Real, vol. 1
story and art by Takehiko Inoue
VIZ Media LLC, 224 p.
$12.99
Older Teen (16+)

Two young men—Nomiya, a high school dropout haunted by an accident he caused, and Kiyoharu, a cancer survivor who lost a leg to the disease—find themselves altered by the sport of wheelchair basketball. Nomiya is just looking to keep playing the game he loves, something made difficult by the lack of teams outside of high school. Kiyoharu wants to find other player who’ll play at his level of dedication and intensity, something he doesn’t see in the local wheelchair team. Together the two form an odd friendship, bound by anger, frustration, and a burning desire for something real.

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Tags: Reviews by Snow Wildsmith
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It’s good to have a wide selection again!  And it’s a good variety of titles to choose from.  Hollywood has just discovered that in the last few years.  Keep an eye on Clockwork Girl from Arcana Studio, it may become a movie.  You can get a head start on the fall movie season with the prequel and adaptation of Igor, the CGI family movie coming out soon.  Kids don’t seem to mind the story being spoiled for them (my youngest didn’t when she read Shrek 3 before seeing the movie), so go ahead and let them check it out.

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Tags: Reviews by Lori Henderson
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It’s a manga week for All Ages titles.  Viz has got 4 titles as they continue their push to get the young ones hooked.  Sugar Princess is debuting this week, and while it is definitely meant for the girls, manga has the flexibility to appeal to both genders.  And if any boys feel self-conscious about getting it, they can always grab Eyeshield 21 and say the other is for their sister! There are a few floppies as well though.  IDW has their growing kids books out, and Marvel has another edition of the Calvin & Hobbs take on the FF with Franklin Richards Summer Smackdown.  Check ‘em out!

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Tags: Reviews by Lori Henderson
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Coraline is a modern-day fairy tale, with all the trappings of an updated Hans Christian Anderson or a yarn from the Brothers Grimm. It has a young, adventurous female heroine, an evil “other mother” who blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and more than a hint of magic. Coraline, the heroine of this tale, finds an entrance to another world eerily similar to her own in her family’s new house. Once she enters this world, she encounters all sorts of odd re-imaginings of things in her old life. She returns to her real home to discover that her parents have gone missing. Will Coraline defeat her magical “other mother” and rescue her parents? And more importantly….when she re-enters the other realm, can she ever go back home?

Both Snow and Sabrina were excited about reviewing this graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s juvenile fiction title, but rather than fight about it, we decided to do a collaborative review. Using the Chatzy software, we discussed our views of the latest offering from a master storyteller. [Script edited for clarity and to correct grammatical errors.]

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Tags: Reviews by Sabrina Fritz
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It’s seriously sparse this week for the kids, and it’s almost balanced between floppies and graphic novels/trades.  With comic book properties being mined for everything they’ve got, getting archives and trades of older series’ is a great way to introduce younger audiences to the origins of those characters.  It’s very economical too, considering even if you could find the floppies, you’re going be charged big for them.
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Tags: Reviews by Lori Henderson
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Yen+, August 2008

Published by Yen Press
Senior Editor JuYoun Lee

Rated OT, for Older Teen (Ages 16+)

ISSN 1942-440X

$8.99

In the tradition of Viz’s Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, Yen Press, the manga division of Little Brown, has released its own manga anthology.  Not to be outdone by one of the giants in manga publishing, Yen added a twist on their anthology. Half of it will be traditional Japanese manga which reads right to left and the other half will be manwha (Korean comics) and OEL (original English Language) manga that reads left to right.

Thick, sleek, and very appealing, it’s easy to jump right into the anthology. As with all magazines, it’s necessary to flip through a number of ads, but for this reader, it wasn’t distracting.  The limited number of ad were in full color and mostly advertised books and manga, from Yen Press and Little Brown.

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Tags: Reviews by Esther Keller
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Late again, I know.  But, I’ve just spent the 3 days preparing and attending the San Diego Comic Con.  This has become a con that you really have to prepare for.  You can’t just walk in and expect to see the things you want to see.  There are just too many people!  Even though I concentrated on manga, Viz is really putting their money where their mouth is, with several new titles for their VizKids line.  In the present though, there are plenty of new titles for kids to check out now!  Antarctic Press has two titles for tweens-teens, with a new telling of the Oz books, and a new graphic novel with a coming of age theme.  Blue Water Productions brings back a classic as well, with the return of H.G. Well’s Mysterious Isle.  Captain Nemo is back with his monsters to terrorize the world of today.  The Ray Harryhausen line of comics have been filled with great adventure for kids and adults who remember the movies.  Check them all out!

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Tags: Reviews by Lori Henderson
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Clockwork Game: The illustrious career of a chess playing automan
An illustrated serial by Jane Irwin
http://www.clockwork-comics.com/
Ages 11+

It’s hard to review a piece of work that isn’t complete, but by nature webcomics are serialized and at some point someone has to voice their opinion to try and persuade (or dissuade) readers to discover the gem (or coal) they’ve discovered. I was pointed to Clockwork Game on more than one occasion, but the other day, I finally sat down to read this unfinished comic. And I couldn’t stop reading!

Based on true events, the story is based on the late 18^th century invention of Wolfgang Van Kempelen. Van Kempelen created an automan – a sort of robot – that looked like a Turk and would play unique games of chess with various opponents. The Turk, as the automan was called, was a marvel of its time and today there are many books, documentaries, articles and websites created about this invention that was seemingly ahead of its time.

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Tags: Reviews, Uncategorized by Esther Keller
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The animation style of drawing and coloring a fairly prominant this week.  Goblin Chronicles has a very Disney-esque animation style to it.  I don’t know if the  Cartoon Network style is really popular, but it seems to get the viewers, and therefore the readers.  Then there’s Dreamland Chronicles with it’s CGI, almost action figure look.  But it’s not Robot Chicken (Thankfully.  My kids love that show, even though they shouldn’t.)  But art can say just as much about a title as the story, sometimes more.

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Tags: Reviews by Lori Henderson
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Cowa!
story and art by Akira Toriyama
VIZ Media LLC, 208 p.
$7.99
All Ages (8+)

Paifu is a happy-go-lucky young monster. Half-vampire, half-werekoala, he lives with his mother in a town of mostly monsters. Most of his days are spent getting into trouble with his best friend, Jose, who is a ghost. But when the dreaded Monster Flu strikes, Paifu and Jose decide that it’s up to them to save the day and get the medicine that the whole town needs to survive.

Toriyama is best known as the creator of the popular manga series Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and fans of those works looking for his trademark boy humor combined with action will be just as pleased with this stand alone work. [Read more →]

Tags: Reviews by Snow Wildsmith
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