Re: Play Volume 2

Written by C. Lijewski
Illustrated by C. Lijewski
Tokyopop

Izsak's back where he started--or is he? While Rail tries to get to the bottom of the troubled bassist's life, Izsak is given some sage advice and a free meal, leading to revelations for both of them.

But it's not all roses when Izasak returns, as his past might still come back to haunt him, just as as he tries to be happy in his new life. What's really going on here?

Unfortunately, that was basically my question after I finished this middle section of the story. The trend of packing too much into too little space continues as we get a lot of new information here, both about Izsak's past and the organization that's following him.

The reader is not helped by Lijewski's odd choice to veer away from the main story to tell part of the past of Niji and Char. We're not even full through a second volume at this point. If you want to do retrospectives, you need to be a longer series or tie them tightly to the main plot. I love Char as a character, but she doesn't need a feature that doesn't tell us anything we couldn't have guessed already.

As with the first volume, it feels like Lijewski is trying to throw every single manga concept into her story, whether they fit or not. Thus we get the two history chapters, rational explanation for one one mystery while other questions raise their head, new characters are introduced, and there's just as much chaos at the finish as there was when the volume opened. It's jarring to the reader, and makes me less interested in following the story.

Adding bonus features that aren't more story didn't help much for me, either. I know they're standard in manga, but again, I wish there was a focus on the basic story. Fan drawings? A mock interview? Sketches? Give me an extra chapter with those pages!

I've spent a lot of time in this review being annoyed by this manga, and that's because I don't think there was much in the way of actual story movement. Izsak comes back after a lot of pages are spent covering what could have been told in a single chapter, and I don't feel like his return triggered the kind of reactions it needed to, because Rail's main reason for hating him is gone, without a good reason to replace it. Similarly, the agency we know is following Izsak has a fair amount of screen time, but I don't feel like we learned anything from it.

There's just not enough interesting conflict going on here for my taste. The scenes and ways in which Lijewski is opting to present to us are too passive, despite the fact that we're supposed to be wondering about Izsak's bloody past. I'm not feeling any thrill, which is a problem. It's like Lijewski is telling us a story with the key scenes removed. It's a useful narrative trick if done well, but I think she's holding back a bit too too much.

This volume felt like it was marking time, and given it's only three trade long, that's a big negative for me. I've mentioned before in reviews that I can tolerate a slow volume here and there in a long ongoing story This is not the case here, and if I didn't already have the final trade on hold at the library, I'm not sure I'd have bothered finishing up.

Lijewski's art makes sure we know we are reading a manga, and I do like her character designs. She mentions in the bonus material how she visualizes everything and that's clear to see. She even thinks about the seasons this is set in, which I think is a nice touch. I definitely think her art chops are solid, if obviously influenced by others. Unfortunately, Lijewski's plotting is just not up to the challenge here.

I'm afraid I don't think Re: Play has enough going for it to be worth recommending. It has nothing to do with not being originally in Japanese--it's just that the story is not being given enough heft because we're trying to hit every note in the "how to draw manga" playbook. I'm going to finish this one out, but I don't think there's any need for you to go back and find it.

Mushishi Volume 3

Written by Yuki Urushibara
Illustrated by Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey

The mushi get a bit deadlier and we learn more of Ginko's past in this volume of Mushishi. Our smoking hero wanders the hills and valleys of Japan, trying to bring some comfort to those whose lives have been impacted by this almost invisible form of life. But can he ever bring peace to his own?

As this series goes on, it seems that the mushi are less gentle than they were before, as here we see them crippling people, taking folks out to sea, forcing ritual sacrifice, and other actions that don't seem nearly as coincidental as they did in the first two volumes. I don't know if that's a sign of Urushibara's wandering idea of what a mushi should be or an intentional progression, but the result definitely changes the reader's perspective on the creatures.

I do like that the mushi are still solidly grounded in natural forces or ideas that can be explained away by superstition rather than fact. A girl must be cursing her town or a fish is just very abnormal in adapting to its environment for instance. It takes Ginko's investigations to bring the truth to light, even if people don't want to see it. As you will see by the end of this volume, that's particularly ironic, given Ginko's condition.

The first story, while not the best, is much more polished than the openers in the first two volumes, which made me happy. A girl who draws corrosive mushi to her village is condemned to silence, unless Ginko can help her. He feels particularly like John Constantine here and in the missing wife story, because the only way to help those affected by the mushi is to take pretty big risks himself. He also manipulates others in both cases to get the desired results, another trick of the old Hellblazer.

I think my favorite is the husband who waits for his wife at sea. Mixed with the legend of dragons, the mushi are more a force of nature than genuinely evil in this one. It's also probably the most accessible story so far, in that the idea of a person lost at sea becoming one with the waves is a familiar tale told across almost any culture.

Because of the pacing and setting of these stories, there is a strong feeling of folklore attached to each one. I wish I knew more about Japanese culture to help me understand them better, and that's something I need to work on for the future. For now, it's fun to see Urushibara play with what for her I'm sure are familiar legends and tales, giving them her own spin based on the concepts of the mushi. From what I can see, she's been able to merge them quite well.

We have a new wrinkle in one of the stories, as we get a morality play based on the notion of sacrifice for the greater good. Ginko and the story's protagonist wrestle with the idea for the bulk of the chapter, but the resolution may not be what you think. In another Constantine-like move, Ginko plays with the rules here more than we've seen so far. How that will impact on him in the future is hard to say, but given these stories only have a loose connection at best, I'm not counting on any follow-up.

Urushibara also gets a few licks in on those who meddle in affairs that don't belong to them in the story of a mushi-infested ink stone. It's yet another instance of a tie between writing and mushi, which is about the only linking thing we've seen about them so far. (Did I miss anything else? Let me know!) I'd mention who this reminds me of, but I think you get the picture.

Ironically, the only story I wasn't wild about here was the one involving Ginko himself. I like the way he's so mysterious, feeling out of time with his surroundings, and grounding him within the narrative like this actually disappointed me a bit. I don't think we really needed to know why he became a mushishi, but if origins are more your thing, it's here for you. I would have preferred he stay shrouded in time, but I could be in the minority with that feeling.

Overall, I think these stories are stronger, showing the growth of their creator as she becomes more comfortable. They're still a bit on the slow side, so if that's an issue for you, I don't think you're going to like this volume any more than the first two. I like the "classic horror" feel of the narrative and the fact that Urushibara wraps you into the story slowly, like tucking a reader in with a creepy blanket. Not everything has to be written at a breakneck pace; there's room for all sorts of pacing in manga, or any other genre for that matter.

Though the stories are stronger, I do think this one takes a step back in the art department. The character don't vary a lot in their basic shapes or movements, and they spend a lot of time just talking to each other. You can find a way to make that visually interesting, but I don't think Urushibara manages that here. I read more for story than art, so it's not a problem for me, but if you link the two more closely together, you may trip on this series (and this volume in particular) a bit as a result.

Mushishi is not for everyone, but I like it a lot. If you are into the quieter side of horror, love folklore, or are looking to see what manga can do when you get past the cool stuff at the surface, then definitely give this a try. If you are a fan of the Viz Signature materials, then I'd definitely give this a shot. Odds are if you are liking the more challenging manga that line is putting out, then I think you'd like Mushishi. The nice thing is that if you don't, because the stories aren't linked, you don't have to keep reading. But if, like me, you're a fan, then I think you'll want to read the rest of the stories right away.

Cantarella Volumes 6 and 7

Written by You Higuri
Illustrated by You Higuri
Go! Comi

The repercussions of the last volume's actions play out here over these two trades, as Cesare starts to realize he's losing his battle against the demons inside him, no matter how hard he tries. His only salvation is Chiaro, who is saddled with responsibility for at least one death and cannot help him.

When Chiaro tries to hide, he ends up in the arms of another Borgia--Cesare's beloved sister! They cannot control their feelings for one another, adding one more wall between Cesare and the only man who can help him.

After the Pope's manipulations are forced to go through the son he tried to kill all those years ago, Cesare and Chiaro are set on opposing paths, with Lucrezia in the middle. What will Cesare do when the object of his salvation is also in the way of his path to power?

I'm glad I had both of these volumes handy when I was reading, because they basically form a mini-arc within the larger story. One the one hand we have Chiaro and Lucrezia, two lovers who face all sorts of obstacles and taboos on their relationship, yet they press on despite the danger to both of them. I really like the way that Higuri moved this storyline along, mixing it in with the bigger picture but allowing us to see the human cost of the Borgia manipulations.

I also like the fact that Lucrezia, while trapped to a certain extent by her gender, is not afraid to take as much control of her life as she can. After all, she *is* a Borgia--why should she be any less strong willed than her brother or father? Higuri skillfully uses the historical background to both show Lucrezia's plight and also her desire to be free.

