V Books

Having purchased The Three Musketeers and The Man in The Iron Mask I realised that there were three intermediate novels pulling the story together.Twenty Years After, The Vicomte De Bragelonne and Louise de La Valliere bring the complete story of the musketeers into focus. To gain the most from these stories they need to be read as virtually one book in five large chapters.

After writing The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years after, Dumas wrote a third installment to the trilogy. It is probably the most controvercial book in the trilogy, as can be revealed by reading many of the reviews. For starters, it's LONG: over 200 chapters. As a result, the English-speaking world has split it into three books: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valiere and The Man in the Iron Mask (the most famous volume). The length is certainly a problem, in fact is it THE major flaw in the conclusion of the trilogy. Dumas is never terse or concise, but in this three-part book, he produces an monolith. This was largely due to him overcomitting himself and having to write this much for financial reasons. However, while this is a major setback, the three books still have elements of great, almost sublime Dumas left in them, which can be extracted if approached in the right way.

The final installment of the trilogy represents the dear old Athos, d'Artagnan, Porthos and Aramis maturing and growing old. The trilogy thus moves from more active and straightforward swashbuckling to a more complex and sombre picture. Like the previous book Twenty Years After, it is not completely clear as to who's in the right and who isn't, only this time it is more so. Like the previous book, age has placed the former Musketeers in a somewhat divided situation, this time involving many a clandestine dealing of state and international level. Finally, in this three-part saga, we are introduced to a huge number of characters while our Four at times take a back seat for several hundred pages. This has been criticised as well, but has a point.

In terms of this specific volume (The Vicomte de Bragelonne), it is the most historical one, as initially d'Artagnan and Athos are brought out of retirement, united in their royalist causes. After completing an adventure reminiscent of their former, more "action-packed" years, the intrigue of the newly-ascended Louis XIV begins. It is here that we can see Dumas as painting a brilliantly detailed picture of what he sees as France moving towards a more centralised, efficient yet pedestrian autocracy from Richeleu to Mazarin to Louis XIV. For the first time, d'Artagnan finds himself serving (and appreciated by) the king, however, the novel asks the question of whether this is at all a good thing. In the power-struggles of the court, we see the irony that the "detractors" of progress are often more honourable than its supporters.

If you only expect more action involving the Four, then don't bother reading this at all. However, if you persevere, you will get to see sublime glimpses of what a long way the Musketeers of old have come (for better or worse), what they think about the entire society they live in and what Dumas thinks. As well as some of the old-fashioned-style adventure. I think that the fact that this is obscured by an overly-drawn-out style, while annoying, does not detract from this being an honourable conclusion to the trilogy.

While the main characters of the Musketeers saga are present here, The Vicomte de Bragelonne does not make nearly so good use of them as in the previous two books. While true that the characters have aged along with Alexander Dumas, they retain their flair for adventure and their basically upright personalities. What fails, unfortunately, is the writing itself. Bragelonne is the first of three novels that make up the trilogy ending in The Man in the Iron Mask. But while the last installment is well known worldwide, the first two (this one and Louise de la Valliere, the latter of which I've not yet read) remain obscure. At least in this case, there's a reason for that.

First, the plot is scattered. Even by Dumas's normal standard there is little coherence. The first third of the book, roughly speaking, is fully up to the normal Musketeer standard, involving two of our heroes in military intrigue during the restoration of King Charles II to the English throne. Bravo all around for that. But after that, the story devolves into somewhat stale palace politicking in the new reign of Louis XIV. We start to see some hints of the broader schemes involving the full cast, but not enough to grab our attention.

Finally, to put it bluntly, there's just something stale about the style this time around. Dumas has yet to find his proper voice for this installment, and hence he loses the reader. I'm assuming he finds it again by the end of the trilogy, but it's just not present here.

If you are reading this review, you have probably already read the Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. You are wondering if it is worth it to continue with the series. If you decide to go on, you have three more 600+ page novels ahead of you. That is a lot of time and energy.

