Posted by Guest Author on Jan 11, 2008 in
Comic Books 
With American anime sales on a downward trend, a lot of attention is being paid to its partner in crime manga, the Japanese comics that are often adapted into anime (if they’re not already adaptations themselves). In North America and Europe manga has exploded, but the sheer volume of manga published in Japan means that not every series makes it over here— and even the ones that do don’t always get the attention that they deserve! So here’s one of our Top Ten Underrated Manga that we recommend that you should get your hands on:
Ouran High School Host Club
Haruhi Fujioka is the only scholarship student at the swanky Ouran High School, an unenviable role at a school full of kids so rich that they actually have a host club as part of their after school activities. A host club is a place where women pay large amounts of money to spend time with good-looking men, just chatting and flirting.
Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Jan 10, 2008 in
Comic Books 
With American anime sales on a downward trend, a lot of attention is being paid to its partner in crime manga, the Japanese comics that are often adapted into anime (if they’re not already adaptations themselves). In North America and Europe manga has exploded, but the sheer volume of manga published in Japan means that not every series makes it over here— and even the ones that do don’t always get the attention that they deserve! So here’s one of our Top Ten Underrated Manga that we recommend that you should get your hands on:
Bokurano
North American publishers seem wary of Mohiro Kitoh’s manga Bokurano— possibly due to the difficulty that Dark Horse had with Kitoh’s Narutaru, which began reasonably family-friendly before it took a serious turn for the dark side, preventing Dark Horse from even releasing later volumes. No one yet has licensed Bokurano.
Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Jan 9, 2008 in
Comic Books 
With American anime sales on a downward trend, a lot of attention is being paid to its partner in crime manga, the Japanese comics that are often adapted into anime (if they’re not already adaptations themselves). In North America and Europe manga has exploded, but the sheer volume of manga published in Japan means that not every series makes it over here— and even the ones that do don’t always get the attention that they deserve! So here’s one of our Top Ten Underrated Manga that we recommend that you should get your hands on:
Antique Bakery
Odds are good that if you’re not a fan of yaoi— boy/boy romance manga for women —you haven’t read Fumi Yoshinaga’s Antique Bakery, which is technically not yaoi (barely). Her series is part slice-of-life comedy and part drama about four men working in a bakery together. Primary among the men is Keisuke, the son of a wealthy family who has an odd fixation on sweets because a man who kidnapped him as a child fed him cakes.
Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Jan 8, 2008 in
Comic Books 
With American anime sales on a downward trend, a lot of attention is being paid to its partner in crime manga, the Japanese comics that are often adapted into anime (if they’re not already adaptations themselves). In North America and Europe manga has exploded, but the sheer volume of manga published in Japan means that not every series makes it over here— and even the ones that do don’t always get the attention that they deserve! So here’s one of our Top Ten Underrated Manga that we recommend that you should get your hands on:
Hajime no Ippo (“The First Step”)
George Morikawa’s boxing manga Hajime no Ippo is probably the longest-running underrated manga out there. A full 81 volumes have been produced since its inception in 1990, all of which remain bereft and unlicensed. Oh, and it’s still running, too.
Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Jan 7, 2008 in
Comic Books 
With American anime sales on a downward trend, a lot of attention is being paid to its partner in crime manga, the Japanese comics that are often adapted into anime (if they’re not already adaptations themselves). In North America and Europe manga has exploded, but the sheer volume of manga published in Japan means that not every series makes it over here— and even the ones that do don’t always get the attention that they deserve! So here’s one of our Top Ten Underrated Manga that we recommend that you should get your hands on:
Gintama
This actually is a combination underrated manga and anime— the anime, in fact, is unlicensed in spite of its immense popularity in Japan. VIZ has started releasing the manga in the U.S., but with so little marketing that many are barely aware of its existence. Which is a shame, since it’s a fantastic (and funny) series!
Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 3, 2008 in
Comic Books 
A graphic novel about old school phone phreaking and computer hacking? How could an old school fanboy not be sold on this concept! And from the looks of it Ed Piskor has done a great job with this comic book which features everything from acoustic modems ala WarGames to a scene with the Woz and Jobs selling blue-boxes in a primitive pre-iPhone world:
Wizzywig Volume 1: Phreak
Found via Brian Cirulnick.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 1, 2008 in
Comic Books 
When I saw the above X-Men poster I was blown away! The credit for the illustration goes to Eric Tan who works for Disney in California, his inspiration came from old German film posters.
