Saturday, April 27, 2013

Savage Wolverine Issue #4 *SPOILERS*

Writer & Artist Frank Cho

I love Savage Wolverine. I think I love everything about it. I like Shanna because she kicks ass and doesn't take any guff off the likes of Wolverine or anyone else for that matter. In this issue she becomes bonded with the Savage Land as she is brought back to life by the sap of the man-thing (yeah that's what it's called). It's a big tree thing... I believe it only exists in the Savage Land. This bonding means that Shanna is alive as long as the Savage Land is in existence. Oh and she has the strength of ten men (apparently the strength of ten women wouldn't be impressive enough?? I kid).

I even like Amadeus who is an arrogant little prick but happens to almost always be right so we'll let it go..plus him and suit have hysterical conversations. The tribesmen he is suddenly made the "god" of, are full of comedy relief..well just the chief mainly. He's always going on about his spirit guide... a beaver.

If you like giant apes and Wolverine's inability to always think before he acts, then you'll love this. Plus, I like seeing Shanna spear Wolverine. It's really fun.

AND---- I LOVE LOVE LOVE the artwork. As always the cover is killer.

Psyren Volume 1 by Toshiaki Iwashiro

I wasn't sure about this one. It is one of the random things I ordered at the library. I actually liked it. It was appropriately violent and had cool looking monsters. Heh, I guess it doesn't take much to please me? Well I like a good looking monster. Most of the panels have a reasonably decent background, although they are pretty much thin line drawings.

Here's the synopsis:
Ageha Yoshina is the main character who gets this bizarre red phone card. Rumour has it that they come from a mysterious gang called Psyren who everyone in Japan is curious about. Who is Psyren? Is it a person? There's a reward of millions of dollars to anyone who can provide answers and a real red phone card. People are selling fake phone cards for millions and rich people are buying in hopes of solving the mystery. Meanwhile people are disappearing all over Japan.

 Ageha is skeptical and tries out the phone card in a nearby phone booth. He gets an automated message asking him  to take a survey that last 62 questions however, as he becomes bored the strange voice on the other end starts spouting secrets about his life that no one could know unless he's being watched. Mayhem happens and eventually Ageha is transported to another world, a deadly world which appears to be some sort of game : make it to the gate alive and you can go home.

I won't go spoiling the rest of the stories finer points. I like enough to order the second volume though, that is if the Library has it.

One more thing : this cover is totally unattractive and lame.

Bleach Volume 10 by Tite Kubo

I really have to start reading Bleach. I dunno, it's a quick read that helps me get away from the tedium of the daily routine. When I'm all done for the day, all I want to do it read comics for a few hours and be transported to another world... like the characters in Bleach. This volume picks up shortly after the group lands in Soul Society. They are there to save Rukia the Soul Reaper who's been condemned to execution for lending her powers to a human.

The book is written in a light way for the most part. The first part of the series is quite comical with just enough serious drama. All the way through however, is packed with comedy relief. I like how there's a little back story about Ichigo's sister back on Earth. Ichigo is the human teenager with striking orange hair, who is given the Soul Reaper powers to fight the ghostly monsters known as Hollows. They are actually the souls of expired humans who linger on the Earth in sorrow. Eventually their sorrow consumes them and they become demonic creatures who hurt humans. The Soul Reapers are the ones the vanquish these monsters. It's kinda brutal when you consider they were once human souls. Whether you agree with it or not, it makes for an interesting story.

I do like the art but as with much action manga consisting of "monster of the week" type themes, there is a sad lack of background in most of the panels. When comparing this to something like Berserk, well... there isn't really a comparison. Most of Berserk's backgrounds are well thought out and many panels exist to give you a clear impression of the setting of each piece of the story. I'd like to see more of that in Bleach. But maybe it'll change in future volumes. 


Berserk Volume 4

Volume 4 gives takes us into the past. Guts is raised by a terrible person named Gambino. Guts is treated mostly as a cursed animal and Gambino even sells his body to other mercenaries. It is a terribly sad story. He's 11 by the time he slays his so-called father, the only father figure he's ever known actually and they are not biologically related. In the end, Guts is run out of the mercenary group, wounded and followed by a pack of wolves. Eventually he ends up running another group of Mercenaries called "the band of the hawk" and finds his place there. It's a violent, disturbing story.

I am really sad that I don't have any more Berserk to read at the moment. MUST GET MORE. I really do love the art style. I like it when a manga has characters with distinguishable characteristics. I find a lot of newer manga has the recycled face look. 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

What I'm Reading...

