Blogcritics Category: Books: Comics and Graphic Novels

Blu-ray Review: Wanted (2008)

El Bicho — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 01:03:10 EST

I wanted my wasted time back after sitting through this mess.
Timur Bekmambetov’s Wanted is simply stunning. And it has to be, because if the viewers aren’t stunned by the frenetically paced action and loud soundtrack, they will see how utterly stupid the story is. Loosely based on the Top Cow comic book series written by Mark Millar and drawn by J. G. Jones, which had a terrific story that the...

Manga Review: The Manga Guide to Statistics by Shin Takahashi

Aspi — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 10:23:43 EST

Shin Takahashi makes Statistics cute and hip with this graphic tutorial.
Shin Takahashi’s The Manga Guide to Statistics contains – as advertized – both Manga and Statistics. What exactly is Manga? It’s a style of drawing that was birthed and refined in Japanese comics. It's characterized by a heightened display of emotions (think: plenty of emanata), hip characters and dramatic framing. But...

Book Review: Dilbert 2.0 - 20 Years of Dilbert by Scott Adams

Wesley Mead — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 18:50:17 EST

Two decades of office satire, subversion and surreality.
Dilbert is one of the most successful comic strips of all time. It's syndicated in a mind-boggling 2000 newspapers spread across 65 countries. It's now been running a stunning 20 years. And - shock horror - it's actually brilliant.In popular culture, the cream of the crop rarely rises to the top. Reality shows dominate the TV ratings....

Manga Review: Dragon Ball Z - Volume One by Akira Toriyama (VizBig Edition)

Bill Sherman — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 04:40:50 EST

A hefty paperback omnibus collects three volumes of this classic All Ages fight manga.
Though many manga and anime lovers have long been ahead of me on this 'un, I've only just recently started to get into "the greatest fighting manga ever!" - Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z. A popular "All Ages" series, Toriyama's Dragon Ball books, have been divided into two sections for American audiences. The first, simply called Dragon Ball,...

Graphic Novel Review: Kingdom Come by Alex Ross and Mark Waid

Adam Klin Oron — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:55:07 EST

Kingdom Come is a heady mix of action, mythology and multiple super-heroes.
Red Arrow, Aquaman II, The Whiz, Braniac's Daughter, Avia, Atom Smasher, Phoebus, Alloy, Magog, Pinwheel, Nightstar. These are just some of the new super-heroes introduced in the Kingdom Come miniseries (now collected as a trade paperback), saying nothing of virtually every important hero - and many villains - from the DC universe. Little...

Graphic Novel Review: Green Lantern: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert

Mel Odom — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:39:16 EST

Hal Jordan's assumption of the Green Lantern role held more secrets than anyone knew -- until now.
Green Lantern is undoubtedly one of the most recognized heroes in the DC universe. Especially the Hal Jordan version of Green Jordan. The initial concept of having a fearless jet pilot was fantastic, yet people saw fit to keep jacking around with his origin. Thankfully, Geoff Johns figured out a way to save Hal Jordan from the tangled web of...

Manga Review: Iron Wok Jan - Volume 27 by Shinji Saijyo

Bill Sherman — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:48:55 EST

The popular Japanese cooking comedy comes to a calculatedly frustrating finish.
"No hugging, no lessons learned." I thought of this Seinfeld writing credo as I belatedly finished the final episode of Shinji Saijyo's Iron Wok Jan! (DrMaster) recently. Twenty-seven volumes of our comic anti-hero obnoxiously lording it over his culinary inferiors -- and the little bastard never grows or changes. When the final...

Graphic Fiction Review: The Mask Omnibus, Volume 1 by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke

Blake Matthews — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:13:02 EST

The Mask Omnibus, Volume 1 shows the source material for the hit movie starring Jim Carrey.
For the past few years Dark Horse Comics has been publishing mostly long out-of-print stories in large books called Omnibus; they’ve done Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, and Terminator to name a few. In each volume, you get several hundred pages of adventures for a very reasonable price. In 1994, the movie The Mask, starring Jim Carrey, was...

Graphic Fiction Review: The Soddyssey and Other Tales of Supernatural Law by Batton Lash

Bill Sherman — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:45:03 EST

A reissued collection of comic stories blends monsters and legal dramedy to humorous and satiric effect.
Now that Boston Legal has officially closed its offices, where can the lover of ludicrous legal dramedy go for their fix of outrageous cases and sophistic arguments? Allow me to recommend Batton Lash's Supernatural Law. A long-running indy humor comic and current webcomic, Lash's series centers on an unlikely pair of lawyers, Alanna Wolff...

Graphic Fiction Review: Indiana Jones Omnibus, Volume 2

Blake Matthews — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:11:22 EST

Continues the reprinting of long out of print Indiana Jones tales which Indy fans will enjoy.
For the past few years Dark Horse Comics has been publishing mostly long out of print stories in large books called Omnibus; they’ve done Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, and Terminator to name a few. You get several hundred pages of adventures in each volume for a very reasonable price. Following the Indiana Jones Omnibus, Vol. 1 is the...