Pluto Book One: (Home country: Japan): Let me start this off by saying that the much beloved UHF stations of my childhood, not to mention Sci-Fi channel, played a lot of Astro Boy when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. In fact it is amongst my favorite animes of all time. That being said, the idea of Pluto - a 'modernization' of Astro Boy would be very easy to get wrong. Look no further than the recent animated movie for that. In spite of the noir back drop and the amount of actual violence, it is incredibly respectful of the source material. The detective story (a robot with a human partner) invokes the works of Issac Asimov almost as much as the classic Tezuka Astro Boy. Placing the robot in the lead however, allows it to achieve an emotionally subdued and subtle take on a murder mystery. Although at times the robots are also the ones who show the most passion. I got this as a Christmas present from my brother-in-law's brother but if I had paid for it, I'd have to say I got my money's worth.
Essential Hulk Volume One: by Lee, Kirby, Ditko etc.: (Home country: United States) I said last month that there would not be smashing. I lied. The book is weak even by Silver Age standards. Issues 2- 6 of the first Hulk series were quite annoying. They followed the same pattern. First Banner would show off an invention, then a villain would show up, then they'd recap Hulk's origin for five to ten pages and then Hulk would finish his fight with the villain. I could almost see Stan and Jack sitting in a room, and Stan asks if they should develop a background for the Ringmaster. Then Jack saying: 'And have to write another story board? I got a thirteen other books to ghost pencil this month. Can't we just recap the origin again?' Once Hulk was confined to ten pages (many multi-part serials) the series picked up somewhat. The fault in those later stories lies in Stan Lee just crapping out on the concluding chapters. Half of the endings make no sense or in some cases would have made better endings to the story before. To make matters worse, this is an early printing of the Essentials so they did not digitally restore some of the faded lettering or artwork. It was worth it at $5 but I wouldn't pay much more than that. Especially since a page fell out of mine, but it was the poster page in the back.
Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller Volume Two: (Home Country: United States) I have gone on record as saying this before, but it bears repeating- I don't really care for the character concept behind Daredevil. The handling of the 'disabled' super hero makes it seem all cheap gimmick. So in my mind, aside from a few cameos, the character of Daredevil starts and stops with Frank Miller. The one fault is that if you know how the Elektra story ends before you read it, it loses just a lIttle of the punch. Another big surprise, most of the time when you take your lead cast member off the lead spot of your book it crumbles. Miller does it twice with startling effect; once by placing Ben Urich in the royal of narrator/voice of truth which really helps define who both Matt Murdock and Daredevil are to the average man on the street and then in the penultimate chapter of the Elektra saga, the roll of narrator falls to Bullseye. While you certainly don't want to see him win, you end up getting wrapped up in his madness. When he gets cheated, you feel it. At $10, this trade was worth it.
Persepolis Book One: A Story from Childhood : (Home Country: Iran - by way of France): I saw the movie when it first came out and was absolutely blown away. I looked around for the graphic novels but couldn't find it for under $40. I finally I found two softbound volumes at my local used book store. The book is part history lesson and part first hand account of the Iranian revolution told through the eyes of a child up through the teen years. It's printing couldn't be more timely. The book takes great care to try to build an understanding from two worlds that really aren't as different as they might seem. While Marjane Satrapi's work is still only a few years old, I don't think it will be long before it will be viewed on the same level as 'Maus' or 'Contract with God'. At $7.95, I was robbing the poor used book store blind. They didn't know what they had.
Persepolis Book Two: A Story of a Return: (Home Country: Iran - by way of France): Much of the innocence is drained from this book, as Satrapi reaches her late teens. The first half of the book is the tale of a young Iranian woman trying to fit into western culture. It's a story of heart break, disillusionment and a complete emotional breakdown. At first glance, her return to Iran is a return in more ways than one, though there is more heart break around the corner. It is a much deeper and harder read than the first half of the series. It gets its point across that no matter where you go, no matter what your religion, race or nationality people are people. As with the first book, I have no trouble saying I got what I paid for. It was a good use of $7.95.
