The Sandman , Vol.1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer. This book also includes the story "The Sound of Her Wings" which introduces us to the pragmatic and perky goth girl, Death.GOODREADS

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator(s): Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg
Letterer: Todd Klein
Series: The Sandman  

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How would you feel about life if Death was your older sister?

As a whole this makes a fantastic collection of the Sandman comics. Rich with several  mythological characters and famous figures from the comic world.

 Volume 1 consists of issues 1-8. It follows Dream as he's accidentally kidnapped by a wizard ,who then out of fear imprisons Dream in a glass bottle. When the wizard had summoned Dream I was disappointed because the thing that had appeared was not what I expected Dream to look like. He looks like an alien with a flies head. Only later do we see that it was Dreams mask (one of his objects of power) which is taken from him later. I was thrilled and surprised because The Sandman looks a lot like Neil Gaiman or maybe Mr Gaiman goes around dressed as The Sandman. Unruly hair ,long dark raincoat. Or maybe he is The Sandman.

#1 and #2 follows the Sandman as he is captured and imprisoned in the bottle . While he waits to exact revenge he sits silently watching his captives while the world sleeps restlessly. Years pass and the Sandman finally escapes and then takes his revenge but must still find his lost objects (the ruby, helmet and pouch) #2 Imperfect Hosts, is where the sandman goes back to his world to find it in ruin. He then summons the Fates to inquire about the whereabouts of his lost objects:
The pouch is with one of my  favorite Englishman, John Constantine . The helmet with a demon in hell and the ruby with a member of the Justice League . This issue also sports a cameo of Batman and Robin. Notable figures are the Fates and Cain and Abel.

#3 Dream a Little Dream of Me, Constantine's appearance was something I was looking forward to but it was a bit disappointing. Then again that might not be saying much because I liked Keanu Reeves as Constantine. I have read one of the Hellblazer issues: in comparison, it's the same Constantine . The same level of cynical and depressing atmosphere. Dream finds Constantine and they go look for the pouch , which Constantine's ex-girlfriend stole. Although it wasn't what I expected it's one of my favorite issues (in this volume).

#4 A Hope in Hell, This is another of my favorites from this volume. Dream goes to hell to retrieve his helmet. He encounters Etrigan (a demon and half brother of Merlin), dream also finds hell in a different state. Lucifer is no longer sole ruler. He shares his rule with Beelzebub and Azazel. When Lucifer is introduced I was shocked because he looked like one of the damn  Bee Gees! That's not what a person expects, you know? . The demon who has Dream's helmet challenges him to a duel for the helmet. Dream wins , but Lucifer questions him "why should he let him leave  unscratched or leave at all". Dream blows me away with the  manner he escapes , he is a hope in hell and that's the reason they should let him leave.

#5 -#7, Passengers, follows the search for the Ruby. Doctor Destiny escapes Arkham asylum and hijacks a car with a woman in it. Doctor Destiny is going to get the ruby which he's altered to only work for him. Dream finds it first but the ruby resists him and takes some of his energy . Doctor Destiny shows up and takes the ruby. He plans to make the world go mad and be the king . #6 24 hours, Doctor Destiny's killing time in a diner while the world goes mad. He keeps the people in the diner there for 24 hours driving them mad and making them kill each other. Doctor destiny is twisted and really insane. Only after all the crazy has happend does Dream show up.  #7 Sound and Fury, dream challenges Doctor Destiny to a fight in his world. Dream tricks him into destroying the ruby, which gives Dream his powers back. Dream restores the world and returns Doctor Destiny to the asylum. and the world sleeps soundly.

#8 The Sound of Her Wings, This is my number one favorite. We get to meet Death, Dreams sister. She dresses in all black and has the same black unruly hair as her younger brother. She's death but she's full of life.    This issue follows dream and his sister while she reaps the living.







This comic is rated 18+. It does have some nudity and graphic scenes where people kill each other and are murdered .  There's a lot of death. The sandman has a lot of names. Morpheus, King of dreams, Dream and others I suppose. There's even a martian from the Justice League who knows him (which says something about his age). This comic has a lot going for it, good writing, good characterization and the art is pretty good if not creepy at times. It's also fun to read and meet characters you've know from other stories.So why wouldn't you read it?

Grade:

Vampire Hunter D volume 3 by Hideyuki Kikuchi , adapted and illustrated by Saiko Takaki

The third volume of the popular Japanese series comes to America in Vampire Hunter D: Demon Deathchase. The vampire hunter known only as D has been hired by a wealthy, dying man to find his daughter, who was kidnapped by the powerful vampire Lord Meierlink. Though humans speak well of Meierlink, the price on his head is too high for D to ignore and he sets out to save her before she can be turned into an undead creature of the night. In the nightmare world of 12090 A.D., finding Meierlink before he reaches the spaceport in the Clayborn States and gets off the planet will be hard enough, but D has more than just Meierlink to worry about. The dying man is taking no chances, and has also enlisted the Marcus family, a renegade clan of four brothers and a sister who don't care who they kill as long as they get paid. Beautiful illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano complement the post-apocalyptic plot, filled with chilling twists. Co-Published with Digital Manga Publishing.GOODREADS

* the description of the manga belongs to another edition. The edition being reviewed is adapted and illustrated by Saiko Takaki.

