Graphics Books

I have been working on each chapter every week and I can't wait to start the next one. Not only does it give great tutorials which are easy to follow but while you're reading it gives tooltips that make you work faster or even better, if something goes wrong how to fix the problem. I recommend this to anyone who is just starting to learn editing or just needs a quick refresher. A+

I went from knowing absolutly nothing about Final Cut Pro HD to knowing enough to be top of my class in Film Editing. The lessons go by quick to. Easy to learn and really hands on. I HIGHLY suggest buying this if you are interested in editing video.

Like the rest of the series, it gives basic how-to information for newbies. It's well written and concise.

This was my first Apple Training Series book, and it was a very good experience. Going into this I had never learned a software package, let alone a complex one, almost completely from a book, and this experience proved it possible for me. It's no-nonsense, as comprehensive as I would want as a beginner, with very few errors, and user friendly - much more so than the tutorial that came with my software. At times it was very challenging, but that's the complexity of the s/w. Pictorials may not be as colorful as in other books, but this quickly becomes a non-issue as they are more than adequate and offset by the clarity of the text.

After several attempts at learning FCP, it was this book that did the trick. Each lesson is clear and concise. Not to mention, the book follows a logical progression in what it teaches you. In the end, I recommend this book without any reservation.

You can't go wrong with a Phaidon publication. The book is a very in-depth look at design world-wide. It has tons of examples of great design. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

There is so much inspiration in this book. It's a graet resource for any designer. It will get your little design wheels spinning with fresh ideas every time you open it. There is so much in here and such a broad range of styles and subject matter. Some incredible artists.

There is something amazing in the way consumerism has birthed its own brand of art. In the 1880's, when Coca-Cola pushed their first few dollars across the table and asked for a slogan, I wonder if anyone ever dreamed what their industries would become and how much they would owe to this type of expression? I wonder if the idea that Frank L. Balm had about The Storefront Window, saying it was more than a place to keep a store's useless stuff, went beyond the United States becoming the frontrunner in glass consumption and into a field all its own? I ask because the field of Marketing Psychology intrigues me and, accordingly, the things we've birthed to sell items also intrigues me. Maybe "intrigue" isn't even the right world - maybe I should say that they captivate me, forcing me to search high and low for the best lightbulbs burning in the brightest phosphorescent starlight so to influence the migratory patterns of items that are pushed forth by a culmination of thought and a well-oiled pen.
That is what is so beautiful about Area; it breathes what we are, what we consume, and how this meshes with the very fabric of how we conceive pitch and pitches, ticking and timeless, making up the very definition of art that is more than pictures generated "for art's sake." Looking here, it really reflects how the world has become vibrant and how pictures have shaped the world.
Locked inside this book is more than a few pictures - its a blueprint of an overlooked history that America wears all over its geography.

When I look at the field of graphic design, I am always tantalized by the creations that come from it, wanting to pour myself into page after page and see the "next big idea." It is somewhat like listening to the heartbeat of millions of people thumping in unison; if it clicks it happens to click, and you know what started the motion. Area proves that, too, showing you how far we've moved past the simple pixel lay-outs and into the realm of technological highs and really ingenious methods of salesmanship, making so many things seem desirable. In Marketing Psychology it is called tapping into the "ideal self" and making people buy a dream that the "actual self" doesn't seem to be able to supply.
The idea seems easy enough to understand, too, and sometimes people laugh at the power wielded by the pen and call the "needing" lemmings. Here, in this book, I find a lot of laughter falling short of its mark and even the bigger birds of prey noticing things they adore and why they learned to adore it.

