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Gear School
American Manga Review
It's "The Breakfast Club" meets "Macross". Humanity is already at war with a bug-like alien race. Our weapons of choice are three-story tall robots known within the military as "Gear". Only the best and the brightest are allowed to pilot these amazing machines, but the process of elimination begins as early as Junior High.
 Thirteen year old Teresa Gottlieb has just entered the most prestigious military academy, known to all as Gear School, to try and become one of the elite -- to become a Gear Pilot. But on top of all the usual troubles that a seventh-grader has to put up with -- boys, social cliques, hellish instructors, teen angst -- she also has to deal with the care and handling of giant war machines and putting a stop to alien invasions.
Gear School fuses the best elements of Top Gun and Starship Troopers, while placing it in a younger school environment, where the stress of dealing with competition between classmates is heaped upon by the stress of just trying to become an adult, and all the associated nonsense that brings. The look of the comic is awesome with a pronounced anime feel to the characters and mecha designs, and the strong color design is clearly anime influenced as well.
Gear School has all the elements that make for a great anime/manga/graphic-novel experience, and any anime fanboy (or fangurl) should be proud to be carrying a copy in his or her backpack.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, April 2008
Paradigm Shift
American Manga Review
It's not easy being a cop in the mean streets of Chicago. Under normal conditions, Detectives Kathryn McCallister and Michael Stuart have to deal with big time crooked scum. They're hot on the case of some low-life arms dealers. (One of them fired an Uzi at Kate.) Conditions are not normal. Horribly dismembered corpses are showing up in the streets. They look as though they were savaged by a wild animal. A wild animal? In Chicago? Is there a full moon out or something?
 The coroner doesn't want to hear that crap. All Gina Anielewicz knows is that this can't be the work of a human being. The results aren't back on that tuft of fur they found at one of the crime scenes. Until then, they don't know what they're dealing with.
Officer Kate McCallister is tough as nails, and proud of it. That's why she doesn't want to let on. Things have been getting crazy for her. That perp with the uzi? He hit her. He hit her hard. She was vomiting up blood. She was ready for the meat wagon. Once she hit the emergency room, the doctor pronounced her wounds superficial. She walked out of the hospital with minor stitches. The scars were gone by the next day. And are those fangs sprouting out of her mouth? What the hell is going on?
It's a paradigm shift. The rules are changing. Reality is being replaced. Nature has a trick up her sleeve. Kate McCallister is caught in the middle of it; so is the thing she's hunting. She needs to know who is the hunter, and who is the hunted.
She also needs to know what is the hunter...and what is the hunted. Paradigm Shift: A graphic novel written and drawn by Dirk T. Tiede. Police Procedural/Horror/with a side order of manga. Period...End of Report.
Ongoing Webcomic: dynamanga.net
Empowered
American Manga Review
Okay, I admit it. I've got a fetish for Wonder Woman in bondage. But the good news is, Adam Warren's "Empowered" is just the ticket for a guy like me. Not only is this super hot chick in a skintight revealing costume, but the costume seems to get torn to shreds with stunning regularity, and since the suit provides her super-powers, she often winds up tied up by the bad guys as well.
 Artist/Writer Adam Warren who first exploded into the national spotlight with the first "English Language Manga" with the now-legendary "Dirty Pair" comic book (which seemed to be more Dirty Pair than even the Japanese could manage) has cooked up a funny, sexy, skebe, almost darn-near-hentai, laugh-out-loud lampoon on the costumed superhero scene with a character who has "issues", body-image problems and self-esteem as fragile as fine crystal, while ultimately being vulnerable and appealing, in that "tied to the train tracks" kind of way.
Warren's knockout artwork is a fabulous comic-book/anime-crossover hybrid that is both sultry and urban with confident lines and a true sense of style. Sample pages are all over the internet, and publisher Dark Horse isn't shy about putting a lot online to generate interest.
"Empowered" has a supporting cast which is full of lovelies in their undies, so if barely dressed gals kicking butt turns you on, definitely pick it up. Not since Cutey Honey has there been a superhero that needs to get naked so often...