If you are foremost into the swashbuckling aspect of the Musketeer stories, I would not go forward. The Musketeers are now in their late 50's. They are still vital characters but they are no longer young men looking for any excuse to duel with the Cardinal's Guard. From this point on, there is a lot less sword play and campaigning. The focus of the story moves to the intrigues of Louis XIV court.

I am continuing with the series because I like the characters. I want to find out what happens to the four friends. In this novel, D'Artagnan and Athos are the principal characters. Aramis and Porthos do not show up for the first few hundred pages. Dumas has kept me entertained for the first two thousand pages of this saga and I am counting on him to keep me entertained for the next 1500 pages.

This book is part one of a three part series, the next two being the Louise de la Valliere, and the final being the more well known Man in the Iron Mask. I understand this was originally one HUGE book, but is now more commonly broken up into these three books.

This book starts about ten years from where Twenty Years After (Oxford World's Classics) ended. Although the book is titled the Vicomte de Bragelonne (who is the son of Athos), we don't see much of him except for the first and last parts of the book. The rest is filled with the adventures of D'Artagnan and Athos while they separately scheme (unbeknownst to the other) to aid Charles II of England to claim his throne. LOL, D'Artagnan's scheme in regards to General Monk. Aramis and Porthos are up to something mysterious and make only the briefest of appearances. The rest of the novel is filled with the mysteries and intrigues of the French court, and ends with the marriage of Henrietta (Charles II's sister) to Louis XIV's younger brother, Phillip.

If you loved the musketeers, history and intrique it is well worth your time to spend on these books.

This is a wonderful book -- but the price is ridiculous. I purchased a paperback copy of "The Awk Programming Language" about 15 years ago, and its price was in the $20 range. Times change, and prices go up, but $73 for a 200-page book, even if it is a hardcover, verges on outright theft.

Which is a shame, because this is a great book, written by the men who developed the language. In addition to a lengthy tutorial, it contains many examples of sophisticated programs that can be constructed from the simple tools provided by Awk. Anyone who supports computers for a living, whether in the Unix or Windows environment, can find valuable ideas here.

But the price: c'mon guys, you've got to be kidding. This book has been in print for 20 years now. You've long since made back the initial costs of publishing it. The authors are famous in computer science circles, and have written many other books. I'm sure they don't need the money. So I have to conclude that this is just a cash cow for the publishers.

If you're looking to learn about Awk, and you're on a budget, I would suggest "Effective Awk Programming" by Arnold Robbins. It's available in PDF form as a free download. If you'd like to support the author, buy a printed copy of the book, as I did. Published by O'Reilly, it's available in paperback at Amazon for about $26.

And if you can find a reasonably-priced copy of "The Awk Programming Language", by all means, grab it. It's a classic. Thanks to the publishers, however, it's a classic that's out of most people's reach.

I am torn about this book. My primary complaint is that this book costs so much. Its only a 200 page paper back book. I'm a sucker for classic books though. This text appears to be the original 1988 version by the authors. The actual text of the book is very good and being written by the authors of AWK, provides a certain view on the language and their intent that was well received. I do carry this book with me as a reference which I have found invaluable in my shell scripting endeavors. This book will give you a solid overview of the language. Be prepared for example references to the world of 1988 such as the USSR. Despite my complaints about the price, I have to admit that I enjoy owning this bit of Unix history and having the authors own words about AWK. From a practical standpoint however, I think that you can learn every bit as much about AWK by learning from freely available internet content on GNU/Linux versions of AWK (gawk). Since I have worked with Unix since about 1984, I have to concede being blinded by a bit of nostalgia. However, AWK is still a vital tool for anyone's shell scripting bag of tricks and this book will help you further develop your skills with AWK if you have only used it lightly in the past.

This is my choice for the answer to the question "If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have only one programming book which book would you choose?". Over the years I have periodically returned to this book to read or work through for fun. "The AWK Programming Language" may be from 1988 but it is still outstanding! It has an incredible amount of depth for a book of only 200 or so pages. Well-written, concise, with great examples. Truly an enjoyable book to work through.

