New This Week: October 12, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:


The Pick of the Week is Doom Patrol, vol. 3: Down Paradise Way, crazy insane surreal super-heroes from the mind of Grant Morrison and the hands of Richard Case, Kim DeMulder, Kelley Jones and others. Featuring the first appearances of Danny the Street and Flex Mentallo.


In other comics:

AAA Pop Have the long-delayed third issue of Mike Allred's Golden Plates.

Antarctic debut The Science Fair and Metadocs: The Super ER, and have a new issue of Ninja High School (#132).

Dark Horse have a special 24 cent edition of the first issue of The Goon, as well as a Goon hardcover collection.

DC Comics have a collection of Astro City: Local Heroes; new issues of 100 Bullets (#65), Ex Machina (#15), Fables (#42), Villains United (#6), and Y, the Last Man; plus the first issue of some obscure mini series I haven't heard anything about: Infinite Crisis.

Fantagraphics have the latest issue of The Comics Journal (#271).

I Box have a new issue of the now-seemingly-bi-annual Thieves & Kings (#47).

Image have a new issue of Gødland (#4).

Lightspeed have the final print issue of Finder (#38).

Marvel have digest-sized collections of Spellbinders and Livewires, the final issue of Gravity (#5), and the debut of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Renaissance Press have the latest Amelia Rules (#15).

Viper have the penultimate issue of The Middleman (#3).

Viz have a new issue of Shojo Beat #5.


All in all, it looks to be a much saner pile of stuff (quantity-wise) than the past two weeks!

Review: Yotsuba&!, vol. 1

Yotsuba&!, vol. 1
by Kiyohiko Azuma
ADV Manga, $9.99

Truth be told, I had been reluctant to read Yotsuba&!, for a couple of reasons: first, much has been made from all the promotion that Yotsuba&! is by the creator of Azumanga Daioh, a comic that I had a lukewarm at best reaction to; and second, so much praise has been heaped on Yotsuba&! that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype, could it?

As it turns out, yes it can. Yotsuba&! is a delightful, charming series that can be enjoyed by all. It's also at times very, very funny.

The premise is simple: Yotsuba and her dad move in to a new neighborhood and interact, mostly with the family next door. What makes this comic a winner is the personality of Yotsuba herself: bubbly and fearless, and often wrong, and scarily like a real four-year-old. (In fact, there were frequntly things that Yotsuba would say or do that I could see my own nephew doing.) Yotsuba is exploring her world and her boundaries, trying to make sense of it all. Yotsuba hasn't yet developed a self-censoring mechanism (in Freudian terms, she's all ego & id, without a superego) and says exactly what's on her mind, although mostly her heart is in the right place.

Azuma has a gift for deft characterization, and that extends to the supporting cast as well: Yotsuba's dad, a single parent trying to keep everything together; the older neighbor girls, who take an immediate liking to this strange girl who moves in next door; and Jumbo, the family friend, who is also at a stage of arrested development, showing how what is charming in a four-year-old girl can be disconcerting in a grown man.

Have I mentioned yet how charming Yotsuba&! is? Yes, I have, but I probably can't say it enough. Reading Yotsuba&! will keep you smiling from cover to cover, and help you to rediscover your comic book soul.

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)