The London effect..

Recent additions to the library. @courtesy London..

SuperLikes - Comics that caught my eye

Every month , I order some comics that are first time reads for me. This column will talk about those comics and why have I chosen to try them

Title - NORTH 40

Why am I interested ?
Because of the high concept - The residents of an isolated rural area discover superhuman - and supernatural - power in their midst. The power stops at the county line, but inside the afflicted area, something ancient and malevolent stirs as new monsters arise. Can Wyatt, an unlikely hero from the wrong side of the tracks, join forces with Sheriff Morgan and town outcast Amanda to keep the county from imploding or being eaten by mighty Cthulhu?

I am always willing to open my wallet to any comic that invokes Lovercraft imagery. Why this won out is because of its writer - Aaron Williams, whose PS238 is just simply excellent




Title - GANTZ Vol 14

Why am I interested?
I have heard very positive reviews of Gantz, but couldnt get into it form the beginning as ofcourse I cant find the first volume anywhere in Delhi, and my subscriptions are only for upcoming comics.
Although I tend not to get into a series so late into its publication , I am making an exception in this case because this comic had me at :" A gang of vampire guys . . . who can grow samurai swords from their very flesh"..
Any comic that uses "Gang" , "Vampire" , "Samurai Sword" and "Flesh" in the same sentence is A.ok in my book!




 Title - HETALIA AXIS POWERS

Why am I interested?
Simply because I have heard so much praise for this comic. This about 3 people - the anthropomorphic entities for Germany, Italy and Japan and their interactions with the rest of the world. It is a brilliant satire of the world politics , current and past. Makes me wish I had thought of this concept myself. Just so me!

Solicitation text reads:  During World War 1, gruff Germany finds Italy hiding in a wooden box of tomatoes. Germany takes Italy as prisoner, but instead of war-like interrogation, Italy becomes more of the nuisance and unwanted guest. World War I quickly comes to an end, but World War II is right on its heels! This time, Italy tries his best to become friends with Germany. They soon befriend Japan, and the three of them form the Axis Powers. Meanwhile, America, who loves heroism and hamburgers, tries to form a treaty, as Great Britain reminisces about when America was his loving child!

Excited Yet? I am !! Can't wait to start reading this one.


Title - DEADMAN WONDERLAND (Vol 3)


Why am I interested?
Chanced upon this title while going through previews. Missed the first two volumes (Damn!), but this is still early enough for any manga. The storyline takes place in a world where a massive earthquake occured 10 years before the start of the story. In present day a mid-schooler is given death penalty for supposedly killing his classmates and sentenced to a bizarre prison known only as "deadman wonderland". This is where he will be challenged with deadly prison games, where survival comes at an unthinkable price. 
This has the potential to be a thrilling read. We will see.

 Title : PRIEST

Why am I interested?
Been meaning to read this one for ages. Its actually a manhwa (Korean Comic) instead of a Manga (Japanese Comic). One of the very first to become famous outside Korea. This fuses the Western genre with supernatural horror, Gun fu, and dark fantasy themes and is notable for its unusual, angular art style. As the name suggests , it has christian undertones and the story is about humanity's battle against 12 fallen angels. The story takes place over 3 time periods - Crusades, Wild West and Modern times. This has the potential to be Epic!
I have to give thanks to Gerard Butler and Sam Raimi. Because they are making a movie on this series, the publisher is kindly re-releasing these out of print items! 


So these are my choices for the month. What do you guys think?

M goes to ALC - Part 1 : in which we impart the knowledge neccessary to comprehend the achievement

One of my eternal dreams have been to attend a comicon. So when i came to know that there is one happening in London, you bet your sweet tushy i was gonna be there!

And thus lo and behold ; i attended the anime league club convention held at rocket center , holloway road London on 26th June..

So to begin with what is comic convention?
Its an event where comic literates come to share and expand their horizon ( i.e to say immerse in all the nerdity around them)

Oh okay, what is an anime then?
Anime are japanese animated shows / movies. YES they are in japanese and YES, i watch them in japanese

Hold on, then what is a manga?
Well, manga is a term used for japanese comics. Have you heard of Pokemon/Naruto/Bleach ? yeah the same ones.

But aren't they anime then , cos they are on TV?
Most of anime are from previously published manga. So yes, Japan animates a lot of successful manga so that we can enjoy the goodness in color and in motion <> Bear in mind though that not all anime are developed from manga.

