Yan: Vol 2 by Chang Sheng - Manga Review

 

'Winner of the prestigious Golden Comic Award, Yan Volume 2 cements its place as a standout title in Taiwan’s rapidly growing manga and graphic novel scene. Acclaimed creator Chang Sheng continues his genre-defying series with even higher stakes, transporting readers between modern-day Taiwan and a bleak dystopian future.

'What began as a personal vendetta has become a race to save the world from an A.I.-ruled apocalypse. As the group leaps through time, they must uncover buried secrets from Taiwan’s past to alter a chilling future that looms just ahead. The resurrected Peking Opera performer Tieh-Hua—as deadly as she is enigmatic—is joined by a disgraced detective, a missing Go prodigy with visions of the future, and a suspicious time-traveller, each playing a role in this tangled narrative.

'Chang Sheng masterfully fuses science fiction with Taiwanese cultural heritage and supernatural mystery, accompanied by his opulently detailed artwork and worlds. Yan Volume 2 is a bold, visually stunning exploration of identity, justice, and fate—blending high-octane action with philosophical intrigue. For fans of Baby and The Hidden Level, this is Chang Sheng at his most inventive yet.'

The first volume of Yan was easily one of the most impressive books that I've read this year, and my excitement for the second volume was pretty high; and I find that this can sometimes be a negative thing as your expectations for what comes next can become too high for the final product to meet. It's why we can see fans of things complain about the latest instalment of a franchise if they've had too long to build it up in their mind. Thankfully, I didn't have too long to wait for the second volume of Yan, and that there was no way my mind could have exceeded what Chang Sheng manages to deliver with this brilliant second part.

The first volume of Yan very much felt like a mystery story. A young woman accused of murdering her entire family gets locked away for twenty years, but the place she's being held is destroyed in a massive explosion with no survivors. She shows up a decade later, having not aged, and begins a quest of revenge to find out who really killed her family and why. A retired cop comes back to work to try and solve the case. It's fairly simple, even with the hints at something larger moving the pieces from the background, and even with the introduction of a teenage girl capable of seeing five minutes into the future. The sci-fi elements were definitely there, but the book felt fairly grounded whilst being fantastical.

This shifts quite dramatically in the second volume, which opens with Yan Tieh-Hua running into a fight with a huge laser beam shooting robot in the opening pages. Where the first volume slowly introduces you to the story this one throws you into the thick of it, and gives you some of the best choreographed comic book action I've seen in a long while. Sheng understands how to make the images on the page feel full of motion and power, and a sense of urgency that makes each panel flow into the next. The action scenes scattered throughout the book are fantastic, and as the story builds and we get new, powerful players enter the conflict it really sells the idea that even this volume is just a preview of even bigger things to come. 

The story also opens up in some pretty interesting ways, and shifts the narrative away from focusing purely on Yan Tieh-Hua, and gives us instead a story that spans time, universes, and possibly even leads to the apocalypse. The narrative doesn't abandon Yan Tieh-Hua's tale to bring these new elements in, however, and instead makes her past a more important piece in the overall puzzle, introducing a tech mogul whose own tragic past and motivations to creating a deadly weapon might be connected to our central heroine in terrible ways. 

We also get a new ally added to the rag-tag band of heroes in the form of Herlock, who was seen briefly in the first volume as a helmet wearing portal hopper who seemed to be travelling through time. Introduced fully here, we discover that his actual origin and abilities are much bigger than you could have theorised, and his addition brings some pretty cool new abilities to the team. All of this comes in handy as volume two seems to introduce the big bad for the story (at least I hope it is because it's already pretty scary and powerful) in the form of Thirteen, an AI that might just bring about the end of the world.

Thirteen makes for an amazing antagonist in the latter parts of this volume, posing a physical threat that's able to push our band of heroes to their limits, which considering the group consists of someone with super strength, someone who can teleport and has a gun that erases things from existence, and a girl who can see the future to predict all your moves, is a hell of a thing. This volume ups the ante in such a way that I have no idea how our protagonists are going to manage to come out on top; which makes things incredibly exciting.

Yan volume two answers a load of questions, it provides new pieces of the puzzle, and explains some big questions from the first book; but it also poses way more questions than it answers. The book ends in such a way that you're going to struggle to predict what comes next, where you feel no closer to solving the mystery, and you've got less of an understanding of our heroine than when it began. But, the experience is so damn good that none of that detracts from the quality, and just makes you want to see what comes next even more.

Yan has managed to not only keep its quality into this second volume, but has upped it. I gave the last book a five star rating, and this gets the same because that's the maximum I go to, but in truth this one is even better. If you're missing out on this series you're going to regret it some day, so do yourself a favour and jump on board now.

Yan: Vol 2 is out now from Titan Comics.

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Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie - Book Review

 

'When a terrible accident befalls extraordinary surgeon Dr. Stephen Strange, he’ll do anything to regain mobility in his crippled hands. His journey will take him to unbelievable realms and bring him face-to-face with petrifying dangers. Explore the fantastic worlds of Doctor Strange with exclusive concept artwork and in-depth analysis from the filmmakers. Go behind the scenes in this deluxe keepsake volume as Marvel once again brings its strange history to the silver screen!

'Here is everything you need to know about the making of the movie from all the key players—including director Scott Derrickson, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, along with the talented cast, special-effects gurus, concept illustrators, visual-effects designers, and storyboard artists who worked on the set and behind the scenes to create the art of Doctor Strange.'

There were a few big gambles that Marvel Studios made whilst creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing alien beings worshipped as gods in Thor, creating a fully sci-fi action adventure with no connection to the other heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy, and introducing the concept of magic in Doctor Strange. Most of the MCU is dealing in grounded ideas, even the most outlandish up to that point (they made gods into aliens to make Thor more realistic), as such Doctor Strange was a bold leap when it said 'no, actual magic and the supernatural do exist too'.

