Black Knight Volume 3

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Black Knight
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2007
Publisher: BLU (Tokyopop)
Writer: Kai Tsurugi
Artist: Kai Tsurugi

I'm picking this one up in Volume 3, and it's political-intrigue-heavy, so I probably missed some of what was going on with the overall situation in the setting, which is a set of fictional vaguely musketeer-era nations. The story is a romance between a prince and the knight assigned to guard him.

Christian, the privileged prince is being sent on an undercover diplomatic mission, traveling in a caravan while the threat of war looms. His lover, Zeke, the Black Knight of the kingdom, is there to keep him out of trouble. Spoiler: He does not.

There's some fighting, and some chances for the super-competent Zeke to be the vulnerable one, followed by a very tense bit of negotiating with a rebel group known as the Falcon's Talon. 

The character interactions were great, especially in quiet moments. The action was well-drawn but felt a little bit repetitive, but it was effective in moving the plot along. There was some really lovely art in this, and enough story and worldbuilding to get me interested in learning more about these characters and their setting.

Rating: 7/10

Tactics Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Tactics
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Sakura Kinoshita, Kazuko Higashiyama, Lianne Sentar
Artist: Sakura Kinoshita, Kazuko Higashiyama
Letterer: Star Print Brokers
Editor: Lillian Diaz-Przybyl

Kantarou is a folklore scholar who's not exactly making the big money off of his publications. Fortunately, he moonlights as an exorcist of sorts who deals with problems caused by youkai. These beings are usually invisible, but Kantarou has the ability to see them. To really get ahead in his business, though, he's been searching for Haruka, the legendary demon-eating tengu.

But once he finally gets Haruka on his side, it only adds lots more complications to Kantarou's life.

This series is episodic with something of a mystery-solving vibe. Each situation that Kantarou and Haruka encounter seems to break the rules of the supernatural as they understand them at first, and it's up to them to figure out what is really happening.

The dialogue flits all over the place, especially in the midst of the action, and the stories tend to rely on an epilogue-like bit toward the end to help the reader make sense of it all. The world does have good internal consistency and enough variety of supernatural beings and effects to keep things interesting, and the banter between the characters is fun in places.

Rating: 5.5/10

Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel

From a Little Free Library.

Title: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel
Date: 2007
Publisher: Hyperion (Disney Books)
Writer: Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin
Artist: Giovanni Rigano
Colorist: Paolo Lamanna

Adapted from the middle-grade prose series. Artemis Fowl, twelve-year-old professional evil genius is one of the few people who is fully aware of the existence of the underground fairy realm, and he's determined to pull off the greatest crime of all time by robbing the fairies of a stash of fairy gold. A series of elaborate and ruthless ploys lead to the abduction of a fairy cop named Holly Short, who's low on magic and pretty much out of luck.

The rest of the story turns into a hostage negotiation standoff with a decent amount of plot twists. Think Die Hard with fairies and you get the idea. Holly is likeable. Artemis, who is meant to be vaguely likeable in an anti-hero sort of way, really isn't. The worldbuilding, especially the technology-based fairy society is interesting. The resolution left me questioning the internal logic of a few of the final plot developments, but there was some good action and drama.

I've seen better urban-fantasy fairy stories, but this was one of the more unique takes, so credit for that. Having a character unexpectedly revealed to be a pro wrestling fan out of nowhere was a cute surprise.

This was entertaining, but didn't particularly sell me on the novel series it was adapted from.

Rating: 5.5/10

Kingdom Hearts II Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Kingdom Hearts II
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Shiro Amano
Artist: Shiro Amano

Roxas, a teenager living in a small village called Twilight Town, just wants to enjoy his summer vacation with his friends. But weird things keep happening. A mysterious thief is stealing not just items, but the memories of those items too. And Roxas keeps having dreams about a boy named Sora.

This is actually the third series of manga based on the Kingdom Hearts game, so it's probably not the best jumping-in point for a franchise with so much lore. It was a bit difficult to keep everyone straight, and the artwork gets very jumpy in the scenes where the various bits of weirdness kick in. I did really enjoy the art in the quieter scenes, but even for someone unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, this felt more confusing than it needed to be. A bit more time to breathe and explain would have been nice.

And while I have some idea of what types of things to expect out of Kingdom Hearts is was still a little disconcerting to have Donald Duck and Goofy just show up seemingly randomly in a couple of panels.