When I first bought this book I thought it would simply feed my tastes and purse my lips with the hum of more curiosity, but lately I've noticed how much influence the book has. It has thousands of pictures, quite literally, and sometimes I catch my friends standing with their eyes glued to an item and that blank stare of "something remembering something" coming out as they slow move through the pages. Its as if Ford's comments on the heart of the new type of manufacturing, "machinery is the new messiah," have found application in ways he never intended.
If you want to see how great that can become, how powerful advertising can become, then you should look at this book and see what I mean. Currently the one I own has been in my clutches for well over a year, and I still have around one hundred pages tabbed just so I can look back over them and marvel at the creativity that thrives in make-believe places orbiting some very real horizons.

Even if you know nothing about art, you know what beauty is and this book comes highly recommended in that department.

Inspiration should come from all over the world. And this book gives you that.

This book is full of new and refreshing design from around the world. It helps to educate someone like me who, while getting a Graphic Design education, is getting a more traditional rundown of the field and less of a modern-day acknowledgment. "Area" addresses the artists' perspectives and shows a wide variety of visual styles and formats, and will have something extremely interesting for everyone. A great book for any designer's collection. Worth every penny.

Great Book. It's a wonderful comparison of the manga and the Anime as well as a great reference for how each character is developed. Also makes a great picture book for my 2 year old. She sits with daddy and looks at the picturers.

This book has lots of interesting info on all the characters and enemies throughout the first part of this great anime/manga series Inuyasha. It has many full colored pages and director, voice actor,etc, commentary. It also features sketches of important characters and enemies in the series from Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku to Kaede, Seshomaru, Jaken, Yura, Mistress Centipede, and many others. I found the sketches useful for learning how to draw. Anyways, this is definetly a must have for all Inuyasha fans.

First of all, let me say my daughter is a complete InuYahsa addict. :) She loves the serial tale. That said, this book is marvelous! It has drawing examples, story snippets, voice character interviews.... very informative.

Beautifully colored drawings and detailed black and white work.

My only complaint refers to the hardbound version..... The spine of the book broke down the back very quickly and had to be taped. Otherwise the book is very well constructed.

Be aware the book is made to read from back to front in the typical Japanese manga manner. A little difficult for me, but my 9 year old daughter grasped the concept immediately....

Well worth the money for reference value alone.

Other reviewers have given accurate particulars about this volume, and I agree with their high ratings. This book is really a delight and a perfect way to spend a couple hours in Inuyasha bliss. I was incredibly impressed with the color panels from the manga, taken from Shonen Sunday Jump. The beautiful printing job brings out the quality of Takahashi's art, and I find myself going back and studying these pages again and again. There is also a nice section at the beginning (short but sweet) about the difference between manga and animation when it comes to storytelling techniques. As it's been said elsewhere in these reviews, if you're a fan of Inuyasha, this is a must-have. Keep in mind this isn't a voluminous book with tons of text ... you can read the whole thing in just two or three hours. But the art in it, and its A-plus presentation here, offers many more hours of enjoyment and you may, like me, find yourself returning to this book repeatedly and feeling like you've picked it up for the very first time. The art in it is that good.

I am actually over 13 years old , however I didnt want to give my email address out so I said I was younger. This is a great book. I bought it for my 16 year old son and he absolutely LOVES it. He is into drawing japanese animation and this book was a great inspiration. All of his friends who are mostly the same age want to get the book to. I did see it at Borders also , for the same price , and you dont have to pay shipping and handling charges, also you dont have to wait for it to show up. Borders also had a huge selection of other Inuyasha books and other Japanese animation characters.

A series has to be something special for me to invest in buying the manga... particularly when, at cover price, the cost will ultimately be over $250. O_o
Basara is that special. It is an epic story with believeable characters that you really become attached to. It moves quickly, but not so fast that it sacrafices the details and moments that flesh out the feeling of a scene. With a healthy mix of action, intrigue, and romance, one is easily caught up what is an amazing and beautiful story.

Although the art isn't your typical fluffy art, it is by no means ugly or unattractive. I think the people reviewing this comic have spent too much time eating sugar-coated candy and reading over-decorated comics. Calling Tamura's art anything short of "amazing" is insulting and inaccurate.

