I promise this will be the only Twilight-related post you will ever see me write. But College Humor has a spoof on New Moon called… wait for it… Three Wolf Moon.

Yōkaiden vol. 2
Written & Illustrated by Nina Matsumoto
Published by Del Rey

Yōkai are creatures from Japanese folklore. If you’ve seen any Hayao Miyazaki films, you’re probably somewhat familiar with the concept – the kodama spirits seen in the forest in Princess Mononoke, those of the rattling heads, are yōkai. The comic series Yōkaiden follows a young boy (in true manga fashion, I kept thinking he was a young lady) named Hamachi who journeys from his reality into the land of the yōkai in pursuit of a creature he believes killed his grandmother.

Although I jumped into the saga without benefit of the introductory volume, Yōkaiden vol. 2 is very easy to follow. Building on Japanese folklore traditions, Yōkaiden manages to be immediately accessible by remaining true to its inspirations. Folklore tales are basic narratives, simple examinations of human foibles and tales of cleverness and wit. Creator Nina Matsumoto adheres to this basic structure, which keeps each chapter focused and accessible.

With each chapter adding to the sum of Yōkaiden, the overall shape of the series quickly comes into focus without detracting from the immediacy of each installment. By continually injecting a new and bizarre creature into Hamachi’s path, Matsumoto provides a puzzle for him to solve or offers a means for us to gain greater insight into the complexities of the homespun lore of these magical characters. Perhaps due to my relative unfamiliarity with Japanese folklore and yōkai, the stories all seem fresh and surprising, with shocking and slightly absurdist twists.

Though it rarely achieves outright laughter, Yōkaiden is definitely an upbeat, light-hearted series. I’d liken it to a film like Back to the Future, which treads near to comedy but remains just barely this side action/adventure boundary. Tiptoeing carefully along this paper-thin boundary is, of course, extremely difficult, but it’s also exactly where I like my adventure fiction, and Matsumoto manages the balance very, very well.

Artistically, the character designs are strong, particularly the more outlandish creatures. Her layouts are generally effective, though sometimes the action is lost in the angular shots and tilted panels. On the subject of the yōkai themselves, my only experience is having seen similar creatures many times in Usagi Yojimbo, but Matsumoto’s manga-inspired designs and focus on the creatures themselves provides a very different look at them.

The most enticing characteristic of the book, to me anyway, are the one-page post-scripts at the conclusion of each chapter, wherein Matsumoto describes the lore behind one of the yōkai featured in the preceding chapter. That research and context enhances the experience, building the reader’s understanding of the plot twists, the creatures’ intentions and relationship with humanity, and the history of the culture.

Yōkaiden is silly, adventurous, well drawn, and lots of fun to read.  I haven’t read as much manga (even OEL – Original English Language – manga, which isn’t really manga since it’s not from Japan, but I digress) as I’d like, largely because so many series seem to run for years upon years upon years, long after the freshness has worn off (and, no, I don’t follow many superhero comics, for the same reason), but Yōkaiden is off to a very good start and I’m quite interested in seeing how it develops.

You know what’s been a recurring theme this year? The escalation of the Con Wars, with Wizard Entertainment and Reed Exhibitions duking it out for possession of the Leadership Matrix and the leadership of the free world! Or at the very least, controlling shares of both fan dollars and industry respect.

In the past, I took at look at Wizard’s convention line-up vis-a-vis Reed’s more-or-less rock solid hold on New York Comic-Con — traditionally a big newsmaking event after San Diego Comic Con — as well as their growing hold on Chicago with April’s C2E2. With scheduling and personal politics each playing a big role, it’s been interesting to see Wizard — despite its shrinking staff and store woes — buy convention after convention after convention. Which is why it was so interesting to hear that Wizard had scooped up the rights to the New England Comic Con.

You see, Boston makes it a little different. Mainly because Wizard had tried this once before.

Ah, 2005 — I remember you fondly. I was living just outside of Boston at the time, and was able to — for the first time in my life — actually experience a convention setting. The problem (according to some) was that Wizard couldn’t get enough people in a conducive space to actually make the whole event worthwhile… despite things being a bit crowded (at least in my recollection). So a one-hit wonder was unceremoniously canceled the next year — despite the copious amounts of books I bought. Yet New England — perhaps more than any other area in the country — really has been the untapped frontier of conventions.

