Titan Books

The latest instalment in one of the best comic series currently being produced (if not ever produced), Mignolia's Conquorer Worm is everything fun about comics and fiction in general. We got your Lovecraft, your Pulp Heroes, dark castles, cyborg monkies and Nazis. Oh my.
Proving that comics can be atmospherically dark and still fun, our federally funded big demon lug continues on his journey of self discovery and finding bizarre creatures to punch in the face. Great if read in sequence with the rest of the series but also stand on its own two feet, Conqueror Worm can not be spoken of highly enough in my opinion.
It is almost impossible to find another comic book, or any other book for that matter, quite like it, and by the end of this particular yarn, you'll be wishing for more Lobster Johnson.
Buy this book now. Buy two of them.

Mike Mignola does it again with Conqueror Worm. This collection brings together some of Mignola's best work to date. Unfortunately I must say that this looks like a fitting end to the Hellboy series for the time being. I say unfortunately because I am a big fan of the Hellboy series, and while this book is an excellent read, it only whets the appetite for more Mignola. Sigh. That being said, this book is a great read and an important addition to the Hellboy library. Definitely worth the asking price boys and girls.

It says you can get this item in 1-2 business days. But I've waited for it for 3 months! and never got the item. They didn't charge me for the item but it was a total waste of time to shop in amazon. Move on, People!

Mike Magnolia brings it all together, all of the creepy bits, the folklore, the boggles and ghosts, Christ and the Devil, Lovecraft and Poe, he gathers all of the elements that make this kind of fiction wonderful, and binds them in the world of Hellboy. Anyone who enjoys the wierd fiction/folklore horror genre will enjoy Hellboy.

"Conqueror Worm" has all of the elements of a great Hellboy story. Mystical Nazi's seek to contact things from "beyond," who wait for mankind's destruction. If this sounds familiar, then you will probably like Hellboy. Newer characters, in the form of Roger the Homunculus and Lobster Johnston are developed, and become an interesting part of the Hellboy mythos rather than side players.

The art is amazing, as usual. Magnolia refines his style with each Hellboy release. As always, the TPB offers new material and is superior to the monthly comic release. The entire Hellboy library is as worth owning as the complete works of Poe or Lovecraft. "Conqueror Worm" is a necessary edition.

Anything Mignola does these days, especially anything having to do with Hellboy, drips Lovecraft. The Conqueror Worm, though borrowing from Poe and a few others as well, is no exception to the Lovecraftian rule. You can see this in the way Mikey has managed to prefect his style, in everything from the foreboding ways he drips shadows into pictures to the means by which he manages to places something sinister within each and every storyline.
This newest edition introduces everyone's favorite antagonists, the occult driven Nazis, in their newest attempt at subordinating the world. Sixty years ago, the Nazis launched a mission into space to contact beings in space that "wait to celebrate the downfall of man." Somehow communication was established and a deal was struck, and now it returns as the doom of man - the Conqueror Worm. Certain nemesis's to BPRD's plights return for this story, plus Hellboy comes with his friend Roger the Homunculus, developing a tale that continues in the proudly readable Hellboy tradition.
Also, this TPB edition has an epilogue added to it, one that brings a semi-conclusion to events that have been transpiring for some time now. Coupling this with the fact that the transfer from comic to TPB brought about a more defined, crisply darker feeling, I'd have to recommend it for consumption by old fans and new ones alike (just try to read them in order).

I picked up a copy of Manga: The Complete Guide, since I already owned an Anime version of this type of collection. Basically, it is a listing of every Japanese manga licensed in English (by early 2007) with a synopsis and a review, along with volume information and age ratings (though mistakes like the volume # for Hero Heel abound).

This volume also contains an introduction and afterward about Japanese comics (and even has a hiragana/katakana chart for reference), which are all very interesting and useful. The book succeeds as a reference guide to manga in general, but the separate yaoi section fails as a good guide for determining whether a series is worthwhile or not, and probably because this book was compiled mostly by men (presumably straight) who are not necessarily fans of the genre (the ratings seem to get lower the more graphic the series are...) and seem to prefer Viz shonen series (for which the author is an editor).

The book does list all of the active licenses up to last year (2007), except for being entirely lacking of any of the BL novels (aside from mentioning the OtRFK novels) or non-BL light novels, and not containing any Korean manwha titles, Chinese manhua, OEL (western graphic novels styled like manga) or cine-manga (picture manga based on anime series/movies). This is an English-licensed-Japanese-manga-only collection.

I wouldn't take the ratings to heart, especially since they go from 0 to 4 stars, which aside from being awkward are completely inconsistent. Naruto got 4 stars, but Fruits Basket, the greatest selling shojo manga in the US and Japan got 3.5. Bleach got 3 stars, though the review would lead you to believe it wasn't "that great" of a title. People expect a 5 star system (0 to 5, that is), especially since it gives you more to work with in differentiating between "bad" titles and "okay" titles. The top score should be reserved for the seminal works and there seemed to be just too many of them slapped on titles that only marginally deserved a high rating (Naruto, anyone?).

