Quick Manga Reviews

Bambi and her Pink Gun, vol. 1
by Atsushi Kaneko

Take the Mature Readers rating on this volume very seriously: it is brutal, violent and nihilistic (and there's a good dose of sex and nudity too). Teenager Bambi doesn't seem to be quite all right in the head, but she's got pink hair and a pink gun, knows her way around a fight, and has kidnapped a young boy to deliver to the mysterious "Old Men." There's now a 500 million yen bounty out for her head and the safe return of the boy, but she's not going to let him go without a fight. Kaneko is a masterful storyteller: he brings us right in the middle of the action, and doesn't let up as he propels the story forward and fills us in on the backstory as we go along. The art doesn't look like typical manga, nor does it look like anything else either; the closest I can compare it to is the work of Eduardo Risso on 100 Bullets. It's also printed in a red/pink/brownish ink, which gives it a unique look as well. This book certainly isn't for everyone, but if you're in the mood for stylized violence and nihilism, this is the book for you.
Rating: 3.5 (of 5)



Blue Spring
by Taiyo Matsumoto

Confession time: I'm not a big fan of Matsumoto. Despite all the critical raves his work gets, I've never quite gotten it myself. part of it, I think, has to do with the reaction I had when I first encountered his work in the form of Black and White (in the pages of Pulp). I had an intensely visceral reaction to the art: it made me nauseated. Oh, I tried to read it, but could never quite wrap my head around what was going on on the page. At one level I suppose that I admired what Matsumoto was able to do, in being able to disorient a long-time comics reader such as myself; but that didn't mean I had to like it. Combined with the thouroughly unlikable characters, it was the one feature in Pulp that I eventually just skipped over. Blue Spring is likewise filled with unlikable characters--in this case a bevy of bored juvenile delinquents--but at least the art, while still distinctive, is toned down to the point where I can at least stand to look at it. In fact, I find much to admire in the art here, particualrly in the way it is layed out mre like a western comic that typical manga, with what would seem to be the influences of Gene Colan & Neal Adams. Truth be told, I spent more time examining the art than paying attention to the stories, which I really couldn't connect with at all (perhaps I'd have a better chance of doing so if I were a disaffected youth). Blue Spring falls into the category of comics that I realize have merit, but don't appeal to me personally.
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

New Library Comics: Week of August 15, 2005

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


Cook, Greg. Cecelia Crocodile's really really good day /Gloucester, Mass. : Oatmeal Press, c1999.

Hart, Tom. The angry criminal /Seattle : [s.n.], 1991.

Hart, Tom. Love looks left /[Seattle : s.n.], c1993.

Kelso, Megan, 1968- Artichoke tales : chapter two /Cambridge, Mass. : Highwater Books, 2004.

Kelso, Megan, 1968- Artichoke tales : chapter three /Brooklyn : Highwater Books, c2002.

Zettwoch, Dan. Ironclad /St. Louis : [The author], c2002.

FGNW Day 7: Winners

The winners for Free Graphic Novel Week Day 7 are:


Epileptic 1 goes to Raphe Cheli, who writes:

I guess I'd like to get this because it just sounds so damn interesting. I've picked it up a couple of times at shops, flipped through it, and thought, "Next time I have a little more money, I'll get this." What I've read of this (in various online previews, what I've seen in the shops while browsing), it sounds something just up my alley.

Also, this is the third time I've entered, and they say "three times a charm"!

Indeed it is, Raphe, so expect to see Epileptic 1 heading its way towards you real soon. (I should point out that the copy of Epileptic 1 was provided by the multi-talented Jim Ottaviani, whose own new GN Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards is at the printer and should be in comic shops and bookstores near you sometime in September!)


Andrew Kleimola is the winner of the big Sky Ape three GN prize package. Andrew writes:

So, it's a big gorilla... and he's a millionaire... and he has a jetpack? These graphic novels look so friggin' weird I just need to read them! I'm trying to think of something clever and/or witty to write so you will choose my entry, but my kid is crawling around right now chewing on an A/V cord, making my Big Drill Car record skip and playing with one of our dog's toys, so I should probably go take care of that.

Andrew, you go take care of the kid, and later you'll get to read some wacky Sky Ape comics!


Finally, as a bonus, I'm sending an unanounced GN to long-suffering Martin Moretti. Martin cranks up the guilt factor by writing:

I would like to win Sky Ape because, despite the fact that I entered the very first day, I didn't win any of the comics in Free Comic Book Month. It was so depressing to watch the running tallies of comics given away and entries recieved, as my odds of winning decreased accordingly, and absurdist jetpack-wearing gorillas would cheer me to no end.

Turns out that it's true: poor Martin was the only person who entered Free Comic Book Month on the first day who didn't end up with any comics! Well Martin, the Sky Ape GNs are going to someone else, but looking over your 5 FCBW picks I think that you'll enjoy the copy of the 21 Down: The Conduit graphic novel that I'll be sending you.


This wraps things up for Free Graphic Novel Week. I had six entries for this final day: 2 for Epileptic and 4 for Sky Ape. In all honesty I thought that participation in this week-long give-away would have been much higher--after all, who wouldn't want a chance to win a free graphic novel? Thanks though to everyone who participated--I ended up finding good homes for all of the lonely GNs.