At the other end of the spectrum is Cesare, a man quite literally at war with himself. The visual representation of his damnation is pretty cool even if it is quite restrained. We can see that he is falling apart, with only Volpe to help him--and Volpe has an agenda of his own. When Cesare moves to take drastic action to save himself, it grabs the reader's attention.

Similarly, Volpe's desire to let Cesare's demons run free so he can be close to that power is a great touch, given that Chiaro is not there for counterbalance. It's as though Cesare had an angel and a demon sitting on his shoulder, and now only the demon remains. (If I were the artistic type, I might try to draw a fan piece that showed the three in that way!) Given that Cesare already has evil in his heart, I can't see Volpe doing anything to keep Cesare in control.

I'll be curious to see how that plays out, as we watch Cesare lose his humanity, bit by bit. Theoretically he may still be in control, but I think it's clear that Higuri wants us to see Cesare as a man fighting a losing battle against forces no person, no matter how strong, could long resist. The demons are a cancer, and by this time, cutting them out probably wouldn't even work.

For a few volumes now, we've known that Cesare considers Chiaro his "angel" and the only one who can comfort him. After these two volumes, it's clear that Higuri is stripping that away from him to increase his pain. What Cesare will do now that Chiaro is almost certainly lost to him should make the next few trades extremely interesting. The question for the reader is--did random chance cause the separation or are the demons working behind the scenes to undermine Cesare's control? I'm not sure, honestly, but it's definitely something to think about.

While I would have been happy with just the focus on Cesare, Chiaro, and Lucrezia, I do appreciate that Higuri does not ignore the rest of the cast. In fact, as these two volumes progress, it becomes clear to the others that the balance of power is shifting in the Borgia clan, and there's nothing they can do about it. It's a powerful moment in the series when the Pope, Cesare's father, realizes that he's being duped by the same forces that gave him the papacy. The head of the Borgia clan must now pin his dreams on the same child he condemned to die. It's a great twist that's been building for some time now, and I think Higuri handled it perfectly.

Though I liked these two volumes quite a bit and enjoy the series as a whole, there are a few things that seemed a bit out of place. A historical figure is revealed to have been with us all the time, and I'm not sure I like the intrusion. (Your mileage may vary.) It's going to be awkward seeing him appear in the future because now I can only think of his legacy as a real person. I know that this is a manga with a historical setting, but I feel like the inclusion was gratuitous.

I also was a bit confused by the fact that there were apparently sex scenes off-camera without at least a visual hint to the reader, and Cesare's apparent bi-sexuality is something that seems to be thrown in rather awkwardly. These latter problems might have to do with adaptation and translation more than Higuri's original. A few times, the way the characters spoke felt off to me. I don't know if it was just a few difficult passages or if I am growing more sensitive to the translator's ear. Either way, these issues do take something away from the books, though not enough to stop me from liking them.

In general, this was a pretty good set of volumes in this ongoing series. I really like the way thay Higuri is using the seeds she sowed in the prior volumes to create new tensions and keep the plot moving. There's a much better marriage of the demonic, political, and romantic as well. I think she hits the balance just about right, making me look forward to reading the final three volumes available in English. I definitely like Cantarella, and those looking for historical manga definitely need to check this one out from the beginning.

Jack of Fables Volume 3

Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges
Illustrated by Tony Akins, Russ Braun, Andrew Robinson, and Andrew Pepoy
Vertigo

Think you know everything about Jack of Fables? Think again! As a tumble into the Grand Canyon takes Jack, his friend Gary, the Pathetic Fallacy, and Priscilla from the Golden Boughes down a road that leads to a secret that Jack might prefer to be kept hidden about his past.

Can his massive ego stand the blow that Gary is about to give it? What do you think? Plus, we get a bit more insight into the nature of Mr. Revise's work, intrigue is afoot at the Boughes, and Jack shows how to turn your soul into a high-risk mortgage.

All that and more can be found within the pages of Jack of Fables, a series I quit on a few years ago and am glad I gave a second chance. Though Jack himself is a lot less active this time (a result of his ego causing him to suddenly become the Sword in the Stone), we still get his trademark snarking, scheming, and stealing as he works to make a bad situation better.

We've come to expect by now that Jack won't ever quite deal with reality, nor will any of his plans ever work out quite how he wants them to. But watching how he squirms his way in and out of trouble at the hands of our skilled co-writers is a treat, trade in and trade out. How he handles the secret Gary reveals and then uses it to worm out of trouble is absolutely brilliant, and leaves the reader just about as shocked as the characters in the story.

At the same time, because Jack constantly breaks the fourth wall (with Gary now joining in, as we learn more about his past as well), Willingham and Sturges are able to use Jack to say something about the nature of telling a Fable. One little change can have a huge impact, as Jack learns. How Jack presents himself, from the movie deal to hero of the oppressed to a man who can beat the devil at his own game, is all about getting someone--the reader or another Fable--to believe what he's selling. This is just like being a writer, and Jack's success--or lack thereof--hinges on that belief.

Our writers here are winking at us and letting us know that they understand the game of storytelling. If you do it well, you gain fame. Do it wrong or have your work mangled (see Mr. Revise) and you risk being left behind. (I doubt, however, if either Mr. Willingham or Mr. Sturges are in danger of being stuck with a sword in their stomach. Given how rabid fanboys can be, however, you never know...)

With this trade, between Gary's story of the "real" Jack of Fables and the implication of the literals populating the world, we are seeing a lot about the concept and nature of the story. If this were another writing team, you might end up in a lengthy philosophical debate that, while good, would not be in the spirit of Jack. So instead, we end up with sex jokes, a fantasizing blue ox, and as many one-liners as letterer Todd Klein can fit safely on the page. Jack can't take anything seriously, and the reader isn't supposed to, either. But if you take a few minutes to look at what Willingham and Sturges are doing here with storytelling, I think you'll find some insightful commentary mixed in with the slapstick.

A lot of the reason why this series works so well is the structure. Gary literally walks us through some of Jack's adventures, and the switching of scenes is performed deftly. Each time we get a new revelation, we're moved on to something funny just to make sure we don't think about it too much before we're supposed to. No matter who is talking where, it's always as though we have Jack's attention span. I like the feel of the pace a lot as a result.

Plus, who can resist talking, illiterate dogs and Jack telling a (tall?) tale about his dealings with the devils of the world, complete with a playful jab at the other Vertigo series to deal with storytelling written by that English guy?

Jack of Fables is a great package from a visual standpoint, and the artwork helps Willingham and Sturges out quite a bit. Brian Bolland's covers set the tone, and even an increased number of artists don't spoil the internal consistency of the characters. You can still tell who is who, even if I would prefer they draw Jack to look a lot less like Bigby from Fables. Our artists allow for mugging for the camera and do well whenever there is a need for a visual gag. I also was amused by several Gil Kane nose shots.

The Satan section that closes things out is a great showcase of artist Andrew Robinson. He portrays devils of all kinds and really captures, I think, the mania of listening to Jack relate one of his biased stories. If you want to see if Jack of Fables might be for you, then sneak a peek at the one-shot at the end of this trade. I'm betting you'll be hooked.

I hate to make Jack's head any more swollen than it already is, but this series is really, really good, and I think everyone should be reading it. Willingham is nominated for an Eisner, and its' easy to see why. This trade and the series itself is very different from Fables, but it's every bit as good. If you haven't started Jack of Fables yet, get off your beanstalk and start!

Bleach Volume 4

Written by Tite Kubo
Illustrated by Tite Kubo
Viz

It's Ichigo versus reality television, as a soul-sensitive charlatan comes to his neighborhood, hunting for ratings. When the bombastic Don Kanonji literally pokes a stick into things, he could bring doom to the entire town. Only Ichigo can cancel this affair, but can he do it with Kanonji trying to hog the spotlight?

Kubo picks a perfect whipping boy this time around, as reality television is so easy to make fun of that it gives the whole trade a nice sense of humor after the rather serious nature of the last volume. His portrayal of Kanonji's fans is hysterical and the way they all go for the showman while Ichigo does the actual work is a nice commentary on popular culture.

I also like how this time around, we have a breather piece as Kon gets a comic spotlight, and the ending, with the arrival of a new, soul-reaping person, promises to keep the storyline varied as much as possible. I'm not a huge fan of the shonen premise, so having it altered here and there helps me keep going through a longer series. (Though from what I understand, this may not always be the case with Bleach, so we'll see how long I opt to keep reading it.)

Within the battle itself, there is a lot of little side work showing that Ichigo is not the only person in the town with soul sensitivity. Chad, Ichigo's sister, and others can see to varying degrees what is going on, and depending on the closeness of anime to manga, that's going to be important later. The chapter headings are also pretty cool in terms of illustration, my favorite being Ichigo as Clark Kent. Unlike some of the other shonen manga I've read, these small inclusions make for a bit more depth and keep me wanting to read on.

Also, while I don't comment on translations very often, I do want to give a notation to Joe Yamazaki, who manages to capture the puns in the slogans and catch phrases of Kanonji very well. I'm starting to notice things like that the more that I read in translation.