The yaoi section reviews were particularly abysmal, when there actually were reviews (many of the titles were left unrated). Some of the most celebrated BL titles of all time were snubbed: FAKE got 2 stars because the reviewer didn't like the artwork; Embracing Love got 4 stars while fellow BBGold signature titles Finder Series and Kizuna got 2.5 stars?! Other marginal titles got rave reviews: Wild Rock got 4 stars, and while not a bad series, the rating seems based on someone's personal feelings about the title and not its own merit.

The review and rating system would have better been served by extensive research of official published reviews for series and average manga fan reactions to them and not the personal and incosistent feelings of the people compiling this book. However, this is a good collection of information about past titles you might want to look into. This is one of those books that you'll want to look out for future editions of/additions to (since there are more and more titles being licensed every day). For the price, I would suggest finding this book on sale or used somewhere. The inconsistent ratings, errors and omissions (particularly of light novels and manwha) only garner this collection 3 stars. If it were available in an updatable e-book format I would recommend that instead.

Thompson's book is an impressive achievement, and he's written the definitive "Everything You Ever Really Wanted to Know About Manga (But Had the Good Sense Not to Ask)" reference book. He provides coverage of every single manga that's been translated and made commercially available in the United States, which is a major undertaking by itself, and he goes the extra mile by including extensive essays on a variety of subjects ranging from basic Japanese culture to American fandom to the ins and outs of the publishing industry itself. Any librarian or educator who really wants to get a handle on what their kids are reading should do themselves a favor and order a copy. Manga fans themselves will want this just to keep track of the sheer number of comics that have been released since the 1980s, and to determine which ones are worth tracking down, and which should be avoided at all costs.

This book is billed as a resource to 'find good manga you missed.' It fails. Personally, I like seinen manga with intricate plots, some humor, and a fast pace. I picked up this book hoping for good recommendations regarding series I might like.

First I paged to the seinen section, which contained five pages with about 10 entries. Half the entries had a rating of 'NR' (not rated), and the other half had low ratings (or I had read already). Not useful.

Next I hit the general section, looking for 'seinen' titles that weren't mentioned in the 'seinen' section. "Berserk," the only manga in existence that when the subject of horse rape is mentioned, a fan must ask 'which time,' is rated at four stars. (Not a fan.) 3x3 Eyes (discontinued by Dark Horse), one of the best seinen titles, is rated three stars. Claymore, my second favorite series of all time, is two stars. At this point, I was annoyed.

Then I figured it out. Whoever rated these, gives bonus stars for sales franchise numbers (1-2 stars) and for the shoujo genre (0.5-1 star). How else would Card Captor Sakura, a cutesy manga targeted at selling 8 year old girls princess combat outfits, be described as four stars must read? Rave Master, one of the most derivative, trashiest shonen offerings, garners three and a half stars!

It is my opinion, after some analysis of the author's descriptions and ratings systems (having read about 1/3 of the manga mentioned in this book myself), that the star system is utter garbage. Shounen series, unless they are old or big sellers, average one and a half stars. Shoujo series, even if they are bad, average two and a half stars. Synopsizes having mistakes in spelling and plot content makes me wonder about the editing. Obviously this guide was slapped together based on the number of NR on manga which have been available for over a year, the lack of a 'yuri' chapter, and the absence of Korean Manwha titles (which are appearing in the manga section often now).

While this might be the best published guide listing American manga right now, it's because nothing else is out there. Personally I find using a search engine on the internet gives better results as to whether or not I'll like a series than this guide. Do not buy.

I first heard of this author and this book on the "Comic Geek Speak" podcast, (an excellent podcast by the way). I have been reading American comic books for over 25 years and had read very little Manga but was always interested. I was bit put off from some Manga because it either seemed juvenile or pornographic.

This book does a tremendous job in dispelling the image of Manga that many of us raised on American comics have about the genre. This book explains not only the history of Manga but the various types of Manga to the point where if you can't find something you'd like, you just didn't look hard enough. Plus there are over 900 reviews!

Don't like big-eyed teenage girls running around in skirts? Don't worry! There is a Manga series that caters to both men and women of every age group and interest. Horror, fantasy, occult, mystery, politics, sci-fi, sports, pets, martial arts, military, business people, etc...Whew! Without this book, the hundreds of titles and dozens of genres would be too much to try and piece together.

I'm sure many experienced Manga fans will disagree with some of his reviews but when you've read as many as the reviewer has, cliches are probably very easy to spot and quality easy to discern.

If you feel that your American Comics collection is getting a bit predictable or drab, or you just want to expose yourself to this art form, this book is a must for people absolutely new to the form.

I got this book to function as a dictionary of all things manga (a term that is defined by the author of this text as Japanese ONLY created manga no Korean or Chinese creations are included). Fortunately this is how this book functions best as a dictionary. It fails to do little else.

Included in the book are small articles are all forms of manga from shojo to shonen to otaku to doujinshi. The best part about these articles is that they refernce manga titles found within the book according to the article's subgenre. Interested in horror or fantasy or pet comedies, but don't know what else is out there - check out this book.

