Graphics Books

I am an avid manga collector and had been wanting to check out Mars for a long time since I saw a write up on it in Newtype magazine. It did not disappoint. The artwork is lovely and the storyline isn't skimpy or cheesy, it is a manga with substance and relatable charaters, I am 20 and love this manga. I currently own volumes 1-6 and am looking forward to number 7! :)

I thought this is a great romantic seires. Kira and Rei a weird couple yes. Shy and sweet quiet artist girl to Dangerous bad boy that does what he wants. But I loved how the started the first volume. It already showed so things that will come ahead to this couple. Some people look for the art in manga but it wasn't like that for me. I liked the art and this a old manga but has been proveing to this girl that many has loved this series for the beauty of it's story and art. For romance I recommend this book. They already get this couple in some very sweet moments :). I get lost in this series every time I read it. To know more about the series I so recommend buying the fullength series which is 15 books. I love reading them over and over. I hope you find yourself swept away as I was when I read the first book then I couldn't stop reading after that I had to the next one then the next one. You get so later yo.

GREAT MANGA!!!!
I'm in my twenties and this is one of the best mangas

this book rocked. Not gonna drone on like the rest of my reviews except to say read this. I loved how you could tell just how different these two were. Short book, but had me on the edge of my seat all the way. Finished in twenty minutes, but came back to read my favorite parts. And the picture when they kiss and they're sparkling! AWESOME ART MAN! Get this book.

This is Jumaane

If you dig love stories and like manga, this series is a MUST READ. The artwork is very good and the characters are expressed very well, the plot is insanely good, and its fifteen volumes long, meaning that there's a lot more to love! And, the main character drives a Ducati Monster, the awesomest bike in the universe. What more could you ask for???

I bought the first edition of this book called Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (AKA Avalon) at the PDC in 2005 and read it completely on the plane home.

When I heard the second edition was released I didn't think much would have changed, but this is even better than the first edition. It's twice as big and covers all major (and not so major) topics in WPF (inc. an introduction to 3D and Silverlight).

I think this book will proof to be for WPF what Programming Windows, Fifth Edition is for WIN32 programming.

This book is the most in depth resource into WPF i have seen. And not just that, it gets to the good stuff that you'll actually use in your code and not just filler or lists of properties that you can get from intelisense. The examples are extremely useful.

The other benefit of this book is that it doesn't just tell you how to do things, but why. This is incredibly helpful in finding the best solution to your specific problem.

Thanks guys! great book!
Ralph

I say to ignore those reviews because they do not refer to this book. This is the second edition published August 28, 2007 with 863 pages. Those reviews are based off of the first edition published nearly two years before (September 12, 2005) and with only 447 pages.

Using Amazon's 'Search inside this book' takes you to the 2005 edition also. That shows only 10 chapters while this edition has 17. Most of the negative comments from the 2 and 3 star reviewers seem to have been resolved.

The biggest strength of this book is that it focus on using WPF programatically, not just laying out XAML. This is extremely useful if you are writing an application for 3D data visualization or a database driven application. You get to learn to create event handlers, generate meshes... all programmatically. I also believe that this book is great, not just as a learning tool, but as a reference guide. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject and a must for the aspiring WPF developer.

If you just want to focus on XAML, however, I will have to recommend "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan.

As a software developer I've written tons of production-level code for many companies including Rockwell Automation, Compuware, MS.
And I found this book to be too shallow for a technical person like me.

[One can save money by simply downloading WPF SDK samples and learning them]

Can one design and implement a better than WPF framework after reading this book? Obviously not!

No wonder, the authors never developed significant portions of any known product/framework!

Also, my e-mail exchange with C. Sells indicates that he himself doesn't really understand WPF in depth.
(BTW, as a MS employee he has luxury of having access to WPF source code and symbols - he obviously didn't bother to do so)

Just a few examples:
-- Managed/Unmanaged transition, e.g. the MIL stuff
-- Lack of understanding the WPF control model
-- Lack of understanding the WPF text model
-- Just like in any other *shallow WPF book* [are there deep WPF books out there?] authors make no effort to scrutinize the existing framework (WPF). [Which is definitely far from being clean and nice]
-- WPF "GDI-free" claims are nonsense since WPF uses User32 and User32 and Gdi32 libs are tightly coupled.