Fun character interactions between Roxas and his friends did help make this interesting, but not so much that I felt like I needed to find out what comes next.

Rating: 5.5/10

The Legend of Drizzt Book IV: The Crystal Shard

Last of four Forgotten Realms graphic novels loaned to me by the GM from my gaming group here in Shanghai. These were purchased at Atomic Comics in Artesia CA.

Title: The Legend of Drizzt
Issue: Book IV: The Crystal Shard
Date: 2007
Publisher: Devils Due Publishing
Writer: R.A. Salvatore, Andrew Dabb
Penciler: Val Semeiks
Inker:Dan Davis, Jeff Austin, John Stanisci, Jeremy Freeman, John Lowe, Marc Deering, Em Stone
Colorist: Blond
Letterer: Brian J. Crowley
Editor: Mark Powers

The fourth volume of the Legend of Drizzt graphic novel series goes back to the prose novel where Drizzt was originally introduced. The barbarian Wulfgar was the lead character of that novel, but here the emphasis has been shifted slightly to focus more on Drizzt, although the story is, so some extent, an ensemble cast.

The lack of female characters (there is one, and she only appears in two minor scenes), was a bit disappointing, particularly after this had not been an issue in other books in the series, but again, this feels like a product of this graphic novel being based on an earlier piece of Salvatore's writing.

As for the story, there's an evil artifact, a weak-willed but power-hungry wizard who uses his newfound power to set himself up with a horde of monsters, and the heroes determined to save Icewind Dale in spite of the struggles of the locals to unite.

This volume tells a complete story. I had forgotten that the Icewind Dale books were more standalone than the Dark Elf Trilogy.

Wulfgar gets a lot of the spotlight, as does the halfling rogue Regis, who ends up having one of the best scenes in the story in a mind-control battle with the villain. Drizzt does all of his usual Drizzt things, but seeing him as a mentor-figure to Wulfgar is a nice turnaroud after all of his times in the student role in the first three graphic novels.

The battle scenes are bloody and intense, and all of the artwork on the action scenes is great.

This novel had a lot of plot, and the graphic novel struggled a bit to give everything the space it deserved, with a scene involving a dragon getting sold a bit short in the crunch for space.

The climactic battle does get the space it needs, and the pacing on that final battle is great.

Rating: 6.5/10

Battlestar Galactica #6

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Battlestar Galactica
Issue: 6
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2007
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Nigel Raynor
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Simon Bowland

Photo cover edition. Set during the second season of the SciFi TV series, this issue has the Galactica and it's "rag-tag fleet" hiding among space debris as they deal with a virus that has incapacitated many of their crew, as well as multiple ships with FTL drives damaged by attacks from Earth Protectorate terrorists.

To make matters worse, the (temporary, apparently) death of one of the Cylon agents may have alerted the cylons to the location of the fleet, and an attack could come at any moment.

I have only seen a few episodes of the show, and the only other issue of the comic series I have read so far was #0 (reviewed here), but I was impressed with the comic's ability to capture the emotional tension of the show. This issue had a ton of subplots, and breakneck pacing, but in spite of my relative unfamiliarity with the ongoing story, I never felt put off by the complexity. Instead, it added to my interest.

Coupled with some terrific art, the pacing and intensity of the story made for a very engaging read.

Rating: 7.5/10

Dark Red #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics. I bought this from Indyplanet in 2007. I know this because I found the packing slip in with the comic.

Title: Dark Read
Issue: 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Dark Red Comics
Writer: Lynn French
Artist: Lynn French
Letterer: Joanna McKenzie
Editor: Joanna McKenzie

A young woman who was permanently blinded by a sudden illness discovers that she can see elements of a hidden world: Demons, angels, and magical beings and objects. After rescuing a man from an attack by demons, she is introduced to a hidden world, in which the peace that has existed between the supernatural beings of her city is suddenly threatened, and she is being drawn into the conflict.

This book uses digitally-painted art over photographs for a pretty effective and unique look.

The first issue does a nice job of introducing the lead character, Sarah MacAllister, as well as several members of the supporting cast, while balancing a good amount of worldbuilding. Sarah is instantly likeable, and the world is intriguing.

This was a good beginning that did its job of getting me hooked. I have the second issue and I'm eager to see where we go from here.

