read volume 1 - 3 of the goon. it's an interesting comic series which mixes comedy, action, horror, crime all into one.

if you're a comic geek think - hellboy + sin city + daffy duck. okay maybe not daffy duck, but you get the idea.

the main characters are Goon and his right hand fella Franky. they work for a mob leader whose in hiding. the only other mob / gang in this town is a gang of zombies lead by the zombie priest (yeah - another comic book with zombies). what makes this series so interesting are the following.

1. story - pretty darn good. especially the origin of goon.
2. creative characters - they have octopus flying from massive balloons - that's pretty darn cool. they also have a character called the buzzard which needs to eat the dead in order to survive.
3. random silliness which breaks up the serious, scary bits of the comic series. (they have random orangutans which bursts into flame)

for these and other reasons i'd give it a read. here's what wikipedia had to say :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon

been on kind of a comic run. just read volume 1 - 30 of berserk. i had watched the anime series and was not impressed at all - but again, after reading what wikipedia had to say i thought i'd give the manga a go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_%28manga%29

so here's my review. it's got a great initial story arc. loved the fact that the writer took his time to develop his characters - also enjoyed the fact that he didn't seem too attached to them to kill them off.

what do i mean by that? well the initial story arc is all bout why the main character 'Gutts / Gatts' is chasing after revenge + why demons are trying to kill him + how he lost an eye & left arm + how he came across such a big ass sword.

the first two issues just starts out with him kicking some major ass and killing off some minor demons. then the story goes back in time starting from Gutt's birth - or i should say how he was found. his basically found by a bad of mercenaries under a tree with the dead hanging from it. one of the dead gave birth to Gutts which is lying on the ground. one of the girls (think server / girlfriend / whatever) of the bad of mercenaries picks up Gutts and decides to adopt him.

yeah i know - pretty gruesome stuff. and that's kinda the appeal of this book. it's for mature audiences (dah) and the violence, story is very gruesome. it also goes into why the main character doesn't likes to be touched - it layers on complexities in each character which makes it a good read.

with that stated i'm only giving it a 3/5 mainly cause after the first story arc it starts to get kinda crappy - they start introducing magic, etc... etc... and it feels more like a final fantasy game rather then a story bout one man in his drive to get revenge. and if that's not crappy enough they are advertising a card game based off the manga series in the later volumes, which makes me wonder if the writer / creator decided to change the tone of the plot to make some $$ via marketing. the second story arc is really lame in comparison to the first. one way to look at it is - story arc 1 = rated R, story arc 2 = PG 13.

so i just finished reading issues 1 - 25 of the walking dead. i first came aware of it because of eric's dot http://bluedot.us/users/eric/dot/67803333199 on this comic series. read what wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead had to say and i became interested.

here's my review - the first few issues weren't that interesting. you have a cop who gets shot - goes into a coma wakes up to find... yup you got it, zombies. like most horror flicks it seems like a typical storyline. he goes out and finds some peeps - decides to find his wife and kid by heading to his mother-in-laws... you seeing a pattern.

he goes to atlanta in hopes of finding his family and ends up meeting a group of survivors. okay - the set up is done, so what makes this story different from every other zombie movie story line? well - the character development and the fact it's a continuing storyline. meaning in a zombie flick it has the setup, minor character development, death and some random survivors and then it's over. in this story line it continues more then just a day / a week / etc... by issue 25 the amount of time passed was bout 6 months, and the strain of it was starting to affect the survivors in various ways.

okay i'm rambling - bottom line, surprisingly good. would recommend that you give it a read - meaning not just read issue one, but read up to issue 5-10 to get the story development, character development and interactions between characters.

so i figured it was about time that i read dragon ball because it's my duty as an asian person to at least know about this stupid little comic / anime series.

i say stupid only cause my main exposure to this series is from the anime dragon ball z which plays on the cartoon network. it's nothing more then various big looking guys grimacing all the time with very little action. when you think bout it the series is like a body builder's contest where all they do is flex - or in dragon ball z 'power up' or some crap like that.