Unfortunately, this book suffers from a few problems as well. There are instances of poor editing. On one page the word relationship is spelled "relationshi" and the period is missing.

Another problem is the zero to four star rating system. In short, it can't be used. The author's prefernce for all things Shounen Jump is obvious and if the work is old (think Tezuka) it is guarenteed a good review. Another problem with the rating system is that whomever decided upon the rating didn't do it consistently. Bobobobo (bo whatever) receives a rating of 2.5 stars making it better than average while Loveless receives 2 stars making it average. (Loveless is described as "boring" showing the author's roots in shounen manga. There is even a comment that in other manga the characters at least trade swords.) Another insult is that Godchild received the same rating as Bobo. And for Descendant of Darkness fans (myself included) 1 star. Whereas Love Hina gets 3 (granted it is a fun work, but come on). Tenshi ja nai! receives 2 stars and is described as "trashy". However, anything Yu Watase does is not trashy or expected, but rather wonderful receiving an average 3 star rating (think H3 here). FMA receives a rating of 4 stars (which I happen to agree with) as does Naruto.

Another problem is that the book already needs an update. Many of the works are left with NR (not rated) ratings because the work could not be reviewed prior to publishing. This includes works like Vampire Knight, E's, Black Sun, Silver Moon, or Gunsmith Cats: Burst. Works that have been out for a year or more. However, to compensate for this problem Del Ray does offer a link on its website to get updated reviews (the link is in the book).

Also included in this work are subsections on hentai and yaoi. (Yuri is left to a small article. A major problem because many of the yuri works could not be reviewed by the author and are left as NR.) NR also appears heavily in the yaoi section. Only three yaoi works get four star ratings Shout Out Loud (deserved it), Wild Rock (never read heard it sucked), and Gerard & Jacques (I can't get over the girly art). Other fantasic works like Junjo Romantica (2.5 stars), Yellow (2 stars), and Brother (3 stars) receive lower ratings. Interestingly Love is Like a Hurricane is included in the NR catagory along with half the section. Additionally many works are missing from the yaoi catagory (Spell, Scandoulous Seiryo High, and many others). Admittly, I don't know anything about hentai.

Overall, I gave this work 4 stars as a dictionary. Great reference. If I were to rate it for its reliabilty in rating or its updated manga list I give it a 2 or 3.

What can you say about the Martha Washington series but "BUY IT!".

When I stumbled upon this gem of ultra-cynicism, I thought for a moment that John Carpenter had got his hands on the Miller psyche'. Alas, no. What came out of this reading was such a complete skewering of Bigotry that the backwoods, context-skipping, agenda totting me-me-me creationists would practically bend over backwards to either look the other way or assassinate by character with the dreaded PC word. Wasn't this the dreaded semantics of hypocritical supremacy Miller that was cutting against? By the way, since when were names like FEMINAZI ever "PC".
Watch out for the Anti-Martha's who recommend books about Natural Selection( Darwins Black Box ) that they only heard about from other people who heard it misquoted by the ICR, and then try to bring it up in a review of a UBER-COMIC.
Anyway,this work illustrates how Miller's resurrection,( Sorry, no mythical-inference intended) led to the making of 4, count em'4 Batman movies. Now tell me Burton didn't have this kind of egala-mania in mind with "Batman Returns". Just admit it and give credit where it is due. This one will endure.

At last, Frank Miller has given us a comic book for all Americans and a hero who represents the real America. It's strange to think that a medium like action comics, that wastes so much of its energy trying to reinforce the stale values of an America that hasn't existed since the middle of the last century, could be such fertile ground.

It has opened my eyes to the potential of comics to tell stories that have relevance to the modern world, not some lilly-white America that's been dead for decades.

I would have to call this his best, most mature work to date.

Buy it, or else!

This qulity comic novel which is heavily influenced by Ayn Rand'sATLAS SHRUGGED. Like Rand, Millersees the greatest threat to freedom not in obvious totalitarians but well meaningidealists who are incompetent or paternalistic or both.The fact that the heroes are minorities is irrelevant to the story and only a bigot or a moron would focus on that in discussing this work.

If you liked Miller's Dark Knight series, you probably won't like this one. In fact, unless you're into extreme political correctness, you won't like this one.

All the good guys are minorities. All the bad and dumb ones are white. And so on. This seems like an 180-degree reversal from his Batman books, which were somewhat negative on liberal issues (well, justice, at least).

But Miller obviously wanted it to be a work on par with Moore's "Watchmen" - why else waste Gibbon's talent on this book? Perhaps it was a catharsis, because it seems like a lot of venting - against Reagan, against white males, against evil phallic space stations, against ... well, enough said. Read "Watchmen" again instead. Or why waste time with comic books? Although Moore's stuff is always interesting, most comic-book philosophy is at the pop level. Sounds deep and attractively cynical ... until you delve. Read something serious. Recommendations: "Darwin's Black Box" (Behe), "Nature's Destiny" (Denton).

