RAGNAROK 4
A great combination of action and story. The Stone God fights while the Black Elf bloodies his sword and gets closer to finding out what happened to his wife. The stage is set for the two main storylines to collide! It's going to be awesome! And possibly terrible for one of these characters. I'm loving every second of this series.
I think I read that this issue was delayed, but since the book comes out every other month anyway, it's hard to tell. Still, I was able to immediately get back into the issue, and even if I wasn't, there's a recap on the inside cover.
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| A Drifting Life |
Another in my series of "bought this years ago and was immediately daunted by its huge size so I put off reading it until now." Seriously, I have too many books that fall into that category.
I'm going to steal a couple lines from the back of the book now:
Over four decades ago, Yoshihiro Tatsumi expanded the horizons of comics storytelling by using the visual language of manga to tell gritty, literary stories about the private lives of everyday people. Using his life-long obsession with comics as a framework, Tatsumi weaves a complex story that encompasses family dynamics, Japanese culture and history, first love, the intricacies of the manga industry, and most importantly, what it means to be an artist.
Don't make the same mistake I did, putting off reading this excellent book. It's broken into chapters roughly 20 pages each, and I would read one to three of these each night, only ever putting it down because it was late or I was exhausted.
It's as insightful as it is interesting, giving a great view of both post-war Japan and the manga industry. Recommended.
SPAWN RESURRECTION 1
I haven't read Spawn since shortly after it hit issues numbering in the double digits. In this way, I'm like Jenkins - not having kept up with the minutiae of the last 250 issues. But I've always maintained a general interest in the character and have thought many times about catching up on everything I've missed.
When Brian Wood was announced as taking over, I was excited. He had come off a great run of Ultimate X-Men and I was enjoying his Conan work. I thought, "This is my chance to get back into Spawn!" That didn't last long. Jenkins is here, and Resurrection is pretty okay. It wipes the slate and sets a new stage, which is what's needed for this type of thing. Jonboy draws a great Al Simmons and Spawn... though I'm still getting used to the mouth.
In the end, I'll check it out for a few more issues. This didn't blow me away, but it's a nice start to something new.
CASANOVA: ACEDIA 2
Of course the week I start writing about comics again has a Casanova comic come out. I couldn't not read this, as Casanova is and has been one of my favorite comics of recent years.
Last issue gave us a dramatically different Cass - both the title and the character - with plenty of mystery surrounding the titular character's shift. Still, it managed to maintain the classic Casanova style and charm of previous series. This issue gives us a couple more familiar faces and some of the old Casanova Quinn, while slowing picking at the scab of what's really going on. I loved every second of it.
The back-up is once again done by Michael Chabon and Gabriel Ba. Ba's art is as fantastic as every, but it feels like Chabon is trying to hard to emulate Fraction. It's close, but not quite there. I did, however, find it hilarious once it dawned on me just what the "fucking cute" Quinn was doing.
iZombie 1
I never read the series while it was being published, but have heard nothing but good things about it. When I saw Vertigo were reprinting the first issue for only $1.00 before the premiere, I took the incredibly inexpensive chance of trying out the series. In short: it's good.
It's easy to see how, with a few changes, this could make for a long-running television series.
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