The comics that the film was to be based upon were some of the strangest (no pun intended) that Marvel had made, and some of the stories from the 60's and 70's are so psychedelic and different to the rest of the publishers output that you kind of question if perhaps the people working on it were exploring the ideas of the mystic and the transcendental with a little 'extra help'. So how would a universe that had tried to make things feel real, to ground its heroes, square this circle. Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Doctor Strange gives us a great look at how they were able to do this, and just how much they embraced the source material's weirdness.

Much like with the previous entries in this collection, this latest volume takes things chronologically, and we work through the film as our hero travels through this new world. The opening sections deal with Stephen Strange's life before magic, of his accident, and how it sets him on a new path. It's decent enough, though doesn't give us anything super interesting. I tend to find the parts of these books that deal with the grounded, real life elements are the slowest; luckily, in this volume that's only the first few pages, as we're soon going through the creation of Kamar-Taj and it's students,

This is where the book really comes to life, and it's great to see how the creative team tried to marry the fantasy elements with the history of Nepal, and Kathmandu, where the filming took place. It seems that trying to find this balance of cultural accurate and the fantastical was a key concern for the team, who wanted to create something that paid respects to the inspiration behind the character without being insulting or cartoonish. And it does feel like the final result does this quite well, and you can see in the designs presented here that there were concepts that were a little too fantastical that just didn't quite work, despite looking great.

One of the characters who gets the most focus in this section if The Ancient One, a character that was on the receiving end of a little controversy at the time due to the casting of a white actor in the role. A few of the designs in the book seem like they may have made this situation a little worse, leaning into a more cliché marital arts master style look for Tilda Swinton's character. There are a number of designs that sway much further into the fantasy realm too, with one having her being an almost ethereal, angelic being in all white and her face hidden behind a veil, whilst another has her floating crossed legged in the air as she meditates. 

The book also spends some decent time going into the background elements, such as props that might only appear on screen briefly, but go a long way into fleshing out the world of magic. There are pages of designs for various versions of the sling rings, Strange's cloak, ancient texts, the Wand of Watoomb, or the Lamp of Icthalon. These designs feature a host of different styles that showcase some of the more unusual elements of the movie that are seen so briefly on the big screen that it'd be easy to miss a lot of the details. Some of the weapons and magic artefacts have such cool designs that after getting to see them in so much detail here it reinforces just how much effort goes into things that you might not even notice when watching the film. 

Most of the book is filled with full page images and double page spreads of various illustrations for spells and magic, as the design team tried different ideas out, refining and perfecting the look of magic for the MCU. Some of these pages are so unusual that you'd be hard pressed to imagine how it would work in a moving medium, but it gives a little indication of just how much refinement went into the finished product. 

As with previous books there's also a number of story boards included, showing how certain scenes are planned out ahead of filming, with even the smallest details needing careful consideration to create some of these hugely intricate and effects heavy sequences. There's also a small section at the back of the book that deals with post production marketing and the creation of some of the MCU's most attention grabbing movie posters. 

There are things that I really loved about this book, such as seeing the various costume designs, the various magic artefacts, and some designs that didn't make it into the film but would have looked amazing if they did. Compared to some other entries in the series that sometimes feel like they're padding the page count with details like 'how we designed the Avengers kitchen' or 'this is Tony Stark's bathroom' this volume really focuses on the interesting stuff, and so there are very few pages that aren't giving the reader something unique and interesting.

For those who are collecting this series this might be one of the more interesting and eye catching in the collection, and for those who haven't picked one of these books up before but are tempted by this one I think that there's certainly enough here to grab your attention and make you interested in reading more.

Marvel Studio's The Infinity Saga - Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie is out now from Titan Books.

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Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus by James Lovegrove - Book Review

 

'Marvel’s First Family faces a desperate battle for survival against a planet-devouring god. Inspired by the seminal origin stories of the Fantastic Four, Galactus and the Silver Surfer by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

'The sky is on fire. Across the globe, the people are convinced that the end is nigh. They’re right. Galactus is coming. His herald, the Silver Surfer, has come to Earth and judged it perfect for his master’s needs. And his master is hungry. The odds are impossible, the outcome is certain—nothing can stop the devourer of worlds. When all seems lost, Earth looks to the Fantastic Four. They’ll find a way to stop Galactus and save the world. They have to.'

Just in time for the new film Fantastic Four: First Steps, Titan Books are giving prose readers a chance to discover where some of the key elements of the new movie originated in a new novelisation of the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee comic story The Coming of Galactus, which introduced the Silver Surfer and Galactus to the world. Originally published over three issues, #48 - #50, in 1966, this arc would forever cement the Fantastic Four as one of the premier Marvel Comics properties, and would expand the scope of the Marvel universe beyond the confines of New York City, and Earth, in ways fans had never seen before.

The new novelisation doesn't stray from the source material a great deal, and keeps the original story in place. The book introduces us to Galactus in a way that the original didn't, however, by giving us his origin as a survivor of the previous existence of the universe more than 13.6 billion years ago. These were details that wouldn't come until after his introductory story in the comics, but whilst he was served well by having some mystique in that first appearance here his origin makes him something all the more frightening. Galactus has always been presented as something of a cosmic horror, a being who destroys planets and commits genocide just to feed, and despite his somewhat unusual appearance he's just as monstrous and a creature like the Old Gods from Cthulhian mythology. By showing his age, by giving us the details of who and what he used to be it shows the breadth and span of his existence and makes him feel even more unknowable.

James Lovegrove is fantastic at these kind of beats, of getting us to see these characters we know well in whole new ways. He's able to take the humanising backstory of Galactus and twist it into something that feels frightening, he makes you feel pathos for the Silver Surfer, he gets you to see the humanity in the Thing. Lovegrove, thanks in part to the ability of prose to delve deeper into the characters than comics traditionally allow, is able to connect you with these people more than you're used to. Not only does this make them feel like more realised and well rounded characters, but it also gives a very old, very familiar story a whole new lease on life. 

