Like Printing Money

Rumor has it that Jim Lee & Alex Ross will be doing covers for next summer's Crisis 2 event series.



But if they want the thing to really sell, they'll have Lee do the pencils for the interiors.



Remember how for Crisis on Infinite Earths DC had their biggest creative team at the time, Marv Wolfman & George Perez, doing the honors? Shouldn't Crisis 2 be afforded the same? While DC has a number of good super-hero artists available, no one but Lee can realistically 'open' a summer blockbuster for them.



It would sell like nothing else has in the past decade...

Quick Manga Reviews

Apocalypse Meow, vol. 1

by Motofumi Kobayashi

What a disappointment. In using rabbits, cats and other animals to tell stories of the Vietnam War, Kobayashi seems to be aiming to produce a work on the level of Maus, but he falls quite short of the mark. While the art does a remarkably fine job of presenting the setting and the action, and doesn't look ridiculous at all in integrating the animal characters, the stories are as pointless as the plot from a first person shooter. Bunnies go on a mission, shoot things, get shot at, then come home. The characters are barely one dimensional. While war may seem pointless to those in the trenches, stories about war cannot afford to be without a point.

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)




Ai Yori Aoshi, vol. 1

by Kou Fumizuki

In this young men's romance manga, college student Kaoru is surprised when his chilfriend friend Aoi, now a beautiful young woman, shows up unexpectedly and declares that she's going to marry him. It's a standard sort of male fantasy, as Aoi wishes to serve Kaoru every desire. There's an added complication in that Kaoru has disowned himself as heir to the a powerful merchant family and Aoi's family disapproves of her being with someone who has brought such dishonor on himself. Fumizuki's art is strong, especially the detailed backgrounds, and the storytelling is clear. It's fine for what it is, but there's just something creepy about the fact that the perfect woman is presented as submissive--I suppose that there's something inticing to a young man in the thought that a perfect woman would just show up at the door one day, and that 'true blue love' with with a sexy girl can be had with no effort.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




Musashi #9, vol. 1

by Takahashi Miyuki

Musashi is Agent #9 for Ultimate Blue, a secret extra-governmental organization that works behind the scenes to stop terrorists and maintain world order. Although she's only 16-years-old, Musashi is considered to be the most effective of the nine special U.B. operatives. Unfortunately, throughout each of the four stories in this volume Musashi remains a cipher, completely undeveloped as a character. The only thing we know about her personality is that she dresses like a man, and is mistaken for a teenage boy until the very end of the story when her gender is revealed. This could make for an interesting character, but nothing is made of Musashi's ambiguous gender other than the reveal--there's no attempt to explore gender roles or Musashi's identity at all, it's just a quirk of the story. Miyuki's art is generally strong and he draws action well, but his characters tend to lack personality in their drawing as well as in their characterization.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 13

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from GCD.



Today's cover is 1997's Starman #27. The cover by Tony Harris illustrates James Robinson's story "Christmas Knight."



Just 12 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

Christmas Monkey Covers - December 12

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. In addition, Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB, because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.



So to celebrate this second Sunday in December, I present you with a Christmas cover featuring a monkey! (Okay, actually a gorilla...) Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from CBR.



The cover is from 1967's Treasure Chest vol. 23 #8. The cover by an unknown artist features the supposed editor of Treasure Chest, a comic distributed in Roman Catholic schools and churches, getting into the Christmas spirit.



(A big YACB thanks to Scott Shaw!'s Oddball Comics where I came across this wonder of holiday merriment!)



Just 13 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

Christmas Covers - December 11

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from GCD.



Today's cover is 1979's The Brave and the Bold #148. The cover by Jim Aparo illustrates Bob Haney's story of Batman and Plastic Man beating the true meaning of Christmas into the skulls of mobsters intent on pulling a 'Grinch' on the citizens of Gotham.



Just 14 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

A Complex Inferiority

Warning: Rant Ahead.



Via Kevin at Thought Balloons comes yet another story in the news about comics & graphic novels in school libraries: "Comic books arrive in school as learning tool" by Denise-Marie Balona of the Orlando Sentinel. (registration required; try Bug Me Not.)



As with most articles of this ilk, the emphasis is placed on comics being for so-called 'reluctant readers,' particularly boys. Sayeth one of the librarians quoted in the article: "Even if it's just a few words and lot of pictures now, we will progress to more words and less pictures."



The inference being that comics are a form of 'lesser' literature; that it's okay for kids to be reading comics, because they will 'progress' to 'better' or 'real' reading material.



I see this over and over again, and quite frankly I'm getting sick of it. I'm sure that I don't have to make the arguments to readers of this blog, that you all know that there are graphic novels which are as complex and rich and challenging as any work of prose, and prose works that are just as banal as any issue of Youngblood. I just wish that the school librarians would make the same argument, instead of falling back on the comics as gateway to 'real' books meme.



I wonder if these are trully the attitudes of the school librarians, or if they're just covering their asses from parents/teachers/administrators/school board members who wold otherwise be outraged that the school library is spending money on and promoting an 'inferior' form of literature instead of 'real' books. As if a kid would be better served reading "Goosebumps" or "Baby Sitters Club" instead of Bone or Akiko.



I personally have been actively reading both comics and prose pretty much my whole life. I'm hardly what one would call a reluctant reader; I was reading on my own before age three, and by age five I was reading comics. From reading Superman I knew what workds like 'invulnerable' and 'solitude' meant; hardly the typical vocabulary of a kindergartener! I graduated salutatorian of my high school class, so I'd say that reading comics in no way harmed my intellectual or educational growth. In fact, it was my habit of reading comics that led to my persuing a career as a librarian (a story that I'll tell another time...)



(I'm glad that our library is developing a comic and GN collection because they are being seen as a valid form of artistic expression that we need to have in order to support the curriculum of the University.)



Oh well, at least comics are being viewed these days as a gateway to reading, instead of as a gateway to juvenile deliquency...

Christmas Covers - December 10

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from GCD.

Today's cover is 1946's Action Comics #93. The cover by Jack Burnley & Stan Kaye shows Superman bringing Christmas cheer to a bunch of kids stranded on a cloud with a Christmas tree.

Just 15 more 'get-ups' until Santa!