Maker Comics: Bake Like a Pro! and Fix a Car!

	I adore First Second’s Science Comics line. Most all of them are terrific true-life graphic novels about interesting topics. Not only are they educational, they’re entertaining, and well worth reading. Now the publisher has expanded their non-fiction line with the new Maker Comics, which are similar, but focused on craft and skills instead of intellectual knowledge. The first two books are very different in topics, but both are equally informative and practical, covering things most people would benefit from learning. […]
I adore First Second’s Science Comics line. Most all of them are terrific true-life graphic novels about interesting topics. Not only are they educational, they’re entertaining, and well worth reading. Now the publisher has expanded their non-fiction line with the new Maker Comics, which are similar, but focused on craft and skills instead of intellectual knowledge. The first two books are very different in topics, but both are equally informative and practical, covering things most people would benefit from learning. And like Science Comics, they introduce creative characters and situations to make the lessons memorable. Maker Comics: Bake Like a Pro! by Falynn Koch (Science Comics: Bats and Science Comics: Plagues) introduces aspiring magician Sage. While her fellow apprentices are learning transfiguration or fire wizardry, she is assigned to learn baking, which bums her out. But her mentor Korian introduces her to the alchemy of the kitchen, and she grows to love creating tasty treats. I got a kick out of Koch’s expressive characters, particularly when it comes to the talking ingredients (who want to be eaten). They’re great reminders of the core principles, which Koch does a great job establishing. The lessons are meaningful, even to someone who already knows how to make cookies. I’ve cooked several of the items covered here, but I didn’t know nearly this much about how and why the recipes came together. I hadn’t thought before about how baking is harder than cooking, because cooking at its core just means applying heat. Baking requires combinations of ingredients, and how you do that can vary a lot. An early lesson shows why shortcuts (including instant products) don’t work as well as homemade treats, and the science of what happens during baking is covered by talking cookies. There’s a surprising depth of detail here, a wide variety of tools and techniques as well as such information as why you’d use different temperatures of butter or the chemistry of butter and sugar combined in the creaming method. Sometimes, this reminded me of a medieval-flavored episode of Good Eats. There’s a whole bunch of info on what makes up flour and how it reacts chemically, plus the same for eggs; different kinds of sugars; and how yeast works. There are also suggestions for bakers who want to swap out eggs or dairy. The recipes included show how to make classic chocolate chip cookies, cornbread and banana bread, pizza dough, cheesy biscuits, apple pie, and sponge cake with buttercream frosting. There are more at the back of the book, including pound cake and lemon meringue pie. Also in the back are summaries of key information, including the different baking methods, how substitutions affect cookies, and different bread techniques. Switching gears, Maker Comics: Fix a Car! by Chris Schweizer mostly takes place outdoors. Several students have come together for Car Club with Ms. Gritt in order to learn how to maintain their vehicles. The kids have different kinds of cars, from a fairly standard sedan to a junker that needs to be rebuilt almost from scratch. From the beginning, our narrator emphasizes how achievable this all is. Tips are provided to keep things simple and affordable. The oil change section even explains why you may not want to do it yourself, based on costs and purpose. Topics cover what basic tools are needed, how to check fluids regularly (and when you’d want to), replacing windshield wipers, finding the source of a squeak in the drive belt, and changing a tire. The comic format is perfect for this, as the reader can see, for example, how to check oil with a dipstick as the characters do it. The use and importance of various systems are explained, including brakes, the battery and electrical system, and in the back pages, spark plugs, exhaust, suspension, and more. I doubt I’ll be doing any of the activities shown here, but I really appreciated knowing a lot more about how vehicles run, and I feel more prepared for an emergency, like a flat tire or needing a jump start. And some of the sections — such as the one on why it’s important to be a good, patient driver or how to properly clean your car, inside and out — don’t require any mechanical effort. I like the way each book begins with a warning page, reminding readers of different ways to avoid injury and be smart and safe about the activities. That’s particularly relevant in the Fix a Car! book, which deals with the dangers of jacks and some of the chemicals contained under the hood. Both volumes have a ton of useful information. I was surprised at how much could be covered in just 128 pages. Both Maker Comics volumes are due out the first week in February, and they can be preordered now from your local comic shop with the following Diamond codes: Bake Like a Pro! in hardcover (DEC18 1872) or paperback (DEC18 1871), Fix a Car! in hardcover (DEC18 1874) or paperback (DEC18 1873). (The publisher provided advance digital review copies.) Link : Maker Comics: Bake Like a Pro! and Fix a Car!
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

