Monday, August 22, 2022

Manifest Destiny Volume 1 Flora and Fauna TPB

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna

Image Comics


Off and on for the past 5 years I have had people talk about how Manifest Desting from Image was a neat twist on a historical adventure comic.


Last year I was at the  nearest Books a Million and  found vol 1 on their used shelf. I think I paid 5 bucks,cover price is 10 bucks. Then it got put into the TPB/Hardcover/OGN read pile. 


And got forgotten about until today. Sure it is summer but there was enough breeze to make it bareably to sit out  on the pier. I brought a huge stack of comics with me and Manifest Destiny Vol 1 caught my eye. So put on some music and 30 minutes later I was looking to  see if the rest of the series is out in  tpbs and how much it is gonna cost me. Cause damn folks this is good.


Written by Chris DIngess with Matthew Roberts handling  pencils and  inks Manifest Destiny started at Image in 2014. In the series you are following  Lewis&Clark as they explode the mid west/western part of the  USA.


With in the first 3 pages we get hints that something isn't right. Cause while this comic is based on  actual history,they add a nice twist.


They dock their boat and head to a nearby fort. Which is the furthest west settlement in the US. Here is where Lewis and Clark are suppose to meet Sacagawea. 


On the land they get attacked by a creature that is part horse,part man and part buffalo. Yea not a minotaur not a centuar but some weird hybrid.


When they make it to the fort it appears to be abandoned. Until a few of the guys,while looking for supplies,discover that some of the  fort denizens are still around but now look like  Swamp Thing.



So now our group adventurers are stuck in the  fort,cause a pile of the Buffalo-taurs have surrounded it. And got a pile of these planet people in the  fort after them. Shooting the plant people does nothing. Cutting them up just makes the parts cut off come alive and attack. They figure out that fire works. And this is when a few of the survivors from the  Fort appear.


The survivors explain how some kind of infection hit and turns you inside and out into a plant based life form. Who all share one mind. 


The group is worried about how they will survive,cause while they  can handle the plant people in the fort. They doubt thhey can get around the Buffalo-taurs. And have a very limited amount of food left.


Our leads come up with a decent plan. Having 5 people sneak out and lead the buffalo-taurs one way while the rest run  for the ships.


They are about to execute the  plan when  Sacagawea shows up. She has killed all the Buffalo-taurs. And wow there is a great scene showing her killing them  looks like  something out of a John Woo Hong Kong  action movie.


After making  it back to the  boats. And digging out some greek fire from the ships storage,they  plan on going and burning all the plant people. To try to prevent this infection from  spreading. It  kind of reminds me of kudzu. 



Anyone that gets the  plant people liquid on them  will turn into one and it works the same on animals. So  you  get a scene with a plant possessed deer.



And a great scene where one of the  good guys meets a plant possessed skunk




Lewis and  Clark get captured by the big plant that is the  hive mind of the plant people. And it's plan is like the killer plant from that one Superman annual that Alan Moore wrote. IE give the victims their heart's desires while the plant feeds off their bodies.


Native American  Ninja Sacagawea comes and saves our leads. And this trade  ends with her joining the group as they plan  on  leaving the next morning to finish their expadittion.


Really Really hoping this series is either over or near ending. Cause I plan on ordering all the tpbs at once and spending say 4 days just reading this series.


Never heard of the writer or the artist on the series. But the writer has a good way with dialogue. And the artist makes all the scenes full of 100 shades of green be super interesting to stare at.


Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna gets a A.


                                                

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna

Image Comics


Off and on for the past 5 years I have had people talk about how Manifest Desting from Image was a neat twist on a historical adventure comic.


Last year I was at the  nearest Books a Million and  found vol 1 on their used shelf. I think I paid 5 bucks,cover price is 10 bucks. Then it got put into the TPB/Hardcover/OGN read pile. 


And got forgotten about until today. Sure it is summer but there was enough breeze to make it bareably to sit out  on the pier. I brought a huge stack of comics with me and Manifest Destiny Vol 1 caught my eye. So put on some music and 30 minutes later I was looking to  see if the rest of the series is out in  tpbs and how much it is gonna cost me. Cause damn folks this is good.


