 minutes in, totally and utterly with spoilers.

(Originally published March 22, 2010)

#606 Marvelman, Miracleman, and Moore

Marvelman

Strap in for one of the wildest stories in comics – on the creator and publisher side of things! Miracleman, originally known as Marvelman, has been through two hiatuses of 20+ years each and a battle over rights to the character, plus the previously-mentioned name change. And that’s not to mention the dark, dark turn his fictional world took when Alan Moore got ahold of it. Now new stories from Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham still lie ahead. Kumar and Koom try to piece it all together.

#546 “The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye”

Charlie Chan Hock Chye


Why read a biography of a fictional comics artist? What if it’s also a history of Singapore — done in a style that apes more than a dozen seminal 20th century comics creators? Tim and Kumar take a look at the awe-inspiring (yet sometimes puzzling) Sonny Liew graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.

#411 Exploring the “Seven Seas” for OEL Manga

OEL Manga

You may have been vaguely aware that a number of non-Japanese are drawing very manga-esque comics that are published in English only. They’re known as Original English Language (or “OEL”) manga, and many of them are published by Seven Seas Entertainment. Is this an area of comics worth exploring?

This week, Kory and Tim randomly pick up three of Seven Seas’ OEL titles (clockwise from upper right): The Outcast, by Vaun Wilmott and Edward Gan; Free Runners, by Bill Strauss and Jennyson Rosero; and Hollow Fields, by Madeleine Rosca.

“Drops of God” to be savored

dropsofgodBy Kory Cerjak

Title: The Drops of God
Author: Tadashi Agi
Art: Shu Okimoto
Publisher: Vertical

It’s often the simple things in life that spurn a person. A single human life can mean so much to one person and sometimes we can only get that view in retrospect, unfortunately. Agi and Okimoto’s Drops of God is trying to remind us of those little things, and those singular lives, that can change our own by so much.

Shizuku Kanzaki is a man who was put through taste and smell training by his wine connoisseur father, Yutaka, since he was young. As a result, Shizuku kind of spurned wine until his father’s death at the beginning of the first volume. Shizuku works at a Continue reading “Drops of God” to be savored

#394 CLAMP’s “xxxHolic”; how addictive is it?

xxxHolicTim Across America, pt 4! Kimihiro Watanuki, an orphaned high school student whose name represents his birthday, one day finds himself entering a mysterious house. Inside he finds a couple of manic kids and a flirtatious witch named Yuko who grants wishes — for a price.

Tim, meanwhile, finds himself entering Des Moines, Iowa, where he meets up with Kory to discuss CLAMP’s manga xxxHolic — and also talking to James Gray at Mayhem Comics, Cards, and Games.

Contrasts studied in Tezuka’s “MW”

by Kory Cerjak

Title: MW
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Vertical

MWOnce again, we’re back with the God of Manga, this time with his 1976 manga published in Big Comic by Shogakukan and it’s called MW. Also, does anyone else think Garai looks like Duke Togo of Golgo 13 fame?

MW is about a 20-something banker named Michio Yuki and a Catholic priest named Garai. Garai has committed two grave sins—shielding a murderer and having a sexual relationship with a man—and he’s conflicted over his responsibilities as a priest and his own moral compass. Garai first became a priest to come to grips with the slaughter he witnessed on a small island near Okinawa. The slaughter was caused by a chemical weapon, named MW, which was designed to kill massive numbers of people in the Vietnam War. And the event was also witnessed by Yuki, who was partially affected by MW, making him unable to feel emotion.

The main conflict, of course, is Garai’s own. He’s a partner to Yuki’s crimes of murder and blackmail because Yuki comes to confess his sins to Garai after every time. This is a beautiful conflict where Garai, in a forbidden and often unwilling relationship with Yuki, Continue reading Contrasts studied in Tezuka’s “MW”

“Vinland Saga” Omnibus 1 beautifully drawn, written, packaged

by Kory Cerjak

Title: Vinland Saga
Author: Makoto Yukimura
Publisher: Kodansha USA

Vinland_SagaVinland Saga is an epic history story on the level of Koike and Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub or Ryoko Ikeda’s Rose of Versailles. Written by Makoto Yukimura of Planetes fame, this manga delivers an exciting story that has kept me on the edge of my seat through the first omnibus.

First published in Weekly Shonen Magazine by Kodansha, Vinland Saga was moved to Afternoon, a monthly magazine. After making the space story that is Planetes, Yukimura took about a year off, likely researching Vinland Saga’s history, before he returned in 2005 with the comic.

Kodansha USA’s publication is absolutely beautiful. It’s an omnibus of the first two volumes in an amazing hardcover with five glossy color pages at the beginning. The book is also a little bigger than most of your typical manga—about a half inch or an inch larger—and the text is larger and so easy to read as a result. As far as books I own, this Vinland Saga book is second only to Viz’s Nausicaa hardcovers.

In the first two chapters, we get such an amazing sense of character agency from the main character Thorfinn that those perfectly placed flashback chapters mean so much more for the audience than they would in lesser hands. We know that he wants revenge Continue reading “Vinland Saga” Omnibus 1 beautifully drawn, written, packaged