Action Philosophers: The Tenth Anniversary Uberedition

	I recommended Action Philosophers last decade, and that opinion hasn’t changed. What has changed is how you read it — once nine self-published issues, now the entire series is collected in one hardcover, cheaper than the out-of-print paperback, with a bonus eight-page story (more on that later). Fred Van Lente (The Comic Book History of Comics) and Ryan Dunlavey (Dirt Candy: A Cookbook) make an amazing team, conveying a history of philosophy and notable thinkers in dynamic, entertaining fashion. The […]
I recommended Action Philosophers last decade, and that opinion hasn’t changed. What has changed is how you read it — once nine self-published issues, now the entire series is collected in one hardcover, cheaper than the out-of-print paperback, with a bonus eight-page story (more on that later). Fred Van Lente (The Comic Book History of Comics) and Ryan Dunlavey (Dirt Candy: A Cookbook) make an amazing team, conveying a history of philosophy and notable thinkers in dynamic, entertaining fashion. The stories are grouped into four sections: “It’s All Greek to You!: Ancient Philosophy”, including Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, and Epicurus “That Old-Time Religion: Medieval Philosophy”, including Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Machiavelli “Blinded Me With Science: Modern Philosophy”, including Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Jefferson, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Mary Wollstonecraft “Our Stupid Age of “-ISMs”: Contemporary Philosophy”, including Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Sartre, and Ayn Rand I’m listing just the best-known philosophers covered, but there are many more you’ll learn about in these 350+ pages. The Plato story is available as a preview at the publisher’s website. As you’d have to do to cover so much material, most of the panels are narrated, with text explaining the history, but Dunlavey’s art is not a secondary element. His images are amusing in their own right, driving home the concepts with a snarky modern tone. He also throws in plenty of pop culture references, as when we’re told that Confucius is more properly known as Master Kong. The following panels reference King Kong visually, with a giant bearded man opening huge gates and reaching for a young woman. Directly relevant? No, but certainly memorable, symbolically interesting, and funny. There are so many ideas here that it’s a book to dip into or portion out, not read all at once, or your head will be left spinning. But it’s also a fun reference to remind yourself of the core ideas of the best-known mental world-shapers. The new story is immensely up-to-date, taking on common fallacies found online and promoting wisdom and understanding over knowledge. I wish that was available more easily online, because it’d be valuable to have to direct others to. This volume also reprints all of the previous issue covers; some sketches with Dunlavey’s commentary; and recommended reading to learn more about each philosopher, accompanied by pictures from the staging of the play based on this comic. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.) Link : Action Philosophers: The Tenth Anniversary Uberedition
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