I've become a big fan of Awk. Some people may tell you that Awk is outdated and no longer useful; not with other languages such as Perl and Ruby available. Well, Awk does one thing and does it well. It does it "fast enough" most of the time, and does it with a very small language.

Perl and Ruby are fine, but if you lean towards "small is beautiful", you must learn Awk. For times when you need it, it's a Godsend. I've used it recently to automatically generate SQL insert statements from some flat files and to do automatic code generation for larger languages.

Some of the best tools have survived the test of time.

In this book, I feel like I learned all the things I need to know about Awk - all the way from beginner to advanced. It's a classic. Not a lot of books get five stars for me. This book fulfills it's goals perfectly, so deserves a perfect rating.

In Unix today, several scripting languages exist: awk, perl, tcl and python. Awk is a small, easy-to-learn, yet powerful programming language, and is language of choice for quick, think- and analyze-on-the-fly tasks. This book is written by the inventors of this wonderful language. It provides an excellent introduction to the language, with many practical examples for day-to-day use. Over many years, it has also served as a good reference to the language. In addition, this book gives concise introduction to numerous fundamental algorithms in computer science (interpreter, calculator, parser, sorting, graph algorithms, ..), which I consult for complex tasks even today.

Always a joy to read! Highly recommended.

This an Dr. Kunjufu's many other books are exceptional in the fact that he details the facts straight to the point. I enjoy his methods of writing without pullng any punches. I wish that I had read this before my son started grade school, but now he is in the 4th grade and he went from being placed in special education, to a 4.0 dean's list GPA. God bless the power of prayer and guidance. Anyone can change their situation. I also just finsihed my Associate in Business, and I am in my Bachelor's Degree program right now for Marketing. Of course I will go on to the Masters programs and Doctorates. Learn for life...

"Please share a priceless thought through literature" "Give God the glory"

Thank You Dr. Kunjufu

As an educator who strives to find direction on how to break the negative experience in pre K-12 education for a high number of Black male youth, I find this book, along with the other two in the series, to be informative and innovative when it comes to establishing a marker for administrators to use in order to monitor the teacher-student relationship and provide the positive environment that is necessary for all students, especially the Black male youth, to succeed.

This book is a must read for parents of African American boys and boys of color.

Reading this book revealed unfortunate truths that were not surprising to me at all. Serving as a public educator for over twelve years, it's sad but true as to why young black males at a very young age lose the desire, hope,and will to do better in school settings due to the facts listed in this book and many more since this book was written. I was overjoyed to see that Marcus Garvey Academy, a school that I taught at for eight years under the sincere leadership of Dr. Harvey Hambrick was mentioned. I was honored to read that Dr. Kunjufu took notice to how Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit, Michigan and other schools assume pivotal roles in contributing to the solution to this horrible epidemic impededed on the futures and lives of young African American Males. Dr Jawanza Kunjufu did a great job at presenting multiple truths and the sad reality of how young black males are unfortunately targeted from the start.
Adra Young
Author of: The Everyday Living of Children & Teens Monologues

All of his books are supported by extreme measures that are evidentiary. He is always straightforward and inclined to share his analizations with his people so that they can be more aware of the system and the strategies that are used to destroy African American males. You should read it.

This book completes the series of Mandala coloring books by this author. Well worth the money spent.

I teach an alternative high school class and these designs have helped my students focus and relax at the same time. Anyone who works with troubled teens should have these at their disposal...one more item to add to your bad of tricks!

I think this will be fun to color with my granddaughter. We love to color things together, and we love designs. Thanks.

I enjoyed this book very much. I kept it on my coffee table and would color in it to relax. Now that each page is colored I have moved it to my bookshelf.