The art on this one is pretty good, overall, but lacks some of the finer points we've seen in other volumes. The big battle is not nearly as clear as I'd like it to be, but the emotions on the characters faces are still present. I also think the hollow design this time out was a bit plain. (Given the hospital theme, I think a lot more could have been tried.)

My connection to shonen manga is a bit shallow at best, but I like the character interactions that Kubo uses, even in a volume like this that is based mostly around an extended battle and the incursion of a brash scenery-chomper. There's also a lot to be said for the concept of hollows and lost souls, and I want to see how Kubo approaches it. I'm sufficiently hooked to read on, and I think this is a shonen title that I could recommend to those who aren't very taken by the premise. It's just enough above the tropes to keep me interested, and I think that would hold true for most folks giving it a try.

Avengers/Invaders

Plot by Alex Ross and Jim Kruger
Script by Jim Kruger
Illustrated by Various Artists including Steve Sadowski, Jack Herbert, and Patrick Berkenkotter
Marvel

The Invaders are doing what they do best in the 1940s when suddenly, they are transported to the modern day. Wasting no time in trying to help what they perceive is a fellow hero in need (your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man), they're soon caught up in the complicated politics following the Civil War.

Soon, both sets of Avengers are trying to win the Invaders over to their side, while figuring out how to get them home. Can these three teams come together long enough to battle an ever-increasing villainous threat across the time barrier? When you're dealing with time travel, almost anything can happen, and the best intentions might have the worst results.

I actually did this one in single issues, but of course waited and read them all together, because that's what I do now. This might be noteworthy on a personal level as the last maxi-series I got in single issue form.

It's not easy making an event big enough to involve multiple teams. Just ask DC about their annual JSA-JLA crossovers back in the day. You have to have a really big plot to need this many players (we're basically talking almost two dozen heroes by the time everything is said and done), and not just any threat to the world will do. Kruger and Ross do their best to make it work, using the Marvel political climate of the time and an apocalyptic alternative universe as their settings.

Overall, that works pretty well, except that to do so in 12 issues where the action is not tightly packed (there's a lot of time for introspection by various players, primarily Bucky) means that the climax feels a bit rushed. By the time we get to the final battle with the "boss villain" of the piece, I feel like it doesn't get nearly enough screen time. Taking out some of the angsting through the middle would have left a lot more room for actual fighting.

And with a cast like this, the fighting scenes should be the primary object. You have Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Iron Man, New Cap, and others from current time, and a displaced Captain America, Namor, and company from the past. These guys should have been given all sorts of room to beat up on whatever number of villains you wanted to throw at them. I guess I'm just a bit too old-school that way. For me, when you get this many capes together, I want to see them doing what they do best, not talking at each other.

Alas, that doesn't happen as much as I'd like, which is a shame because the dialog in this one is a bit hard to slog through at times. However, when there are fight scenes, they are great. Seeing all of these folks battling various foes, right up to the end battle, is a throwback to the comics I grew up loving. These are folks banding together to stop the foes no one else can fight, to coin a phrase. Even Logan getting excited enough to shout "Avengers Assemble" reminds me that comics don't have to be about killing babies (thanks Robinson), spewing blood (thanks Johns), or seeing how dark things can gets (thanks just about everybody). (Yeah, I know, my Marvel bias is showing here. Sue me.)

I think that's the message that Ross and Kruger are going for, too. I know Ross is criticized for being too focused on the past of superhero comics, but honestly I'd take a good navel gaze anytime over a lot of the modern comics written in the past ten years. The focus here is on what it takes to be a hero. Sacrifices must be made, no matter how hard they are, because that's what heroes do. If you have a good writer at the helm, those sacrifices make logical sense and aren't just there to shake things up. Is that message passe? I certainly hope not. I do know that it seems to be lacking in the minds of a lot of the current crop of capes writers.

There's a place for both types of stories. I love a good deconstruction as much as anyone, but doing it just because you don't like a particular character or want to goose sales by being shocking doesn't help anything. It's why a story where heroes act like it, even if it's done a bit ham-handed at times, feels so refreshing.

Overall, I liked this series, partly because of its change of pace message. However, there are a few things about this story that I found lacking. The plot, as I mentioned above, tries to do a bit too much with the space it has and the way the story is structured. Though Ross and Kruger do a pretty good job of keeping everyone involved, there are times when a lot of the cast seems unnecessary, particularly with the female heroes. And the structure of the villains does make it feel at times like we're reading a video game, with lower level bosses dispatched until we get to the final level for all the marbles.

There's also the voices of the characters. Spider-Man is only used for comedy, Luke Cage only gets to question the notion of race, Iron Man is let off the hook for Civil War, and Wolverine is not happy because he's not allowed to kill with his claws. Kruger seems to be going for a low-level interpretation of everyone, rather than try to give anyone depth. He uses what comes easy for each character, which is unfortunate. With this type of plot, I'd love to see what Roy Thomas or former Ross collaborator Kurt Busiek might have done scripting these scenes.

I can forgive some of the faults, however, in the name of a fun idea. There are a lot of nifty moments in here, several fueled by Ross's love of old comics. Seeing "our" heroes disguise themselves as characters from the 1940s is a hoot, as are the Namor vs. Namor scenes. The way in which the writers use the death of Captain America to frame part of the plot and also to frame the Avengers' reactions to a World War II Cap is also a nice touch and probably the best-explored aspect of a story that has probably too many concepts thrust within its pages.

Avengers/Invaders is not perfect by any means. Ross and Kruger have an agenda about telling a superhero story, and at times, that agenda gets in the way of the narrative. Those parts are pretty easy to spot, as they weigh down the characters like an anchor. But to see a grand idea like this told in a way that puts the characters in a good light that reflects (not tarnishes) their images as heroes makes it well worth the read. If you like older Marvel comics or enjoy seeing new twists on Golden Age characters, I think you'll like this a lot. I know I did.

Rosario+Vampire Volume 3

Written by Akihisa Ikeda
Illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda
Viz

Tsukune and his friends have done the unthinkable--they've attacked the teen guardians of the school. With the help of a scaly informant, the fascist guards know Tkusune's secret. The punishment is death for all involved, and can even our little band of newspaper club heroes survive against these odds?

Plus, even if they do, can Tkusune survive math class and enjoy his summer?

There's a few variations on the general theme this time, as we see that Tkusune's friends care for him, even if he's not all that he appears to be, and one of them is even willing to make a big sacrifice to save his life. It takes a bite out of what has become a familiar formula by this point, but just isn't enough to save this one for me.

I really did like the way this volume opened, and I was hoping it would keep this one interesting for me. I still like the premise and the characters are people I like to see getting into trouble. I also liked the way Moka and the others stand by Tkusune. However, once we get past the big fight scene and dramatic revelations, we're back to the same tunes that felt played out by the end of the second trade.

Through three volumes,Tkusune is always either grabbing Moka's rosario to save her or save himself, and sometimes both. It's a pattern that just doesn't interest me, no matter how cool the monster of the week is. I love the idea of using mythological creatures from various pantheons, but if they're just going to be cannon fodder (and that seems to be the case), then it's really no fun at all. Even Superman loses sometimes. These battles are far too one-sided to remain interesting, at least for me.

What's worse is that I'm starting to guess what the monster is before they even show themselves. The mystery or the surprise value is gone when you're calling the monsters about ten pages before they're revealed. That may not be Ikeda's fault so much as it is that monsters and myths are a hobby of mine. But still, if you're writing a manga that centers on horror monsters of all kinds, I think you can expect even your teen readers to have a good grasp on them and how they work. This lack of suspense might be the biggest disappointment for me and is a big reason why I'm not planning to keep reading this series.

The other problem is that with each progressive volume, the fan service is getting worse. There's just too many T&A scenes for my taste, and they often don't have any sort of grounding in the story. I don't object to attractive women, but objectifying high school kids is not cool, and would make me think twice about giving this to a teen reader of either gender. (What is this saying to that reader?) It's also entirely one-sided, as we aren't getting a lot of beefcake, except for maybe the troll.

This is definitely shonen manga--it hits every note you'd look for in such a comic. The problem is, that's not what *I* want out of a story. This is just too formulaic for me in a way I don't care for. We have a boy hero who all the women love, they fight all the time against the villain of the day, and everyone wears skirts that are entirely too short. The interesting concept of a school for monsters just isn't enough for me.

I'm not going to judge if you like that type of manga. I mean, I will read just about any shojo book, and those often repeat themselves, too. Just be aware that if you are reading Rosario + Vampire, you're not going to encounter anything particularly different, and the premise becomes the same rather rapidly. I think I've read enough to know this isn't for me, but if you are a big fan of shonen, you may feel quite differently. There are some changes in this volume, but not enough to make a difference. Your mileage may vary, but I'm done unless I read a convincing argument otherwise.

