THE KING
Written and Drawn by Rich Koslowski
Published by Top Shelf

Former tabloid journalist Paul Erfurt is pulled back into the game to follow what may well be the biggest story of his life: a man claiming to be the resurrected Elvis has taken Las Vegas by storm, and is only willing to give his story to Erfurt.

Of course, it’s never that easy. Erfurt doesn’t believe for a second that this man is truly Presley, and he begins to interview the King and his associates to try and get to the bottom of what he imagines can only be a sad, ugly truth that will ultimately hurt a number of people. But what he will find will surprise him: perhaps whether the man is Elvis or not, there is a brighter purpose to having a resurrected King back amongst the living.

Koslowski’s nifty and effortless work here plays out as not only a fun mystery, but as rumination upon the nature of faith and spirituality. His Elvis claims to truly be the “God of Song”, the latest in a long line of those who have replaced the Greek god Apollo in that role, and as that God, he intends to save souls, as well as entertain the masses. Maybe even both at the same time. I think this is really the smartest and strongest aspect of the work here; the mystery really feels secondary and sort of only half-warmed, but diving into what Elvis means to his fans and those who have taken him into their lives over the years? There’s some real meat there, a tremendous foundation to build a story on. After all, the real truth about Elvis would hardly nourish anyone at this point, graphic novel or not; it is the power of his myth that makes him a part of our American pantheon, and Koslowski is wise in accessing this part of his character for this story.

His last effort, THREE FINGERS, attempted to put some of this perspective on the classic cartoon characters of the early 20th century by melding it with a “True Hollywood Story” plot device, but the story never quite carried the weight and gravity that Koslowski was aiming to give it. THE KING is a much more developed and mature work, better thought out and far more entertaining, which is what you’d always hope for from a graphic novelist: rich, rewarding growth. He has also produced a work that should have broad appeal to the non-traditional comics reading audience, so I expect this book to find its primary success in the bookstore market.

SIBAM?

As popular as Elvis remains worldwide, I can easily see someone snatching this book up for option very soon. Twenty-five years after his death, the King’s mystique remains strong, and adding the mystery element of this story smells like a decent box office draw. Plus, nothing about this story screams “expensive” so that should add to the profitability aspect for producers on the hunt for properties.

GURU GURU PON-CHAN VOL.1
Written and Drawn by Satomi Ikezawa
Translated and Adapted by Douglas Varenas
Published by Del Rey

I love manga. Love it. Because only in a manga can you find a story like this one. Ponta is the beloved family dog of the Koizumi family, always energetic and getting in trouble. But one day, when the grandfather invents the “guru guru bone” her life changes: chewing the bone turns her into a human girl, and on her first trip out of the house, she falls in love with the boy next door.

I’m not making that up.

This is an amusing little comedy story, as Ponta’s changes cause everyone more than just a bit of trouble. As a human girl, her behavior tends to remain, well, dog-like, so crawling on all fours, eating stuff off the ground, and inappropriately licking a cute boy’s face are all slightly problematic moments for everyone involved. Of course, there’s always a downside, so when people treat her cruelly or abuse her trusting nature, it seems even harsher than it would if those actions were being done to a human.

PON-CHAN works because it has a very soft heart at its core. In other hands, it could be played as tawdry and perverse, or even just plain mean. But Satomi’s story is filled with kindness, and even when characters are horrible to Ponta, you never doubt that they will either feel badly and apologize or be punished for their misdeeds against this poor little puppy. While some manga is culturally vague and broad, this is a book that is unquestionably Japanese, and that happens to be a big thing for me as a reader. Part of reading a work of this nature is getting some insight to the creative processes and the reader expectations of folks other than me. GURU GURU PON-CHAN delivers in that respect, big time. A very entertaining shoujo work.

BAMBI AND HER PINK GUN VOL.1
Written and Drawn by Atsushi Kaneko
Translation by Duane Johnson
Published by Digital Manga Publishing

So if you’re interested in trying a new manga, and GURU GURU doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, and you’d instead prefer something a little more violent, crazy, and psychotic, then BAMBI should move right to the top of your list.

Bambi is, by turns, ludicrously violent, gory, action-packed, and off-the-rails insanely energetic in its (very simplistic) plotting. Our titular heroine is a somewhat nutty kidnapper (prone to referring to herself in third person) who has snatched a young boy who may or may not be the developmentally disabled son of a disgusting rock star. Her mysterious actions, taken at the behest of the unseen “Old Men” have led to a 500 million Yen reward being placed on her head for the return of the boy. And, strangely enough, that’s about how many bullets Bambi fires out of her pink gun as seemingly everyone in Japan gets the notice about the reward and goes about trying to do her in.

