Fan Comics Books

This book is excellent! It is hilarious as was all the other Calvin and Hobbes book! I hope that all the readers out there will enjoy it as much as I did!

I loved this book. As always you laugh at Calvin and hissarcastic humor, his plots to mangle Susie in one way or another. Thenthere is Hobbes wh just goes with the flow, occasionally tossing a water balloon or two. For style you just can't find any where else turn to this book.

best history of golden to modern comics...great references...awsome for autographs

At first glance, this appears to be nothing more than a history of comic books. While it certainly is that, it also adds a number of things that really sets it apart from other similar books. First, it includes people and events beyond America's borders. (Most comic history books I've read focus only on U.S. comic books.) It also includes an excellent index of comic creators, publishers, and an exhaustive list of titles (with publication dates, print runs and other noteworthy points of interest). There are also sections specifically on collecting and grading comics. Well-written, enlightening, and a little more refreshing than most comic histories.

Doujin, or Fan-comics are rarely spotted here in the States, due to some nasty copyright issues involved in translated and selling them here. In fact, the fan-comics are technically breaking copyrights in Japan, but most artists give them the nod.

But this book was compiled by Peach-Pit themeselves. (Peach-Pit was originally a fan-comic company, so they have some deep ties with these artists.) So, it allowed TokyoPop to bring it to America.

The stories are all short, but they are by so many different artists. Some stories are full of really interesting mini-storylines, while others have art that is really high-quality.

It's a shame more of these types of books are not published. They are a great supplement to any series.

Canadian graphic superstar Seth here collects issues 10-15 of his "Palookaville" comic book to tell the partial story of a pair of introverted Toronto brothers. The first half of the book is set in 1997, and is a rambling interior monologue by the older of the brothers, Abraham. The panels follow the elderly Abraham as he wanders through the downtown building that was the home and office for his family for the last fifty years. We see him getting dressed, making food, taking a bath, puttering around, checking the weather, and soforth while declaiming on the art of salesmanship and giving the history of the rise and fall of the family fan business and his own role in it. Most importantly, perhaps, he explains how he overcame his preference for solitude in order to operate in the "real" world, while his brother spent his whole life hiding from the world. The second part follows the younger brother Simon on his one attempt to brave the outside world, a spectacularly unsuccessful sales trip in 1957. Every encounter Simon has is one of negation and his lack of self-confidence feeds into a whirlpool of failure. There's not a lot that goes on over the course of the book, more the evocation of a sense of failure and unfulfilled lives. The art is beautifully printed in a mix of cyan and black on a natural color stock which greatly adds to the sense of wistfulness and nostalgia that permeates the story. However, like a well-crafted short story about a characters I can't identify with, the book didn't do much for me, although I can recognize its quality and potential to appeal to others.

Seth weaves a tale of two brothers and their failed Fan business. The first half is basically exposition where the more successful of the two brothers Abraham tells of his business, his brother, and the effects it had on the two. Abraham lives a soliary exsistance which adds to the stark nature of his narrative.

The second is the more moving half. It follows the younger brother Simon on his first attempt at sales. His backstory has been so well created that you feel for him as he fails to make any sales. You sense his shame, and his fear of failure.

Oh and Seth's art is a beauty to behold as well.

This entire book is a work of art. It is meticulously created with care and beautiful attention to every simplified detail. Every page reeks of sadness and nostalgia. The lonely character of Simon becomes understood by his brother only after his death... though we're not sure exactly why in this first part of the story of Clyde Fans.

The narration by the character Abraham in the first half of this book is really the only gripe I have. He, as an old man, has such a keen awareness and understanding of all of his shortcomings and mistakes in life. He is completely self-aware, and makes it a point to tell you all the things I believe Seth could have told without words. Or at least without ones not so obvious. No one is that aware of themselves.

I hate to compare to Chris Ware - but I will anyway. The lonely character of Jimmy Corrigan never comes out and tells you he's pathetic, you gather it from his mannerisms, his conversations with others, his inner monologue. In "Clyde Fans" however, everything is spelled out. It leaves very little for the reader to interpret, and causes it to be a little cold and matter-of-fact, rather than the more moving novel it could have been.

Still, it is visually impeccable, and I will be buying the sequel.

I was first exposed to Seth via Aimee Mann's last CD, the packaging of which contained four pages of moody sequential art -- okay, we can call it "comics" even though there's nothing particularly comical going on -- and ever since I've been waiting for more.