Goon Volume 6

Written by Eric Powell
Illustrated by Eric Powell
Dark Horse

All the little hints up to this point in the Goon's history play out into this story of love and heartbreak, as Powell finally lets us see the early years of our favorite thug.

As a strange creature terrorizes the Goon's city, he's reminded of what happened when he was just a young man taking over Labrazio's mob and dealing with the Chinese mafia. In both cases, a woman holds the key to the Goon's troubles, but has he learned anything from his earlier experience?

Powell opts to tell this story in graphic novel form, rather than in the main comic, and it's easy to see why. While this is filed within the other Goon trades, it's quite different. The first thing you see is a page stating, "This Ain't Funny," and that is completely true.

Unlike the normal comic, which features absurd actions, crude jokes, and a semi-serious storyline, this volume is very much written as a tragedy. There aren't any cute moments here to take the edge off the seriousness of Goon's rough life. This is as unvarnished a portrayal of what it's like to live as a professional gangster as you can get, once you peel off the supernatural elements that creep in as part of the comic world Powell created. Goon pays for his actions in ways that he will never share with anyone else, not even Frankie.

It's not easy to try and write a prequel, but I think Powell does it well, especially since he uses a current story to balance things and prevent him from having to spend too much time possibly creating awkward moments. The Goon is still trying to learn his way in the early parts, and it's interesting to see him at this time in his life, though the lack of humor does take something away from that. While there is no shoe-horning to make things work, there's also a sense that even in the modern sections, this is not our Goon.

There are some awesome moments in this comic. Powell takes several full pages to show a mental change in the Goon, all without words. Just a few subtle changes from page to page, rendered in painting-level detail. The Goon's climactic battle again the foes who bedevil him (both past and present) are well done, and take just the right amount of space. By the end, we're left understanding the Goon a little bit better. The trouble is that it's only a little bit, because it doesn't feel like "our" Goon.

While the comic itself is extremely powerful, I can't help but feel like it's a bit too far out of the norm for the Goon to be considered good. I feel like Powell was experimenting with what happens if the Goon loses its sense of humor, and I think the answer is just a bit too dark. The things that we like about Goon and Frankie are lost because their personalities are moved all the way into the realm of the serious. It's nice to see in a small dose, but over an entire graphic novel, it makes it feel closer to the Christmas Carol parody than part of the canon of the world.

I think that's the main reason why this wasn't serialized in the ongoing comic. Its tone is just too different to fit in, which is a shame because it's a well-plotted and well-written story. The trouble is that it's just not a Goon story, at least not to me. As a fan of noirish stories, I thought it was great. As a fan of the Goon comic series, I felt it was lacking that irreverence that makes that comic so unique and good, trade in and trade out. Volume five had a lot of serious moments, but at no time did you feel like you had to give them gravitas. This graphic novel demands that you take it seriously, and that's where I had a problem.

I can't take the Goon seriously, that's the point. Unfortunately, in Chinatown, I think Powell either forgets this or chooses to ignore it. You can warn the reader all you want that it's going to be different, but that doesn't mean they aren't going to remember all the poop jokes you usually tell anyway. If you're going to try to be different, use a different set of characters or ideas. Otherwise, I think you're setting the reader up to expect one thing and get another, and that's never good.

Goon Volume 6 is a solid read, but it's not really a Goon book. It's like South Park suddenly turning into Hamlet. No matter how good it is, you don't want Cartman speaking in completely serious iambic pentameter. At the end of the day, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of finding this venture into the Goon's past to be both a great story and one I can't recommend if you like the Goon more than you like Powell.

If you love Powell's art and storytelling and want to see his range, then you should read this book. But if you're into the Goon because it refuses to adhere to the rules of decency or convention, then you are going to walk away disappointed. This is not an essential book to read, and probably should be skipped if you fall into that camp.

Mushishi Volume 2

Written by Yuki Urushibara
Illustrated by Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey

Ginko, our wandering Mushishi, goes everywhere from a Mushi-infested mountain to the inner depths of a prison library in this second volume of exploits involving creatures that are all around us, whether we like it or not. Armed only with his experience, a few tools, and a pack of cigarettes, Ginko tries to make the lives of those affected by mushi a bit better--if he can.

Mushshi is the selected title for the third edition of the Manga Movable Feast, (or MMF) where those of us who hang out together in the blogosphere pick a title to talk about all at the same time. Perspectives and approaches will differ, which is part of the fun.

You can see the home page for the Mushshi MMF here.

In my case, this is a new series for me, so I'll be featuring my volume by volume reviews this week. You can go back to volume one here.

I liked the first trade well enough to actually purchase volume two, because I like horror stories in general, and atmospheric horror, such as Mushishi, is rare in a modern book (at least in my experience) and especially in comics both western and eastern. There's a need in most horror works to hit the gore button if things aren't moving fast enough, and Urushibara strays away from that.

If I had to guess, that's one of the things that would most divide a reader or turn them off Mushishi. After reading this volume, it's clear that this series is never going to feature big actions scenes or unimaginable mushi horrors, unless it takes a major turn later on in the series. For a lot of people, stories must get to their point quickly and the payoff--especially in a series with supernatural elements--must be big.

Mushishi features neither of those things. The opening story finds a man controlling the mushi of a mountain, to great personal peril. As Ginko investigates, he finds the situation far more complex than he expects it to be. The other mushishi's decision, based on his belief in a tragic fate, harkens back more to the works of Poe than to any modern master of the macabre.

I liked the creepy nature of the tale, and the idea that our protagonist often cannot fix the problems in the way that he wishes to (see also the last story in this volume) is a theme that reminds the reader that sometimes, there's no way to change a bad situation, no matter what you know or what you do.

Some folks don't like reading stories that work that way, and if you are that type of person, this series is not for you. When Ginko visits a library of mushi knowledge and almost unleashes a horde of evil mushi, you're not going to get a big battle scene. (You will, however, get a great series of panels that book geeks will likely ooh and ahh over!) The solution is far less dramatic, a lot more restrained, and fitting within the context of this ghostly, timeless world that Ginko wanders.

One group of people who might like to check this out are those who like Vertgo's Hellblazer. I mentioned in Volume 1's review that Ginko is a dead ringer for John Constantine, right down to having a nasty habit of having bad things gets worse when he shows up. The violence is definitely scaled down, but if your main reason for reading the Vertigo series is to see what types of supernatural adventures John gets himself into, this might appeal to you.

Though I do like Mushishi, it does have a bad habit of starting the volumes with the weakest entries. The opening story is the weakest in this trade (again), a pattern that's rather puzzling to me because there's nothing in the stories themselves that would be impacted by reorganizing them. The mountain man was okay, but if I had just been paging through, it's unlikely that would have sold me on the concept.

The best story in this volume is the one about the man who chases rainbows. I'm used to seeing rainbows in a western perspective complete with little men. The idea that chasing rainbows is universal really appealed to me, and the ending was perfect. I'd have led off with it instead. It also moves a bit faster than some of the other stories I've read so far.

I mentioned in the review of the first trade that Urushibara tends to let the stories meander a bit. That was true yet again for the first story, but I thought she had things about right after that one. The story of the girl who died and resurrected herself every day had just enough action to balance the slower parts, for example. (It also features a great commentary on human nature that I won't spoil here.) You're never going to read Mushishi at a breakneck pace, but I was glad to see the pacing picked up a bit. I'll be interested to see how that goes in future volumes.

Another change is in the nature of the mushi we encounter. While the first volume spotlighted mushi that could be rationally explained, this time we're facing ones who create conditions that cannot occur in nature, or at least not easily. I kinda liked the idea of being able to explain mushi away in an X-Files sort of way, so the change was a bit disappointing for me. This might just be a passing phase, though, since the stories have no real connection to each other.

Mushishi is not for everyone. I think you have to have a thing for older literature to appreciate the style tat Urushibara is going for, and if you found your Victorian Lit class boring or think that Friday the 13th is a tame movie, then you probably should look elsewhere. Those with an appreciation for the older approach to terror will find much to enjoy, however. This is a series that I definitely think is worth checking out, but be aware it may not appeal to you.

Mushishi Volume 1

Written by Yuki Urushibara
Illustrated by Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey

Mushshi is the selected title for the third edition of the Manga Movable Feast, (or MMF) where those of us who hang out together in the blogosphere pick a title to talk about all at the same time. Perspectives and approaches will differ, which is part of the fun.

You can see the home page for the Mushshi MMF here.

In my case, this is a new series for me, so I'll be featuring my volume by volume reviews this week, starting here with Volume 1.

Ever feel like maybe there are all sorts of horrible, morphing creatures that exist in the most unlikely places, ready to do harm? Guess what? They do, and they're called mushi. If you have one, you're probably as good as dead. Only a rare person, a mushishi, can help you.