Rating: 8/10

Sonic the Hedgehog: Free Comic Book Day Edition 2007

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2007.

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog: Free Comic Book Day Edition
Date: 2007
Publisher: Archie Comics / Sega
Writer: Ian Flynn
Penciler: Tracey Yardley
Inker: Jim Amash
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Jacob Jensen
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Cover: Pat "Spaz" Spaziante

Eggman captures Sonic and uses a device to take control of him and turn him against his friends. Knuckles realizes that it's going to take a big punch to the head to get Sonic back in control of himself, and the fight is on.

This was fairly simple in terms of plot, and it could have worked just as well with fewer of the supporting cast, who didn't do much besides try to get in Sonic's way and get knocked down.

I did like the tease of a bit of intrigue between Eggman and Snively.

All in all, this was a decent look at what the series has to offer, and  should work well for a younger audience who knows the video games, but may not have read any of the comics.

Rating: 6/10

Hermann Shepherd: Gitmo Goofs

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Hermann Shepherd in "Gitmo Goofs"
Date: 2007
Publisher: High Treason Comix
Creators: Ian Harker, Randy Sinsel, John Carr, Ron Hoffman

Minicomic political comedy about the working lives of (anthropomorphic) prison camp guard dogs. Lots of racial slurs are thrown in, apparently for shock value, with a weak punchline at the end involving Transformers, NASCAR, TIVO, and C-Span.

This is followed by one of those anti-political-correctness "kids these days" essays. The essay is also meant as a tribute to comedian Bill Hicks, who was an influence on the music here. I'm not familiar with Hicks' work, which might be one reason this didn't do much for me, but it wasn't effective in getting me interested in finding out more about him either.

Rating 2.5/10

Neil Jam #15

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Neil Jam
Issue: 15
Date: 2007
Publisher: Neil Jam
Writer: Neil Fitzpatrick
Artist: Neil Fitzpatrick

I reviewed the previous issue here.

This minicomic is made up of short segments featuring a cast of anthropomorphic characters in a kind of bizarre ensemble sitcom. I felt this issue was a bit more surreal than the previous one, with a ghost who is going around asking people permission for him to haunt them, plus continued drama involving Cotton the rabbit and Caroline the Carrot, not to mention Caroline's newly-grown friend Fenwin.

Once again with this issue the jokes were a bit hit-or-miss. One nice touch that I did enjoy was the collection of various cartoon and comic characters drawn in Neil Jam style on the inside covers.

Rating: 6/10

Neil Jam #14

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Neil Jam
Issue: 14
Date: 2007
Publisher: Neil Jam
Writer: Neil Fitzpatrick
Artist: Neil Fitzpatrick

Minicomic collection of short funny-animal (and plant!) gag strips with some ongoing plot threads. I particularly liked Caroline the Carrot's quest to grow a new friend for herself. Her friend turns out to be a bit reluctant to sprout. There's also an awkward-but-funny take on a Batman-themed pickup line.

The art style is fun. Not all the jokes worked for me, but enough did to make it entertaining.

Rating: 6.5/10

Captain Spectacular #2

From the random stack of unread comics. I reviewed the first issue here.

Title: Captain Spectacular
Issue: 2
Date: 2007
Publisher: Gumshoe Comics
Writer: Nate Corrigan
Artist: Nate Corrigan

This issue features Captain Spectacular's brawl with Fun Guy's giant mushroom monster. The monstrous mushroom is giving the Captain all he can handle and then some.

Meanwhile the police are investigating reports of the mysterious Janitor.

This had fewer jokes than the first issue, but it brought the action, with the hero mostly on the receiving end.

The janitor subplot is developing slower, but it got more interesting with a bit of depth added to it this issue.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and a good mix of action and comedy.

Rating: 7/10

Metamo Kiss Volume 1

I got this one at a Little Free Library in Nashua NH it's also a Bookcrossing book. I'll be releasing it back into the wild at a Little Free Library in MA later today.

Title: Metamo Kiss
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Sora Omote
Artist: Sora Omote

After being separated from his family for most of his childhood, Kohamaru discovers that they have a rather unique property: Each family member has a soulmate with whom they can switch bodies upon kissing. Kohamaru finds this out the hard way in an awkward collision with a girl on a train platform, and it only gets more awkward from here.

