Comic Books Books

I have been a faithful FoxTrot reader for years. Roger, Andy and their kids Peter, Paige and Jason are always good for a reality check with a large dose of laughter. I've got two girls and let me tell you, I see a lot of my kids in Paige with, I believe, even a healthy dose of Jason thrown in. And they have Peter's bottomless stomach. Of course, they're faithful FoxTrot readers too. I used to read the strip to them, explain what was going on, but now they get it just fine and we three all laugh together. Then my girls try and explain the strip to their dad, who pretends he doesn't get it.

The FoxTrot folks are a great family, one we sort of got used to checking up on every day, so we took the news that Mr. Amend was going to cease daily distribution of his wonderfully funny people and turn his strip to Sunday only, with a bit of sadness. Still, we have these terrific FoxTrot books to keep us going with our FoxTrot fix. Mr. Amend is to be commended for his great gift to our culture and his great gift to so many lives. I truly believe a laugh a day, helps keep the blues away and the FoxTrot gang are always good for a laugh. Heck there are a lot of laughs in the FoxTrot books. I know, I have them all and I am, along with my girls and my hubby dear, eagerly awaiting the next one.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we don't have an iguana, but my girls do have a pet gecko and, you guessed it, his name is Quincy.

I've been a Foxtrot reader for a long time and personally I think there is something suspiciously wrong with people who don't find Bill Amend's characters funny as all get out. If you want a good laugh, check out Bill in your local newspaper, or better yet, get one of the Foxtrot books. They are all great, really, they are.

Like many of Mr. Amend's fans I'm a bit disappointed he's switching his strip to Sunday-only, but fortunately I can still read him daily in the Foxtrot books. Get them one and all and you can keep right on a laughing.

It seems i am not alone in the opinion that when Bill Watterson ended his run on Calvin & Hobbes that Foxtrot became the defacto new favorite of many comic strip fans and with good reason. Bill Amend has the two qualities that make a great cartoonist: First, a comical yet adept cartooning style and second: a very witty sense of humor. The Fox Family consists of Mom Andy, Dad Roger, sons Peter and Jason, and Daughter Paige. This cast tackles the situations that all families do in funny and often eccentric ways led by the brainy and altogether greedy youngest son Jason.

Foxtrot consistently has some of the best Thanksgiving and Christmas strips every year and I always look forward to those. This is a strip that should be turned into a TV show! It's far superior to the lame "Family Guy".

The title already cracked me up. i love foxtrot and am in love with each and every charactor. Everytime a new book comes out it adds to my collection. I'm 17 so i can realate to most of the characters too...

This strip is very, very funny. I agree with almost everyone about the strip on page 103 it's sooo funny, but you have to read it to find out what it's about. This comic strip has a perfect set of chaotic charachters, and it's definitely worth reading. I have already converted 3 people at my High School into Foxtrot fans because it's really funny. There are larger collections if you are just getting started reading foxtrot i'd recommend that but if you have the books, then this one's definitely worth buying too.

Chinese philosphy is so pragmatic, always useful. These book makes easy to understand many important fact present in life. Sadly, the other books of this series aren't available. I hope they got reprinted. If you can't get one copy of this book, you'll see that some things change when we leave our static point of view. Great Book.

I read out of either this or Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness almost every night for my daughter...although I think I'm really reading it more for myself. One-three page cartoons of zen buddhism scriptures translated all contain great little doses of morality and keep one from taking one's self too seriously.

What a wonderful book. It is such an easy read. The illustrations are great and the stories convey profound wisdom in an entertaining fashion. The humor is gentle. One will grow in wisdom without even realizing it by reading this book. What a gem.

It's not every day you see a book on any Eastern philosophy that is easily accessible by pretty much anybody who can read. With /Zhuangzi Speaks/, Tsai Chih Chung has given us a great gift. I must admit that I initially had low expectations for a cartoon version of Chuang-Tzu's writings. After having read through it, however, I say with confidence that this is truly a wonderful book that makes the sometimes puzzling Taoist principles much easier to understand.