Out of the half dozen coloring books we bought last year this one was our favorite. Every design felt well thought out and was quite fun to color. My only complaint is that there weren't more pictures to color. This is well worth buying if you're looking for a challenge to your coloring skills.

This product showed up speedily and in very good condition. I am very happy with it.

I own this series in Japanese, and it is a wonderful read! It has all the important elements of a good shoujo manga: it is romantic, twisted, with a shoujo (in the traditional meaning of the word) involved in finding a new family and love triangles galore. It is just a very fun read, no matter the language!

reading this book makes me want more to read

for people who love fruits basket, this will probably be one of your favorites in the series. full of drama and revealation, i think it is one of the best. i like how there is drama, but not too much of it; it's just in the right spots. kyo realizes his feelings about toruh, and yuki does too, i believe. momiji has really grown up! and u finally realize things about akito. a great read for furuba fans, but i say if u haven't tried this series bfore, research a little on it before deciding to read it!!!!:) i know i can't wait for volume 14!!!!

Fruits Basket volume 11 is probably among the darkest volumes in the series. When you read this one, I can assure you that you will easily be moved to tears - and also part of what makes it dark is our finding out about the zodiacs' futures, particularly Kyo's.

It's obvious that this family holds lots of betrayal and backstabbing, and this volume makes that a big part of its aura. Parts of the book are rather surprising and catch you off-guard while you're reading it. I remember sitting on my bed while reading it, turning to the next page and going "WTF KYO KNEW KYOKO" because basically, this is the volume where we find out about that.

Akito finally confronts Tohru with her real attitude towards outsiders, and gives her a small wound in her anger (poor Tohru!). However, Momiji fans will love this volume, as we see his courageous and protective side towards loved ones.

And LAST but not least, the "love triangle" Between Tohru, Yuki and Kyo is certainly getting more complex. You'll know that in the previous volume, Yuki confessed to himself his love for Tohru. In this volume, the same happens with Kyo. I know who she ends up with in the end at this point (and also by reading spoilers! Haha), but I won't tell you for the sake of my poor head before getting hit by an iron skillet. VERY worthy of five stars, although my favorite volumes are still 1, 4, 6, and 13.

If you love mangas and love a story that gives you every emotion a story can give you, then this is the book for you. The main part of the story is comedy but it does have a lot of other emotions to it and there are a lot of plot eliments that will keep you wanting to read. I don't want to give anything away so I wont, you'll just have to read it. ^_^

I own this series in Japanese, and it is a wonderful read! It has all the important elements of a good shoujo manga: it is romantic, twisted, with a shoujo (in the traditional meaning of the word) involved in finding a new family and love triangles galore. It is just a very fun read, no matter the language!

As an American whose undergrad studies revolved around European subjects, I am still quite ignorant of Japanese customs/cultures/naming conventions and so on. This book confuses me in a few different ways: 1, as another reviewer pointed out, several of the characters look nearly identical, and I had to go back and reread several portions to figure out who was whom. 2, the variations on naming are awkward to me. Tohru is variously referred to as Tohru, Tohru-san, Tohru-chan, Tohru-kun, Honda-san, sometimes even Kyoko-san, which is her mother's name. This isn't so bad, because Tohru is always Tohru no matter what is on the end of it, but for example Hatori is sometimes Ha'ri and sometimes Haa-san and this happens with all the characters who have more than 2 syllables in their names.

There are some weird cultural things drawn in here that I don't understand: a sketch of Tohru's mom in middle school, and she's wearing what looks like a surgical mask? (She was not a doctor.) One of Tohru's friends is referred to as a Yankee, but I can only assume this has a different meaning in Japan. Her name is Arisa Uotani-san (sometimes Uo-chan, which really threw me!) and that is definitely not an American name. So, here I am confused again.

Please forgive my ramblings but once I get started, it's hard to stop! I'll be continuing with Fruits Basket.

I think that the storyline is so nice and is definitely worth reading. I prefer reading it in Nihongo though. All in all the story is very enjoyable and it has a good balance of darkness and drama against lightheartedness and comedy. Ga suki furuuts basuketto!