Remember, two things help make a convention “a big deal” — lots of fans, and lots of publishers breaking news. Yet with more than a dozen colleges in the area — Harvard, B.U., MIT, the UMass network, and a ton of arts schools — you would think that the fan dollars thing wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed, New England as a whole has a robust number of comic shops, and you’d better believe some would come out to sell their wares at a highly discounted price.

Yet the way that Wizard could — COULD, not will — succeed against competitors such as the Boston Comic-Con is in the PR battle with the publishers. Boston, in that way, is actually an easier battle for Wizard than, say, Chicago — with Marvel and DC (and a whole slew of creators) in New York, it isn’t nearly as long of a trip to get a few people out there to release announcements and drum up some real enthusiasm. If the Boston Comic-Con can get people Jim Lee, Mark Chiarello, Mike Mignola, and Skottie Young, imagine what a group with the connections of Wizard could get.

Right now, this is a pie that Reed doesn’t have its fingers in yet — if Wizard can make this convention work at a time that is actually conducive to the major publishers, this could be good news. But if Wizard tries to go for the Con War strategy — forcing fans and publishers alike to “choose a side,” whether against the currently established Boston con or against a convention elsewhere in the country — this can only backfire. What say you, Rama readers?

Kull the Conquerer has been many things over the years: mercenary, pirate, gladiator, king. And now, he might just be… a movie star once more.

Fantasy.fr has posted a link saying that the Robert E. Howard character may get another lease on cinematic life, after the tepid reception of the 1997 Kevin Sorbo adaptation.

Paradox Entertainment’s Frederik Malmberg told the site that a new Kull film was indeed in the works. Ironically, Paradox is also working on Howard’s arguably better known sword-swinger, Conan the Barbarian.

More info to come as it arrives!

[Hat tip to Blair for the link]

It’s official — 2009 will be remembered as the year of corporate shifting in comics, as IDW announced last week that Desperado Publishing would be joining the company as a brand new imprint.

“We are very excited to have Desperado join us,” said IDW COO Greg Goldstein in a statement. “Desperado’s books and roster of creators are both very impressive, and as an IDW imprint, Joe will have the flexibility and support to expand both. It’s really a win-win situation.”

Desperado, for those of you who don’t know, has been one of those smaller comics publishers that has been reaching a critical mass for some time now — they’ve been publishing art collections by Tony Harris and Tim Bradstreet, they’ve been getting some buzz for series such as the Atheist, Fred Van Lente’s Silencers, and, of course, Flaming Carrot, as well as getting noms (and even wins) for the Eisner Awards. So joining up with IDW is definitely a great way for the group to get some mainstream spotlight.

According to IDW, the 2010 lineup from Desperado will also have work by George Perez and Dave Dorman, in addition to Tony Harris. What say you, Rama readers?

By Jimmy Palmiotti

Welcome to my 21st blog. I am now legal and will drink till I pass out in the corner. Anyway… been super busy doing many things inside and outside of comics these past weeks. Amanda and I took some time off to check out the space shuttle launch and it was pretty darn cool. As a kid, I always dreamed about being a spaceman [that’s why I experimented with so many drugs early on in life] and getting to see an actual rocket take off and to have all my senses blasted by it was so cool that it’s hard to describe. The stand-out was the flame from the rocket engines, brighter than the sun and the wave of noise from takeoff took over 15 seconds to reach us because we were set back a couple of miles off the water. If you are in the Florida area or want to see this, there are only five more launches before the program is put on hold, so get there quick. Trust me; ask anyone who ever witnessed it, its quite amazing. It was really funny as well, watching people pull up to the side of the road, open a chair, watch the launch for three minutes, fold the chair and get back in their car.

On another subject, Amanda and I got a lot of comps of the Wednesday Comics and we were going to send them overseas but we were invited to speak to a school of kids on the great American teach-in. The school focuses on children with dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, and speech and language issues. It’s very difficult for these children to read anything at all, so we thought we would bring these comics and give them out to the kids. Well… it went over great! When fully opened up on their tables, the pages were almost half their size… and it was great to watch all these kids smile and really enjoy the art and words on these books. A big shout out to Troy Iannucci, a parent there who came to talk to them about how comics are made and got us involved. I deal with a lot of adults that I always say act just like children, but when I say that I forget just how wonderful these kids are and how, when you look into their eyes, the excitement and wonder is so genuine, it’s contagious. What a great group of kids!