Also keep in mind that this comic was made several years ago, meaning there's a generational gap in artistic trends. The art style is raw, skillful, and radiates the epic tone of this series. I hope to see the rest come out here in the US. The story is great and not a single volume falls flat, not even up to volume 27.

If you want a story that hits you deep in the heart, BASARA is for you. There is deep social, romantic, political, and even spiritual commentary and meaning in this comic. It is a masterpiece and truly exceeds the medium it is written in.

Basara is perhaps my absolute favorite manga. The art may not be the most stunning, but the characters and story are excellent. I had seen the anime series years ago before the manga was released here. I enjoyed the series bu forgot about it until I was watching the movie 'Whale rider', I was reminded of Basara. I immediately went out and bought the available volumes and have been addicted ever since. I will not go on to describe the series here, but I would highly recommend Basara to anyone who enjoys a good story (also a great love story). The main character is neither whiny nor weak and Yumi Tamura weaves her tale so wonderfully.

How can i convince you: the purchaser of manga, the one with a credit card to begin colleting this manga? What if i just said...OMG THIS MANGA IS FREAKIN AWESOME YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!

Maybe you need more convincing than that. i mean it is atleast 26 volumes. and there are so many options these days it's hard to know what to buy, i've made mistakes lately too based on the exuberant exclamations of reviewers on this site. but i can honestly tell you who will love this book and who wont.

If you;re an older audience you will appreciate this manga.
If you like fantasy adventure you wil like this manga.
If you like complicated romances you will like this manga.
If you like strong, intelligent female leads who fight their own battles you will like this manga.
If you don't mind older works you will certainly not mind this one.
If you like manga that pulls you in, grabs your heart and never lets go...you will like this manga.
One of the most popular manga's of 90s and for a reason.

I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS BOOK.

Basara is not your typical shoujo manga, and Sarasa is a very atypical shoujo heroine. I was initially attracted to this series through the anime. I had read a review in which someone mentioned that it was a shame that not all of the manga volumes were animated. Having seen the anime, and now having started on the manga, I find that I am in agreement. When Sarasa and her twin brother Tatara were born in their village, the prophet Nagi declared "here is the child of destiny". Of course, everyone assumed they meant Tatara. Sarasa grew up in his shadow, with nobody expecting very much from her, and everyone expecting Tatara to lead them to salvation.

When Tatara is killed and Byakko village decimated by the forces of the Red King, Sarasa takes up Tatara's name and guise to exact revenge. This volume chronicles her attempt to reclaim the sword of Byakko, which had belonged to Tatara and which her female hand was previously never allowed to "defile", as well as a couple more attempts to strike at the Red King's forces.

The supporting cast, particularly Ageha and Shuri, is interesting, and the secrets concerning their histories are doled out very sparingly. The art is sometimes a little odd (I find the blurry eyes rather distracting), but I completely adore how Tamura-sensei draws little kids. This series (and the anime if you can find it) is highly recommended.

This is a great book, with arguably universal appeal. The humor ranges from being rather heady and hard-to-follow, all the way down to being non-sequiter and accessable. Pretty much anyone will grow to like this book very much; anyone who has read it previously will love it immediately.

This I guarantee to you, dear friend!

I really enjoyed this book.
I knew i would before i bought it. Chances are other reviews say this already.
But check out www.qwantz.com. This book has the first comic through to somewhere in 2005.
Pretty straight forward.
All the comics are in black and white in this book. Which let me tell you is actually disappointing because the dinosaur expressions suffer.

This book is fantastic. If you are a fan of dinosaur comics, then this book provides is great because of its portability and also because it is very classy b+w. If you are not a fan of dinosaur comics this book is a classy, black and white representation of the comics from the popular webcomic. I have no real reason to repeat what many others have said about Mr. North's work, but I will anyways. It was said best this way:

"Picture watching the same movie again and again, where the dialogue is changed so completely, and with so much skill that you forget that you've seen these images before. Now picture that every day for two years. That's Dinosaur Comics."

