PREVIEW!! The Last Airbender: The The Legend of Korra

 The Last Airbender? Not Anymore!! 

Welcome, welcome, welcome back my fellow wayfarers - today is a special previews post that I think will give some of you reasons for gladness and much joy, well it did for me at least and I'm running on the assumption that there are people who share the same tastes as me!

But I won't keep it hanging anymore and will now get right to the meat of the matter at hand:

Some of you are fans, both casual and dedicated, of a ground-breaking and fantastic little TV series called Avatar: The Last Airbender which was produced by Nickelodeon studios and aired its 61 spell-binding episodes from 2005 to 2008. All of us fans were both overjoyed and broken-hearted when the final episodes aired and brought the saga of our hero Aang's journey to a close. Well feel low no more!

Poster from Comic-Con 2011.

Many of you will have heard over the years of Avatar comics and follow-up cartoons coming up from time to time, with no real confirmation and solid proof. Then we were given some relief through a few Avatar comics that were released that were a bundle of fun of you could get your hands on them, showing us quiet (and some not so quiet) moments and interludes that are set between various points in the TV series itself.
And then there was the dark time... that horrible time when they made a movie based on the series, a movie so lame and derivative and disheartening that many felt this could even kill the franchise!

But now light shines once again in the form of a new series called The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra (click for its homepage),  I know, it's one hell of a mouthful and I wish they could have just called it what it should have been, i.e, "Avatar: The Legend of Korra" - but thanks to the very talented jackass that is James Cameron who is making it a legal issue so that his entertaining but otherwise not-so-deep movie series can keep the "Avatar" name. Damn you Cameron, why did you have to be such a douche, you know this series is more deserving and you can just call yours "The Pandora Trilogy" or some such. Ah well...

Meeting Maniacs: Harsho Mohan Chattoraj

 ComicAddicts chats with H.M.C

(Click to enlarge the awesome-ness!)

So Harsho, tell us a a little bit about yourself.

Let’s see – I’m a comic book artist ( well, I fancifully refer to myself as a graphic novelist at times ) based in Kolkata. I’ve worked in other fields too, and still continue to do so, albeit to a lesser extent these days, as I try to give most of my work energy to my comic projects. I love watching movies and TV serials, listening to music and reading books ( my favourite authors would be Stephen King,. P.G.Wodehouse and John Mortimer ), and let’s not forget comics – I prefer them to books, actually.

The man himself.

How did you get your first break in this industry?

The first break in the comic strip zone ( and they’re the strips in the newspapers, not to be confused with comic books ) came pretty early for me – I had a cartoon column and a comic strip column in 2 supplements of ‘The Statesman’ newspaper in Kolkata. That was around 12 years back, if memory serves me right.

And my first comic book break was a project for a US-based client. The comic’s name was ‘GunMetal Blues’. Strangely enough, that 80-pager is yet to be published, whereas the ones following it got published rapidly, almost immediately after creation.

Can you share some of the biggest influences on your life?

I suppose you are referring to the influences on my life in the comic world… so lemme see – Mike Mignola , Lee Bermejo, Stuart Immonen, Tony Harris, Jae Lee, J.H.Williams III , Leinil Francis Yu . The list goes on and on, but these would be the toppers any day.

What first made you want to not just be an artist, but a comic-artist?

Yes, at the start, and till around 4 years back, I preferred to be a jack of all trades, but comics had been my mainstay always, even among those other ‘trades’. And 4 years back, when I returned to my home in Kolkata from my sojourn in Bangalore, I focused primarily on comics, trying to get better at it.

Manga Review: Gun Frontier

Guns akimbo!

There are truly few settings with such potential for horror, fantasy, mystery and action as the Wild West of long ago. The very words "Wild West" are synonymous with the garish imagery of gunfighters and gamblers, of harlots and heart-breakers and the eternal war of the "Indian" against the White Man.

