Surely the ultimate fighter in manga is Sailor Moon. She has great battle cries she yells while winking:

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Matisse Dance for Joy by Susan Goldman Rubin (amazon)

I’m always happy when I get a new board book. My twins enjoy being read to and I don’t have to worry about them lunging over and tearing the pages. Matisse: Dance for Joy does an admirable job of matching active words to Matisse’s colorful collages, with fun to read aloud phrases like “kickity-kick”, “shimmy-shake”, and “rumble tumble.” The primary colors will definitely attract attention, and I think it would be nice to use the book as an excuse to get up and dance when reading it with an older kid. The book is attractively designed, with the text printed in white against colorful borders that frame the illustrations.
While I don’t think that exposing my kids to art at a young age is going to turn them into itty bitty Picassos, I don’t think it hurts! Both of my children tried to eat this book when I was reading it to them, so I think that counts as a positive review from them. Other books available in this series include Counting with Wayne Thiebaud and Andy Warhol’s Colors.

Review copy provided by Chronicle Books

One of the things I like about following long-running manga series is seeing how the art evolves over time. I think one of the best examples of this is the shoujo classic Boys Over Flowers. Here are some scans from the first volume, where Tsukushi makes an impression on Tsukasa by kicking him in the face:

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There wasn’t much action in this episode, instead it focused on Iku’s relationship with her parents. There were some very cute moments as Iku tried to hide her true job from her mom and dad. Iku’s vision of her parents’ visit is terrifying:

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New blog feature! Every week I will attempt to post a few scans from Amethyst Princess of Gemworld and an issue summary. Amethyst had a couple of short-lived mini-series in the 80s which detailed the adventures of an ordinary girl named Amy Winston who finds out that she’s actually a princess from a magical world.

Reading this series at a young age partially explains why I continue to enjoy magical girl shoujo manga to this day. Although I usually don’t look upon the mangaization of existing comic book properties with much enthusiasm, I wish DC would make a manga version of Amethyst. It has all the elements a shoujo manga needs; 13 year old girl transforms into 20 year old princess with the aid of some nifty jewelry, flying unicorn sidekick, evil guys with goatees, and an intensely traumatic love triangle. It is very unfortunate that there isn’t a collected edition of Amethyst available, but it isn’t hard to find a complete run of the individual issues on Ebay.

The cover of the first issue shows Amethyst ready for action, working the rather daring combo of a turban and large earrings. Personally, I think that most women don’t really want to be wearing a turban until they are at least 50 years old, but Gemworld fashion is a little whimsical.

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The Legend of Chun Hyang by Clamp (amazon)

I tend to enjoy most Clamp manga, but one thing that’s frustrating is the amount of unfinished series that they’ve put out. This book was so fun to read, I wish that the series had continued for more than one volume. The Legend of Chun Hyang is Clamp’s take on a traditional Korean folk tale about a common girl who becomes engaged to a nobleman and preserves her chastity. The Clamp version of the story features a spritely Chun Hyang who is the daughter of the village medicine woman. She fights against injustice in her town while also taking on the role of protector for her mother since her father is absent. The Yang Ban, the local government official, is throughly corrupt and the Yang Ban’s son trades on his father’s position to abuse any of the village women who happen to be attractive. Fortunately, Chun Hyang has some kick-ass martial arts skills.
Chun Hyang’s Mom has just made some tasty treats for dinner, when a man sitting in a tree outside their door invites himself to dinner. He’s Mong Rong, a handsome traveler. Mong Rong is the type of hero that Clamp excels at - he seems feckless and irresponsible but he has hidden depths. He’s often found sitting on the sidelines, clapping and saying things like “Such a brave maiden you are!” after Chun Hyang has administered a beatdown to someone.
After some horrible events in her village, Chun Hyang joins Mong Rong on his journey. He’s actually traveling around the country in order to stamp out government corruption. The dynamic between the two is cute, as Chun Hyang is quick to charge ahead and get into fights while Mong Rong appears to be mainly concerned with filling his belly. He obviously finds Chun Hyang attractive, but she’s rather clueless about noticing any romantic attentions on his part. It is a shame that there is only one volume of this series, because it would have been nice to see the relationship between Chun Hyang and Mong Rong develop.