That's perhaps one of the reasons why certain stories benefit from this kind of adaptation. Some of Titan's previous novelisations have been of more modern comics, such as Original Sin, and these have been fine, but it doesn't feel like as much is gained as it is here. I think that this is going to be largely due to two things, the age of the comic it's adapting, and Stan Lee; both of these kind of tie together too. 

Comics were pretty surface level during this period, and whilst there were times that some books tried giving us more character development and depth than we would usually get they were often very 'adventure of the week' style tales, ones that didn't involve much growth or change for the leads, who were stuck as being archetypes. There were also issues in the writing that simply came from the 60's being a pretty shitty time for a lot of people (anyone who wasn't a white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied man really), and so you'd have a character like Sue Storm, one of the most powerful women in comics, being made into a damsel, or an airhead, or being treated like 'the little lady' by her husband's casual sexism that was just baked into the culture. Stan Lee, whilst partially responsible for creating some iconic characters (though not as fully as Stan always tried to make out), wasn't the best at giving readers much more than this, and it resulted in some material that hasn't aged well.

By updating this story in prose form Lovegrove has been able to go in an fix many of these issues, giving the book a more modern sensibility and more balanced handling. The book is given an update that modernises it without taking away from the charm and flavour of the era it was made in. Whilst I've not seen the new film yet, the book has the same vibe that the trailers for it has, of being a modernised version of a retro 60's sci-fi tale, a love letter to the era and the characters that long time fans are going to love. 

Whether you're familiar with the original story or have never picked up a comic before, Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus is a perfect way to experience this original story and a great way to prepare for the new film. I think a lot of people are going to be either checking out the Fantastic Four for the first time, or reappraising their views on the team, this summer, and this book is a great addition to that journey.

Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus is out now from Titan Books.

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Death Sentence: The Complete Collection by Motynero - Graphic Novel Review

 

'SEX, SUPERPOWERS AND SIX MONTHS TO LIVE!

'Verity: frustrated artist. Weasel: struggling guitarist. Monty: rogue media icon. Three people infected with the G+ virus, which grants them incredible powers – but will kill them in six months! Will they fade away – or go out in a blaze of glory? From the streets of London to the North Atlantic, from muses lost to futures thrown away – Death Sentence is the jaw-dropping next step in superpowered storytelling! Funny, fearless and frightening, this collection of the hit series is an unforgettable comics debut.

'More than any other series Death Sentence predicted the world we now live in, one of the reasons it was named Dreamcage Comic of the Decade (beating Umbrella Academy into second place). Work is underway to turn the comic into a major TV series, but nothing beats the magic of reading the original comics first.

'The adrenaline-fueled graphic novel is created by Monty Nero (writer and artist), and co-illustrators Martin Simmonds and Mike Dowling. Monty Nero – renowned for his sharp, socially-charged storytelling in works for Marvel, DC, and 2000 AD – spins this daring tale of superpowers entwined with mortality and satire. The visuals are a visceral feast: Mike Dowling’s gritty, no-holds-barred art, as seen in Unfollow and Judge Dredd, kicks off the series with a raw intensity. Martin Simmonds - celebrated for his haunting, surreal artwork The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV – elevates the narrative with cinematic flair and hallucinatory detail. This incredible collection sees all three graphic novels brought together for the first time in marvellous mayhem!'

Comics are often thought of as a fairly singular medium, with most people picturing super hero characters when they hear the phrase 'comics'; and whilst the super hero genre has certainly dominated the medium and given it much of its success and staying power, there's a lot more genres that comics explore that people are going to miss out on. I myself am very much a fan of super hero comics and have read thousands of them, and as such I sometimes fall into the trap of forgetting other genres and creators that aren't given the same limelight as the big two publishers and their properties. This is what happened for Death Sentence for me, where I simply missed it when the comics were first published. Thankfully, Titan Comics have collected together all eighteen issues of the series into one new hardcover volume that gives myself, and everyone else, the chance to discover this wonderfully fun and layered series.

The concept for Death Sentence is one that immediately grabs your attention, a world where a sexually transmitted virus, the G+ Virus, grants those who contract it super powers, but with the drawback that they then only have six months to live. Most people have likely considered what it would be like to get some kind of super power and what they'd do with it, whether than be flight, invisibility, shapeshifting, whatever comes to mind. It raises questions about what kind of nature it would bring out in people, whether they'd strive to do good and to help others, or if it would encourage some to give in to their worse desires. Having the caveat of knowing you'll be dead in less than a year certainly adds a wrinkle to those questions, because if you had so little time left why not just do whatever you want?

This is one of the main themes of Death Sentence, and the book doesn't shy away from shining a light on how terrible situations can lead people to do terrible things, can encourage them to put their own wants and desires first to either go out in a blaze of glory, or leave some grand mark on history. But the book isn't devoid of hope, as we meet several characters who ultimately strive to help others, even risking their own precious finite time to do so. 

Death Sentence follows three main protagonists across its introductory arc, Verity is an artist who gave up on creating for herself and entered something of a rut in life, Weasel is a troubled musician whose career has been faltering since going solo, and Monty is a comedian who's made a career out of being offensive and insulting. The three of them have all recently learned that they've contracted the G+ Virus, and each of them is trying to figure out what their next step is. Weasel is trying to find inspiration and make an album that will have him remembered, Verity is falling apart, and Monty has decided that he will take whatever he wants.

As the three of them begin to develop special, and potentially dangerous powers, some of them will find themselves being taken in by a shady arm of the government, where they'll be taught to better harness their abilities whilst the virus is studied. However, Monty, who develops the ability to control and influence others, wants nothing but power, and sets out on a mission that will leave the city of London in flames, and a million people dead. With their home and loved ones threatened, Verity and Weasel will have to decide if they want to use their abilities for good.

Death Sentence is a story that grabs you pretty quickly, introducing you to its lead characters and showing how their lives change with the virus very early on. The book opens with Verity learning about her condition and the first issue follows her coming to terms with this; a fairly normal young woman whose entire life is coming to an end very quickly. Her internal struggle is a stark contrast to the male leads, both of whom almost seem to see their condition as an opportunity. Neither of them are really shamed for having the virus, neither of them lose their careers, neither of them stop having sex with adoring fans. I don't know if it was intentional on his part or not, but Montynero seems to have made a pretty important commentary on how society treats women's sexuality compared to men's.