So I was thrilled to discover that CLYDE FANS: BOOK 1 had been published. It's the story of two brothers in the fan business, one of them successful and the other a failure, in the 1950s. But of course that description doesn't tell you anything worth knowing about CLYDE FANS. What's worth knowing is that Seth masterfully depicts these two characters with stark dialogue and a palette composed almost exclusively of blue, black, and gray.

In its way, CLYDE FANS is as affecting as any pure-prose novel that I've read. A truly amazing book that deserves to find a wide audience.

First off, Seth is a great artist. For true admirers of the craft of graphic novel illustration, Seth is one of the top people...but enough about Seth.

The story opens up with the main character Abraham Matchcard recounting his life as a salesman for his father's fan company, Clyde Fans. Seth takes us through this man's morning routine while introducing us to an involved landscape of his home, surrounding streets and long-since defunct company office/showroom and store room.

Some reviewers did not like this story-telling construct. but I felt that this narrative "monologue" was true to the life of the character. He was mostly a loner whose only interactions with people were more of a sales performance while he was still working but now it is just him. Now in his retirement, this person is most likely prone to thinking and even talking to himself.

The story takes a great turn with a flashback to the 50's with our main character's brother Simon, a very shy person to the point of being socially awkward. Again we are taken through a rich landscape of Canada's towns, people, fashion, architecture and style. Seth must be a 1950's buff because the detail is incredible.

We find Simon ultimately thrown to the sharks on his first sales trip, which he was begrudgingly sent on by his rather bullying brother. I was rooting for Simon the whole time; hoping for the miracle sale, the bagging of the elephant or some Tony Robbins style "walk on fire", life-transformation experience, that will some how overnight turn this guy into a successful salesman.

If this was a Hollywood story, like, say, Back to the Future, Simon would punch out Biff, win the heart of Marty's mom and become a successful author. But this is not Hollywood. Simon is who he is and he act accordingly.

I found this book particularly endearing as a person who has worked - at times successfully, at others unsuccessfully - in sales, and who has a salesman father of the same age as our characters.

I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it

B

I've never seen the actual Lain series (yet mind you, yet. I'm still saving for some of the DVDs), so I'm afraid I'm a bit lacking when it comes to telling you how acurate this book is.
This doesn't seem to be a very good book for someone who has not seen the series, and if you are in that position I would not reccommend reading to the end of the book as it will totally spoil the whole series for you.
The book is very informative, and has plenty of drawings and screnshots from the series, it lays every part of the Lain world before you. As alot of questions go unanswered in the series itself the book is often at loss and presents theories to try and answer questions instead of actual answers.
The RPG section of the book seems quite lacking as the Lain world is a very difficult place to recreate in an RPG. Though I have not tryed playing it seems like a very fruitless endeavor.
I gave this book 5 stars because it is a great read and a very informative book.

First things first - If you buy this book, expecting it to explain everything to you, prepare for disapointment. It has summaries. Sometimes the information is wrong (not that you can be sure of much of anything in this series...), but that's rare. It does ocasionally theorize on some things, and provides background info on other things (like the Knights, the 7th Gen Protocol, the city-on-a-rock in Ego). It also has a LOT of snapshots, and some concept art (though nothing you can't find in the extras section of the DVDs). The BESM section provides some info for the series as well. I can't vouch for its worth as an RPG info source, but from what I hear from other reviewers, it's lacking (though that's no reason to give it 2 stars, BTW...). Oh, and the book's dimensions are large. Think one of those large coloring books you might have used as a child and you have the right idea. Conclusion - buy for artwork, buy for series synopsis, buy for a different perspective on what the hell hapened in this series, but don't buy for the BESM.

This book is an excellent guide to the enigmatic and ambiguous anime series, _Serial Experiments: lain_. The bulk of the book is published in full color on high-gloss paper, reproducing a lot of screen-shots from the series. At the back, there are two pages of production credits (though there's no mention of the series' script superviser, Chiaki Konaka!).

Each episode is given a dense three-page summary, there are also character profiles at the back (though only Lain and Masami Eiri receive an extended profile). This is an excellent book to accompany your first or your fifth viewing of the anime series.

The publishers evidently have a deal with Pioneer to produce guides for many of their anime. I look forward to future volumes on _Dual_, _Trigun_ and _NieA_7_.

People interested in basing an RPG on the _lain_ world will probably find this book disappointing. While the book is full o f details about the series and its setting, there doesn't appear to be much in the book for supporting an RPG. However, as a book for fans of the anime, this is an excellent addition to your bookshelf.

The Ultimate Fan Guide for Serial Experiments Lain is visually excellent, and wonderful for detailed synopses of the thirteen episodes of the series. Many of the hidden secrets of the series, especially the intertext with several Apple products, are highlighted, which is somewhat interesting but really only worth knowing for an anime-based version of the Jeopardy! television game show.

