Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai Volume 1

Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai, Vol. 1 by Hiroyuki Takei
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stray cat Norachiyo wanders the land, masterless, looking for his final resting place while others hunt him for a bounty.

In a feudal Japan populated by anthropomorphic cats, Norachiyo is a ronin, a warrior without a master. His sword is his only possession, tied with a bell given to him by his former master. He's basically Toshiro Mifune as a cat on two legs.

Norachiyo does the traditional samurai good deeds, like killing a lord and having it out with thugs in the street. Unlike other samurai, this one is addicted to catnip and suffers from nightmares of the red warrior who killed his master.

The story is good and the character of Norachiyo slowly becomes an interesting character. I was undecided about reading the rest of the series but I was hooked by the end of the volume. The art is good for the most part, although the action scenes are very hard to follow.

Nekogahara volume 1 is good and I want to read the rest but it's not good enough for the next volume to jump to the front of the line, if that makes sense. 3 out of 5 stars.

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Cutie Honey: The Classic Collection

Cutie Honey: The Classic Collection by Go Nagai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Professor Kisaragi creates a cute android named Cutie Honey and sends her to an all girls school for her education. When he is killed by an evil organization, Panther Claw, Cutie Honey swears revenge!

My dive into the early days of manga continues with Cutie Honey. If I was looking for a manga that perfectly illustrates the differences between Japanese and American comics of the early 1970s, this is it!

Cutie Honey is an android that resembles a cute teenage girl. Thanks to Professor Kisaragi's airborne elemental solidifier, she can switch between seven different forms, each with different abilities by shouting "Honey Flash!". And she's briefly naked between each transformation because why wouldn't she be?

So yeah, while this is largely a super hero style comic, it also has a pervy streak a mile wide, chock full of boob and butt shots, mostly of Cutie while she's between transformations but also when she's showering or taking a bath, which she does quite a bit.

Also, most of the female characters at the boarding school are lesbian, either cute like Honey or brutish and hairy. The cultural differences between American and Japanese comics are very apparent.

All that aside, the book is a lot of fun and action packed. Cutie Honey tears through the Panther Claw like a katanna through a watermelon, switching forms, kicking ass, and winding up in situations where she is naked and almost powerless.

The characters have interesting designs, Honey being the standout. I was surprised how much attention was given to developing the women in Panther Claw since most of them were cannon fodder for Honey. The art was better than Devilman, also by Go Nagai, and Captain Harlock from around the same time period.

A few oddities I want to mention but couldn't work in elsewhere:
- a guy gets karate chopped in the bleeding hemorrhoids four or five times.
- While Cutie Honey eats food for energy, she's too shy to reveal if she pees or poops.
- One of the ladies in Panther Claw is named Breast Claw. Of course.

Of all the classic manga Seven Seas has released so far, Cutie Honey: The Classic Collection is the best. No regrets on this purchase, either for its place in manga history or pure entertainment value.
4.5 out of 5.

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Hawkeye Omnibus

Hawkeye Omnibus by Matt Fraction
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hawkeye is the Avenger that uses a bow and arrow. This is the stuff he does when he's not avenging.

A couple years ago, I read this series in singles on Marvel Unlimited and was blown away. A few months ago at MightyCon, some guy was setting this sweet ass hardcover for $40. It sounded like a great deal to me.

The first story, an issue of Young Avengers, doesn't have the look and feel of the rest of the book but it's a surprisingly touching story about Hawkeye and Hawkeye meeting. It was fun but was just a prelude to the star of the show, Hawkeye 1-22 and is a nice introduction to Kate Bishop.

And then we get to the meat of the book. I adore the look and feel of this, the subdued color palette and artwork make this feel like an old comic I forgot about. It also reminds me of Batman: Year One quite a bit, gritty and somewhat understated. Hawkeye isn't taking on Celestials in this one, he's battling street level crooks and the artwork suits this perfectly. I wish the entire volume had been a David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth production but that couldn't be helped, I guess.

While there are some side stories, like The Tape and Kate heading to LA, it's mostly the story of Hawkeye defending his building against the Tracksuit Draculas, gangsters from an unknown eastern European country. It's a gritty story about Hawkeye manning up and being the person everyone else thinks he is.

Fraction uses a variety of storytelling techniques in this: non-linear issues, silent issues, even an issue from Lucky's point of view, Lucky being the dog Hawkeye adopts early in the series. For years, I dismissed Hawkeye as a Green Arrow ripoff but Fraction shows depths to the character I've never seen before. The relationships between Clint and everyone else drive the book: Barney Barton, Kate Bishop, Spider-Woman, Mockingbird, and the other tenants in Clint's building. There are some surprisingly touching moments.