This is that, in book form. Awesome.

It must have been hard to pick the 'best' of Dinosaur Comic, because it's all genius. You should buy this book. It will make you more Awesome, and perhaps sexy.

If you enjoy Dinosaur Comics, you must purchase and read this book. After reading this book, I became a popular and successful person, and because chronology = causality, I attribute my good fortune to this book!

Also, you know who HASN'T purchased this book? Child molestors and shoplifters. You're not a child molestor and/or shoplifter, are you?

-Matt

P.S. See if you can spot the two logical fallacies in this review! If you spotted at least 50% of them, you are eligible to purchase this book immediately!

Some background on me:
I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I'm also a professional software engineer in the video game industry.
In my education, I had a few classes on electronics/digital circuits and I loved it. I started doing my own circuits outside of class and buying digital ICs to add to my toolkit. Over the years, I'd lost touch with that side of myself and the joy that it gave me. Then I found this book, "The Black Art of Video Game Console Design".

This book is basically an abridged EE (Electrical Engineering) degree with a focus on video game consoles! And the kicker is that you're being instructed by one of the most "readable" authors around. By "readable", I mean that the author has a way of teaching you things as if it was your friend, sitting next to you, turning complicated subjects into an easy-to-understand, entertaining, data stream. The information is clear and the tone is upbeat and occasionally humourous.

As I read through the book, I was hitting everything that I learned in months and months in the classroom, but without all the fuss and only the relevant information. Resistors, capacitors, diodes, truth tables, timing diagrams, etc, it's all there. Then, the author jumped into complicated areas such as joysticks, sound, microprocessors, assembly language, the NTSC (standard TV) video signal (just to name a few). Finally, there we were at the pinnacle of the mountain, the culmination of all our learning, and here's where the real "Black Art" of the book kicks in, the full process of designing a video game console.

In today's hardware driven world, this book should be on every game programmer's shelf, whether they're a hobbyist or a seasoned veteran.

Andre LaMothe is an amazing guy, no question about it. He tends to write huge books, and the amount of material he fits into them is superlative. He's obviously got a passion for what he does, and that passion is certainly revealed in his writing style. He's a guy who never lost that simple love of video games.

Perhaps it's his sheer enthusiasm that makes him seem to sometimes write too quickly. A few minutes spent with The Black Art Of Video Game Console Design brings this tendency to light: I don't know how long it took to write this book, but I imagine the author was under some pressure to get it finished before some kind of deadline, because there are the typical signs of a book that didn't get properly edited. There are occasional typos and punctuation glitches, but more worrisome is the potential for factual errors. For example, an early and very glaring inaccuracy is the claim on page 66 that most electronics solder is 60% tin and 40% flux. In reality, typical solder is 60% tin and 40% *LEAD*, not flux; the flux burns and evaporates away from the solder once the solder has been melted. Yeah, it's a small detail, but any technical editor should have caught that one a mile away.

On a larger scale, however, LaMothe's enthusiasm propels the book forward at a speed not typically seen in how-to books. Comprising almost a thousand pages, this is already a pretty massive book, but the amount of material LaMothe crams into that space is remarkable. The first few chapters are something you have to see to believe, each chapter condensing basically an entire college electronics class' worth of material into around 50 pages. While this means that, in a sense, the book is a good value because it provides a lot of material, this compression obviously comes at a price: Some concepts were just not meant to be explained in a single paragraph, and the book falters multiple times trying to explain something as quickly as possible when the concept would really have benefited from some elaboration.

The result is a book that often makes me wonder what audience would most benefit from it. The first few chapters are all about electronics, and are written on a level that would benefit someone with literally no background in electronics at all. However, the focus of the book is on console design, not EE, and there are better books out there for the person who just wants to learn electronics. This, combined with the fact that you really can't (and probably shouldn't try) to learn the entire field of electronics in one night, leads me to believe that anyone approaching this book should probably have some thorough grounding in electronics technology before you actually start reading the book. Once you get past the first half and into the really game-focused material, the book comes into its own, but a majority of the material here would be better read elsewhere.