The main reason I bought this Ultimate Fan Guide was its advertised links with the Big Eyes Small Mouth multi-genre anime role-playing system, also published by The Guardians of Order. Unfortunately, there is really rather little related information presented here. Of good use is the list of Appropriate Attributes and Appropriate Defects, as well as typical Mundane, Major, and Minor Items within the world of Serial Experiments Lain, but only two characters (Lain Iwakura and Massami Eiri) have been given BESM-based stats, and only three of the items in the series has similar BESM-based details. In fact, most of the BESM-related section of the book (the final twenty-plus pages) is filled not with information, but with sketches of characters, locations, and items from the Serial Experiments Lain series.

As eye candy or a source of obscure information for the Serial Experiments Lain series, this Ultimate Fan Guide is indeed a good buy. For those truly interested in using the series' "world" in a role-playing campaign, however, this Ultimate Fan Guide is really just a waste of money.

This book is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The stickers are so cute and the quiz and games are so funny! Also this is really helpful in case you don't have one of the books in the series or don't understand something in the books. SO GET IT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!

I myself actually loved this book. For a Furuba fan, its a major part of the collection. And I'm going to disagree with the earlier statement of volume 18 being spoiled.

I hadn't read 18 before I bought this, and found it didn't really spoil anything for me.

In short, its a major piece for a Furuba fan.

This Book was more of a recap of books 1-18. I hadn't read 18 when i read this, so it kind of spoiled all of the secrets. Make sure to read all the books before reading this. The print was a little small and hard to make out. There were only 8 pages of actual manga in it.

The title of this side book to the Fruits Basket manga proper alludes to Kyo's place in the Zodiac. Just as Kyo is not technically a member of the Zodiac but still loved by fans, the premise goes, this entry is not technically part of Fruits Basket proper but will hopefully be loved by fans as well. Unfortunately, the entry is no Kyo.

The largest chunk of the book consists of character bios that act as a recap of the first 17 volumes of the series which the average fan won't find necessary - same for the games and quizzes. Talk of family trees will pique interest, but unfortunately they turn out to be mini immediate family trees for each subject of the character bios. Translation: we don't learn any more than what we already know, namely that Ayame and Yuki are brothers and the rest of the Zodiac members and Kyo are their cousins. Anyone hoping to find out exactly how closely related each of the cousins are via a master tree will be disappointed. The poll results range from interesting (Shigure and Momiji's positions in the two favorite character poll results - one presumably pre-summer house incident and the other presumably post-summer house incident - are telling) to who-did-they-ask head scratching (Yuki and Haru's friendship doesn't even make the top 20 on the favorite relationship poll??). The interview with creator Natsuki Takaya is interesting, but not worth the price of the volume alone.

Which brings us to the real reason most of us would buy this book - the presumption from the description that it would include a "lost chapter" conclusion to the Ritsu/Mitsuru subplot - a reasonable assumption considering Natsuki Takaya's previous mention in a series proper sidebar that she'd like to do a little more with them but probably wouldn't be able to because the major storylines had gone too far. What we get is a set of one page shorts, involving several different characters, of varying quality - one of which follows the new couple on an amusing if slightly disturbing date. In fact, the best and funniest short actually involves Kyo's theoretical reaction were he to read the head trip that was volume 17.

Ultimately, anyone who must have every single scrap of Fruits Basket material will pick this up no matter what anyone says. Everyone else might be better off saving their money - including Ritsu fans, who wouldn't really lose that much by leaving his relationship with Mitsuru where we last saw it - which in my opinion left us enough to work with to make a good assumption that things would go well for them once he actually worked up the nerve to ask her out.

I have to disagree a bit with the previous reviewer's claim that this book doesn't contain much new information. The character bios mostly are just recaps of material that's been gradually presented within the story, but it's nice to see it collected in compact form-- and they actually show the kanji (or in some cases, kana) for all the major characters' names, which TokyoPop has *not* previously shown in the regular manga. Similarly, the events timeline is a tidy summation which fanfic writers might find useful; the "fashion concept" notes are fun factoids; and the emotional-relationship diagrams have some delightful touches such as Manabe and Kimi being mutually labelled as "toxic friends" to each other.

