XXXholic Volume 4

From the books unpacked from storage.

Title: XXXHolic
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2004
Publisher: Del Rey Manga
Writer: Clamp
Artist: Clamp
Letterer: Dana Hayward

This was mostly a Valentines Day (and White Day) themed issue, with Watanuki lamenting his lack of Valentines attention while Domeki is showered in gifts and chocolates. Meanwhile Watanuki is stuck making chocolates for Yuko to give away. Of course, spirits of various sorts become involved.

This then leads into an adventure involving a pair of twin sisters with a strange and possibly toxic connection, before finally setting up the stage for the next issue and filling in some backstory.

The setup for future issues felt more important here than any of the Valentines mishaps, so this felt like something of a transitional volume.

Rating: 5/10

XXXHolic Volume 3

From the books unpacked from storage.

Title: XXXHolic
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2004
Publisher: Del Rey Manga
Writer: Clamp
Artist: Clamp
Letterer: Dana Hayward

Kimihiro Watanuki can see spirits. Domeki can't see them, but he can repel and exorcise them. They would make an effective team, except for the fact that they can't stand each other.

This volume tells two stories. The first involves the spirit-busting duo investigating a school where a divination game similar to an Ouija board has gotten gotten out of control, and taken control of several of the students.

The second story involves the sorceress Yuko Ichihara, and it's basically a variation on the classic story, "The Monkey's Paw". A young student obtains a box from the sorceress with the warning never to open it. Things go downhill rapidly from there.

This issue has a bit of a monster-of-the-week vibe, without too much focus placed on the longterm plotlines. The book could do a better job of recapping the storyline at the beginning.

Clamp's art is always gorgeous and a highlight of any of their books.

Rating: 6/10

Snow Drop Volume 2

From the unread manga shelf.

Title: Snow Drop
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2004
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Choi Kyung-ah (English adaptation by Sarah Dyer)
Artist: Choi Kyung-ah
Letterer: Christina R. Siri
Editor: Bryce P. Coleman

Romance begins to grow between high school student So-Na, and young model Hae-Gi. But just as things are beginning to get interesting at a party, So-Na's old rival Sun-Mi arrives on the scene.

Aside from the introduction of Sun-Mi, the plot in this volume was in something of a holding pattern. The Hae-Gi/So-Na relationship is making tiny bits of progress, but mostly these involve Hae-Gi ignoring basic consent, and So-Na continuing to try to manipulate things.

I did like the way that hints are slowly being given about some sort of connection in the past with So-Na's mother, the author of the book that gave Hae-Gi his name. There are definitely some layers of backstory that will be interesting to uncover, but this volume felt a bit transitional.

Rating: 5/10

Snow Drop Volume 1

One of many, many, unread books that I unpacked from my storage unit.

Title: Snow Drop
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2004
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Choi Kyung-ah (English adaptation by Sarah Dyer)
Artist: Choi Kyung-ah
Letterer: James Dashiell
Editor: Julie Taylor, Bryce P. Coleman

Rich-kid high school drama with a lot of tragic backstory and a fair number of plot twists. So-Na dropped out of junior high school to run the Snow Drop plant nursery. The nursery is her safe space, where she can mourn the loss of her mother. But when her father pressures her to return to school and finish her diploma, she is stuck in the same classroom with her rich and obnoxious childhood friend, Ha-Da.

Enter pretty boy (and actual professional model) Hae-Gi, who was named after a character in a novel written by So-Na's mother. He and So-Na immediately hit it off in all of the completely wrong ways, and we're off and running. The introduction of Hae-Gi's crossdressing younger brother provides a nice injection of chaos toward the end of this volume.

This was a fast-paced romance fueled by a lot of teenage angst. It suffered from some of the usual issues of "these problems would not be problems of people would just talk to each other", but that is to be expected in this type of plot. So-Na seemed particularly inconsistent, and hopefully this will be smoothed out as the series moves on. Right now, she's likeable only in certain moments.

Rating: 5.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #2

From the Random Stack of Unread (actually previously read, but not reviewed) Comics.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Stephanie Moore, Cory Sedlmeier

My review of the previous issue is here.