Trigun Maximum vol 13. (Home Country: Japan) - I had all but given up on this series when I saw the last two issues at a Borders one town over from me. They had a buy four get the fifth free sale so I grabbed a bunch of stuff. That being said- I love Trigun the television series. It is a well focused, to the point story of about what it takes to be a good person and the place of violence in the world of civilized man. The manga on the other hand, lost its way around volume nine or ten. Once the story changed from being about Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl and Milly to being about Olivio, the point of the story- that violence is an ugly but sometimes necessary aspect of human nature gets lost in a haze of action shots and occasional bouts of mildly brutal gore. The comedic elements such as the cat that randomly appears through the series is gone. Milly's reading innuendoes into everything like a female Todd from Scrubs and even Vash's skirt and doughnut chasing have also vanished. Vash himself only appears in a few chapters of the last few volumes and the series is supposed to be his story. I paid $10 for this one and did not get my money's worth.
Sgt. Frog Volume Thirteen: (Home Country: Japan): Sergeant Frog is probably one of my favorite mangas for one simple reason- it all but says what most of us already believe- there is just as much crap in the Japanese comics market as there is in the American comics; it's just that American teens think 'It's Japanese so it must be better'. Thus, the impetus to make fun of it. This particular volume shows that the series has been showing some wear as it ages. The April Fool's story- a riff on the Orson Wells version of War of the Worlds- is hysterical. The one gimmick I think the series should just let go of is the holiday specials. Sure there is humor to be milked from the aliens misunderstanding a holiday, but there are at least two or three such stories in this volume with varying degrees of success. Though the stories that focus on Japanese holidays at least educate the American reader to Japanese culture, so that's a plus. The bread battle was just great. Then again- one of my all time favorite Japanese exports are giant monster movies like Godzilla and Gamera. I got what I paid for here.
Trigun Maximum Volume 14.: (Home Country: Japan): This is an even bigger let down than the previous volume. The first few pages present the reader with the Trigun of old. The goofy, quip spouting Vash is doing his best to aggravate his opponents. Then it pulls the rug out from under the reader. I felt cheated. An attempt is made to reintroduce Meryl and Milly, but it seems more like Nightow saying: 'Oh look, we haven't seen them since volume 12, we had better bring them back. Let's see what they're up to before we blow some more $#@! up.' Then they'd argue with the captain of the Earth forces, or recap some vital information to some authority figure and vanish again. The serious changes to the ending really didn't work for me. The anime's ending was a special thing. Vash actually kills Legato. He ends up a broken man. It is only through Meryl's guidance that he finds his way back to his center and does what needs doing without betraying who he is. In the manga, someone else kills Legato. Which makes you question why they put Vash's honor code into the story at all. Never put a loaded gun on stage unless you intend to fire it. The epilogue was almost worth it- with a true return to the Trigun of old. It almost makes me wish for more but only if it would be more like the first half of the manga. This was a total waste of a free trade paper back. I could have gotten more Sgt. Frog. Speaking of which---
Sgt. Frog Fourteen - (Home Country: Japan) - This volume is the series back in full form. Lots of failed attempts at destroying the world. Lots of random silliness. Most importantly lots on interspecies romantic comedy. Also no real holiday specials. What I love about Sgt. Frog is the series almost endless ability to take any ordinary thing like a trip to the swimming pool and turn it into a major disaster. This volume takes some time to explore the relationships between the Keroro platoon and their human counterparts. Unlike the 'anything goes' attitude normally associated with this series, it actually bothers with continuity for the first time in a very long while. The result is that there are stories that might not be all that funny if that was your first volume but those of us who have been following the series since volume one were left howling. I'm still wondering if/when we'll see General Mom make more than a one panel cameo again. It seems she appears less and less each volume.
The Ultimate Spider-Man Collection Volume One - (Home Country: United States): I had a horrible experience with the Ultimate universe (Ultimate X-Men) that I think I let bias me towards the entire line. At a friend's insistence, I decided to give the universe as a whole two more chances. The result this time was- it is interesting enough in the Elseworld sort of way. Yes, a lot of the early Lee/Ditko stuff does not age well in terms of dialogue. The Bendis and Bagley approach does, though had it share of groan inducing moments. Part of the appeal of Peter Parker in early days is that he was the ultimate loner who trusted nobody other than Aunt May but he even kept her in the dark about Spider-Man. Which made the last issue in the volume sort of a disappointment. If the whole point of Ultimates was to do new and different Spider-Man stories, why rush things with Mary Jane? Why bring in so much of the supporting cast more associated with the Romita era at all? Mary Jane, Harry, Norman and Kingpin are now in the picture from day one. Even characters brought in later from other series (Ben Urich) are given screen time. It's almost like they were purposely trying to create a series as close to the Spider-Man movies as they could and still do it as a comic. The mish mash is a little off putting since, in spite of what one might think, the storytelling mechanics for the two mediums are very different. As an alternate universe story with no branching point from canon, which is usually the kiss of death, it was still rather strong. I loved the Arthur Simek and Sam Rosen joke. It was also kind fun to use of some bottom of the barrel Spider-Man villains like the Enforcers, Mr. Big/The Big Man and midrange hitter Electro. Overall, I'm going to say it is at least worth a trade or two more. Since the book cost me $12.95, or roughly a dollar an issue, for the first time I can't really be sure if I got my money's worth or not.