Tohru Honda's adventures really get going in the second volume of "Fruits Basket," where the upbeat teen moves into the Sohma household. Natsuki Takaya's storytelling is stronger and steadier in these chapters, since she's introduced the main characters and can now get going on the plot.

Tohru is moving into her newly furnished room, and her pals (wave-reading goth Saki and toughgrrl Hana) decide to stay over to make sure that the guys will take care of their cheerful friend. And when New Year's rolls around, Kyo and Yuki find themselves wondering what to do -- go to the main house with the other family, or stay with Tohru?

And at the school, the students are planning a cultural festival, and Tohru encounters two other Sohmas -- the chilly doctor Hatori, and the effusive half-German Momiji, who is instantly pals with Tohru. But Tohru learns of a different side to the zodiac members' lives, when she hears about Hatori's tragic past.

The first volume of "Fruits Basket" was all about introducing the characters and getting them into the same house. And in the second volume, Takaya gets to flesh out the cast with new characters and new storylines, and hints about the more sinister aspects of the Sohma family's curse, and the family head Akito.

The storylines in general are darker here, especially the harrowing flashbacks of Hatori's love affair with his ex-fiancee, and the bitterly chilly way that it fell apart. But Takaya also sprinkles it with happier moments, such as the naughty novels, the preparations for the cultural festival ("She brought an IRON PIPE to school!"), and poor Yuki having to wear a dress, much to the delight of his crazed fangirls.

There are also some new dimensions shown in Tohru here. Sure, she's always cheerful and pleasant, but Takaya hints that she is actually quite lonely now, despite the presence of her friends. But the zodiac members also get some development -- including Tohru's whole talk with Kyo about the "umeboshi" on people's backs.

The second volume of "Fruits Basket" is even better than the first, and introduces the mix of tragedy and comedy that Takaya is so good at. And it will only get better.

Once you get past the strange layout (described in other sections), this is a great edition of Henry V. It is easy and fun to read and offers valuable insights (not just for students either). Well worth a flutter.

This play is best known for the St. Crispian's Day "Band of Brothers" speech given by King Henry just before the battle at Agincourt. It is a powerful speech that rallies people at all times and everywhere. Sir Lawrence Olivier made a film version in 1944 during WWII and Kenneth Branagh made another as recently as 1989. You can count on there being more versions. Epecially so when computers can help them make spectacular battle scenes (that aren't really in the play) with less expense.

Audiences love this play and they should. There is a lot to like and enjoy. I think upon repeated readings Henry becomes a more equivocal character than he seems at first. And readers of the King Henry IV plays will know him before he became King Henry and know something deeper about his personality.

And of course there is the whole bit about the drive to France being sponsored by the Church to avoid confiscation of property by the Crown. Moreover, there is the slaughtering of the French prisoners, and his treatment of Falstaff (who dies offstage in this play). This isn't revisionist stuff, it is right there in the play, but it is easy to miss the first time you are trying to take in the play.

In any case, this Arden edition is the one to buy and read from. Why? Because it has the most authoritative text, but that is only the beginning. It also shows variants between the early sources. The notes at the bottom of each page of the play are simply fabulous. The editor includes not only helpful notes explaining what might be obscure in the text of the play, he provides sources Shakespeare probably used such as Holinshed and makes for some very interesting study. There are also some helpful notes on how various scenes have been performed over time.

And to make this sound more like an infomercial, you get more! The introduction provides great background material on the play, its sources, and how it has been performed throughout history. After the play, there is a photo reproduction of the first Quarto from 1600 and it is fairly readable. There are also a couple of maps showing the path of the English Army from Harfleur through other towns on its way to Calais and makes clear how they had to pass through Agincourt.

There is also a helpful genealogical table so you can see the confusing claims used by Henry and the French nobility to make their claims. And there is a doubling chart so you can see how theater companies can perform all the roles with fewer actors.