Despite sex being an integral part of the story the book at least doesn't treat sex as something salacious, or something to be condemned. It would be easy to pain sex as a morally bad act in a story where it can result in people dying, and it could push the idea that the people who contract the virus are terrible people. There is some of this, as the book does focus on archetypes that aren't the best kinds of people, such as the drugged up rockstar, or the high profile comedian who forces themself on others, but there are also characters who are infected with the virus who are decent people. We get this more in the second and third arc of the book, particularly with the introduction of the character Roots, who has the ability to control plants. The sex in the series is both casual, and at times treated as shock factor, and it's hard to know exactly how you're supposed to come away from the book feeling about it, but the lack of negative moralising is at least decent.

The books treatment of super powers is also pretty interesting, and whilst each of the infected seem to have some fairly similar traits, such as enhanced endurance, creativity, and strength, each of them also has their own unique powers. For example, Verity is able to manipulate the light spectrum, a power set that she's able to use to vanish from sight, to create illusions, and change the way she looks. Whilst none of the powers shown in the book are new the create team deploys them in ways that feels new and interesting, putting fresh spins on things we've seen before.

One of the areas in which the book really shines is the art. Mike Dowling provides the art on issues 1 to 6, with Martin Simmonds doing the art for issues 7 to 15, and writer Montynero finishing out the books art on issues 16 to 18. Each of them have their own unique and distinct style, each of which feels like it thematically fits the story being told and the evolution of the narrative. Dowling's art is fairly traditional, and is a nice way to be introduced to this world. His art style has a grunginess to it that really shines when depicting the chaos in London, or the out of control Weasel. It can show off the normality of the world, yet also works well when things start to go wrong, depicting the chaos and destruction.

Simmonds, on the other hand has a more painted feel to it, with less hard lines, and design choices that feel more beautiful even in the most terrible moments. It works well during these sections of the book as it's the part of the story where we start to find hope again, where we meet more decent characters who want to do good things, where community begins to come together, and corruption is fought against. Simmonds does a fantastic job at lighting in his art, and there are moments where you can almost feel the brightness of the sunrise being depicted on the page in a way that the previous style couldn't have created. The final few pages of Simmonds art showcase this wonderfully, as we get one scene filled with beauty, nature, and a hope for a better tomorrow, whilst also getting a moment of horror that shows the duality in tone the story has. 

Montynero's art is perhaps the most transitional of the three, and fits into the super hero style the most, which is fitting as these chapters feature a literal super hero team at one point. It's the part of the story that feels the most like a big two comic, with bold costumes, overt super heroics, and a conclusion that feels like it's waiting for the next chapter. Compared to the other parts of the book it perhaps feels the most visually jarring, but when taken into consideration with the tone that it feels the book is aiming for in these final few issues it does fit.

As alluded to in the pervious paragraph, Death Sentence does end feeling like there's more to come, and when marketed as The Complete Collection that does feel a little disappointing. This isn't a criticism against Titan for putting that on the cover, after all, in comics you do sometimes get those open endings where it feels like you're going to be waiting for something else that's not coming. Perhaps that's the case here, maybe Montynero has no plans to revisit this world, but maybe if sales of this collection are high enough and there's demand we might get more. Either way, Death Sentence: The Complete Collection makes for a fantastic read.

Death Sentence is subversive, disgusting, dark, and occasionally hopeful. It feels like a very British take on the American super hero genre that isn't trying to deconstruct or satirise, but simply do its own thing. The book is filled with adult themes and political commentary that gives it more depth than most books about people with amazing powers, and I think that people will be pleasantly surprised by just how much substance there is here to a story where the main pitch is super powered STD's.

Death Sentence: The Complete Collection is out now from Titan Comics. 

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Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu by Cynthia Von Buhler - Graphic Novel Review

 

'Inspired by a true WWII maritime operation, shocking satanic events, monstrous men, and one salacious sea creature, this volume tells the tale of Minky’s encounter with legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the dreaded Cthulhu.

'Following the death of Harry Houdini, Minky is approached by the occultist and writer Aleister Crowley to help vindicate him from an accusation of murder. This throws Minky into an occult underworld and leads to a much bigger investigation involving a missing man and Britain's secret service. Meanwhile, Lovecraftian horrors plague her dreams, and it’s up to Minky to discover the connections between the two writers and the mysterious death of her mother. Based on an actual WWII maritime operation inspired by a detective novel, Minky discovers how writers, including Ian Fleming, helped end WWII.'

Despite this being the third volume in the Minky Woodcock series, this was my first experience with the comic book heroine, and as such I was a little unsure what to expect going into things. I hadn't read any of Cynthia Von Buhler's work before, so I didn't know how grounded in realism things would be, especially with Cthulhu in the title. Would this be a book that takes a very serious approach to things, or would this be full on fantasy and horror? Well, it's kind of neither, as whilst the book certainly presents itself as a larger than life version of real world events there's a definite element of the fantastical involved as our heroine makes her way through a story that is too odd to be true.

Minky Woodcock is a private investigator who works alongside her father, though he himself seems to have removed himself from this particular narrative, only appearing for a page or two of the entire book. We first meet Minky as she's involved with Harry Houdini, who she appears to be engaged in an affair with. It's through Houdini that she meets H.P. Lovecraft, the creator of the Cthulhu mythos, writing that Minky loves thanks to her recurring nightmares about water and drowning. After a brief introduction we jump forwards in time several months, where Minky is hired to investigate a case by the world renowned Alistair Crowley.

The infamous occultist has been accused of murdering a man, and believes that the widow is the real killer. This sets Minky on a course that plays out over the next fifteen years of her life, a journey that will see her meet up with Crowley several more times, almost as if by chance, that seems to be drawing her towards a fateful confrontation with him. Along the way she will also reconnect with Lovecraft, meet Ian Fleming, and become involved in a classified war operation that almost gets her killed. It seems that no case is every simple for Minky.