/Zhuangzi Speaks/ is definitely worth a read by fledgling and long-time Taoists alike, as well as their loved ones (who may not understand much about the Tao), and anyone else who is even the least bit curious about Chuang-Tzu and his ideas.

Now you can enjoy the essence, wit and wisdom of Chuangzi brought to life through cartoons. Near the edge of each page, you'll also find the story written in Chinese characters.

Through these popular and illustrated stories, you'll get a taste of "listening to the music", living spontaneously, free from social encumbrances, free from the strict rules of conduct of Confucianism - in harmony with the Tao, surrendering to the moment and enjoying whatever situation presents itself.

This lovely book presents the wisdom of Chuanzi through about 78 enlightening metaphorical stories.

This first book of stone soup is wonderful. I finally understand where the characters began and laughed all the way through. The drawings are less refined than the most recent comics, but I enjoy seeing the figures improve as the writing gets sharper.

How completely, utterly *refreshing* to read a comic strip where the female characters don't value themselves based on their waist measurements, their spendthrift shopping habits, or by how men see them. How wonderful and hilarious to see a comic-strip Mom who's got better things to do than become the family doormat -- Val's no-nonsense dealings with the kids is a refreshing change from the usual Mommy-clean-my-mess (from husband as well as kids) in most family comic strips. Of course STONE SOUP is feminist (Oh! I just said the "f" word!) -- it dares to presume that female characters can carry a comic strip all by themselves, and be funny and interesting in and of themselves, and that families come in all shapes and sizes. Naturally it's taken years for Eliot to come out with a *second* collection of these wonderful strips while the bulimia manual CATHY and the formulaic mommy-doormat FOXTROT are on their umpteenth releases -- some people are just so *threatened* by real women, aren't they?

I read a lot of comic strips and most make me smile, some invoke a chuckle. Stone Soup is the only one that makes me laugh out loud over and over. My refrigerator is covered in Stone Soup and so is the wall of my cubicle at work. BUY THIS BOOK AND THE SECOND COLLECTION, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

There seems to be a lot of debate going on in the previous reviews over whether or not Stone Soup is feminist. My opinion: of course it is! And it's quite refreshing to see a comic strip that isn't afraid to be. Better yet, the strip is never preachy and, unlike Foxtrot (to which it gets compared frequently), it's almost always funny. I've also seen a lot of comparisons to For Better or for Worse (helped along perhaps by the fact that Lynn Johnston wrote the introduction to this collection) which I find closer to the truth. The big difference there is that unlike FBoFW, Stone Soup is almost never sentimental. Eliot always finds a way to squeeze a laugh out of good times and bad, without dwelling on her storylines or overdeveloping them. While her focus may be on single mothers, her humor is accessible to one and all. And of course, it helps that Val and the gang always manage to keep their sanity intact at the end of each story!

Someone below called this a feminist comic strip but I think that's misleading, especially given the current difficulties in just defining that word. Yes, it happens to have several female characters, and yes it's not a stereotypical mom-dad-dog-2.4-kids-wagon-picket-fence family, BUT: This strip is about all of us, everyone of every sex and age and family style, and it's enjoyable to (and enjoyed by) a wide range of people -- even ordinary traditional people and even (gasp) men! My husband loves it, my 60-something dad loves it, and so on. I think the publisher's blurb on the back of the second Stone Soup collection ("You Can't Say Boobs On Sunday") got it right: "Anyone who's ever had a family, been in a family, or known a family seems to love Stone Soup. ... Readers see themselves and their families in Stone Soup, and they love it." That goes for people who don't consider themselves family-oriented, and for people who do.

Everyone I've known who's read any Stone Soup has enjoyed it and wound up quoting or passing around some of the strips.

Recommended reading for everyone except total grumps, I say.

I can't believe I've had this book all these years and I've only finally gotten around to writing a quick review of it NOW. Suffice to say, it's a stumper. It was ground-breaking when the original web comic came out almost a decade ago, and remains as fresh-creative-exciting and charming today as it did today.

I would love to see a VOLUME TWO! That seems unlikely, on paper, but you can always see the poor cousin online version. Not the same for bedside reading, tho.