I loved pretty much everything about BAMBI. As a fan of Asian film, it was fun to spot the influences of some of the better directors working today (like Corey Yuen) all the way through this fast-paced volume. We never quite learn anything about the Old Men or Bambi herself here, but I found myself not caring in the slightest, caught up in the gonzo spirit of it all. I can’t remember the last time I read something quite so… loopy, and I immediately craved more when I was finished. The only real negative here is that Yumiko Shaku is too old at this point to play Bambi if they wanted to film it. But I’ll live. Do you love Tarantino? Rodriguez? Woo? Hark? Battle Royale? Buy this.

BONEYARD VOL.1 (IN COLOR)/VOL.4
Written and Drawn by Richard Moore
Published by NBM

Two volumes here, let’s start with number four. I was first introduced to this series with volume three, reviewed here late last year. Michael Paris has inherited a strange graveyard populated by an odd assortment of monsters. There’s Abbey, the warm and beautiful vampire; Sid, the snarky skeleton, Glump, the conniving demon, Nessie, the fish-woman; and many more. In volume three, they fought a nasty, and mega-powerful vampire named Lilith, leaving Abbey pretty beat up and easy prey for (the married) Nessie to put her best sexual moves on Michael. Unfortunately, the confrontation that’s been building between Abbey and Nessie will have to wait, because a horse of zombies has been loosed on the town. And hey, what does happen when a monster gets bitten by a zombie, anyway?

Moore’s primary move in this volume is to finally flesh out Nessie’s character a bit. From the early issues, she’s been the sexpot ready to drive a wedge between Paris and Abbey, continually making a play for his… well, not his heart. But now we begin to get a glimpse of who Nessie really is and what life has dealt her, and she comes into focus as a fully rounded character with some redeeming qualities, taking the edge off of her for those readers devoted to the Paris/Abbey brewing romance. Sadly, we get a really nasty cliffhanger here as well, so I’m definitely hooked in and waiting for the next volume.

Volume one reappears in different format here. Moore’s series is published gorgeous black and white, allowing his amazing art to shine through. His characters are all wondrous, and the soft edge he applies to them helps add something to the parody aspects to his story. But in what I would guess to be a move calculated to drive up bookstore sales, we now get the series printed in a slightly smaller format and with color, on glossy paper. The colors are nice; I’d expect no less from a Kindzierski; I even happen to think this is a really good idea. Bringing this excellent series to a potential new readership is wonderful, because there is no doubt in my mind that this book should be seen by more people. It deserves the relationship. And showing people how the story began and Michael took control of the graveyard is even more helpful.

But personally, I’m a freak, and prefer the black and white, the way Moore’s wonderful work was originally meant to be seen. So take what I say with a grain of salt. I love BONEYARD, and these are two terrific volumes that I highly recommend. But if you aren’t obsessed with color, find yourself a b&w copy of volume one. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this book.

HIPS AND CROSSBONES: THE ART OF JOSH HOWARD VOL.1
Drawn by Josh Howard
Published by Viper Comics

Not really much to say about this one. This is a nicely packaged little book collecting sketches, paintings, color, and black and white art from Howard, the creator of DEAD @ 17. What you get are 68 pages of Howard’s women, except many of these lovelies have more piercings and tattoos than we’ve seen him draw on his teenaged characters in DEAD. It made me wonder what clubs Howard hangs out at and whether or not I could join him there one night.

There’s some nice production quality here, although the types of drawings stay pretty consistent and begin to run together as you get through the book. I’d recommend this book for fans of the DEAD series or for those who have a fetish for women who are wholly unafraid to head for the tattoo parlor at 3 a.m. after a night of great sex.

And no, I won’t tell you if that includes me or not.

ROCKETS AND ROBOTS
Written and Drawn by Various
Published by Komikwerks

This is the fourth of Komikwerks’ anthologies, and they continue to put out solid, entertaining material. 150 pages of manga-sized goodness, this volume presents excellent material from the likes of Keith Giffen, Eric Canete, Dawn Brown, and many other younger talents making a name for themselves.

The stories aren’t limited to just rockets and robots; in these pages, we get nifty stories like “Sally Samson: Super Sitter” (Samson and Delilah’s daughter takes on babysitting), “Bixby Grant” (a mummy who’s a P.I.), “Tabula Rasa” (a golem with some sentience takes on some nasty racists), the horror of “She Loves You” (club initiation gone very, very wrong), and “Hamilton” (a hamster going through the motions as a decoy at the pet store). I could go on, but instead, I’ll just tell you that the book has fourteen stories, and I only thought two or three were complete duds. If I could find that ration in every anthology I read, I’d be happier than a pig in slop.

I like Komikwerks’ approach to these books, really. They have a couple of well-established folks whose names they can pop on the cover, but what they’re really doing is introducing creators who deserve to get the work out in front of audiences and who might not have the recognition or cachet at this point to launch a project through Image or Speakeasy. Therefore the anthologies serve as a nice calling card as well as a nifty training ground. They’re also priced incredibly reasonably at ten bucks, so the reader doesn’t have to feel like they’re taking any sort of huge risk in laying out the cash. Good stuff, and I hope to see them continue.

See you in seven.

Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ 85285. You can also find me at Happy Nonsense and The Comics Waiting Room

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