So, you’re a mediocre guy who got hit by a truck, stabbed multiple times, or maybe just had a bookshelf fall on you. Unless your name is Yuusuke Urameshi, the story of your near-immediate death is probably not that exciting. Have no fear, the author has decided to throw you into Middle Earth instead! Now…
Sleepless #1: a Fairytale
Sleepless #1 Sarah Vaughn (Writer), Leila del Duca (Artist), Alissa Sallah (Colorist), Deron Bennett (Letterer) Image Comics December 6, 2017 The living daughter of a dead king. The knight who seems to be neither living nor dead. The plot to send them all to the sarcophagi housed below. Sleepless #1 follows Pyppenia, the princess, and Cyrenic,…
One-eyed Butterfly: The Lone Queer Man of Basara
Disclaimer: This contains spoilers, so read at your own risk! Also, although Basara in general isn’t especially triggering, Ageha’s backstory, “Loquat” in volume 25, has instances of rape and child abuse. Ah, Basara, my love, my most favored manga. You are lovely and perfect. And yet, I wish you had better queer representation. What Basara…
Hipster Manga: Sekai Oni
You probably haven’t heard of it. Disclaimer: Sekai Oni is not nice or fluffy. Content at the core of its story includes rape, incest, child abuse, drug usage, suicide, sexually explicit material, and a great ol’ heaping of death. Also, spoilers.
The Subtle Horror of Japanese Comics
I’m a horror fan, and I didn’t realize it. Although I’m a wide reader genre-wise, horror and suspense were one of those genres I never really got into. Gore was gross, but not shocking. Jump scares just pissed me off. Silent Hill and its ilk were fun to watch, less fun to play when the…
10 Reasons Dark Horse Needs to Finish Releasing 3×3 Eyes
For those of us that came of age during the early anime period of the 1990s, 3×3 Eyes is a name many will recognize on the old fansub VHSes passed around among friends and local anime clubs. Based on the manga of the same name, the anime consisted of seven episodes of an OVA that…
How is a Mutant Like an ESPer: Tokyo ESP and X-Men
“Tokyo ESP? What’s that about?” “Oh, it’s like X-men for Japan.” Ever have one of those fridge logic moments where you say something off the cuff and it’s so brilliant, you wonder why you never saw it before? Okay, so I only just finished up the last volume of the manga not that long ago,…
Review: The Seven Princes of the Thousand-Year Labyrinth
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, the emperor’s son was murdered by his seven formerly-loyal vassals. This created a lot of trust issues around the throne, so the kingdom decides on a totally foolproof and not weird at all way of deciding their next rulers. Every generation, they throw a bunch of pretty…
Women in Men’s World: The Feminism of Basara
Stories about gender and women have always fascinated me. Seek me out as a kid and you’d find me watching Mulan with a copy of Bruce Coville’s The Dragonslayers clutched to my chest. Discovering a relatively obscure series called Basara during my college years was just an extension of that. Basara follows the journey of…
Halloween Mini-Reviews Bonanza: Haunted Chunks to Chew On
It’s Halloween on Tuesday! Woah, scary! Want some comics with that? Yes you do! Try these. Coady and the Creepies Liz Prince (writer) and Amanda Kirk (artist) BOOM! Box October 11, 2017 Coady and the Creepies stars horror pop punk band The Creepies made up of triplet siblings Coady, Cory, and Criss. The band and…