Charly, kiddo, yr still batting 100 or 400 or whatever is a good number for American baseball players to bat. It's not like percentages, is it? 100 doesn't equal everything, does it? I never understood numbers. Heck, I'm a WORD man, not a numbers man.

dig it out, it's worth it,
=link

I read Charley Parker's "Dinosaur Cartoons" and wanted to see what else he did. This book is beautiful. And the website, zark.com is spectacular. A must-read and a must-see.

In most cases, a comic book is done on paper, then converted into a virtual comic book. In this case, a virtual comic goes onto paper! The book contains the entire Book One of Argon Zark, a humorous comic book for those who enjoy and understand humor about the internet and computers. The characters are lovable and the plot is one of the best I've yet to see in a series comic book! Great pictures and very enjoyable. A must read!

ARGON ZARK! is a really well done book. It was originally done to be an all digital on-line comic, but there were so many people saying that it deserves to be something that requires...

No electricity required! No waiting for the server to connect! No download time! No RAM requirements! No software conflicts!

...and something that...

Won't crash or freeze! Is Y2K compliant! Is lightweight, portable, bendable, tactile! Take it on the bus, train, or airship! Read it under the covers with a flashlight!

...so, that is what he did and it turned out great and to be a big success!

Take it from someone who has read it and tried to figure out how he did it so well, you MUST read it! You won't be dissapointed!

-Ovi Demetrian

Argon Zark, The Delux, Portable, Cordless Souvenir Dead-tree Edition (i.e. book) more than makes up for the lack of hyperlinks, JavaScript, and slow downloads with:

1.Instant Gratification (just turn the page and you're there, duh!);

2.a postscript showing how some of the art is assembled, and explaining some of the in-jokes to the non-web-savvy;

3.and the thing we've all been waiting for: RESOLUTION!. These are no baby 50kB jpegs like we've seen on the Web! For this book, Charley Parker has gone back to the original pre-anti-aliasing ultra-high-resolution artwork, re-rendering it in eyepopping detail. Almost all the frames from the web are here (some of the hidden frames that rely upon animation to make their point and aren't really part of the story got cut), but with more detail, more luscious backgrounds, and more in-jokes that you can see clearly. Those of us who remember squinting at the anti-aliased Page 1, for instance, to make out tidbits like "Pretzel Logic" and "Marx and Lennon" can now show it to our friends...and can even see what's on the milk carton behind them!

The book format also facilitates a more restful appreciation of the art as connoiseur's comics art... for instance, the way in which changing style of borders around frames may anticipate a page boundary (e.g. last frame of p.31), activating the reader's semiotic radar. Bottom line: This is artwork to be treasured.

Matthew H. Fields, D.M.A.

17 April 1998

It has great poster-like images and screen shots, all of high quality. The original art is also superb. If you like Gundam Wing and want some extra art or if you want to draw something from Gundam Wing get this...and the technical manualGundam Technical Manual #1: Gundam Wing cause that thing has ALL the details about the machines and the story leading up to the show.

Hm... I happen to LOVE this book. I own it. Bought it at a different website (animenation.com) with a different cover, but it's the same pictures... And the pictures are great! There were quite a few I hadn't seen before (example 1: the one of Treize and Une's head from the side. example 2: one with both Milliardo and Zechs (Milliardo with his mask on) from the side and a full shot of Noin from the front). The whole thing is layed out very nicely. I give it... *drumroll* Ten out of ten thumbs up! Eh... Right. Anyway...

For all those die-hard Gundam fans who were disappointed with the three-volume manga, this will more than make up for it.

Like the title says, this book displays a collection of pictures -- original ones or screenshots from the anime -- that is, simply, the art of "Gundam Wing." The book does a good job of fairly balancing the pictures of the five pilots as well as other important characters. For those who surf the web a great deal, many of these pictures will be recognized immediately. And many people might also notice that the pictures are a lot crisper, clearer, and cleaner than some found on fansites, which is alone worth the price of the book.

