Like its older competitors Shonen Jump and (the sadly just-deceased) Shojo Beat, Yen Press’s Yen+ magazine has launched a number of series into actual paperback books – and, this week, I read four of ‘em. (All of which stories I also covered, several months back, as they appeared in the first few issues of Yen+.)Jack Frost, Vol. 1
By JinHo Ko
Yen+, May 2009, $10.99

Ko is the artist on Yen’s Croquis Pop, but here he’s taking over the whole shebang. And, as often happens when artists start writing their own stories, he works to his strengths – sailor-suited girls with wide eyes and panties in view far more than you’d expect, detailed backgrounds of buildings and rooms, and, of course and mostly, lots and lots of ultra-violence. (I should probably also note that this comes from Korea, so it reads left-to-right.)

Noh-A is a teenage girl who finds herself in a new high school without remembering how she got there. But that’s the least of her worries, since her head is almost immediately severed from her body during a hyper-kinetic fight between a guy who proclaims his name is “Hansen, Head Guidance Counselor!” and the title character, whom Noh-A dubs Nasty Smile. Luckily, Noh-A is now in a world between life and death – called Amityville, probably because Koreans watch old American horror movies like some Americans watch old Asian monster movies – and so her decapitation is reversible.

To make a long story short – though that long story is mostly made up of scenes of Jack cutting up various people with the implausibly long and pointy blades that pop out from his wrists – Noh-A is heartbroken to learn that she can never leave this world, that there are just a handful of people living there (and that they all are completely insane in their own ways), and that her powers extend only to not being able to die and having health-restoring blood. (Setting up many scenes of Noh-A’s blood being tapped for its healing powers later in the series, I’m sure.)

Jack Frost looks sleek and moves quickly, and it has some very stylish violence. It’s also not nearly as far over the top as Fist of the North Star (for example). But I’m hard-pressed to say many more nice things about it than that; it’s very obviously pandering to a specific and very sophomoric audience.

(more…)

Read, as they say, the whole thing.

If you’re a true fan of Greg The Bunny, you’ve been clamoring for the return of the show ever since Fox took it off the air. As it turns out, so has at least one of the stars… and you’ll now get to see his attempts to return to the big screen.

MTV has announced that Warren The Ape is now in development. The show focuses on Warren “The Ape” Demontague, a D-list celebrity puppet who attempts to change his ways to be back in the Hollywood spotlight. Think of him as a less furry Kathy Griffin.

Warren The Ape is produced by George Plamondon & Betsy
Schechter for Picture Shack Entertainment, Kevin Chinoy & Francesca
Silvestri for Freestyle, and Sean Baker, Spencer Chinoy & Dan
Milano, who between this, working on Robot Chicken, and writing the screenplay for the remake of Short Circuit, is trying to take the position of luckiest man in the world from Ed McMahon’s corpse.

Here’s Warren’s MySpace page (of course) and here’s an interview with him from ComicCon ’06.

It’s better then when I saw him at ’06, he had been strung out on cough medicine and cheese whiz and really wasn’t all that coherent. I knew then that a reality show was in his future.

Transformers… more than meets the eye. This, we know. But what happens when the mighty all-spark malfunctions and sends the Michael Bay Monstrosities to wage war against the Autobots and Decepticons of our shared youth? Only you, the cosmically-conscious Comic Mix commenters can conclude! Now cast your votes!

The Main Event: Team Optimus versus Team Megatron!

So, for the past week or so, you fine folks out there have debated and argued in admiration for your favorite G1 Transformers or for the Michael Bay Monsters. But when it came down to this author simply could not make the leader of the Autobots fight himself. And Megatron? Puh-leaze… if given the chance, he’d team up with himself for the opportunity to decimate his red rival. So, without further adieu… let’s let the energon fly!

