Zombie Powder Volume 2 By Tite Kubo Publisher: Viz Media; Shonen Jump Advanced Rating: T+ (Older Teen) Genre: Action Price: $7.99 Rating: We meet Wolfina Lalla Getto, a self-described “journalist of justice” who has been responsible for toppling various criminal organizations in her illustrious career. She’s got a peculiar choice of weapons, a camera tripod, with which she is very effective. However, when Gamma Akutabi rescues her from a camera-shoot gone wrong, he gets the idea that she might know where one of the Rings of the Dead might be, especially when he finds out that her younger brother Emilio lies in a coma, the sure sign, he thinks, of their knowlege of the rings. Supposedly, the Rings of the Dead can turn innocent victims into mindless vegetables by feeding off their life force.
I don’t hang out at Tokyopop.com anymore, but I still get all their newsletters, just to keep abreast with what’s going on. In the newest newsletter, there is a poll about e-books. Which would you prefer? Apple iphone, Sony e-Reader, Amazon Kindle, or none, reading paper books. Accompanying this in the newsletter is a video of a comparison review of the e-Reader and the Kindle. Viewing the video shows Tokyopop’s bias for the e-Reader (as that is where they have OEL manga available). The influence of this video seems to be reflected in poll, as the e-Reader has the second most votes, and most for a digital device. I have to hand it to Tokyopop for continuing to show some support for ebooks and the e-Reader. With it’s recent problems, publishing books electronically can be a good call to keep the fanbase happy while Tokyopop struggles through these tough times. It could also help to grow ebooks, in the same way that they did with OEL. If they would keep their books updated and make them easy to get, they might just make ebooks successful.
A week or so ago, I wrote about trading manga and the website Mangatude. While, as some have mentioned, this doesn’t actually reduce the number of manga you have. It just switched them. But, if they were books you wanted and would have spent money on, well, it’s a good deal. But only if both players are playing by the same rules. For trading to work, there has to be some trust. When a deal is struck, you have to trust that the other person will send the book, just as they trust that you will do the same. Of course, when you make that trade, you don’t know if the person will or not. Mangatude has a rating system, so before you accept a trade, you can see what experience others have had, and this can help measure whether you’re will to make the deal. But, there is a way to beat this system, though it takes time. It’s appeared on eBay, and now it seems on Mangatude.
Hunter x Hunter Volume 16, 17, 18 By Yoshihiro Togashi Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Action Price: $7.99 Rating: These three volumes finish up the Greed Island arc (thankfully), though in retrospect it wasn’t as bad as it could be. Volume 16 continues “The Bomber” arc within Greed Island that was started in Volume 15. Genthru and his team has 96 and only need 4 more to win the game. Several teams of hunters, including Gon’s gather to come up with a way to stop Genthru. They decide to get a card no one else has and keep it from them. By creating a team of 15 they can activate the quest. After gathering the requisite number (including Hisoka), they reach the challenge of a killer dodgeball game. Volume 17 finishes the game, and starts the war between Genthru’s team and the winners of Plot of the Beach card. There’s more training for Gon and Killua while Tsezguerra’s team buys them time to come up with a strategy to beat Genthru. Volume 18 is the final three-on-three battle between Genthru’s team and Gon’s, and the end of the Green Island arc.