However, there is also a good deal of pictures that have most likely not been found on the internet (although they probably will be soon because of people with scanners and a lot of free time). These pictures heighten the worth of the book, and the fact that they were drawn by the artists who worked on the anime makes it all the more satisfying. After all, where do the original artists take the time to add more of their talent to a collection of already-beautiful artwork?

All in all, there was only once complaint I had, and that was that the book was a little short. The book is only about 96 pages of art, with a brief interview with the artists. Despite this setback, the book is definately a must-have for anyone who's ever enjoyed the artwork and wants to gloss over it for days on end. Try and say something like that about "Pokemon"!

This is a really great thing to buy for any GW fan. The artwork is beautifull.....amazing.....there aren't enough good words to describe it.....I'm very happy that I bought it.....

This is a great book! It's worth the money! If you know Gundam like I do then you'll love this book. It has pictures from the Endless Waltz as well as some from the earlier movies. The pictures are very colorful and quite creative. Each character is given a few pages of pictures. If you are familiar with the pics on the trading cards, they're there too! Also the covers of the movies are included. I highly reccomend this book to anyone seeking help on drawing the Gundam Wing characters or just looking for a peice to add to their collection!

I've been reading Asterix since I was a child, and I've never read a better comic. They're clever, silly and have great twists on words. I've picked up bits of history, Latin and enlarged my vocabulary without meaning to. These comics don't get old, even when read and reread. Now my kids and their friends read my Asterix collection and they're as absorbed as my friends and I were. The "Mansions of the Gods" is one of my top 3 picks, along with "Asterix and the Legionnary" and "Asterix and Cleopatra." Make sure to buy the Asterix written by Goscinny and illustrated by Uderzo. After Goscinny died, Uderzo continued both writing and illustrating these comics and they aren't as clever.

This is one of the best books in the series of Asterix adventures. Finally it has been translated to English so that it can be enjoyed in the US as well. This book is full of reliable historical details. For example, do you know that Caesar in his "De Bello Gallico" (translation: "About the war in Gaul") talks about himself using the third person? Well, Goscinny and Uderzo knew: this is one of the many "cultural" jokes in this beautiful comics book.
The graphic is also wonderful. I personally enjoy looking at the brochure presenting "The mansion of Gods" to possible buyers. Of course the brochure is engraved in marble.
Having read these books as a child in Italy I am looking forward to more translated adventures to enjoy reading together with my kid in the US.

Rene Goscinny, The Mansions of the Gods (Dargaud, 1971)

The seventeenth Asterix adventure, and (at least if you're going through the library system) seemingly the hardest to get hold of-- perhaps because the title doesn't have "Asterix" or "Obelix" in it. Caesar has a new plan for getting the Gaulish village to acquiesce-- develop the forest around it into Roman housing blocks called the Mansions of the Gods. All well and good, except, of course, the Gauls have some tricks up their sleeves for holding construction up, including organizing the workers. Fun stuff, this. ***

Great adventure for a great character as Asterix! Include it in your collection, it will be worth!

Originally done as a comic in a french childrens' magazine, the Adventures of Asterix the Gaul have grown beyond that small framework and can be enjoyed by peoples around the world. the idea is that in the world of 55BC all Gual has been conquored by the Romans, except for one small village which holds out against the invaders. The source of their survival is a magic potion brewed by the village Druid which gives the drinker superhuman strength. The gauls are not waging a war with the romans, they just go about theirl ives and after being thumped a few times, the local Romans are more than happy to let them do it.

in this adventure the Romans decide to try and force the gauls to intergrate with the Roman world by building luxery apartments near them. The thought is that when the guals are surrounded by woodlands, they cannot appreciate roman culture but by building Roman towns on their doorstep, they Gauls will be forced to accept the pax romana.

What follows are a series of adventures based on deforestation, colonization, and good neighbors. And if you ever thought your own building contractors were pirates or bandits...well.

I have been a faithful FoxTrot reader for years. Roger, Andy and their kids Peter, Paige and Jason are always good for a reality check with a large dose of laughter. I've got two girls and let me tell you, I see a lot of my kids in Paige with, I believe, even a healthy dose of Jason thrown in. And they have Peter's bottomless stomach. Of course, they're faithful FoxTrot readers too. I used to read the strip to them, explain what was going on, but now they get it just fine and we three all laugh together. Then my girls try and explain the strip to their dad, who pretends he doesn't get it.