In the Blue and Red Corner, we have our fearless leaders! They are the semi’s of superiority! They are the bots with the brains and the brawn! They are the holders of the Matrix! It’s Team Optimus Prime! The Generation 1 Blocky Bot comes packed to the gills with firepower. From his trusty sidearm, to his tractor-trailer packed with a powerful turret, Optimus Prime of the G1 Autobots is ready to rumble! Tag teaming with his movie counterpoint, comes his partner, the beefy Semi-cab with a fancy flaming paint job! The movie Optimus is very similar to his G1 counterpart. While he lacks G1’s fancy Energon axe, he does come with an articulated mouth. So, he’s got that going for him, right?

On the other side of the ring comes a team of pure malevolence. G1 Megatron was always a dastardly foe, who turned into a potent hand gun. Sure, his handgun form was miniscule in comparison to his normal robot size, but then again, G1 Transformers had no problem changing size at will. Packed with his own arm cannon as well an energon mace… the Silver Centurion of Sinister Spite is certain to cause his fair share of slaughter. And who better to wield him in gun mode then… himself! The movie Megatron this time around is a bombastic tank, after he frees himself from the briney deep he was left in, thanks to plucky Sam Witwicky.

It’s the battle you’ve been waiting for. So folks… who takes the crown? Optimus Squared may have the soul, but Mega-Megatron is gonna be pretty pissed. It’s a big battlefield out there. I expect the ensuring war to destroy plenty of buildings… but not come near Megan Fox and her pouty lips. Please vote below for your favorite team, and remember…

The future is built on dreams. Hang on to them. And then make sure you voted for your favorite Witwicky, Devastator, Bumblebee, and Soundwave!

If you ever went to an art school, chances are you knew examples of these twenty kinds of art students, categorized by Chuck Dillon during his time teaching at the Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia. And if you’re reading this blog, there’s a pretty good chance you might have been the one we’re showing here at right.C’mon. We’re all friends here. ‘Fess up. If you weren’t the comic book student, which one were you?

Fans who want to sample the action, grit and intrigue of Lone Justice on the printed page for the
first time will be able to find it in the form of a limited edition,
full-color ashcan available exclusively at the Insight Studios Group booth at
Comic-Con International: San Diego, Wednesday, July 22 through Sunday, July 26,
2009.

With a print of just 200 copies, the full-color, limited
edition contains the first 24 pages of Lone
Justice: Crash!, setting the stage for the epic adventure through the
action and turmoil that follow. With a cover price of $10, it is signed and
numbered by writer-artist Mark Wheatley, who will be at the Insight Studios Group booth at the
convention. Copies will be sold on a first come, first served basis at booth
#2308 in the Independent Press Pavilion.

“We’ve received tremendous fan feedback from the online
incarnation of Lone Justice: Crash,
and I really enjoy the immediacy of it,” Wheatley said. “This ashcan is the
first time any of this material will see print, and that brings an excitement
all its own.”

Lone Justice: Crash!
is the second time Wheatley and Tinnell have teamed up for a ComicMix
serialization. Their first effort, EZ
Street, the tale of two creative brothers, was nominated for a Harvey
Award. It also contained a comic-within-a-comic aspect, as it featured Lone
Justice as one creation of its central characters. Despite the obvious
connection between the tales, however, both graphic novels can be enjoyed
entirely independently from the other.

Being a superhero isn’t just dangerous work, it’s also very expensive. Imagine a recession-era
Batman without Bruce Wayne’s fortune or Iron Man without Tony’s Stark’s
billions. Their respective crime-fighting enterprises would be very different –
or perhaps all together grind to a halt – if their money was to simply
disappear. Just like many Americans in the past year, that’s exactly
what has happened to Lone Justice, the pulp-style action-adventure hero created
by Wheatley (Breathtaker,
Mars) and writer Robert Tinnell (Feast of the Seven Fishes, Sight Unseen). Our hero experienced the devastating financial loss of
the Great Depression, but he didn’t lose his drive to keep fighting
crime…regardless of the consequences.

“Given
our title, Lone Justice: Crash!, it was difficult to resist calling this the Lone Justice: Crashcan, but life is
confusing enough as it is,” Wheatley laughed. “So, c’mon by the booth at
Comic-Con and pick up of the Lone
Justice: Crash! Ashcan!”