'Steel Ball Run' #1 and 2 Review

    Alright, this is my comic blog so I've got to do it. I've got to review some of my favorite comic EVER, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I HAVE TO DO THIS. I've been reading Jojo off and on for a few years now and I'm currently on part seven (Steel Ball Run) so I figure I'll review a bit and see how it goes. If you're unfamiliar with this series, each part of Jojo is comprised of a different story with different characters, ranging from five to twenty volumes in length. They're all so unique and interesting, Jojo is basically seven (eight as of recently) completely different manga series in one. In other words: IT KICKS ASS. Since this manga isn't available to American readers (with the exception of part three), I'm reading Steel Ball Run online chapter by chapter. But doing a review of it only by chapter seems too trivial so I'll review it by volume(s).

Plot Summary


Part six of Jojo took place in a prison in 2012 and due to some crazy events at the end, SBR takes place in the wild west in the 1890's. This manga originally started off in Weekly Jump but after about twenty four chapters, it changes into a monthly series. In a nutshell, the story is about a huge race on horseback from San Diego to New York. The two main characters are introduced a good way into the first volume, Gyro Zeppeli (an ancestor of the recurring Zeppeli family) and Johnny Joestar (SBR's JoJo). Johnny is a paraplegic and when he gets touched with Gyro's mysterious steel balls, the strange rotation effect from them causes Johnny's dead legs to actually move. Before starting the race, he decides that he's going to find out the mystery of the steel balls and how they got his legs to move.



















We meet some interesting contestants. Diego Brando (known as Dio) and Muhammad Abdul are reincarnations of former Jojo characters. A man known as Poco Loco is a hilariously awesome black guy competing in the race. He's been told by a fortune teller than his luck is one in five billion so he decides to give the SBR race a shot. Another big character is a native American known as Sandman, who is competing in the race ON FOOT. He has a big advantage knowing the regions of the country much better than the other contestants. I don't want to give many spoilers away so I won't go into what happens in the race. The writer/artist Hirohiko Araki is a godlike being in my eyes; his art gets better with every Jojo series and Steel Ball Run is no exception. Art wise, everything is there in this series and it'll only get better as it goes on. I'm excited to see how much the art will improve in the latter part of SBR when it's a monthly title.

These first two volumes are very much in the western type genre and the series doesn't really become bizarre until volume three. I think Araki cleverly made this series seem very different at first and slowly integrated his Jojo style into it over time. SBR is definitely for a crowd older than that of typical Weekly Jump. These two volumes seem like a pretty straightforward manga story but once you get to the the third volume, shit gets BIZARRO. My first impression of reading Jojo a few years ago was that it was really disturbing and frankly, that hasn't changed! No matter how much I read into the series, it never ceases to disturb me in new and interesting ways. I mean this in a very humble and inspirational way.

Unlike the other parts of Jojo, I don't think it's necessary to read everything up to this point. SBR is still a part of the Jojo lore but it's very much its own series and everything is explained thoroughly. But if you're like me and you've read Jojo parts one through six up to this point, then it's just that much sweeter. Other than having to read this manga online, it's a fantastic read. It's got intense action, good comedy and a nice western feel to it.

Read this series.


Steel Ball Run volumes 1 and 2 - 9/10

Poll #3 Results

The poll for "favorite member of the Justice League" has ended! We didn't have many votes but I'm going to keep posting polls and try to get more hits. The winner is one of my personal favorite heroes in DC comics......GREEN ARROW!

The emerald archer is a badass indeed. I'm currently reading the 500 page DC Showcase Green Arrow, I'll review that when I'm finished. Flash got second place in the voting, also a badass.

Shonen Jump #97 Review

   So I had a subscription to Shonen Jump for quite a long time, I own MANY issues. I figured I'd do a quick review of an issue. It's not very recent but it's one of the last issues I got before my subscription was up. This issue of Jump is not only the first of 2011 but it's also the WILD NEW EVOLVED edition of Jump. Well, the layout is a little different and...that's it. Alright. There's an large image on the side of a Naruto chapter cover but it looks like it's alrighty partway through? It should be the far left of the image but it looks like the middle to me. Oh well. We've got some YUSEI goin' on in the cover. We'll get more into the Yusei business later. As a note, I've read this issue before but I just wanted to review some more Jump on my blog.


Psyren - First up, we've got chapters one and two of Psyren. I'd heard of Psyren many times but this issue was actually my first time reading any of it. I gotta say, it's pretty interesting. Since it's a mystery/thiller, I think it would be a hard series to jump right into from the middle. I've read so little of it overall so a lot of it is still pretty confusing, not much has been answered as far as I've read. It makes it fun to keep reading but definitely difficult for someone starting up at a later chapter. The art is really good, I like the inking a lot. I won't give away any surprises, check it out yourself if you get the chance!

