AmeriManga issue 1, 2002, I.C. Entertainment

Now, as you may have guessed from the cover, AmeriManga is intended to be a collection of "manga" (read: Japanese-styled comics) by American artists. I've seen this kind of thing done before, with mixed results. And, as I expected, that's what I got here. The book contains four main stories and a short, four-pager at the end. The first story, Kouseki, is OK, if rather bloody. It involves a feudal Japanese town being attacked by some demon creatures, who kill most of the people and take some shiny thing from the body of the daimyo's son. The survivors then discussed amongst themselves. It was OK, but didn't really grab me. Probably the best art in the issue, though.

The second story, Soul Union, holds some promise. I liked the art style, and the story looks to be pretty interesting, involving a teenage human and the ghost of his sister in a fantasy world. The third story, Without Darkness, actually repelled me somewhat. The art is pretty bad, IMHO, and the story didn't really make more sense than "people behaving badly." The final story, however, really grabbed me. Last Ditch tells about the end of the human race. Seriously, they are being exterminated by something, and so they launch some last-ditch "projects" into space on rockets. That description doesn't really do it justice, though. I'm assuming the next issue will explain what happens next, and things will hopefully make more sense then. The art wasn't that great, but the story writing is. Good stuff. And for the record, the little story at the end is a humor piece poking fun at the magical girl genre.

All told, a mixed bag. There's good stuff here, but I'm not sure if there's enough to warrant the $8 price tag. I'll give it a few months to see if it grows on me.

AmeriManga issue 4, 2003, I.C. Entertainment

The other stories in the book have improved, too, for the most part. I still am thoroughly enjoying "Soul Union" and "Last Ditch," and I decided that the best way to deal with the stupidity that is "Without Darkness" is to completely ignore it. Before ignoring it, though, I did notice that the art has improved, due to a new penciler working on that story. Corin Wentworth has a new short story working at the back. His stories are always silly camp, but his art is great. I wish he would work on some longer, more serious stories. They just need to get rid of "Del: World Savior." Seriously, I have scraped better things off the bottom of my shoes. I just ignore it, but surely they can find something better to put in the book.

Age of Bronze issue 16, by Eric Shanower, 2003, Image Comics

And Mr. Shanower isn't leaving anything out, either. We're at issue 16 and the greek armies haven't even attacked Troy yet! They're mustering for the second time, and it isn't going very well for them. This issue focuses on Achilles, for the most part. We see him leaving home and having an argument about it with his parents, and once Achilles meets with the main force he heals a madman of an old wound that he himself had caused in an old battle. And Agamemnon is told he has to sacrifice his eldest daughter to appease a god! Nobody said life was great in those times...

The art in this series is very great. The attention to detail is very strong, and helps set the mood and period very well. Also, in comparison to other contemporary comics, there are a lot of drawings here. Most pages have seven panels, and you almost never get those large pictures that take up a full two-page spread. Considering that one guy is doing all of this, I can understand why it takes so long to do each issue! The only problem with this series is that, due to the on-going story, starting reading in the middle isn't recommended, as a lot of stuff won't make sense for a couple issues. It takes a while to get the hang of what is going on. If you want to read this series and haven't read the earlier comics, I recommend tracking down the first trade paperback, A Thousand Ships, which collects the first 9 issues. It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

Aria The Soul Market, issues 1-6, by Brian Holguin, David Yardin, Roy Martinez, and Lan Medina, 2001, Image Comics

In The Soul Market, the group's order is thrown into chaos by the appearance of a Mr. "Goodfellow," who somehow has come into ownership of a large number of human souls, including one of Kildare's past lovers. The story itself was pretty good, with a couple nice twists, but I didn't have quite the magic that the first series did. The first series was very unique, though, so there is a certain familiarity with things this time around which probably accounts for the lack of "magic." There is a new artistic team this time around, too, and the end result isn't as good as Mr. Anacleto's work in the original series. David Yardin's stuff was very good, and worked very well in the story. However, in many of the books there are a few pages done by Roy Martinez, instead, and the two artist's styles are so different that it was pretty jarring to move from one style to the other and back again. I have no idea why this was done, but it broke the mood for me. Near the end of the series David Yardin goes away, and Lan Medina takes over the main artistic job. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I hate it when artists are changed in a series, especially when it is done within a book. Not good, people. If you are trying to spin a fantasy, jarring me with a new look on page 14 isn't going to help your cause.

Still, the story here is pretty good. I didn't like the ending, but that is because a) I couldn't understand it, and b) what I did understand seemed anti-climactic. If you are new to the Aria books I would start with the original series. If you liked that, feel free to try The Soul Market out.

Air, by thien! Pham, 2002, E-Z Cheese Comics

This book is fun! Air is the story about a young man who is the son of a famous air hockey player. He played a lot when he was younger, but his fiancee doesn't like it, so he hasn't played in years. The situation changes when runs across a young lady at the local bar. She's new, and she is playing air hockey. She's so good that she crushes everyone who challenges her. Even though his fiancee is hassling him about it, our hero can't resist the tug and takes up practicing with this new girl in preparation for the upcoming championships.

The art here is pretty minimalist. It is black and white, and the character designs are pretty sparse. Still, each character has a distinct look, and he gets good expressions and good body language out of them. The main reason I like this book is because the story is just great. It has kind of a "Karate Kid" or "Rocky" feel to it, and the author even uses the song "Eye of the Tiger" in one scene. Fun stuff. The use of air hockey as the sport gives it a unique spin, and it is humorous in its own right just to see people get all worked up over air hockey, of all things. If you ever find this book, definitely give it a shot.

The Amazing Joy Buzzards volume 2, issue 1, by Mark Andrew Smith and Dan Hipp, 2005, Image Comics

Doesn't that sound really weird? I thought so, but I also thought that it had enough potential to warrant a shot. So what did I get for my $3? A suprisingly entertaining read, actually. I must admit that the art style isn't my favorite. Everyone looks somewhat odd. I realize that some of the characters are supposed to look odd, but there are few attractive character designs here. Faces, in particular, don't look right to me. HOWEVER, the story is totally hilarious. I have always liked stories where the women are the only smart ones in the group, and the bad guys here totally fall into that realm. I mean, the bad guys know that the Buzzards are their arch-enemies, so what do they do? They buy the new Buzzards album and listen to it on their Ipods. Brilliant! And interestingly enough, Stevo doesn't speak in words, just images. Interesting. Anyway, quite an odd, but entertaining, little book.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Guilty Pleasures, issues 1-3, by Laurell Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, and Brett Booth, 2006, Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics

Our heroine, Ms. Blake, is a private investigator living in an alternate version of our own world, where the undead have been given government privileges as citizens and live alongside regular people. Needless to say, there are occasional problems of vampires feeding on unwilling victims, and Anita is a private investigator who works with the police and other clients to help resolve these and related problems. Bonus points, the story is set in my own town of St. Louis, MO! That was a pleasant surprise.

The story so far involves a clan of vampires that wants to hire Anita to investigate (off the record, of course) some recent murders of vampires. Yes, someone or something is out killing vampires, and the vamps don't like it at all. Anita hates vampires, though, so this has been pretty much three straight issues of fighting and tension, as Anita finally meets the head vampire in St. Louis and learns the details about the job. Whether she actually takes it or not seems to be up for grabs right now, but I'm sure we'll learn all about it soon enough.

On the art front, this series has been crazy delicious so far. Brett Booth craws the best curly hair I have ever seen, and all of the characters look fantastically beautiful, if a little over-the-top sometimes. Also, the two main chracters, Anita and Jean-Claude, are really fun to watch. There is definitely some tension between those two, but some attraction, as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this series goes.

Amazons Attack! issue 1, by Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods, 2007, DC Comics

The brief story is this: Wonder Woman is kidnapped by a branch of the US government that deals with superheros. Circe, an evil, powerful sorceress, might potentially be behind that, and she is definitely behind the Amazons finding out about the fate of our heroine and going all ape nuts on the "evil men" that rule the world. They also go all ape nuts on innocent bystanders, too, which is pretty uncool. The amazons actually come across as amoral at best, and evil at worst, which was surprising. At the end of this issue Wonder Woman has been freed from her prison and she meets her mom. Whether mom goes ape nuts on her remains to be seen.