This was one of the first novels based on the original Star Trek series, and while it has many of the characteristics of the following books in the series, there is a difference. The later books have tighter storylines as the authors and editors perfected the formula.
In this book, a Klingon ship whose captain is on a blood vendetta against Kirk attacks an Enterprise with a tired crew. The Enterprise easily beats off the attack, but the Klingons also plant a device that wrecks havoc in the transporter room. Kirk and company are then called on to respond to a request by a planet to start the process of joining the Federation.
Not everything in the planet is at it appears to be, as there are some unusual anomalies. While the leaders claim there is no violence, in fact there is, but the people do not notice it. The planet is actually ruled by a computer interfaced with Wayne Perry, the leader of the group that colonized the planet centuries ago. Perry's image is resurrected by the computer as a solid hologram when problems erupt.
I found this story, which is essentially another one about berserk computers that take over a society, to be rather dull. The subplot regarding the Klingons was almost a distraction rather than an improvement. The manner in which the device was planted in the transporter was never resolved and stating that it was a simple device was unconvincing. A virus that prevents a person from committing violence and acts instantaneously on humans and Klingons exceeds my believability index.

Yet, it is Star Trek and it is always great to read about the characters of the series.

This is one of the great `non-episode' Star Trek books. This is one of the few books true to the spirit and style of the original stories. It's funny how many times other Trek fans have mentioned this one as one of their favortie Star Trek novels. It keeps coming back into print and I would love to see it re-released - say in a collection with some other Star Trek classics. If you are a fan and you haven't read it then this is a must have. It will really take you back to the old days.

Having just finished the tedious Next Gen novel Ghost Ship, Perry's Planet was just what the doctor ordered. The Bantam novels in general were much more simple, streamlined affairs than the Pocket novels to follow. No space wasted on character interaction or inner monologues - just a bare-bones story (pun not intended).

Perry's Planet is almost magic in the way it evokes the original series. The novel sounds and feels uncannily like an episode. The plot, like so many of the original series episodes, is a recycled hodge-podge from other episodes, including a Landru-esque society and computer program, and a pacifying virus akin to the spores from "This Side of Paradise." A Klingon death vow starts the novel off with a bang but otherwise does not live up to its promise. Wonderfully concise, Perry's Planet provides a couple of hours worth of mindless, enjoyable entertainment.

The crew of the Enterprise is dead-tired and badly in need of shore leave. As they pick up scientists for transfer, they prepare to head to Starbase 6 for needed rest and repairs. While stopped briefly to make some adjustments to the failing dilithium crystals, they are suddenly attacked by a Klingon warship that seems to come out of nowhere. When the threat is averted, the Klingon captain appears on the screen, and swears a blood oath to kill Kirk in revenge for killing his brother.

With that now hanging over his head, Kirk must divert to a planet in an unsurveyed sector, that has sent an application for admission to the Federation. As it is deemed that this must be answered without delay, the Enterprise is diverted there. After beaming down, Kirk and company find themselves unable to commit the smallest act of a violent nature. A virus has been created on Perry's Planet, which acts to disable the individual when the biochemical buildup to violent action is begun. With the Klingon ship in wait for them, the consequences could be disasterous.

Jack Haldeman is the older brother of Joe Haldeman, noted science fiction and Star Trek author, and an accomplished short-story writer on his own merits. Haldeman crafts a strong if short tale here, which seems to have been padded some from a short story length. Haldeman effectively uses the characters, and keeps them IN character, including giving some time to Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov. The writing is not soaring, but it is solid, and the story will keep the reader interested.

I daresay this is the best Star Trek novel Bantam company has published. This author really is the first one to realize Klingon concept of honor. A pity the others didn't until TNG debuted.

yow,man,this was like,ya know,the COOOOOL stuff,ya know,cooool,ya know

What the title says. It cant hope to match what Gaiman did in the original mini....but it's good stuff. Interesting relations...although the future/past relation is somewhat lacking overall. It seems incomplete when read alone. Makes you wish you had other chapters. But overall good stuff.

yow,man,this was like,ya know,the COOOOOL stuff,ya know,cooool,ya know

John Ney Rieber, The Books of Magic: Reckonings (Vertigo, 1997)

Reckonings, the third book in the Sandman spinoff Books of Magic series, is a marked improvement over book two, though it's still not up to the standard set by the Sandman series.

In this one, Tim and Molly, along with a few extraplanar friends, are off gallavanting when Molly gets kidnapped by a bunch of pink dinosaurs. (I kid you not.) In order to rescue her, Tim has to brave the fires of Hell-- except that Hell has no fires. Hell is a vast bureaucracy just waiting to implode upon itself.

It's amusing enough for what it is, but the narrative lacks the Gaiman touch, substituting labyrinthine plot twists for Gaiman's dark characterization and master's touch with detail. Still, it's enjoyable enough to keep me going in the series. ***

The Books of Magic series follow the life of Tim Hunter, who is destined to be the world's most powerful magician, but for now is just a teenager. He has recently discovered that all the imaginary children that he had as a child are real and live in an empty lot. He takes his girlfriend, Molly, to visit. She goes into the woods to heed the call of nature and is kidnapped and taken to hell by a group of pink dinosaurs. Hell is not a place of fire and brimstone. Rather it is run like a large and very burocratic corporation. Fire and brimstone is just one torture provided.