The second issue of this series sends the team into action. A villain has taken hostages in a high rise tower, and the X-Men, looking to get back into being superheroes, show up to do battle.

Unfortunately, neither the initial jobber-squash with the X-Man taking out the terrorist minions, nor the main event, with alien villain Ord trouncing the X-Men, is all that interesting. Ord is one of those generic overpowered villains that show up all the time in X-Men books, with no rhyme or reason as to why he's able to pretty much have his way with the team (only to be taken out by *removed for spoilers* in the book's one really fun moment).

As an aside, Emma Frost's ability to change into diamond is ridiculous. I don't read a ton of X-Men, so I'm sure this is all part of the established canon, but apparently someone decided that one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful telepaths needed more powers? So that she could punch people?

The second plotline, fortunately, is a lot more intriguing, as a top scientist announces that she has developed a "cure" for mutation, and the ending sequence is genuinely cool, setting some really interesting clashes of personality down the road.

Something of a mixed bag, but it ended on a high note.

Rating: 6.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics... Well, actually, I had previously read this issue, but this it my first time reviewing it.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts

This is a reboot for the X-Men, with film/TV writer/director Joss Whedon writing. We are introduced to a new semester at the Xavier School, and a new X-Men team: Kitty Pryde, Beast, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Emma Frost. It's a good lineup, that provides plenty of fodder for conflicts within the team.

In fact, most of this first issue is the team working out their role as teachers, teammates, and as superheroes, something that the X-Men have not always been seen as.

Whedon is a master of one-liners, and this issue included several really great ones (Kitty: "Did I miss the Sorting Hat?"; also Kitty to Emma, "I'm sorry, I was busy remembering to put on all my clothes.").

The interplay between the characters is fun, and the hints that are dropped about the larger scale plot are just enough to leave the readers intrigued.

X-Men has so much history behind it that it can get overly complicated too fast in many cases. This story managed to keep things moving along, giving the space to get to know the core team members before too much mayhem is allowed to happen, and the result is an excellent jumping-in point for new readers.

Rating: 8/10

Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated Issue: #31

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated
Issue: #31
Date: February 2004
Publisher: Kenzer and Company
Writer: Mark Plemmons, Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim
Artist: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim
Editor: Brian Jelke
Cover: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim

Knuckles takes Teflon Billy out for a night on the town, nut what begins with a bit of romance with some lovely dwarven ladies quickly progresses into robbery, revenge, mayhem, and a late-night trip to the city jail.

The previous issue (reviewed here) explored some serious themes. This story was all-out D&D character behaving badly and raising hell. It was worth a couple of chuckles, but I actually preferred the more serious take in the previous issue.

That being said, this story had several entertaining plot twists, and some good action once things got going. It wasn't bad. I just felt at times like the poor GM. Not laughing as hard as the players were.

Rating 6/10

Everest / Love Fights #1 FCBD 2004

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics and Free Comic Book Day 2004.

Title: Everest / Love Fights #1 FCBD 2004
Publisher: Oni Press
Date: July, 2004
Writer: Andi Watson, Greg Rucka
Artist: Andi Watson, Scott Morse
Editor: Jamie S. Rich, James Lucas Jones

Flip book from Free Comic Book Day 2004.

First up is a pencils-only preview of the Greg Rucka/Scott Morse graphic novel, Everest: Facing the Goddess. This is a short piece that introduces a team of mountain climbers as they attempt a never-before-done ascent in the Himalayas in preparation for the biggest challenge of them all: Mount Everest. The artwork hints at how good the fully painted final product is going to be, and there are enough hints of potential clashes between the characters to foreshadow the danger of the upcoming expedition.

Flip the book over for something completely different: Love Fights by Andi Watson is a comedy showcasing the lives of ordinary people in a world of real superheroes. This had a light sitcom vibe to it that was charming and amusing even when not laugh-out-lound funny. The romantic problems of the main character felt a bit cliche, but the small details of life in a world with superheroes and villains were intriguing.

Two decent previews for books I'd consider giving a second look to.

