Monthly archives: November, 2009

Manga

I was not expecting much of a response from my last post, but I ended up getting some good feedback thanks to Johanna over at Comics Worth Reading responding to what I wrote.   I realized I forgot to mention something important in my last post.  That being that Deb Aoki’s Manga Blog is the most helpful site I found in trying to find manga to read.  I recommend anyone new to manga to check out her site.

I’m finding out I’m not alone in having trouble making the jump from comics to manga.  As I have learned the manga that I enjoy falls into the Seinen genre which is geared towards adults much like US comics are now.  I believe most anyone who reads popular US comics can relate to the feeling that most of the translated  manga is a drastic jump from what we are used to.  The common complaint is the art style.  That was my view going in and  I was surprised to find how diverse manga is artistically.

I’m going to start keeping a list of manga that I believe is well suited for fans that grew up on American comics.  It is not meant to be definitive just what I believe to be the easiest transition from comics to manga.  I will add more as I find it.  I’m going to limit it to more current manga as classic manga like Akira are already well known.  The list is in no particular order.

1. 20th Centuary Boys by Naoki Urasawa
2. Pluto by Naoki Urasawa
3. Monster by Naoki Urasawa
4. Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue

I have already mentioned Urasawa’s work before.  Vagabond is the manga adapation of the novel Musashi. It is a fictionalized retelling of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.  Inoue’s art is by far the best I have come across in the manga I have seen and read.  It is on par with the top artists in American comics.  It makes for a very easy jump from American comics to manga.  I should warn though that the storytelling is extremely decompressed.  One fight can last an entire volume.  The art is so beautiful I find I don’t mind how incredibly slow the story is.

Supergod

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Joe Lawler recently posted Can women learn to enjoy comics? on his bog, which is about ways to get female readers interested in comics (mainstream US comics that is).  It struck what must be a tired nerve with a number of female comics bloggers this week.  Kate Dacey of the Manga Critic, Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading, and Heidi MacDonald of the Beat, had understandable reactions to Lawler’s post.  It does bring up a very interesting gender issue in readership in both comics and manga.  I’m a typical guy that grew up on traditional American style comics, so I can sort of see where Lawler was coming from.   It is that club house mentality which can often get us men in trouble.  I think Johanna had the best comment in all this saying that people should recommend things based on the individual’s interests and not their gender.  It certainly does not help that the majority of western comics are geared towards males, which can make it challenging to recommend things to new readers let alone new female readers.

The reason all this caught my interest is because I’m so late as a new reader to manga that it has lead to me experiencing something of a gender reversal of this issue.   (more…)

BATMAN #693
I totally intended to stop buying this book once Tony Daniel took over, but I accidentally bought the first issue of his arc. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t as terrible as Battle for the Cowl. It still wasn’t necessarily good, but it was not-awful enough that I think I’m going to keep reading.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #6
This book is great.

DAREDEVIL #502
I’ve decided to give this series another issue.

RED ROBIN #6
I’ve heard good things about this series. If my local shop ends up getting shorted on something I plan on reading, I may take a chance on this.

UNWRITTEN #7
I really like this series but seeing that issue #7 comes out this week reminds me that I never did read #6. I bought it but kept putting it at the bottom of the stack. Oops.

I also noticed there’s a book coming out that’s listed as “SPIDER-MAN DIED IN YOUR ARMS TONIGHT.” Is that supposed to be a Cutting Crew reference? If so, then I guess I’m buying that too.

Welcome to the Doombin. I’m the newest member of the Doom staff, MG Doom. My goal here is basically to post bits of comics related news, information, and brief recommendations from what I am currently reading. It will be the proverbial dustbin of this and that as my comics interests are quite varied. This is all rather new to me so my posts will be a work in progress as I settle into what works best. I would also like to say a quick thank you to the Doom staff from bringing me on board.

News

Dan Didio’s latest 10 Answers and 1 Question from Newsarama mentioned that Paul Dini’s Zatanna series will be a monthly and likely start around April. Also Denny O’Neil will be joining Greg Rucka in writing the Question #37, which is one of the Blackest Night back from the dead books set for January.