Everything about this is great. Besides the story, which mixes action and comedy in the right amount, the printing and paper quality is SO much better than most "normal" manga. With artwork this beautiful, you need it to be larger so you can really drink in the details and immerse yourself in the story. I only wish more manga were printed in this high quality format. Plus it's cheaper than buying them individually in an inferior format! Now if they'd only release them quicker...I hate waiting to see what happened next!

As a dabbler only in the manga field I was familiar with the ttile but decided based on the price, this was a good try out book. I was not wrong!! Defintly worth your money as you get alot of story for the money. Actually cheaper than buying the individual books. Printed on strong paper with a handful of color pages at the front this is a compact beautiful apckage with a great starting story and I intend to buy all of the VIZBIG editions!

There are many manga that use themes that are similar to this one, but among all these, Rurouni Kenshin stands out as one of the best. Part of what makes this series so good is the great set of characters. There is also the wonderful recreation of the era in which the story develops; we truly feel like being at a different time in history. The impressive drawings are also a trait that makes this a successful series, and I particularly like how they use the distorted facial expressions for humorous situations. Finally, there is the story in itself, which has many layers and the deeper we get into it, the more mesmerized we are. The fact that this volume is not at the level seen later, in terms of the complexity and richness of the plot, is the only reason why it gets four stars instead of the top rating.

Hitokiri Battousai is a warrior that with the help of his sword slew many rivals of the imperialists and contributed to entering the Meiji era, and then, he disappeared. A few years later, in the eleventh year of the Meiji era in Tokyo, times are such that carrying swords is forbidden, and Kenshin, the former Battousai wanders around with a reverse-blade sword, after having vowed not to kill anymore. Soon Kenshin runs into a murderer impersonating the Battousai and trying to discredit the Kamiya Kasshin School. Luck has it that before running into the killer, he met Kaoru, the young woman who is in charge of the school, and therefore, soon gets involved in helping her clear her name. This is the first bond that will stop Kenshin's wandering, but there are even more to come.

Kenshin is a man with deep convictions, and nothing can steer him away from the goal he set after abandoning his previous life: to build a world where people can pursue happiness. He is one of the most interesting characters I have met in the world of manga, but he is not the only notable character in this series. Far from it! In this first volume we meet Kaoru, a brave young woman that provides the series with some fine humor, and there is romance to come. And we meet Yahiko, a kid that has somewhat of an attitude problem and that hopes to become a samurai and become strong. Maybe most importantly, towards the end, we encounter Zanza (Sagara Sanosuke), the street fighter who will become a central character in this series, so pay attention! He is a very complex character, with an unconventional weapon and a baggage from the past that makes him hate the Ishin-Shishi (imperialists).

This is the start to a wonderful series, and one that goes way beyond the fighting, humor and romance. The quality of this volume should be enough for most people to want to read further, but even if that is not the case, trust me, this series gets much better, so I urge you to keep reading the next volumes. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

A mysterious warrior named Hitokiri Battôsai arose in Kyoto 140 years ago. A fiercesome warrior, he slew countless men, his efforts helping bring to a close the Bakumatsu era and bringing in the age of the Meiji.

Then he disappeared.

In the 11th year of the Meiji, a rurouni--a vagabond--named Himura Kenshin surfaces in Tokyo and befriends the spunky Kaoru, the owner of a student-less dojo.

With the aid of young new friend Yahiko, a boy wanting to be a samurai himself, Kenshin and Kaoru must ward off those looking to kill them.

And so the story begins...

Despite its label being a "romantic comedy," this is by far the most serious out of the manga I read. Nobuhiro Watsuki has crafted an incredible tale, an important story, one that had captured my full attention the second Kenshin showed up in Tokyo (which is pretty much the first page of the book).

His art is stellar. The detail is astounding (even after the first 22 pages when the art goes from ultra detailed to "just" super detailed). His rendering of Japan from 140 years ago is believable, each panel transporting you directly to the past.