Written by Chris DIngess with Matthew Roberts handling  pencils and  inks Manifest Destiny started at Image in 2014. In the series you are following  Lewis&Clark as they explode the mid west/western part of the  USA.


With in the first 3 pages we get hints that something isn't right. Cause while this comic is based on  actual history,they add a nice twist.


They dock their boat and head to a nearby fort. Which is the furthest west settlement in the US. Here is where Lewis and Clark are suppose to meet Sacagawea. 


On the land they get attacked by a creature that is part horse,part man and part buffalo. Yea not a minotaur not a centuar but some weird hybrid.


When they make it to the fort it appears to be abandoned. Until a few of the guys,while looking for supplies,discover that some of the  fort denizens are still around but now look like  Swamp Thing.


So now our group adventurers are stuck in the  fort,cause a pile of the Buffalo-taurs have surrounded it. And got a pile of these planet people in the  fort after them. Shooting the plant people does nothing. Cutting them up just makes the parts cut off come alive and attack. They figure out that fire works. And this is when a few of the survivors from the  Fort appear.


The survivors explain how some kind of infection hit and turns you inside and out into a plant based life form. Who all share one mind. 


The group is worried about how they will survive,cause while they  can handle the plant people in the fort. They doubt thhey can get around the Buffalo-taurs. And have a very limited amount of food left.


Our leads come up with a decent plan. Having 5 people sneak out and lead the buffalo-taurs one way while the rest run  for the ships.


They are about to execute the  plan when  Sacagawea shows up. She has killed all the Buffalo-taurs. And wow there is a great scene showing her killing them  looks like  something out of a John Woo Hong Kong  action movie.


After making  it back to the  boats. And digging out some greek fire from the ships storage,they  plan on going and burning all the plant people. To try to prevent this infection from  spreading. It  kind of reminds me of kudzu. 


Anyone that gets the  plant people liquid on them  will turn into one and it works the same on animals. So  you  get a scene with a plant possessed deer.


And a great scene where one of the  good guys meets a plant possessed skunk


Lewis and  Clark get captured by the big plant that is the  hive mind of the plant people. And it's plan is like the killer plant from that one Superman annual that Alan Moore wrote. IE give the victims their heart's desires while the plant feeds off their bodies.


Native American  Ninja Sacagawea comes and saves our leads. And this trade  ends with her joining the group as they plan  on  leaving the next morning to finish their expadittion.


Really Really hoping this series is either over or near ending. Cause I plan on ordering all the tpbs at once and spending say 4 days just reading this series.


Never heard of the writer or the artist on the series. But the writer has a good way with dialogue. And the artist makes all the scenes full of 100 shades of green be super interesting to stare at.


Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna gets a A.


Monday, August 15, 2022

Deadpool Samurai Volumes 1&2 Manga


 Title-Deadpool Samurai Vols 1&2

Publisher-Viz Media

I had heard that Marvel was licensing out some of their caped heroes to a manga company in Japan. But never heard who it was or when it came out. Then early in summer I found these 2 volumes on sale. Want to say I paid 5 bucks each. Not bad.


VOL 1

Deadpool is in Japan and after running into what is basically Japan's version of Spider-man (Sakura Spider) he gets recruited to form an Avengers team in Japan. 


So you got Deadpool,Sakura Spider trying to find more members. No idea why none of the normal Marvel 616 Japan based heroes/heroines appeared. But we do get an Idol singer who just so happens to have a Symboite that she has control over. Yep a Japanese Venom... And Sakura Spider is a huge fan of the Idol Singer.


After setting up this 3 person team the rest of the volume is them facing Thanos. Yep Thanos... I know way to powerful to face this trio. But the writer makes it work.