Meanwhile Tim Hunter from the future, a powerful magician who has traded his memories away in various confrontations with demons, has realized that life is not all that. He is now trying to raise young Tim Hunter not to be like him.

A mysterious character named Nobody figures heavily in Tim and Molly's plights. Each must read a short fairy tale in a book. The fairy tales involve a main character who looks and talks just like the main character. The stories end tragically for the main character. In a final confrontation Tim, Molly and grown up Tim end up inside the story read by the demon who has kidnapped Molly and been controlling grown up Tim. Each must play by the rules enough to trick the story without loosing touch with reality and being pulled into the book.

The art style is realistic and well done. The layouts are a little off. Often I read panels out of sequence and the pacing on each page was just a tad off. The art here is fine but the highlight of the book is the twisting and detailed plot.

I recommend that you read the previous book in the series (Summonings) first, but I seriously do recommend that book. Two reasons for that: You will have background so that this book makes more sense. The two books go together and the major plots that were opened in Summonings are resolved here, so reading them together is so much better.

I missed out on the early issues of "Sandman," "Hellblazer," et al. so "Shade TCM" was my entryway into the "British invasion" of edgy, cutting-edge comics. While I lost track of the series over time (something that happens with all comic titles I read), I am glad to have a bookshelf edition of these early issues. The comic has its moments of unhinged weirdness, but it's weirdness with a purpose. The surrealistic imagery makes sense in the context of the storyline. Hopefully the rest of the series will be reprinted in time as many Vertigo titles are so I can finally go back and catch up with the rest of the story.

SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN: THE AMERICAN SCREAM collects the first six issues of the 1990 Vertigo comic series. There's a lot of history behind that character, so let's travel back just a bit. Shade, the Changing Man was one of my favorite DC titles from the late `70s. Created by Steve Ditko, it featured the adventures of Rac Shade, fugitive from the planet Meta. Shade's M-Vest surrounded him with a distorted energy field that gave him the appearance of a giant monstrous being, resulting in some truly weird visuals from Ditko. Unfortunately, the series was quickly canceled as a result of the DC implosion, and aside from some appearances in Suicide Squad, Shade was mostly forgotten.

In 1990, writer Peter Milligan and artist Chris Bachalo resurrected Shade as part of the Vertigo lineup, and while there was an initial attempt to link this character to Ditko's version in issue #1, it seemed like more of a nod to knowledgeable readers, rather than an honest attempt to fully integrate the two. Still, the connection is there, and as the story progresses, the two versions merge further, to where I eventually had no problem accepting this series as something of a continuation of Ditko's version. Yes, it's more of a "reimagining" (blech), but it's a good one.

This version of Shade is still from the planet Meta, but his mission is to battle a form of actualized chaos, referred to as "the madness", which trickles into our reality from another dimension. Shade's actual body floats comatose in the dimension of madness, wearing the M-Vest. With the vest, he is able to project his consciousness into the bodies of Earthlings, but his work gets off to a rocky start as he inhabits the body of Troy Grenzer, a murderer who is being put to death in the electric chair. Shade uses his reality-warping powers to escape the prison with the initially-reluctant assistance of Kathy George, the daughter of a couple murdered by Grenzer. As Kathy begins to realize that her parents' killer is no more, she accompanies Shade on his journey to battle the force of madness that inhabits America's collective unconscious: The American Scream.

Millgan's work on these first six issues is very good. In fact, the two-part "Hollywood Babble-On" is a prime example of what made Vertigo comics so great in the `90s. While his hang-up on the death of JFK and its implications for American society are a bit overdone, it's a minor quibble. Chris Bachalo's art, especially inked by Mark Pennington, is superb. While I'm just fine with Bachalo's later, more cartoony style, this early work is excellent. I'm hoping there are more Shade trade paperbacks on the way. I mean, 70 issues in the series, and only one trade? Step it up, DC...

Too bad they didn't go all the way back too the 70s and show the beginning of Shade, the Changing Man, but we are still grateful to see Shade in his 90s re-invention via the sterling work of Peter Milligan, who is sort of like the Greil Marcus of the comic world--filled with grim and fascinating re-caps of the "old, weird America." The striking thing about the AMERICAN SCREAM storyline is, I think, still the characters Milligan gives us, the tormented Shade and the incredibly generous, if haunted, Kathy.

Lenny remains one of the most original characters in comics, although in the greater world of culture outside she would be regarded as a stock figure, the hip, take no prisoners almost-lipstick lesbian. Hooray for Milligan for bringing us actual, literal change in panel after panel, page after page, and long live our "man on the inside," Shade.

I have to admit, I've been an admirer of Peter Milligan for a long time --- his sense of literacy and character is (to me) beguiling.