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, March 2008
Templar, Arizona
American Manga Review
Young Benjamin Kowalski awoke one morning to a slice of life. It was served up hot and spicy, just the way the locals take it.
Ben is a newcomer to Templar, Arizona. (His mother and his shrink would feel a lot better if they knew where he was.) He landed a job on the town's tabloid, (The Crusade). Ben knows how lucky he is to get the job. He ain't gonna blow it. So he doesn't mind when his editor, Mr. Pierce, has threatened him with bodily harm. There was a bonus in that threat somewhere. That's very good news.
 Ben's new life is full of eccentrics. His landlady talks like she's from Jersey (lots of cussing). She insists on giving Ben a guided tour of the town. Ben gets a gander at the people, places and things that make Templar unique even for Arizona. (You have got to see the statue of Jimmy Carter.)
Ben might be the central character, but the real star of the show is Templar, Arizona. Every town has its own vibe, and yowee, does this place ever vibe. It isn't someone's idea of utopia. It ain't some depressing dystopia, either. (The artist/writer, "Spike", won't allow it to be.) It's just a town where life begins, where life ends, where life goes on. Things might be a bit crazy but the strip doesn't swerve into the land of Oz. Despite its eccentricities, the town feels very real. The streets are full of very real people (even the ones wearing wicker baskets on their heads). You won't just read this strip. You can almost smell it.
Templar, Arizona is a nice place to visit, and it's only a click away. It's a webcomic, and its first installments have just been collected into a nice little booklet published by Iron Circus Comics. (And they said computers and the internet would kill print once and for all. HA!)
Reviewed by Lawrence Sufrin, March 2008
Angry Little Girls
by Leia Lee
Graphic Novel Review
 If you've always wondered what kawaii chan-like cutesy little girls would be like if they were like South Park characters, cursed like sailors, and were generally angry all the time (teen angst has come a little early, my guess is that they'll suffer from a mid-life crisis before hitting puberty), then you'd like to see what happens in this colorful, strange, and bizarre look at some very angry little girls.
Kind of like Charles Shultz's 'Peanuts', there's something compelling about toddlers with adult-level neurosis. It allows us to view ourselves in the light of innocence, when the vast problems of the world were just little things.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, January 2008
Best of Josie and the Pussycats
Graphic Novel Review
As fans of the wonderful art and incredible creativity of Dan DeCarlo, we *love* Josie and The Pussycats (which is a precursur to all anime — consider that it's a trio of shapely animated women in skin-tight cat outfits — how "anime" is that?), anime as we know it owes a huge debt to all the Archie Comics (Rumiko Takahashi's smash hit "Urusei Yatsura" is really just the Archies with a space-princess twist) in general, but Josie and the Pussycats holds a special place in all our hearts because it's just so bizarre and risqué.
 Although the TV series played down some of the more *ahem* "interesting" parts of the comics series, it should be noted that drummer Melody, the ditzy, voluptuous blonde, is such an object of men's attention that she can cause traffic accidents by walking by in a bikini.
Valerie is the most intelligent member of the Pussycats. In the animated TV series, Valerie's expertise with all things electronic and scientific is what usually gets the Pussycats out of the jams they always seem to find themselves in. Valerie is notable as the first African-American cartoon character on a regular animated television series.
Also notable in the TV series is the fantastic music (including Charlie's Angel Cheryl Ladd as the singing voice of Melody). Who can't love this stuff?
Review by Brian Cirulnick, January 2007
Emily: The Strange
Graphic Novel/Art Book Review
Meet Emily, the peculiar soul with long black hair, a wit of fire, and a posse of slightly sinister black cats. Emily the Strange, her first book, captures the quintessential Emily, featuring her most beloved quips and a host of new ones, i.e "Emily doesn't break rules, she breaks hearts", (or something to that effect). If your a fan of Edward Gorey or listen to too much goth music then this is the book for you!
 Anarchist, heroine, survivor, this little girl with a big personality appeals to the odd child in us all. One of the best parts of this book is the unique use of ink - figure/ground reversal...implied by the cover, much of the art is silouhette. Another wonderful feature is the printing...they really made use of veneer techniques, i.e. if you look at certain pages at the right angle in the right light, you can see phantasmagoric typography , "cat eyes", and other such hidden treasures.