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Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

“The first time Astro Boy attacked United States servicemen was in 1967”: Joe “Jog” McCulloch puts Astro Boy’s latest assault on the U.S., in the form of a terrible animated film, in perspective in this column.

“Why James Rhodes Is Comics’ Ideal Black Hero”: Graeme McMillan breaks it down…and please note the “Ideal” in the headline is apparently ironic.

This would be fine with me: “Anne Hathaway in ‘Spider-Man 4′”

What did Tom Spurgeon read before going to bed, if this was his first thought of the day?: Check it out here. (Here’s a hint: It has to do with the X-Men and health care reform).

Some recent reviews: Alex Carr on The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book,
Tom Horgen on Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness,  Bob Dylan Revisited, The Book of Genesis Illustrated and Nancy Vol. 1 for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Jason Yadao on Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan and X-Men: Misfits Vol. 1 for the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

“That’s what being a hero is all about, it’s that sometimes, you gotta take out a baby”: That’s Tucker Stone trying to look on the positive side of things in his latest Advanced Common Sense, which means Donna Troy taking out a zombie baby is actually an admirable thing, and Justice League: Cry For Justice helps teach kids about their bodies…? Give it a watch, but be warned, it may not be safe for work, depending on what you see when you see Stone’s defense of Gotham City Sirens.

“There is going to be an EXTREMELY COOL movie based on this coming out next year, and when it comes out if you’ve read this back in 2009 it will make you EXTREMELY COOL also”: Colin Panetta tries out a strategy for making people want to try reading Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series in this piece.

“Be prepared for a lecture on how the series’ mythopoeic pantheism informs its assertion of a sort of mimetic eschatalogical narrative which defies conventional exegeses. Also: Lacunae!”: Is Glen Weldon being contrary, or dumb or is this the way one reacts to a classic work if one comes to it too late? I often wonder what it would be like coming to The Sandman late. Like, really late—like, after it stopped appearing as a serial comic book, and could be experienced for the first time in trade late. (The special was my first issue, and I started reading it monthly somewhere during Fables and Reflections). NPR’s Weldon contends there is an extremely high bar of entry between new readers and The Sandman, apparently because J’onn J’onnz, Mister Miracle and Dr. Destiny are in the first volume. I’m not sure I agree at all, in the same way that you don’t need to know all that much about Calliope or Bast to understand their appearances, a thorough knowledge of Element Girl probably isn’t necessary to understand hers. But then, I think Weldon over-thinks Sandman: He takes three paragraphs to explain the premise, which can be summed up even more directly as “The story of story in the 20th century.”

Martin Eden is certainly doing something right: I’ve seen more stories about his Spandex in my Google News feed the last few days than on just about any other topic. Here’s an interview in Wired.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

When it comes to superheroes and beards, there’s not a whole lot of overlap.

Sure, there’s Hercules, and there’s Odin — goateed folks like Tony Stark and Oliver Queen just don’t make the cut — but otherwise, the number is pretty sparse. But Croatian illustrator Vanja Mrgan is looking to bridge that divide, with his site, Beards and Bellies.

You wouldn’t know it, but underneath that beard, Batman has another fist. (Or a Whirly-Bat.) It’s some pretty funny stuff. Go ahead and check out the rest of the images here.

Don’t worry, the artist of Green Arrow: Year One isn’t having a feud with Ollie Queen.

According to Jock’s Twitter feed, apparently his drawings of the left-leaning superhero were co-opted by the Home of Green Arrow and Friends… a web site which supports the far-right British National Party, which a particular anti-immigration, anti-minority bent. (I thought the above image was appropriate — if Ollie found out about this, he probably wouldn’t leave that tree for a week.)

“i’ve emailed the site and i’ll be letting DC’s legal dept know,” Jock added on Twitter. “this is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth….”

I can imagine, whatever your politics, that Ollie probably wouldn’t be thrilled with his likeness going here either, with gems like, “wake up people or we are going to go the way of the Christians of Kosovo, the Red Indians, Incas, Australian aborigines and wind up as dead as a Dodo. The harsh fact of nature is this.  Land belongs to those who occupy and hold it, not give it away.” Ugh. We’ll keep you posted if anything changes.