The big deal about this book is the fight sequences, each chapter in this volume containing at least one battle. I've never seen action like this before--so huge, so intense, so detailed, so explosive, with speed-lines everywhere--AMAZING!

This volumes also includes a special bonus story that was originally published about a year before the now-complete-twenty-eight-volume series began.

This is a great opening story to what is sure to be a fantastic saga this reviewer looks forward to finishing. (I'm also now eager to check out the anime for this.)

Language warning: Cursing

Applauds should be given to Viz for taking a step in this direction, we can only hope they add more series to their VizBig line up!

In this book, you get the first three volumes of the series (Vol I: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, Vol II: The Two Hitokiri, and Vol III: A Reason to Act). Pages 11 - 32 are in full color, which adds another dimension to the story, I was sad the color had to end. The last few pages also give us some wonderful color pictures from the original volumes, without text. We also get 2 end of volume specials, the first occurs a year before the series begins and the second is, as the author describes, sort of the 'pilot' episode of Rurouni Kenshin, where the details are a bit different than the actual story, but it's still the Rurouni we all love!

The size of the book allows us to look at the detail a bit better. Another feature I noticed was page numbers, which are great if you lose your place.

If you're new to the series, I recommend buying this version over the original 3 volumes as you get more for your money.

There's Treasure Everywhere--A Calvin and Hobbes Collection. Great going Internationalbooks!!!!
The book I received was in VERY good shape.
Thanks,
garyR

I bought all of this series as used books. I love to read Calvin and Hobbes. The price and deliver were both excellent.

i bought this book for my husband and he loves it. instead of reading like an itty bitty comic strip he has a whole book to himself and all the strips flow much like a story. these characters should be in a cartoon series!

It's a great book and got here in perfect conditinons.
MY only complai is that amazon gave me a deadline and the product only arrived five days later....

Bill Watterson is a genious. There's no other way to put it. Calvin and Hobbes is one of the Great Comic Strips of our times and this collected edition is an incredible read. Highest possible recommendation.

This book is so hilarious. Sometimes I try to sneak in a few pages before I go to bed. I like everything about this comic strip, the friendship, the fighting, the get rich quick schemes, (Calvin and Hobbes, keep dreaming.), Hobbes when he's ready to pounce, Calvin's naughty behavior, and it's also funny when Calvin and Hobbes both do naughty and bad things. If they were well mannered all the time, (Yawn) Then this comic strip would be boring.
I'm rating this book five stars. It's a great book, and I recommend this to other Calvin and Hobbes fans. Whether your one or ninety one, normal or mentally challenged, you should enjoy Calvin and Hobbes always. This is a kids review, and I'm typing this on my mom's account.

The title alludes to the four legged part of this classically funny duo. The thing that causes Hobbes, Calvin's tiger, the most joy, is pouncing on, and scaring the crap out of, his owner. Calvin is a willing participant, most of the time going along with it for the thrill. A lot of satire and insightful observation delivered along with the clowning, here.

An only, lonely child. Bullied at school. Clearly a genius level intellect, he's unchallenged and stifled since nobody, not his parents, and not even his teacher, recognizes this. A father who's always too busy to spend any time with his son. A father who's often seen, get this, reading --*reading* -- rather than paying his only son some attention! A mother, who literally, in strip after strip, throws him out the door. Throws, as in "child flying through the air". A child, and a small child at that, allowed repeatedly to wander alone through the woods! A child denied even a pet. His only friend -- a stuffed tiger.
Makes the "Peanuts" look like "The Family Circus".

This collection takes place mostly in winter/spring/summer and is not themed (as you would think) along the lines of Hobbes "pouncing" which made me hesitate to purchase it at first because I wasn't that keen on all that pouncing. If you are into that aspect of C&H, however, you can get the C&H Lazy Sunday Book Collection. This one DOES however contain a lot of his priceless snowman sculptures which I AB-SO-LOUTELY LOVE, a great deal of interation with Susie, and escapades in Miss Wormwood's class. 5 *s for another fantastic collection!

