Tag: Manga

A Cold, Terrible World is Hidden at the Mountains of Madness Vol 2 & What’s Next?

mountains of madness manga
Buy volume one and two
Mountains of Madness Vol 2 Book Cover on Amazon USA.

Gou Tanabe‘s adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness certainly delivers winter chills and shows this seemingly unadaptable work of HP Lovecraft can be tweaked for any cross media presentation. All it needs is some kind of resolution instead of a terrible revelation at the end.

Anyone who knows the original story will recall Danforth losing his sanity after seeing a Great Old One rise from the destruction. In what’s key to making that moment work is will this artist attempt to draw this cosmic entity? I won’t spoil what he sees. Instead, I can certainly say the city the Elder Things built may be gone for now, but I feel it also exists in an alternate dimension where Clive Barker’s most hailed creation (the Cenobites) lives!

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Cats of the Louvre is nothing to Meow At

Cats of the LouvreBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Viz Media
Sept 17, 2019

Makoto Kobayashi’s “What’s Michael” may well have captured the hearts of many with his hilarious look at one of Japan’s most beloved cats, but over in Paris, Taiyo Matsumoto shows not every feline has to be an alley cat. They can be refined little nekos. Cats of the Louvre is a welcome addition to my family of kitties to play with.

Matsumoto’s artistic style more inspired by the talents from this country, namely Moebius, and it is perfect to capture the romance and beauty of everything Paris represents.

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What’s Michael? Omnibus Collection is the Cat’s Meow!

Cats of the Louvre
Preorder on AmazonCats of the Louvre

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

In 1997, What’s Michael? arrived at Dark Horse Comics with its very first English translation. Now, the New York Library Award series returns to print with its first-ever English collection in What’s Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 1!

Cat enthusiasts like me can do the mamba and rejoice at this edition. Finding the separate volumes which collected the original print runs in Super Manga Blast! are not too hard to find but the original pulp magazines are. Suffice to say, I loved this fat cat.

He is Japan’s answer to Garfield, Heathcliff, and Krazy Kat all rolled into one!

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Dark Horse Comics is At the Mountains of Madness June 26th!

Cats of the Louvre
Pre-order on AmazonCats of the Louvre

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Publication Date: June 26, 2019
Dark Horse Comics

Go Tanabe’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft‘s At The Mountains of Madness is the greatest thing since sliced bread. When considering not many attempts to convert this novella to a consumer-friendly form exists–be it a movie (a comic book and two radio plays were made in the past)–I believe the first half of the tale is not too difficult. Filmmakers or storytellers most likely may borrow from John Carpenter’s The Thing to set the tone. To make the remainder wholly different is where the challenge lays.

This artist is no stranger to this author’s work either. In 2017, Dark Horse Comics published his adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound And Other Stories TPB (Amazon LinkCats of the Louvre).

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Dark Horse Comics to Give Berserk a Deluxe Treatment, A Review

Cats of the Louvre
Preorder on AmazonCats of the Louvre

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Dark Horse Comics continued releasing of translated manga has spanned decades, and most of my collection owes a huge debt to them. Coming on February 27, 2019 will be a deluxe hardcover release of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk manga (see image for preorder link) and just when I thought all the He-Man or Legend of Zelda hardcovers were massive, this compendium is a couple of pages more. Plus, it’s a start to a massive commitment to a series which began publication around 1988.

Whether this company’s decision to print them all is up in the air, to read the story (and look at all the blood and carnage contained within) in all its visceral glory, has me interested. The mature and adult content in this series is not for everyone, but I tend to ignore the hentai aspects of the world and focus on the hero’s journey.  In how it differs greatly from the 90s anime–which introduced me to Guts, a lone mercenary, out to do what he feels right–I had to explore. Like the Berserkers of Nordic lore, the rage that wells within gives him supernatural powers; this premise is enough to entice me to read.

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[Seattle, WA] A Guide to Kinokuniya Book Store & Uwajimaya Village

IMG_20171209_184328779Address:
525 S Weller St,
Seattle, WA 98104
USA

Hours: 10am–8pm
Phone: +1 206-587-2477

To make any trek out to any Kinokuniya Bookstore outlet is like visiting a holy shrine. As a first-timer, I was not too sure about what to expect, and I was more than thrilled to have excellent customer service help me locate a pair of books which examines and retells Japanese Ghost Stories. Ever since I learned they partnered with Studio Ghibli to sell licensed material, I knew my visit to Seattle must include going to their store. Over the holidays, I had that chance and thoroughly enjoyed wandering about.

When the items typically offered at their booth at Emerald City Comic Con (March 1-4th) does not show off what this operation can offer, a visit to their store is definitely required! The stores offer a greater variety, and yes … I wanted those boxer shorts with Gojira (Godzilla)!

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