Sailor Moon: Friends & Foes

This was a recent yard sale find.

Title: Sailor Moon: Friends & Foes
Issue: 2
Publisher: Kodansha
Creator: Naoko Takeuchi
Book Design: Matthew Van Fleet

Only sixteen pages, but hardcover binding! This isn't so much a comic as a general illustrated introduction to the Sailor Moon Universe. How effective is it? Well, I knew essentially nothing about Sailor Moon before I read this, and now I feel like I've got a pretty decent grasp of the characters and concepts, so yeah, I'd describe this as a reasonably good introduction.

It even comes with a rhyme: "One scout is strong/But when there are three/It doesn't take long/To defeat an enemy!" Okay, so it's not exactly the Green Lantern Oath, but it probably sounds better in Japanese.

The actual backstory, as presented here is reasonably cool. The characters seem a bit on the goofy side, particularly the villains, but that is the style of story that is being told.

My only real gripe is that the book is awfully light on content. Admittedly the MSRP is only about $5, but still, I feel like if you're going to do a hardcover edition, even a sixteen-page one, you should make every page count. The pictures are pretty, but I would have liked some more story and some more background on the characters.

Rating: 6/10

By the way, I'm selling my copy of this for the low price of $1. Listing is here!

Castle In The Sky #2

Title: Castle in the Sky
Issue: #2
Date: 2003
Publisher: Viz
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Letterer: Susan Daigle-Leach
Editor: Carl Gustav Horn, Alvin Lu

Part 2 of a four-volume adaptation of Miyazaki's animated film. Manga format with full-color artwork direct from the animation cells. Pazu is a boy from a mining town with a knack for invention. Sheeta is a girl who mysteriously fell from the sky into Pazu's life. She's also the rightful ruler of a mythical cloud-island known as Laputa. Government forces and a crew of pirates are all after Sheeta's secrets and the magical stone that she carries. When Pazu and Sheeta are captured, Sheeta agrees to help the government agents find the way to Laputa in exchange for saving Pazu, but Pazu isn't ready to abandon his friend.

And when Sheeta accidentally activates a Laputan soldier-robot, the mayhem really gets going. This is a good story with a fascinating cast of characters and great steampunk flavored action sequences. The animation cells don't always do justice to the art of the film when reproduced as small panels, but the rich color stands out nicely.

Rating: 7.5/10