The first thing that immediately jumped out at me about this book is the artwork, and it's what initially drew me to pick it up in the first place. Artwork is vitally important to comics, not just in depicting the story, but in informing the entire tone of a book. I've read a few comics where the art just doesn't mesh with the story at all, and it leads to a book that feels underserved, or even outright ruined on occasion. Von Buhler seems to have a very specific tone that she wants, and her artwork evokes feelings of old pulp classics, tarot cards, and American Traditional tattoo art with bold linework, bright colours, and a paper grain effect that give the book a perfect period feeling.

The artwork is bold, and immediately draws you in, from the very first page where we fink Minky naked inside one of Houdini's water cabinets, water swirling around her like a cloak of darkness as Houdini himself is lowered down to her upside down to share a kiss with her. It's impossible to look at that first page and not want to know more about this book. And there are a number of moments like this throughout, visual treats that give you pause from reading to just sit and take in the artwork, marvelling at the visual treat that Von Buhler has created.

The book's story is just as bold as the artwork, taking Minky on a journey that will see her travelling the globe and the years as we follow her from the 1920's, through to 1943, and from the US to Britain and Europe during the height of the war. There's also a subtlety to things, as the story slowly reveals more layers and more mystery as things go on. There were a few times I had to go back and reread a scene or two just to make sure that I was still following things, though I think some of that was down to my tiredness at the time and brain fog settling in. But, the mystery that Von Buhler crafts here is definitely one that feels twisting, unique, and skirts just up to the line of being too ridiculous without ever feeling like it goes too far. 

With this being my first outing with Minky I wasn't sure what to expect, and the book definitely threw me more than once, where each time I thought I'd gotten a handle on who our hero was and what was happening took a shift as another layer of the mystery took over. It made for an entertaining read, and has encouraged me to seek out the previous two volumes. If this is the kind of thing that has come before I expect existing fans of the franchise are going to really enjoy this volume; but if it's not I can certainly say that whether you like what happens here or not you definitely won't be bored by it, as it's too fun for that.

Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu is out now from Titan Comics. 

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Cosmic Censorship Vol 1 by Ryu-ichi Sadamatsu - Manga Review

 

'Manga virtuoso Ryuuichi Sadamatsu thrusts readers into a world engulfed by war, as we instantly witness Maki Makino’s life being turned upside down. The student was previously competing in track and field events, but after her life was saved by a mysterious man, everything changed. She must get to grips with the new powers that have been bestowed upon her before an ominous and formidable threat arrives.'

Cosmic Censorship thrusts readers into a bizarre world of alien invaders, time travel, mecha weapons, and super powers that all centre around a teenage schoolgirl named Maki Makino, who finds her entire existence upended when these various forces converge on her normal life.

Set in a world where huge debris falling from the sky is a normal, almost mundane occurrence, we meet Maki, a seventeen-year-old former track runner whose life was changed when she was caught up in a meteor hit three years before. Having been caught in a collapsing building with a wound in her leg, Maki thought that she might die, until a mysterious man treated her wound and showed her a way to get out; a man who told her that he was an alien. Now, years later, Maki has worked hard to rehabilitate her leg injury, and is pushing to keep running.

Whilst out running one day Maki encounters an older guy who she feels strangely drawn to, a man who saves her during another meteor fall. However, during the rescue Maki loses a precious talisman, having accidentally picked up another one in the confusion, one that contains a strange item. Heading back to the park where the event happened that night to try and find her own talisman, Maki is shocked to discover a dead body, and the man she met before lurking in the area with a sword and a gun. Fleeing for her life, Maki believes that the man might be trying to kill her, but little does she know that the man is not only there to protect her, but that much more twisted and strange forces have decided that they want her dead.

Science fiction manga can sometimes go a little bit too weird for me, perhaps it's a taste thing, or maybe its some kind of cultural difference where Japanese sci-fi writers have much more complex ideas than my mind can keep track of, but Cosmic Censorship definitely falls into this camp. There are a lot of moving parts in this first volume, and relatively few explanations to go along with them. Maki learns that the falling meteors are an alien invasion, and that people like the man who saved her, who uses the name Roger Penrose, have travelled back in time from a dark future to try and create a better one.

This alone isn't too complex, and it has some shades of The Terminator to it as Roger makes protecting Maki his mission, preventing her predestined death to try and nudge the timeline in a better direction. He does this by fighting giant monsters with weapons and enhanced abilities that make him kind of like a super-hero type character. When things get too much for him he's able to summon a huge mech to take down his enemies too. All of this happening without the public knowing about it too. Again, not too bad, not too complex. However, when other time travellers, called Cosmic Censors, start trying to kill Maki to create another different future, and Maki begins to develop super powers of her own things start getting a bit complex.

I think part of the problem is that this first volume is doing a lot of set-up, and it's laying the groundwork for stories and ideas that will be explored in future volumes. So if you were to read Cosmic Censors as a whole it probably wouldn't be too bad, but as a contained volume I did feel a little confused, and even unsure as to what was happening at times. It's not enough to make me not want to read the next volume in the series, as I'd love to see if that starts to give more answers, but it was enough of an issue to take away some of the enjoyment I had.

The book has some great art to accompany the interesting story, and Sadamatsu gives a lot of personality to the characters, giving each of them distinct looks that show off their personalities well. The action scenes are where the book really shines though, and it's a shame that this first volume doesn't give them a little more room as the artwork in these moments is superb. Again, I'm expecting the future volumes will likely get grander in scale and action, and that's when we'll see some of Sadamatsu's best work. 

Cosmic Censorship is an interesting, if a little heavy, first volume that will absolutely appeal to people into big sci-fi concepts. The lack of breathing room at times and the multiple ideas thrown at the reader might put some folks off, but it feels like a series that if given more time will make a lot more sense and so I'm definitely going to try and check out the next volume.

Cosmic Censorship Volume One is out now from Titan Comics.