I thought anime was godly endowed girls in various precarious situations?
You are thinking of Hentai, which is very very different from a normal anime. Since you already asked this question, am sure you know all about it. You pervert!

Now then, we have a very basic understanding of what an Anime or a Manga is, which marks an end to this post.

Experiences of Anime con coming next !

Transmetropolitan Revisited

This is an old post from my previous blog and also my favourite.. so worth repeating here.

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I have just finished reading a gem of a comic.Its so good, I thought I would talk about it here. Why is this Comic So great? Well…Imagine this…It’s the future… No Not the Star trek kind of future.. no not even Star wars.. will you just pipe down and listen??..

Ok ..so as I was saying.. it’s the future , consumerism has rotted everyone’s brain ( as if its not done so already), there are drugs for everything…and Everyone is an addict… even your resident household machinery ! Your telly has porno, chat shows, reality telivision and your elected representatives lying to your face.. wait is that really the future I am talking about .. You thought it seemed like Your own telly eh!… but nah you must be mistaken.. so on with it...

you can have yourself downloaded if you so desire and live as a “Foglet”..Aliens have been discovered. But..umm… the only thing that they have to trade with us is their DNA …Hey here’s a novel idea.. Stop Yammering about sex change.. Go for a species change instead.. these transients have a new love messiah who will stand by you if you decide to do so.. and will even fight the government for your rights to boot!

Here a new religion is born everyday, there are cameras everywhere.. even in the breath you take…. Oh there are the usual cults, pedophiles, lunatics and morally depraved cops and beaurocrats .. and you.. you are Spider Jerusalem.. a journalist who has been forced to return after an hiatus of 5 years from the idyllic life in the mountains to the city in search of .. what else? money and a job! You know!.. because you lost all of the proceeds of your best selling books to drugs. . so back to the grind lowly spider!

You are eccentric, egoistic, borderline insane who hasn’t had sex in over 5 years and love to jerk off to porn .. whose wife has had herself frozen cryogenically and has requested to be revived after you are dead!! But you have three things that no one else seems to have .. a penchant for telling the unvarnished truth , rock solid guts, and a “bowel dissembler’.. whose use by the way is illegal, undetectable and effects in making you shit in your pants for a long long time! .. you are the kind of journalist that people have forgotten existed!

That does mean you get to rant, rave and break people’s noses every now and then to get the story. Your have written great articles and have great stories to your credit, but the one incident that people remember you most by.. however apocryphal in nature it might be … is the time when your editor made the blunder of leaving you with a phone alone and you induced several prague politicians to commit suicide after calling to various chat shows and ..uhumm.. cough cough.. chatting with them!.

It’s the election year..You nicknamed the outgoing President “The Beast” in the last election, and he still manages to be pissed off at you while he wipes the sweat off his brow after paying the secret service to protect him! And you have also severely pissed off the incoming President who by the way is just an insane fucking arsehole and has promised to make your life miserable ! mm.. by the way.. did you just piss of the President of United States? Umm. Yes you did.. just checking!!..

You land a gig to write a column entitled “I hate it here’… you report on what you see around you and what you see is a city in it’s death throws… So its time you did something! How does taking on the president of US sound to you!.. Can you do it spider? Can you? Is your pen really mightier than his sword??

P.S.. by the way did I mention the current president found himself on the wrong side of your bowel dissembler once!

Welcome to the world of TRANSMETROPOLITAN..

Though transmetropolitan is brilliant in every issue..most of the issues are to be read as part of arcs.. but there are some stand alone issues who are the real strength of transmet in my opinion..these issues and ofcourse the character of spider!…

Thanks to Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson for this scathing attack on the kind of world we live in…

Time and Time Again...

Yes i am back...
Another year, another blog. But there is a difference , this time i mean to maintain it with some sort of regularity.
After much rumination, i have conceded that i would not be able to update my blog daily, or even weekly. With this acknowledgment comes the wisdom to relax and enjoy blogging for what it is meant to be : a means of self expression ;whenever ,whatever the self needs to express..

So why a new blog? why not continue with one of the many old ones i have? Good question. At this point of my life, i need a fresh start to many things. Get rid of the past and move on to bigger better things in life.

One person in particular has inspired me to think that i can do this - create a better tomorrow. Worry less about the destination and more about the journey. Every day needs to be worthwhile.. After all , life is an adventure to be enjoyed.

So without much ado, in true comic fashion i present to you the adventures of Mr M...

See you around... :)

To be continued.....