4/5


Naruto - Ahh, Naruto. Such a love/hate relationship. Overall, it's one of my favorite series but sometimes I think a chapter is just awful. These chapters are about Tobi and Kabuto teaming up, their evil secret plans of doom starting to unfold. Naruto goes to a secluded island to train with Killer Bee. Overall, good bunch of chapters. One comment I have is VIZ's HORRIFIC translations of Killer Bee's rapping. Oh my god. I've read a good amount of Naruto scanlations online and the translations the fans make are so much better than what VIZ makes, it's kind of sad, actually. I've caught up with reading Naruto weekly on many different occasions but I can never keep up with it. Most of the time, it's just not good enough to keep me reading EVERY week. Nevertheless, I still have a special place in my heart for Naruto and company.

3.5/5



One Piece - It's One Piece. What else should I say? It's One Piece. I've praised Eichiiro Oda's comic on here before. The chapters featured in this issue of Jump have the death of a certain hugely important character *HINTFIREFISTHINT* One Piece is superb and never disappoints. Honestly, The death of that certain beloved character is one of the saddest things I've ever read. I feel bad for those people who are alienated by Oda's artwork and don't give One Piece a chance; they are missing out on some gold.

5/5




Ultimo - This series has gotten pretty damn awesome. I can't tell if it's going to be a long series or really short. It seems like it could go for years or it could end in a month. Regardless, it's a pretty interesting story with amazing art by Hiroyuki Takei. I don't want to say much about the story because lots of important things happen almost every chapter. In my opinion, it's no Shaman King, but it's still pretty rad.

3.7/5



Bleach - Yeah, I just don't even care. I like looking at Bleach for the art but trying to read it and figure out the story is just pointless to me. Nothing very important ever seems to happen, it's just constant fighting that goes on for chapters. I'm really surprised Bleach is still running, it seems like everyone I talk to who likes it  thinks it should have ended a long time ago. Granted, this issue of Jump is still very behind to where Bleach is currently, there's a lot of catching up to do. It seems to me that Kubo doesn't like drawing backgrounds, so much of Bleach is just white surroundings. I guess I can understand not wanting to draw so many backgrounds but it makes me really appreciate series like One Piece that have extreme detail in all the backgrounds. I'm curious to see if Tite Kubo makes another series after Bleach, I could possibly get into that. We'll see!

2/5



Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's - The original Yu-Gi-Oh manga (volumes 1-7) is one of my favorite series out there. It's clever and witty and awesome. But since the original I think YGO has just been on a downward spiral. Now we've got 5D's, people are dueling while racing on motorcycles, it really seems like a joke. This manga isn't even related to the actual creator of YGO, Kazuki Takahashi, so I really didn't care about this from the start. Everything about is over the top and corny, YGO just keeps going to new heights of ridiculousness. At the end of this chapter, a massive grim reaper of death shows up to battle Yusei. So now we've got the main character preparing to play a card game with death itself (who is riding a skeleton horse) while racing him on a motorcycle. There you have it.

1.5/5

'Holy Terror' Review

WHOA! I've never heard of this before! I'm not sure where to start with this one. Holy Terror is a bit of a change of pace from my last review on here (which was shoujo). This comic book is intense. And pretty damn offensive. First off, I'd like to say that I love Frank Miller. As a writer and as an artist, but especially as an artist. Visually, Sin City is one of the most amazing works of art out there. I love 300, The Dark Knight Returns, Spawn/Batman, etc. Holy Terror starts off just as visually breathtaking as anything else by Frank Miller. The wide format Miller uses for his comics now is really interesting. The first six or so pages of the comic are all single page spreads before he starts using panels.

Plot Summary

The comic opens with The Fixer (basically Batman) right on the tail of Natalie Stack (basically Catwoman) as they swing from rooftops of a city. They start a brutal fight which eventually leads to making out. They get caught up in a much bigger deal in the form of a massive explosion across the city. This leads them to basically fighting Al-Queda (as ridiculous as that sounds). The equivilant of The Statue of Liberty gets bombed by these terrorists and this leads to The Fixer going all out against the FIENDS. Natalie Stack eventually finds herself in a massive, underground mosque lair place and having to fight her way out.