And I'm astonished that the previous review didn't mention the color artwork! Most of this book is printed in the usual black-and-white format on undistinguished paper, but the first ~10 pages have gorgeous glossy full-color prints of some of the large chapter-intro panels which were flattened down into greyscale in the regular manga volumes. There's also a two-page spread in which Takaya outlines how she creates these sort of images, from initial pencil sketch on paper up through various paint layers in Photoshop. (And an initial page of little full-color stickers (meh), mostly the faces of all the Sohma critters and some of the humans, and a few more color pages of various Furuba merchandise that were available in Japan, and which seem to be shown for the purpose of taunting US fans with their unavailability unless they get lucky on eBay.)

What I do have to nitpick is the overall presentation of the book. In many places, the text is almost unreadably tiny because panels have been shrunk down or because there're just long paragraphs squeezed into there; afaik Shounen Jump's US fanbook reprints have larger pages than the original Japanese editions, and this book would've benefited if TokyoPop had followed suit. Some sections could've done with a bit more explanation-- I still can't figure out what "moe-moe" means in the specific context of page 148-- and the long stretches of frivolous quizlets and reader-survey results from Japan can get a bit tedious.

There are one or two editing slips where a paragraph seems to've been mistakenly duplicated into a different section, replacing whatever else should've been there instead. There are also some notable translation/continuity discrepancies where the dialogue in the reprinted panel doesn't match the dialogue in the corresponding manga volume. (Two words: pronoun trouble.)

So yeah, there isn't all that much new stuff in here-- but I enjoyed enough of the info to offset my assortment of minor gripes. I would've been more than happy to buy this for the name kanji/kana and the color reprints alone, which is probably all the benefit I would've gotten from paying lots more for an import of the original Japanese fanbook.

The first Hellsing: Ultimate Fan Guide covers the first six episodes of the bloody-good vampire anime Hellsing. The guide includes a fair amount of artwork--some promotional art and some scans lifted from the videos--and descriptions of each of the episodes, plus character bits and items on various aspects of the world in which the series is set.

The episode summaries are okay if a bit thin; I suggest simply watching the anime itself. Overall, fans of the series probably already know everything in the book, but it's still a neat accompanyment if only as a book filled with visuals and concept drawings from the series. Roleplayers may find the bit at the end for incorporating the characters and world into the BESM game system useful as well.

The Hellsing Ultimate Fan Guide, #1, is not as ultimate as it could be. With summaries of the first six episodes, character bios, details on the setting, info on the locations, data on the organizations, and character sheets for using the Hellsing background within the anime RPG game _Big Eyes, Small Mouth_ plus all the extras in images and pictures you would think I would give it 5 out of 5. But the whole book is kind of weak. For example, the episode summaries only take three pages per episode, leaving out much of the cool dialogue and lots of the details. Some sections, like the page on Arucard's gloves, the pages on Hellsing's equipment and the page where they compare Vampire Myths and Vampires within the Hellsing Universe have little or no depth. But at 80 pages there isn't really a lot of room to hold much more.
As I have BESM and other books by Guardians Of Order, I plan to get Fan Guide #2. I hope it has more details.

Are you a comic book lover surrounded by people who don't "get it" about comic books? Do you know someone who is passionate about comic books, and it's hard to understand the attraction of something more suited for children than adults? If so, this book is for you.

The author does a very good job at surveying the present-day culture around comic books. The readers of the classic superhero type of comics (Batman, Superman, etc.) are overwhelmingly male. The stories don't appeal to women very much, and women are usually portrayed as barely clothed, and with gravity-defying breasts. He also explores the rise of alternative comics (small press, or self-published, books whose subject matter can be practically anything), where female cartoonists and readers, and older readers, tend to go.

Fans tend to get very possessive about "their" character. If the writer takes things in an undesired direction, fans have no problems with saying so, in no uncertain terms. One of the things limiting the growth in popularity of comic books is the requirement on the part of the reader of comic literacy. Unless the reader can start with Issue 1, there are usually too many "in" jokes, or too many things talked about in previous issues, for the new reader to totally understand it all.

This one is very good. It covers a lot of ground, and in a way that a novice and veteran can understand. Personally, I am not much of a comic book reader, but after reading this, I think I'll visit my local comic book store to see what is on the racks.

Pustz has done a wonderful job analyzing the audiences of comic books. While not as theoretical as some of the scholarly works on popular culture and its users (such as can be found on topics like film or rock and roll), this is a benefit, since it is the first for its topic. While not useful as a general history of comics (as noted by the previous reviewer), it was not intended as such, and this would be an excellent supplementary book.

A good percentage of the evidence he presents regarding fans of the medium is anecdotal, gathered from employees of one particular comic shop in the midwest. Pustz' view of Comic Book Culture is clearly that of one who makes no real effort to understand the topic... Overall, it paints all comics fans in a negative light, which will not help the already-struggling industry in the least.