Ginko is just such a person, and it's his wanderings we follow in this manga series that's part horror, part human nature. Set in a rather timeless world, Mushishi has the luxury of its central premise allowing the author to take the reader wherever she wishes to go. The idea of the potential for supernatural danger in everyday life is a pretty good one and works well here. We never know exactly what type of adventure Ginko is going to get into because the "villains" are everything from little bugs to living letters to infesting dreams.

These are not the horrific creatures of your typical ghost story. The Mushi don't manifest themselves as awful things with sixteen heads or oozing puss. They are the devil in the details, a legacy from stories that don't get passed around the fire anymore. To me, it's far creepier to have the idea of dreams becoming real and harming everyone you love rather than an unlikely creature of the night stalking innocent victims.

This is the kind of horror story that you don't see a lot of. It's not psychological horror--within context, the mushi are all very real--and it's not graphic. The terror of mushi lies more in the idea that it seems to have a rational explanation, and yet the cause can only be cured by those who know the supernatural secrets the mushi control. No one can believe that it's happening, and that only makes the situation worse.

Only Ginko and a few others seem to grasp the truth. That gives it an X-files feel, though the solutions are far more down to earth. He seems to show up just in time to try and save the day, though what I like best is that Ginko's not always able to make things work. There are times when the Mushi are simply too far advanced for him.

Because of Ginko's inability to win every time and the supernatural plot, I couldn't help but think of a certain other magical adventurer. His light hair, trench coat, and constant smoking are also trademarks of Vertigo's lovable rogue John Constantine. The mushi strike me as something Constantine would encounter, though given Vertigo's penchant for blood and gore, the results I'm sure would be quite different. I can't find any mention of it, but I wonder if Urushibara was influenced at all by Alan Moore's creation.

This is a wandering, episodic manga that doesn't dwell too long on any story. The five stories collected here share little in common with each other, save Ginko's involvement. I think the best story was the one about dreams, and I kinda wish it had been the leadoff story. (I thought the first chapter was kinda weak compared to what came after it.) In addition to the letters, there's mushi that affect hearing and vision, two concepts that positively terrified me.

All of the stories take their time playing out before the reader, which is about the only thing I didn't care for. I thought the pacing was a bit off and would have preferred moving a bit quicker to the payoff. If you find and read mushishi, you'll need to make sure you allow the chapters to develop.

The art of this volume is similarly restrained. There's nothing eye-catching, and Urushibara uses a lot of grey tones to paint the picture of this world. It's hard to tell just when this is taking place, as Ginko dresses fairly modern while the rest of the characters do not. Similarly, the places we see and the people we meet look quite ambiguous. I like the way the mushi are shown (or not shown), and that even the scarier parts of the book are presented in a way that is not sensational.

Mushishi shows that there's a lot of room in the manga family of horror-related books. I enjoy reading such stories, and it's nice to see another dimension added by this book. If you like tales of the supernatural, definitely give this one a look.

The Spirit Archives Volume 4

Written by Will Eisner
Illustrated by Will Eisner
DC

More spies, criminals, and evil women cross the Spirit's path in this fourth collection of Will Eisner's superhero comic walks across 1942, a year of war for the United States that slips into the pages of the Spirit over and over again.

It's actually pretty interesting to me how topical Eisner is now that the war has swung into full gear. Free to take on the Axis powers without anyone thinking he's being too political, our blue-garbed hero spends much of this volume going after enemies of the state and even giving the US Government a hotline they can use to contact him.

As a result, the conceit of the Spirit going against the police tends to fall apart here, another idea that Eisner sort of pushes out of the way as the comic proceeds. Denny Colt also seems to be starting to have feelings for Ellen, though they still have a pretty good love-hate relationship going on. His crossings with Silk are more complicated, with the feelings seemingly one-sided.

Silk is by far the best woman in the book, however, which is about the only good thing that can be said about Eisner's women here. His treatment of females in this book, especially in the recurring character of Dolan's sister-in-law, is poor as a whole. She's shown as being a man-killer with five husbands and marriage itself is given a very dismal tone. It's not cute and it's not funny. All the other women we meet are either man crazy (which is true for Silk and Ellen, for that matter) or parts of evil plans. I think he even takes a swipe at the idea of women helping out with the war effort, which is about as wrong-headed as anything else through the first four volumes. I just can't get over my dislike of Eisner's handling of women, and the more I read these collections, the more it bothers me.

This is also true of the racial portrayals. You'll wince whenever the Chinese show up, but he's not much better with Germans or Italians, they just don't look quite as awful. I know there was a war on, so I can understand this in context, but that doesn't make reading it a pleasure.

African Americans are still drawn woefully racist, but I do think Ebony makes out a little bit better here. He's given the chance to do some good work, like using a voice-activated robot to catch spies or serve as backup to the Spirit. His humor lines are based more on that of a funny sidekick than because of his race. It's not progressive by any means, but it is nice to see Ebony getting better parts again, after the regression I saw in the last volume.

Sometimes having a yen to read classic comics (or watch classic movies) can be rough going. They have to have something special to make it worth it. In the case of the Spirit, it's Eisner's drawings and ability to tell a tight story in only a few pages. His spy capers are the best, using every bit of intrigue he can manage. Some of the others that work the best involve Dolan playfully trying to get one-up on the Spirit, but never managing it. And we still have the experimentation with panels and story structure, though there seemed to be a bit less of it this time around.

One story does stand out, not as the best, but as inspiration for the 4th Wall breaking we see regularly now. Eisner is behind on deadline when he's kidnapped and a criminal learns the secrets of the Spirit--by reading Eisner's notes! The Spirit (and a happy coincidence) save the day, but the interplay between character and creator is amazing to see so far back in comics history.

I'm not sure I need to read every Spirit Archive, given that the material is very similar. It's fun to watch the progression as it happens, but any one of these books is a good way to see the development of the comic book from a master. Unfortunately, for a modern reader, they're a bit rough going in places and anyone wishing to try them should be aware of that. Still, if you like crime comics or heroes that use their brains and fists rather than powers to save the day, these are some of the best examples around to see it in its earliest form.

Since it's hard to find these Archives without paying through the nose, I'd recommend this or any of the others to any comics fan. It's interesting--if difficult--reading and will help you see how we got to where we are today in the medium. Eisner, for better or worse, set up some of the ideas we still see in comics today.

Runaways Volume 8

Written by Joss Whedon
Illustrated by Michael Ryan, Rick Ketcham, Jay Leisten, Andrew Hennessy, Victor Olazaba, and Roland Paris
Marvel

Chased from their home in LA, the Runaways head to the Kingpin of Crime to get some help. This goes about as well as you'd think, and soon the team is hurtling back in time as a last-ditch escape effort. Stranded in 1907 and trying hard not to do anything to change the past, the team must deal with their own interpersonal problems as well as those of the turn of the century.

Can the Runaways team up with the capes of the early 20th Century to make old New York a better place? Or are things just going to get worse? Our band of kids are strained even further as Joss Whedon takes them to places they'd never thought they'd go, and face decisions with heavy consequences.

I feel like I need to start this with a disclosure that I don't really care for Joss Whedon's work, in comics and otherwise. I did not like Buffy at all, making me perhaps the only person on the geeky part of the earth to feel that way. His Astonishing X-Men turned characters on their head to tell the story he wanted, a pet peeve of mine. So I can't say I approached this trade with relish, the way that I'm sure most fans of Whedon did.

On top of that, Whedon picks one of the plots I generally dislike the most--time travel. I'm just not a fan because of how hard you have to work to make the logic consistent. Now there's two strikes against this one, and I haven't even started reading it yet.

After finishing it, I admit to being pleasantly surprised. Whedon captures the essence of Runaways in a manner far better than I expected. Perhaps it was my lowered hopes, but I think he made a good successor to Vaughan, and I actually wish he'd written more than one arc.

While Whedon does feel the need to make one of the female characters (Nico, in this case) into a take-no-prisoners badass, it was done a lot better than I was expecting. He also keeps the pop culture references to a minimum and sticks to the subplots already set up by Vaughan as opposed to jumping in and creating his own.

About the only thing that I think he misses is the number of action scenes. Vaughan was a master of keeping the action moving without going into a big superhero battle with splash pages. Whedon gives those who like superhero battles a lot more show here, which lessens the impact of seeing the Runaways fight and moves them further from their motto. Still, if the biggest sin is having the team fight ninjas and show a rival steampunk superhero war, I think I can forgive him.

Though how they get to the past is a bit contrived (I'm not convinced the Runaways make a deal with Wilson Fisk, when there's still the New Avengers out there), it was fun to see the team's reaction to fighting a legend like the Punisher. Whedon's characterization of the Kingpin is spot-on, which kinda makes me want to see him try his hand at a Daredevil or Spider-Man story with Fisk at the center of it. Once they are in the past, Whedon is given free reign to create a whole host of cool new characters that fit the time period, and he doesn't disappoint.