Reviewed by Michael Pinto, May 2002
You Are Here
Graphic Novel Review
Statement of bias: We think Kyle Baker is the one of the top talents in the world, his humor is cutting-edge, his art is brilliant, and his writing is concise, clear and very, very ironic. All that said, 'You Are Here' is even more fan-tab-ulous than even we were expecting. Only a very twisted mind could conjure up such a cynical and convoluted plot for an imaginary movie that's fresher and more thrilling than anything Hollywood's done in decades.
 The Japanese should take note. Only Satoshi Kon is doing adult-level dramas that don't have to have an annoying toy tie-in or involve Giant Robots or Psyonics in some way. Something on the level of 'You Are Here' actually produced as a film would be a welcome change.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, June 2004
Watchmen
Graphic Novel Review
Frank Miller's gothic graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns may be the best selling comic book of all time, but Alan Moore's Watchmen is certainly the greatest. Thought-provoking, inspired, revolutionary and very very deep, you'll find yourself reviewing the issues brought up within this story over and over again. Vigilantism is outlawed, costumed characters who fight crime are weirdoes who have "issues", and someone is wiping them out, one by one.
Clearly, some of the salient points of story do relate more to the time they were written for (the late 80's), but the premise is still so compelling that the story remains solid. Dave Gibbons' art is cinematic and detailed to the extreme. This is the book that forever changed the way the comic book industry thought about the art form. Have it, read it, love it. Watchmen is it.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, September 2003
My New York Diary
by Julie Doucet
Graphic Novel Review
Yes we know it's not anime, but that doesn't mean Julie Doucet isn't cool! Among the younger generation of alternative comix artists, Doucet stands out for her engaging combination of a cartoonish style and frank realism; her autobiographical tales are tough and self-effacing, bitchy and sweet, and all peopled with her rubbery characters with goofy oversized heads. Her rich comedic style softens the scuzziness of the endless cockroaches and garbage-strewn sidewalks seem funny in her heavily littered frames. With her new beau, Julie guzzles beer by the case, begins to worry about work, and longs to move closer to the action on the Lower East Side. As her career takes off (there is a RAW party scene with a cameo by Art Spiegelman), her lovers career goes nowhere, and he grows increasingly angry and needy, a pattern that culminates in a particularly awful scene on the subway.
Reviewed by Michael Pinto, March 2002
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Star Trek: The Manga
Manga Review
Of course. After 6 TV series, more movies than anyone can count (and more movies on the way!), books, magazines, toys, DVD sets, and more, very will few will ever argue that Star Trek is one of the most successful Sci-Fi franchises of all time. So, of course, a manga version seems... eminently logical, captain.
Join Kirk, Spock and Bones McCoy where they bold go where few American TV shows have gone... into a manga edition!
 Five all-new "episodes" take you "where no one has gone before" — The last survivors of a gender war live on as spirits in machinery and take control of the Starship Enterprise; in an attempt to combat a fatal disease, a dying race unwittingly creates an unstoppable villain that may seem eerily familiar to readers; a small colony tries to cheat death by uploading their consciousness into a satellite and reconstructing their bodies on another planet; warring planets exchange peace offerings via the Enterprise, but one "gift" may be more than what it seems; and lastly, a group of teen, warrior-robot pilots becomes restless in times of peace, turning to pillaging for thrills.
Top artists and writers from "Sector 001" have gathered to create five Star Trek episodes in the distinctive manga format. Featuring the interstellar talents of Joshua Ortega (Top Cow Comics, The Necromancer), Jim Alexander (DC Comics, Birds of Prey), Chris Dows (Malibu Comics, Star Trek:Deep Space Nine), Rob Tokar (Comiculture Magazine), Mike W. Barr (DC Comics, Star Trek), Jeong Mo Yang (Chronicles of Koryo), EJ Su (Transformers), Gregory Giovanni Johnson (Rising Stars of Manga), Michael Shelfer (Rising Stars of Manga), and Makoto Nakatsuka (Juror 13), Star Trek: The Manga offers something for everyoneóhard-core Trekkers, avid manga readers, comic book fans, and anyone who enjoys a great story.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, July 2007
Star Wars: A New Hope Manga
Manga Review/Graphic Novel Review
Hey! What is Star Wars doing in the middle of an Anime website? Well dear reader, this is Star Wars as rendered by Hisao Tamaki in a "manga" style - making it what Star Wars would look like if it were populated by anime characters. As the Star Wars universe is essentially a comic-book done as live-action, the series lends itself surprisingly well to a manga adaptation.
