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fantomcomics · 9 months

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What's Out This Week? 8/9

The Summer is winding down, but the comics are still hotttt

Akane-banashi GN Vol 1 - Yuki Suenaga & Takamasa Moue

Akane unintentionally stirs up the specter of scandal when she's discovered taking informal lessons from her father's former teacher, Shiguma Arakawa. But she's about to make even bigger waves, because her first step in climbing the ranks of rakugo performer from zenza opening act to shin'uchi headliner is exchanging her secret lessons for formal training. And she'll still have to finish high school and navigate her relationship with Shiguma's existing apprentices, all while learning that becoming a stellar rakugo performer takes much more than just being good at performing!

The Ambassadors GN Vol 1 - Mark Millar & Frank Quitely

You've cracked the superhuman mystery and can give superpowers to six different people around the world. Who do you choose? The world's greatest and most ambitious superhero comic needs the world's greatest comic book artists. FRANK QUITELY, TRAVIS CHAREST, OLIVIER COIPEL, and an international line-up of superstars step forward to introduce an all-new cast of characters from MARK MILLAR's latest Netflix sensation.

Comic Books Kill #1 - Shane Berryhill & Hoyt Silva

NONSTOP. NYC. 1939. Comics creator Jack Levi places his life and career on the line when he begins an affair with the femme fatale lover of his mafia boss publisher. Comic Books Kill! is a crime noir tale of myths, mistresses, and mobsters sure to thrill fans of Kirby, Brubaker, and Phillips.

Damn Them All TP Vol 1 - Simon Spurrier & Charlie Adlard

After the death of Ellie's uncle Alfie, an infamous magician and occult detective, the 72 devils of the Ars Goetia are mysteriously freed from their infernal realm. It's now up to her to track down each of these demons and damn them right back to Hell... using holy water, conjuration, or just her trusty, rusty claw hammer.

Meanwhile Dora, a detective traumatized by the same events as Ellie, is suspicious of the untimely death of Alfie. As new terrors unfold, the two witness strange changes to the political landscape of Britain: a gibbering madness infecting the population. Alfie's meddling made more than just the mortal realm a nightmare, so it's up to Bloody El to set things right... with only eternity at stake.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #1 (of 6) - Chris Condon & Jacob Phillips

The THAT TEXAS BLOOD duo returns to Ambrose County, Texas with an all-new MINISERIES set 150 years in the past!

Gunslinging action meets dark frontier drama in this original Western thriller, as Montgomery Enfield and his gang of outlaws find themselves in the crosshairs of an aging Texas Ranger and a newborn county that's hungry for law.

Finders Creatures GN Vol 1 - P. Knuckle Jones

Meet detective-in-training Finder and her friends as they try to figure out why everyone in Belly Acre Bog has disappeared in this hilarious mystery graphic novel! Finder the tree frog absolutely loves solving mysteries. So when all the animals in Belly Acre Bog mysteriously disappear overnight, Finder and her friends Chopper and Keeper are toad-ally on the case. But when Seymour Warts, the world's greatest detective and Finder's hero, arrives on the scene and begins his own investigation, the young creature finders soon realize that this mystery could be even bigger than their little bog!

Ghost Book GN - Remy Lai

Twelve years ago, the boy and the girl lived. But one was supposed to die. July Chen sees ghosts. But her dad insists ghosts aren't real. So she pretends they don't exist. Which is incredibly difficult during Hungry Ghost month, when the Gates of the Underworld open and ghosts run amok in the living world. When July saves a boy ghost from being devoured by a hungry ghost, he becomes her first ever friend. Except William is not a ghost. He's a wandering soul wavering between life and death. As the new friends set off to return William to his body, they unearth a ghastly truth-for William to live, July must die. Inspired by Chinese mythology, this dark yet hopeful tale about friendship, sacrifice, and the unseen ghost world is a dazzling heir to Studio Ghibli classics.

Hexware TP Vol 1 - Tim Seeley, Zulema Lavina & Mirka Andolfo

Why sell your soul...when you can buy a new one?

In a corporate-ruled city where class inequality is greater than ever, a desperate, lonely populace is drawn to neo-spiritualism and hedge magic. When their teenage daughter is murdered, the Marks family is left asking the gods what they did to deserve this. But their android maid, Which-Where, has a different approach. Perhaps if she asked the devil...

