Tag Archives: akaneiro

Review: Akaneiro #3, Amala’s Blade #4

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If you’re a Dark Horse fan, it’s a pretty sad week, witnessing the end of three incredible mini-series that are testament to a great publisher supporting some of the best comics art in the business. Throw some Eisners and Harveys at these creative teams!

 Akaneiro #3

22676Justin Aclin’s American McGee video game adaptation finds its awesome end this week with Akaneiro #3. After journeying to a Yokai (demon) infested village, protagonist Kani takes to her own and becomes a red hunter—clearly a special ‘chosen’ one, since she uses the powers without training. This final issue includes a dramatic end, with battle after battle, and the ultimate resolution of Kani and her many personal identities.

Aclin, as I’ve noted before, is rather new to comics, having mostly written Star Wars comics, but he has yet to disappoint (with the exception of the rather novice line used on the last page: “And suddenly it’s months later, and my destiny has been fulfilled.” This line, however, speaks to the quickness with which the series presents itself and ends—abruptly. Not many writers could adapt such a complex world to just three issues, but Aclin has succeeded; it’s the narrative itself, with its complexity, that yearns for at least one more issue (an intermediate one, really). But I’m entirely satisfied with the little bit we got.

Lolos and Atiyeh make one of the best artistic teams I’ve seen all year. Lolos’ art is so unique as to be hardly comparable to other artists with books by major companies, and Atiyeh’s talented coloring puts life in his art, mastering the vibrant end of the color spectrum. Lolos has strayed away from sexualizing what, in the comics industry, would be a perfect target: a young, sword-fighting Japanese girl, with the exception of the third panel on the third page, which is your typical knock-the-character-down-and-show-her-butt shot. Aside from this, Lolos’ work begs no complaints.

In summary: Dear Dark Horse, please make more Akaneiro, and congratulate Aclin, Lolos, and Atiyeh on an incredible series.

Story: Justin Aclin  Art: Vasilis Lolos, Michael Atiyeh
Story: 8  Art: 9  Overall: 8  Recommendation: Buy

Amala’s Blade #4

22082If there could be a better mini-series than Akaneiro, it would have to be Amala’s Blade, a gritty, steampunk, sci-fi, fantasy, swashbuckling, haunted assassin’s story that makes a hero out of the most powerful and least sexualized WoC to grace mainstream comics in a long time (sure, a number of powerful WoC, but how many have been without sexualization?). This small story, four issues total, packs a mega-sized punch, and has blown me away both narratively and artistically.

As with Akaneiro #3, it appears that Amala’s Blade #4 is suffering from too-short-a-series syndrome. Steve Horton has managed in the previous three issues (and zero-issue) to pack quite a punch with each one, telling a succinct story that introduces all of the characters and ideas and builds a fascinating world. But this final issue wavers on the edge of the plotting quality of previous issues, with somewhat awkward turns of events in the space of a page, which create the false illusion that Horton is not a skilled writer. Amala starts a war, just as quickly ends it, wants to kill her mother, just as quickly doesn’t, then ghosts force her to do so, and then she banishes the ghosts. All of this narrative splendor is packed into the second half of the comic—that’s a bit much for some twelve pages.

Yet while Amala’s Blade #4 was a departure from the near-perfect narrative development of previous issues, Michael Dialynas’s pages are bursting with art that demands to be made into a paragon of fantasy/sci-fi comics art. I haven’t seen anything else by Dialynas, but I imagine it’s all of the same caliber, and I wouldn’t mind seeing his work on some of the more ‘mainstream’ books in order to give the general comic-reading public an idea of how diverse their books can become.

Amala’s Blade #4, like Akaneiro #3, suffers slightly from crunched plotting. But does that means it’s bad? Hell no! Go buy a copy for yourself, open in up, and be blown away by the best mini-series I’ve read this year! I’ve gotta get my hands on this TPB!

Story: Steve Horton  Art: Michael Dialynas
Story: 7  Art: 9  Overall: 8.5  Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review

Pick(s) of the Week: Collider #1 and a Whole Bunch More

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COLLID_Cv1_PRINT_3pncuy4wjo_Normally, I’d choose the “Pick of the Week” by which comic was on the most of our lists, but out of the slim choices this week, there was actually only one comic on more than one list. So, I’m going with executive privilege and choosing this week’s pick, Collider #1 by Vertigo.