Want to take a second to point out 2 things. One is that I have never given a shit about Deadpool. Read him when he first appeared and was just Marvel's clone of Slade Wilson. And read some of the later stuff that made Wade the 4th wall breaking Spider-man that kills. So  not really sure why I bought these two manga volumes about Deadpool. Might be that I will pick up any cheap comic I find locally hoping this will get the store to order more. Second thing is the writer of this manga is great at making Wade Wilson pointing out all the Manga Tropes.  Sure I haven't read much  Manga since the late 90s, but for about 8 years I wwwas reading piles of it. And even being disconnected from modern managa the tropes havent changed.


Overall this first volume was so  much fun. I started reading it  one night  while waiting on my sleep meds to kick in. Normally I can read for 10 to 20 minutes then get sleepy. Well I got sleepy but was so into this comic I had to finish  it. And it was hard to not just go ahead and read the second and final volume. 


The art is really well done.With Deadpool and the other Marvel properties appearing in  an art style that feels like a mixture of manga style plus that kind of IMAGE CLONE style Marvel was asking  artists to do back in 96.


Writing wise this was a fun fast read. Never did I have to go "wait what the fuck is he talking about". And besides the  normal getting use again to going from back to front,right to left,reading style manga uses this was a easy  read.


Also this volume 1  tpb contains a few pages that are exclusive to the tpb. 


Deadpool Samurai vol 2

Viz


Now Deadpool has his team,bootleg Venom and bootleg Spidey. They  won the  big fight in the first volume. But here in volume  2 they must face a villain so powerful that he caused the Avengers to form back in the 60s.


Yep Loki is the big bad guy in this volume. I love how Loki is drawn. Oddly unless I forgot I don't remember sseeing Thor show up in  this volume,not even near the end when the Avengers show up.


Not sure if the same artist/artists handled the pencils and inks on this volume. Because the art to me is more detailed and  has the appearance of thicker lines. 


Nothing really new in  this volume. Deadpool and his teammates face off againt a super powerful villain. And thanks to Deadpool's mouth they win. Yep Wade's smart aleck mouth defeats Loki.


Where as it took me close to 25 minutes to read vol 1 I got vol 2 read in like 15 minutes. But there was way  less writing and more battle scenes. Lots more 2 page spreads.


Seems these 2 volumes appeared in the weekly Shonen Jump comic. I  don't think this gets published physically anymore in the States,I did read it for close to a year in 2008. But I know it gets a digital release in the states. I do like how the art is bigger in  Shonen Jump,which is easier on my eyes. But It is way way cheaper to just buy the 2 volumes. And I never mentioned it but this series is only 2 volumes. Which is good. Most Manga seems to run FOREVER. So I hate starting in the middle of a series and  hate knowing the series might not get a proper ending. But with Deadpool Samurai you  got two volumess to buy.



Looked and these are $9.99 a volume. So 20 bucks to get the  full story,even though each of them can be read withut  reading the other. And keep in mind  I am not a fan of Deadpool and not  really that much into Manga.But if you  are a fan of either this is easily worth the cover price. And for someone that isn't,this is still good and if you can  find the two volume lot for say 13 bucks or less it is worth the cash.


Deadpool Samurai vol 1&2 Gets a B.

Monday, August 8, 2022

Penny Century Issue 5

 

Penny Century Issue 5

Published by Fantagraphics

So  while I have heard a pile about Los Bros Hernandez and Love and Rockets I have only read a small handfull of issues.

But over the past 15 years I am finding  piles of the Love&Rockets spinoffs in cheap bins. So if it is by any of the Los Bros Hernandez and  under 3 bucks an issue I will grab  it. Planning on  reading it fairly soon. No clue  when or where I got issue #5 of Penny Century. But after reading it a few hours ago I am glad I got it.

Hopey is working a polling station,and learned more about her friends.

This is  your normal L&V comic. Slice of life stories. With great art with dialogue that sounds like  it is coming  from real people.



So far I have read this issue and all of the Mechanics mini series,which  IIRC reprints in color for the first time a few stories from the early issues of volume 1 of Love and Rockets.


Penny Century #5 gets a Buy.