Rating: 7/10

Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated #30

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated
Issue: #30
Date: January 2004
Publisher: Kenzer and Company
Writer: Mark Plemmons, Brendan Fraim, Brian Fraim
Artist: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim
Editor: Brian Jelke, Eric Englehard
Cover: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim

So, this is my first time reading this series. Knights of the Dinner Table is a funny gag strip about a group of middle-aged tabletop roleplaying gamers. The "Illustrated" version is the in-character version of the story, starring the player-characters, El Ravager, Knuckles, Thorina, and Teflon Billy.

A love-spell has turned El Ravager against his companions, and they fight a desparate stalling action to try to find a way to bring him back to his senses, which the villainous Lord Skrall looks on (and takes a moment or two to explain his evil plans).

This story did a good job of starting with a fairly complex setup, and coordinating the moving pieces to make it accessible, even to a reader jumping in at issue #30.

There is a sprinkling of fourth-wall-breaking humor (these are roleplaying characters, after all), a couple of genuinely emotional moments, and in between there is plenty of good, fast-paced sword-and-sorcery action.

Fun story. I have the next issue and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Rating: 7.5/10

Ultimate Spider-Man #52

I got this two summers ago at NJ Gamer Con.

Title: Ultimate Spider-Man
Issue: 52
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: March  2004
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colorist: J.D. Smith
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Nick Lowe, Mackenzie Cadenhead, C.B. Cebulski, Ralph Macchio

This story features a realtively young/inexperienced Peter Parker who has just gotten to know the Black Cat. He agrees to meet her for a rooftop rendezvous, admitting it's against his better judgement, but they are quickly interrupted by the Kingpin's newest assassin, Elektra (also young and inexperienced in this version).

The title of the story is "Catfight", and the resulting match with attempted interference and narration by Peter Parker, is about as male-gaze-y as the title suggests that it is going to be. The whole thing feels like there isn't much at stake, and indeed, little of consequence is accomplished story-wise when it's all done. There are a lot of panels of fighting, but none of them are all that interesting, and in the end, Peter, is left in the same self-esteem crisis that he started the issue in.

There is a bit of plot advancement and character development in the cutaway scenes to Kingpin, but still nothing of great consequence.

This felt like a WWE house-show match where nobody is working to their full potential, and everything has to remain unchanged because it's not being televised.

Rating: 3.5/10

Dark Sights

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Dark Sights
Publisher: Against Studios / No Name Press
Date: 2005
Writer: Tom Lin
Artist: Amie Key

This is the companion comic to Dark Signs (reviewed here). The focus here is on a homeless man traumatized by a past encounter with demonic forces. There is a lot of time-jumping, plus a cliffhanger ending, and the result is a plot the feels disjointed. It does capture the main character's disbelief and doubt of his own memories nicely, and the demons have a distinctive and creepy look.

There are also some super-powered characters who emerge to battle the demons, but not much is given in terms of their story.

This book has a nice look, but it didn't give me enough story to really hook me.

Rating: 4.5/10

Gapo the Clown Vol. 1

From the random stack of unread comics. Forty comics left in the stack after this one. And with April coming to an end, that means I have 47 days until we leave Vietnam, so 47 days to meet my goal of finishing this stack.

Title: Gapo the Clown
Issue: Vol. 1
Publisher: Bone Yard Studio
Date: 2004
Writer: Tony Miello
Artist: Tony Miello

This half-sized minicomic consists of five pages of Gapo the Clown comics strips, plus some bonus art. The basic idea is a parody of kids entertainment, with the crude and obnoxious Gapo put into various situations where he gets to be, well, crude and obnoxious. Lots of fart and vomit jokes. There was an amusing bit with Gapo on Jeopardy, and a quick parody of those old "Can you hear me now?" commercials, but most of the other humor wasn't really to my taste.

Rating: 4.5/10

Thieves & Kings #44

I asked the Kiddo to pick out my next comic to read from the stack, and he chose the issue of Thieves & Kings that immediately follows yesterday's review. So here goes!

Title: Thieves & Kings
Issue: 44
Publisher: I Box Publishing
Date: 2004
Writer: Mark Oakley
Artist: Mark Oakley

Interesting essay about dreams, superpowers, and originality to start things off. Then a prose segment about a girl named Leahanna who served a witch queen and fell in love with a prince.

