07 September 2004

Latest Sequential Art Reading

I'm so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I've had to admit that I might not get much done today. Stupid early mornings when I can't get back to sleep. So my apologies if my writing isn't very coherent.

  1. Crescent Moon volume 2 by Haruko Iida. I liked volume one so much I picked up volme two the next time I was at the comic shop. Pretty pictures, vampires and werewolves and kitusne and tengu, nice writing for the most part.
  2. Lone Wolf and Cub volume 3 by Kazuo Koike. I had thought there was a subtle underlying ongoing plot thread to this book, that would eventually tie together all the disparate short stories. Now I'm not so sure. I still like it though. Good samurai action.
  3. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 1 by CLAMP. It's very, very interesting to see what got edited out when these books got turned into the anime Cardcaptors for US television, starting with the addition of the plural. And the removal of most of the crushes (probably because at least half of them were same-sex). I enjoyed the anime, but I like the manga much better.
  4. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 2 by CLAMP.
  5. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 3 by CLAMP.
  6. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 4 by CLAMP.
  7. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 5 by CLAMP.
  8. Cardcaptor Sakura volume 6 by CLAMP. This ends the first half of the series (it's published in the US as two mini-series of 6 books each). But I still need to know what happens next. eBay has not been helpful so far in finding the next 6 books. Argh.
  9. Maison Ikkoku volume 2 by Rumiko Takahashi. Hmm. I like this series, but I don't think it's one I need to own.
  10. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind volume 3 by Hayao Miyazaki. I think I've already blathered on enough about how wonderful this book is.
  11. Aria volume 2 by Kozue Amano. This one continues a sweet, gentle series with lovely art. There's not much conflict, but I still really enjoy these stories.
  12. Chobits volume 1 by CLAMP. Yes, more CLAMP! This one has much more overt sexual content (though no actual sex) than Cc Sakura. It seems to be addressing both male and female audiences (something that CLAMP seems to be fairly adept at). There's flashes of skin, cute girls and references to porn for the boys; and cute boys, an interesting storyline and deep characters for the girls (not that the two don't cross over; while I can do without the porn references, I certainly don't mind the skin or the cute girls). So far everything I've read by CLAMP looks like fluff on the outside, but has surprising depth once you get into it (probably only surprising because it looks like fluff).
  13. Chobits volume 2 by CLAMP.
  14. Chobits volume 3 by CLAMP. I think there are five more volumes to this series. As with Cc Sakura, eBay is so far not very helpful.
  15. Storm Riders volume 1 by Wing Shing Ma. Just to prove I read more than manga, here's a Chinese Kung Fu comic. The story is mostly about great rivalries and fantastically powerful swords so far, and the 80s-era translation is sometimes amusing (has anyone ever actually said "hells bells"?). The art is truly beautiful, though, and there are hints that the story is more than just a place to insert lots of kung fu fighting. We shall see.

My comics reading these days is mostly dictated by a) what the library has, and b) what I can get cheap on eBay. More manga and kung fu on the way, but also some US and European books.

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