The FoxTrot folks are a great family, one we sort of got used to checking up on every day, so we took the news that Mr. Amend was going to cease daily distribution of his wonderfully funny people and turn his strip to Sunday only, with a bit of sadness. Still, we have these terrific FoxTrot books to keep us going with our FoxTrot fix. Mr. Amend is to be commended for his great gift to our culture and his great gift to so many lives. I truly believe a laugh a day, helps keep the blues away and the FoxTrot gang are always good for a laugh. Heck there are a lot of laughs in the FoxTrot books. I know, I have them all and I am, along with my girls and my hubby dear, eagerly awaiting the next one.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we don't have an iguana, but my girls do have a pet gecko and, you guessed it, his name is Quincy.

I've been a Foxtrot reader for a long time and personally I think there is something suspiciously wrong with people who don't find Bill Amend's characters funny as all get out. If you want a good laugh, check out Bill in your local newspaper, or better yet, get one of the Foxtrot books. They are all great, really, they are.

Like many of Mr. Amend's fans I'm a bit disappointed he's switching his strip to Sunday-only, but fortunately I can still read him daily in the Foxtrot books. Get them one and all and you can keep right on a laughing.

"There's nothing like going into a big bookstore on a cold winter evening...finding a collection of short stories that you'd always meant to read...taking off your coat...plopping down in their café...and watching shoppers come and go as you sit back and sip on coffee. Ah, bliss."
"Mom, did you bring your credit card? They have every STAR TREK book." (Jason)
"Since calendars are half-price, can I get Niki *and* Stephanie?" (Peter)
"Fourth and one and they're *punting*?" (Roger, on headphones)
"At least this place sells T-shirts." (Paige)
"Ah, reality."
- Mrs. Fox and family, herein

All the cartoons in this collection are included - in the same order - in the omnibus FOXTROT BEYOND A DOUBT except for the single-page additions of Jason personalizing a T-shirt and the dedication page's picture of Quincy the iguana with a teddy bear. The Sunday double strips are not in colour in this book, although they are printed in colour in FOXTROT BEYOND A DOUBT.

Unless you're particularly attached to the smaller size of this book, its cute cover art, or the three single frame cartoons that were added for the dedication and endpages as described above, I recommend considering FOXTROT BEYOND A DOUBT instead, since it includes all the content of this book with the addition of colour formatting for the Sunday strips, together with content from the previous collection RETURN OF THE LONE IGUANA.

Having said that, let's move on to the content. :)

FOXTROT maintains a continuing storyline, although the kids seem to be growing up rather slowly despite the passing seasons. This particular book begins during the Fox family's summer holidays and ends the following spring.

Some of the memorable bits include:
- Paige babysits for Margaret O'Dell from her mother's book club for the first time, whose little girl is cute but whose babysitting conditions are dire. "Hi there! You must be little Katherine!" "Um, it's 'Katherine', with a 'K'." "That's what I said." "No, you said 'Catherine' with a 'C'. I could tell. Hold on - I'll be right back." "Hi, there! You must be the little girl who's going to need massive therapy in twelve years!" (Peter, much later, takes a dog-sitting job looking after a crazed little canine Nac Mac Feegle - pit bull aggression levels in a toy dog's body).
- Jason and Marcus experiment with model rockets and with the biggest kite they can manage to put together.
- The Fox family takes a family vacation to Fun-Fun Universe (not to be confused with Disney World, of course).
- Paige learns during a speech in social studies class not to listen to her dad's advice on how to control her nerves: "Yowza! It's like a Chippendales show!"
- Peter's first anniversary of dating Denise and his efforts to select a good present (genes from his mom's side, since his dad buys spatulas for Valentine's Day). He also goes through some rather trying study sessions with her while her parents aren't home.
- Jason's classmate Eileen beats his score on a math test; she suckers him into going out for ice cream with her family afterward, even though he officially doesn't like girls.
- Paige is assigned to write a ghost story in English class. After she makes Jason the victim, she gets an A plus an appointment with the school counselor.
- Paige's brother Peter passes himself off as her secret admirer as a joke.
- Jason asks for Doomathon II for Christmas, but trades it at the computer store after his mom becomes addicted to it. "Mom convinced me that I was too young to have a game like that in the house...I mean, *I* can't do my laundry."
- Roger suffers through an efficiency expert at work who complains at finding perfectly good paper clips in the trash and is then treated to lunch at the Ritz by the boss.
- The baseball team players, including Peter, shave their heads after losing a bet with the soccer team (which temporarily cheers Peter's balding father no end).