Now, to pay the price, a machine with the soul of a teenage girl must hunt down souls who have escaped from hell. But on the way, she and her only friend, Ren, discover a vast conspiracy threatening to burn the last civilization to the ground. Can Which-Where keep her soul with her humanity on the line?

Mech Cadets #1 (of 6) - Greg Pak, Takeshi Miyazawa & Ian Herring

General Park-head of Sky Corps Academy-must assemble a team of heroes to protect humankind from alien invasions, and Stanford Yu, Maya Sanchez, Frank Olivetti, and Park's own daughter Olivia may have been pulled into the role by fate... as they are Earth's best hope.

But there is more to their relationships with the symbiotic, sentient giant Robos they pilot... and the alien threat of The Sharg is far more epic and widespread than any could imagine!

While Mech Cadets makes a fresh debut for new readers and viewers, long-time fans can delight in having more adventures after the long awaited collection of Mech Cadets Book One!

Oblivion Song Compendium TP - Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, & Annalisa Leoni

The entire series, collected in a single volume for the first time!

A decade ago, 300,000 citizens of Philadelphia were suddenly lost in Oblivion. The government made every attempt to recover them, but after many years, they gave up. Nathan Cole...won't. He makes daily trips, risking his life to try and rescue those still living in the apocalyptic hellscape of Oblivion. But maybe...Nathan is looking for something else? Why can't he resist the siren call of the Oblivion Song?

Paul Bunyan: The Invention Of An American Legend GN - Noah Van Sciver & Marlena Myles

Did you know that a mainstay of American folk culture was in fact created as an advertising ploy? Few people realize that Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack, and his blue ox are the product of corporate marketing by a highly industrialized industry. Cartoonist Noah Van Sciver shows us the myth creation as real life marketing man extraordinaire W.B. Laughead spins ever more wondrous tall tales. Van Sciver's story is bracketed by rich contributions from contemporary Native artists and storytellers with a very different connection to the land that the Bunyan myths often conceal. Readers will see how a lumberjack hero, a quintessential American fantasy, captures the imagination but also serves to paper over the seizure of homeland from First Peoples and the laying bare of America's northern forests. It's a tall tale with deep roots... in profit-making!

Plush TP - Doug Wagner, Daniel Hillyard & Rico Renzi

Serial-killing, cannibalistic furries! PLASTIC and VINYL creators DOUG WAGNER & DANIEL HILLYARD are back. This time, they've recruited colorist extraordinaire RICO RENZI for their disturbing "neon-horror" spin on fursuit psychopaths and bizarre love. In PLUSH, Devin Fulcher is coerced into attending his first furry convention. When he accidentally happens upon a group of furries devouring a human, the insanity begins. Do they just want Devin for dinner...or something much more wicked?

Skeleanor The Decomposer HC - Emily Ettlinger

An instantly charming and vivid chapter-book graphic novel, starring a music-obsessed skeleton, Skeleanor, and her quest to find her sound (and her confidence) by debut creator Emily Ettlinger. Skeleanor loves music more than life itself. There's just one problem: She has a bit more rattle than rhythm at the moment. No matter what type of instrument she plays-from the fiddle to the xylobone-she always seems to scare the people of Little Casketon away. But with the Little Casketon Summershine festival coming up, and the town band missing a player, maybe Skeleanor (along with the help of her best friend, Batima) could show people her skills and finally take center stage.

Summer Ghost The Complete Collection GN - Otsuichi, Yoshi Inomi & loundraw

Based on the critically acclaimed animated short film about three high schoolers' supernatural coming-of-age! There's an urban legend that claims the ghost of a young woman will appear if you set off fireworks in a certain abandoned airport. Three high school students are united by their shared desire to meet this ghost-and each of them is close to death. What happens when they come together one fateful summer night as the boundary between life and death grows thin?

The Summer Hikaru Died GN Vol 1 - Mokumokuren

Two boys lived in a village: Yoshiki and Hikaru. The two did everything together...until the day Hikaru was encompassed by a mysterious light. That was when everything changed-Hikaru most of all. Yoshiki still wishes from the bottom of his heart to always stay by his side...but is there even a Hikaru left to be with?