Robot 6 has a good recap of Brian Bendis’ impromptu twitter question and answer. It is a good look at what Bendis will be up to over the next year or so.

The Doom Library

I have never been the biggest Fantastic Four fan, so Johnathan Hickman’s current run really caught me by surprise. Starting with the Dark Reign Fantastic Four mini series Hickman has found a really interesting take on the group. Best of all the first two issues of Hickman’s run on the regular series can now be read on Marvel’s website for free.

Fantastic Four #570

Fantastic Four #571

The Dark Reign mini series leads into issue #570. The trade collecting that is out now.

Recently I took a long over due look into the world of manga. In the past I have had trouble finding manga titles that interest me. (more…)

To think, just one year ago, I was about ready to bite through my own arm, I was so wracked with nerves about the election. Good thing everything has worked out so well. Oh, wait, no, it hasn’t. That Obama hasn’t done a damned thing! What a loser!

That was a joke. Here’s what we’re buying this week:

Jim Doom:

• Batman: The Unseen #3
I have been totally digging this series. It’s got a fun vibe to it, which reminds me of the experience of reading comics when I was a kid (in a good way). It surely doesn’t hurt that Kelly Jones’ art reminds me of the Knightfall days, which was the first period in my youth in which I was able to buy Batman comics on a regular basis.

• Captain America Reborn #4
This miniseries has done an amazing job of sucking virtually all of the momentum out of what had been a fantastic run on the regular Captain America book. Rather than being some kind of exciting climax to two years of stories, this series instead is an unwelcome slamming of the brakes on what felt like Captain Bucky really getting into his groove. I am buying it as a completist and can’t wait for it to end. If Marvel was like “Oops, nevermind — we’re going to just forget the first three issues ever happened” I’d be totally cool with that.

• Great Ten #1
I actually don’t even remember these guys from 52, but I’ve liked most of what I’ve read from Tony Bedard and there’s nothing else coming out this week that I normally buy.

• Deathlok #1
I might pick this up depending on its curb appeal. I’m put off by the $3.99 price though. I liked Deathlok back in the big-gun ’90s and so I’m considering giving this a chance.

Doom DeLuise:

• Superman World of New Krypton #9
This series has been pretty entertaining, even though I think I maybe missed an issue or two. It’s my only present-day Superman fix these days, though, so I’m going to stick with it throughout the series.

• Captain America Reborn #4
I don’t want to keep buying this, because it sucks. Desmond is way cooler than Captain America, apparently, because the same concept was used in Lost, and it was way cooler.

• Nova #31
Wait, didn’t the newest issue just come out last week? I’m totally okay with this new development.

Fin Fang Doom:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer #30
Yeah, so Jane Espenson isn’t nearly as good as writing comics as she is at writing TV, and George Jeanty’s Oz looks exactly like his Andrew. But it’s Buffy!

• Secret Six #15
What’s not to love about a team of morally-questionable anti-heroes that double-cross each other every third issue? Strangely, this title feels more like the Gail Simone I liked on Birds of Prey than anything else she’s done since leaving that book.

• Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem #3
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Why the frak would I buy a comic written by someone who’s only famous for being hot? I bet he writes about as well as he acts.

• Amazing Spider-Man #610
I’m looking forward to this storyline reminding us of the Clone Saga to be over. Next up Spidey battles his greatest foes in The Gauntlet. Now that sounds awesome.

• Captain America: Reborn #4
This should really just be a story arc in Captain America, since that title’s on hiatus while this one’s coming out. I’d rather see Steve Epting or Mike Perkins drawing it over Bryan Hitch anyway. Maybe that would have given Hitch the time to finish the Fantastic Four run he and Mark Millar skipped out on.

• X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2
I was sad to see the Agents of Atlas series get cancelled, but they’ve got this mini-series, an Avengers one in a few months, and back-ups in Incredible Hercules now, so it’s almost like it never got cancelled.