First off, I'm not familiar with the other two volumes or the story arc. This is my introduction to this manga. Not knowing certain things did bother me: like why the hell does D have a face or an ugly speaking face on his hand or why he's so mysterious and why the old guy seemed to know him. I guess being ignorant of D's background made this less impressive but it doesn't really ruin the plot,  it just makes a person curious so it's safe to read this as a stand alone. Then again I don't know why you would start at 3 when you should start with one.

The plot is predictable , I mean vampire falls in love with human, they run away, dad is disgusted, hires hunters,  girl hunter sympathizes because she likes D, a dramatic scene where the Meierlink gets killed and then human girl impales herself because she can't live without him. Predictable. 

What made it interesting was the characters and the illustrations. D's mysterious and I don't get him. Then there's the Marcus clan ( a bunch of morons, moron clan) and the Noble vampire who kidnaps the damsel. Then there's the 3 assassins from some village. They all die and the way they kept coming back was surprising and frustrating. I mean die already!

As for the illustrations. Lets see: the body of the characters ,their cloths (in this case I mean the men's cloths) are done really well and are amazing. But the faces aren't as attractive as the clothes . The faces are weird looking in my opinion but the expressions are unique and eye-catching. 

There are three female characters in this manga. I hated them all.  There's the damsel; who almost gets raped then saved by this guy who then tries to rape her and again gets rescued by a Marcus brother . Then there's the female Marcus member: she's suppose to be bad ass but is being sexually abused by her "brothers" and one of the assassins who's in this really skimpy outfit (how do you fight in that?!). The word "sexist' is swimming around in my head, but I'm not sure if I should use it. It is what it is. The assassin used her body as a weapon, the Marcus girl's a reasonable fighter but kind of weak and the damsel's too kind and naive. plus the other two aforementioned ones have these huge boobs. Maybe not extremely huge ones, but they're very apparent, noticeable. like they'd poke you in the eye or something. how do you fight with those?!

Predictable plot and crappy female characters aside, it's still a fun manga to read . I didn't know it was set in the year 12090 A.D and that this was also a science fiction manga, that wasn't as apparent in this volume as the boobs ,but one of the reasons I'd give it a try if ever I come across another volume.

Grade:

The Dark-Hunters, vol 4 by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I finely got my hands on one of the
Dark-Hunter manga's , although I had to let the person borrow my Bleach manga. This way I'm going to have to give him his book back( not that I had any bad/criminal/thieving intentions)

Dark-hunter,vol 4 is the second part of Talon and Sunshine's story. Based on book 2 from the dark-hunter novels (Night Embrace). I've read all the dark-hunter novels  and enjoyed them immensely. They're funny,action packed and have great memorable characters.So it was a different experience for me to read Talon's story in manga form, with him saying lines from the book and seeing facial expressions from him , Sunshine and other characters. 

Talon's depiction in the manga is pretty young looking. Although when he's angry he has a more mature facial expression.

Acheron's depiction is great. It's dark and brooding ,just like it's suppose to be.

Further they got Fang's personality down right and Zarek's. Although Zarek is missing his goatee. Zarek!! I love that psycho and Nick's sarcasm. Vane's expression when he sees Bride for the first time. 

The manga is for ages 13  and up. 
This is an actual manga and not a comic. The pages of this book were created in the traditional japanese right to left manga format but don't worry Simi' will help you if you'r new to reading manga's.
Sexual content : kissing scenes. 

I'm happy that they didn't include sex scenes from the book because it would make me feel like I'm reading one of those smut manga's. Dark-hunter is so much more. *my opinion

Minus points would be when some of the character's go "gah". Yeah they actually say that "gah". I freaking hate that! even in the books. It ruins the effect of things. Some of the scenes depicted were weird for me, like bad acting. Sunshine gets kidnapped ,Talon's pissed but then he's calm.

I really loved this, although it's the second half of the book. I think each book is split into two parts.If that's the case then I can't wait to read Zarek's story in manga form.

Grade: 

O

Review: Bleach vol 36 by Tite Kubo

Bleach: volume 36 Turn Back The Pendulum by Tite Kubo

I love Bleach. It's my first anime and favorite anime. Maybe not my absolute first but it tops the list. I had been reading the manga online up till the vizards kicked Aizen's butt, then there  was this new thing about fullbring, but since my favorite manga site went down . I've stopped reading and I'm well behind on whats happening.

Although I've already read The Pendulum arc.  I still bought the manga because it's my favorite arc. I really like the vizards. Compared to the soul reapers they're more badass, they're like delinquents you can't help but love. and they're badass.

This volume goes back 110 years into Soul Society history, when Shinji was captain, and the other vizards were apart of  Soul Society. It tells the story about them before and how they became vizards. And how Aizen was even then conspiring against Soul Society . Shinji was always suspicious about Aizen. So was kyoraku. I love this arc because you also get to see the other characters like a young hotheaded Byakuya different from the cold and calm one we know, also Urahara as captain of squad 5 and his relationship with Hiyori, and how Mayuri becomes head of his division, the origin of the 69 tattoo Hisagi has. This edison  of the manga (or maybe all editions ), I wouldn't know, this is the first manga  I've ever bought. I love how it's backwards (the manga binding) true to manga style reading you have to start at the "back" and read from right to left. Things I didn't like is the fact that it ended too quickly and this volume doesn't contain the whole pendulum arc, the rest of the story continues in volume 37, guess I have some saving up to do.


Grade: O