Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sampling one of the greats: 'Oh, My Goddess!"

Several years ago, I bought and read my last volume of English-language reprints of Kosuke Fujishima's "Oh, My Goddess!"

It wasn't because I'd grown tired of the series--while I thought Fujishima's art was starting to fray a bit around the edges as he was seeming to begin to succumb to the stagnation that seems to hit every comic book artist whose style stops evolving for a long period of time, I still loved the sweet humor and overall story-lines of the books.

No, I abandoned this series, because, within two more releases in the series, Dark Horse Comics went from providing properly translated, flipped versions of the comic, to the slip-shod non-flipped translations that are now the norm in the marketplace. As much as I liked "Oh, My Goddess!", I didn't want to support that move with my patronage.

No matter... Dark Horse and Fujishima didn't need my money, as the series is still going strong and into the 40s as far as the number of reprint books go.

I was going through some archived files, and I found this review from October 2005. I figured I'd repost it. It may be the first in a series of "Oh, My Goddess!" reviews, as I may enjoy my improving eyesight by re-reading those great graphic novels.

And now... re-presenting a review exactly as it first appeared on "Rotten Tomatoes" in 2005...


"Oh, My Godess!" Vol. 17: Traveller
Story and Art: Kosuke Fujishima
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Kosuke Fujishima's "Oh, My Goddess!" series has ranked among the very best graphic novel series in the world for at least the past decade. His story-telling techniques have continued to evolve, and while I have some personal nitpicks with where his art style is heading, they are exactly nothing but nitpicks. The latest volume in the series shows that this series will be going strong for years to come. The art is gorgeous, the stories are funny and touching, and the characters are as charming as ever.

In "Traveler," the threats faced by mechanic and college student Keiichi and the three goddesses (Belldandy, Skuld, and Urd) that have taken up residence with him in an abandoned temple are not of the reality-shattering variety--they prevented all of time from being unraveled in the previous volume, "Mystery Child"--but instead are on a smaller, more personal scale.

The first half of the book introduces a new continuing cast member--a sentient robot built by Skuld as a companion to Banpei, Skuld's first self-aware robotic creation. Unfortunately, the new robot hates Banpei with a passion.


The second half of the book opens with Belldandy losing her divine powers at a very inopportune moment. The timing becomes even worse when she and Keiichi become stranded at the center of an infinite space generated by another of Skuld's inventions. To make matters worse something is in the space with them....

This second half of "Traveler" is Fujishima's finest effort so far. Keiichi is firmly at center stage, shining like he never has before even while dealing with yet another weird creature that's ended up in his life due to the presence of the goddesses. The flow of the story is perfectly paced and the ending is very satisfying.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Picture Perfect Special:
Princesses of Mars, Part Fourteen

For the rest of the year, we will be traveling to Mars every other week for visits with the deadly and exotic princesses who dwell there. Keep your arms inside the ride at all times, or they may get cut off.


By Mike Hoffman


By Adam Hughes and Karl Story
By Gene Gonzales


By Anna-Marie Cool

Thursday, November 17, 2011

No posts on any of my blogs this week.

I am having really bad eye trouble. Hopefully, tomorrow's trip to the doctor will start to make things better.

I hope you'll check in at some point in the future.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bringing some class to NUELOW Games

One of the first releases in the NUELOW Games fiction line was my "remaster" of John Kendrick Bangs' fabulous tales of the Associated Shades of Hades, "Houseboat on the River Styx". We felt the fact we could say "Look! It's Shakespeare!" lent a touch of class to an outfit that otherwise specializes in offerings featuring supermodels beating each other up, and mockery of current political and pop cultural events.

But, seeing that I'm desperate to be respected and taken seriously as a writer, critic, and game designer, I'm once again trying to infuse a little class into the NUELOW Games line-up. I'm returning to the Shakespeare/Houseboat well.

Here's the cover for the next release for the "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters". Shakespeare and other Houseboat characters make a return, and Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, is added to the mix. There will also be a very special guest star, a newcomer to the Houseboat crew. Can you spot him in the picture?


NUELOW Games: Putting the ass in Class Since 1994!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Space Girl Adventures, Part Fifteen

I'm running low on Spacegirl material (and catching up with Travis Charest's creation of new material), so this series is going bi-weekly... and there will be a little less stuff in each post.

By Adam Warren




SPACEGIRL
by Travis Charest
Part Fifteen




To Be Continued....




By Terry Moore

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Random Ninjaosity

From Pale Rider 2: A Town Called Sakura

Ninjas support a woman's right to choose--the sword she kills you with.
(Yeah, I'm just making crap up. I don't know where those pictures are from--although the top one is probably a publicity still for one of the many versions of "Black Hood". I think I grabbed them from this very excellent site for reasons I no longer recall.)