From there, a scene with Heath comforting a frightened boy who is being sent to sea by his parents to avoid conscription into the army.

But the real focus of this issue is Kim, who is dealing with anger and feelings of inadequacy, and those feeling are brought to a boil during an intense conversation with Lady Soracia. The dialogue is great, weaving between questions of past lives, predestination, and dark powers, with the very worldly concerns of friendship, jealousy, and the difficulties of being the third person in a relationship.

Good cliffhanger ending too, and lovely artwork as I have come to expect after sampling just a few issues of this series.

Rating: 8/10

Lex Talionis: A Jungle Tale

A recent dollar store find.

Title: Lex Talionis: A Jungle Tale
Date: January, 2004
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Aeurin Wright
Artist: Aeurin Wright
Letterer: Blambot

The first thing I noticed about this book was the odd format, with the spine located at the top of the front cover, rather than on the left.

This is a story of a gorilla attack in an unspecified region of Africa. It's fictional, although it makes mention of the real events surrounding the death of gorilla researcher Dian Fossey in 1985.

The style and pacing of the story give the impression of a hardboiled crime novel, and essentially that is what Lex Talionis is at its heart. It also raises some interesting questions about human and gorilla intelligence and emotion.

The story is simple, but very effective, and Wright's artwork brings the intensity and the violence of the story without excessive gore.

This is a good, tightly constructed short story in graphic form.

Rating: 8/10

Superman #206

 Here's another comic that I got at Free Comic Book Day 2014 at New England Comics in Quincy MA. Once again, this was an extra giveaway, and not one of the official FCBD books.

Title: Superman
Issue: 206
Date: August, 2004
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Penciler: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Will Dennis, Eddie Berganza
Cover: Jim Lee

This continues a storyline (I review issue #205 here) involving Superman attempting to intervene to stop a war in the Middle East, as told through the frame of Superman talking with Father Leone, the Metropolis priest who has served as an informal spiritual advisor to the Man of Steel.

In this issue, Superman recounts the end of the civil war, and his actions once he realized that victory for rebel General Nox is inevitable.

I'm still enjoying the approach of no easy answers for Superman in this storyline. The situation in the fictional country where it is set is complex and constantly changing, and Superman is just trying to do good, even if it means he must give his support to Nox, who has his own insurance policy in the form of super-soldier Equus.

There is some nice buildup to a full battle with Equus. Superman's frustration comes through loud and clear as circumstances keep preventing him from having that confrontation.

This continues to be a good, complex story.

Rating: 7/10

Superman #205

Time was tight for me on Free Comic Book Day this year, with two family events occupying most of the day. I only managed to get in a brief visit to one comic shop, which was New England Comics in Quincy MA.

NEC always puts on a huge event for FCBD. They had the creative team of one of the new Tick comics on hand, and a picked up an autographed book from them along with some of the regular FCBD books. NEC also gives away some bonus comics, which are regular back issues they have overstocked. This is one of those bonus freebies that I picked up this year.

Here is my complete haul:

And now for tonight's review!

Title: Superman
Issue: 205
Date: July, 2004
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Penciler: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Nick Napolitano
Editor: Casey Seijas, Will Dennis, Eddie Berganza
Cover: Jim Lee, Scott Williams

This is a fairly introspective and quiet issue, with even the opening action scene proving to be a flashback. It focuses on Father Leone, who Clark (as Superman) has been turning to for spiritual advice.

Clark is struggling in the aftermath of a recent attempt to stop the fighting in an unnamed and mostly-symbolic Middle Eastern country. As might be expected, Superman's paternalistic approach of taking away everyone's weapon and scolding them to just get along proved to be an ineffective approach.

Not much was resolved here. This story raised more questions than it answered, and it only presented a very simplistic scenario in response to the rather complex question of whether Superman can literally function as the world's policeman.

In spite of the lack of easy answers (which was, to a large extent, the point), I enjoyed this issue. There was good character development for Father Leone, who is a fairly complex and interesting character. I also liked seeing Superman take some time to think about the consequences of his actions.In a comic book universe where there are few things Superman is not capable of accomplishing, it was interesting to see the focus on something that he is preceiving as a shortcoming.

Interesting read.