The Madness #1 (of 6) - J. Michael Straczynski, Aco, & David Lorenzo

In THE MADNESS, Sarah Ross has been using her power as a thief, stealing from the rich and...well, keeping it. Until the day she stole from the wrong person, a highly placed official who pressures the government to assassinate her. The plot, aided by so-called "good" superheroes sponsored by the government, misses her but wipes out her family. Driven mad by grief, and laser-focused on revenge for the murder of her family, Sarah and a hidden side of her personality - an imaginary friend who may be more real than she believes - goes after these superpowered operatives determined to take her revenge, at any cost.

Us TP - Sara Soler, Silvia Perea Labayen & Joamette Gil

Us is Sara and Diana's love story, as well as the story of Diana's gender transition. Full of humor, heartache, and the everyday triumphs and struggles of identity, this graphic memoir speaks to changing conceptions of the world as well as the self, at the same time revealing that some things don't really have to change.

Vampirella/Dracula RAGE #1 - Christopher Priest, Christian Rosado & Lucio Parrillo

NO MORE MS. NICE VAMPIRE!

They're coming for her baby. They're going to murder him before her eyes. And then she's going to kill every last damn one of them. Picking up where Vampirella: Year One left off! In an unprecedented turn for our titular heroine, Vampirella/Dracula: Rage presents Vampirella as you've never seen her before. Inconsolable grief yields to irreducible rage as Vampirella tracks the cultists who threaten her son across Europe and America, unsettling political and economic alliances and unraveling the global network of the baby's father - Dracula.

In a macabre exchange of norms, it is Dracula, the Lord of Vampires, hunting the elusive Vampiri, trying to save Vampirella from herself - or, more precisely, to save her from becoming like him. To this end, Dracula recruits Victory, once Vampirella's closest friend, to act as his ersatz Renfield while they try (and fail) to anticipate the next moves of a woman whose anger has now completely consumed her.

WYND Book Three: The Throne In The Sky GN - James Tynion IV & Michael Dialynas

The land of Esseriel is a darker and more dangerous place than ever, as tensions between the Human and Faerie realms build to the brink of war. Could Wynd be the only hope for peace?

Danger, betrayal, and even some romance confront our heroes at every turn, while elsewhere, the Duke makes murderous plans of his own. Things seem dire, but help from an unexpected figure might just be the lifeline Wynd and Merien need... even though the final battle draws near.

Whatcha checking out this week, Fantom Fam?

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brainbuffering · 1 year

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12 Days of Manga 2022

Day 4: Top 3 Shonen

Aka... the Shonen Jump award... Yes I am a hypocrit who complains when people only ever read stuff from Shonen Jump/Viz but also it’s the best deal in comics and it would seem I ONLY read shonen from them this year so.... to continue to be incredibly basic:

1) Akane-Banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Mou from Shonen Jump (T: Stephen Paul L: Snir Aharon)

[ID: Japanese Cover for Akane Banashi Vol 1. Akane wears a pink floral Haori/Kimono jacket over the top of her school uniform. She points a closed fan outwards and pulls a goofy expression. Behind her are panels displaying scenes of Tokyo as well as her Father performing Rakugo]

“Shinta Arakawa wants nothing more than to pass his shin'uchi exam-the test that would make him a top-rank headliner and master storyteller in the traditional Japanese art of rakugo. His daughter Akane Osaki is his biggest fan, and even practices the same performances while watching him behind the closed door to his study. When rakugo master Issho Arakawa expels everyone after the exam with no explanation, a fire is lit inside Akane. From that day forth, she has had one goal-to avenge her father and prove his art was worthy of the title of shin'uchi.

This series has been making it into a lot of people’s top 10s this year and justifiably so. The series stands out from the usual Shonen Jump fair, not just due to its female protagonist, but also how at its heart it’s an educational slice of life. Sure, it maintains those shonen tropes of following your dreams no matter what, but Akane’s dreams are far more realistic than becoming hokage or curing your sister from being a demon or even winning the sports ball world cup! She just wants to become a top level Rakugo performer, something reasonable and possible to achieve. Okay, the whole “seeking revenge for the way her father was treated” is very Shonen, but equally Theatre Kids are just Like That(TM). In many ways, that attitude is what makes her such a realsitic character. I’ve seen some say that she’s a little bland, but I think it’s more that she’s not a caricature of something we’ve seen a thousand times before. Akane feels like a girl I could have met at my Drama Club, and that’s great!