Found via Neatorama.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 28, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Doesn’t the above artwork remind you of generic 80’s clip art? I was a bit surprised to find this news via MetaFilter:
“Four years after publishing the 300th and final issue of his epic-length Cerebus, comic artist Dave Sim has announced that he is launching a new bi-monthly title debuting April, 2008. The topic? Fashion.”
…you can look at the website here. The look of the comic reminds me a great deal of the old Apartment 3G which I always hated as a kid. I think my resentment was that soap operas dominated daytime TV, so why why not leave the comics page to the kids?
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 28, 2007 in
Comic Books
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
House of Twelve Goes to War! edited by Cheese Hasselberger
OK, full disclosure time: I’ve been a contributor to House of Twelve since the second issue, and Michael said I ought to fess up to that if I were going to do a blog entry on it. And come to think of it, Vanguard Media alumni Chris Prynoski, now with Cartoon Network, was a founding member too. But that’s a small price to pay to bring the gospel of HO12 to the masses.
Comix with an x arent what they used to be, you may have noticed. The sex, drugs, and lots of laffs aesthetic of the undergrounds has been replaced by many an auteurs gentle musings on falling leaves and springtime raindrops, and the preciousness of their kitties, or babies, or relationships. The House of Twelve books seek to hearken back to a time when underground comix were crass, politically incorrect (though I think this would be a time before political correctness was a term) satirical, and funny. As a result of this and their monthly bar meetings to imbibe and draw, the House of Twelve collective is often regarded as a bunch of crazy drunks. Which is a tarnished badge of honor, for many a golden era cartoonist was a crazy drunk as well.
Each anthology features a different theme picked by founding member and publisher Cheese Hasselberger, which the artists then expound on in their own unique ways. Themes have included such heady topics as religion, obscenity, and in the most current release, war. If youre looking for a thoughtful assessment of the current war and what its done to our country, well, you should probably read World War 3 or something. But for a hilarious pisstake on humanity’s most violent impulses, this is the book for you.
To learn more about the books, comic jam, and other House of 12 related ephemera, visit houseoftwelve.com.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 27, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
Fishtown, by Kevin Colden
“Fishtown” has an interesting story behind it, and not just because it’s a heavily fictionalized account of an actual incident. Creator Kevin Colden may be the first person to win a Xeric grant—and turn it down, in favor of distributing Fishtown for free on the internet, specifically the LiveJournal comics community Act I Vate. This doesn’t rule out the chances of Fishtown ever seeing print, but for the impatient of us there’s always the internet.
The story centers around teen brothers Keith and Adrian, whose main interests are both doing and dealing drugs. Keith’s other interest ishooking up with their clique’s token girl member, Angelica, a smack addicted, self-mutilating trainwreck who’s affections swerve between Keith, his friend Justin, and murder-victim-to-be Jesse. The story jumps back and forth in time between the aftermath of the murder and the events leading up to it, and shows how each of the teen killers has been affected.
Kevin renders his pages in a two-tone palette of muted yellow and blue, sickly hues which simultaneously evoke the dim lighting of an interrogation room or mental hospital and the haze of a drug trip, both of which are fitting for this story. The characters are often very distant looking, illustrating the facades they put up for each other and the authorities, with occasional flashes of expressiveness revealing their inner turmoil. Now, Act I Vate can be a little tricky to read through for a newcomer, what with over 20 different graphic stories being serialized on it at the same time, but fortunately there’s an archive of Fishtown.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 26, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Ten Anime and Manga Series to Watch For in 2008: It’s easy to find out about a Bleach or a Naruto once it’s being aired on Cartoon Network, but it can take years for an anime to be licensed, dubbed, and put on TV. So here’s our sneak peek at one of the ten manga or anime series that we feel are likely to hit it big in America in 2008:
Gantz (manga)
Status: Still running in Japan; Licensed by Dark Horse
Although the anime was released in the U.S. in 2004, it took until 2007 for someone to finally license Hiroya Oku’s sci-fi/supernatural action manga Gantz. It even came out in Spanish as early as 2002! The long-overdue announcement was made at Anime Expo 2007 to overjoyed fans of the fantastic- and violent -drama.