This is a great edition as are all the plays published by the Arden Shakespeare. The amount of work collected in these volumes is stunning and they will enrich your experience of the plays tremendously. I can't recommend them enough.

This play more than any others in the histories glorifies Englishmen and England. His characters in this one are larger than life, but each has their own limitations and flaws. The play covers the time of the Battle of Agincourt when the French King Charles was so sure of victory that he sent a messenger to Henry to ask him to give up and to pay a ransom before the battle. On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, the English were outnumbered five to one, Henry's troops were on foreign soil and riddled with disease. The scenes where Henry dons a disguise and goes out amongst his troops to bolster their confidence are great. The English managed to triumph in this battle where all was stacked against them mostly because of Henry's leadership. This is such a sweeping story that it is hard to condense in a few words, the plot of the play, but it is a wonderful example of Shakespeare's skills as a writer.

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.' What more need I say? Henry V is an imortal classic of western literature. And this edition is complete and accurate. See the film if you want, but be sure to read the words at least once. They are inspiring.

"Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the King that led them to it."

Particularly poignant poetry in these times of pompous presidential sabre rattling and wars based on questionable facts.

Un libro que será de utilidad para aquellas mamás que están a punto de tener a su bebé, ya que es una etapa muy bonita de la vida, el cual te mencionará técnicas y toda duda que tuvieras al respecto..... TE LO RECOMIENDO!

reviewr, Ms. Feralnd:
THIS IS A GREAT BOOK !
I had it all along during my pregnancy and felt comforted and happy with it.
It solved all my doubts and eased my heart!

How I wished someone would have given me this book when I faced the idea that I was pregnant YIKES..so now I recommend it as a wonderful wedding gift to that couple who plans on having a family. It is a real source of information and comfort. I had the surprise too the day I went to deliver, I had to have an emergency C-section. This is a great gift too for that bold woman who may choose to under go having a child as a single parent. From conception right down to explaining the Post Partum Depression. Awesome Book.

Y NI UN SOLO MOMENTO DE MIEDO O DUDAS...Este libro maravilloso me ha dado tranquilidad y resuelto mis interrogantes!

EXCITED...UNTIL I CONFIRMED I WAS PREGNANT !
Catastrophic !
I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE FROM FEAR...
I WENT CUCKOO!!!
This book dragged me back to sanity and peace...
So, I LOVE IT

This book is great- between the detailed illustrations, the extensive lists of muscle functions and the breakdown of why the muscle does what it does, it really helped me to learn. The only think I didn't love is the order the muscles are listed in, in my brain they would have been logically grouped together a bit differently, especially when it comes to trunk muscles.

I bought this book after attending one of Dr. Muscolino's cadaver lab workshops. I highly recommend this book and, if you are thinking about a cadaver workshop, I recommend that as well. Dr. Muscolino is very knowledgeable, caring and sensitive.

It is nice to find a book dedicated to the muscular system. Although the graphics are simple (not photographic), the information and the lay out are great for learning and understanding of the muscles. The best pages in this book are those that lay out the muscular attachments of a region of the body.

Highly recommended for anyone that works in any field where the muscles are the focus!

Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino truly compiled the ultimate Musculoskeletal system anatomy textbook.

I esspicially found the Latin and Greek derivation section's to be very helpful in understanding the origins of the muscle names.

This author's logic and approach is unmatched.

Kudos to Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino!!!

This book is comprehensive in nature, scrupulous in detail, and the product of an obvious passion for the wealth of information to be found in our musculoskeletal system. As a massage therapist and perpetual student of the human body, I am glad to add this book to my library. It is well organized which makes it easy to reference whether I know the muscle, the bony landmark, or the general anatomical area of the body. Having so much information about an individual muscle in one book makes it easy to enhance or refresh my existing knowledge. I have opened the book just to refresh my knowledge of what an individual muscle looks like and found the illustrations clear. I have used the cross reference to find other muscles that might be adding to an existing muscular problem in a client. I have refreshed my awareness of an individual muscle by using the easy to follow palpation information. And I have added to my knowledge of individual muscle actions when helping a client isolate a muscle's tightness. Every time I have opened the book I have not been overwhelmed by what I do not know but rather come away feeling smarter.