Found via AiCN. Gia of Anime Vice has put together a collection of fanart pictures of the Doctor, manga style. Most of the pictures are cute, and I really like the strip art on the far right with the companions. Very funny. The art features the current 10th Doctor played by David Tennant. He’s young, cute and very action oriented. He’d be the perfect subject for a manga adaptation. Especially as a bishonen, as this rendering shows (credit needed). Now would be the perfect time for the BBC to captialize on this and allow an OEL manga of the Doctor to be made. The announcement of the eleventh doctor, Matt Smith, has led to a lot of speculation, with the one that makes the most sense to me is that he will be going goth. Yes, we’ve had Victorian with the 1st and 8th Doctors, but speculation I’ve heard and seeing what he’s done in the past makes him perfect for the goth style. And it’s what’s popular with the teenage girls, a demographic Doctor Who hasn’t quite captured yet. Russell T. Davies has already given the Doctor lots of angst in his 4 year run. This just seems to…
Just a few comments about this month’s Previews catalog: Marvel/Del Rey collaboration: I have two words for the Wolverine manga; Emo Logan. Does the world REALLY NEED more emo Logan? I mean, honestly… The art looks great, I’m not gonna knock that. The Marvel catalog had some pictures of pages, and they did look nice. But this isn’t going to win anyone over from one side of the manga vs. comics camp, and really hope it was never meant to. If anything, this will probably fan the flames, but that seems to be the way Marvel likes it. Not that they want to come up with anything original…
A Samurai during Japan’s Warring States period (1467-1573), Daigo Kagemitsu wants complete control over Japan. He promises his unborn son’s 48 body parts to demons in exchange for that control. When the baby is born deformed, Daigo throws the newborn into the river to die, but it is miraculously found by a doctor, Jukai, who makes prosthetics for the child and adopts him as his own. When the boy Hyakkimaru is grown, he leaves home and begins a journey to recover his body parts. Along the way he runs into a brash young thief, Dororo, whom he teams up with; together they battle demon and monster on their adventure to reclaim Hyakkimaru’s wholeness. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $13.95 Rating: Dororo, first serialized in 1967, can be seen as a proto-shonen story. It has many of the elements we now see in shonen titles today, though these were new at the time. Tezuka spins a memorable supernatural action/adventure tale and characters that really draw you in, and only disappoints at the very end, though not in story, but lack of it. The first volume of this title is the introduction. Tezuka jumps from…
Well, it’s January in California, and to all you people in the Midwest and East Coast, that usually means lots of cursing or dreaming of our weather. For the Rose Parade it is usually clear but cold, and that can last throughout the month. But not always, like this week. We went from high 50’s the last two weeks during the day to high 70’s to mid 80’s all this week. Since we only have two seasons (fire and rain), spring cleaning can happen at any time of the year. Over the holidays, I finally did some clearing. I’ve gone through my manga collection and have started to pull out titles I want to get rid of. As much as I love the idea of having just one room of wall to wall manga, that just isn’t going to happen right now. So, I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching, and decide what titles I want keep and what titles need to go. I couldn’t let sentimentality get in the way, (though in some cases I think I have). But I thought things over very carefully, and based on re-readability, I have pulled 43 titles from my shelves. It’s…
Some of you out there may be wondering about my lack of posts lately. Most of you probably haven’t, but anyway… With the holidays and work, I’ve been really bogged down and quite frankly stressed, which tends to kill my creative juices. Distractions by things other than manga can also do it.
One of the regulars at Suguri’s pet shop finds out that his precious little French bulldog, Zidane, has a weight problem! He tried everything from diet food to yoga and even an exercise machine to help the little guy lose that doggy fat! Could someone else be feeding him, too?! By Yukiya Sakuragi Publisher: Viz Media Genre:Animal/Drama Age Rating: Older Teen Price: $9.99 Rating: Dog lovers rejoice! It’s another volume of dogs and their owners doing doggie things. Then for the second half of the volume, there’s a new plot stirring up, that could be the end of Woofles and the gang. The first half of this volume is all about Hiroshi Akiba, an otaku-goverment worker, and his bulldog Zidane. Zidane was teased by Chizuru about his weight, so Akiba decided to do something about it. He buys low-calorie dog food, he stops buying treats and even gets a doggie treadmill! This story is mildly amusing, though it has all the typical trappings and pitfalls of a diet storyline. The story of how Lupin, Suguri’s mutt, got his name is mildly amusing too. The source isn’t all that surprising, nor why she chose. This story really just seems to fulfill…