So ultimately, this is a book with a HUGE amount of material that you can learn a lot from, and if you really want to buy just one book, it's hard to find a better value than this. But if you want a truly broad-based education in electronics, you'll need to do some heavy supplementing with other books before you can get the most benefit out of this one.

I am always amazed how one person can know so much, learn new things and write <<2 000>> page book--and still produce accurate information that any hobbiest can pickup, without burning out! I wonder if Lamothe's next book is going to top his last? This one, just like Tricks 3D, is not for the faintheart but for the passionate individual that wants to learn how things are done in this world.

I'm in school for Electronics and I am shocked at how much information is packed into a single chapter. I think I learned more reading half of this book than in a year of schooling (as far as practical matters go). I have much to say but I should ramble no more... just buy it man! You won't be disapointed.

At least a book about the most obscure aspect of game programming: hardware designed to play.
This book gives a unique glimpse to the stuff needed to build your own game machine, the decissions you need to made, why to take certain paths in your designs and so on... even it gives you a very good primer on electronics and semiconductors.
Given the great number of Atari homebrewers out there, this book arrives just in time to create a whole new scene... a scene in which not only you will make your own games.. but the very machine they run on!
Definitely, a must have.

I am not going to give a quick rundown of this book, many others have already done that in the reviews. I want to tell you what the book can enable you to do. I was a hardware hacker back in the day when WOZ was hackin the Apple II. I hacked my way into being a programmer and sold my soul to business software.

I wanted to return to my roots and be able to do what the WOZ did with the Apple 1. After surfing the net I came across this book and the XGameStation. With it I have learnt the basic electronics needed to produce a gaming system. I have in fact built my very own video game console and am now programming PacMan for it.

This was all made possible by the information in this book. If the book didn't have it, it told me what to look up with regards to other IC's timings speed etc. Thus providing the Keys for me to unlock those doors that remained hidden until now.

Simply put this book is truly the 'Keys to the Kingdom' of video Game Console Design. I can say that because I have made my own Game Console and I know it to be true.I completely taught myself and I am not an EE student but just a hacker/hobbiest. I highly recomend this book for any beginner or EE student/hacker interested in designing their own Video Game Console.

If your new to electronics Andre' gives you crystal clear basic teaching for you in this book so don't be afraid and have some fun.

Mike

Blade of the Immortal: Cry of the Worm, was the first manga I read in the series. It is also one of the first manga I started out with when I began my collection of Japanese anime. I find that the artist is decent and respectable, not to mention suspenseful. Despite that I came upon the second in the series of the trade paperbacks, did not ruin the plot at all. All elements are revisited enough so that the words have depth behind them, but not too much that it ruins the current story and takes to much time. Every character seems well thought out and intricate, each with thier own history to bring to the main plot. Not all bad guy/ good guy roles are clear cut. Which makes this the thinking person's manga. The mix of tradition, history, fantasy, comic relief, and superb art pulled me out of this world and into that one. The art is so visually effective that one will realize that it's not just drawings in a book. Subtle morals in the book make the reader parallel feudal Japan with the modern world. The translation is good, but I can just imagine the effect each panel would have in the original Japanese. I recommend this for anyone who is looking for a masterpiece of work to become the trophy of thier collection.

Having been introduced to Rin and Manji in Volume 1 ('Death of a Thousand'), and given a taste of the nature of their confrontation with the Itto-Ryu sword school, we now enter the real rhythm of the story telling. At first glance, we are tempted to write this off as yet another samurai slasher, with its clear-cut division between good and evil. But Hiroaki Samura has other plans, and 'Cry of the Worm' is his first step in muddying the waters.