The comedy relies a bit heavily on pretty simple switched-gender humor, but there is some depth to the background of the family and their strange abilities that opens the potential for the story to get more interesting as it goes.

Rating: 6/10

Babalon Babes #3

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Babalon Babes
Issue: 3
Date: 2007
Publisher: Witches Brew Press
Writer: Michele Witchipoo
Artist: Michele Witchipoo

If you're splitting hairs, this would be considered a sketchbook rather than a comic. Regardless of the designation, it is a lovely collection of artwork. The portraits feature (in the artist's words) "Scarlet women and femme fatales". The book is labeled as adults only due to some nudity in the images, but the focus is on the mixture of the erotic with the mystical.

Artist Michele Witchipoo has a really unique style that is highly detailed, and rich in symbolism. Each illustration is full of little symbols and sigils waiting to be discovered, reflecting a variety of spiritual traditions and mythologies. The ancient wisdom mixes with a punk vibe for a really fun effect overall.

This is one of the most visually attractive minicomic series I've run across.

Rating: 8.5/10

Confessions of an American Ling Master Preview #0

From my friend EJ by way of the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Confessions of an American Ling Master
Issue: Preview #0, 2nd Edition
Date: 2007
Publisher: EJ Barnes
Writer: Al Ackerman, EJ Barnes
Artist: EJ Barnes

A seemingly mundane city-dwelling recluse leads a double life as the mysterious Ling Master. Featuring a highly unreliable narrator and a weird-pulp vibe, this b/w preview minicomic sets the scene for the weirdness to come. The mentions of the Vug-Randolphs ("a creche-family of large sentient black beetles") and the Araby society tease of some serious strangeness on the way.

Not a lot of plot in this introductory story, but plenty of groundwork is laid.

Rating: 7/10

Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack Jaw Blues #0

From the random stack of unread comics. We're about 36 hours from departure, with five comics left in the stack after this one. I'll be fitting in as many reviews as I can in between frantic packing.

Title: Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack Jaw Blues
Issue: #0
Publisher: Alterna Comics
Date: 2007
Writer: Stephen Lindsay, Michael Bartolotta
Artist: Jordan M. Dalton, Danilo Beyruth. Steve Willhite, Jeff McComsey, Lonny Chant, Lauren Monardo
Letterer: Jason Baroody, Stephen Lindsay
Editor: Erin Kohut

This pretty much delivers exactly what the title promises. There is a full-on zombie apocalypse happening. Most human life on Earth is either dead or undead. And Jesus returns to destroy zombies. Unfortunately for Jesus, He is seriously low on divine power, since His power on Earth is apparently proportional to the amount of truly faithful worshippers, most of which have been eaten or turned to zombies by now. So He must handle things the traditional way: by bashing zombies with baseball bats, bowling balls, or whatever weapon is handy.

The comic itself is an anthology, with the set-up story that explains the scenario followed by six more generally stand-alone vignettes. Jesus encounters survivors, downloads driving instructions from God to escape a zombie horde, goes fishing, goes bowling, discovers a truly-believing (and semi-intelligent) zombie, and faces down a horde of zombified rats.

There are some good moments in places, and there is a lot of brainless (!) zombie-bashing. Jesus is portrayed as a fairly generic guy, just out for his own survival and annoyed about the whole zombie situation. God is the disappointed parent who wishes his Son would get more done sooner on Earth.

It works for what it is, but there's a lot more that could be explored with this idea. Hopefully the story will gain more complexity beyond the basic joke of the premise as the series continues.

Rating: 5/10

Keenspot Spotlight 2007 / Wicked Powered

From the random stack of unread comics. This was the thickest book in the random stack. Tomorrow will be a catch-up-day reviewing marathon!

Title: Keenspot Spotlight 2007 / Wicked Powered
Publisher: Keenspot
Date: 2007
Writer/Artist: Chris Layfield, Pascalle, RC Monroe, Mark Shallow, Starline Hodge, Kel McDonald, J Grant, Mel Hynes, Dan Shive, Maritza Campos, Jeff Darlington, Teague Tysseling, Smith, Zuckerman, Risberg, Eisu, Thomas K. Dye, Ryan Smith, David Wright, Mike Rosenzweig, Owen Geini, Chris Crosby

Flip book. This is one of the more massive Free Comic Book items I've come across, weighing in at 104 pages.