 As Star Wars was (loosely) based on the Japanese film "The Hidden Fortress", it is fitting that the epic come full circle by being serialized as manga. Furthermore, the samurai-like Jedi finally come to their own under this adaptation, with a style and grace not matched until recently, when computer generated characters could finally use martial-arts moves during swordplay in the newer 3 films.
You may remember the Marvel Star Wars comics, which were populated by so-so artwork and left huge gaps in the storytelling. Not so with this set of books - the art is flawless in every detail and the comic breaks down the original script - even going as far as to include scenes that didn't make the final cut of the film.
Originally drawn and published for the Japanese market, Dark Horse Comics has faithfully re-translated the whole thing back into English, including panel-mirroring to read from left to right (except where action sequences dictate leaving the artwork alone).
In all, this is simply the best Star Wars comics money can buy and is a must-have for any Star Wars fanatic, as well as being a stylish and stunning example of how excellent a manga can be for those who are un-used to reading manga.
Oh, and yes, Han fires first.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, July 2006
Bizenghast
Graphic Novel/Art Book Review
A girl named Wherever chances upon a lost graveyard in the Massachusetts town of Bizenghast. There she learns to her horror that she is not only an observer of the strange and otherworldly events that swirl around her. She seems to be a central part of them.
 M. (Marty) Alice LeGrow, a finalist in TOKYOPOP's RISING STARS OF MANGA competition, offers lavish artwork in this gothic excursion through a twilight world of caged spirits and dark shadows. Make sure the lights are on when you read Bizenghast. The next scream you hear might be your own.
Reviewed by Lawrence Sufrin, December 2005
MegaTokyo
Graphic Novel/Manga Review
Fred Gallagher's rather brilliant web comic is available as two volumes. Successfully combining anime, computers, gaming, "l33t speak", and a convoluted plot that is simply hysterical, this American manga weaves a clever but wacky cast of characters against an ongoing pattern of bad luck. Stranded in Tokyo with no money, no place to live, and no way to get back home, our heroes manage to make-do and even achieve greatness.
 Although the art quality varies from strip to strip (depending upon deadlines and other factors), the art is dead-on in terms of the character's expressions. The unfinished look, with lots of pencils lines still showing, has a charm that few traditional manga can touch. And the books contain many images never seen in the web comic - this alone makes it worth the price. Plus, you can enjoy it offline - a great read while you're sitting in the airport, awaiting your flight to Japan....
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, July 2004
Strange Stories for Strange Kids (Little Lit, Book 2)
Graphic Novel Review
If you are a fan of “Raw” comics from the 80s this book is a must have for underground comix fans who want something different. Editors Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly have packed so much top-notch talent into this flabbergastingly funny all-ages comic collection that you'll have a terrible time deciding what to read first. You'll find some of the most hilarious, intelligent, and diverse short comics around inside these pages: Maurice Sendak's omnivorous infant gobbles up everything in sight in "Cereal Baby Keller"; David Sedaris pairs up with Ian Falconer to define true cuteness; "Where's Waldo?" creator Martin Handford searches for old socks; Paul Auster (yes, that Paul Auster) and Jacques de Loustal's offering follows a man who's found he's disappeared; Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon) brings back the beginning of his classic '40s strip, "Barnaby" (a favorite of Duke Ellington and Dorothy Parker, among others); and Spiegelman himself takes on "The Several Selves of Selby Sheldrake." And that's not even the half of it. This downright quirky collection will charm comic fans of all ages—and, no doubt, make fans out of those who weren't already. Even the endpapers are fun thanks to Kaz of "Underworld."
Reviewed by Michael Pinto, September 2002
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