In the first episode ('The Fanatic'), Rin sees Magatsu Taito, one of the assassins, having her dead father's sword sharpened. When she voices her outrage, she catapults Manji into another fight sequence, this time to recover the weapon. Manji's method of regaining the sword is painful (to say the least), and young Rin begins to understand that her desire for vengeance has a price.

Manji's immortality depends on a type of bloodworm that cares for its host by healing all wounds. Manji has yet to deal with the long-term effects of gift, and is not completely prepared when he meets Erika Shizuma, another Itto-Ryu at a way station inn. Shizuma tries to involve Manji in a plot to overthrow the leader of the Itto-Ryu. Properly suspicious, Manji refuses, and in the following scuffle discovers that Shizuma is also infected with the worms.

The conflict between Manji and Shizuma become an inquest into the realities of immortal life. He is a mirror that forces Manji to look at own commitments. In addition, he provides a somewhat different insight into the Itto-Ryu than we have had so far. If their tactics are grim, their motives are not completely selfish. They are a natural reaction to the excessive complexities of the sword school system and the excesses of the samurai class, which is more about show and politics than it is about the disciplines of fighting.

In this second volume of the series, we are not so much asked to resolve the questions as to take note of them. As this series builds, the violence of the quest will play in counterpoint to these musings about meaning. Gradually the inner dialog will play a more and more vital part.

I stumbled onto "Blade of the Immortal" translations in comic book format. Attracted by the art, and the unusally deep dialogue between the opponents (as dramatic as Kazou Kioke's "Lone Wolf and Cub", but much more up-to-date in sensibility and subject matter) I immediately began looking for back issues, which was difficult. Many retailers don't seem to order many issues of this book. Fortunately the trade paperbacks started coming out soon after.

"Blade of the Immortal" starts off as a fairly typical samurai revenge story, with some unusual horror movie twists. We meet Manji, a guilt-ridden outlaw and expert swordsman, who is cursed with an odd form of immortality. No matter how grievously he is injured, he cannot die. Manji makes a deal with a magical buddhist nun. He will gain the release of death, if he slays 1000 evil men. Soon we meet Rin, a young girl, the daughter of a swordsmanship teacher who witnessed the horrific murder of her parents at the hands of the Itto-Ryu, a renegade sword school. Tortured by nightmares, she seeks revenge, but realizing she has no hope of surviving a direct confrontation with even one Itto-Ryu swordsman, she convinces Manji to serve as her bodyguard and stand in. Taking up Rin's quest seems a perfect confluence of both of their desires: her need to put her parents memory to rest, his to earn his redemption.

The stories take you through dramatic encounters with various members of the sword school. All are dangerous swordsmen with unique styles of combat. Some are quite literally monsters. Each has a unique story, an unique reason for having become a renegade, and this becomes the source of much thought provoking drama before, during and after the battles. All are memorable characters, in particular Shimuzu (Book Two: "Cry of the Worm"), a fellow immortal and Maki, a swordswoman forced into prostitution who fights like the wind (Book 3: "Dreamsong").

Harioki Samura has great timing, the panel layouts make the fight scenes breathtaking and exciting. Also wonderful is the developing relationship between Manji and Rin, a kind of older brother, little sister dynamic that lends the book much humor and necessary warmth (given the bloodiness of the battles).

Beginning with "Rins Bane" (Book 4) Rin's internal debate about the morality and human costs of her quest, takes center stage, and make this one of the deepest and most interesting books to cross the Pacific in years. There's still plenty of action, and the relationship between Rin and Manji continues to deepen, but it's the debates about the sanity of the bushido code, about memory, about filial duty, and hints of political intrigue to come, that make this book an thought provoking and engrossing read.

If you have any taste for the high drama and action, as well as the deeper issues running through comic books like "the Authority", you have to give "Blade" a try. This is the best dramatic manga translation I've read, and it compares favorably with "Lone Wolf & Cub" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I really don't think you will be disappointed.