The thing that really stands out to me though is the way Mou’s artwork helps to emphasise that this is a story about story telling! I’m always a fan of seeing an art style change as a way of ehancing story telling and scene adaption and Mou shows a real master class in this as they swap between a contempoary manga style, and one clearly inspired by traditonal japanese ink painting. It not only helps differentiate between what is ‘real life’ and what is ‘Rakugo’ but it also makes the book more visually engaging and apealing.

In recent chapters, we’ve also seen this come into being as a way of giving more information about the characters and the nature of their performances. I’m very excited to see where this goes, and how the style develops as the series goes on. After all! We’re only on chapter 42! There’s plenty more left to go.

I’ve also been very interested in Paul’s localisation choices throughout the series. It must have been a lot of hardwork to make sure that the visual puns for the Rakugo stayed, and I wonder how much of the translation is Paul’s own personal translations, and how much is established rakugo? There must have been a lot of research involved in preparing for this series, and being able to get it out on a Simulpub schedule is truly impressive! If anyone can point me towards interviews about the process of translating this series, I would be very grateful.

It’s also not often an SJ series keeps honorifics in, even though it makes sense for a series so deeply centered in Japanese Culture. I don’t think Manga has to be culturally educational, but I think that is definetly one of the appeals of it: especially for younger readers. International theatre traditons are not something commonly taught in schools, and whilst I did have a tiny bit of a grounding in Japanese Theatre Tradition thanks to a combination of Crash Course Theatre* and Case File no. 221: Kabukicho** it’s been so much fun to learn more about the history of the medium and the art as a whole!

I think some of the more recent chapters have been perhaps trying a little too hard to ‘say something’ about gender in the industry, and I’d rather we had a little more show and little less tell, but on the whole I’ve been really enjoying the series and know that my past teenage theatre-kid-weeaboo self would have been eating it up with a spoon!

Now if Akane could get some female friends, that would be great too.

*Crash Course Theatre does not cover Rakugo, but it does cover Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku and is absolutely worth checking out! But prepare for mispronouciations.

** a modern day Sherlock Holmes adaption in which he presents all his deductions through the art of Rakugo. David Wald is one of my favourite ever Mrs Hudsons but I had to drop it because the show did my girl Mary Morstan so dirty

2) My Hero Academia: Vigilantes by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court from Shonen Jump (T: Caleb Cook L: John Hunt)

[ID: English Cover of Vol 13 of MHA: Vigilantes. Koichi in an All Might Hoodie sends a circular blast off at No. 6 as he raises a glowing fist to punch him. Bomb people in civilian clothes and full black face masks reach up to grab Koichi and pull him down to the ground. An explosion is going off in the background.]

“In a superpowered society, there is nothing ordinary about evil anymore. Heroes, trained and licensed to protect and defend the public against supervillains, stand above all the rest. Not everyone can be a hero, however, and there are those who would use their powers to serve the people without legal sanction. But do they fight for justice in the shadows, or for reasons known only to themselves? Whatever they fight for, they are called...vigilantes.”

As one door opens, another one shuts... and another has something stuck in the hinges that makes it refuse to close even though the cold is getting in and I think this metaphor is getting away from me?

Vigilantes has been an absolute highlight of a Superhero series for me! At first I was put off by some of the over sexualisation of Pop, and how it appeared to be suffering from Watchman-itus but as the series settled down and found its own pace it lost all of that and instead became a solid and enticing addition to the Superhero canon!

Because to me, that’s the fundemental difference between mainstream MHA and Vigilantes. Mainstream MHA upholds the hero society status quo, and we’re never really taught to question it. Not just in terms of the inuniverse discussions but those for the medium as a whole. I used to read it weekly, but I’ve honestly gotten so tired of the “Women In Fridges” level misogyny that I had to stop. I’ll get back to it eventually just to say that I saw it through to the end, but I think I need to let it end first.

Meanwhile, I felt like Vigilantes didn’t out stay its welcome at all! It was the number of volumes it needed to be to tell the story it wanted to tell. Whilst Pop could have been treated better, she was still given her own development and character arcs! I also liked how her “empowerment” came with her putting on MORE layers, not taking them off! She found her sense of self through frumpy jumpers and goofy hats, not bikini bottoms and push up bras which is something we so often see in the Superhero Medium.

