It’s unofficially been Blues & Jazz week here in my reviews – and, if you’re wondering how Erotic Comics fit in there, you don’t know what the word “Jazz” means. So, for Manga Friday, here’s the first book in a series that retells the life of blues legend Robert Johnson from a very different perspective.

Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 1
By Akira Hiaramoto
Del Rey Manga, July 2008, $19.95

If you know anything about Robert Johnson – the archetypal bluesman, who came out of nowhere to record 24 songs and then die young – it’s that he sold his soul to the devil, one night at a Mississippi crossroads, to get his amazing ability to play and sing. Is it true? Well, it’s a damn good story, and that’s what matters most.

Speaking of damn good stories, Akira Hiramoto weaves one here, drawing from the legends and few known facts of Johnson’s life and bringing in careful research on the rural Mississippi of the ‘30s, plus his own speculation and fiction. In a life as full of holes and mysteries as Johnson’s, the only way to tell a story is to make it up.

Hiramoto starts his story in 1929 with a young man called RJ, who works on a plantation, dreams of becoming a bluesman (though he’s not very good at singing or guitar playing), is harried by his domineering sister Bessie, and loved by his pregnant wife Virginia. He sneaks off to the local juke joint just about every night, to drink, talk with his friends, and hear the blues. He keeps trying to play, but never gets far – he really is lousy. The traveling bluesman Son House tries to explain to RJ what the blues is, but RJ doesn’t quite get it.

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No huge news yet from Marvel in San Diego, but they did reveal a few upcoming projects at Thursday’s creator-dominated panel, according to various reports.

CBR’s Andy Khouri was there, and listed off the major news:

[Kevin] Grevioux and [Mat] Broome will be coming out with a new title called "Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel." It’s about a black superhero in the late ’50s and early ’60s, who is the most popular hero in the country — but he wears a mask to hide his skin color. When he is revealed to the public as a black man, President Kennedy calls the Blue Marvel to the Oval Office and implores the hero to stand down so as to not disrupt the ongoing Civil Rights movement. Blue Marvel agrees and forty years later his greatest villain returns, and Blue Marvel is the only one who can stop him. The miniseries begins in November and runs six issues.

Grek Pak will write "War Machine," a new ongoing series illustrated by Leonardo Manco. The title will replace the outgoing "Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD." "You will soon see the humanity of Jim Rhodes and War Machine. The book will be HARD. CORE. Around the world, tyrants and madmen are committing the worst atrocities imaginable. Jim Rhodes is going to take on the responsibility of taking them on upon his giant rocket-equipped shoulders." The book begins in December.

Garth Ennis return to the Punisher with the weekly "Punisher- War Zone" miniseries. It’s six issues and begins in December. It takes place in Ennis & Dillon’s Marvel Knights run on "Punisher."

David Mack will adapt Philip K. Dick’s "Electric Ant" for Marvel, with Paul Pope providing cover artwork.

Newsarama offered pretty similar coverage of the panel (and coverage of the X-Men panel), and had this note about a possible big cosmic event:

A fan complimented the cosmic books – Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy – and asked if they’re going to intermingle with the rest of the Marvel Universe. McCann said there were "really big plans" for Marvel’s outer space characters (and not just the ones in the aforementioned two titles), and said more will be revealed at the Secret Invasion panel Saturday.