Review: 1000 Steps to World Domination

1000 Steps to World Domination
by Rob Osborne
AiT/PlanetLAR. $12.95.

1000 Steps to World Domination is not an easy comic to describe. It's kind of a semi-autobiographical story about the trials and tribulations of a freelance artist. But there are aliens. And a talking monkey. And a tortoise and hare. And of course there's a long-suffering wife (isn't there always in stories about artists?)

Through it all, Rob--the artist in question--ruminates on taking over the world through cartooning. This sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but it does have the novelty of having never been tried before. (I myself have at various times been involved in no less than two world domination plans. One never went beyond high school graduation, but the other is still ongoing, so I shant speak of it here...)

But it's not really a story at all. It's more of a series of loosely connected vignettes--some fanciful, others down to earth. I hesitate to call it stream-of-consciousness, because it's not really that at all, although it sometimes feels like it is. Most of the vingettes are just a page long, and there's rarely an actual connection from one to the next. But they somehow make sense, and despite the lack of obvious flow between them, it all flows together nonetheless.

At 136 pages, it seems to be just about the right length; Osborne wisely cuts things off before they become too cute or cloying. It all makes for an interesting and entertaining read.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

This is the last monkey cover for 2005 (we take the month of December off), so what better way to wrap things up for the time being than with the original big bad ape himself: King Kong #1.

(standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies)


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Quick Manga Reviews

Yotsuba&!, vol. 2
by Kiyohiko Azuma
ADV Manga, $9.99

The second volume of Yotsuba&! continues with short stories about odd little girl with green hair and her circle of fmily, neighbors and friends. It's nearly as charming, insightful and funny as the first volume--and just nearly only because it's not quite as fresh. Azuma brings the whole package to the table, not only telling fun stories, with with a level of craft that is nearly perfect as well--for example, he knows just when to put in detailed, well-rendered backgrounds, and when to get them out of the way. This is about as much precious fun that you can have in a comic without a monkey.
Rating: 4 (of 5)




Telepathic Wanderers, vol. 1
by Yasutaka Tsutsui & Sayaka Yamazaki
TokyoPop, $9.99

This initial volume introduces us to Nanase, a beautiful young woman who is blessed--or is it cursed?--with the ability to read people's minds. She thinks that she is all alone in her abilities, until on a fateful tarin ride she meets a young boy named Norio, who is also a telepath but seemingly more powerful; and Tsuneo, a Psychic who can see events in the future. Tsuneo has a dire prediction: the train will crash, and only the three of them will survive! The 16+ age recommendation in well-earned here; as an attractive young woman, Nanase can read the minds of all of the males she encounters, and Tsutsui plays it up for full salaciousness. Yamazaki's art is very strong and realistic; his characters are instantly recognizable and he has strong storytelling skills. The back cover blurb proclaims Tsutsui to be "Japan's Isaac Asimov"--I wouldn't go that far based on what's here, but he does set up a strong premise and tell an interesting story.
Rating: 3 (of 5)

Happy Thanksgiving

We at Yet Another Comics Blog wish all of our readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

(Cover to JSA #54 by Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Marino.)

New This Week: November 23, 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 the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League collection, which proved that you can have emotional tension and lots of funny in your super-hero comics. See Blue Beetle, Max Lord, and Sue Dibney when they're not being used as poster children for grim-n-gritty.


In other comics:

ADV continue the satiric funny with a fourth Cromartie High School collection.

Antarctic have the sixth issue of Oz: The Manga.

Dark Horse have a new issue of Conan (#22).

DC have the sixth Y, the Last Man collection; the long-delayed final issue of Seven Soldiers: Zatanaa (#4) and the first issue of Seven Solders: Frankenstein; and new issues of The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin (#4), Ex Machina (#16), JSA: Classified (#5), Jack Cross (#4), Lucifer (#68), and Tom Strong (#35).

Drawn & Quarterly have a new issue of Palooka-Ville (#18).