"The Difference Engine," a Punisher analog, and a character that looks like a classic figure from the newspapers are just a few of the things we get to see in this past world. None of them have large roles to play, but they show that while I don't always care for how Whedon uses his ideas, he's certainly a master at creating them.

Whedon is also quite good at setting up his time period, and how a modern teen might react to it. Molly calls it "ass" and given the sweatshops, abusive marriages, disease, and other issues, that about sums it up. He gives the reader just enough reality to show how awful things were without getting too preachy. Similarly, none of the characters spend an overly long time seeing the evils of the past. Whedon spreads it out, and lets each person's unique take on things react to the circumstances.

I think the best part of this trade, however, is the way in which Whedon uses the history of the team to tell his story. When the Runaways get to the past, they still have to face parts of the Pride, whether they want to or not. That was a nice touch, and again builds on the foundation that Vaughan laid. Even the idea of regretting your actions is a common theme that Whedon uses to good measure, both for the Runaways and for a character they meet along the way.

Despite a change in writers, Runaways continues to be very good. If I can be this happy with a story from a creator I'm not overly fond of, I can't wait to see how Terry Moore, a creator I like, does with the team. (I also may give Whedon another chance based on this.) Runaways is a great series that anyone who loves comics should be reading. If you are a big Joss Whedon fan, this needs to go on your reading list.

The New York Four

Written by Brian Wood
Illustrated by Ryan Kelly
Minx

Riley is a very good student who lives with overprotective parents and deals with life via her cell phone. She's a freshman at NYU, and soon learns that not only does New York open opportunities for her, it also gives her access to an estranged sister.

Hesitantly, Riley tries to make friends and get out there, but she's still tied to the electronic communications that make her feel safe. As she tries to get her own place and her own life, one internet friend may change everything--but not necessarily for the better.

Can Riley learn to interact with the real world? The answer inside this book might surprise you.

This is another of the Minx titles, and I'll just briefly mention here that this was a good idea that wasn't executed correctly. Once again, we have two male creators, and while that's not bad in and of itself, I can't help but wonder why DC did not get more female creators to work on their Minx titles. I just can't get a feel for what they were trying to do.

In the case of New York Four, it seems like they were looking to out-relationship Oni Press. This book would have a happy home at the independent publisher, being about a young woman who struggles in her personal life and ends up doing things that are nearly disastrous. Riley is very similar to any number of protagonists who are trying to make the transition from teenager to young adult, and the mistakes and hesitations in her story as written here by Wood should ring familiar for anyone who reads a lot of these types of plots.

What makes this book so incredibly puzzling to me is that it's not appropriate for a teenager at all in my opinion, no matter how good the story is. My understanding is that was the Minx target demographic, but the book clearly shows underage drinking and to a certain degree glorifies running away from home. Riley's sister, who rebelled from parents who are definitely overprotective, seems to be doing fine in her new life. Merissa, one of Riley's friends, is shown using her sexual attractiveness to get what she wants, with no repercussions.

As an adult reader, I can see these things and make judgments on them, having a wealth of experience watching others struggle as a result of poor life choices. At 15? Not so much. I would have been rather upset if I were a parent getting this for my just entering high school daughter. (It's also a good time to remind any parent they should be pre-reading what their child is reading.)

At the same time, New York Four is not hard core enough for Vertigo, the only other place DC might have opted to use such a story. No one dies, no one has magical things happening to them, and there's no sexual situations beyond kissing. It's just a solid story about growing up, and I don't think that's what a typical Vertigo reader is looking for from Vertigo.

Because of this, New York Four is a book out of place. It's not good for a young woman to read, without a lot of discussion before and after, so it's wrong for Minx (as I understand the imprint). That's a shame, because I really liked the story itself.

I grew up in a rural area with few friends I could see regularly. I soon turned to the internet for help, and it made my life bearable, especially when I struggled in college to make friends. I can completely understand Riley's desire to hide behind her phone. I also know how dangerous this can be to a person's ability to relate to others. I think Wood nails how this affects Riley. Her lack of knowledge of personal interaction leads her down some bad paths, and probably ruins at least one of the relationships she does manage in New York.

I also liked the dynamic of the strained family situation. Riley's parents and her sister seem to fight by proxy for control of Riley's life as an adult, pushing her in different directions. Wood also does a nice job of developing the friends as unique personalities that seem to be friends despite acting completely different from one another. They also all seem to have their own issues, but inside only one graphic novel, there's no time to explore their problems further than a few hinting pages here and there.

Re-reading this for the review, I'm pretty sure Wood intended the series to go further. I don't know if maybe this was a failed pitch that DC picked up for Minx (that would explain why it's out of place) or if Wood envisioned it as an ongoing set of books, but there are all sorts of little things that aren't resolved by the end. It's the major drawback to the book, actually. The patient interviews, the unfinished nature of Riley's relationship to her sister, her friends, and a persistent suitor are just a few of the things left hanging. It's hard to believe that a writer of Wood's quality would leave so many things out there if the plan wasn't to complete them at a later date.

Ryan Kelly's art here reminded me a lot of Paul Pope. Everything has a gritty feel to it, and yet the characters themselves are smooth as silk. His faces are expressive and look the way that real people do, as opposed to something from a drawing manual. Kelly's tone matches up with Wood's script perfectly and make the book work a lot better than it might have otherwise.

The New York Four seems hampered by its publisher and the vague way in which things are resolved or left unfinished. It's not teen appropriate without guidance, but is not marketed with books of a similar nature. However, if you like relationship comics or Brian Wood's other works, this is definitely worth checking out. I just wish the creators would have been able to finish what they started here.

Runaways Volume 7

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona, Mike Norton, and Craig Yeung
Marvel

Vaughan's swan song on the series he created starts with the creation of monsters both literal and metaphoric and ends with the ways of stopping them, as the team grows up in light of their personal tragedies and the events of the civil war. While the majority of the team works to stop a huge monster trying to recreate the past, will Chase make a decision that echoes that of the creature the Runaways wish to stop? And can this ever-dysfunctional team manage to keep it together long enough to save the day?

I wasn't sure about coming back to Runaways after having the crossover with the Young Avengers run my feelings for them into the ground. I think they got a really bad treatment during the big crossover, and I wasn't sure how how Vaughan would handle that. (He does it by basically ignoring it ever happened, giving the story only a passing reference. I think this was a smart plan.) Further, with the Joss Whedon arc on deck, I seriously considered just calling it a day for this series and moving on.

I'm glad I didn't, because this is yet another solid story from Vaughan, taking advantage of the characters he's created to tell a mirrored story about the desire to make things as they were. Anyone who tries is doomed to fail, and though in both cases the concept is taken to an extreme, it's clear what Vaughan thinks of the idea. We may not conjure up a period-conscious monster that resembles Godzilla, but the damage we can cause emotionally trying to turn back the clock is often just as devastating.

Chase's walk down the road of evil makes sense, because he's always been the one who seemed the "bad boy" of the group. It can be hard to make the reader think that a hero is going to do something truly awful, but Vaughan pulls it off perfectly. Chase's lines, his motivation, and his actions all show that he's gone off the deep end, without a single part of it feeling forced or contrived. The interplay between Chase and those who encounters on his quest are exactly how modern comics should sound--real within context.

I also appreciate that Vaughan recognizes some of the tropes he's using and tries to acknowledge it. Chase wants to know the catch in the deal he's making, for instance, and the Runaways themselves take some time to debate if they are willing to risk their lives just to save corporate symbols. This gives him a chance to talk about why people are heroes, which is always worth seeing from each writer's perspective. (I also can't help but wonder if his comment about how the Runaways fight C-listers was a subtle commentary on dragging them into the larger Marvel U kicking and screaming.)

By far the best parts of this volume are those with Molly. She's the youngest and strongest and doesn't share the other characters' need to keep things to herself. Molly gleefully asks for more sugar, delights in winning Risk (without knowing the real-life strategic positions of the counties involved), and bluntly notes that they only get new members when "someone dies." She finds dinosaur pee gross, but is serious enough to know that Gert was the glue holding the group together. Vaughan's always done a great job with her, but this was one of his best uses of Molly.

Though this volume is action-packed, there's not a lot of fighting. Vaughan uses a lot of personal encounters to move the story this time, especially in relation to Chase. This is not a comic that uses its characters' powers to battle all the time. Arguably, it's more dramatic because the interactions can pack a bigger punch than Molly when she's on a sugar high. That was another thing that Wells got wrong. The Runaways aren't about how often they use their powers, it's about a group of teenagers trying to find their way in a world that turned upside down on them.

One thing that did not turn upside down was the consistency of the art. While I'm not a big fan of Adrian Alphona's art, he did manage to draw just about all of the Runways crafted by Vaughan. That's pretty impressive. His art is too stilted for my taste, but it gets the job done. Mike Norton's fill-in issues look much like Alphona's probably due to having the same inker. We rarely see an artist stay with a project this long, but it definitely helped the series to have this continuity.