I'll start with Wicked Powered, one of the two "cover features". This story reads a lot like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, with a high school loser visited by time travelers (of the cute manga girl variety) who inform him of his future as a great intergalactic hero. The only problem is that the bad guys have send a monster back in time, and they're planning to assassinate him now, while he is decidedly unheroic. Most of the jokes in this fell flat for me, but the bit where the three girls from the future try to pass themselves off as typical 21st century high school students ("My name is Brangelina Tomcat, and these are my friends, Suri Obama and Snoopdogg Clooney.") was genuinely funny.

Flip the book over, and you get a massive sampler from the webcomic site Keenspot. Sixteen comics are previewed here, and it was as much of a mixed bag as you might expect. I particularly enjoyed the geeky comedy Out There by R.C. Monroe. Dan Shive's El Goonish Shive was a nice bit of light urban fantasy that had a lot of fun-looking subplots going on. Maritza Campos had a bizarre series of "What Kind of Roomie Are You" strips what got some laughs from me.Something Happens by Thomas K. Day had a pretty funny gag strip involving ants and an Etch-A-Sketch.And I loved the art style and dialogue on the high school drama Everything Jake by Mike Rosenzweig.

Most of the other stories had at least something that caught my attention, although a lot of the jokes failed to hit my sense of humor.

Still, this is a solid collection with a lot of intriguing samples.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Chimera Strikes

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: The Chimera Strikes
Date: 2007
Publisher: Satyr Play Productions
Writer: Mike Indovina
Artist: Paul E. Schultz
Editor: Melissa Rogalla

This is a fun b/w pulp adventure story with a character taking on the identity of an old pulp hero and donning a mask to fight crime in modern times. It's all told from the point of view of his girlfriend/sidekick, who is really the star of the story. Or rather I should say, it's the interplay between them that steals the show here.

The action is crisp throughout, and the dialogue is a fun mix of sensible and over-the-top pulp. The story provides a nice introduction for the characters and sets the stage for further adventures still to come.

Rating: 7.5/10

Gulatta #2

From the random stack of unread comics. I skipped yesterday, so after this one I have 29 unread comics (not counting assorted graphic novels in the to-read books pile and a couple more from the school library) and 34 days until departure. Five more skip days available.

Title: Gulatta
Issue: #2
Publisher: Torc Press
Date: 2007
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

The city of Big Town is populated mostly by freaks, geeks, and masked weirdos. A couple of local weirdos are blue-collar monster Johnny Primitive and white-collar monster Cubicle Shark. They're having a good night of skee ball when they decide to go have their fortunes told.

The fortune teller predicts that they will be caught up in an attack by OVERT agents. Unfortunately, she predicts that this will happen only a few seconds in the future. Mayhem ensues, and it's up to Mr. Dark and the Puzzelor to come to the monsters' rescue.

This is a photocopied book, slightly bigger than standard comic format. The lettering and reproduction quality is a bit rough, but the story is entertaining, and the fight scene was a lot of fun. Things in this world are ridiculous, but they make sense within the context given.

Rating: 6.5/10

Sam: Fate Revolution #1 (Remastered Edition)

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Sam: Fate Revolution
Issue: 1 (Remastered Edition)
Publisher: Foongatz Studios
Date: 2007
Writer: Bill Gallagher, Alex Drinan, Ron Smith
Artist: Bill Gallagher, Ron Smith

The Alliance Shipping Federation, which has handled the galaxy's merchant trade for years, finds itself forced to turn into a military power when confronted by the threat of Rancor, a being of immense power bent on conquest and destruction.

Meanwhile, in the ASF capital city, a young man named Sam struggled to piece his life together after being found suffering from amnesia. As Rancor's forces gather to strike, Sam's efforts to lead a normal life with eventually lead him directly into the conflict.

This was a good mix of action, epic backstory, and character-driven comedy. The story took the time to introduce characters and to give them individual lives and some fun dialogue.

The anthropomorphic animal characters (mostly dogs and dinosaurs!seem a bit cartoony, given the serious nature long-term plot, but I found them to be compelling and fun.

The colors are vivid, and the action, when it occurs, is explosive, with good use of splash pages.

Overall a fun book with more going on than I had expected to see.

Rating: 7.5/10