Oh, my lord this is like the greatest Foxtrot ever written. The Strips are so cool and the stories are soooooooooooo funny espesialy when Roger smokes a cigar and Paige writes a ghost story. Truely, very fuuny

This is a great book to give to someone as a gift to introduce them to the humor of Foxtrot. It is wonderfully funny and engrossing: you will have finished it before you realize it!

This manga trilogy contained in one volume chronicles relationships between humans and genetically engineered people called Unicorns. In the title story, Regg lost his great love Addy in a tragic avalanche on a distant planet, so when her replacement clone arrives on the research station, he is conflicted because this Addy does not have the memories of the woman he loved, and yet he still loves her. In "4/4 (Quatre-Quarts)", young Mori is flunking out of the ESP training program until he meets the mysterious Unicorn girl called Trill. He's drawn to her, but she affects his powers, making them erratic and dangerous. When Mori discovers the secret Trill's guardian is hiding, he finds himself at a crossroads that could destroy his relationship with Trill. "X + Y" takes place years after "4/4" and finds Mori much older and working as a scientist. He meets another Unicorn named Tacto, and is quickly attracted to the young man, but uncomfortable with the notion of same-sex relationships. As the two young men puzzle out their own relationship and find ways to work together as scientists, they also unravel Tacto's hidden history. "A, A¹" is a fantastic romance manga that explores some intriguing questions about love, gender, and sexuality.

This manga is the best I've read in a while! The stories are unforgettable, and I highly recommend this manga to everyone who loves love stories. This is not a waste of money, and this is coming from someone who is quite careful on what she buys. BUY THIS NOW!! =D!

While most manga, even if you buy a 500 page perfect collection, is read and tossed in about 10 minutes, this is quite different. Of course this doesn't take any longer to read, it's just that the stories within touch a nerve and stay in your head for quite some time. The art and the writing are both equally beautiful. So instead of throwing money away on the next volume of Inu Yasha and forgetting about it 5 minutes later, try this. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised.

Moto Hagio is one of the "HANA NO NI JUUYO-NEN GUMI", literally, the "Magnificent Twenty-Four-Year Group". "Twenty-Four Year" refers to Showa 24--1949. These women revolutionized shoujo manga in Japan and raised it to the level of a literary genre. As such, it certainly is fair to call Moto Hagio one of the greatest shoujo manga artists of Japan ever to live.

A, A' is the sole work by one of the HANA NO NI JUUYO-NEN GUMI to still be commerically available in English translation. It is a mature, insightful collection of 4 tales all unified by the presence of a member of a genetically-engineered race of variant human beings called "Unicorns", who all possess a sheaf of red hair and an inability to express the emotions that they feel. Even Unicorns can experience the love of another...but can they learn to love themselves...?

Hagio's storytelling is brilliant and beautiful, a masterpiece of rare intensity worthy of any reader's bookshelf. However, the reader should have an open mind. The HANA NO NI JUUYO-NEN GUMI are also renowned for their treatment of sexual ambiguity and male-male romance. This proclivity is clear in A, A'; still, I firmly believe that it is in good taste and treated with appropriate delicacy and understanding. There is nothing graphic in A, A'...only four emotionally powerful and majestic stories that will surely enrich the hearts and minds of any who take the time to partake of them. A, A' will move it's readers to laughter and tears.