Time and again the Wild West has been masterfully explored through films, initially in spaghetti westerns famous for their hammed acting and bad dialogue dubs, and then by mainstream Hollywood cinema. Most famously this was done of course by Clint Eastwoood, the veritable Spirit of the West himself.
But films are not the only medium of entertainment to have embraced this style. Manga has time and time again found its way to the bleak deserts and ghost towns of the Wild West. There are many gems in this particular genre and indeed I intend to touch upon them all. But today, we begin with a series that is unique even within this limited style of manga.

A Comic Geek's Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,


I'm sure it must strike you as strange that an adult would be writing to you, but let me assure you that I am a firm believer. Doubters will say that it's impossible for one man to deliver toys to every child in one night; however, I say that it is possible. I'm not going to tell you how I know 'cause I know that I shouldn't know. Although between you and me we both know it's a combination of technology and white magic. You don't have to tell me if I'm right or not, but the way I figure, it's like a cross between Harry Potter and Star Trek.


Anyway, I hope that proves my worth to be able to further present this letter to you. In which case I'd like the following for Christmas:

Roots of the Swamp Thing - A look back to our favourite muck encrusted monster!

Writer: Len Wein
Artists: Bernie Wrightson, Nestor Redondo
Collects: House of Mystery 92, Swamp Thing (1st series, 1972) 1-13

Whenever someone says Swamp Thing, the first name to ring a bell is Alan Moore. True, Alan took our dear Swampy to places he had never been, but before that, there had to be a writer who took him to some places for the first time. That was Len Wein. Granted, those places weren't stupendous or awe inspiring; rather they were more along the line of the old (now!) horror stories featured by EC Comics and Gold Key Comics. But for this old horror story fan, they were a treat to the eyes as well as the mind.

What You should Be Reading : Jason Aaron’s Wolverine

Wolverine is arguably the most famous comic book character created this side of the 70’s. However, regardless of your view on that debate, he certainly is the most overused and burnt out character in contemporary comics books. As a member of the Avengers, leader of half the X-Men, Principal of The Jean Gray Academy, Protector of China Town and struggling father - it’s safe to assume he has a pretty busy life. So much so that, with all his appearances, readers were all pretty much getting more of the same week after week.
That was of course, before Jason Aaron (Scalped, PunisherMAX) began his work on the character.

Wolverine : Weapon X

(click to enlarge)

This is where all the madness of the current run started. After the main Wolverine title was handed over to Logan’s son Daken, Marvel announced the new ongoing Wolverine: Weapon-X by rising star Jason Aaron. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Aaron’s work, this guy has a very twisted mind and is a very mind-blowing storyteller. With Weapon-X, Aaron gave us Wolverine as he was always supposed to be written: Badass, yet intellectual and sophisticated. In Weapon X, without too many details, we have one excellent arc after one another, some delving deep into his mind while others unleash the animal. Oh yeah, he gets a girlfriend too. Bet you wanna read this book now, dontcha.

... and Emma Frost is amused

Wolverine : The Red Right Hand Saga

With the relaunch of the Wolverine family of titles in 2010, Jason Aaron got the well deserved title of the de-facto Wolverine writer. With an initial run of arcs lasting seventeen issues, Aaron scripted a tale of Wolverine answering for past crimes from a mysterious organization called The Red Right Hand. I’m not gonna give away too much, but you can guess these are essentially people who are pretty miffed with Logan, and have something worse than death in store for him.

Rajat's Reviews: Daksh Issue #01 (late but not lost)

When I opened Level 10's Jump #11, the one title I was eagerly looking forward was the new chapter of Daksh.

 Issue 0 had piqued my curiosity and anticipation and there were expectations aplenty for Shamik’s new venture!

The first page looked familiar. So did the second. And then  I realized that it was the same issue which was printed the last time!! “What on earth…” was my first reaction and I was on the verge of shooting a sweet little mail to Shamik and Suhas when I suddenly noticed the word "Uncensored" at the top of the first page. I discarded the mail, picked up the book and started reading again.