This collection has a few of my favorites in it (especially the girls/bugs analogy - priceless!) Great for any age - I read C&H starting around age 7 and I still read it today! I enjoy it just as much, though I see it from a unique perspective now. Every kid should grow up with this.

This is a great collection of brilliantly dark cartoons. Laugh out loud funny and very clever. The characters are excellent.

I'm telling you Red Meat comics are the most sick, twisted, disgusting, and preverse cartoons you'll ever lay eyes on and that means naturally I think their great. I laughed so hard I thought I'd piss my pants. The poltically incorrect humor had me thinking "this is just F'ing wrong" while I had to catch my breath. Its so different from anything out there and the comic humor isn't "Beetle Bailey or Peanuts" type humor to put you to sleep. This humor doesn't tap you on the shoulder it bludgeons your head till your brains spill out. Get this piece of garbage it is gold and you'll be a better person because laughing is what makes you that way.

This is laugh out loud hilarious if you have this kind of humor. Then you show it to some people and they are like "ok... yeah I guess thats your kind of humor" Well if your the type of person to enjoy newspaper comics, this will actually be funny so that is a hard transition to make. The genius is of it is that I could have written this stuff (and the 'drawings') but I didn't and He did and now he's probably making millions and millions of dollars. I remember making comic strips like while sitting in class. I would crack myself up back then too.

Like Gary Larson and Tom Tomorrow, people either "get" Max Cannon or they don't. If you "get" him, this collection is invaluable. If not, maybe there's a Mallard Filmore collection out there somewhere. The Family Circus is always good, too. For an anti-Family Circus, non-politically correct good time, Red Meat is a great read. Is it political? Everything's political. This is just a little something from the smartass anarchist lobby. :)

If you have any appreciation whatsoever for morbid humor, buy this man's books immediately. There's really nothing else to it.

Art of Modern Rock features some incredible art drawn from great artists and is a must not just for a rock aficionado, but for an art enthusiast, an artist, a designer or even a writer. The tremendous amount of variety and unique and powerful imagery makes looking through this book a great pleasure.

I've had this book for several years now and this is my all time favourite art book, and I own far too many to even be considered in the realm of normal. The Art of Modern Rock is a huge book (almost 500 pages) and the art diverse and inspiring. I just love this book!!

I purchased the Art of Modern Rock online for my son and his wife for Christmas. I usually have a difficult time finding a gift I think they will like. They have a rock band themselves, and my daughter-in-law is also interested in art, so I gave this book a try. Not only did they love it, but they are in it! I wish now that I had opened it and looked through it before I mailed it to them. I was pleased with the book, and the service from Amazon is always excellent!

"Art of Modern Rock" is a fantastic compilation of rock posters form bands both famous and obscure over the last 15-20 years or so. Separating them by subject (for instance, some chapters focus on "silkscreened" posters, others on digitally-produced art; still others look at themes of content like posters with horror themes, etc.), here you will find examples of high-illustration, psychadelic extrapolation, absurd visual puns (such as in the art of Derek Hess's posters), and abstract greatness.

Be warned - this book is an enormous book and has hundreds of pages printed on high-gloss paper. There is a bounteous selection of art here to be enjoyed. However, I was disappointed that some artists (such as the renowned master Coop) didn't receive as large an airing as other artists. However, this is an exceptional volume, one that artists will come back to again and again to appreciate and draw inspiration from.

This is one of the greatest books I've read in the last ten years about rock posters. All kind of rock music is here. If you really like rock'n'roll music, you must get this one.

This is the best book I have ever read. It is mainly about a half-naked boy who is a hero. The part I like the best is when the toilet and him fought. This is very cool book.

I love spending time with my grandson and this book is fun to read with him. I also love to hear my grandson laugh.He likes to read now and he takes the book to school for others to read.He likes all the Captain Underpants books.This is an excellent read...

Captain Underpants is a great epic novel series by Dav Pilkey.With his new book Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking toilets we discover his power against talking, eating, mad toilets. He uses cafeteria food and his underware.This book also has more flip-o-ramas than ever.The flip-o-ramas are filled with even more juicy underware fighting.Captain Underpants beats the talking toilets with underware and his extreme power.
George and Harold,the main characters,try to help Captain Underpants but just stir up more trouble.Captain Underpants not only has to worry about the evil talking toilets but also freeing George and Harold.Captain Underpants ended up winning the battle and freed George and Harold.Over all,Captain Underpants is an awesome fighter and awesome warrior.