This graphic novel is pretty straightforward. Frank Miller wanted to kick some terrorist ass and he really dishes it out in this thing. It's a pretty offensive piece of work and I'm sure that's how he intended it. I wasn't really into the story much; for me, this comic is all the art. My God, it's superb. Typical Miller style whites and blacks with harsh reds. There were two pages where Natalie falls into an underwater area and the only color on both pages is pink EVERYWHERE. It's almost like she's swimming in pepto bismol but it still worked so well. The dramatic use of color really made this comic great for me. I'm surprised how much negative response this thing is getting from the comic world. I mean, yeah, it's really opinionated and offensive. I don't think that constitutes people saying Miller has 'lost his touch' or 'changed too much' or whatever. I'm shocked by how many people are bashing his artwork in Holy Terror. It does have a frantic feel to it but it's not bad at all. How can people say that it isn't good? The faces may be very bizarre looking but it's very intentional. He's still Frank Miller, his writing style and art still look like Frank Miller and this comic is very Frank Miller. It's just a fun and wild ride. I honestly thought this book was a little too short (especially for how expensive the cover price is) but it wasn't a problem. Miller depicts an obsolutely absurd-looking Obama halfway through the comic. His views are pretty clear cut for the reader. Obviously this comic is not for the easily offended. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes beautiful visuals. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. The story is definitely a little too politics/religion heavy for me to fully enjoy but the art completely made up for it.

"There's something under your coat - what is it?" "Paradise."

Holy Terror - 7.8/10

'Crimson Hero' #1 Review

This manga was a very pleasant surprise! This is pretty much what I was looking for when I picked up Red River the other day; a good shoujo! I love sports manga and this is a good example why. The first thing I noticed about this series is the art is pretty great! I can't stand when shoujo manga ka create a series that looks exactly like every other shoujo. Crimson Hero's art is a lot better than most shoujo series out there, especially the faces and clothes. There's still a heavy use of screen tone, like all shoujo, but not so much that it bothered me while reading it.

Plot Summary

The lead character Nobara Sumiyoshi is a tomboy with serious love for volleyball. Her family owns an old fashion japanese resteraunt (ryotei) and Nobara's mother wants her to become the next hostess. She attends a new high school purely on the fact that it has a popular volleyball team but soon learns that it's the boy's team that's popular and the girl's team has been shut down this year. After being sick of all the crap her mom is giving her, she decides to move out and goes to her aunt's (who is also the school nurse) for help. Her cold but caring aunt sets Nobara up at a boy's volleyball team dorm working as their dorm mother. Now we've got a good shoujo setting: girl surrounded by lots of hot guys.

We've got the asshole hot guy and the quiet hot guy in the main cast so I'm sure there'll be a love triangle happening between them. There wasn't a lot of sports action going on in volume one but I can tell there's going to be a lot coming up. Volume one is all pure set up for the series and I think volume two onward will start to have the plot actually moving forward. There are obviously still a lot of main characters that havn't even come into play yet. This series reminds me of Hikaru no Go in a lot of ways and I'm actually excited to read more! I'm glad I found a shoujo sports manga, I honestly didn't know those existed. I think this is a great series for guys who love sports manga and are intested in shoujo and girls who love shoujo and are interested in sports. IT'S A FUSION. I'm surprised to read that this series is still running and is twenty volumes strong. I'll definitely pick up volume two and read it if I can find it!

Crimson Hero #1 - 8.3/10

'Red River' #1 Review

Since I've gotten back into this, I've only been reviewing American comics so let's get back into some manga! Like I've mentioned before, I usually get most of what I review on here from the library. I've been seeing this series Red River there for a very long time and they have over twenty-five volumes there! So I figured I'll review the first volume, if it's good then I'll read more and if it sucks then I probably won't. Well...it was alright. I'm pretty neutral about it. Before I go into Red River, I'd like to bring up something that's on the first page of this volume. It's VIZ's super hip layout, they've got a definition of Shoujo, Pulp Fiction style. It says SHOUJO n. 1. Manga appealing to both female and male readers.
...what the hell? I was amazed by this. Are they saying that shonen (or any other type of comic for that matter) isn't appealing to males and females? Like they're being so edgy and radical by having their type of comic appeal to both sexes? For the record, I know a LOT more gals who like Naruto and Bleach than I do guys. Have I ever met a guy who liked any shoujo? No. I'm not saying it's impossible for a guy to like shoujo, there are some out there that I really like! (Absolute Boyfriend, Alice 19th, CLAMP shoujo) I was just really surprised by this whole GUESS WHAT OUR MANGA ACTUALLY APPEALS TO EVERYONE thing they had to say.
Now that I've got that out there, I'd like to say that Red River is most definitely for female readers. I can't see many dudes spending money on this manga.

Also, check out that cover. Our heroin looks like she's about to be stabbed or worse by multiple people. That's pleasant, right? And the with a title like RED RIVER, my mind is automatically thinking blood since we've got knives on the cover. THIS IS SHOUJO?