This was something that was reflected throughout the series, to be honest! Especially with Midnight, who quickly became my favourite character in the franchise due to this series. Furuhashi and Court took Horikoshi’s one note sex joke and gave her development, an actual character, and a street-flasher-style-trenchcoat to keep her warm, covered up, yet still in character. Given that Mainline MHA runs in Jump and Vigilantes in Jump+ you would think this would all be the other way around? The series aimed at older teens featuring the skimpily dressed version and the one at young boys the more modest version. But that’s manga for you I guess!

You can tell the deep love the Vigilantes team has for superheroes, with their knowing nods to heroes like Nightwing (hey, remember when I wrote a literal essay about how great his butt is?) in a way that actually helps aid the narrative rather than just fun time cameos. They’re also open for discussion, encouraging the reader to question the world around them, and to not even take what’s in the book at face value! They expect to be critiqued in the future, and want you to do so. It’s very refreshing given how mainstream hero media is turning more and more towards coppergander.

I really feel as though Vigilantes is adding to the communal hot pot of comics creation, and not just borrowing; and that’s why it’s in my top reads!

3) Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo from Shonen Jump (T: Casey Loe, L: Rina Mapa)

[ID: English Cover of SXF Vol 9. Becky Blackbell sits in a pink George Nelson Coconut Chair wearing a pink, green and white pinstripe dress. She has a toy sheep with her, and varrious items scatter the floor underneath such as school clothes, shoes, handbags and gift boxes]

“An action-packed comedy about a fake family that includes a spy, an assassin and a telepath!

Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. But when he receives the ultimate assignment-to get married and have a kid-he may finally be in over his head!

Yor's on assignment and finds herself up against a gang of assassins on board a luxury cruiser. Meanwhile, Loid and Anya each discover that bombs have been planted throughout the ship! Will their best efforts be enough to save the vessel?”

I understand that many people are perhaps a little sick of SXF being on every recomendation list and top 10, but what is perhaps most frustrating is that it does genuinely deserve to be there. It’s like complaining that someone’s favourite food is cocolate. Maybe it’s a little cliche, maybe it’s a little obvious, but it’s a very valid answer!

I’ve loved getting to see Yor’s character development as something beyond the goofy milf everyone wants to drool over. (Thank God this year’s Anime Waifu is an actual adult who is written with constant agency, and not a big boobed teenager). Yor’s sweet, she’s caring, she’s got some big questions in her heart about her role in the world, not just as the fake mother in this fake family but also the very reason she’s still killing for a living. What is she out here to defend? What does it mean for her future? And how has her relationship with Anya and Loid altered her world view?

I especially loved having Yor’s intense action sequences where she must fight off spies and assasins to defend her widowed client and child, being contrasted with Loid’s panic that if he isn’t enough of a “Cool Dad” Anya will leave him and the mission will fail.

I don’t know if it’s because Endo worked as an Assistance to Kato on Blue Exorcist, but there’s definitely a “drinks his respect women juice” vibe in his work that is absent in a lot of SJ titles (looking at YOU Horikoshi). Even when they’re gag characters like Fiona Frost who on the surface is just there to be a Yandere in love with Loid, she’s still treated with a level of professional respect not found elsewhere. She’s a highly competent agent, who also happens to be deeply and obsessively in love with Loid. Something highly relateable, if we’re all being honest. Endo is even able to do the “School Girl has huge crush on Adult Man” and make it highly realistic (as far as a comedy setting goes) and leave it with no shadow of a doubt that absolutely nothing is going to happen between the two characters.

Now I think this is probably one of the only SJ series to regularly pass the Bechdel-Wallace test? Of course the test was originally conceived based upon how difficult it is for Lesbians to see themselves portrayed in media when women weren’t even allowed to talk to each other and things that weren’t men, and therefore it is perhaps a little irelevant to mention. However, given how easy it is to interpret Yor and Loid’s relationship as Queer Platonic, and the overall “family of choice” vibes the series gives off, I don’t think it is too far reaching to say that the series has the potential for queer inclusivity.

Again, I can see why people are frustrated to see SXF being plastered all over the place, but I’d be more frustrated if it wasn’t. This is a must read series, for all ages! I’m excited to see where the rest of the series goes, and know that once we get Sherwood’s full backstory I am going to be a crying mess on the floor.

Thank the gods for lactose-free chocolate ice cream....

#shonen #akane banashi #my hero academia vigilantes #spy x family #manga #shounen #12 days of manga #12 days of manga 2022

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