I cannot recommend Moto Hagio's work highly enough. Please, if you are a person who likes great literature or good manga, give A, A' a try.

A, A Prime is a trilogy of short stories that are sci-fi and yet shoujo in nature. This is not kiddie fare though as mature themes like homosexuality come into play. In the first story, "A, A Prime", a young woman named Addy is killed on duty as a researcher in outer space. A clone of herself is sent to take her place. Generated from Addy's own cells and implanted with her memories, is this Addy truly Addy? Addy's lover Regg wonders. The second story, "4/4 [Quatre-Quarts]", is about a teenage boy named Mori. Mori can't seem to control his psychic abilities. That is, until he meets a beautiful girl named Trill. With Trill, Mori's powers are not only controllable, but amplified beyond comprehension. But Trill is not even human. The third story, "X+Y", features a young man named Tacto. Tacto has always been a guy, until a medical examination reveals that he has pre-developed female reproductive organs inside his body. But that can't be, can it? After all, medical records from his childhood all say that he's male. Besides, he's already got a girl he's interested in...

Although the three stories are separate, the premises in which they take place are the same. It is the future, and traversing from one planet to another is as simple as going abroad. Ms. Moto Hagio places another common denominator -- the Unicorn race. Unicorns look like humans, but they have a distinctive strip of red hair (their mane) in the middle of their heads. Unicorns were originally developed to handle computers, thus they were created without emotions to prevent errors. But as you'll see in the trilogy, Unicorns aren't as unfeeling as they are widely perceived to be. A, A Prime is a unique manga experience -- a truly seamless union of sci-fi and shoujo elements. A good grasp of scientific principles is evident in the way the stories are written. At the same time, A, A Prime manages to be emotionally charged. Ms. Hagio pulls off quite a feat, and she pushes it to the limit. The art is good, albeit quite different from what most of us are used to. No cutesy stuff here. Be warned that A, A Prime contains some homosexual themes. Not to worry, it's all tackled in a very tasteful manner, which is another positive point.

When I was 11 years old (that was three years ago) I was first introduced to B.B. Explosion and I fell in love with it! I waited and waited for a new book in the series to come out and it seemed time would never stop. Now that it is over and now that I am 14 I still believe that this series is very cute but it is no longer for my age range. I'd say this manga is made for people 7-12. I still have this series and I'm so GLAD to have. It's about a young girl that's 12 who is trying to follow and make her dreams of becoming a star and sharing her music to the whole world!

I wish they had decided to publish the sequel, it's such a cute series and I would have liked to see what happened officially between Takaya and Airi!

This book is one of the best childrens mangas written. It shines truth on the music buisness without saying it is pretty harsh. Most of the charactars in the book can be found in the real word. The school that the main character (Airi) goes to really exists! This book keeps reality in check while whisking you away on the dream of a girl. Anyway, will Airi sky rocket to fame? Or fall down? You can only find out if you read...

Ok, I was in borders yesterday and looked in the manga books. i found a book that had bad words in every page! ugh.. so I kept looking and saw this book. I flipped through it and looked on the back cover it said "all ages" for the reading level. I picked it up and ran to my dad to pay for it. during lunch I relized that hey, I chose a good book! the front cover may look a little odd but don't judge a manga by it's cover! it's good for girls age 10-13 and there's NO bad words! Trust someone who read the whole thing!! and I bought 2-5 with it. I defintaly spent my money on a treasure! so like, GO TO BORDERS AND SEARCH FOR B. B. EXPLOSION! YOU WON'T BE DISSAPONITED!

B.B. Explosion is my favorite graphic novel I own. Once you read it you will totally flip! Did you know most of the people in the book are real? Airi is real. Yu Yamanda is real and so is 'Da Pump'. Haven't seen anything about Yumi though! Read the others. Each english version comes out every three months!

As someone whom has seen many fascets to the entertainment industry, it is nice to see a fresh and innocent, yet VERY honest portrayal of the entertainment industry.

Airi is a young 12yr girl whom is obsessed with an entertainment show that broadcast in her homtown Okinawa. She obsesses over the hip and hot boy band on the show, and when an opne audition is announced to go to the Elite "Actors School" in Okinawa she goes in hopes of meeting her teen idol. :) Little does she know is that she in for far much more than she EVER expected.