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Yan: Vol 1 by Cheng Sheng - Blog Tour

 

'Winner of the Golden Comics Awards and a standout of Taiwan’s rising comics scene, Yan Vol. 1 is a haunting, genre-bending journey from master storyteller Chang Sheng—creator of Oldman and The Hidden Level. In this stunning first volume, the echoes of Peking Opera performances 30 years past linger in the shadows of a story that begins in tradition and spirals toward a dark, speculative future. The tale unfolds across eras—starting with a tragedy in the richly detailed world of late 20th-century Taiwan, stepping into the present day, and glimmering with the foreboding rise of a dystopian tomorrow. 

'Declared dead in prison records, Yan Tieh-Hua mysteriously returns to Taipei, reigniting the investigation into a decades-old massacre—her own family’s. As she carves a bloody path toward vengeance, Detective Lei is drawn into a chilling spiral of cold cases, supernatural events, and impossible truths. Alongside Yan is Higa Mirai, a young Go prodigy with the uncanny gift of precognition, adding eerie weight to every move made. With sharp moral tension, brutal action, and a uniquely Taiwanese swagger, Yan is more than a mere quest for revenge—it’s a vision of justice that questions what lies beneath our choices, and what might come after humanity loses control.'

The very first thing that anyone is going to notice about Yan is that it's not your average manga book. I was surprised when I was sent my copy that the package it arrived in was so big, until I opened it and saw why. Yan is twice the size of a regular manga release, with physical dimensions more in line with western graphic novels. Picking up a manga that was this size felt almost jarring, it made the book feel like it was something a little bit special; which along with the brightly coloured yet elegantly presented cover, made the book feel different before I'd even opened it. Upon opening it, however, I became even more impressed, as the size of the book makes the artwork inside Yan hit different. This is not a small story, it has huge scope and big ideas, and the presentation makes the artwork inside feel bigger than life, and almost cinematic.

Yan opens with a bold introduction, one that's so surreal and disorienting that it can't help but to draw you in. A woman wearing Peking Opera clothing and make-up is performing a live stream in a run down building, acting out a scene from a play. However, it soon becomes apparent that there's more to this than some simple viral internet stunt, as we see that she has a man tied to a chair. When the scene is over, the woman pulls out a gun, and executes the man live on the internet. She then identifies herself as Yan Tieh-Hua, before the scene cuts to a close. The opening is so strange, and so shocking that you have to know more, that you need to know who this woman is any why she just murdered a man. Unfortunately, these answers are far from simple.

From here the book jumps backwards in time 30 years, where we see a teenage Yan Tieh-Hua performing the same scene in her family's opera company, acting alongside her mother this time. Unfortunately, the play goes a little off the rails, Yan and her mother fight (physically), and the entire set falls down. It's a disaster, and it results in Yan being grounded and unable to spend time with her friends outside of school. On her way home one day soon after, Yan gets a strange feeling that something isn't right, and races home to find her entire family has been brutally murdered. Stranger still, we then see through news reports, that Yan admitted to the killings, and is sent to a secure facility; one that in the present is a pile of rubble.

The facility, and everyone inside, were destroyed, yet Yan Tieh-Hua is walking the streets, alive and well, and younger than she should be. Thus begins a mystery that will see a retired cop coming back onto the force to try and find answers, a mysterious girl who can see into the future, an ancestral spirit who can possess origami, a secret military conspiracy, time travel, and Yan on a super powered mission for revenge. Yan is a book that's many things at the same time, it's a science fiction story, a mystery, an action revenge narrative, and a story about trauma all rolled into one. And Cheng Sheng manages to make it all work brilliantly.

One of the books main strengths is that Sheng draws you into the expansive narrative very slowly, giving you the extra pieces of the puzzle at an almost leisurely pace. At first it feels like a standard revenge story, where we're following Yan as she tries to find out who killed her family. Then we see that she's talking to a possessed piece of folded paper. It's a little surprising, but you just go with it. Then she's jumping from building to building and fighting soldiers like she's in The Matrix and you just accept it because it's cool. But then you realise that now there's someone who can see the future, there are giant mecha robots, and some mysterious person/robot who seems to be travelling through time. By the time you realise just how fantastical the book has gotten you're already committed to the story and those who have come to the series expecting a realistic revenge story will be on board for all of the wonderful madness Sheng has given us.

The art also helps with this. I mentioned before how the book feels almost cinematic, and there are multiple pages without dialogue, where we get given huge half page panels showing the city at night, or of soldiers charging out of a troop transport, or even at times artwork that stretches across both pages. You can't help but stop reading and just stare at these pages, almost in awe that Sheng is presenting such a detailed, gorgeous story that feels like it needs the larger page size to really show off just how good it is. I don't think every manga would benefit from being this size, but Yan definitely does. It makes it feel grand in a way that suits the story that's being told. 

By the time I reached the end of the first volume I literally swore out loud because it was ending. Not only does the book end in such a place that it makes you really want to keep reading, but I was sad that the experience itself was over. I wanted to keep looking at Sheng's artwork, I wanted to gaze at each page and lose myself in it. 

I've gone through Yan multiple times, most of them not even engaging with the story, but just staring at the art and soaking up the vibes that Sheng was creating. I think that Yan is going to be one of those series that as soon as I see the next volume is out I'm going to be grabbing it without even needing to consider it. Yan is a unique, beautiful, and awe inspiring book that more people need to discover.

Yan: Vol 1 is on sale now from Titan Comics.

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Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Captain America: Civil War: The Art of the Movie - Book Review

 

'Picking up where the blockbuster hit Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, Captain America: Civil War sees Steve Rogers leading the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. Filled with exclusive concept art, production stills, and commentary from cast and crew, this book is a prize for any fan.

'Here is everything you need to know about the making of the movie from all the key players—including returning directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and producer Kevin Feige, along with all the talented special-effects gurus, concept illustrators, visual-effects designers, and storyboard artists who worked on the set and behind the scenes to create the art of Captain America: Civil War.'