Gantz‘s uniquely gripping story revolves around people who have already died. Specifically, two high school boys- Kei and Masaru -are run over by a subway train, only to awaken seemingly alive and well in an unfurnished apartment in Tokyo along with a number of other people who have just recently died. In the room is a sphere called “Gantz,” from which the characters acquire ability-enhancing suits, weapons, and instructions on how to play the game.
The game is a bit like playing a video game, but in real life: the players must find and destroy aliens secretly living in Japan. They can’t leave a certain designated area, and if they live through the mission they get sent back to the sphere in perfect health, regardless of how near death they had been. Those who don’t survive, of course, die- for real, this time.
Gia Manry is a Portland, OR-based professional writer specializing in pop culture/entertainment writing. Read up on more of her work at giapet.net or hire her at GiaManry.com.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 25, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Merry Christmas from Fanboy.com! Shown above are comic books from Christmas past (click on the image to see it at full size):
Action Comics #93: Published in February of 1946 as Superman reunites refugees with their families all over the world, he witnesses many different ways of celebrating Christmas.
Mad Magazine #68: A rare jem from January 1962 featuring two Santas arguing on the cover illustrated by Don Martin.
Archie Comics Digest #3: Published for the Christmas season back in 1973.
Batman #27: This February 1945 issue Penguin trains the son of one of his criminal friends in the fine points of crime. The boy doesn’t want to be a criminal and fails. Penguin then orders the boy to study his crime files, which the boy uses to write a book. Penguin decides to sell the book to the underworld, but sadly no publisher will take it!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 24, 2007 in
Comic Books 
I was perusing the latest batch of Marvel comics that will be released this week and I can across this nice cover Marko Djurdjevic for X-Men: First Class #7. What I love about the cover is that it has a very romantic quality to it that you just never see associated with the superhero genre.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 24, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
Escape from “Special”, by Miss Lasko-Gross
Autobio is a tricky thing. It’s easy to become bland or self-important. And even an interesting life can suffer these fates in the hands of an inept storyteller. Or a once-entertaining autobio comic can degenerate into nothing but panel after panel of masterbation, both figuratively and literally. But take heart autobio readers, because there are also books like “Escape From Special” to take us out of the doldrums.
Miss’s protagonist “Melissa”, has an atypical childhood of counselors, special classes, and self-provoked angst as she questions her reality and the presumptions of all those around her,. She’s a sharp kid, and parents, teachers, and peers alike are not sure what to make of her. And neither will anyone looking for a trite, sentimental portrayal of childhood—this stuff is a real story about a real kid. I could relate to the somewhat progressive-yet in other ways conventional parents and the latter half of the book especially, where Melissa in her preteen years begins to question more her place with her peers, the needs to fit in and the burning question of whether she even wants to fit in with the typically lame suburban girls that plague her adolescence..And it’s all rendered in Miss’s unique and stunning grey marker style. This girl gets a range of depth out of a set of Pantones that few can match.
“Escape From Special” is available through Fantagraphics and a sequel is slated for sometime in 2008, possibly 2009. And if I haven’t convinced you to give it a try, check out the samples on her Comicspace page.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 20, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Ten Anime and Manga Series to Watch For in 2008: It’s easy to find out about a Bleach or a Naruto once it’s being aired on Cartoon Network, but it can take years for an anime to be licensed, dubbed, and put on TV. So here’s our sneak peek at one of the ten manga or anime series that we feel are likely to hit it big in America in 2008:
Gakuen Alice (manga)
Status: Still running in Japan; Licensed by TOKYOPOP
Okay, technically TOKYOPOP is releasing the first volume of Gakuen Alice on December 26th, 2007, but that should be close enough, right? Since their hit shoujo (girls’) series Fruits Basket– which peaked at #15 on USA Today’s booklist, an amazing feat for a manga -has now ended, the company has been seeking a replacement. Given that they’re advertising it as the hottest shoujo “Since Fruits Basket,” it seems like they’ve nominated the super-cute Gakuen Alice to take that top spot.
Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 14, 2007 in
Cinema,
Comic Books 
Found via ryankg.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 14, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
The Fart Party, by Julia Wertz
If you’re reading this theres a good chance youre an eight year old boy who googled fart for a laugh and are about to be sorely disappointed. Because Julia Wertz’s Fart Party is actually pretty short on gross-out humor (OK, there are some instances of eye gouging with a pencil and defecating down some annoying hipsters decapitated neck). Still, it manages to deliver lots of humorous autobio vignettes about life in San Francisco with a bicycle, a boyfriend, and eventually a breakup, all the while with plenty of beer. The four Bs, right? Julias comics are seen online at fartparty.org and in her minicomics, but the collected book put out by Atomic Books this year has made her one of the breakout indie cartoonists of 2007.
Not one to lose momentum, Julia is in the process of assembling an anthology based on the Missed Connections section of Craigslist. Aptly titled I Saw You: Missed Connections Comics, the book boasts an impressive list of contributors including such luminaries as Peter Bagge (he wrote the intro for the Fart Party Book too, BTW) , Keight Knight, and Sam Henderson, and is due out from Three Rivers/Random House in 2008.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 12, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
Jam in the Band, by Robin Enrico
So, Ive been reading Robin Enricos comics for the past few years now and watching him steadily grow as an artist. And that’s a pretty sweet pastime to have, because Jam In The Band is his most ambitious project to date. Which means that in addition to Robin’s usual thoughtful writing and uncanny ear for dialogue, this particular comic features some of the most graphically eye-popping artwork and layouts Ive seen from him yet. Robin’s character designs are simple and dare I even say cute—but each page flows together with complex visual elements nonetheless.
Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 8, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
Scott Pilgrim Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, by Bryan Lee O’Malley
OK, this series has received it’s fair share of hype, but in case anyone has missed it, there’s a forth Scott Pilgrim book out and it may easily be one of my favorite releases for 2007.
In a nutshell, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series is about a sort of aimless 23 year old Canadian guy who plays in a local band called Sex Ba-bomb, and falls for a mysterious American ninja delivery girl named Ramona Flowers. Probably because she gets into his head-literally-while traveling through sub-space. In order to date her, Scott must defeat her seven evil exes, which might be seen as a metaphor for the baggage people bring into a new relationship except there are literal explosive and hilarious fights with each ex encounter. Meanwhile everything is implied from this all being a giant video game to Ramona not being the oh-so cool chick she seems, but only enough so to keep readers hanging on for the next volume.
Vol 4. presents along with more of the same action/comedy readers have come to expect, a bit of a maturation process on Scott’s part (and possibly Ramona’s)., as he deals with the likes of getting a job and dealing with his relationship at a more advanced level than previously seen.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2007 in
Comic Books 
I have to say that I like the art direction of this poster, it’s better than the same old “just show a big photo of the actor in a costume” approach.
Found via Slashfilm,
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2007 in
Comic Books 
On a technical level this cover by Jelena Djurdjevic is great, but the minute you see that lion thing on the shirt the whole cover becomes silly. How come in the year 2007 super heroes still need to prance around in tights? The key to making a speculative genre story work is the suspension of disbelief (i.e. taking your audience on a wild ride with you), and when you’re working in a very visual medium like comic books the devil is in the details.
X-Men: Die by the Sword #4 will be in comic book shops this week.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 30, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Alex Ross brings his characters to life, not just by using a photo realistic technique but through the emotions that he brings into his illustrations. On this cover for Justice Society of America Vol. 2: Thy Kingdom Come Part 1 you get a real sense of isolation and age in the man of steel. My hat is off to DC Comics for this cover, in another era this amazing artwork would have been rejected for not being upbeat enough or action packed, and the result is that we get something much more powerful and compelling.
DC Comics Preview for February 2008.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 30, 2007 in
Comic Books 
Popgun, Vol. 1 is available this week in finer comic book shops across the land. This 400+ page book is a group effort and features the work Mike Allred, Dave Crosland, Erik Larsen, Corey Lewis, Joseph Michael Linsner, Jim Mahfood, Khary Randolph, Jamie S. Rich and a cast of thousands. It’s a bit on the artsy side, but that’s how I like it!