Rating: 7/10

Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous

Well, yesterday was the first day I missed in 2014. Not a bad run to start the year.

Here's a minicomic that was sitting in the massive stack of unread comics, but probably didn't come from a comic show. I have a friend who did some work for the band Rilo Kiley in the early 2000s and I've been to one of their shows in New York, and I also went to see Blake Sennett's band The Elected in Boston once, so I'm guessing I picked this up from my friend or at one of those shows.

Title: Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous
Publisher: Sina Grace
Date: 2004
Writer: Sina Grace, Rilo Kiley
Artist: Sina Grace

This is a fan minicomic based on the almum More Adventurous by the band Rilo Kiley. It consists of a set of illustrated vignettes accompanying the lyrics of songs from More Adventurous. Some have complete lyrics and others just show a piece of the song with accompanying artwork.

The featured songs include "It's a Hit", "Does He Love You", "Ripchord", "Accidntel Deth", "Love and War", and "It Just Is".

A lot of the illustrations are reduced down to a pretty small size to fit the minicomic format, so some of the detail work gets lost, which is too bad because artist Sina Grace does a nice job with images that reflect the feel of the lyrics.

I only got to see Rilo Kiley perform once, but they were a lot of fun. This was a nice sample of their songwriting talents, combined with some good artwork. It's obviously going to have extra appeal for fans of the band, but I enjoyed this book just on the level of interesting words and pictures.

Rating: 7/10

Archipelago #2

Random minicomic from the backlog.

Title: Archipelago
Issue: 2
Publisher: Sharon Furgason
Date: 2004
Writer: Sharon Furgason
Artist: Sharon Furgason

Minicomic anthology of 1-3 page stories. The opening piece was a nice slice-of-life story about life in a family of junk hoarders. The other serious segment was a wordless comic that captured post-9/11 fears in an intense and emotional vignette.

In between were some shorter and more humorous comics, including the 10th grade latin teacher as one of the possible results of a nightmarish wheel of misfortune, the Pirates of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Region, and a wonderful schematic of the artist's dream house.

This was a nice, eclectic mix and I loved the details work in the art. I also really liked the front and back covers.

Rating: 8/10

Waiting

A minicomic from the backlog.

Title: Waiting
Publisher: Nikki Benecke
Date: 2004
Writer: Nikki Benecke
Artist: Nikki Benecke

 Micro-minicomic from Nikki Benecke. The title is "Waiting", and it mixes images of a man in a waiting room with images of the Sisyphus myth.

This was a quick, but effective bit of symbolism, addressing the nature of the human condition. What are we waiting for? What is the point of anything?

The artwork is a minimal, sketch style, which is effective for the story that the artist is telling.

This is a nice example of taking a simple idea and bringing it to life in the comics medium.

Rating: 7.5/10

Megazeen Presents

Here's a preview ashcan that's been sitting in the backlog for a while.

Title: Megazeen Presents
Publisher: Megazeen
Date: 2004
Writer: Jesus Marquez, Tom Hall, Joe Endres, Kneon Transitt
Art: Jesus Marquez, Ink Boy, Joe Endres, Kneon Transitt

Ashcan flip book previewing two titles, Colossians and Live by the Sword. Just art previews, no dialogue.

Live by the Sword is fantasy with some SF elements. The preview consists of a battle between a band of sword-wielding heroes and a force of androids, apparently under the control of an elven despot named Liger. There is a lot of mayhem and slicing of android bodies with swords. The art features some nice detail work, especially on the characters' armor, and I liked the look of the androids.

Flip the book and you get another art-only preview, this time of Colossians, which is a science fiction story about a crew of roguish space pirates. It looked like a Guardians of the Galaxy style story with all sorts of different alien species represented. This was a bit more goofy in style, with less attention given to background art.

A couple of group pinup pieces occupy the center pages.

The print quality on this was a bit of an issue, especially considering the purpose of the book is to showcase the artwork. Part of that is a function of the size of the book, which was small, but kept inexpensive even with color covers. But a lot of the artwork was printed very light, which detracted from the overall effect.

There is definitely potential here, but a better preview format might have helped bring more of that potential to the forefront.

Rating: 5.5/10