When someone tries to blow up Jack Knight, and in the process gets some of his family, he will slowly come to the realisation that he has some growing up to do.

He kicks against this for some time, but his father, a couple of local cops, Opal City herself, and the need to do something about The Shade and The Mist start to move him in the right direction.

Starman, written by James Robinson,with art by Tony Harris, Peter Snejbjerg and others, details the exploits of Jack Knight, the son of the aging 1940's Starman, as he struggles with the family business, his personal business and Knight's Past, his, um, business business. It's got science, mystery, romance, cowboys, pirates, and some of the most pure heroism that was presented in the grim and shallow world of 1990's comics. This is one of those great series, Sandman-style, which is loved by comic and non-comic readers alike. This is where I first saw the pencils of Ex Machina artist Tony Harris. I had such a man crush on this creative team, when I met them at a convention in 1996 I giggled Japanese schoolgirl style and averted my eyes. I palpitate at the thought! James Robinson complimented me on my shirt, which I had cleaned especially for the occasion. This is the comic that made me love DC comics, made me embrace my inner collector, and kept me returning to the comic store.

I have to admit I like the new Starman alot. But I donthtink everyone would.

Great stories, great art, coloring...I have all the 7-8 volumes in the tpb format. The character is written very well. The Sandman stories are especially good, as well as JSA related and even the filler stories with Starman's brother, and Opal City's historical characters. Bank robbers, pirates, aliens, poets, fantasy, sci fi, tattoos, etc...what more could one want?! Also the substitute/guest artists are as good as the regular artist.

However I am a little dissappointed that DC never mentions any ratings for their books similar to Marvel. The new Starman Series by James Robinson is NOT FOR KIDS. Although not overly gratuitous visually, there are bedroom scenes, with semi-nudity(no full frontal), drug use(only one issue), as well as homosexual characters(which is not overly emphasized or distracting to the comic. only noticed this rare&few times. no sex, just words of "love forever")but it may offend some people, and confuse or harm children's moral upbringing. As an adult, they dont get in the way of the main characters virtuous and heroic qualities but they may cause some people who are offended by that kind of thing to miss the overall well-crafted story plots. For others it may cause them to imitate those scenes. I dont like them in a comic book. Personally the parts of the story that show those scenes really dont add that to the plots very much. But I dont believe the writer was trying to shock anyone, just make society more comfortable with this type of relatonship. I would have rather those ideas/characters remained out of the books, or "faded to black" (as one homosexual scene was). I still give the books the highest marks for overall artisitic presentation.

Starman has since departed from the superheroe scene(i think?) but this run of stories has many many great moments in the modern super hero context. Just be careful if you are scensitive to the "adult" situations. They show this Starman superhero and related friends, associates, as very human persons, equiped with fallen human nature, and have to go through their own personal, yet in some cases, universal, spiritual and vocational superhero trials and tribulations. These trials are moral & emotional, that many people can relate to on a down-to-earth level. I tend to think of these stories as kind of modern greek mythological hero/fable stuff anyway. But just because greek stories have all the sex and stuff doesnt mean I like to read, or see, in contemporary novels. I pretty much find it insteresting how Robison included the adult situations, but ignore it overall. However, there is more to emotional maturity then sexual relationships, or positions. At least Robinson provides enough character depth & developement to overshadow these unnecessary plot developments. That is where his writing talent really impresses in dealing not with physical strength, but virtuous strength, in terms of acquiring courage, and in some cases, emotional & spiritual growth. Interpersonal relationships between family and friends also play a strong part in the stories as well.