I loved the whole concept of "investigating" comic book culture but i just got bored with this book...
It might be a good book if you intend to write an essay (it reads like one long essay) but there is no theme, no story, no news, no conviction...where is the author? What is running in his head? What does he want to tell us apart from the fact that there is such a thing as "comic book culture"?
Okay...so there is a culture...why read the book?

I'm using this book in my college writing course ("text+vision") this semester, and it is exactly what I wanted from a cultural overview of comic book fandom. Pustz does a great job of explaining how fandom came about, how it compares to other cultures (with a consistent reference to baseball fans, for example), and some of its peculiarities. In particular, he is able to partly explain the incestual nature of consumer and producers in comics, where each is a responsible party to the worst excesses of the medium, yet Pustz is careful to not make a judgment statement about this (unlike me).

This book is not a history of comics, of who published what first and which creator sued which publisher. For that, you should check out Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. It's not even a history of comics fandom, although it does gather quite a bit of that together in its pages (Bill Schelly covers the history of fandom in more detail). What Pustz tries to cover is the area inbetween--where fans and publishers met. This is the culture of comic books, the place where the two groups make something together, and at first it may seem strange to think of consumers as producers, or producers as consumers. But, through his analysis of comics letters pages and fanzines, Pustz shows how the two groups affected each other.

Comic Book Culture is copyright 1999, but feels like it was written in 1996 or 1997, mainly for the lack of focus on the incredible growth of manga in America and how Pokemon, DragonBall Z, and Sailor Moon are revitalizing comic book culture by bringing children back to comics. The last three years have also increased the importance of the Internet on the culture, which Pustz talks about briefly in the chapter 5. Finally, he really doesn't get much chance to focus on the rise of the graphic novel as an option for reading the medium compared to the ephemeral magazine.

As a textbook in a cultural study hybrid course, this book is perfect. For the average comic reader, it might be interesting to discover aspects of the hobby that you didn't know about. And it might just be the thing to share with parents or friends who don't understand why you keep reading Spider-Man, even though you're over 30.

The history of the black superheroes in the 90s. An amazing book to understand africanamerican heroes' role in the modern comics.

I had high hopes for this book, but was let down. The book is an academic work and is a boring read. It does not provide any real insight into the forming of Milestone Media. The author relies on other sources instead of actual interviews with the founders of the company. The author draws many conclusions based on his visits to comic conventions, stores, and interviews with fans.

I'm not really here for a review, I just wanted to correct a misperception in the previous review. All of the Milestone founders were interviewed at length for this book. We're quoted from those interviews in the text.

That said, I do think it's a very good book, right on the money as far as his core "images of masculinity" thesis. I disagree with how he presents the history of Milestone's "feud" with another publisher. But even there his position is defensible from the facts as he knows them.

I think if you're interested in comics fandom, issues of racial representation or even just like the Milestone characters, this book is well worth reading.

Of course, I'm biased...

Jeffrey A. Brown's work is important, however his conclusions are perhaps a little overblown. His impression on how important Milestone was to both comic fans and in its influence is a little overstated. Milestone, upon the date of this work's publication, had been defunct for several years. While it's been about six months since I last looked at Brown's work, I don't believe he mentions this fact once. His last chapter on gender is important but doesn't necessarily fit as neatly into the work as I would like. However, the work in this chapter is very good. Perhaps it would have been better served as an article or the basis for another book.

When I bought this I expected it to be much thicker and have alot more information! The cover posted here is wrong too! If you love Trigun, you'll like this book but if you're not really into it, then I don't think you should buy this! (Save it for a cel or use it on the episode sceries!) .. Also, when this book arrived to me, the cover was scratched and had dirt on it. Don't get me wrong, it was packaged nicely, but the book was beaten up and if you asked me, I think I'd like to be the one who damages the book!

When I first picked up this UFG for the TRIGUN series, I was unimpressed with how thin the book is. However, when I opened the fan guide, it revealed all my favorite characters in rich color from various episodes from the series. In the back (last few pages), the characters were drawn in black & white so if the reader wished, they could easily take a stab at tracing, copying or draw the characters free-hand. I am extremely interested in re-drawing these characters such as Vash, Wolfwood & Meryl...so the book really began to catch my eye with not only a creative outlook on interesting b & w poses, but cool facts & descriptions (that I only breezed over) that appeared to be pretty neat.
All of this is based on the Anime not the Manga, so if you are interested in the cool series (that you may have seen on Cartoon Network) then I suggest this guide as an interesting read, but try and find it for $10...maybe $15 at most, as this is all it is really worth.