The Punisher - Man of Stone - (Home Country: USA - by way of Ireland) Whenever I have a bad day, I turn to something to vent my anger on. Somehow reading anything by Garth Ennis makes me feel a lot better. Good guys get punished, bad guys get punished. Part of the joy of his Punisher isn't wondering who (apart from Frank) is going to die but when are they going to die. Is it going to be extremely gory but under comic circumstances? Is it going to be tragic? Or is it going to be brutal just for the sake of being brutal. This one has it all. This volume actually wasn't all that violent compared to 'Kitchen Irish' or 'Welcome Back, Frank' and never even come close to the darkest moments of Ennis's Preacher. The one moment that doesn't quite work is Frank Castle holding O'Brien as she died. To me, the appeal of Ennis's Frank Castle was a man who is completely stripped of all sentimentality, human affection or even a sense or morality and who recognizes that. Ennis is unique in making the character both extremely violent but at the same time palatable. Instead of focusing that rage indiscriminately he goes after other people who are like him. Having him show compassion- and especially him admitting it to someone- doesn't seem right to me. It shouldn't work but I won't give it away why it does. The last page stripped away any doubts I had about Ennis's ability to understand Frank Castle. Even at full price this was worth it. Plus, it got me a free Terry Pratchett book. Always a plus.
Astro Boy 1 and 2 (Omnibus Edition) by Osamu Tezuka (Home Country: Japan): In the world of manga, there is one name who rightful shines above all others: Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka's work is cartoony and energetic. His plots are usually pretty silly and border on the surreal. While he violates laws of anatomy, unlike a certain American artist we at Collector Times love to take shots at- Tezuka does it is it in such a way that it demonstrate his understanding of the mechanics of animation and comics. The other thing that makes Tezuka's work shine is its sense of humor. Many Astro Boy stories are filled with strange non human or robot creatures in the background. Many of the supporting cast like Professor Ochanobizu and Mr. Mustachio take time out of the stories to complain to the audience without it becoming too annoying. Tezuka has been called 'The Walt Disney of Japan' and 'The God of Manga'. A more simple one would be 'genius'. I may be a 29 and a half years old man but I've never really forgotten how to be a seven year old boy. So I must say that Astro Boy was worth my fifteen bucks.
The Essential Iron Man Volume 1 by Lee, Kirby, Heck et al (Home Country: USA): At this illustrious moment I must astonishingly aggravate all of the assembled Collector Times readership by explaining with exhausting excitement and exponential annoyance the level of the eternally exasperating excrement that Iron Man achieves while agilely imitating (without even a seasoning of sanctimony) the ill-fittingly alliterated superconductive stylings of Smilin' Stan Lee. My original sensei in the art of comic collecting back in middle school used to say that you could tell how much Stan Lee liked a concept judging by how soon he started plotting it and farming the script out to other writers. He gave scripting rights over to Larry 'The Man's Brother' Leiber before the series even began. This was not a good sign. Leiber then gave the book over to R. Burns which was another bad omen. Burns gave way to Stan Lee at which point the book improved. By the time it reached the quality of most of the other Marvel books of the time, including it's own co-feature Captain America, it had almost reached is triumphant conclusion. I paid 10 paper heads of George Washington for this unrepentantly unreadable unessential and Holy Hannah that burns my buttons. Nuff said.
Sgt. Frog Volume 15: This volume the series gets a little weirder. From an attempt at using party games and aerobatics in a plot to take over the world, to a yearly inspection to make sure the prisonors of war (also known as Keroro Platoon) are safe to a spoof of government in action, the series has not been as funny in awhile. Furthermore, it was nice to see General Mom actually make at least a three panel appearance this time. As much as I enjoy the frogs and Natsumi and Fuyuki it's nice to see their mother isn't a total absentee like Mr. And Mrs. Brown from Peanuts. Like the previous volume, they've gotten in the habit of using continuity again and that's a good thing. They also revised the character relationship flow chart again so that everyone fits the descriptions a little better. I got what I paid for here. All is right with the world.
Final Score:
