Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon book 1 by Andy Seto, 2002, Comics One

The book itself is very pretty, with selective lamination on the covers, and inside cover flaps that resemble those on dust jackets. The art in the story is wonderful, with colored pencil and ink drawings being mixed with fully painted pages. I don't know why some pages are drawn and others are painted. They're both well done. Of special note is the coloration of the pencil and ink pages. It just might be the best coloring job I've ever seen.

The story reads pretty quickly, though you will lose some time lingering over the art. It's all setup in the first book, as we get some history on Yu Shu Lien and her family, and we see how she and Li Mu Bai first meet. As is typical of kung fu stories, the fights are pretty outrageous, with people flying all over the place and using attacks that destroy stone and cause large explosions and stuff. My Chinese-American friends assure me that this is totally normal for Chinese stories. I'm sure I can get used to it, and I plan on following this story throughout. I should also note that the back 20% of the book is given over to background on the author and artist, as well as a large ad section for other kung fu comics that Comics One publishes. That's nice, I guess, but I could have done without it if it would have led to a lower price.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon volume 2, by Andy Seto, 2003, Comics One

The length of the book vs. the price of the book is my main beef with this title. Yes, it's very pretty. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that this book is the best looking comic I have in my collection. It's just too short to really be something I could wholeheartedly recommend. And, no, the 16 page preview of Saint Legend doesn't make up for it.

But enough complaining. This story picks up a little while after the events in the first book. Once again the children of Ho fight against Grand Yu, his daughter Shu Lien, and Mi Lu Bai. Once again we see Lu Bai filled with angst because he loves Shu Lien but can't have her. I don't want to give things away, but this chapter of the story really kind of drives the knife in for him. I liked it, but I'm one of those people who believes that all great romances must be tragic. I like this melancholy kind of thing, so I can appreciate that angle to the greater story.

So I'm conflicted. I like the story, and the art is wonderful to look at, but I don't feel like I'm really getting much story for my money. I don't know if I'll be getting any more volumes in this series unless I can find them on sale.

The Courageous Princess The Kingdom of Leptia by Rod Espinosa, 2002, Antarctic Press

For those of you who have no idea why I am so excited about all this, The Kingdom of Leptia is the third book in the Courageous Princess story. Brief synopsis: princess Mabelrose is kidnapped by an evil dragon, but since she's not the fairest in the land, there's no hope of rescue by a dashing prince. So, she escapes on her own. The dragon chases her, of course, and so she travels through distant lands trying to get back home. This story picks up, naturally, as the princess enters the lands of the Kingdom of Leptia, which is the land of "anifolk," or animorphic characters (dogs, vultures, lizards, etc.) that walk upright and talk as men. But all is not right in the kingdom of Leptia, as our young heroine soon discovers.

It is interesting to see some changes in the character of Princess Mabelrose. Rod Espinosa does a good job of making her look a little older. She looks a little taller (that may be just my imagination), and her hair is noticeably longer, as it would be from not having been cut in weeks (months?). She has also become more learned in the ways of the world, both the good and bad aspects, and her old spunky personality seems more muted now, which goes along perfectly with her increased maturity. All the usual characters are back, of course, and I thoroughly enjoy the interplay between Spiky, Mabelrose's talking hedgehog companion, and the enchanted rope that Mabelrose carries.

This is the longest book yet, coming in around 100 pages, and the paper quality is much improved over the second book. The art is excellent as always, though the use of cut and paste effects in Photoshop were more evident this time around, especially in the scenes showing soldiers in the armies near the end of the book; yes, that is the same image shown a dozen times. It is only distracting when you are looking for it, but it did seem a little overdone here. This might have been the only thing that kept the book from being delayed six more months, though, and if that is the case than I'll take what I can get. If you have never read the Courageous Princess books before, I give them my highest endorsement. The publisher is currently selling all 3 books for only $25, which is a great deal.

Chronicles of the Universe by Rod Espinosa, 2001, Antarctic Press

The book itself is rather odd, because it does not consist of one main story. Instead it contains a number of short comic stories (along with some textual background pages) about the Desperado family, which is basically a bunch of superheros way in the future, in sort of a space fantasy setting. The first story, which in my opinion is the most entertaining, is about the main Desperado brothers beating the pants of some two-bit despot terrorizing a backwater world. The rest of the stories are either about regular family situations (getting the family together for breakfast, checking out one of the girls' new car, etc.), or just seemingly random activities about the kids.

I have to admit that I wasn't that impressed with the book. Outside of the opening story there just isn't much coherent stuff going on. The stories about the girls in school really didn't do anything for me at all, but I'm sure that there are people who like that kind of stuff. Probably the people who read Ninja High School would eat it up. Not me though. If more books come out in this series I will probably avoid them, or at least flip through them in a store before purchasing.

JTF-3: CounterOps issues 1 & 2, by J. Ang and Jin Song Kim, 2003, Antarctic Press

The story concerns an anti-terrorism task force operating out of Canada. The team is international, though with a French slant, which makes some sense for a Canadian team. The first issue serves as an introduction to the series, and we get to see the team members, including a couple of new recruits who aren't entirely sure what they've gotten themselves into. The second issue involves a mission to track down some terrorists travelling through Canada. They find the terrorists, but in the furor of chasing them down an "accident" happens, which causes LOTS of damage and hints at worse things to come.

Both the story-telling and the art in these books is great. The artist has obviously seen some anime and manga, as you can see the influences in the way he handles angles and framing of pictures. It all looks very cool. The coloring is very well done, also. I have only two real complaints about the books. First, they cost $4 a pop, which is really too expensive for a 24-page comic. Second, the books are too short. The first issue seems forced to fit within an artificial page count; 32 pages would fit the series better, I think. That's kind of a minor quibble, though, and if you've got the dough you would be hard-pressed to do better than this series if you like real-world action in your comics.

Complex City: All In a Day's Work, by J. E. Smith, 2003, Better Comics

I bought this book solely because when I saw being sold by the author at SPX, I recognized it. I believe I first heard about it from Scott Kurtz at PVP. Anyway, I figured that if Scott said it was good, it must be good, so I promptly laid down ten bucks and picked up a copy. This book is a collection of issues 1, 2, and 4 of the Complex City comics series published by Better Comics. Why not issue 3? According to the back of the book, issue 3 deals with the character Bulletproof, while the issues collected here deal with the character Bulldog Malone (pictured on the cover). So, this collection is all about Malone, a six-foot anthropomorphic bulldog who is also a police detective in Complex City.

So, what is the story about? Well, Complex City is a pretty odd place. It has aliens, superheros, mad scientists, lots of criminals, cyborgs, and all sorts of sci-fi and sci-fantasy stuff. The series has a late-Fifties or early-Sixties feel to it, with the way things are designed and drawn. It's got that whole "pulp" feel to it. The characters are very inventive, too. Not only is the main character a dog, but you have two brilliant scientists, a cyborg with two brains, bizarre transforming aliens, a weird superhero-type guy, and more. It's almost too much to take. I will admit that this book left me feeling flat. It just didn't really grab my attention. Yes, there are interesting characters. Yes, it is humorous at times. The problem is, I never came to really care about the characters or the story. Reading the story was mildly interesting (the last chapter being the best), but I'm not sitting here thinking "Man, I can't wait until I get to read more Complex City!" Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Cloudfall issue 1, by Robert Kirkman and E.J. Su, 2003, Image Comics

Two things about the art here. First, I like it a lot. It is B&W, and done in what I will call a "natural" style, where a lot of the shading is done with the pencils and inks, rather than by digital enhancement. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but a change of pace is always nice. The artist, E.J. Su, also does good faces, which I really dig. Most characters have really good expressions. However, the opening page shows our leading lady and her husband having sex, and considering that I grabbed this book off the bottom shelf of my local comic shop, I'm surprised that there is no attempt, either by the publisher or the store, to keep young children from getting their hands on this. Yes, you don't see any genitalia or nipples (thanks to the husband's grasping hands...), but it just didn't need to be there, as it didn't have anything to do with the overall story. They're married, so I don't care if they use chains or whatnot when having sex, but I don't need to see it, thank you very much. Hopefully that was simply a poor decision that won't be repeated in the next issue.

Crest of the Stars, by Hiroyuki Morioka, Aya Yoshinaga, and Toshihiro Ono, TokyoPop

Let's start with some basic plot. In the far future, there is a genetically-engineered race of humans called the Abh. They have founded a large empire, which during the course of this book goes to war with all the other human empires. Our two heroes, Lafiel and Jinto, get wrapped up in a number of adventures as they try to get from the edge of Abh space to the capital. First, they get kidnapped by a renegade Abh noble (who likes his femal servants/slaves a little too much, it seems). Then they get their ship shot down and stranded on a planet that has been conquered by an enemy army. Through it all Lafiel and Jinto develop a solid friendship, which gives hints of possible developing into something more. This book doesn't get into that, though.

Overall, it seems like dead average space opera story-telling. The story is pretty good, but not great. The art is pretty good, but not great. There's just nothing here to really stand out and attract attention. The next volume Banner of the Stars, is supposed to be published at some point, but I'm not sure that I'll ever pick it up.

Conan and the Jewels of Gwahlur, issues 1-3, by P. Craig Russell, Dark Horse Comics

Wouldn't you know it, but I was right! Even if you aren't a big Conan fan, this is simply an interesting fantasy story, involving greed, fantastic treasure, long-dead (maybe...) goddesses, monsters, and more. The pacing is good, the story-telling is good, and the writer is actually given enough pages to properly tell the story without it feeling rushed or that something was left out. The fighting in the third issue can get a graphic, but for the most part this is even something that is appropriate for a younger audience. Definitely fine for teenagers, maybe for mature pre-teens. If you missed the individual issues, I'm sure a trade paperback collection will be out before too long.

Culdcept volume 1, by Shinya Kaneko, Tokyopop

The story in this volume is all right. The pacing is pretty good, but there is so much "I summon my knight!" "I summon my goblins!" "I summon my random freaky thing!" that it feels like I'm reading an episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TV show. Not really my kind of thing, though it was entertaining enough in how the cards were used in battles. The art itself is pretty good, though in some scenes things are too busy and I get a little overwhelmed with all I have to look at. The artist mostly successfully pulls everything off, though, and at the end I was satisfied with my purchase, though not enough to race on out and buy the next volume right away.