Shade TCM was one of his longest running US comics - and revivies a classic Steve Ditko character most impressively. In this collection (which covers the first six issues, rather than the first arc sadly) we get introduced to Rac Shade (from Meta, via the Area of Madness), the Madness Vest, Kathy and the American Scream. Issues dealt with here include the death penalty (an anachronism to Europeans), JFK's assassination, Hollywood and hippies. These all seem very dull, jaded targets - but Milligan adds more value than can easily be conveyed. It's a good mixed bag, but the series really took off later in it's 70 issue run.

Hopefully, this will sell enough (on the back of X-Force/X-Statix) to make more volumes appear - if not, look for issues 45 to 50 "A Season in Hell" - the finest moment of this series.

Pop Kulcher Review: Not sure why, but Amazon has reviews for Sandman Mystery Theater printed below. As for Shade the Changing Man, all I can say is -- it's about time. Having released at least token trade paperbacks of most of the DC Vertigo titles, Shade seemed to be singled out for obscurity. Which would be a shame, as it was one of the most well-written Vertigo-related titles of the 90's, certainly on par (or close) with Sandman, Hellblazer, and Morrison's Animal Man & Doom Patrol. The first few issues (collected in this volume) were far from the title's best work, but still pretty cutting edge. At first, Milligan was big into general psychedelic weirdness coupled with an outsider's commentary on Americana. He got a bit too hung up on the (kinda silly) American Scream storyline, and struggled to integrate his book into the briefly-lived original Steve Ditko series, but once he put these aspects behind him, he made this a more character-oriented book, focusing on the 3-way love story among Shade, his girlfriend, and wisecracking NYC lesbian Lenny (all while continuing to keep a bizarre, sci-fi-ish weirdness). The book was often depressing, perhaps even more focused on young angst than Gaiman's Sandman, and that comes across even in these early issues. I hope (but doubt) that they'll work their way through the whole series, but I'm glad to have even a token bound collection of Milligan's ground-breaking work.

If the Simpsons are not on TV when you need your fix, plop down in your easy chair and open up one of the hilarious jam-packed comic books. Each book offers awesome full color illustrations along with bonus advertisements, shorts, etc. Here's what you get in this book:
"Be-Bop-Lisa"--Lisa ends up playing in a speed metal/jazz band with Otto creating a new musical sensation: "Spazz."

"The End of El Barto"--Police Chief Wiggum tells his story on how he finally caught the notorious graffiti vandal (or, so he thinks).

"The Greatest D'oh on Earth"--One of my favorites in this collection. The circus is in town, but Bart is forbidden to go because he refused to do his chores. Bart finagles the toadying Flanders boys into doing his chores for him ("Gutter cleaning's all the rage in the Holy Land") while he sneaks off to the circus. Dressed like a clown, Bart ends up in a tiny clown car with Krusty ("You never get used to the smell"). One funny box has Krusty running out of the car clutching his back: "My lower lumbar is killing me. Remind me to trade the clown car for a range rover." When Homer finds out Bart disobeyed him, the REAL show begins! Homer's stupidity is hilarious in this one.

"Dead to the Last Drop"--McBain encounters the mob at a fundraiser and deals with them in his own unique way. Krusty also makes an appearance in this one.

"I Shrink, Therefore I'm Small"--In this strip, we find out that Mr. Burns blames himself for causing the 1929 stock market crash when he gave off a horrendous burp moments before the panic began. Says Burns, "From that point on, I have supressed my need to peptically vent" (that explains a lot, actually). Now, that is something even Smithers didn't know! Anyway, Homer is shrunken down in order to man a surgical pod that will be used to dislodge Mr. Burns' internal blockage (unbeknownst to Homer, of course). Will Homer run this machine better than he runs Sector 7G at the nuclear power plant? What do you think?

"Edna of the Congo"--Bart's teacher plays a jungle woman out to save the sacred Purple Puma from poachers (or is she just looking for a man?).

"The Purple Prose of Springfield"--Bart doctors Lisa's diary creating a new literary fad in Springfield.

"Asleep At the Well"--A short featuring Springfield's favorite drunk, Barney Gumble. Find out what chief Wiggum means when he orders a glass of milk at Moe's.

I am the Simpsons GREATEST fan! The Simpsons are just so funny! They are the best thing on television! I don't know how Matt Groening thought of them but because he did, he is defineately my hero!

This book, for me, is a combination of what makes the Simpsons great, and the bad that we don't see too much on TV. The book begins with "Be-Bop-A-Lisa" in which Lisa joins a band with Otto. This is one of the better ones in the collection. Next, a short called "The End Of El Barto" is a clever little police drama that is very funny. Unfortunately, the funniest thing about "The Greatest D'oh On Earth" is the title. Homer is annoyingly meaner than usual, and the plot goes nowhere. McBain next is okay. Then, "I Shrink, Therefore I'm Small" is an atrocity. I can't find one funny thing about this. Same goes for the next short. Finally, "The Purple Prose Of Springfield" is the best of the book. A Barney short at the end is good too.

