Alright. As I've promised, i am going to do a part 2 of the blog i talked about a few days ago. i have a few stuff to talk about to finish off what i was talking about dealing with the swan manga, and then im going to talk about the comics ive read for this trip.



the swan manga. my only hope of seeing it again would be next year for the trip to canada to that comic store (comics america). also, another thing i should say about that store is that it was a little too cramped, if you guys are reading this. a few things kept getting knocked over with me around. you people need to have more space around. in my statistics, there will be a 60% chance of it still being there because no-one would want to pay money for manga anymore when they can get, and a 40% chance of it not being there anymore because someone's little girl wanted to buy it because there literally aren't any comics out there targeted to such an audience. I am this close to going through the trouble of buying a used copy from amazon, just like i did with Lupin III, and Knights of the Zodiac.




Alright, now to review my Canada trip comics.



Usagi Yojimbo #4



It was pretty good again. dealing with some fortress capturementthat i forgot its name or something. To be honest though, i wasnt as hooked on it as i used to be. maybe because i wasnt on a plane and needed something like this to soothe me(it was a car trip), i dunno. also, when someone died, it was actually kinda sad to me. i wont say who, but i think youll feel empathy for the character, like me. maybe if #5 doesnt please me as much as the 1st 3, ill buy the next bone comic (2)



Sonic Hedgehog archives #2



Just like the first, it was awful puns and cheesy jokes that make archie look like the groo comics. But to be honest, i think it got a little better actually. just a little though, and i think it was just luck. there were actually 2 stories i didnt want to read too much because i already read those stories in the sonic the hedghog magazine comic ive picked up (in the late spring, was it?). honestly though, i think it even stole some very few chuckles from me. the story i didnt see coming was when they did a christmas carol parody (circa 199-something) that was a little entertaining. the big twist was however was that it was sonic's dream, not robotnic's. i bought it because it was small and perfect for a travel size for a trip, especially if i was flying.



Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories omnibus by Yen Press.



I was disappointed by this comic, to be honest. What got me to buy it was how much i liked the first kingdom hearts manga chapters, and now i wanted to save my appetite for this comic. But i have a few problems with this one. #1.) Theres barely any background detail. Most of the story takes place inside the oblivion castle. and they only visited 1 disney world: Aladdin. #2.) this is a more personal problem with me though, but im just sick of the moments in anime and manga with the anime expressions, where they are painfully flat and badly drawn and kinda stupid looking to me. ive just personally gotten sick of those. but thats just my opinion. also, i think some parts uses computer techniques, like the organization 13 guys disappearing with the small black squares, which personally felt unnatural to me. also, yen press went and editedout most of the background sound effects with english writing which looks like regular typed words but stretched and shaped weirdly. its also somewhat different story-wise from the actual video game. (i played the ps2 version), not that its that much of a problem to me. but something tells me that not much is going to stop me from buying the kh2 manga. this is one comic i dont wish to be like, though.



Now for the comics i bought at the Comics America.



groo.

this one i bought at the comic store. i picked this one because it looked funniest by the cover (of groo and his dog eating while everyone else behind him is hungry and starving. this one he is some police from the king for the poor people or something, and my favorite part would be him saying " i have a badge!". it was funny.



popeye classic comic.

this was something by IDW. but it wasnt the unpleasing new version, but a recollection of the classic comics. it was decent, by bud whatshisface.



To terra

i already talked about this comic in the last blog, but it dealt with some boy, all kids artificially born and raised by foster parents, and a group of psychics called Mu. The story was a little hard, but i liked the art however.



Dear comics america. i will give points for having the best variety in comics ive seen to date, but i will take off points for being so crammed and having such small spaces that i could barely walked through. also, i like you giving me the plastic bag and the free promotional mags, too.



But the comics dont end here in canada.



howard the duck comics



it started with my cousin telling me about a comics shop he knew in town. so i went with him, but i was a little disappointed. but what made up for it were the legendary Howard the duck comics. i thought about buying them at one point, but the essentials werent in print anymore, but now i found these! so i bought like 3 random issues. one of them is where hes been turned into a human, another where some random people are seeing a therapist, and now i even have the issue with the cover of him popping out of a newspaper (in this issue, he runs for president.) i thought these were actually entertaining, and i hope to see them again in some other comic collection or store.



lone wolf and cub Omnibus.



this one i bought i bought from a different bookstore in canada. but i was aware of it for a while.

i think my brother told me about it. i wanted to buy it at one point, but it was out of print. and then ive heard from amazon that dark horse is finally releasing the series in omnibuses! just so you people know when buying it, its manga sized, really thick, and contains the first 3 volumes of the series.

it was also surprisingly raunchy and sexual at a few points. i havent finished reading it yet, buts its pretty decent.



2 more things i should bring up is about some libraries ive been to and their graphic novel collection.



the first is from a library that ive heard from facebook about an old abandoned wal mart in mcallen texas being turned into a library! (thats one hell of a step turning crappy consumerism into literary thinking, or some shit like that)



and from what i recall, lets give them credit for having the ultimated muscle manga collection. (btw, where do libraries get their graphic novel collection from, anyways, just donated by regular folks who happen to have bought them at some point?) and the near complete collection of shaman king.



then theres the sekula library. ive heard from my friend from the cartoon club that they've got some new graphic novels. not much interesting there, though. there was also some manga art contest or something.



why is it that every time i see a black jack manga collection, they never simply have 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5?

i guess i cant blame people for liking it that much, to me it was the best comic ive read in a long time.



well, i guess it ends here.
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