Image have the debut of Warren Ellis's Down; new issues of Gødland (#5), Invincible (#27), and The Walking Dead (#24); and collections of two underrated series from other, now defunct, publishers: Fade from Grace and Saint Germaine.

Marvel have new issues of Black Widow 2 (#3), Captain America (#12), and She-Hulk 2 (#2); a an X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David volume.


Another fairly light week. Must be the holiday combined with November being a five Wednesday month. I guess this means you can save up your pennies for the Friday shopping extravataganza...

New Library Comics: Week of November 14, 2005

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Cooper, Dave (David Charles). Dave Cooper's Underbelly : additional observations on the beauty/ugliness of mostly pillowy girls. /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, [2004?]

Edlund, Niklas. Niklas and friends. 1 Anything but girls! /Koln : Mattei-Medien, 2005.

Goldsmith, Francisca. Graphic novels now : building, managing, and marketing a dynamic collection /Chicago : American Library Association, 2005.

Jason, 1965- Why Are You Doing This? /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics ; London : Turnaround [distributor], [2005.]

Kohn, Annette. Lika sieht fern /Berlin : Jaja, 2004.

More little "dirty" comics /San Diego, Calif. : Socio Library, 1971. v. 2

Mousli, L. G. X. Lillian, 1960- Lilli & Poldi : das erste Jahr /Berlin : Jochen Enterprises, 1997.

Nace, Don. Drawn out /Brooklyn, NY : Soft Skull Press : distributed by Publishers Group West, c2005.

Sabisch, Ingrid. Der grosse Plan / : Ingrid Sabisch.[Berlin : Verlag die-Heldin, 2005]

Schmidt, Silke. Der Forscher /Berlin : Edition Wasser im Turm, 1999.

Sjunnesson, Lars. Ostberlin /Berlin : Direkte Aktion, 2005.

Sorensen, Jen. Slowpoke : Cafe Pompous /Gainesville, FL : Alternative Comics, 2001.

TenNapel, Doug. Earthboy Jacobus /Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, c2005.

Weekend Reading

Some things I read over the weekend, and my thoughts:

100 Bullets, book 8: The Hard Way reminded me why it's so frustrating to read 100 Bullets. With a months-long gap between trades, it's impossible for me to remember what the heck is going on in this title, who the major players are, what is their relationship to one another, what's going on with the Trust again, etc. There's no recap page, and Azzarello just goes on his way assuming that we're intimately familiar with his byzantine plot. When I first read the first several 100 Bullets trades back-to-back I could get into the layers of the story being told, but having large reading gaps isn't cutting it. Oh, and the story in this collection just goes on way too long--should've been told in half the number of issues, if that.


Sleeper, book 4: The Long Way Home, on the other hand, gives us a page of recap before it begins, which was good enough to job my memory about what's going on in this title. This is another book with plots within plots, but I could follow what was going on. I thought that this final volume did a good job of wrapping things up. I had a major problem with the portrayal of the only two female characters, Veronica St. James & Miss Misery, playing the stereotypical Madonna/whore roles; and things do not turn out good for either of them. I don't recall having such a reaction to the treatment of the female characters before--Is this a facet of the book that was always there, and just not as pronounced? Or is it new in this volume? Or am I reading too much into it? Kudos though to Sean Phillips' art; he uses a seemingly chaotic panel arrangement throughout the book that exemplifies the madness and confusion of the situations, yet is always clear in what is going on and where we should be reading.


Finally, Spider-Man/Human Torch, from Dan Slott & Ty Templeton, traces the relationship between the two Marvel super-heroes through five complete stories taking place through the characters' histories, and it is a good deal of fun. They're all good, but especially the third story, which has the Spider-Mobile, the Red Ghost and his Super Apes, and Hostess Fruit Pies. There is a lot of fun for your money in this digest collection, so don't miss it.


Ratings:

100 Bullets: 2.5 (of 5)
Sleeper: 3 (of 5)
Spider-Man/Human Torch: 3.5 (of 5)