Civil War was a divisive event at Marvel Comics. It was a headline, universe spanning initiative that appeared in most of the books being published, and even derailed a lot of stories, changing the way characters interacted with the world and the projection of their planned stories. Add onto that, there were fans who felt that certain characters were handled poorly, or had their personalities and character changed to fit with the plot that they barely felt like who they were supposed to be. As such, when it was announced that the MCU would be doing their own version of the story there were many fans, myself included, who saw this as an attempt to right some of those wrongs, and to craft a much better version than the source material. 

The MCU benefitted from having a smaller world, and a smaller pool of characters to draw from, and as such were able to create a much tighter story. It also helped that they pushed the Registration Act/the Sokovia Accords to the side and made a more personal story the key reason for its two leads, Captain America and Iron-Man, come into conflict. Titan Book's latest entry in the Marvel Studio's Infinity Saga art book series goes into the making of the movie, showing readers how this iconic story was adapted to the big screen. 

As with previous releases, this one breaks things down into nicely sized chapters that take readers through the film in chronological order after a brief introduction that discusses the comic inspiration for the film. The first chapter is 'Showdown in Lagos' and deals with the opening sequence of the film, as well as some costume changes for some of our returning heroes. Beginning with the titular hero, we get some designs for the new Captain America costume, alongside an abandoned concept of a more undercover look that honestly fits the secret agent vibe that Cap has at times that would have been pretty cool to see on the screen.

This chapter also shows off the new looks for the other new Avengers members teased at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, giving us new looks for Falcon that want to try to be as realistic as possible but also convey some of his comic book roots, and the small tweaks to Black Widow, whose design had mostly been fairly unchanging since her introduction in Ironman 2. The character who seems to have gone through the most design changes since their last appearance, however, is Scarlet Witch, whose new costume as seen at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron gets abandoned for a more realistic outfit. It's a shame to hear that the Russo brothers wanted to scale back her look and make it more 'grounded' as out of the returning cast she seems to be the one who lost out the most; and even the few rejected designs here that feature her headband look much better than what we got on screen.

©2025 MARVEL

We also get several pages dedicated to the Crossbones, the new villainous identity for a supporting character from the previous Captain America film. It's interesting to see how the film toyed with giving him a more grounded design, with the white cross that's painted on his chest almost being made with straps and suit components. I like that the film went with the look they did, as it's the much better design, though some of the helmets in the concept art push the skull motif more than what we ended up with, and had a much creepier result. The chapter rounds out with several pages of concept art for the fight that happens in Laos, designs for the lab equipment, and the tragic final moments.

The second chapter is 'The Sokovia Accords', and deals with some of the more mundane designs in the book, focusing on the Avengers compound. Despite being home to a group of fantastical people, their facility is fairly normal, and we get artwork showing us the look of their conference room, offices, and kitchen. There's a two page spread that shows some costume designs for Vision's civilian attire that remind you that it's about super heroes, but for the most part it's one of the most grounded chapters in the book, and whilst interesting will likely be the section most people revisit the least.

Much more interesting in comparison is chapter three, 'Cat and Mouse', which deals with two of the more important supporting characters, Bucky Barnes, and the newly introduced Black Panther. Both of them get several pages given over to their new designs, with the main focus on Bucky being his civilian attire, making sure that he's able to blend in, but able to quickly stand out with the removal of his left sleeve. It's interesting to see how much work actually goes into making 'man with a metal arm' works, as there's definitely a few ways of doing that that end up looking a bit less serious than it should. There's much more attention given over to the look of Black Panther, who was newly added to the MCU with this film, I was hoping that we'd get more designs for him, perhaps ones that showed off some of his more unusual looks from the comics, but it seems that the film had a pretty clear idea of the kind of look they wanted for him, and focused instead on how to make his suit feel real, rather than the look of the suit itself.

Most of the third chapter is given over to the extensive chase sequence that takes place in this part of the film, going from an apartment building to rooftops, and then to a vehicle chase. The sequence gets broken down into a lot of detail here, and the book shows off a number of storyboards that showcase how each moment has to be carefully planned out and crafted, even down to the angle of the shot. Whilst interesting in its own right, when read in conjunction with watching the scene it becomes a lot more interesting as you're able to see just how the art was translated onto the screen, able to follow the moments along and comparing the two pieces.

The fourth chapter, 'Mind Games', is similar to the second in that it deals more with environmental design, this time covering the facility where a captured Bucky and Captain America are taken to following their daring escape attempt. More interesting than the Avengers compound, this chapter at least goes into more detail as it shows off designs for the cell that holds Bucky, the machines used to try to subdue his enhanced body, and a storyboard of Hawkeye fighting Vision to break Scarlet Witch out of custody which was much bigger and more intricate in the initial plans.

The fifth chapter is probably the one most people reading the book will be eager to get to, 'Civil War'. The chapter opens by rounding out the character designs for those who've not yet had it, including Ant-Man and Hawkeye. Little gets changed for most of the characters, though there are a few designs for Hawkeye that draw more heavily from his Ultimates look that feel a bit like a misstep, so I'm glad we didn't end up going that route. After these character pages, we get a couple dozen pages of gorgeous two page spreads showcasing various artists concepts for the airport fight.

©2025 MARVEL

It's interesting to see these segments as they show off that early stages of the script hadn't finalised which size heroes would be on, so there are some match-up's here that never make it to the final movie, such as Ant-Man fighting Hawkeye, Captain America fighting Ant-Man, and Vision fighting Ironman. Whilst the content of the images don't always line up with the final movie the feel of them certainly does, and it feels like the art team were having a lot of fun coming up with concepts for the iconic battle. This is also the only chapter to feature any art of Spider-Man, with him appearing on about five images fighting other characters. I understand that there are certain rights issues surrounding the character that likely lead to him only being able to be used sparingly here, but it's a shame that we didn't get better looks at costume designs as we did the others. 