Monkee Covers

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

Today's cover is Tippy's Friends Go Go and Animal #6, from October 1966. The cover by an unknown artist features Go-Go rocking out with The Monkees.

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

FGNW Day 7: Epileptic & Sky Ape

The the final day of Free Graphic Novel Week, celebrating one year of Yet Another Comics Blog!

Today's first selection is the critically aclaimed Epileptic 1 by David B. Publisher Fantagraphics describes it:

The most acclaimed European graphic novel of the last ten years is finally published in English. The most acclaimed European graphic novel of the 1990s, Epileptic is author David B.'s story of his brother's battle with epilepsy—but it turns into a penetrating and sometimes lacerating self-examination on the author's part, as he delves into his own complex emotions and his family's troubled history, as well as his own youthful fantasy life. Particularly pointed is his description of the family's journey from one attempted cure to another (including acupuncture, spiritualism, and macrobiotic diet), the book is drawn in David B.'s spare but detailed, straightforward but elegant style. We would have called this A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius if it hadn't been taken already.

One of the most extraordinarily well-received graphic novels in France and the winner of the French national cartooning award "Alph'Art," Epileptic will intrigue American readers with its sharp yet (mostly) sympathetic treatment of the '70s alternative-health milieu and its often harrowing depiction of a family under siege by this singular and devastating malady. Co-published with France's L'Association.

The final selection for FGNW is actually *three* graphic novels in one prize package: all three Sky Ape graphic novels published by AiT/PlanetLAR, written by Phil Amara, Tim McCarney & Mike Russo, and drawn by Richard Jenkins.

Sky Ape:

Millionaire. Crimefighter. Big friggin' gorilla. Kirk Madge, a.k.a. Sky Ape, is not your average gorilla with a jetpack. When danger rears its head, this freelance crimebuster doles out ass-whoopings like the President hands out free cheese. Join him as he unravels the secrets of his hazy past! This volume collects the complete sleeper hit comic book series.

Sky Ape: Waiting for Crime:

The millionaire gorilla with a jetpack is back again for a second adventure! The world's hairiest crime-fighter returns in an all-new lip-smackin' adventure! Fed up with saving the world, Kirk Madge - also known as Sky Ape, millionaire gorilla and freelance detective - doffs his jetpack to become a certified public accountant. But as the malevolent force know only as O'Donnelly's Roofing sets the world teetering on the brink of destruction, you can bet it won't be long till Kirk stops crunching numbers and starts bustin' heads!

Sky Ape: All the Heroes:

When the megalomaniacal genius known only as MISTER DOCTOR POWERFUL orchestrates a global prison break, freeing the world's most vile (and, in some cases, inept) super-villains, Sky Ape and his crew must enlist the aid of all the heroes--every last, second-string crime-buster the universe has ever forgotten, including The Swimsuit Bastards, Caibo the Puerto-Rican Snowman and Hall & Oates--to set things right again. To make matters worse, the literature-fueled force Poeticus, the Liberal Arts Robot, threatens to level London, powered by his two-ton chromium fists and unparalleled pomposity. If you're not smiling at the thought of a millionaire talking gorillas wearing a jetpack, you must be an orthodontist, or something.

Now you just knew that I wasn't going to let a Sunday go by without giving away any graphic novels with monkeys on the cover, right? (Yeah yeah, apes aren't monkeys. Deal.)


To enter for a chance to win one of these graphic novels, simply do the following:

Send me an email with your name, your postal address, which graphic novel you want, and a sentence or two telling me why you want it. Please put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email.

You can enter once per day (but only once)--that means that you have to choose which of the two graphic novels you want. Also, you can only win once, so if you are picked you can't enter any more. But you can keep entering each day until you win. (You must be 18 or older and live in the United States.)

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm EDT, and the winners will be announced tomorrow morning. That's it--these are the last free graphic novels. After this, we're done.

(Full details, including the fine print, are available here.)

FGNW Day 6: Winners

The winners for Free Graphic Novel Week Day 6 are:


Mortal Souls goes to Stephen Frug, who writes:

I'd like to read Mortal Souls because I've never read anything by Steven Grant, and I'm always interested in new writers -- and because I just have a thing for zombies (because, y'know, zombies, how can you not?)

Zombies indeed. They're the new monkeys, you know.


Go Boy 7 goes to Daniel Wales, who writes:

I've never read Go Boy 7, but it looks like it is drawn in the manga style. I would like this graphic novel for my collection because I don't have any comics in the manga style yet.

Well, it's not exactly 'manga style,' bu I think that Daniel will enjoy it nonetheless.


Those were the only two entries that I received yesterday! It certainly made the decision easy this time. Se how simple it is to win? Today is the last day of FGNW, and I'll be announcing the offerings later this morning. Do'nt miss out on your last chance to win!

This Week on YAMB

This week over on Yet Another Music Blog:

Not much, as I was busy doing the Free Graphic Novel week here, but I did briefly discuss the soundtrack to Songcatcher, and put together a new program on Yet Another Music Radio: Cover Songs 1, featuring over three hours of 50 different covers songs.