Plot Summary

So the manga opens with Yuri Suzuki getting her first kiss. Then the guy immediately ditches after kissing her like a jackass. Later than night, Yuri notices water seems to be acting different around her. Cups of water are sloshing and bubbling when she's near them. At school the next day, two arms shoot out of a fishtank and grab her but then disappear. When she takes a bath at night, the arms reappear and drag her under the water. She nearly drowns before her family busts in from all the noise. She decides to stay away from water  (so i'm guessing she didn't shower for a while) and later when she's walking with her beloved Satoshi, the water hands strike again!! They emerge from a puddle and drag her all the way in by the feet. She's under the water for a while and manages to break free and reaches the surface. She finds herself in an old bathhouse looking area full of strangely dressed folk. She's been transported BACK IN TIME to what is now TURKEY! She meets up with a super hot, angsty guy while on the run (he's destined to be the main hot guy of this manga) and he saves her from being captured. She runs away from him and gets captured anyway and we meet the antagonist of the tale, this crazy ass magician woman who is also the queen. We find out the super hot guy is one of the princes (there are six and I'm sure they're all super hot). So they're about to sacrifice her because the crazy queen bitch wants her dead when suddenly the hot prince KAIL says that she isn't a virgin and he was unaware she was supposed to be a virgin sacrifice. Yuri goes along with his lie and he takes her to his bachelor pad. Prince Kail tries to have her for real but she freaks and yells SATOSHI! So Kail leaves her alone and we all know she's gonna get with him eventually anyway. She gets a servant guy named Tito (which I thought was hilarious) and he's a cool kid. But the queen hypnotizes him and has Tito try to kill Yuri. The volume ends with her still on the run from the queen with Kail.

I didn't have much of an opinion on volume one. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great. The art style almost reminds of Osamu Tezuka's (Astro Boy) whimsical kind of style. Unfortunately there was one panel in here that was pretty awful looking, it actually scared me. It's just a shot of Yuri's profile view but the placement of her GIANT eye is so low on her head, it's practically below her nose. Pretty terrifying.
I might read volume two if I'm up for it.

Red River #1 - 5.3/10

'Legionnaires' #7 Review

So I'd like to review this issue for a number of reasons. I picked this up at a local comic store for 50 cents for one reason: Adam Hughes! One of my favorite comic artists, Hughes' art is very recognizable and I had to pick this up. I'd never read a Legionnaires issue before but this is #7, still pretty early in the game. Not only was this issue GREAT, but it's one of the best illustrated comics I've ever seen. Adam Hughes' pencils with Mark Farmer's thick black outlines really makes some phenomenal artwork. Attempting to be something of an artist myself, I find this issue to be very inspirational. Since this adventure takes place underwater and everyone is in very little clothing, this issue is a great study of the human figure. Hughes' facial expressions are very well done and really bring all the characters to life.

Plot Summary



So the Earth has been destroyed (I'm not completely sure how or when) and our heroes are visiting Atlantis, which is very big in tourism. This is basically their vacation getaway and in the Legionnaires are big celebrities to the public. Inferno takes a liking to a local mermaid and hey follow her to her family's Inn and decide to stay there. Meanwhile, local Atlanteans are being randomly slaughtered by some MYSTERY BEASTS. All the Legionnaires start splitting up throughout Atlantis and doing their own thing. Matter-Eater Lad (great name) keeps trying to hit on Shrinking Violet but she keeps shutting him down. Inferno is spending time with the hot mermaid chick when some blaster fire interrupts their good time! A local starts attacking one of the "devil-fish" that's been killing people. Inferno destroys his gun and goes on a mission to figure out what's been happening in Atlantis to cause this. Later the other half of the gang is off having fun when more locals and devil-fish start fighting. The Legionnaires are caught up in the crossfire and Brainiac suddenly interrupts the quarrel speaking the devil-fish language. He explains that he's ordered them to cease their attacks on people and that they're actually intelligent creatures. He explains their history and how the rivalries started and basically patches things up between the two parties. When the Legionnaires are leaving the next day they assume that they don't have to pay anything and the inn owners didn't want to shame themselves by asking for money. Shrinking Violet realizes this was RUDE of them, they talk about it and send Matter-Eater Lad and Inferno back to ask about paying. They find the mermaid girl crying and saying her family's inn has been closed down because they were way behind on payments. The team decides to all chip in for the payments and the issue ends with Shrinking Violet commenting that Tenz (matter-eater lad) is KINDA CUTE. hee hee!

There was one panel where Triad (who is split into three different people) is commenting to herself on a previous "encounter" with Inferno. "Last time we listened to Inferno, we couldn't sit down for a month." "D-Don't bring that up again!" "Hey, the skin grew back, didn't it?"
Disturbing to say the least.

There's not a whole lot going on in the story for this issue but the art makes it a damn good read. The character relationships are pretty interesting on the team and I'd definitely like to read more in the future. It was fun to see how their hair is constantly moving underwater, usually standing straight up. I can't say enough about how great Adam Hughes is, and this issue is a great example!

Legionnaires #7 - 8.4/10