I have got a lot on the go at the moment. It's hard to believe that in one week I'll be back in school. For the first semester of the summer I am taking Astronomy and the second semester I'll be taking Intro to Psych. But enough of that, I'll get to the goods.

Tuesday I received the fourth volume of Berserk. So I dove right on into that. The other two I ordered from Indigo should show up over the next day or two. I also decided to order a bunch of random stuff from the Library. Mostly I just went on their search engine and randomly sifted through a few pages of Graphic Novel listings. I'm expecting a little bit of Daniel Clowes and some SUPER random manga. One I picked up yesterday is called Psypher and I have NO IDEA what it is about. Apparently it's popular. I've also decided to start reading Bleach although I've seen most of the anime. I'm gonna start with Volume 10. That is where I start to forget the story.

An awesome co-worker of mine just lent me the rest of Y The Last Man ! Thank you Megan! That's my weekend right there!

Lot's on the go and hopefully plenty more Tezuka in my future !

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Black Jack Volume 1 - by Osamu Tezuka


Wikipedia says that this is Osamu Tezuka’s third most successful/popular series. It apparently comes after Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. I did not initially have too much interest in the series when I read the synopsis but I’ve been having a difficult time getting the books I want as of late and decided to just order random things from the library. Also, I’m still intent on trying to read everything Tezuka has done.

 I am enjoying this series and I didn’t expect to. Each chapter is a separate story about Dr. Black Jack who is an unlicensed medical doctor. He performs the miraculous and teaches lessons to the less enlightened. The stories can be read out of order but they also remember history if you read them in chronology.
 
What appealed to me most in this series was the gore. It's something along the lines of Junji Ito, or perhaps this is where Ito got his inspiration? My love of body gore aside, Black Jack does have a mild version of it. Early on Black Jack operates on a sick woman who carries in her body, the living and sentient tissues of her twin. The swelling is known as Teratogenous Cystoma . However, this one has a sentient brain and all the necessary organs to make up a person. Lacking a few pieces and a body to encase them all. It's here where elements of science fiction and fantasy seep in as Black Jack removes the telekinetic twin and reassembles her into a prosthetic body. Black Jack is always performing the impossible and very often replaces body parts in the living with that of the recently deceased. He actually does a brain transplant in one story. (This of course is too fantastical for me but makes for an awesome story with a terrific ending).
 
 

Caricature by Daniel Clowes

Caricature consists of nine stories originally printed in Daniel Clowes comic Eightball. Each story is full of typical unusual type characters like those that exist in Ghost World. They all seem fairly introverted and unaware of the impact their actions have on others. I suppose that makes them like most people in the general public. My personal favorite from the collection is Green Eyeliner. The storyteller and main character has a visibly skewed sense of reality. She acts as if her attempt at pulling out a fake (yet realistic looking gun) in a crowded theater, didn't warrant some hysterical reaction. Like most of Daniel Clowes characters, her personal history hinges on how she decides to recant the story. I would just label this "delusional".

I haven't read a whole lot of Daniel Clowes, reason being that I find it hard to get my hands on his books. I'm always waiting in a long list at the library and my local comic book stores never seem to have it in stock when I wander in. I need to rectify this somehow. There needs to be more Clowes in my graphic novel collection. I say this of course while coveting all of Osamu Tezuka's work. I'll get there someday.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Phoenix: Future -Volume 2 by Osamu Tezuka


In Future, Osamu Tezuka goes to the most distant future of Earth in his universe. We begin by following a fugitive and former Class II Space Patrolman Masato, as he tries to flee the city of Yamato with his alien shapeshifting girlfriend. Her name is Tamami, and her species is  called, get this: a moopie. Hysterical. In their natural form, Moopies kind of look like Tribels, those fuzzy little disc shaped creatures on the original Star Trek series.

Masato eventually stumbles on Dr. Saruta who has been working on a way to replicate life that may survive on the surface of the earth which is wrought with radiation. He is a hermit who dwells in a dome structure on the surface of the Earth, a feat which was not very common since all of humanity had retreated underground centuries ago.
It was the Phoenix that led Masato and his moopie gal to the dome.The Phoenix gives Masato his quest: rebuild humanity in the wake of nuclear war. Masato is granted immortality. It's a curse rather than the blessing it is perceived as in the preceding book. The book becomes almost existential at that point. 