I think this is one of the best products of the Simpsons yet! It is so much like the show - maybe even better (My mom says I should read more). I'm glad to see that HarperPerennial has taken the time to make a really cool book like this. With 8 episodes in it, it's what every Simpson's fan should own.

This book is good, but it is not nearly as good as the full experience of the Simpsons that you get from the TV show. I read it once and kinda threw it in the corner and forgot about it. This is despite the fact that I am a Simpsons fanatic. I found I missed the voices from the show immensely. You lose an awful lot of the hidden jokes from the show and the humor just isn't there. Bottom line: If you absolutely can not pass this book up, buy it. Otherwise, find some other way to blow a couple bucks.

I thought this comic was great. It has a great story to it and the drawings are exelent. I thought the person who did the color on it did a great job, too.
I usally don't read the Spawn comics, but I thought this one looked interesting so I bought it. I am very happy with it and can read it over and over again.
The cover interested me by its great artwork and detail. I recomend this to fans of Spawn's Angela.

This trade paperback is awesome.It has a great mix of kooky humor,tons of action,and it's written by Neil Gaiman,one of the best writers around.This book ties very closely with what's going on in Spawn,so it's kinda hard for people who never had read Spawn to get.Angela is an angel who's job it is to hunt various beings of evil,mostly hellspawns(people who have made deals with the devil to come back to life),and she is the best.Before this mini-series,Angela has only made one appearance in Spawn,(#9)where she fought Spawn and lost(first time she was ever beaten by a hellspawn),and,in an attept to flee after getting beaten by Spawn,leaves her main weapon,a huge Lance.The mini-series continues shortly after that,where Angela is being framed by an evil angel named Gabrelle who wants to prove to all of heaven that Angela gave the lance to Spawn and is a traitor to heaven.Spawn himsefl guest stars in the book,when he is convinced by two other angels who are Angela's friends to be a witness at Angela's trail.This is a great book,anybody who's reading this should get it.It's not really as serious as it sounds,it's very funny,I recommened it to anybody that likes a good fun read.

_I was a never a big follower of Spawn- until I stumbled upon the character of Angela, warrior angel. This book collects the three issues of the Angela limited series. I am glad, for this story deserved the respect of retelling in a high grade format.

_This is the mythic tale of Angela, heaven's foremost warrior for a hundred thousand years. No angel was was more decorated in the eternal battle against evil. Yet, this did not stop her arrest on the charge of treason- for pettyness and corruption had seeped into Elysium itself. To defend her, Angela's friends sought help from Al Simmons- the most recent, and most reluctant of Hellspawn. Simmons was the only Hellspawn to ever defeat- or escape- Angela and only he could testify to her innocence in conspiring with Hell...

_This is a truly mythological tale. But then why shouldn't it be? The entire theme is a retelling of the never-ending battle between the Devas and the Asuras on the intermediate planes as told in the Vedas. Indeed, the Vedas even tell us that the Devas are primarliy of female form and of great beauty (which answers Simmon's confusion as to why all the angels were "babes.")

_The art work is a match for the story. Every page is so well drawn and composed- and vibrantly colored- that it reminds you of the finest art deco. Oh yes, the cover of the book was also issued as a magnificent poster. I know because I had mine framed.

After writing mostly Fantasy-influenced stories with throlls, faeries and wizards which worked out good for him, Neil Gaiman takes a risk here with the further creation of a character who later turns out to be one of the most popular members of the cast of a superhero title according to many. I myself take quite some characters over her (Billy Kincaid, Violator, Jason Wynn) but as a character that's supposed to be the perfect opposite of the Hellspawn she's indeed a very satisfying new (at the time) character. Luckily most of the story stages in Heaven and Hell, places Gaiman is familiair with since he explored them many times over already and THAT shows. His writing is being aided by the art of Greg Capullo who I think started here in showing himself to be worthy to take up drawing Spawn after McFarlane. It's obviously NOT the perfected art Capullo shows of later when he gets to draw 'Spawn' yet though, to be honest. I don't have a specific word for it but it's showing that typical "Image-look' that most Image books had in their early days.

About the story: The Angelic warrior Angela is celebrating her 100.000th birthday in her own unique fashion when all of a sudden the Hordes of Heaven come to place her under arrest. She's being put on trial for treason and conspiring with a Hellspawn (See the events in Spawn #9 to see what happened), among other things. It soon becomes clear to most that she's being set up and her friends attempt to help her. In doing so they need to get Spawn from earth and take him to heaven un-noticed to testify for Angela, the woman who once tried to kill him.

This story takes place right after #10 and is really a very good enhancement to the early days of the ongoing Spawn series. In saying that I'm also saying that it's definately NOT for people who haven't been reading the first 10 issues of Spawn, or at least #9 and 10 where the first Spawn/Angela meeting takes place. It explains a lot about some changes Angela went through between #9 and the later issues, which aren't addressed in the Spawn series itself. So when you've been a Spawn reader you must surely get this because it will only make your experience and understanding of Angela better, because it ties up some loose ends. If you haven't you should think about getting Spawn #9 and 10 first (#9,10 + the Angela minies makes a perfectly good stand-alone story without you having to go further into Spawn afterwards), or not get Angela at all. The story won't make sense otherwise.