I don't know what Vaughan might have planned for the Runaways if he had kept with it, but his seven volumes are all very good. He managed to find a way to open up the Marvel U without making it seem forced. Vaughan also showed that a good capes comic doesn't have to be about multi-page splash scenes if you don't want it to be. Anyone who can weave Pat Benatar into a clever epilogue should be given credit. I really enjoyed Runaways, and I'm curious to see what happens when Whedon takes over. The poor guy has a pretty big act to follow.

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways

Written by Zeb Wells
Illustrated by Stefano Caseli
Marvel

Young Avengers was a great concept that was starting to stray a bit but had a lot of potential.
Runaways is a great series by Brian K. Vaughan.

Put them together in a crossover written by a new writer, keep them away from the actual Civil War plot (despite them appearing in the core book), and the next thing you know, you have a recipe for a book that damages both properties.

This book starts off with the obligatory fight scene, interrupted by both teams being attacked by a shady government operative who wants to take the alien members of the groups to use for his experiments.

The two teams must band together in a slap-dash fashion in order to save their friends who are about to be tortured in the worst manner possible, which I frankly have a problem with in a comic set for a younger audience. They come through things in the end, battered and bruised but completely oblivious to the rest of the Civil War going on about them and slapped on the cover.

Had this been a non-Civil War crossover, I'd have disliked it based on the fact that Wells seems to disregard everything Vaughan had done with Runaways save a few throwaway lines here and there. But the fact that there was so much potential for these kids to try and "stop" the war based on their ideals or be torn between what's right--the law--and what they feel they need to do and neither of those things received anything but a casual nod.

As a result, this one's just a bad idea that can be skipped easily. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the execution is lacking. I worry about how the Runaways will fare without Vaughan to guide them.

Young Avengers Volume 2

Written by Alan Heinberg
Illustrated by Jim Cheung
Marvel

Young Avengers started off really well, but this one kinda gets off the point. First we had Iron Lad as Kang, now we have another team member who's not all he claims to be, either. After establishing that this team isn't going anywhere despite Cap's doubts (and don't you think he's trying a little too hard to discourage this team? A little un-Cap like...), we find that the Super Skrull has designs on their person. At this point, things start to escalate and the next thing you know, both the ...more Young Avengers started off really well, but this one kinda gets off the point. First we had Iron Lad as Kang, now we have another team member who's not all he claims to be, either. After establishing that this team isn't going anywhere despite Cap's doubts (and don't you think he's trying a little too hard to discourage this team? A little un-Cap like...), we find that the Super Skrull has designs on their person. At this point, things start to escalate and the next thing you know, both the New and Young Avengers are trying to stop an inter-galactic conflict. Can they prove their mettle to their elders? After all, as Peter notes, some of them started when they were that age.

I like the idea of a team of kids trying to be as idealistic as they think the heroes should be. But rather than run with this point, Heinberg starts down the dangerous road of Avengers history, dragging out Captain Marvel, the Kree-Skrull War, and for God's sake--Wanda's kids. By the time we get to the end of this one, there's so much clutter--much of which are things better left alone--that I'm not sure how they were going to resolve it. Of course, now we'll never get to know.

Young Avengers had a lot of good ideas that may have worked, may not have worked. The trouble with trying to do things within a complex continuity is that it can trip up the writer. I think that's the case here. This was not the Teen Titans, and that was a good thing. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know what would have happened had there been no Civil War.

Final note: There's more proof in this that Cap's not cap--he doesn't fight a single skrull. I'm telling you guys... [Editor's note: I was positive in 2008 that Brubaker's Cap was a Skrull. Turned out just to be Brubaker's decision to neuter Cap's effectiveness in the name of a good story. Oh well. Was a fun idea!]

Young Avengers Volume 1

Written by Alan Heinberg
Illustrated by Jim Cheung
Marvel

Following the events of Avengers Disassembled and working within the loose bounds of the Pulse and New Avengers, Heinberg creates a grouping of youths with very familiar powers who are out to pick up the mantle laid down by their elders after the deaths of so many of their comrades. Mimicking the powers of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk, they set out to right the wrongs of the world.

They try--and fail--to live up the abilities of their idols, and even the addition of some other young guns doesn't help much. As the old Avengers try to stop them, we learn that Iron Lad has a deadly secret that could undo all of reality. And when you're talking early Avengers, time travel, and reality--who else but Kang is ready to make matters worse? As the world comes apart, sacrifices must be made--the very same ones that the older heroes are trying to avoid.

This is a well-done story that takes the shadows of the old and tries to build something new out of it, without doing anything to harm older continuity. These kids are typical Marvel heroes--they're imperfect, hold secrets, and are quite capable of failing. In short, if you're looking for an old-school Teen Titans vibe, you'll need to look elsewhere. I understand that Heinberg has suffered health issues and won't be writing comics anytime soon. That's a shame, because this is very good. I look forward to reading the rest of this short-lived series that died so that big crossovers may live. You should check it out, too.

Runaways Volume 6

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Craig Yeung
Marvel

This particular trade may have the world's most deceptive cover. The Runaways are playing happily in a green field, oblivious of all their cares. The insides could not be more different.

We start in media res with our youngest member captured by an evil man with the power to turn others into stone. However, showing her own strength, bother literal and figurative, she frees herself--only to get grounded!

That's just a filler piece to the main event, which features the return of one of the Pride, who has designs on the children who killed him. Duping some online roleplayers in a completely believable manner, he forms a new Pride and sets out to destroy the old one from within. Just as things look bad, we have another surprise return. Rushing into the fray, the Runaways must stop our killer from making a sacrifice. But can they? Or will their youth and relatively inexperience lead to tragedy for all involved?

Each time I think Vaughan has put the kids through hell in this trade, it gets worse. He does an awesome job of the bait and switch, and all the character development we've seen over the series comes into play. It's what happens when, like Stan Lee in the old days, Peter David on Hulk, Robert Kirkman on Invincible, or even JMS on Amazing Spider-Man (for good or for ill) today, one writer gets to stay on a title longer than a trade paperback's worth of material. Ideas can flow and ebb as subplots blip to the surface and back down again. It makes for good stories, not just flashes in the pan, and I really wish DC and Marvel would pay more attention to that.

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some problems. Vaughan gives a 1980s black man dialog more befitting a "dude" from the 1970s and shortcuts one plot line in order to get all the players in place. This is also a problem here and there with the kids's banter, which often sounds a bit too much like what an adult thinks teen banter is like. However, the fact that Vaughan gives us a "Gwen Stacy" moment in this book--young heroes dealing with the fact that, had they acted better, a death can be prevented--is comic book storytelling at its best.

At this point, the book gets mashed into mainline Marvel continuity, so I feel as though, even with more issues to do, that this is the swan song for this team. It sure was a good way to go out, and I can unhesitatingly recommend this series up to this point to any comics fan.

Runaways Volume 5

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, and Craig Yeung
Marvel

This time around Vaughan puts together a plot that lets our kids visit the place where (before Civil War) all the cool heroes hang out--New York!

As we open this volume, as with the first of the re-start, our heroes are out battling the latest villain to think that maybe it would be better to get away from New York, Swarm. Swarm's a lame-o Spidey villain with bees for brains--and everything else. He's soon dispatched so we can get to more trouble--a skrull wants one of the runaways as his bride-to-be! If she refuses, Earth may be destroyed! What's a young girl to do when proposed to by a super-skrull?

(Okay, perhaps a little issue with the idea of there being more than one super-skrull, but Vaughan is pretty good about making me okay with little changes as we go along. I can see there being more than one, especially given how much the skrulls crave power.)

We're just barely through that idea when out pops Cloak, claiming he's been framed. There's only one thing for the Runaways to do--ROAD TRIP! Soon they're in New York, clashing with the Avengers, having sushi with Spider-Man, and finding out that sometimes the truth is cloaked right below your nose. In the end, they save the day, but we're left with a teaser that more bad stuff is right on the horizon.

It's fun to see Vaughan play with the New Avengers, especially watching them try to "rescue" Molly and the scenes with Spidey are classic. He plays Cloak a little too softly, though, for my money. Cloak is borderline psychotic (part of why he'd be easily framed) most' of the other times we've seen him, but not so much here. I do like the idea of the fact that the drug dealers are still using things to give people superpowers, an idea that's been lost a bit in modern Marvel.

Again, I love Runaways, and you should, too.

Runaways Volume 4

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Craig Yeung
Marvel

Runaways may be Marvel's best comic, assuming it's still running. I'm so much into reading by trade now that the day-to-day issues are barely noticeable to me anymore...

Collecting the first five issues of the restarted Runways series, this trade starts with our remaining heroes fighting the Wrecking Crew, apparently the latest in a series of villains trying to capitalize on the demise of their parents' hold on the West Coast. This doesn't sit well with some of the D-String heroes who are just a bit older. They form a dysfunctional group in order to try and stop the Runaways but soon find their own problems may be larger than those they hope to help. (Props to Vaughn for the group's name, which I won't spoil here.)