Chapter six, 'Original Sins', takes us to the final stages of the film, and includes designs for the super soldier facility, as well as the clearest looks at the group of super soldiers that we have; certainly more than we see in the final film. It's nice to see more details like this, as this part of the film felt a little light on details when it actually came to watching it, so seeing how the place worked and what the super soldiers were like here certainly feels like it fills in a number of gaps for me. The latter half of the chapter focuses on the fight between Cap, Bucky, and Ironman, and much like the airport fight art, seems to be concerned more with finding the right kind of tone and style for the scene, rather than necessarily trying to depict moments that would end up in the final product. 

The final chapter deals with the marketing for the film, and there are some interesting looks at how the artwork for the films advertisement gets broken down and crafted stage by stage.

As with other releases in the series there are things that I really loved about this book, such as seeing the various costume designs, and artwork that shows us the way the team tried to craft a tone rather than detail. However, there are moments that are a little less exciting to read, such as seeing how the Avengers kitchen were designed. I've notices with this series that the titles that deal with the more grounded movies will have these ups and downs as they have to convey both the normality of this universe, as well as the fantastical qualities; and whilst this might not be to everyone's tastes it certainly doesn't detract from the overall quality of the book.

For those who are collecting this series this marks a fantastic addition to the collection, and for those who haven't picked one of these books up before but are tempted by this one I think that there's certainly enough here to grab your attention and make you interested in reading more.

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Downlands by Norm Konyu - Blog Tour

 

'Every street has its stories – those of the living and those of the dead. When James hears of the Black Hound, he finds his own story crosses the boundaries of both.

'After the sudden death of his twin sister, 14 year old James Reynolds becomes obsessed with her tale of a black hound, a folkloric creature that is regarded as a portent of death. Enlisting the aid of his elderly neighbour, who the local children call ‘The Witch’, he delves into the centuries of village history, folklore, and ghosts, until he uncovers a deeper secret beyond his darkest nightmares, beyond the sight of most, and beyond the mortal veil.'

My only previous experience with Norm Konyu was his wonderfully enjoyable children's book A Call To Cthulhu, which put a lovely, whimsical spin on the creations of H.P. Lovecraft that readers of all ages could enjoy. That book, and Konyu's artwork, had left such a positive impression on me that as soon as I was offered the chance to take part in the blog tour for his latest graphic novel, Downlands, I had to jump at the opportunity.

Downlands begins in the quiet English village of Alfstanton in the South Downs, a place rich in local history and spooky stories. It's here that we meet 14-year-old James and his twin sister Jennifer one sunny June afternoon. The two of them are heading home after school, stopping off at the village shop to grab a couple of drinks. When James heads back inside to pick up his forgotten change Jennifer lets out a scream. She tells James that she saw a huge black dog, a frightening hound that seemed to jump through her, leaving her cold and frightened. Dismissing it as simply something unusual, the two of them head back home. But that night Jennifer dies of a brain aneurism.

A couple of months later, whilst attending the wake for his great uncle, James hears a story about how his uncle claimed to have seen a black hound the same day he died. Knowing that there must be some kind of connection between these events, James begins to research into local history, and discovers a wealth of old ghost stories and myths that connect to his home, including a story of a ghostly black dog that brings death to all those who see it. Wanting to know if this ghostly hound was responsible for the death of his twin sister, and hoping perhaps to see her again, James sets out to learn more about the world of the supernatural that's lurking just out of sight.

Downlands is a wonderfully atmospheric mixture of horror and fantasy, all wrapped up in a story of grief and loss. From the first few pages it's clear that Konyu isn't just crafting a story about this one family and the tragic events that come close to breaking it, but is looking to craft a world and narrative that spans decades, centring on this small community, and one street in particular. After being introduced to James and Jennifer there are some brilliant two page spreads that touch upon some of the stranger history of Alfstanton, small clues to larger mysteries that we'll get to explore that lay a solid foundation for a graphic novel that has more to it than you'd first expect.

Konyu sprinkles this history throughout the book, both in events that happen to James, and in small asides that act as nice chapter breaks to the main story. These insights into the history of Alfstanton could be books in their own right, and the stories of ghostly hitchhiker that cause car accidents, the little Edwardian girl found drowned in the river and now haunts the children of the village, or the ghosts of an entire family that exist in their old home, only sometimes seen, feel like the perfect set-ups to their own horror tales. But Konyu uses these to breathe life into the village, creating a place that feels steeped in history, even if we only ever see the one street.

James and his story are the heart of the book, however, and his quest to find answers about why his sister died without warning is subtly heart breaking. The loss of any sibling would be hard, but your twin, your best friend makes it so much harder. The fact that she was only 14, still a child, makes it so much worse. It's awful to see what that sudden loss does to the family, to James' mother and father, who grow more distant and retreat into their own grief. Even James himself, who manages to hold things together and seems fairly normal throughout the book, is barely processing things, not being able to shed a single tear for Jennifer; and the moment he does finally cry is perhaps the biggest gut punch in the entire book.

Norm Konyu has created a wonderful narrative with a richness of both character and setting that comic series with dozens of issues under their belt sometimes fail to do, yet it's been done in a single volume here in a delightful way.

Konyu isn't just the writer for Downlands, though, as he also provides all of the art. Beautiful might be one of the first words that comes to mind when trying to describe his style. Different from the majority of mainstream comic work, Konyu has a style that's unique and eye-catching, art that draws you in and demands your attention. His designs are fairly simple, yet he's able to convey a ton of character with little detail thanks to cleverly and carefully selected design choices. Perhaps my favourite part of his style is his attention to colour, and the way in which it doesn't just convey the emotions of a scene, but sometimes is the scene itself. There are times that lack of colour, that negative space is used to convey characters, or parts of the environment that makes key moments pop on the page. Konyu's art is fantastic, and worth picking up the book for alone.

Downlands is a fantastic book, one that will captivate readers of all ages. It's filled with mystery and horror, drawing from folklore and urban legend, but it also has a very real, human heart to it that will have readers invested. If you come across Downlands on a shop shelf do yourself a favour and give it a try, and I doubt you'll be left disappointed.

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