She is mentored by a gaurdian statue named Caeser that comes to life and follows he around, he claims that ONLY people whom have what it takes to make it can see him. This adds a cuteness and somewhat fantastical character to it, that COULD undermine the story by making it see to fluffy, but it doesn't. It works with the story overall, and it is interesting to see how he's used throughout the series. :)

The great thing about this, is that it teaches you that, although the industry want someone to convey their own ideas and images, that need someone whom is comfortable in their skin, and not jsut a carbon copy of someone else. And it shows the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and the tears, without seeming soap-operish and trite, like some stories I've read. Because of its cast of young and well fleshe dout characters, it is a fresh portrayal of one girls climb to the top. :)

I would recomend this manga highly to anyone!!! I devoured the first 3 volumes in one sitting!!! It is worth every penny, and is worth re-reading, and is oppropriate for ALL ages. :D So if you're looking for something to read that is fun and fresh, and that has an overall positive message without being trite, pick up B.B. Explosion!!! :D

God Bless ~Amy

The joy in this strip comes from knowing that it's all accurate. The cartoons in this collection are on-target in their ability to make the reader realize how the things that made us mad when we experienced them with our own children are very funny when they happen to someone else!

You'll be laughing out loud at this collection.

Material is as funny as the first book years ago. Our whole family enjoys Baby Blues. I'm proud to support comics in the "wholesome, clean, safe for the family" category, like Peanuts started by Charles Schulze so long ago.

I first picked up a copy of Baby Blues when I was on my honeymoon in US. Never saw it before in my life, but after flipping through a few pages of this, I was hooked. Todate, I've ended up with the entire set in my house, all read over and over again.

The strips simply mirror my life as a parent, although I don't quite have Wanda's benefit of being a SAHM. I personally have 2 kids who are have a very close age gap of only 14 months. Wanda and Darryl's misadventures and experiences couldn't be more realistic for parents or parents-to-be.

I've introduced it to my friends, who have become hooked as well and some of them have the whole collection as well.

Buy a copy. You won't go wrong!

Here is a whole collection of "Baby Blues", a clever, brutally honest comedy satire all about child-rearing from a couple of good ol' "been-there" daddies! Features a well-meaning but know-nothing dork of a dad, a disgruntled, long-suffering mommy who smiles graciously through clenched teeth, and - the big stars of the strip - Zoe, the precicous but spoiled rotten brat in perky red pigtails and Ham, the pin-headed baby of the whole family with a personality to match his name! A very generous helping of really crazy domestic misadventures for the new parents to find comfort and reassurance in as well as for the happily childless to gloat outrageously over!

You already know which comic strips you like, right? But newspapers don't carry every comic strip, so it's possible you aren't familiar with Baby Blues. It's also possible you like the strip but wondered what happens "behind the scenes." You might even be looking for a "housewarming" type gift in the $10-20 range.

I've been introduced to some of my favorite comic strips over the years. So this is my recommendation to the people who haven't heard of Baby Blues. My tastes range from Dilbert, The Far Side, and Calvin & Hobbes to the more obscure Overboard, Robotman and Fusco Brothers to the gentleness of For Better or Worse and Peanuts. Basically, I don't like a lot of "syrup," but my comics must have sensitive human observation. Baby Blues has a raw warmth, with more energy than "For Better" and more realistic characters than "Peanuts."

I enjoyed Baby Blues before my child was born, but it really "hits home" now. It's amusing with or without your own children. But if you're one of the "withs," the book doubles as a mirror!

I always find the lives of the artist and what goes into their drawings interesting from a perspective standpoint. (I liked "The PreHistory of the Far Side.") "10 Years and Still in Diapers" gives this perspective during the early chapters and in a friendly, mildly self-deprecating way.

Instead of yet another bottle of wine, why not bring this book to your next casual get together? Instead of yet another outfit, why not make this a baby shower gift? Besides being "painfully" entertaining, it's attractive enough for the coffee table.