This is what I’m ordering from an online purveyor of comics in May:

Comics:

ZOT Vol. 1: Complete Black & White Stories 1987 to 1991 - I have most of the single issues for Zot! but I’m looking forward to being able to sit down and read them in a collected edition.

All Star Superman

Manga, new series:

SUGAR PRINCESS SKATING TO WIN by Hisaya Nakajo, the author of Hana Kimi. I’m hoping this is good. Mostly I’m very amused by the title, and I wonder if the heroine will somehow manage to win at BOTH ice skating AND love?! I’m guessing she will prevail!

Manga, ongoing series:

ONE POUND GOSPEL 2 - I’m buying this even though I haven’t read the first volume yet simply because it is by Rumiko Takahashi and involves a boxer and a nun. I don’t see how it can fail to be entertaining.
TAIL OF THE MOON 12 - My favorite comedic ninja romance manga. Also, the only comedic ninja romance manga that I read.
APOTHECARIUS ARGENTUM 6 - This is a nice, low-key fantasy series from CMX with plenty of court intrigue.
VENUS IN LOVE VOL 4 - Another CMX series. I’m hoping that the male character with a crush on his best (male) friend doesn’t suddenly turn heterosexual for the heroine of this book, but I’m not counting on it.
BOYS OVER FLOWERS 31 - Ah, Tsukasa and Tsukushi, will they ever get together? I think there are only 5 volumes left after this one.
HER MAJESTY’S DOG 10 - The only GoComi title for me this month, I decided to wait on getting Cantarella to keep within my budget.

When we last saw Iku, she and the director of the Library Corps were surrounded by evil dudes! She volunteers to go along with him, and they are kidnapped.

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Iron Man was really the perfect beginning to the summer movie season. I saw it Saturday and Sunday. It has been a long long time since a movie truly showcased Robert Downey Jr’s hotness. And he’s quite hot in Iron Man. It feels like something that was horribly wrong with the world has been restored. And, did I mention the hotness?

Foxy Lady Volume 1 by Ayun Tachibana (amazon)

With a title like “Foxy Lady”, I was halfway expecting this manga to be about the misadventures of an attractive woman in the 1970s. Since this is manga, the book is an example of the mystical girlfriend subgenre of shonen manga, where an ordinary schmo suddenly finds himself with an incredibly hot alien/goddess/demon/magical girl who demands to marry and/or have sex with him. The shining example of this genre would be the sadly out of print Urusei Yatsura.

Jin is the heir to his parents’ shrine. He lives in the deserted dorms attached to the shrine with his friend Sogo, a nearsighted cigarette fiend with a severe pornography habit. Jin is about to defile sacred ground by reading a manual on picking up girls in the shrine when he has has second thoughts. He heads back to the dorms and finds a girl sprawled out over Sogo. She’s Kogane, a half-human, half-demon who announces that she’s come to the human world “to beget” with Jin. After Kogane realizes that Sogo isn’t Jin she quickly switches her affections. She wants to become human, and the only way to do that is to get it on with a mortal boy. If she kisses Jin her ears, tail, and mystical powers disappear for a brief period of time.

The art is slick and attractive, with plenty of shots of Kogane in miniskirts and skimpy outfits. The reader learns disturbing things about Jin’s Dad, as he seems to have a closet full of naughty Santa-girl and nurse outfits. Some of the panels seem overcrowded and cluttered, with too much explanatory text and multiple shots of the characters from different angels. Sogo seems to exist as lecherous comic relief, as he often tries to get together with Kogane or any other female that happens to be in his vicinity only to become violently injured in the process. Jin decides that he has to protect Kogane as part of his shrine heir duties. When the kids go to school, all the sports clubs start fighting over Kogane due to her demon physical prowess. There were a couple amusing details like the portal to the demon road being placed in a linen closet and Kogane’s reaction to fried tofu, but the title didn’t capture my interest. I’m not really a member of the intended audience for this title. There’s plenty of madcap action and jokes about people being perverts, but this is a manga that doesn’t transcend the limitations of its genre to have much appeal for people that aren’t already seeking out titles about girls with animal ears.

Review copy provided by Tokyopop