I've bought a few Spawn-related stories in the past, when a favorite Writer was involved, such as Dave Sim, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, etc. With the exception of Frank Miller's Spawn/Batman crossover, and Alan Moore's Violator and Violator/Badrock, they've all stunk. I blame this on the character of Spawn himself, which is truly limited by it's one-dimensionality. Not even the greatest Writers in the field of comics can make him interesting.

Angela's Hunt will be incomprehensible to people who haven't read Spawn #9, also written by Neil Gaiman. It should have been included in the book, as the story makes precious little sense without it. Gaiman, who created the amazing Sandman for DC, has finally done something I didn't love. (First time for everything, I suppose...) The book is only interesting as a historical footnote now, as it was the catalyst for the recently decided Todd McFarlane/Neil Gaiman Lawsuit over the ownership of Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn. (Gaiman won, and was granted ownership of the characters, as well as a settlement and residuals from other uses of those characters, including their appearances in the Spawn movie & cartoons.)

Spawn fans ONLY should read this; Gaiman fans should steer clear. You're not missing anything.

I loved this book. It it chock full of very good pictures (except they didn't have many of Ba'al, my favorite hunk on the show). They tied in the mythology aspect of Stargate SG-1, and also the story arcs over the entire series of Stargate SG-1. It also came with a DVD that has a Trivia Game, Photo Gallery, and other cool bennies. I very higly recommend this to anyone who likes Stargate SG-1!!!!

I purchased the first stargate sg1 the Illustrated companion seasons 1and2 and seasons 3 and 4. I thoroughly enjoyed yhe first book. However I have not received the second book yet! I expect to be as good as the first one, and await its arrival.

As with the first book in the series you will get($11.87 seems just a little pricy to me)a nice forward and an informative first chapter followed by a number of pages about seasons 3&4. Each of the episode pages (some run 2 pages)will have a guest cast list, an episode photo, character quotes and a paragraph about the episode. Usually the best part of each page will be several following paragraphs about that particular episode with anectdotes given by various cast & crew.
The final chapters of the book contain actor profiles (each actor spoke with the author), character quotes and pictures. There are also sections on costume/set design, location work and a fan bit at the end. It's a lot of fun but not really informative if you want detailed information.

Having bought the first one and being disappointed I hoped the second attempt would be slightly better. I was wrong. I found this book to be rather bland and severely lacking in detail. It covered too many episodes in too few pages and, to me, a fans' episode guide to a television series should be more than half a page of synopsis and a 5 second interview with a cast member with some random behind-the-scenes drawings and photographs shoved in to fill the back pages. Just like most other "official" guides to television series, it was too brief and not worth the £10.99 or so that I paid for it.

If, like me, you expect a lot more information and detail from an episode guide, I'd recommend "Beyond the Gate" by Keith Topping. Much less official with much more thought put into it.

Okay, just the facts.

The episode guide is extremely informative. It lets you know what the episode was about without giving away everything about the story. The information given from behind-the-scenes for every episode is amazingly informative and reveals things even I - a news, spoiler and info hound - had never heard before.

The cast and crew additions are not to be missed. My favorite is the bit written by Teryl Rothery.

All the photos are black and white, but that can be forgiven. These books are well worth the price you pay!

The story about the end of Krypton and how its people mange to wipe almost all there existence , and how this device manage to change superman to become a true Kryptonion, with no feelings or desire effecting kent image in the process & with that almost loosing his life when facing a new equal in strength enemy. Interesting indeed , but with all the talk & non feelings envolve make it worth 2 stars in my book

I decided to purchace this Book, When I started my comic colection around the Death of Super Man because I wanted to find out what the Eradicator was in more deapth. This book answered my questions about this part of superman that I feel should be more a part of the story line of Superman.

This comic story reflects on an stoic population who doesn't believe in passion. All Kryptonians have is a sterile world, emotionless society and a culture based on logic.

It reminds me of stoic Vulcans in Star Trek.

Awesome storyline, good .......Best artwork I've ever seen and 160 pages all worth reading.

This book collects "The Day of the Krypton Man" multi-part series from the Superman comics and it's what got me into finding out what happened in Superman comics. I don't think I've ever read a full post-Crisis Superman story before this (usually just browse) and this story is good. Read this story and you'd feel like out of the blue, you're in Superman's world. The Kryptonian society is different and in this book, Superman is slowly being changed into an emotionless Kryptonian and surely losing his humanity. Each chapter is rich in story and does not feel rushed nor extended pointlessly. Superman gets a new costume here that is reminiscent of the garbs worn by his race and it does not feel like a gimmick but actually an important part of the story (admittedly, it was what got me reading this story). Except for Lobo, the villains Superman fought are unfamiliar, yet they exude a feeling like we've known them all along. Very few villains these days could bring out such a feeling. Kudos to the writers, too. This book is highly recommended and is so enjoyable it kind of makes you wish the story could be a couple of chapters longer so you could check out Supe's Krypton Man costume.