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Posted on 07.25.05 by Dindrane @ 2:30 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Story: Art/Story: CLAMP Tokyo Babylon is one of the first series by the all-female manga-ka team CLAMP, and as such is one of the reasons why they're as popular as they are. The series tells the story of Subaru Sumeragi, who, at sixteen, is still one of the world's most powerful onmyoji. These are spirit masters who use the principles of Yin and Yang and the five elements to contact and affect the spirit world. Among other things, young Subaru can exorcise evil spirits, as well as speak to disaffected ghosts, but he's also capable of much more. As Tokyo slides further and further down the hole of post-Modernism and spiritual decay, Subaru stands on the front lines, trying to maintain Tokyo as the city he loves. Helping him in this never ending quest is his twin sister, Hokuto, and their benefactor, a deceptively innocent veterinarian, Sakurazuka, who is incidentally also the heir to a clan of shadow assassins and a would-be paramour of Subaru. In this volume, readers are introduced to the main three characters and go with Subaru on a few jobs: the initial job, which we join in medias res, revolves around the ghost of a suicide. Next, we get the usual introductions and explanations--a good piece of exposition. Subaru is then called upon to investigate why a wealthy young woman is acting strangely, as if filled with the spirit of hate. The final "case" deals with a mysterious shaking in Tokyo Tower, which leads into a few mystifying memories from Subaru's childhood and an odd encounter with a cherry tree and a stranger. The mysteries per se do not take up much of the pages; Subaru knows with his power what is possessing the person or place, though he does not always know why. The art is vintage CLAMP, which means that it's lovely; the men are as gorgeous as the women, if not prettier, and the backgrounds are highly detailed, causing Tokyo to come to life before you. If you've never longed for the land of temples and neon, then you will after reading Tokyo Babylon, where the city is as much a character as the humans, if not the main character with all the best lines. The only sour moments are when Sakurazuka hits on Subaru; it just plays false, perhaps because Sakurazuka is nine years older, which would make him pretty creepy if you think about it, a point that Hokuto even makes at one point when she eases up on pandering her brother for a moment. It might also be hard for Americans to follow all the spiritual details in this title at first, given how the authors are throwing around concepts like angry ghosts, oban rituals, and mixing Indian mysticism with Chinese and Japanese. However, if this does prove distracting from the tale, read the handy glossary provided in the back of the book (the front to Westerners) and you'll be all set. The story is as angsty and gothy as you would expect from CLAMP, the studio who brought us X and Chobits. As with many of their titles, however, the flash can make you think that there's no substance; the characters may be decked out in the latest "beautiful person" trend couture, but they have real problems, real powers, and real personalities. Anyone can draw a bishie boy, but not just anyone can make you want to know what he's thinking. The group pulls it off with Tokyo Babylon. This manga title can be recommended to anyone who likes Cure music, other CLAMP fare, or parapsychological thrillers with a less grisly touch. Buy it from Amazon...(US)(UK)(CAN) Needcoffee.com Gabfest! Categorized as: Comics and Reviews
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Posted on 07.22.05 by Widge @ 12:01 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Welcome to 2054. Rather than go online and create an avatar that you can go and do whatever you want with, like out of Neal Stephenson or William Gibson, the thing is to grab yourself a Surrogate. Basically, it's a meatspace avatar that lets you go out into the world without actually, you know, going out into the world. Now instead of being anyone you want over IM or in some kind of MMORPG, you can do it on the streets of your town with no worries. Well, until now. There's somebody out there slagging surrogates with enormous charges of electricity. And when the cops figure out that this is no act of God but a crime, it looks like things are going to get crazier before the thing ends its five issue run. Scribe Robert Venditti creates a world and hits the ground running, making for an excellent opening salvo. And Brett Weldele's art makes for a terrific Sienkiewicz-esque feeling. This Top Shelf release is good, bottom line. Check more info out here. Categorized as: Comics
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Posted on 07.20.05 by Widge @ 1:15 am