Could this be the start of an online paradigm shift?

IDW Publishing announced this week of the creation of their very own storefront app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, in conjunction with iVerse Media. iVerse has helped translate a lot of comics to the iPhone, including Atomic Robo, Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer, Neozoic, Proof, and, of course, IDW’s Star Trek: Countdown, which came out in conjunction with the hit J.J. Abrams film.

“We’ve spent the past several months building and refining these apps and creating a large catalog that includes both classic series and fresh stories,” Jeff Webber, IDW’s ePublishing Director, said in a statement. “IDW has one of the most diverse collections in comics, and it now fits in your pocket!”

The app, called IDW Comics, currently holds 10 free comics, with more than 200 comics available for purchase. The company says the site will be regularly updated with new releases. Currently, they have books up as recent as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box, which only came out about three weeks ago.

For me, IDW — the first company to have their own storefront app — has a fairly interesting idea. While larger cities with numerous comic shops have greater flexibility in terms of getting their comics out, those in smaller towns have their own sets of difficulties: understaffed shops, delayed availability of books, and sometimes an enormous distance between stores. With companies like iVerse and comiXology beginning to trickle books to iPhones — albeit at a decent delay — and digital download programs such as Longbox on the horizon, could simultaneous print and online distribution be the next big thing? Sound off, Rama readers!

Once he was a Loser — and now he’s one of Odin’s right hand men!

Marvel announced today that Idris Elba (who will be in the upcoming Losers film) will be joining the cast of Thor as Heimdall. In the comics, Heimdall stands as the guardian of Asgard’s Rainbow Bridge.

With all the hubbub surrounding the recent casting of the Warriors Three, is there anyone else left to be cast? With Kenneth Branagh behind the wheel, I’m curious to see how this thing shakes out.

The film is due out in May 2011.

For comic book film lovers, sometimes the Blu-Ray debate is a tough one. On the one hand, Blu-Ray is becoming more and more prevalent due to the PS3 — on the other hand, though, why give up your existing DVDs to buy a more expensive Blu-Ray copy of the same thing?

Well, for at least some of these genre offerings, Warner Bros. is offering a compromise with their DVD2Blu program — trade in your DVDs for their Blu-Ray counterparts for a discounted price.

Relevant titles for our crowd include A Clockwork Orange, Constantine, Dark City, A History of Violence, Golden Compass, Lost Boys, The Orphange, Pan’s Labyrinth, A Scanner Darkly, Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman Returns, The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Esther Inglis-Arkell read what looks like this past Wednesday’s Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant #1, and she did not enjoy the section by Jen Van Meter and Justiniano (pretty nice looking art, though!).

During that scene, Cyclone and Power Girl talk about how cool Power Girl’s costume is, and how, in fact, it is not at all sexist or unusual in anyway that there’s a big cleavage window in it…in fact, that’s the best part because of the way it unsettles criminals and blah blah blah. Inglis-Arkell then rattles off all the other explanations for Power Girl’s sexy costumes, and the sexy costumes of her female crime-fighting peers she’s read. None of which seem to include “Just because the person who designed it thought it was sexy, okay?”

Seriously, go read Inglis-Arkell’s post. Then come back and we’ll talk more, okay?

I can’t disagree with anything she said in her post; she’s dead-on right. If I had anything to add, it would be that the writer’s doing the justification of the costumes almost never have any real control over those costumes, and probably think they’re doing something valuable by finding a reason for explaining a costuming choice that sounds better than “Some guy 20-65 years ago though this was totally hot, and wondered if his editors would let him get away with it.” (That doesn’t make it any less irritating though, especially for a character like Power Girl, who is given explanation after explanation for her cleavage window. The first one of these speeches you read is never as annoying as the second, third or fifth).

Oh, and I should note it annoys me whenever a writer tries too hard to explain a goofy or silly element of a superhero comic, costuming or otherwise, in a way that writer thinks sounds more “realistic.”

For example, in this week’s Flash: Rebirth, Geoff Johns has a character mention that Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick where’s his totally boss soup-bowl hat because it reminds him of the helmet his father wore during World War I.