I think Hawkeye appeals to me so much because it is a throwback to the early days of Marvel. Marvel heroes were the heroes with ordinary problems, something I think they lose sight of in these days of endless deaths and resurrections and big honkin' crossovers. If the series had to end, I'm glad Fraction and Aja ended it when they did. This run of Hawkeye ranks right up there with Starman and Gotham Central as one of my favorite runs of all time. This was my second time through and I enjoyed it even more the second time. Five out of five stars.


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Captain America Omnibus 1

Captain America Omnibus Vol. 1 by Stan Lee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Captain America Omnibus contains material from Tales of Suspense 59-99 and Captain America 100-113.

One of my earliest memories is of flipping through my uncle's Captain America 100 so I've been on the lookout for something like this for decades. Sure, there's a wee bit of overlap with the contents of Marvel Pocket Books Captain America that a different uncle gave me but this one is built to last and not a tattered paperback from the 70s.

The Tales of Suspense issues are from when he shared the book with Iron Man so a lot of them are Captain America, and later Cap and Bucky, beating up scrubs for 15 pages. I find it interesting that when Cap was appearing in The Avengers every month, they set his Tales of Suspense adventures in World War II so it wouldn't conflict with the Avengers stories, a far cry from more recent times when Wolverine was in 8-10 books a month, continuity be damned!

Highlights of the first 12 issues include a retelling of Captain America's origin, meeting Agent 13, aka Peggy Carter, a clash with Baron Zemo, and a multi-parter with the Red Skull. At one point, my wife told me about what was happening in Ann of Green Gables. Then she asked what was happening in my book. "Captain America is punching Nazis," I said. The art is Kirby in his prime for most of the first twelve issues with George Tuska doing finishes on a couple. The letters pages indicate the readers of the 1960s were just as entitled shits as today's readers.

From there, things shift to the present day of 1965. Captain America battles reawakened Nazi robots, Batroc, meets Sharon Carter and Nick Fury, and encounters other stuff. I much prefer Dick Ayers working over Kirby's layouts than George Tuska. John Romita handles some of the art chores, predating his fantastic work on Amazing Spider-Man. Kirby returns to do art chores until after clashes with the Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube and the Adaptoid.

I could easily run out of space recounting the stories. They get a little repetitive after a while. While it's Lee and Kirby in their prime, there's only so far you can go with Cap. It's not the Fantastic Four nor should it be. As a result, a lot of the stories are Captain America beating the shit out of people, usually the Red Skull, although Batroc takes more than his share of ass-kickings. Then again, they probably weren't written with a 40 year old reading them in 100 page chunks in mind either.

The final four issues of the collection were my favorites, a multi-partner involving Rick Jones taking up the Bucky mantle and the apparent death of Captain America, with three parts done by Jim Steranko.

While I think the Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man from this time period were better, this Captain America omnibus was a good read and an interesting look at Captain America's early tenure in the modern Marvel universe. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection volume 1

Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection Vol. 1 by Leiji Matsumoto
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When a strange sphere crashes into earth, heralding an alien invasion, people are strangely apathetic. A space pirate named Captain Harlock arrives to combat the aliens, the Mazon, and only teenager Tadashi Daiba agrees to join him. Can Captain Harlock and the crew of the Arcadia defeat the Mazon menace?

I first heard of Captain Harlock decades ago when Eternity was publishing his adventures. Seven Seas packaged the first third of his early adventures in this gorgeous hardcover so I was powerless to resist.  While I didn't like it as much as Astro Boy or Devilman, I liked this early manga fairly well.

Captain Harlock tells the tale of an invasion by the women who burn like paper, the Mazon. I won't reveal their true nature. Anyway, Daiba, a boy whose parents were killed by the Mazon, joins Captain Harlock in his fight against them.

The tone of Captain Harlock is a little strange. It seems to be a commentary on complacency at times. There are serious parts and some humorous parts. I really like the art, although some of Harlock's crew are drawn a little too cartoony for my taste. The Arcadia has a great design. The ship battles are really well done, reminding me of stuff I'd see on Robotech cartoons back in the day.

To be honest, this volume is Captain Harlock tracking down leads about the Mazons for the most part. The characters don't have a lot in the way of background so far, although we know Harlock lost a dear friend sometime in the past and Mimay is the last of her people, a race of aliens that subsist on alcohol. Aside from a few ship battles, there isn't a whole lot of action. I guess it's mostly a setup volume.

All things considered, Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection Volume 1 is a worthwhile read, a nice piece of manga history. I'm in for the next two volumes. Three out of five stars.

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Devilman: The Classic Collection 1

Devilman: The Classic Collection Vol. 1 by Go Nagai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fudo Akira was a sensitive boy, mocked by his classmates, until he merged with a devil. Until he became... Devilman!

Devilman: The Classic Collection Vol. 1 collects stories from Go Nagai's Devilman run in the 1970s in a sweet looking hardcover from Seven Seas Entertainment.