Comments on this: 3 so far. Add your own.  Meet Tork and Tara Darwyn. They are a husband and wife team of cryptozoologists, off tracking down such beasts as the Mothman, giant man-eating plants that put Audrey II to shame, and the Loch Ness Monster. Tork is a bit impetuous and hard-headed and Tara somehow manages to pull their collective fat out of the fire. I like it myself because it's high weirdness played for laughs, and you know how I love high weirdness. I subscribe to both Fortean Times and Skeptical Inquirer, for pity's sake. And as a bonus, there's plenty of bad pun action and monkeys. Everything goes better with monkeys. It's amusing stuff from NBM, so for some samples and other goodness, check out the title's website here. Categorized as: Comics and Headsup
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Posted on 07.18.05 by Widge @ 10:31 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  You're going to see more This Just In entries than usual this week, as we contend with not only the regular stuff being shunted through our shipping department, but also this stack of cool comics shit that I picked up while making my rounds of the floor. Trust me: these are being published by people who will actually appreciate you reading them, as opposed to DC and Marvel who only want you if you're an aging spandex fanboy with bad taste. So tell the Big Two to fuck off from your pull list at your local comic emporium and get this stuff instead. Categorized as: Comics
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Posted on 07.18.05 by Dindrane @ 4:44 am
Comments on this: 3 so far. Add your own.  Story: Art/Story: Kiyohiko Azuma It isn't often that something to which the word "heartwarming" applies is also something an adult will actually want to read. Luckily, Yotsuba&! is such a rare treat. From the genius behind the fantastic series Azumanga Diaoh comes this new series, which relates the "adventures" of a girl who has just moved in next to three ordinary sisters. Yotsuba has green hair, but that's not the weirdest thing about her. She is a little weak in the social graces department, doesn't know what air conditioning is, and basically is out of her gourd. But she's also sweet, sincere, and determinedly happy… and just might be an alien. Accompanying her to her new neighborhood is her father, a more normal-seeming man who apparently just found her somewhere and decided to keep her, and Jumbo, a frighteningly tall and broad-shouldered man with a crush on one (or all) of the new neighbors. Here's where you use words like "wacky" and "hijinks," but don't mean anything stupid, cliche, or boring. The book is not arranged strip-style as Azumanga was, but the events of the plot are very serialized. The ongoing moving-in process is the story for most of the book, along with school being out for the summer, but the focus is on Yotsuba's daily struggle to learn about the world, like what swings are and how department stores, doorbells, and escalators work. Her vocabulary also grows to include words like "attractive" and "gorgeous." It could of course be seen as a commentary on the everyday absurdity of modern life and the magic of things we take for granted, but really, it's just funny and darling. The art is much like that of Azuma's previous work. If you enjoyed the look of Azumanga Diaoh, then you'll love the combined realism and cuteness of this title. Yotsuba and the three sisters are adorable. The facial expressions are splendid, such as when Jumbo roars at the youngest sister, and when Yotsuba learns about global warming. Just take my word for it, and wait for the many times when Yotsuba is horrified, astonished, or amazed. You'll laugh out loud. Yotsuba&! is genuinely hysterical. Many of the funniest moments come from the revealed absurdity of everyday life, as Yotsuba tries to come to terms with her world, one error at a time. She's not always the butt of the authorial jokes, however. The neighbors in their stubborn desire to make sense of Yotsuba are good-heartedly willing to join in the lunacy. Jumbo is also one of the funniest characters in the book, especially when he tries to talk to a pretty girl, though his bumbling is blessedly not of the annoying Tenchi variety. Yotsuba's (relatively) normal father is also funny in his turn, but the real star is the clueless little Yotsuba. Her slippers are way too big and she's always confused about something, but somehow she makes it all ok. If you're weary of postmodernist angst or just want something terribly funny, check out Yotsuba&!. You'll get a great bunch of characters who are just so terribly normal, thrown into a situation that is not at all neat or tidy, but promises to reward them all with laughter and joy. No one could be sorry to meet Yotsuba, no matter how much trouble she looks like she might be. Buy it from Amazon...(US)(UK)(CAN) Needcoffee.com Gabfest! Categorized as: Comics and Reviews
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