It started small: temporary gravity failures, time reversal loops, entropy reversals. With much fanfare a new government agency was formed with a mandate “to prevent and protect.” Its official title: The Federal Bureau of Physics. Humans, if nothing else, adapt to the changing parameters of their existence. What was extraordinary soon became ordinary, a part of people’s daily lives. They move on and do what people have always done: survive. But even that new status quo is now under threat. Things are getting worse, and it falls to Special Agent Adam Hardy and his FBP team to figure out what’s going on, before it’s too late…

Um, how can you not get this? Vertigo has been kicking as as a publisher, and this latest release I’m sure will be just as solid.

Check out below for the full list from some of the members of the Graphic Policy team.

Andrew:

Batman Annual #2 (DC) – Of all of the various Batman comics out there I read Snyder’s religiously. He’s got huge shoes to fill and Zero Year hasn’t let down.

Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray #5 (Image) – If you’re not reading this series…you’re wrong. It’s phenomenal.

King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon #3 (Dark Horse) – The plot of this latest run pays homage to earlier Conan storylines and includes fantastic artwork by Tomás Giorello.

The Wake #3 (Vertigo) – Snyder’s deep sea thriller is exceptional. I want to know what the creature is, where it came from, and whether there are more.

Brett:

Top Pick: Collider #1 (Vertigo) – see above. This series just sounds too cool to not choose.

Ghost Town #2 (Action Lab: Danger Zone) – The first issue of the Action Lab: Danger Zone series was awesome. Mixing time travel and terrorism, it truly was a series that you had no idea what was coming. The second issue, more of the same when it comes to that.

Guardians of the Galaxy #5 (Marvel) – Angela makes her first comic since Age of Ultron. Want to find out what Marvel’s plans with her are? Well, here you go. Expect this one to sell out.

Liberator #2 (Black Mask Studios) – Politics + comics = awesome! The series that follows animal liberators is a unique voice in the comic industry right now.

Skyward #1 (Action Lab) – Kick ass women in a kids comic is a specialty from Action Lab. This series adds to their varied and family friendly releases. A great comic the whole family can enjoy.

The Wake #3 (Vertigo) – Scott Snyder and Sean Phillips’ series has been amazing so far.

TPB of the Week: 39 Minutes – A winner of Top Cow’s Pilot Series, and one I really dug. ROBBING A BANK IS EASY, IT’S THE GETAWAY THAT’S HARD. The bank is surrounded by police officers, alarms are blaring, customers and employees are screaming, and the streets are blocked off. So what’s the solution? Kill everyone in town!

Sean:

Top Pick: Captain Midnight #1 (Dark Horse) – after a look at Captain Midnight #0, which utterly blew me away, I can’t see how the ‘first’ issue of this pulp hero rival could be anything but incredible. They’ve sure been marketing the hell out of it, so are you in? $2.99.

Akaneiro #3 – last of this Brian Wood mini-series based on American McGee’s game; let’s see what happens with Kani and those demons! $3.99.

Amala’s Blade #4 – this series by Horton and Dialynas is in my opinion Dark Horse’s best mini-series of the year; the ending is a must have! $3.50.

Batman, Incorporated #13 – Morrison’s titanic series comes to a crashing end as Batman “saves the world and loses everything.” Morrison’s been building this series for years, and now we’re getting it’s conlusion…or are we? $2.99.

Daredevil #29 – Waid and Samnee’s Daredevil is not only my favorite DD run, but also Marvel’s top series right now (followed by Hawkeye and Superior Spidey). And Samnee’s back on the art after a short hiatus. Woohoo! $2.99.

TPB of the Week: No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics (Fantagraphics Books)—the wonderful reprint collectors over at Fantagraphics are putting out an anthology that promises to be a collection of the worlds greatest LGBTQ comics. It’s definitely worth a look if you want to explore a little more about the social issues driving and driven by our favorite medium here at Graphic Policy. $35.00 (but 20% off online retailers like TFAW.com or Amazon.com).

Review: Amala’s Blade #3

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Amala 3Steve Horton and illustrator Michael Dialynas bring readers the third installment in the Dark Horse mini-series Amala’s Blade, available this week. This series is great fun, the same caliber, excitement, and creativity as books like Akaneiro (also available this week) and Image’s Saga (a TPB is available for the second volume this week, too), and reminds me a lot of Lionhead Studios’ Fable.

