New This Week: January 26, 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 tomorrow:



The pick of the week is We3 #3 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, from DC/Vertigo. I thought that the first two issues were two of the best of 2004, so that should tell you how stoked I am about the final issue coming out. If you haven't been reading We3, don't wait for the trade--see if your LCS has the first two issues in stock and grab the complete story.



In other comics:



Abstract has the fourth Strangers in Paradise pocket edition. I have the first three volumes, even though I own all the original comics; they're a rather smart package, and very handy to keep on your bookshelf.



Antarctic has the Gold Digger Adventures Stand Alone Special, which I believe focuses on the Diggers sisters in their younger days. Gold Digger is one of my guilty pleasure comics...



Arcana has the third issue of 100 Girls.



Dark Horse has the third volume of Samurai Executioner and the sixth volume of Shadow Star (I've only read the first two--I need to catch up!)



Besides We#3, DC has more Morrison goodness with the final installment in his JLA Classified story (#3); as well as new issues of the revamped Legion of Super-Heroes (#2), Planetary (#22), The Losers (#20), Sleeper Season Two (#8), and Y: The Last Man (#30).



Del Rey has the fourth volumes in three of their launch series: Negima, Tsubasa, and Xxxholic.



Fantagraphics has a new printing of Dan Clowes' Like a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron.



Image has the third Noble Causes collection.



Marvel has the penultimate issue of the latest Black Widow mini (#5) and a new issue of Fantastic Four (#522).



Monkeysuit has the Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher graohic novel (which is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read...)



NBM has the first issue of Cryptozoo Crew.





This will be, alas, my last regular trip to my LCS, as starting next month I'm switching over to DCBS for my regular comic buying. It'll be a somewhat sad day.

Quick Manga Reviews

Benkei in New York

by Jinpachi Mori & Jiro Taniguchi

Benkei is a Japanese ex-pat living in the Big Apple. He's a painter, but uses his skills only for creating forgeries; he expresses his artistry through his second profession, as an assassin. Following a professional code that only makes sense to him, Benkei takes on jobs in both of his professions, sometimes for money, other times for more personal reasons. Each chapter in this volume is its own simple noir story, ably told by Mori and drawn with great detail by Taniguchi. Like all good noir, the action isn't all permeating but nearly always in brief, explosive sequences. Taniguchi excels at these action scenes, with the best being an extended series of chases and hand-to-hand combats in a snowcovered Central Park and The Museum of Natual History. This is smart noir for adults; we need to see more manga like this in translation.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Hikaru-no Go, vol. 1

by Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata

The premise for this series, in which a sixth-grade boy is haunted by the spirit of a centuries-old Go master, may seem like the set-up for a standard shonen manga wherein a boy gets extraordinary skills and faces down all comers. However, the execution is definitely a cut above. While Fukiwara-no-Sai, the haunting spirit in question, guides Hikaru in his Go playing, the aim of the plot is more than just a boy living out a fantasy. Hikaru's journey will be to learn the game of Go himself and, in so doing, mature in the other areas of his life as well. I've only played Go a handful of times well over a decade ago, but even though my interest in the game is slight, Hotta & Obata make it an unusally exciting subject for a comic. Obata's art is particularly engaging, very strong in characters, backgrounds and storytelling, while managing somehow to make the playing of a boardgame visually interesting. My only complaint about this volume is that it ends in the middle of a story--something that should be a no-no in a 200 page comic, but that just means that I'm anxious to read the next volume.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)