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Parasyte is the title of a very fun manga series. It is written and drawn by Hitoshi Iwaaki. The plot is more or less an alien species that arrives earth and attempts to intrude humans by taking over their brains. Some successfully accomplish their mission and use the human form to devour other humans in very gory ways. These alien invade human brains through their ears. Our hero, Sinichi, is saved because he was using headphones. The alien attempts to enter his body through his hand but Sinichi is able to stop it from leaving his hand. The alien having little time to survive chooses to settle for his right arm and therefore can’t take control of his human brain. Eventually he names the alien Migi (right) and they develop an interesting relationship, that allows them, for one to save themselves from other aliens, and to destroy other aliens when either Sinichi or Migi are in danger, as Migi is dependant on Sinichi’s health.

At the beginning the alien just devour others, soon the plot evolves into the potential symbiotic relationship, that there are good ones and bad ones, and there are philosophical attempts here and there to use the aliens as a metaphore to explain humans faults and virtues. However these are mostly cliches and nothing deeper than that.

The art gets better in the second book, more focused and detailed. There is also much better character development than in the first book. It seems the author is feeling more comfortable with the characters and the story itself.

The book is kinda silly and childish, but it is a lot of fun to read, especially if you like b-horror type stories. Think Robert Rodriguez or Tarantino, if you like their styles then give it a try.

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version en español

damn… another long time… oh well!…

The Long Road Home is the title of the newest comic series related to Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga. Same creative group behind it than the ones in “The Gunslinger Born” comic series, finished not so long ago. The Long Road Home is almost done, we are in issue 4 of 5, and it is fantastic. It is even better than “The Gunslinger Born”.

For those of you that might be new to the story we are on the trail of Roland’s adventures when he just became a Gunslinger. Currently we are on the story when he first meets and confronts the Crimson King, which depiction is just great. Everything you ever imagined it would be.

At the end of the fourth issue of the series there is depiction of the different mutants, both animals and humans that we encounter throughout the books. What came to mind was the passage in the first book when Jake and Roland are traversing the mountains and get attacked by the slow mutants. The depiction is as terrifying as the description in the book. I had to go back and read the first book again. It was a very satisfying reading experience having the pictures in my head while reading the book.

En español

“The Long Road Home” es el título de la nueva serie de comics relacionada con la saga “The Dark Tower” de Stephen King. Esta nueva serie está escrita por los mismos creadores de “The Gunslinger Born”, que culminó no hace mucho y que ahora está disponible en libro. En la nueva serie estamos en el fascículo 4 de 5, y es simplemente buenísima. Aún mejor que “The Gunslinger Born”.

Para aquellos que no saben mucho de los comics que siguen “The Dark Tower”, básicamente empezamos con la historia de como Roland se convierte en Gunslinger con “The Gunslinger Born” y sus historias con Cuthbert y Jamie (el Ka-tet). Esta segunda serie cubre la historia de ellos volviendo a la ciudad a avisar antes del ataque de “The Good Man”.

En el cuarto fascículo, al final, muestran dibujos de las diferente mutaciones de animales y seres humanos. Los dibujos son increibles. Lo que me vino a la mente fue el primer libro de la serie “The Gunslinger - The Dark Tower I”, y el pasaje de Roland y Jake a través de las montañas y el ataque de los “Slow Mutants”. Tanto así que decidí leerme otra vez el primer libro. Leer el libro con las imágenes de los comics es una experiencia más completa. Los mutantes son tan fascinantes como uno los imagina mientras lee el libro.

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It’s been a while since I wrote about the first three issues of this comic series. I was so disappointed at issue #3 (Sloth) that it took many trips to the comic shop to get the next three issues: Lust, Pride and Envy. Issue seven is still in the making.

As with the rest of the series, issues 4 through 6, are a roller coaster. Being Lust the best story telling and Envy the best art and character development I’ve seen this far. Pride is a bit boring, but not as bad, nothing could, as the story telling of Sloth.

In Lust, they give us a bit of the background on the religious upbringing that is quite consistent with the character we know. The art is good, but the story telling is what shines. We know of his mother and her relationship to his uncle, how the mother pushes him into a world of guiltiness (is that a word?), and how his teenager hormones had something to say about it. But not quite enough, so it all start making sense.

Pride is quite uneventful, a bit of cheese here and there, very cliche, nothing much to say… the art cover, as usual, is great.

Envy is perhaps the best issue thus far. It is actually what prompted me to write about the series again. It is what I’ve hoped the whole series would have been. It goes deep, it shows how John Doe cracks and we understand how he becomes vulnerable to the sin he is guilty of at the end of the movie. The writer, David Mack, found a story that makes sense. The art is very good and compelling. If you are not interested in the rest of the series, at least try this one.