This is a beautiful manga. It is very interesting and the art is spectacular. It has a pencil sketched quality to it and is very unique. The plot is also one of the best I've ever read. . This may be a manga for guys but that doesn't mean that females can't enjoy this as well. The fight scenes are detailed (though sometimes confusing with the sketch pictures) and really fun to read.

WARNING Blade of the Immortal is about a guy that is....umm....immortal. That means he won't die. That means the bad guys are gonna do all in their power to kill him, slash him, decapitate him, stab him and so forth. VERY GORY is what I'm getting at.

The story is basically about Manji who had these worms put in him that make you immortal. They won't go away until he atones for his sins of killing 100 of the good guys (self defense I swear) by killing a thousand bad guys. He meets Rin who needs his help to avenge her parents who were murdered right before her eyes.

The thing that really holds this series together are the characters. Even the ones that are supposedly evil u find are not really evil but human. You almost don't want them to fight and get killed by the main guy, but then again u do because they are responsible for something horrible. You also feel immediately at home with nearly every other character introduced even after only a couple of pages.

This book Volume two, Cry of the Worm is my personal favorite. It was at my public library and the first I ever read of this great series. Rin finds a sword that once belonged to her father being owned by some (really cool, kinda looks like Vagita from DBZ only more realistic looking) samurai and she'll do anything to get it back. Later on they meet up with another immortal guy who wants Manji dead and being immortal himself he knows just the thing to do Manji in.

Plot wise, this is perhaps the strongest of the BOTI series. The villain is almost likeable, yet thoroughly hateable, and the end fight is imaginative. Kudos to Samura for this one.

There aren't really any action scenes worth talking about in this novel. Rin does a few things, but she doesn't actually "fight". There is a story about this guy and his masks, but that isn't fully developed until the next volume.

This isn't a great place to start for your first volume. It mostly just develops story, but the story is important. Start somewhere else though. Get DREAMSONG if you can't fight a good seller for BLOOD OF A THOUSAND.

Those who already own the previous volumes of BOTI could skip this book and the next possibly. It develops Rin some, but I skipped it for a while and was fine.

Dude this book is beast!! The best comic company ever (dark horse comics) has once again put out another comic that doesn't just raise the bar it obliterates it. Kudos to Hiroaki Samura for making the best comic book ever.

this is one of the best comics i've ever read. it's about manji's job as a bodyguard for rin, who confronts Anotsu Kagehisa, who killed rin's father. she attemps to kill him, but does she really even stand a chance?this book was explosive and had a mix of action and explaining of the story for people who did not read any other of the Blade of the immortal series.

The first time I looked at the Blade of the Immortal series, I seriously thought "Oh wonderful, another cheesy, gore ridden series with no plot and ... artwork." However, upon reading it I was taken aback by how wrong I truly was. The art is beautiful in its own way, unique and sketchy looking with no possible way it could be turned into an anime and still look as gorgeous. The story is also very nice, there is blood, but there is a good intellectual plot with the occasional twist of witty humor. It is an interesting mix of fact and fantasy, real and surreal all mixed in a historical setting. This series is set apart from others and I don't believe that I have any others quite like it. It never gets old. I highly recommend that, no matter what you're interested in, you should at least give this stunning series a try.

This volume and its sequel capture events from issues 19 through 28 of the manga comic books, and represents events in the earlier phases of the adventures of Rin and Manji. It contains two stories, "Rin's Bane," and the first part of "On Silent Wings." Both of these are strong stories that trace Rin's growth from a young girl hell-bent on vengeance for the murder of her parents into a woman who is beginning to understand the real price of retaliations.