There are a lot of things about the story that I really enjoy. Tezuka pokes fun at a future in a rush, not unlike the 21st Century. People start dressing practically in costume, rather than fashion. Nostalgia. Also I love the idea of cities being controlled by super computer who's ideas defy one another.  Another little point: You'll recognize Roc. He's a character in Tezuka's Metropolis.

So much I love about this so far, but sadly I can't get my hands on a copy of volume 3. It's all sold out on indigo and well, Amazon doesn't do the whole debit online thing. The library doesn't carry anything past volume 2. Sigh. God knows how long before I can get my hands on the next volume.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Phoenix Volume 1 by Osamu Tezuka


Judging from the cover art, one would figure this book would be a children's manga. It's far too violent for that in my opinion. However, it's not full of blood so I suppose it COULD be suitable for children. The dismembered parts of wounded soldiers are drawn as near cardboard cut-outs, completely devoid of blood or entrails. I suppose that is somewhat disappointing for a gore fan like me, but it did not ruin the experience. Tezuka’s stories are always heart wrenching regardless of the gore. Sometimes I find myself turning away from the brutality. Phoenix has those moments. Dawn happens somewhere near the dawn of time in feudal Japan. Tezuka based his story around early accounts of Japan and Korea. The information is largely myth and speculation which Tezuka explains as the story goes. First, maybe I should back up. Allow me to give you a little background on the Phoenix series:


Osamu Tezuka considered the Phoenix series his life’s work and masterpiece. (Although I could argue that all of his work is masterful, I won’t do it here.) The series spans 12 volumes and each is a story from the past then future, and back and forth through time. I am currently reading volume 2 which takes place in the distant future. Already I have noticed 2 recycled characters which I always like about Tezuka. He has this universe where certain characters walk in and out of one series to another.


Tezuka started the series in the 1960's and left it unfinished when he passed away in 1989. Seeing as how each volume is a separate story, I doubt that I'll find a huge hole when I've reached the twelfth book. Twelve is a great number to leave off on don't you think!? At any rate, there has only been speculation regarding how Tezuka wanted to end the series.


There is plenty of heart ache in Dawn. Men, Women and Children alike all fall victim to various human indecencies. People may wonder why bad things happen to children in these books, well that is because bad things happen to children in real life. I think Tezuka, first and foremost excels at portraying the human condition. Suffering is something he tells well, not to mention the enduring spirit of the person who can move on towards the better even after enduring horrible events.

If I can, at some point in my student life, I want to write a paper on the work of Osamu Tezuka. Think someone will let me??




Thursday, April 18, 2013

WHAT HAVE I DONE!? I ORDERED FROM INDIGO!

So I got up to a little no good today. Okay, okay I confess! I ordered 3 books from Indigo online. But you don't understand! It was so cheap and they didn't charge me shipping! I swear I'll never do it again... okay maybe I can't swear on that, but when I've got local stores jacking up the price on books I order by 4 dollars a trade paper, a girls gotta do what a poor student's gotta do to buy a few books.

No I'm not proud of what I did but since I've been waiting over 6 weeks for Nausicaa and The Valley of The Wind, and still waiting on the last volume of Junji Ito's Uzamaki, I take comfort in knowing that for no additional charge I will have in my possession by the end of the month, the following titles:

Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight Volume 2
Osamu Tezuka's The Book Of Human Insects
AND
Berserk Volume 4!

What have I done?? well, the library doesn't have everything I want and I'm tired of waiting on Strange and Quantum. I bought from the big bad, small business eating company. Sigh. Now for god's sake stores, get my order in sometime this month.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes

I stumbled on Book 1 & 2 during the Dartmouth Strange Adventures Christmas sale. They were liquidating some damaged and unwanted stock. I got both books for 3 dollars a piece. I thought it was a great deal. I didn't know anything about the book except what one could make from the title. I assumed it had something to do with the war. I wasn't far off. Berlin starts 1928. It jumps around a little, going back ten years and forward again, all to end during the May Day riot in 1929.

The story centres around a 29 year old female artist who takes a train to Berlin to study practical art in university. As one can imagine, it wasn't terribly common for women to participate in practical studies. Marthe runs into a lot of chauvinism and only finds one female comrade in school.. who takes a liking to her that she didn't quite expect.  Marthe Muller's train ride meets her quite unexpectedly with a middle aged journalist named Severing. Much of the story follows them. Gudrun is another character sadly riddled with poverty. Her husband abandons her and her two daughters, taking their son and joining Hitler's cause. Gudrun finds hope in a communist co-op and joins a road crew to provide for her daughters. It's all very sad and desolate, if not completely depressing.