My dive into manga history continues with Devilman, tales of a teenage boy fused with a devil, battling demons that threaten mankind. It's a lot of fun. Akira has gory battles with all sorts of demons, some even in different points in earth's history.

I really like the character design on Devilman and the other demons. Go Nagai's art is ahead of the curve for the time period. The stories are a little simplistic at times but I wouldn't say the comics from the Big Two were much more complex in the early 1970s.

Nagai's art gives the carnage a little more impact when it happens. I showed my wife a child's severed head in a puddle of blood and said "It's drawn cutesy so it's okay, right?" Actually, one of the more interesting parts of my manga education is noticing the cultural differences. American comics from the 70s don't have people peeing themselves, breasts, naked hermaphroditic angels, tons of gore, or people using their eyebrows as weapons.

The Devilman character is like a hybrid of Hulk and Wolverine, a violent badass taking on other violent badasses. The mythology behind the demons and their role in human history was really interesting and I'll be interested to see how it pans out in volume two. The time travel stories seem to be from a different time period. I'm wondering if they were inserted in this volume according to where they fall in continuity. Again, I guess I'll find out in the next volume.

Devilman: The Classic Collection was an interesting dive into manga history. I'm on board for volume 2 when it drops. Four out of five stars.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion volume 4

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 4 by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just when Shinji was getting comfortable, Asuka, the brash pilot of Eva 02, shows up and throws a wrench into the works. Can she and Shinji get along well enough to work together?

Things are coming together. Asuka really livens things up in Shinji's life, both in the Evangelion and out. After some mishaps, they're forced to live in the same quarters and learn a choreographed dance routine in order to learn to work together. Hilarity ensues.

The addition of Asuka to the cast is a huge improvement on previous volumes. While I was originally interested in the series because of the giant robots, the characters have me hooked. I guess I'll grab a few more next time I'm at the used bookstore. Four out of five stars.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion volume 3

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 3 by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shinji Ikari returns to Nerve to pilot his Evangelion. But what is the mystery behind Rei Ayanami, the other Eva pilot?

Volume 3 was so much better than volume 2. Shinji wasn't nearly as mopey this time and the focus shifted to the mystery behind Rei. There wasn't a huge amount of action but the action was more intense than the previous volume. There are a lot of character moments in this book and more than enough mystery left for me to want to continue.

The expansion of the supporting cast gives the book a lot more depth than it originally had. I don't know if I'm on board for the whole series but I will definitely read another volume or two. Four out of five stars.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion volume 2

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 2 by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shinji Ikari continues to adjust to piloting the Evangelion and his new living arrangements with Captain Katsuragi. Will the lack of approval from his father cause Ikari to run away from his responsibilities?

Yeah, I don't know if I'm in for the long haul on this. The Angels are a suitable foe and the Evangelion armor is pretty cool. I liked the battle quite a bit but Ikari is a little too mopey for my taste.

The art is still great. My favorite parts of this are the supporting cast. Captain Katsuragi is the most interesting character in the book and Ikari's new friends have potential. Pen-pen, the mutant penguin, kind of cuts into the seriousness of the situation.

I've got two more volumes of Neon Genesis Evangelion on the pile. I don't know that I'll continue the series after that unless Ikari has an attitude adjustment. Three out of five stars.

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Hellboy Library Edition Volume 1

Hellboy Library Edition, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the dying days of World War II, Nazis summon a demon to help them win the war but he winds up in Scotland by mistake. Fifty years later, he is the world's foremost paranormal investigator. He is... Hellboy!

For some reason, I never picked up Hellboy before snapping this up on Prime Day on the cheap. I liked Mignola on Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, Cosmic Odyssey, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight but never got around to his creator-owned work. Until now! I'm twenty-five years late to the party but I wound up liking Hellboy quite a bit.

The two stories contained within are full of Nazi-punching, tentacled, blood-sucking goodness. In the first tale, Hellboy goes up against the man who summoned him and some frog-men who ran into some unpleasantness in the Arctic circle. In the second, his summoner is back for revenge, this time with a vampire and some unfrozen Nazis in tow.

The stories are pulpy fun, not head-scratchers. Hellboy cracks wise but not enough to detract from the stories. Mignola's moody art is the star of the show, with its stark blacks. Mignola draws a mean tentacle. I never realized how much Mignola's art was influenced by Jack Kirby's until this volume. He's like Kirby with a fifty-five gallon drum of black ink and a lifetime of reading pulps and HP Lovecraft.

The presentation in this volume is immaculate. The over-sized library edition really makes the artwork pop. The one drawback is the cover is a magnet for cat hair. My cats were hounding me for food while I was reading and I'll need a lint brush to get all the cat hair off the cover. All that said, it's a gorgeous product.