Horton and Dialynas provide a world of magic and steampunk, sword fighting and ghosts, assassins and a religious war. It’s about being haunted (in Amala’s case, literally) by the ghosts of one’s past, and recognizing that they can help you kill people—or if you want to be non-violent and metaphorical, it’s about recognizing that past mistakes, triumphs, or failures are constant lessons.

Like Vaugh with Saga, Horton’s narrative always keeps me guessing, with ever more fantastic events and beings around the corner. It’s an original story mixed-and-matched from stories all across Nerdom, and reads a bit like something from Terry Pratchett. What’s even greater is that, despite a final lead, gender really is not an issue, and I haven’t found a single even semi-sexist or gender biased comment in the books. Now that’s a feat, especially when in female-centric books like Wonder Woman the eponymous Amazon can’t get away from Orion’s nickname “Legs.” Yes, Amala is a woman. And yes, she’s the most bad-ass assassin whose fate the balance of factional war hinges upon.  No one turns a head (except when they’re getting killed).

Dialynas wonderfully illustrates this issue relying on a new color for the ghosts that has them standing out far better and looking more ghastly, though I really did like the bluish hue from earlier issues. I bring up color because Dialynas uses color to contrast the two opposing forces in this land: the Modifiers are typified by colors in shades of purple and black, while the Purifiers are more naturally colored. This contrast speaks to the artificial weirdness of the magically cyborg Modifiers, best exemplified in the canine cyborg wyrm which Amala fights and then commandeers.

Moreover, however, this issue is pivotal in moving the plot forward, and Horton easily weaves humor, emotional personal stories, and the fate of the land across the pages. I didn’t want Amala’s Blade #3 to end, but by the book’s close I was greatly satisfied to just soak up the art and get giddy for the next issue!

And I’m hoping that Amala’s Blade is not the last we’ll see of Horton and Dialynas’ wild world.

Story: Steve Horton  Art: Michael Dialynas
Story: 8.5  Art: 9  Overall: 9  Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Akaneiro #2

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Akaneiro 2Akaneiro #2 does more than live up to the official Dark Horse descriptor “brilliant,” placing the Japonic demon-hunting game world of American McGee into the young-to-comics hands of Justin Aclin, with art by Vasilis Lolos and colors by my personal favorite, Michael Atiyeh.

The story is that of a young Ainu-Japanese girl in ‘feudal’ Japan, whose destiny it seems is to become a demon hunter. This book has been described as, and was pre-marketed as, a Japanese version of the classic Little Red Riding Hood story. This becomes even more evident in Akaneiro #2, which follows Kani into a den of werewolves, tricked into going there by a fox demon, who told her it was the village where she would learn to become a Red Hunter (yokai, or demon fighter) of the Order of Akane.

The plot hangs on the premise that the natural/supernatural, human/non-human, and good/bad must be placed in balance, and that it is the role of the Red Hunters to achieve this. The concept is not unprecedented, and is in fact age-old, something witnessed in almost every reconceptualizing of traditional Japanese culture for American audiences—every animal is a god, and demons aren’t necessarily bad. As Kani goes through her unforeseen trials among the werewolves, she starts to discover this for herself; surely the mark of a chosen one who will bring balance to the For-, I mean, nature.

Justin Aclin may be a comics newbie, but it’s obvious he’s talented, having adeptly adapted American McGee’s video game to the comics medium. However, the turning of dead demon blood into ‘karma’ which the Red Hunters consume is a bit clunky, since in the game it serves as a means to gain power and level up, but is obviously an awkward holdover from the game medium.

Every page of this issue is a piece of art, thanks to Vasilis Lolos, who’s worked on a lot of other Dark Horse books, and whose style is reminiscent of Mignola (especially his uncanny and creepy portrayal of demons!). With the aid of colorist Atiyeh, the story has the lighthearted seriousness of a Miyazaki film, colors dancing across the wonderful art like a Japanese watercolor print.

Akaneiro is of the caliber of incredible storytelling that continues to make Dark Horse one of the best, most artistic publishers in the business, and the second issue is a must-have. The Miyazaki-meets-Hellboy patois is endearing, its protagonist a stolid outcropping in raging rapids, desperate to keep her moral code and values in the face of overwhelming odds. Kani is a modern hero in an ancient time lost in a tale of identity challenged and retained. We all have something to learn from this book, and I think we all know a few Yokai playing at being human…

Story: Justin Aclin  Art: Vasilis Lolos and Michael Atiyeh
Story: 9  Art: 9  Overall: 9  Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review