I like that Lutes has displayed the thoughts of passers by and main characters alike. In fact there is a lot that Lutes creates that I love. His minimalistic panels make me happy.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Eden: It's an Endless World! Volume 5

by Hiroki Endo

Eden is such a brutal book. I say this as I'm simultaneously reading Berserk, yet Eden is a very touching story. The characters have such tortured pasts. In Volume 5 we finally get to learn more about Sophia, otherwise referred to by me as 'cyborg lady'. Sophia apparently was a mathematical & physics genius. However, she suffered from severe emotional problems due to being a poor little rich girl who's parent's didn't love her. She became a fairly horrible person until she purchased a brand new cyborg body. In the time it took to adjust to all her new sense, she found an appreciation for life she did not originally have. Before the operation, she had tried multiple times to end her own life, had countless abortions and a few children which she abandoned. Apparently that was all in her teen years! Her past is pretty despicable. There is one child she did raise. That was Kyle who we met back in book 2. He was the dead child that Elijah buried.

In this volume, we also get to meet a new character. Maya, is the name but it's actually a male character. Maya apparently means illusion. I don't want to spoil it all so I'll leave you with that little info only.

A little side note - Don't read the Afterword from the author if your in a good mood and don't want to be depressed. Just skip those.

Princess Knight Part 1 by Osamu Tezuka

by Osamu Tezuka

Princess Knight is fit for a young audience and completely adorable. This gender bending fairytale follows the ordeal of a princess who was born with both the heart of a boy and a girl. Although she wants to be a girl more than anything, she has a wicked witch tailing her, trying to steal her girl heart. Saphire, also known as Prince Saphire has been masquerading as a boy her whole life in order to inherit the throne and take care of her country as her parents wish. It is imperative that Saphire take over the throne to keep it from falling into the hands of the Duke's whiny brat of a son.

Saphire meets a lot of people in her adventure. She is followed by a cherub named Tink who's responsible for the whole heart mix up in the first place. It's his responsibility to see that Saphire's boy heart is taken away so that she can become a full girl.

Saphire has several issues, and a lot of enemies; a Duke trying to expose her to the people as a female so that his son can then ascend to the throne; an evil witch called Madame Hell; a handsome prince named Franz Charming who longs for her when she's disguised as a flaxen-haired maiden and despises her as Prince Saphire. (of course, Prince Charming has no idea that the two are one in the same)

It's no secret that Osamu Tezuka was greatly influenced by Disney animation. It's apparent that he has a certain interest in western fairy tales. This story is actually very much a collection of fairy tale pieces. There's a little Sleeping Beauty, a little Cinderella, Peter Pan, a little Swan Princess, and a little snow white. Some of it is taken from the Disney animations and some of it draws influence from the original fairy tales. The manga ran from 1953 to 1968 which is around the time that Disney was bringing several fairy tales to the screen (Sleeping Beauty 1959, Snow White 1950, Peter Pan 1953). Tezuka takes more than plot devices from these tales, he also takes a great amount of artistic influence.
The only thing that is sort of bothersome about the story, (and not really bothersome but just a personal preference) is the Christian stuff. See, up in heaven the whole heart mix-up took place. But this is fine. It's just me really, I'd have preferred some other explanation for the dual gender. 

This story is considered a gender bender, but people keep labelling it as a transgender story online. Saphire is pretending to be a man to take care of her country. She's anatomically a female from what I can tell in the story and she even says she wishes to be a girl all the time. So it really doesn't fit that transgender description. Not that it matters at all, I just hate when people mislabel things. 

I'm really excited to get volume 2. I just ordered a bunch of Tezuka from the library. heh. Watch out!




Hellboy Volume 2: Wake the Devil

by Mike Mignola

So don't laugh at me. I haven't read the first Hellyboy comics. I got caught in the Hellboy web around 2 years ago. I just jumped into the series. I'm going back over things now. I am really enjoying the background. Finally I know something about Ilsa. She's one messed up Nazi, not that all Nazi's aren't messed up... I should just change the subject.

I find early Hellboy to be a lot more brutal than I had imagined. Ilsa shoved herself into an Iron Maiden to let her blood flow out from her. Rasputin assures that her allegiance will allow her to live forever. Her real goal to get her lover back. Another messed up Nazi that just happens to be a vampire.  I'm not that big of a fan of Rasputin as the antagonist. I like the stories and mythology behind Rasputin but I'm not terribly fond of him in Hellboy. I also don't much care for the whole Nazi angle. In fact, I don't care for Nazi's in my fiction at all. I guess because it's just too hard for me to sympathize with a Nazi and for whatever reason, I like to be able to sympathize with the bad guy. More three dimensional, more interesting, more realistic.  I can't sympathize with Nazi's so they tend to make really boring villains for me.