My book review
What I'm writing for my book review is Captain Underpants. The reason why I'm writing Captain Underpants is because the book is funny and I want to share how the book was funny with the class.
In Dave Pikley's second adventurous book he talks about Captain Underpants and the attack of the talking toilets. Captain Underpants runs around in his underpants saving the world. I know, your wondering why he can't just do these things with his clothes on instead of doing it in his underpants. It was not his fault that he runs around like this.
The top-secret truth about captain underpants. There were two boys named Harold and George. In the book Harold and George are the narrators. Their principal (Mr. Krupp) was always mean to them. So Harold and George bought a hipno-ring that could hypnotize people. Here comes the funny part. Harold and George hypnotized Mr. Krupp! Then they turned him into Captain Underpants! Now whenever Captain Underpants hears a scream, he runs off and says "tralalaaaaaa!" Every time he does this Harold and George have to watch over him, then catch him.
The whole book is a comic book that Harold and George made to make fun of their principal. Harold and George are known around the whole school because of the pranks they pull. One time they put bubbles in the band instruments. Another time they glued everyone in the lower school to the auditorium seats, and another time they changed the words around on the school board to make it say come and see our hairy armpits.
Captain underpants is a funny book and I hope a lot of people read it.

By Jordan

My eight-year-old loves this book, and I think it's hilarious myself. If fighting vicious toilets using underwear and cafeteria food sounds funny to you, you'll love this book.

This book does teach a certain amount of contempt for adults and suspicion of cafeteria food to children. In that sense maybe it's emblematic of our society. I have found it necessary to sit down with my son and explain that all of this is FICTION, and has nothing to do with the real world. Did that have any effect? I don't know. I suppose it's worth it to have him reading.

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

These illustrations are the best ever for The Night Before Christmas...Stunning even! A worthy heirloom Christmas Book. The illustrations cover both sides of the page for a large panoramic view seldom seen in other books...

A pleasure to review. Wonderful illustration talent (a là Bill Watterson), with a deranged humor we've never seen before. One can read the same comic over and over again, and continue to laugh. And because Nicholas Gurewitch has announced a semi-retirement, we may have to.

Nicholas Gurewitch's Perry Bible Fellowship is a refreshing exception among webcomics: it combines good ideas, great visuals (most webcomics seem to manage just one of these two) and twisted humor that has more than just shock value.

Not that it's all perfect: some of the strips are - in all honesty - quite mediocre. But when PBF hits the mark, it is just about the funniest thing around. If you're not already familiar with the comic, you should just read it on the official website to see if this is your thing.

This Dark Horse collection has all the PBF strips up until its publication and some previously unseen material as well. The overall quality is very good and does justice to Gurewitch's visual stylings. What I missed was more background: information about the author, origins of the comic, how the whole phenomenon grew online. In my opinion, it would be nice to have something more than hard covers (good as they might look) around the things that are already available for free online.

However, I don't regret my purchase one bit. The price was right, the book looks good and, most importantly, the content is great. I just wish there would have been a bit more of it.

I've been reading the Perry Bible Fellowship for a few years now and I was looking forward to this book. It's just as good as I hopped it would be. These are the best strips I've ever read anywhere. The humor is hilarious from every direction. At 10 bucks, you can't afford not to have this book.

If you could somehow harness the powers of pure awesomeness (even more rare than dark matter) and contain it in the form a book, this would be the end result...

Proudly display it on your coffee table, or wear it around your neck; just spread the word of PBF!!! Either way, it is by far one of the best Graphic Novels you will have ever owned.

Ever!!!

I'd read a lot of these comics on The Perry Bible Fellowship website, but my goodness, it is just so good having them all printed in a lush, glossy-paged book. Truly, the sick humor comes to life in a way that the internet simply could not dream of. Buy this book. Seriously. You won't be sorry.