Critical Hit #1-2

	New publisher Black Mask Studios is gradually building its slate of titles. Some of the ones I’ve seen so far have been horror, so not my thing, but I was intrigued by Critical Hit, written by Matt Miner and drawn by Jonathan Brandon Sawyer. Although it’s apparently a sequel to a series I’ve never seen called Liberator, I didn’t feel left out. [Note: I’ve since been informed that Black Mask is doing a lot more than horror — it was […]
New publisher Black Mask Studios is gradually building its slate of titles. Some of the ones I’ve seen so far have been horror, so not my thing, but I was intrigued by Critical Hit, written by Matt Miner and drawn by Jonathan Brandon Sawyer. Although it’s apparently a sequel to a series I’ve never seen called Liberator, I didn’t feel left out. [Note: I’ve since been informed that Black Mask is doing a lot more than horror — it was just my bad luck on the couple that I sampled.] Sarah and Jeannette are animal activists, and as issue #1 opens, they’re busy destroying a hunting camp. Narration about how Jeannette grew up with a drunk father plays over top of the images, while Sarah previously got out of an abusive relationship. The narration at times veers close to pretension, providing an artistic overlay to the earthy spectacle, giving the reader an excuse for wallowing in destruction because there’s a more meaningful theme running in parallel. Making the women terrorists for good is an interesting approach, a modern take on the classic vigilante. The laws don’t help them find justice, so they take matters into their own hands, operating outside the established system. It’s certainly more interesting than yet another superhero comic, particularly since I’m not sure I agree with them. Their cause is valid, but their methods are questionable. And it makes their danger even more potent, as there doesn’t seem to be anyone to help them. Unfortunately, the two get captured by the hunters, and issue #2 shows how bad things can get for them. That’s the problem with taking on people brought together by their love of guns and killing — they’re willing to be violent. The hunters aren’t the kinds of hobbyists I know around here, but exaggerated backwoods stereotypes. Just to make it clear that they’re the bad guys, they’re also racist and sexist sadists. There’s a fine line between putting our heroes in danger so we can get emotionally involved in their (presumably) eventual release, and creating an entire issue of beating up and torturing women. Thankfully, there’s a flashback to an earlier mission that went much better to lighten the tone and provide some balance. I’m presuming that this is a four-issue storyline, so I hope the next issue provides more glimmers of hope, because I’d hate to lose these young women when I’ve just met them. (The publisher provided digital review copies.) Link : Critical Hit #1-2
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

The Wicked + the Divine #5

	written by Kieron Gillen; art by Jamie McKelvie The first storyline of The Wicked + The Divine concludes in this issue. And it’s terrific. Midway through, I found myself a little lost, but everything clears up nicely here. The various characters have sorted themselves out for me, or maybe I found them clearer when seeing how each acts when events all come to a head. I don’t want to say too much about the plot, since this is the ending, […]
written by Kieron Gillen; art by Jamie McKelvie The first storyline of The Wicked + The Divine concludes in this issue. And it’s terrific. Midway through, I found myself a little lost, but everything clears up nicely here. The various characters have sorted themselves out for me, or maybe I found them clearer when seeing how each acts when events all come to a head. I don’t want to say too much about the plot, since this is the ending, except that the tone throughout is highly passionate, with desperate events taking place. It’s literally a matter of life and death, which is nothing new for comics, but it all seems more real and powerful and symbolic here. That’s in large part due to the presence of Laura, a fan given the chance to be much more, a desperate woman with half-green hair trying to save what she doesn’t understand. Her emotional involvement is palpable. Kieron Gillen’s afterword comes full circle, in that it was originally intended to be an introduction but he thought it too bleak. It lays out the theme, of how we deal with death, clearly and beautifully. What better thought for a book about the modern gods? Very impressive (and it also explains Young Avengers). I admire Gillen’s self-awareness, and this piece puts the whole thing into new perspective for me. You can read the whole storyline in the first series collection, The Faust Act, due out next month at the bargain price of $9.99. Link : The Wicked + the Divine #5
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