It is said that by the end of the year they are going to put out the whole series in a graphic novel, so if you are reading this and you are tempted to get it, then just wait until the graphic novel hits the stand.

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The third issue is out and it is extremely disappointing. When I started reading the series I got very excited because it was aimed to give depth to the story and to the characters; and I was expecting the quality of the script and vision the movie had given us.

The first issue was interesting, the atmosphere was there, the format was working. The second issue, the story got better, the art was still good. Sloth, though the art style is interesting and likeable, the story is terrible. It is so bad that is not worth even talking about it. What I had believe would have been one of the most interesting stories to tell, turned out to be boring and so naive and shallow I couldn’t even give it to other people to read.

The good thing, I guess, is that there is no way the next one is worse.

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Either the horror genre has become dull or I have grown up. Perhaps it is because I don’t believe in monsters anymore or just because monsters are uninteresting (I have to admit that Mr Barker managed to create a really good monster that still gives me the chills everytime I watch Hellraiser). Perhaps I have made peace with all the monsters, ghouls, vampires and the such over time.

In the past Stephen King’s books used to scare me. I remember when I read both Pet Sematary and The Shinning, both scare the shit out of me. More recently, with the exception of The Audition, which I blogged about not so long ago, I haven’t seen or read anything that is really worthy of the Horror genre.

That is until I got in my hands Ode To Kirihito. This book is written by Manga God Osamu Tezuka. This was the guy that actually got me into comics with his Buddha biography, which is magnificent. Ode to Kirihito was recently made available in English. The book (or should I say graphic novel?) is about 800 pages long, and you can read it in a matter of hours, because it is very hard to put down. Tezuks’a story telling is simply too good and the art is so compelling that is hard to stop reading.
The setup for the story is really bizarre, and characters throughout the story are even more bizarre. The book is about human nature, or shall I say dark human nature. It is about corrupted values and the extents people would go for power, revenge, and self satisfaction.

The book is set up in Japan in current times, whatever current was when the book was written. A medical Dr (Kirihito) is researching about a disease that turns humans into dogs. Little he knew he was put into that position on purpose by his mentor, which felt threatened by him, in an effort to make him disappear. In the midst of his coming back ala Count of Montecristo, he encounters with the most bizarre characters. Just to give you a taste: a woman that made her life out of dipping into hot boiling oil while covered by some form of dough; a multimillionaire that is so bored that pays for freak shows like giant snakes eating children slaves, politicians that sell their daughters for personal satisfaction, etc, etc… you get the idea.
I think it is fair to say that the story has somewhat a happy ending, as much as it can be given the story. I won’t give out the end in case you are curious enough to read it.

There is hope for the horror genre, you just have to look deep in the dark side of the human nature.

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Greed - book two of the se7en series is out. This one follows the events prior the death of Eli Gould, the lawyer whose greed takes him to defend high paying cases of bad people that are usually guilty.

Though the art and the layout in the initial Se7en: Gluttony were better IMHO, these are very good especially when the main character is being emotionally tortured by John Doe. Having said that the character development is much better this time. The sides stories behind explaining the lawyer’s character are sufficient but a bit too shallow for my taste, though I guess otherwise it’d be too long for a comic issue. What is really great in this book is the notepad notes. This gives so much depth to the John Doe character. I love this line: “Oh YES, SCAVENGE THE CARCASS of need and hoard your want, amphibian…” it speaks volumes to the John Doe character (when in context you’ll understand better what I mean).

Next issue is Sloth… can’t wait!… you can take a peek at the art at David Seidman website.

Credits: Written by Ralph Tedesco & Joe Brusha
Artwork: Arcana Studios
Colors by Mark McNabb
Lettering by Artmonkeys
Cover, notebook pages & Design by David Seidman

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Based on the Se7en movie, Zenescope is releasing a series of 7 issues that tells the stories about the characters in the seven movie. The first issue was released in September, and I picked up a copy today in my monthly run to the comic store to get 100 Bullets.

I didn’t know about it until I got to the comic store. I picked up the Gluttony issue because the art looked great, and indeed it is. I Found out later that there is an “R” rated cover. Which I am not sure I understand the meaning of it, I mean if you flip the pages in the book you already understand this is not a book for kids, so not sure the cover makes that much difference. Except of course to the issue collectors.

The killer script is awesome, not so much the victim’s though, in fact the victim’s story is kinda lame. The art throughout is really good, it has many details and the coloring follows the same patterns and palete used in the movie. The whole issue does an amazing job at keeping the same movie atmosphere. All in all is defenitely worth it for those Seven fans like myself. Especially for those of us that wanted always to know more details about the story.

You can find an interview to Tommy Castillo, interior artist, here.

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