Monday Manga Madness: The Bare Neccesities - I

I have been talking about a wide variety of manga in this little writing space. We have ranged from swords to fantasy and onward to more diverse topics. Most of the recommendations have been generic and I am certain an avid manga reader would have managed to recognize more than a title or two. In addition I try and stay away from grading a manga on any scale, for simplicity's sake. Considering how subjective the very idea of manga and it's appreciation is, grading stuff would lead me down a sticky slope I am not very keen on sliding. However this one time I will be breaking from convention, no not by grading anything. But instead by recommending manga that should absolutely, most definitely, under no circumstances be missed by any fan of manga anywhere.

And yes, when I say anywhere I mean the realm of the Elder Gods too.

Right, so here it is. This isn't my list of favorite manga mind you. I'm not sure I like them too much. I prefer my manga more light hearted and funny, and these are pretty serious in both content and delivery. But these manga, have surpassed the norms and cliches that hold down other more commercially viable manga out there. These works have transcended into a realm where they are now truly without exception masterpieces of fiction. Each series presented here is a hallmark blend of brilliant story writing and excellent artwork. They are surreal, and moving to such a degree that I assure you....go through this list of manga and you will not come away unmoved.

Let us begin.

Oh yeah, I went there.

Click on the image to view full size

Auckland Zinefest 2011 (Saturday pics)

I was pretty sick leading up to the Fest and also during the Fest on Saturday. The article about the day will be up on Thursday, while I wait for the anti-biotics to clean out my system,  but in the meantime here are some pics.


Sorry about no captions. More pics with all juicy details to be added soon... Stay tuned.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Alright, so this exactly new news, but late is better than never right? So here it is, a review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Besides, think of it as a nice break in all of this Harry Potter madness.

So lets start with the obvious; Megan Fox isn't in it. So how does her replacement Rosie Huntington-Whiteley do? Well in the first half of the movie she does well; however, once the action really kicks in she seems very lost. Perhaps she would do well in romantic comedies, but Ms. Huntington-Whiteley should refrain from action films. Overall though, very attractive and the accent is also nice, but when it all hits the fan she really doesn't have much of an effect at all.

The Adventures of Karen Ross (Part 9)

I nodded before leaving the hut. Going up the hill I could see the remains of the sunset. The sky was streaked with orange, red, and purple. There was just enough light remaining when I reached the table to see what I was doing. Taking the wet piece of tunic I began wiping one of the blood stains. I was actually amazed at how easily it came off. Then the thought crossed my mind that it was done fairly recent. I moved on to another one only to have the same result. Perhaps these were here for show just to psyche me out. After I was done cleaning the table I could see all of the carvings more vividly. The moon had come out and was shining full and bright making it easy for me to see. I saw the signs of the zodiac as well as symbols for the four elements. There was a lot of Greek writing that I couldn't make out, but whatever it said must have been important to have been carved into a sacrificial alter. I also saw the symbol for Mount Olympus several times. Suddenly I saw something strange in the upper right corner. There was a compass rose and where there should have been the symbol for north was a bizarre sign of an infinity loop. In the left loop was tiger and in the other was a griffin. I had never seen anything like it before.

I turned my attention from the table to the night sky. The stars shone brightly here and it put my troubled mind at some ease. I had always thought of myself as an amateur astrologist and loved looking for the various constellations. Sliding up and sitting onto the table I felt the coolness of the stone on my bare legs which sent chills up my spine. The breeze picked up bringing with it the smells from the ocean and various flowers on the island. Just then there was a blanket draped over my shoulders from behind. I jumped as I turned around to look. There was Jeff giving me a concerned look as he set a pillow on the slab.

A DCnU view - Deciphering DC

by Aalok Joshi

Hey, Welcome back to another edition of deciphering DC. Today, I try to make sense of the reboot and actually tell you why the DC reboot is good for you. Yes, you heard that right. And I also stress on the parts that might go awry, or just be bad.

STEWARTS SLATE: REVIEW OF CROSSED 3D GRAPHIC NOVEL

CROSSED 3D Volume 1 hard back graphic novel

Writer: David Lapham

Art: Gianluca Pagliarani

Published by Avatar Press

Review by Stewart Loud

A stand alone short story graphic novel released after the original 6 issue Crossed mini series by Garth Ennis telling the story of a small group of grizzled, well armed fighters on a suicide mission to rescue a medical team and their supplies who've become trapped in a skyscraper in the centre of New York, a city completely over run by the Crossed. There's heaps of graphic violence, guys getting their cocks out, a scene where dozens of lunatics pelt the stories main characters with handfuls of their own poop and the whole thing is presented in stunning 3D. Greatest comic ever printed then? Well it's not bad.

Give heed to The Marvel Cosmic! (Part 1)

Welcome back one and all to another edition of the Wayfarer - and this week Im going to have to get right to it as we're going to be covering some titles and events that have been requested by many readers and comic-fans out there looking for guidance. And we are ready to provide it!

CLICK TO ENLARGE!!

Today's extra-special post covers the amazing and highly successful (unexpected for Marvel in fact at the time) world(s) of cosmic adventure and intergalactic action that exploded onto the comic world with the Annihilation event and began a true renaissance of space-based science fiction in comics.
For a science fiction fan such as myself it was an absolute blessing because (and I say this to in the spirit of honesty) while DC's work on the space books with the GL titles has been great, its basically Lantern-centric space opera - more Star Wars then Star Trek if you will. And maybe its just me but as much as a good dramatic space opera can be fun, there's nothing quite like the mind-bending awesomeness, the creativity, the blurring of lines and unavoidable tight-rope walk of disbelief and clear understanding and the familiar.

In this Marvel in my opinion has actually crafted a far superior mythos through the able and masterful craftsmanship of the legendary team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning - lovingly known to fans as DnA because of their long history of excellent work together in comics across the industry.

Building on a base set up over the years by Jim Starlin, Keith Giffen and other legendary story-tellers this new set of Cosmic tales are a pleasure for readers both old and new - if you like me have read all the old books like The Infinity Gauntlet then its brilliant, but in a twist on tradition, if you've never read anything of them before you can still jump right back into the middle of things here with no trouble!

What Im going to try and do is break it down for you into the basic bits and order so that you can be caught up in no time and today like me be hankering and waiting Gollum-like for more tales of space adventure and entertainment with some of the more compelling and well crafted characters and stories from The Big Two comic publishers in quite a while.
So come, sit back and let your eyes wander over this quick little burst of the Power Cosmic (as the Silver Surfer puts it) and maybe if I can do this just right you might find yourself compelled to get past that little hesitation that always comes when trying a new book.