Amidst this problem the Runaways meet one of their own, twenty years removed, who warns them of a great danger to the world--a young hero-to-be will go bad and destroy them all. They track him down, but will they have the nerve to kill him in order to save the future? How much like their parents are these Runaways, and with their own parental ties, can they really condemn someone just because their father is--well, that'd be telling, now wouldn't it?

Great stuff all around, this is one of my favorite Marvel series right now. Alpona really has his Romita Jr. going in this one, especially when you get to a few familiar villains. If I had to recommend a title to a person jaded with comics, I'd lead off with Invincible and make Runaways a close second. Can't wait to read Volume 5!

Quick Hits: Runaways Volumes 1-3

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by the following:
Vol 1: Adrian Alphona, David Newbold and Craig Yeung
Vol 2: Adrian Alphona, David Newbold, Craig Yeung, and Takeshi Miyazawa
Vol 3: Adrian Alphona, David Newbold, and Craig Yeung
Marvel

It's not easy to make your mark on the Marvel Universe without playing with toys that Stan, Jack, Steve, Roy, John and to a lesser extent, Chris, John, Jim, and Peter didn't already build. Most of the time you get a chance to show you can put a new spin on things, but getting to start fresh doesn't happen very often.

Brian K. Vaughan manages to make this work, however, creating a group of teenage superheroes who grow up idolizing the heroes we all know and love, little knowing that their parents are just as evil as Doctor Doom or the Red Skull.

Through a variety of ways, the kids come to know the evil of their parents, and refuse to participate. Their only choice is to fight back! Can a band of kids just trying to figure out how to use their powers outwit a cabal of Californians? Heck, can they even keep it together long enough to try?

This series grabbed me because I seriously did not think it was possible to insert things into the Marvel Universe like this and make it work anymore. (Want an example of this not working? Go see just about any comic with the Sentry in it written by Bendis.) Vaughan is smart and sets it in a state that doesn't have a lot of heroes, California, which helps, but he's also careful not to try and make too many connections.

Sure, there are references to the rest of the Marvel U, and we even get a cult favorite set of guest stars, but there's no need to make this team run right into all the issues of the larger Marvel world. (In fact, when this finally happens, I think it mars the whole thing.) Marvel is a large place, and there's plenty of room for something like Runaways.

The key is to get a good writer who understands this. Vaughan does, and it shows. While it's always hard to get people to read something new, if it's good, by a quality writer, people will follow, at least some of the time. I'm glad that was the case with Runaways.

It helps that Vaughan puts together a strong plot that arcs perfectly over 3 trades or 18 issues, depending on how you look at it. There's a hard but not impossible goal, the team has classic Marvel conflict, and even in victory, there is defeat. It's written in a modern version of the Mighty Marvel Manner, with characters any reader can relate to, despite their powers.

On top of it, Vaughan also adds realistic touches about being teens on the run, and the various problems that might cause them. Done wrong, that would get in the way of the story. Instead, it adds a level to the proceedings that weaves in and out of her heroic narrative.

The artwork on this series is the only thing I'm not overly fond of. It's done in that style that feels too computerized to me, with characters that resemble figures from video games rather than comics. Your mileage may vary in that regard, but I don't care for it.

Runaways in its first incarnation here in these three trades is a wonderful, self-contained series that I would recommend to anyone. If you like Brian K. Vaughan's other series but haven't read these issues yet, it's time to give them a try. You'll be glad you did.

"Runaways" for the Weekend

I'm taking a short break, but I'd hate you to think I'm running away from reviewing.

So, here's another themed weekend for you, this time based on two series that were linked together, which unfortunately did neither of them any good.

This weekend's feature will be Runaways and Young Avengers, starting with their good stuff early in their runs and moving on to the not-as-good books that happened on the wrong side of Civil War.

Enjoy!

Birth of a Nation

Written by Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin
Illustrated by Kyle Baker
Three Rivers Press

In an unnamed year that sure looks familiar, the struggling city of East St. Louis tries to make a difference in a close election. The trouble is, due to some interesting interpretations of legislation that disenfranchises the large African American population, they're not allowed.

In comes a controversial President that looks awfully familiar as well, and the Mayor of East St. Louis isn't going to take this lying down. But what can you do when even the civil rights leaders go away in search of a winnable cause?

Enter a wealthy man with a plan--form your own country and start over! Soon, East St. Louis is the Republic of Blackland, and a rather familiar set of political figures can't figure out how to take the new nation down. While the former Mayor tries to put a country together, the United States forms its response and the rest of the world interferes from the sidelines.

Can the new republic survive surrounded by hostile forces on the outside and threatened by familiar corruption on the inside? Only time will tell as things race to a climax in this satire.

This is one of those books you know immediately you're either going to like or hate. McGruder is best known for the Boondocks, and as Hudlin notes in his introduction, if you're reading this book, you probably already know that. The Boondocks pushed the boundaries of a newspaper strip on a regular basis and liked to push buttons on both sides of the racial divide that folks might prefer leaving alone. I'm not as familiar with Hudlin's non-Marvel work, so I can't speak for him as well as I can for McGruder, but I know he's not afraid to be controversial, either.

Thus, if you like your comics bland or hate the idea of a "funnybook" being racially political, do yourself a favor and steer clear of this one. Even if you came here as a "comic snob" looking for Kyle Baker (Hudlin's words), this is not the book for you. You'll just get angry and use this book to justify your own feelings.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on. This book was originally supposed to be a movie, and it shows. Baker is using a storyboard style, as he has with several of his other comics, and there is no attempt to make this look like a graphic novel. The script often reads like the plot of a screenplay, and the pacing fits a roughly ninety minute movie with breathers between the comedic and serious sections. Hudlin says they couldn't get this to be a movie, which is a shame because it would have been a good one.

It's also a bit of a shame that our co-authors didn't try harder to adapt this to its new medium or allow Baker to do so if they weren't interested. There are too many times when it shows that this wasn't written to be a comic, and it hurts the story. Set pieces often feel like just that, a piece, and the alternation between summary and banter are awkward. It feels a bit like they were just tossing this out there, hoping maybe it would attract enough support to get the movie back off the ground. (Given how many comics-to-movies we've seen lately, that's not a bad idea. I'd certainly rather go see this than, say, Kick-Ass.)

Despite having one hand tied behind its creative back, this is still pretty good. Hudlin and McGruder's send-ups of the George W. Bush Administration, including Colin Powell's inability to get anyone to care about what he thinks, are spot-on. They take each major player's character flaws and exaggerate them to just the right point. Their Bush stand-in is a mixture of muddled thinking and confusion, and it fits the story just right. The original and the avatar's inability to get words correct provides great verbal wordplay in the comedic bits.

On the other side, our two authors also create stereotypes of the wealthy African American, the gang thug that thinks he is the real power behind East St. Louis, the strong ties between religion and elderly blacks (the flag ends up with Jesus on it because old people controlled the committee), and other little touches that show they were looking to satirize both sides.

Some times, things get a bit heavy-handed. An East St. Louis native pilot is treated in the worst way possible by the American Military and some of the actions and comments by the Bush folks and in other areas are a bit ham-fisted. Both McGruder and Hudlin can lay things on a bit thicker than they need to at times (Hudlin turning Doom, a gypsy, into a racist made no sense and wasn't needed, during his Black Panther run) and that's definitely on display here.

It's hard to get satire just right, though, so I can forgive them some faults. When you have a person say that "The good Christian people of Mississippi don't take too kindly to secession," you know you're on to something good. Other great moments are having the gang leader turning his "troops" into soldiers, people ragging on the selection of Prince as the anthem-maker, and the Colin Powell stand-in's comment that he might need a job in the new nation if things don't work out for him with the US Government. Moments like those will carry you past a few bumps that might have worked okay in a movie but feel forced on the page.

Kyle Baker's artwork here reminds me of Mad Magazine and Sergio Aragones in particular. His designs are almost like the real people being made fun of, but not quite. There's a lot of focus on faces and comedic posing, and their legs and arms are basically stick figures. He loads up on little details, which can easily be overlooked if you aren't watching for them. He even manages to fit in multiple perspectives and camera angles despite working around whatever text McGruder and Hudlin opt to share. I've seen Baker try all sorts of art styles, and he never fails to deliver. This book is no exception.

Birth of a Nation is not for the faint of heart and honestly probably best for those who already are familiar with (and share) Hudlin and McGruder's politics. Hudlin uses his knowledge of East St. Louis to ground the satire in a firm foundation. Despite being a bit forced here and there, the story works. I really wish they'd tried to adapt Birth of a Nation to the comic medium a bit better, but if you want to see a well-done parody of the first years of the Bush Administration with great artwork, this is the book for you. Fans of any of the three men involved in this project will not be disappointed.