Blacksad: Amarillo

	The latest album in the series, Blacksad: Amarillo, is the fifth, after Blacksad: A Silent Hell and the three reprinted as simply Blacksad. All are gorgeously painted explorations of classic American tropes told by Europeans (the series is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido), which gives the series its unique approach. Well, that and the anthropomorphic black panther detective who’s the title character. All the cast members are animals of some kind, often selected for an […]
The latest album in the series, Blacksad: Amarillo, is the fifth, after Blacksad: A Silent Hell and the three reprinted as simply Blacksad. All are gorgeously painted explorations of classic American tropes told by Europeans (the series is written by Juan Diaz Canales and illustrated by Juanjo Guarnido), which gives the series its unique approach. Well, that and the anthropomorphic black panther detective who’s the title character. All the cast members are animals of some kind, often selected for an indication of their personality. Blacksad, for instance, is coiled fury, power about to strike. The stupidly self-centered instigator of events in this book, dedicated to his art in sprite of the effects on others, is a bull. In Amarillo, Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido tackle the great American story of a road trip across the southwest. Blacksad’s stuck in New Orleans, looking for work, when he lucks into a job driving a rich man’s yellow Cadillac Eldorado back to Tulsa. Two crazy writers (one of whom, a poet, might be recognized by readers of “Red Soul”, included in the Blacksad volume) steal the car, so Blacksad pursues them to Amarillo, Texas, and beyond. Texas, particularly in the unspecified past (but kind of 50s, especially since one character reads Kurtzman’s Mad comic) shown here, is a wild land to imagine, particularly in the dives where these noir-influenced characters hang out. The detail in Guarnido’s art is incredible, and it’s easy to spend a lot of time poring over these beautiful pages. The story relies a lot on the expected developments, particularly betrayal. The poet steals the novelist’s manuscript to teach him a lesson, and so the novelist kills his friend after a night of drunken debauchery. There’s a carnival, to reinforce the idea of a place for travelers and lost souls, as well as a couple of FBI agents pursuing everyone, representing proper authority and fitting in. All of it is leavened with casual racism, sexism, and violence changing people’s lives. But as I said above, it’s fun to see how America gets reflected and retold through outside eyes. One can’t read this story without thinking of Jack Kerouac, of course, but there’s also the idea of the hidden heiress who needs rescuing and the villain finding nobility with a moment of redemption. Familiar elements provide a level of comfort while they’re rearranged in a new fashion for reading enjoyment. Unlike the previous volumes, this edition is adapted by the well-known American comic artist Neal Adams. He provides an introduction about his discovery of Blacksad and his dislike of previous translations, explaining his love of the series and how he came to work on it. It’s exuberant, larger than life, much like Adams’ personality. Link : Blacksad: Amarillo
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

In Real Life

	It’s a timely topic, the struggle of a young woman to play an immersive video game, but the recent explosion of debate over the place of women in gaming has unfortunately overtaken the events of In Real Life. It’s unfair of me to wish that the story of this graphic novel better reflected what everyone’s been forced to talk about over the past few months, but because the world has moved past this book, even though it’s just been released, […]
It’s a timely topic, the struggle of a young woman to play an immersive video game, but the recent explosion of debate over the place of women in gaming has unfortunately overtaken the events of In Real Life. It’s unfair of me to wish that the story of this graphic novel better reflected what everyone’s been forced to talk about over the past few months, but because the world has moved past this book, even though it’s just been released, it feels a bit outdated through no fault of its own. Anda is fairly good at computers, but she isn’t inspired until a gamer speaks to their class about her online guild in Coarsegold Online, an MMORPG (online role-playing game). The presentation is about the importance of playing as a girl character, of presenting views of active women in the game. I found myself wondering what the rationale was for promoting gaming in school — but maybe Anda lives in a area where they don’t have obsessive parents looking for any “liberal” material like this to raise a fuss with the school board. Anda’s new friend Sarge shows her certain missions, raids where they’ll be compensated for killing gold farmers. Although one of the messages is about girls playing together and heaping each other, we don’t see Anda interacting much with anyone but Sarge, who recruits her into making money, and one of the gold farmers, who becomes a friend. Raymond lives in China and wants to learn English. Writer Cory Doctorow stacks the deck by opening the book with an introduction that talks about how the book will address “a bunch of sticky, tough questions about politics and labor.” It’s great that he wants to tackle big economic issues and the importance of organizing into movements, but the book might have been a more gripping read with less attention to high-minded ideas, a little more time spent on entertaining plot twists. It takes In Real Life a while to get to the meat of the story, the premise that’s been promoted. (Ironically, he later praises our era for “the degree to which it allows us to abolish all the boring stuff that used to be required for any kind of ambitious project.”) Jen Wang’s art is simply lovely, though, with a good sense of personality for each character. She transitions nicely between everyday life — giving it the drab ordinariness it needs for this story — and the fantasy beings of the game world. I did wonder about the choice to show Raymond as some kind of elf, an artistic choice that makes him seem cute, young, and harmless, like a doll. It slants the reader’s reactions, although it’s in keeping with the “everything works out ok” happy ending. There are some great lessons here about realizing that the characters you’re interacting with online are people, with their own lives and struggles, but no one specifically attacks Anda for being female. She has her eyes opened about how privileged most American lives are in comparison to other places in the world, though. Don’t let my criticisms sway you too much — although I wanted to challenge some of the specifics of this story, I still enjoyed reading a tale about a girl’s experience in video gaming. You can read an excerpt online. Tor.com has also posted another story, “Con/Game”, set in the same world. Note: after writing this review, I discovered that the story was originally written in 2004, and Jen Wang adapted it to comics as well as drawing it. You can read more about her process doing so in this interview. (The publisher provided a digital review copy. ) Link : In Real Life
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