No, he wears it because he always wore it, and he started wearing it because it looked cool. (Oh, and the Roman god Mercury probably had something to do with that). Whether or not you think Power Girl’s costume looks cool or is sexy, the person who designed it certainly did, and the editors and artists responsible for dressing her since agreed and kept it. Some things about super-comics don’t need to be explained, and when a writer tries to explain them, they only draw attetnion to them and draw attention to the fact that the writer is struggling with their work.

Nothing knocks one out of a super-comic faster than the writer acknowleding that they’re not really fond of or don’t really get super-comics.

Gotta get back? Back to the past?

Well, Samurai Jack won’t disappoint — because he might be hitting the big screen in 2011.

Frederator has an interview up with series creator Genndy Tartakovsky, saying that he is teaming up with J.J. Abrams for a “2D/stereoscopic 3D production” of the legendary samurai. What’s more, IMBD has an announcement suggesting a 2011 release date! If that’s true, color me excited — Samurai Jack was an awesome show, probably with the best theme song on Cartoon Network. What do you think?

“New Moon” and all things Twilight is a much-debated subject. Already talked about here, here, and here, it opens the floodgate for debate on numerous things such as whether or not author Stephenie Meyer can form a simple sentence, to why her lead character, Bella, is a poor role model for young girls.

Or whether you’re Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Whatever the debate maybe, you can’t deny this spoof is possibly the funniest yet.

Keep ‘em coming, Itsjustsomerandomguy and gal!

The Twilight phenomenon is nothing new. It’s just the apotheosis of a sort of pop-cultural nosferatu makeover that has been chugging along since Anne Rice sent moody young romantics swooning with Interview With a Vampire way back in 1976. Purists may scoff at the melodrama and angst that have been infused into the sinister vampire archetype by authors like Stephenie Meyer or Laurell Hamilton, but nowadays, the real paroxysms of angst are coming from tormented horror fans who can’t stop moaning about the sparkling Nu-Vampire paradigm. Still, whining sourpuss fans should take heart. If you hunt hard enough, there are still plenty of counterpoints to the new moon that is rising, and even stories that integrate elements of the romanticized Nu-Nosferatu in a way even anti-Twilight curmudgeons can appreciate. Consider the following suggestions a sort of prescription for the current vampire epidemic going around, a treatment regime of literary inoculations and cinematic antidotes that can help you survive. (more…)

In 2004’s Green Lantern: Rebirth, Geoff Johns had some pretty difficult challenges to wrestle with. Not only did he need to bring the late and outdated Hal Jordan character back to life—no easy feat given the nature of his death and afterlife at the time—and convince readers there was any point to doing so at all, he also had to come up with a solution to the contentious Green Lantern fan issue of which of the many characters to have the name should be the Green Lantern, and what to do with the rest of ‘em.

I thought Johns’ “Everyone wins!” solution was rather elegant. He simply made all the possible contenders Green Lanterns, and DC found books for all of them to appear in, even if the main Green Lantern monthly could only star one of ‘em. It was a solution facilitated by the fact that the Green Lantern concept has so long included an army of Green Lantern characters all over outer space—if there were going to be at least 3600 Green Lanterns, surely there was room for four or five Earth men among them, right?

Johns’ current Rebirth series, in which he’s again working with artist Ethan Van Sciver, faces similar problems, although they’re magnified.

Once again Johns has to convince readers that a late and outdated character needs to be brought back to life, but Barry Allen had been dead far, far longer than Jordan, and his replacement Wally West “took” better than Jordan’s replacement Kyle Rayner.

And once again, he has to figure out what to do with the other possible contenders for the name, if Barry Allen were to come back. Unlike Green Lantern, The Flash doesn’t have a built-in army/team component to the concept though, so pluralizing The Flash won’t come quite as naturally, if that is what Johns is intending.

The Flash: Rebirth is only five-sixths over at this point, but it seems as if the final status of all the Flashes was revealed in this week’s issue (additionally, several big DC storylines, most notably Blackest Night, are set after the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth, and have thus offered pretty strong hints). Also, we got a look at what they may be wearing from now on.

So after the jump, a badly-scanned image of a two-page Van Sciver-drawn spread, and some thoughts about the characters on it…and the clothes they’re wearing. (And, um, “spoilers,” obviously).

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