Planetes Vol. 1 & 2 by Makoto Yukimura (Tokyopop, 2004)
I saw Vol. 2 in my local library on day and picked it up because of some kind words said about it on The Johnny Bacardi Show. I almost didn't because it was the second one, and who starts with the second book, but I figured I liekly wouldn't care for it, not being a big manga fan, so I took it home and ended up just devouring it in a sitting or two.
It was great stuff. Great characters, great plot, great pace and great art made for a great experience with this book that led me back to Vol. 1, and I await Vol. 3 as I write this review.
For me, Planetes is to manga what Cowboy Bebop was to anime. An entry point with high quality storytelling and a limited run. When you just have 4 Volumes to get through, or 26 episodes in the case of Bebop, it's a limited commitment that makes it less painful to take it out for a test drive, so to speak.
A gamble that really paid off. Planetes would get my highest rating if I actually had a rating system.
Rogue #7 by Tony Bedard & Karl Moline (Marvel Comics, 2005)
I made a pact years ago that I would purchase anything that had Karl Moline's name on it, so colour me surprised when I see this book sitting on the rack. I knew that Marvel had acquired just about everybody previously working for CrossGen, but I never saw Moline ending up at the House of Ideas for an extended period (he did that Daredevil 2099 with Kirkman a few months ago), never mind on a B-grade X-Book.
Still, it's painful for me to go any length of time without looking at his great layouts and characters, and having him team-up with former partner Tony Bedard could only lead to good things, right? They're a known quantity to me since I read the ill-fated Route 666, so it wasn't like I was throwing money away.
Well, I have to say that I was greatly amused to find our main character sitting in a roadside diner at the beginning of the book (a pretty common setting in Route 666). Whether they meant to or not, they played on my familiarity with it and I was hooked from the get-go (I'm such a sucker). The story, while slow (it is a classic Marvel-style 6-issue arc, to be collected soon, I'm sure) was a good set-up for events to come and definitely has me interested to see where things go from here. I've had something of a falling out with the X-Universe since the middle of Morrison's run, and with books like this and Astonishing, I'm finding myself getting slowly sucked back in (heck, I'm even checking out the Peter Milligan written adjectiveless X-Men now).
Definitely in it for the long haul, and based on more than just the beautiful art, so check it out if you have the time and cashola to spare.
mike
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