so anyways - back to the series. i got all the series (well most of them) and started reading them from issue one. and to my surprise the first few issues are actually entertaining where humor is the genre of the books. it's silly yes, but it was very entertaining - then the story started taking a more serious turn and next thing you know it's all about fighting - booo....

so my recommendation - if you're even mildly interested only read the first story arc - basically up to volume 5, after that it starts to become more about flexing... not very interesting.

what i'm currently reading.

pretty darn good thus far.

the comic i was referring to earlier. it's a fairly interesting concept - a world of superheros where one is murdered - and it's the job of two human detectives to solve the murder.

didn't read too much of this series as i don't really care for murder mysteries in a comic - if i want that i'll just watch 24 or something.

here's what amazon.com had to say :
"Heroes glide through the sky on lightning bolts and fire. Flamboyant villains attempt daring daylight robberies. God-like alien creatures clash in epic battle over the night-time sky. And on the dirty city streets below, homicide detective Christian Walker does his job. He has to investigate the shocking murder of one of the world`s most popular superheroes, Retro Girl. Walker has teamed up with spunky rookie, Deena Pilgrim, as the murder investigation takes them from the seediest underbelly the city has to offer to the gleaming towers that are home to immortal beings. As hidden truths about Retro Girl come to light, Walker finds that to solve this crime, he may have to reveal a dark secret."

Quoted: Amazon.com: Powers Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl?: Books: Brian Michael Bendis,Michael Avon Oeming by Brian Michael Bendis,Michael Avon Oeming

currently reading this based on recommendation from a friend.

not too far into it yet - i'm currently on issue 3, will write another review after i've read more of it. but as for my initial reaction it reminds me a lot of 'Powers' - it's a comic book about a world with superheros where superheros die, and it follows two detectives trying to solve who murdered the superhero and how.

similiarly fables follows a community of... well - fables. meaning characters from your favorite fable stories, such as snow white, the big bad wolf, prince charming, etc... the story starts out with a fable being murdered and it's the job of the big bad wolf - who is now a cop - to solve this murder.

the concept is fairly interesting. prince charming is a man whore who doesn't have a dime so he 'charms' women to leech off of. but the writing seems really poor and lengthy. i enjoy comics that actually allows the pictures to tell the story as well as the words.

it's still early - but thus far, it hasn't grabbed ahold of me. it is a good concept though (imho).

Quoted: Amazon.com: Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile: Books: Bill Willingham by Bill Willingham

just finished reading the samurai executioner series - it consists of 10 volumes, each about 300 or so pages. i was very excited to read this series mainly cause i love 'lone wolf and cub' which is written + draw by the same duo who wrote / drew samurai executioner.

i new very little about this series other then that it was suppose to have taken place before the 'lone wolf and cub' story arc. so i thought perhaps this was a prequel to that story - it is not, this is a completely different story about a different person - who happens to appear in 'lone wolf and cub' for a short instance.

the overall story is good but doesn't compare with lone wolf. this feels more like a collection of stories - they are interesting but they don't connect. there isn't a overall story arch which ties in volume 1 to volume 10. you could pretty much pick up any book and read it on its own and would get a good story, there isn't a build up / desires which makes you want to find out what happens next.

it's okay - the stories are interesting, but if you ask me i say read lone wolf and cub. it's a way better story arc.

Quoted: Amazon.com: Samurai Executioner Volume 10 (Samurai Executioner): Books: Kazuo Koike,Goseki Kojima by Kazuo Koike,Goseki Kojima

just finished reading the entire bone series. it's a wonderful fairly tale story. it's set in a fantasy relm where dragons, giant bees, rat creatures, cats the size of houses roam freely.

the story starts out sweet and something of a children's story but as the story progresses it becomes richer and deeper for older readers. there are great battles, twists and turns, folklore and funny moments - it's really good stuff.

i would highly recommend you read it if you like :
- the first few harry potter books
- LOTR

Quoted: Amazon.com: Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville: Books: Jeff Smith by Jeff Smith