Closing out the week... Chris Wisnia's classic monsters parody, DORIS DANGER, is back for another round.

Go stomp a city, won't you?

/Mason

Thursday brings the all-ages goodness of Joey Weiser's THE RIDE HOME.

Learn what a van gnome is. It's cute.

Honest.

/Mason

Hitting the hump... THE SADHU is an East-meets-West tale that plays fair and even-handed with all sides.

Pretty rare, that is.

/Mason

Jason Burns brings THE EXPENDABLE ONE back for another amusing turn...

Good, nasty fun.

/Mason

Manga Monday! GACHA GACHA THE NEXT REVOLUTION has the chance to really say something about gender politics and sexual identity...

...but it doesn't. Ah, well.

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Welcome back to another Blog Extra! This week, the spotlight falls on a graphic novel from our wacky neighbors to the north, Arcana Studio. The graphic novel in question? BANZAI GIRL, written and drawn by Jinky Coronado and Wilson Tortosa. Let’s dig in, shall we?

The basics: Coronado herself is a model, beauty queen, and has developed quite a following on the web. Her abilities at the first two jobs put her in a position to develop her talents as an artist and writer, leading her to create this book. The plot: Jinky, based on herself, has dreams of herself in other worlds and eventually discovers that she’s a legendary heroine. Which is good, because all sorts of nasty creepy-crawlies are rising in her neighborhood, and her gifts will be needed. Armed mainly with her wits and a skirt three sizes too small, she’ll save her friends and show the world she wears only thongs, or die trying.

And therein lies the true rub about BANZAI GIRL: this isn’t just a fanservice book of biblical proportions. It’s a flat-out fetish book wrapped in a very thin layer of story.

Asian schoolgirl in short skirt? Check. Skirt WAY too short? Check. Parents inappropriately give her stripper heels to wear with skirt? Check. Creepy villains made of tentacles that wrap around nubile schoolgirl flesh? Check. (Shh- Joe Quesada still doesn’t know there’s such a thing as tentacle porn- don’t wake him.) Schoolgirl’s friends also wear thong undies and way too short skirts? Check. Every page has at least one ass shot or crotch shot? Check.

Look, I know there’s a market for this type of book. And I genuinely respect the fact that Coronado has developed her talent as an artist and writer. Honest-to-God, she can work a pencil on the page. But I am so NOT the audience for it- I felt dirty reading it, and I’m not making that up. Underage girls just aren’t my thing, and even though I read mangas which feature fanservice, they’re nothing compared to the heaping amounts of jailbait flesh on display here. No one’s naked, but it doesn’t matter- it’s close enough.

I can appreciate good erotica, no question. And if Ms. Coronado were to revisit her characters after they turn 21 or so, I’d be more than willing to take a look. This is her niche, and it’s one she knows how to work well. But for now, it can’t include me.

That’s all for this week. Be here through the week for site updates and friend me on MySpace, and back here next weekend for the next Blog Extra!

/Mason

Two for Thursday! Why? Because I get a day off Friday, and that means the site does, too! So enjoy new reviews of Pete Bregman's THE TRAP DOOR MAKER and NBM's collection of classic MUTT & JEFF strips.

See you Monday!

/Mason

The midweek stride... the 24/7 anthology returns, though with rather different results.

Go see what I mean.

/Mason

Tuesday brings one of the most affecting stories about an animal I've ever read: Nick Abadzis' LAIKA, which tells the story of the first dog in space.

You're gonna love it.

/Mason

Manga Monday! PURI PURI continues its strange mix of fanservice and divinity school.

But if that's your perversion, have at it!

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Whoops. So, last weekend, I kinda bumped into a bit of a sinus problem and wound up being laid up away from the computer. No Blog Update. But I’m back in the saddle, abnd happy to bring you a look at two recent number ones from my friends at Dynamite Entertainment.

ARMY OF DARKNESS: FROM THE ASHES #1 is written by James Kuhoric and drawn by Fernando Blanco. Having completed his trip to the Marvel Zombies world, Ash is back in his own universe, only to find it overrun by death, destruction, and de-composure. It seems that in his absence, his evil duplicate has become king bad guy and is ruling the roost. Not good. FROM THE ASHES is okay, no great shakes… but it did finally help me figure something out. I’ve never really enjoyed the ARMY comics, and at first, I thought it was because I wasn’t a fan of the movies, but that isn’t it. The real problem is that the films only work because you have the charisma of Bruce Campbell carrying the load on screen. That charisma is impossible to duplicate on the comic page (though John Layman came close in MZ vs. AOD), making the book read something a bit more… standard than maybe it should. Not sure if anything can be done about it, really.

On the flip side, I was genuinely surprised by TERMINATOR 2: INFINITY #1, written by Simon Furman and drawn by Nigel Raynor. Honestly, when I heard that DE had picked up the license, I thought it was more than a stretch. But here’s where it gets interesting: not only does this touch on the first film, but it also picks up from the end of the third film, which gives it a ton more room in the sandbox to play. And play it does; new terminators, the beginning of John Connor’s journey after unlocking the bunker at Crystal Peak… rather than being trapped by the events of the second film, Furman expands the TERMINATOR universe immediately. And after some inconsistent art on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Nigel Raynor is much, much better here. Apparently, he likes these robots more than ones that look like Grace Park. To each his own. But yeah, against any odds I’d have given you, this works. Mea culpa

That’s it for this week. Join me through the week for site updates. I am also now doing a weekly recap on my Myspace page, via bulletin. So friend me!

See you next time!

/Mason

Finishing up the week... Scott Sava delivers another fine all-ages book, PET ROBOTS, and Garth Ennis rocks JOHN WOO'S 7 BROTHERS...

Happy weekend, all.

/Mason

BLACK METAL brings the noise...

Bang your head!

/Mason

In the middle of the lineup- one of the first great graphic novels of 2007, Matt Kindt's SUPER SPY.

Damn, it's gooooooood.

/Mason

Two for Tuesday! First up, the Suicide Girls have put out the first issue of SUICIDE GIRLS MAGAZINE. But if that wasn't enough cool for you today, I also have a feature interview article with actor James Denton. He took some time away from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES to film a segment of MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION, and we have the scoop.

Best reading day ever? Perhaps.

/Mason

As I try and process the horrible news that we've lost Mike Wieringo... well, honestly, I Just can't. Head to Newsarama for the details. Ringo was one of my all-time faves, and his art had more pure joy in it than ten other guys put together. He'll be missed, for many, many reasons.

Today's Manga Monday brings GURU GURU PON-CHAN to a conclusion. I have nothing pithy to say at such a sad moment.

/Mason

Closing out the week: Paul Horn brings my all-time favorite webcomic to trade paperback. Check out what makes COOL JERK so damned much fun.

Trust me.

/Mason

Paul Pope's THB makes a triumphant return to the shelves.

That's good news on any day of the week.

/Mason

Greg Pak's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA run draws to a close... did it turn out to be a cohesive story?

You know I'm not going to tell you the answer here, right?

/Mason

Jim Valentino's normalman was one of the first parody indies to truly succeed in the marketplace. Now it's all collected in a single volume.

Why be normal? Why not?

/Mason