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Post by EdoBosnar on May 22, 2024 11:28:05 GMT -5
Ryuko vols 1-2 Eldo Yoshimizu, 2019 ![](https://i.imgur.com/LWieswk.jpg) The titular Ryuko is some kind of high-level operative for a large Japanese organized crime gang who’s mainly active in the Middle East. However, early on in this story she rushes back to Japan because she finds out that her mother, who she had thought was killed when she was a small child, is being held captive by a Chinese criminal organization (which also has extensive interests in Japan). As the story progresses, we learn that the latter is actually a secret society called Black Glory, which was formed in the 17th century to oppose the Manchurian Qing dynasty and which over the ensuing centuries grew into a powerful alternate power structure not only in China but throughout East Asia. And Ryuko and her mother are somehow key figures in it. Other secretive organizations, including the CIA, take an interest in these events. The plot elements here are intriguing, but I found the execution, esp. in the first volume, really lacking. Mainly just because the story is often hard to follow – with overly stylized, almost blurred action sequences. ![](https://i.imgur.com/Ex5WIOz.jpg) It’s all made a little more confusing by the frequent flashbacks to several different periods in the past – different points in Ryuko’s childhood and adolescene, but also the pasts of several other characters. ![](https://i.imgur.com/W6qEhxY.jpg) ( the beginning of a flashback sequence set in Afghanistan involving a supporting character) I had mixed feelings about the art as well. Many scenes like the one above are very beautifully depicted, with lots of detail, while others are more like that page above. And, as is apparently customary for many mangas, the female characters, including three who are 17/18 yrs old – are often depicted in a needlessly cheesecakey fashion.
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Post by majestic on May 30, 2024 20:10:59 GMT -5
Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Linesby Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco and Jose Rafael Fonteriz, 2022 ![](https://i.imgur.com/BOpKDOq.jpg) Just got through reading the long-awaited follow-up to the first Arrowsmith mini-series from 2003 over the weekend. It’s set in the spring of 1916, and at this point airman Fletcher Arrowsmith is a somewhat more hardened veteran of many battles – although he still hasn’t lost his basic decency and humanity even if he has shed the idealism that led him to run away from home in the United States of Columbia and join the war effort in far-off Europe. In the first chapter he gets shot down in aerial combat and becomes a POW. However, we learn that this was a bit of subterfuge: he’s actually on a secret mission and his capture was deliberate, because Albionese (i.e., British) intelligence wants him to make contact with another spy in the camp. Once he does, their real task can finally begin. Like the first one, this is a very engrossing and beautifully drawn story. It does a great job of fleshing out the world Arrowsmith lives in, and is again an often an excellent commentary on the brutality of war. However, I have to admit that I liked the first one better for several reasons; a minor quibble is I liked the art a bit more in that one, because I think Jesus Merino’s inks really take Pacheco’s already beautiful art to the next level. A more serious criticism would be the fact that this one ends in a cliffhanger, i.e., it’s very much the middle part of a bigger story – uniike the first series, which obviously left open the possibility of more but can nonetheless be appreciated as a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. I hope Busiek won’t need another almost two decades to write the continuation, although in any case any further installments will unfortunately no longer have Pacheco’s art. I finally was able to get this and read it. I agree with everything you said. Hopefully Busiek will conclude the series with another artist.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 7, 2024 15:19:19 GMT -5
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518A426gdRL.jpg) Finished up reading all three volumes of Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids! Comics! Damn...that was outstanding. I know that Chaykin has his detractors, but I'm a big fan and always have been. I love that he has, by and large, done stuff that's outside the mainstream. And if it isn't always successful, at least it's interesting. This, however, was just great. A mildly disguised history of super-hero comics, warts and all...but still, by and large, a love letter to the books and the creators. Half the fun was trying to work out who was the inspiration for any given character, many of whom were amalgams of a few people. So damn good.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 10, 2024 10:18:32 GMT -5
Finished up reading all three volumes of Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids! Comics! Damn...that was outstanding. I know that Chaykin has his detractors, but I'm a big fan and always have been. I love that he has, by and large, done stuff that's outside the mainstream. And if it isn't always successful, at least it's interesting. I enjoy his Substack blog: howardchaykin.substack.com/
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,509
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Post by shaxper on Jun 12, 2024 7:50:05 GMT -5
Finished The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún last night. I generally don't dabble in manga, but the cover of the first volume really called to me, so I gave it a try. ![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51GxRTwX5vL._SY445_SX342_.jpg) It's a fascinating tale, full of both tremendous gentleness and savage darkness. Critics seem to compare it to Beauty & The Beast, but the work this feels the most similar to in my view is Bone. It lacks the adventure and the comedy, aiming for something more quiet and nuanced, but the setting and backstory draw some strong comparisons. I'm not sure this qualifies as essential reading, but it's beautiful, memorable, and a very fast read (even though the full thing comes to roughly two thousand pages). As with so many works that hint at mysteries throughout and build and build to an inevitable conclusion, the ending falters a bit and dampens my otherwise tremendous enthusiasm for this work. It's still a better (and, thankfully, more unique) ending than most, but it isn't a perfect wrap to the series either.
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Post by driver1980 on Jun 17, 2024 5:52:24 GMT -5
Reading J. Michael Straczynski’s Captain America. I’m glad we’ve finally solved the mystery of time: ![](https://i.imgur.com/Pe3lL26.jpeg)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 17, 2024 7:16:33 GMT -5
that's an interesting concept coming from the guy who's most famous work is, in fact, based on time travel.
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Post by driver1980 on Jun 17, 2024 7:56:08 GMT -5
There’s also this, which I found interesting: ![](https://i.imgur.com/Xk7Wwlk.jpeg)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 21, 2024 21:37:06 GMT -5
I read the Transformers trade last night on Hoopla.. it was just about what I figured it was.. basic plot, a bit of characterization, and some really cool Daniel Warren Johnson art (who I'm definitely a fan of). I don't think I need to pay 4 bucks an issue, but I was happy to read it for free
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