Other than that, I'm enjoying these early books. I have a lot to catch up on !

Oh just for fun, here's some medieval torture devices:

101 Posts!

I thought I'd just celebrate! um... WOOO!! That is all.


Thursday, April 11, 2013

American Vampire Volume 2

American Vampire has captured the horror-loving side of my heart. I just love Pearl and yet, I adore her ex-best friend Hattie. They are enemies now of course, since Hattie betrayed Pearl in Volume 1. I don't care, I like both of them. Why???? Well, they are both female and they are both survivors. I love a survivor. Granted Hattie is less of a survivor since she's hell-bent on exacting vengeance on Pearl (which I don't think is fair since even-steven would mean that Hattie wouldn't be alive). At any rate, I really love both of the characters.

Sweet, is a character I wish to know more about. We get little glimpses of his expansive past. Literally, he's so old, that I feel the need to know more and more.

Just to catch you up a bit, American Vampire operates on the premise that the world is full of different species of vampires. Some can walk during the day, some have special abilities.. it's evolution baby. Uh oh, now I'm thinking "Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam.. wtf?

All in all, can't wait to get volume 3. I hope they release this series in a big hard cover edition. I'm already mad that I started purchasing the trade papers of The Walking Dead 3 years ago, now that there is a beautiful hard cover edition available. DAMN!

Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi's

I am not 100% sure if I will continue with this series at all, largely due to the fact that I can’t stand the female characters. I can barely tolerate the main female character. It appears that the first volume has nothing to offer but sex crazed, vapid fems. It's not very fun. The only plot device I actually like, is D's talking hand. Yet I think the only reason I find it interesting is because I can't seem to suspend my disbelief long enough to stop laughing. Am I supposed to take this manga seriously?? It's really hard. It feels much more like a comedy to me. 

I'm told D starts talking more. Well, this half human/half vampire better start talking soon cause he's somewhat boring. I know pretty much nothing of his past or life besides the fact that his vampire blood is from a noble family of vamps. That's it. That's about all I got. Oh, and why the hell would a mercenary work so long and hard for a chick when all she's giving him is room and board? I mean, she throws herself sexually at him over and over. She comes right out and says that he can use her body for what pleases him if he'll just defeat this one awful vampire.... but D is all like "I'll just take some food". He seems completely uninterested in the chick. Which is fine and they're probably trying to make him look all noble. I don't think he's noble. I think he's suspicious. Suspicious and boring. THERE!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Eden Volume 4 by Hiroki Endo

I like back-story. I like to get to know the history of characters, to know exactly what led them to where they are now.  Endo really feed this need. I find myself starting to fall in love with characters. It's difficult knowing that he feels no hesitation in killing them. You almost want to convince yourself to hate them all as to not be disappointed when your favorite character bites the dust.
 
Eden holds more action panels than most of the manga I'm currently reading. So the books are fairly easy to go through. I finish one volume on my two ferry rides to work. The storyline is more depressing than uplifting though. Sometimes I wonder if I should be reading it first thing in the morning. You know after reading the note from the author at the back of the book, it's no wonder he writes the way he does. I couldn't find a link to it so I suppose I may just type it up and post it because it's pretty damn funny. Super depressing really... and kind of hateful. Post-apocalypse suits Endo well.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

House by Josh Simmons

This is a curious book. I have only previously seen some of Josh Simmons work here and there. I initially picked this book up due to the cover. Creepy right? It sort of also reminded me of French style animation. Once into the book, which is completely devoid of words, I realized that Simmons' art style was recognizable but much had specific characteristics that set it apart from what I initially thought the inner art work would look like.
 
This is Josh Simmons debut graphic novel. It's rather frightening and there is some confusion in my mind as to whether there is a haunting going on, or just the rattled nerves of a few young people.
The story follow a trio of teens (I'm assuming they are teens) as they go on a mission to explore a strange old abandoned house. It starts out light hearted enough, with perhaps a bit of a romantic crisis happening. You can only suspect since no one says anything. The dark haired girl is the third wheel and the two blonds are the happy couple from what I can tell. In their exploration, they become separated by the decaying structure. It appears each of them struggles with their will to survive, then realizing they are lost. It's pretty disturbing actually, as each one accepts their fate which seems to be death in a dark, small place. If your claustrophobic, this may terrify you. Once the team is separated, Simmons starts laying out each page in darkness and it all becomes somewhat minimal and not unlike an animated flipbook, only this is done with un-mapped panels.
 