Vixens, Vamps & Vipers: Lost Villainesses of Golden Age Comics Reviewed

	I mentioned Vixens, Vamps & Vipers: Lost Villainesses of Golden Age Comics last month when it came out, but I didn’t discuss it in depth because I was reviewing it for another site. That review is now posted at the Washington Independent Review of Books, in case you’re curious to find out more about this anthology of Golden Age comic stories featuring distinctive bad girls. Or check out editor Mike Madrid’s previous volume, Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of […]
I mentioned Vixens, Vamps & Vipers: Lost Villainesses of Golden Age Comics last month when it came out, but I didn’t discuss it in depth because I was reviewing it for another site. That review is now posted at the Washington Independent Review of Books, in case you’re curious to find out more about this anthology of Golden Age comic stories featuring distinctive bad girls. Or check out editor Mike Madrid’s previous volume, Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics. Link : Vixens, Vamps & Vipers: Lost Villainesses of Golden Age Comics Reviewed
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips

The Shadows of Salamanca

	Regular blog readers know that I’m not a fan of horror. (I’m terribly squeamish and identify too sympathetically with victims.) However, thanks to the wonder of a review copy, I found myself appreciating The Shadows of Salamanca more than I expected. It’s fun to see how Europeans incorporate American culture into their works, and here, it’s the creepy small town with a secret. Writer Christophe Bec and artist Stefano Raffaele present the story of Sarah and David. They’ve left the […]
Regular blog readers know that I’m not a fan of horror. (I’m terribly squeamish and identify too sympathetically with victims.) However, thanks to the wonder of a review copy, I found myself appreciating The Shadows of Salamanca more than I expected. It’s fun to see how Europeans incorporate American culture into their works, and here, it’s the creepy small town with a secret. Writer Christophe Bec and artist Stefano Raffaele present the story of Sarah and David. They’ve left the big city for a home in the woods, to help Sarah deal with her depression. They’re hoping for a fresh start, but since there are monsters in the various tunnels underneath the old mining town, that’s unlikely. The art is lovely, detailed and complex in building a portrait of these characters and setting. The pages tend to have many more panels than is typical of American comics, with a dozen not unusual. These image slivers more effectively set the mood and build suspense, providing details that add up to a more creepy atmosphere. That’s not just external, coming from the animals, but internal. Sarah and David no longer trust each other and are fragile, tip-toeing around their interactions. Sarah’s hearing voices, a split personality as a way of dealing with childhood trauma, and a place where she’s shunned as a newcomer doesn’t help her loneliness. Then she finds something in the basement… The overall theme is what we do for, and to, children. It all spirals down from there, weaving together a number of horror conventions — something happening in one’s home, the creepy neighbors who decorate their cabin with animal skulls, a cursed ghost town, the monster in the woods, the child abuser and murderer, the town with a guilty secret, the evil monster child, country cannibalism — into a story I found effectively horrifying, all the more so because the art is so attractive. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.) Link : The Shadows of Salamanca
News Anime , Manga & Comic: Comic.MangaOnlineFree.Com - Special pages News Anime and Manga prestige, world news Manga & Anime at your fingertips