In "Rin's Bane," the young swordswoman, smarting from an argument with Manji over her fighting skills heads off into the woods to wash her hair. There she finds herself face to face with Kagehisa Anotsu, the leader of the Itto-Ryu swordsmen. Anotsu brushes aside her skills, and she is forced to face some very unpleasant truths about her beliefs. The lessons of this encounter haunt Rin in the next story, "On Silent Wings." Manji and Rin are at a local fair when the immortal swordsman suddenly finds that a local mask maker is another Itto-Ryu. In a parallel encounter, Rin risks her own life to prevent a haughty samurai from killing a young child. Manji barely avoids a public battle, and Rin is shocked to recognize the artist as the killer who defiled her mother.

As events proceed inexorably towards the second volume's part of the story, we sense the internal tensions in Rin and her swordsman as they confront the possible outcomes of their actions. Hiroaki Samura's tale again touches on complex moral issues rather than simply dishing out a violent samurai melodrama. The grim horror that counterpoints the lighter exchanges between Samura's main encounters provides the basis for much thought and consideration. One of the surprises in this series has been the quality of the translation, which manages to carry through the whole range of the dialog. Yet Japanese is preserved where it is part if the detailed and carefully composed artwork. This extremely high level of artistic integrity grows on the reader. "Blade of the Immortal" is much more a genuine graphic novel than it is a simple manga.

My daughter has now read through Volume 5 of the series. She really enjoyed the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", so I ran upon the Bone series when looking for other graphic novels. She enjoys the humor and has shared the books with her friends.

The only drawback off this TPB is its length - this comics is simplistic so you go through the book fast. But the story is great, characters are engaging and you have to wait for the next volume.
Note - this edition is colored and is really beautiful. Can't imaging it in any other quality.

This volume of the Bone adventures picks up where the first one left off, and is equally fun and interesting. It would be hard not to love the Bone series, with the wonderful characters and humorous situations. This is great stuff, and I highly recommend it to graphic novel lovers.

Again my son loves the Bone Series and it helps encourage him to read because he enjoys the books so much.

Wow! There is something truly amazing about the images and words of "Bone". At heart, it's a fairy tale, but one that appeals to the child in the adult and the adult in the child.

First off, I have to say this book is absolutely perfect for all first-time freelance graphic designers. My business partner and I recently started our own design agency at [...] and didn't have a clue about where to get our hands on the legal forms needed. We were referred to this book from another source. And since my partner's father-in-law is a lawyer, we decided to let him take a look at it to see what he thought. He said everything was solid. He couldn't find any holes on any of the forms inside. So after making a few small changes to custom fit our business, we were set. I can honestly say this book should be on the shelf of every aspiring freelance graphic designer. I highly recommend it.

I have only serious clients who are willing to pay me because I take a contract to our first meeting and make them sign it. These contracts will protect you and your clients! They are worded with the legal stuff but easy to understand. He even explains what it all means. It even has a CD so you can pop it in your computer right before your meeting (as I have done) and print a contract.

This book has EVERYTHING you need ... and then some. When you think you're not going to need one of the forms in this book, you later realize that YOU DO! As a freelance artist, using these forms made me feel as though clients noticed that they were dealing with a real professional. Absolutely a great investment.

In starting out and gathering information it's hard to determine what books will be helpful. This is great. It is filled with tear out forms you can make copies of and use over and over. Great information. And the CD-ROM includes all the forms in pdf format, as well as Pagemaker and Quark XPress so that you can make changes to fonts and style, logo additions, and more, to suit your own home business. Files are compatible with Mac and IBMC platform, which is great for me being a designer working mostly on an IBM computer. Excellent book!

Our small graphic design firm had been relying on the legal forms and contracts from this book for about one year. Finally, we decided that perhaps we ought to visit with a lawyer to make sure we were doing it right...$560.00 later for an initial consultation, we realized that this $29.95 book was the best business investment we'd ever made! The lawyer confirmed that the contracts that we had been using were airtight and were great (he had a few other pointers...but, none worth $560.00).

We have had many comments from our clients that over all the creative teams they'd worked with over the years, our design firm had surpassed them all in business professionalism. If you are serious about running a firm, or just want to protect yourself, you really can't go wrong with this book! Such a small investment for such a large return!