A. E. Sparrow Comic Reviews

The cynic in me wanted to believe this book would be horrible. There's no way a manga based on one of my favorite movies of all time, written by one of my favorite writers, could ever hope to live up to my expectations. And it didn't. It absolutely shattered them. We rarely hand out anything above a 9.5 here at IGN, and there's debate as to whether this book could truly be called a manga or not, but excellence is excellence, and this book has that in abundance. If you're a fan of the movie, don't hesitate to pick this up. If you have no idea what I've been rambling about for the past three to four paragraphs, get to your nearest Netflix or Best Buy and find out what you've been missing out on all these years.

At $13.95 and with a Mature rating on it, The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls may find itself fighting an uphill battle against readers who are used to books with a smaller page size and a price to go with it. One of the great things about this job is all the great manga I get to read for free. One of the drawbacks of this job is all the great manga I get to read for free, because only the first one's free. If I continued to collect every series I've enjoyed through the course of this job I'd be broke, my wife would leave me, and I'd have a house loaded to the gills with manga. So when I say this is a series I plan on collecting, it's not a statement I say lightly. Any time a book can remind me why I love this crazy manga thing as much as I do, that book is worth my attention and my money, and the same goes for the rest of you.

It's safe to say that if you like animation, you'll find at least one or two cartoons in here that you watched (or still watch) on a regular basis, and the little behind-the-scenes notes make this a great book to pick up. Nicktoons didn't necessarily revolutionize animation as a whole, but they did open up a whole new arena to a new generation of viewers.

It's probably pissing on the lords of literature to say this book is a manga fan's Catcher in the Rye, but there's enough Holden Caulfield, or even Tyler Durden, in Satou and the events that surround him to make this story a solid read for anyone interested in books that examine the human condition. I tend to eat these up, and I really enjoyed this book. Chalk up another one for the "Gotta go get the manga or see the anime" camp. These Pop Fiction books are really eating into my savings! A hikikomori would say it's a conspiracy, just like Satou and the N.H.K. I have my reservations, however, that the manga/anime simply won't live up to how I felt after reading this book.

Arthurian purists may see the cover of this book and instantly turn up their collective noses, which would be a real shame. It's a fun enough read that doesn't completely insult the history-buff in the process. Great artwork and solid writing is almost always a recipe for a good comic, and this book certainly isn't the exception to the rule. It's not going to be for everyone, as it is predominantly aimed at the teen female crowd who tend to read Cabot's books. Nevertheless, there's plenty of reasons for anyone to enjoy Avalon High:Coronation, whether you're an Arthur fan or not.

The artwork on this book is among some of the best I've seen out of Korea. Loose and flowing like the poetry that provides the narration it's based around, there is plenty of bold contrast, great costume design and good use of tone. If the book falters anywhere, it's because it tries to serve two masters - delicate artwork that seems to want to convey one story, with loose, free-form writing that's telling me another. They're both gorgeous, but they don't work together quite as easily as we might want. Ultimately, this book wasn't easy for me to enjoy, yet by the final page I felt like I'd really read something substantial.

Suppli is an excellent book for older shojo readers who might be growing out of the typical high-school love story that's so common to the genre. It takes a more mature approach to its subject matter, and women who have only begun to make their way in the professional world will most likely enjoy Minami's story. When compared to any other love story the world might have to offer, it's actually kind of a vanilla tale. However, when you put it up against the current crop of manga out there, Suppli offers something rather unique…a romance for grownups.

If you're a Naruto fan, chances are you've already bought this book. If you know a Naruto fan, this is a great book to pick up for them. If you're neither, this is still a book that will be a valuable tool if you plan to produce your own artwork, manga or otherwise, as it provides not only a look at the physical process of creation, but the mental process that helps provide the ideas in the first place.

Kia Asamiya has created a really captivating tale for any fan of this type of story. It's unfortunate that the artwork doesn't quite hold up to the quality of the writing. Almost every character has the exact same face and expression throughout most of the book, and there are whole panels where a background or even some more depth on an existing background would have been a nice touch. In an interesting addition at the end, Kia explains that their offices were moving, and also talks about suffering from a cold during the production of this volume. I'm making a mental note to check out some of the earlier volumes to see if this book was maybe just a fluke. I'm really hoping it is, as this could easily become one of my favorite books of the past year.

I don't know that Princess Resurrection is one that I'd collect for my own personal entertainment, but I can certainly see an audience for it. While it's easy to dismiss this as just another gothic tale with a nice bit of humor to give it an edge, the artwork pushes it to another level and provides some real eye-candy that's usually only reserved for a few pages in your average manga. Mitsunaga delivers the goods on nearly every other page, and it's a true feast for the studying artist who's interested in seeing just how much detail can be thrown into a panel without distracting the reader.

Mizuki has a loose style and no problem taking up an entire page to get the point across. Readers used to seeing a manga loaded with panels, side jokes, and an overabundance of writing crowding each page might find this book a little jarring, but there's a real beauty to it that ought to catch you off guard. You'll find yourself reading along at a fairly average pace, your eyes going from panel to panel when suddenly you're stuck on one particular image for an extended period of time…and not necessarily because it's some intricate piece of work. Often the eye-catching work is nothing more than well-placed black ink on a white background, but it's enough to really grab you and keep you there. I like books that control me rather than the other way around, and Ba-Ku manages to pull that off quite nicely.

Shinshoku Kiss threw me a couple times, as I wasn't sure what I was reading. Was it a manga version of the cult-film Secretary with Fool as a poor man's James Spader? Was it a potential love story (it really didn't help when the author states "If I was really good at drawing children, I would've made Kotoko a 12-year old girl.") Or is it simply a story about a girl who loves dolls enough to put up with the weirdness surrounding her in order to improve her craft down the road? For now, I'm willing to accept that much and leave it there. Fans of doll culture (and there's a huge culture surrounding dolls in Japan) will definitely enjoy aspects of this book.

Project D.O.A. needed to be a lot better than it actually was. Certainly the promise was there, but the execution just didn't pull off what was needed. Completists won't care for the artistic switch-up from volume one to two. Anyone looking for particularly deep or interesting characters will also be left wanting more. It might have made an interesting television series, or possibly a film, but as a manga…at least as this manga…it simply doesn't deliver the goods.

Trekkers are going to buy this book no questions asked. Whether or not they're fans of manga, any chance to read some more stories about the crew of their favorite starship will be eagerly scooped up. The problem is, there's really nothing new about any of the stories presented in this book, so aside from the novelty of "Hey! It's a Star Trek manga!" there's really no good reason to pick this book up. Lackluster writing and equally uninventive artwork don't normally make for a recommendable book, and they certainly don't in this case. However, putting the words Star Trek on the cover often vetoes any perceived problems with the actual material, and that's also likely to be the case here.