My bf said that they are going through the stages of accepting death. I've never been in a near death experience so I wouldn't know personally. The Kubler-Ross model, or what is knows as the five stages of grief". They are apparently, denial, anger, bargaining​, depression​, and acceptance (in no specific sequence) and as you can tell from watching the characters, each one of them goes through the stages in a different order.
 
I'd recommend this book to anyone who has 20 minutes to spare and flip through. I'd recommend going through it more than once to father all the facts from the illustrations.

Friday, April 5, 2013

The Hollows issue #2

written by Chris Ryall
art by THE MOST AWESOME SAM KIETH!!!

Well, we all know how much I love Sam Kieth and always have. I'm sadly behind in the series due to a mix-up with my subscriptions but ALEX HALL has assured me that he can get the issues I've missed. Hurray!! Thank Alex & Quantum Frontier!

Post-apocalyptic Earth is full of life-force sucking... zombies? They are known as Hollows. Humanity seems fairly incapable of quelling the monsters so they take to the high ground. They live in gigantic trees! The lead character develops a way to deal with these creatures.. a nice new extinguisher, as he calls it. Not too much happens in this little issue but it's brilliantly drawn. I love the colour tones Kieth has used. They echo the despair of a desecrated Earth. I mean, look at the cover... there's more colour in that cover than in the whole issue except for the funny, little pink character named "Urp". He's so cute!

I'm really excited for the next 2 issues which are available but I do not currently have. Can't wait!

Eden: Volume 3 by Hiroki Endo

I read this today on my ferry ride home! That`s right, I get to take a boat to and from work! And you thought your life was great because you had a car! I get to take a boat on the ocean man! Okay, okay...

I finally picked up a few copies of Eden and got to dig in despite research papers and bad poetry assignments by long deceased authors. Eden is action packed. It`s probably the only action oriented manga that I believe would translate well on the screen. In this issue they introduced a mechanical monster which reminds me horribly of Junji Ito`s body gore. I should not say that it`s horrible. It`s actually absolutely fantastic, in my small opinion. These monster-humanoids have mechanical stretching arms that remind me of Junji Ito`s The Woman Next Door. (If you haven`t read that short-story Manga then do it!) Anyway, they haven`t alluded much to the fact of whether or not these creatures use to be human. Many of the characters in Eden have been souped up with all kinds of mechanical implants. This is the future folks. LOL.  I don`t like the character who sits on the cover you. She`s a 40 year old who`s brain has been implanted into that of a 14 year old... and she tends to be semi naked much of the time... She`s also cybernetic.

What I can say that I like about this particular volume, is the flash-backs. The author has taken the time to give us a little history about a couple of the characters he intends to kill off. I won`t spoil it by telling you which ones. At least we get a little glimpse of what their life was like before they all crossed paths and ended up on the battle field fighting only for their own survival and freedom.

I will finish reading all of Eden. I only wish Darkhorse would catch up with the releases in Japan....

Fushigi Yugi : Volume 4, 5 & 6

by Yuu Watase

Yeah I know, I'm still reading Fushigi Yugi... why you ask? I want to see Miaka die! I know she's not going to but a girl can hope right? After all, she's a selfish cow who eats constantly and still has the girlish figure of a 15 year old (oh right she is 15) WHO CARES! Screw Miaka! After her best friend realized that the biggest reason she came back to play-land was because she fell in love with a boy and not to save her friend, why the hell would anyone like Miaka? Oh right, she's the positive, obnoxious main character.

So what happened in all these three volumes that I bothered to read?? Well Miaka got in trouble, then someone saved her. Then she got in trouble again, and someone saved her, then she tried to drown herself...wait for it... AND SOMEONE SAVED HER! Who cares! Why am I still reading this? I just want her to actually die. Her lover-boy got brainwashed into loving Yui (Miaka's ex-BFF, which by the way, the only reason I'm using teen-speak, is because that is all these characters can vocally vomit). Tamahome (Miaka's lover-boy) tries to kill Miaka a few times, failing sadly and only managing to break her arm. She finds all the damn 7 celestial warriors (good for her?) and is now supposed to summon her god. By the end of the sixth volume, Tamahome is back with Miaka, un-brainwashed, and kissing ass. All is supposed to be right and good. DAMN IT! WHY?!?!?!?!?!

That is all.