Hellboy is a fun series that doesn't take itself too seriously and hit all the right buttons for me. I'll be grabbing the other volumes in the series when I can. Four out of five stars.




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Black Science - How to Fall Forever

Black Science, Vol. 1: How to Fall Forever by Rick Remender
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Grant McKay and his Anarchist League of Scientists build a device called The Pillar and punched a hole into another universe, only to have a saboteur strike and damage the machine. Will they ever find their way back home?

Black Science is a Stargate/Sliders/Land of the Lost kind of comic. While that sounds great, I was fairly disappointed.

All the winning ingredients are here, concept-wise. Too bad none of the characters are anything special. I also didn't care for the art very much. I liked the core concept quite a bit and there were some elements that I liked but it ultimately didn't do it for me. The story felt like too much, too soon, like Remender was trying to cram in as much stuff as he could. It kind of felt like a Grant Morrison book where he throws a thousand barely developed ideas at you when it would have been fine to just get three or four coherent ones.

I think if a different artist had been used or things were slowed down a bit, I would have liked it more. Not my cup of tea but I won't begrudge anyone who enjoys it. Two stars.

Last thing - Why would a fish woman have boobs?


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Marvel Two In One: The Fate of the Four

Marvel 2-In-One Vol. 1: Fate of the Four by Chip Zdarsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A message from Reed Richards leads Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm on a scavenger hunt to find a device that will let them travel across the multiverse. Will they be able to find Reed, Sue, and their kids?

I'm a Fantastic Four fan from way back so I was pretty jazzed to pick this up. It did not disappoint.

Everyone knew Marvel would bring the Fantastic Four back once the pissing match with Fox was settled and this is the beginning of the return. Ben and Johnny are slowly losing their powers when Ben gets a message from Reed. The two go galavanting across dimensions with a scientist named Rachna in tow. Things go pear-shaped when they end up in another universe, this one where Doom usurped the power of Galactus and has devoured most of it.

While the Reed and Sue in the tale aren't "our" Reed and Sue, it was great to see the Fantastic Four together again. The universe they wound up in was a dark one indeed. While we didn't get the reunion in this volume, it's coming soon. This volume was a taste. It was also nice to see The Infamous Iron Man, aka Doctor Doom, teaming with Johnny, Ben, and the Reed and Sue from this timeline.

Fate of the Four was the kind of adventure the Fantastic Four used to have and something that is missing in the current Marvel universe. Chip Zdarsky can fly the Fantasticar whenever he wants.
A Fantastic Four out of five stars.

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World's End Harem volume 2

World's End Harem, Vol. 2 by Kotarou Shouno
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Reito continues to search for a cure for the Man-Killer virus, he uncovers something startling. Patient 3 is revived from cryosleep and his handler has something interesting in store for him. Also, lots of boobs...

World's End Harem continues. The plot is rolling right along. Reito continues holding out on all the women gunning for him. Doi, Patient Three, might have a similarly hard road in store for him since it looks like he's to be on a reality show as women look to catch his seed. And Kyoji, the other man, seems to be having no problem adjusting to the new status quo as he bangs everything that comes near him.

As with the previous book, it's a hybrid of science fiction and Skinemax. Honestly, there are dirtier Game of Thrones episodes. Still, lots of nudity and strong sexual content. It's a dirty fun read. I have a feeling Reito is going to wind up banging his sister at some point but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

As with the last volume, there were plenty of hooks for future stories. There were also fewer boobs than in the last book, although my memory might be failing me. It's good that the series has a definite end because the concept could easily get stale after a few volumes.

World's End Harem continues to be an entertaining, titillating (get it?) read. Four out of five stars.

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Mazinger

Mazinger by Go Nagai
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In a world torn apart by violence, Mazinger is the greatest robot of them all. When an explosion tears open a wormhole, Mazinger and his pilot find themselves in a world where Mazinger is human sized and the population is being decimated by lizard people...

Mazinger by Go Nagai is the originator of the giant robot genre of manga. This volume was produced specifically for the American market in the 1980s and published by First Comics. The art is fully painted and looks pretty good.

That's about the only good thing to say about it. Why would you create a graphic novel to introduce a property to an American audience and not retell his origin? Instead, we've got a mash-up of Gulliver's Travels and John Carter of Mars. I don't know who built Mazinger and I can't even remember his pilot's name a few minutes after I read this. If you want to introduce manga to an American audience, let it be manga instead of dumbing it down and coloring it.

The roots of the giant robot genre are clearly visible though as Mazinger cuts through enemies with his sword. Even though I was disappointed, I still enjoyed it.

The black and white panels from Go Nagai's various works in the back were very interesting. Hopefully someone nabs the Mazinger license and translates the original manga from the 1970s sometime soon. As it stands, I think this is the only English Mazinger and that's a little sad. Two out of five stars.



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