But if you are senstitive to the adult themes maybe the original Starman Archives is your style. There are moments where Harris's & Robinson's modern Starman stories really are the best I have ever read. All though there is alot of art deco, art nouveau, and film noir symbolism throughout their work that allows their style to be respectful of the past. Some of Harris's visual treats could make terrific posters. The inker is especially sensitive to his style. The modern Starman handles the adult themes well in many instances, but they couldve been done even better. If you look at film noir, alot happened that you didnt need to see to help create drama. I am afraid Robinson couldve been more graphic, but he also couldve been less so. For instance issues about adultery(not shown in this particular issue) had wonderful, morally and spiritually uplifting conclusions, with effects that run throughout the Starman series, but he didnot have to show the adulterous act to make us know it happened. For me the resolution was marvelously handled, that it overshadowed what was "shown", however many people might have missed the great ending because of being "shown" too much. "One does not have to see the sin, to learn from it." However, I must restate, Robinson didnt necessarily cross the line of decency, but got right up close to it...even dance over it...to close for me, but still accomplished a great piece of story telling.

No offense meant by my comments, just some thoughtfulness that I think DC should include in its packaging, or on its website. Right now one would think Starman is just like any other comic for kids, when SOME issues, NOT ALL, are more like R rated, G, or even PG.

I hope DC puts out the remaing issues. I believe about 20 more need to be released in tpb.

Yankstar

James Robinson shows his brilliance in crafting vivdly fleshed out characters in his highly entertaining revision of the superhero genre in the 'Starman,' series. This first volume opens up in typical anti-hero fashion with a mortal character reluctantly thrust into the role of superhero and his subsequent struggle to assume such a larger then life identity. While the story and plotting in vol. 1 is decent and perfectly serviceable, the strength of this series is ultimately found in the wonderful character development that takes shape through dozens of chapters. Jack Knight, the hero of this tale, comes across as an everyman with a fascination for kitsch collectibles and pop culture while constantly struggling to find comfort from his transformation to super-being. Good heady stuff without taking itself too seriously.

Almost everyone in comics got the wrong message from "Watchmen" and "The Dark Knight Returns." Rather than learning that superhero comics could be about more than adolescent fantasies they simply embraced the violence of those books and created comics that catered to a darker set of adolescent fantasies than the old Superman or Spiderman comics did. Comics didn't grow up; they just went from being geeks to juvenile delinquents.
I say almost everyone because there are a few notable exceptions where people have written superhero comics for grown ups, or to use Neil Gaiman's words comics that are "about something" (about something other than muscles, spandex, and maiming and killing "evil doers" that is). Kurt Busiek of course, and strangely enough Alan Moore himself are the examples everyone knows about. Unfortunately, James Robinson's work often falls between the cracks, and that is a shame, because "Starman" is a comic that is truly about something.

Aptly enough a good bit of what the comic is about is growing up. Early in the series Knight mocks things like family, duty, and honor, but Jack coming to embrace those things as well as responsibility is the heart of the whole series. Spiderman and Superman are great metaphors for adolescence, "Starman" is a story about coming out of a prolonged adolescence. Jack Knight isn't an obsessed Rorschach or Batman driven by internal demons in a near psychotic quest for vengeance. Rather, he's a self-centered hipster who gets in the superhero racket out of duty, family oligations, and loyalty to his beloved home town.
But really I make it sound all stodgy and positively 19th century Prussian, and it isn't. As well as being about something the series is a lot of fun. Robinson clearly loves all those old guys in tights and all the baggage that goes with them, but in his hands it really isn't baggage. You get explosions, evil plots, crime waves, superhero team ups, and everything you expect in comics, but you get meaning too. On top of that Robinson has a knack for creating characters and enough attention to detail to bring them to life. The O'Dares could have degenerated to Irish-cop stereotypes, the Shade a mere metropolitan killer, or Knight a hipster with superpowers, but none of them did. They all seem like living breathing people, and that's not something you can say for characters on a good many acclaimed television shows.
"Starman" was one of the best comics of the 90's and the best place to start is at the beginning.