Tag Archives: comics

Authors We Love: Junji Itō

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American horror typically depicts a psycho lurking around in a motel, zombies brought back from the dead, or clowns eating frightened children. Junji Itō has shaped the way viewers define horror forever, bringing stories to life by drawings made from ink and paper. Unlike American horror, he illustrates supernatural events such as mysterious spirals, blood-sucking vampire bats, and much more.

Born on July 31st, 1963 in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan, Junji Itō developed his love for horror at a young age. His older sisters would read him Kazuo Umezu and Shinichi Koga–famous horror manga authors during the 1960s–in Japanese magazines. Other authors such as Hideshi Hino, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Shinichi Koga, H. P. Lovecraft, and Edogawa Ranpo became major influences to his work as well.

Junji Itō’s career as a manga author began around the 1980s, when he won the Kazuo Umezu Prize after entering a short tale to Gekkan Halloween. The submission later turned into a Japanese horror manga series titled Tomie. Afterwards, he quit his previous job and pursued his hobby of writing and drawing as a full career.

Junji Itō’s works were popular in Japan, yet they only gained popularity in the United States late into his career. In 2019, Itō won an Eisner Award for his manga reinterpretation of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Known as the Academy Awards of the comic industry, Itō became one of few foreigners to receive an Eisner Award. This year, he was once again nominated for an Eisner Award under the category of “The Best Writer/Artist” for his horror comic Jigokusei Remina.

Most of Junji Itō’s creations portray a dark, impulsive universe filled with the worst traits in any human, specifically greed, jealousy, and irrationality. There are recurring themes of grotesque horror, inevitable consequences of one’s own actions, seemingly ordinary characters that gradually submit to compulsion, and settings that break down and collapse into a state which reflects our own society. As a result, all of his mangas portray the beauty and underlying horror in every story. Itō’s most popular manga is arguably Uzumaki, a three-volume novel that depicts the journey of a teenager, Kirie Goshima, who witnesses an ordinary town fall under a curse of spirals. Another famous novel is Smashed, consisting of multiple short stories such as addictive honey that flattens those who drink it, a valley of mirrors, and “earthbound” people. These novels may be the most well-known, but Itō has a variety of underrated books, series, and movies to choose from.

As a lover of horror, I’ve grown to admire Junji Itō’s novels for their distinctive illustrations and plots. They truly allow readers to feel more than just fear. The ties between Itō’s fictional and nonfictional factors truly brings out different emotions because it reflects our own world.

Junji Itō is still alive at the age of 57. Although he may not be publishing any novels in the near future, his history of twisted tales that connect our deepest unknown fears to real life truly proves he’s the master of horror.

-Natasha P.

The works of Junji Ito are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

Movie Review: Captain Marvel

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Captain Marvel actually exceeded my expectations. I went into the movie thinking that it would be extremely hyper-feminized in a way where it would actually take away from the movie especially, because of all the controversy surrounded the main actor Brie Larson. However, this movie did represent feminism in a way that was not annoyed and seemingly forced unlike many other movies that have been coming out recently. Which was nice. It showed the empowerment of women but did not push the idea so much that it took away from the movie.

The movie was by no means amazing or anything revolutionary or new. But, it was a pretty good average superhero origin story. It had some good actions scenes mixed in with an okay story line. Though nothing was truly that originally or different from any other super hero movie that has come out. There was a pretty cool plot twist which, I am not going to ruin which did make it a little bit more interesting. But, many of the main concepts where just like any other movie, the main character gets in a battle, looses, so then she goes back and finds her roots and all of a sudden she is a lot stronger. It is nothing new.

Overall though, the movie was entertaining and it was nice to see a woman taking a lead role in a superhero movie and showing the empowerment of woman and what they can do. It was cool to see that women where being represented in action movies and not just romance movies. The actions scenes where also very well done and the music chosen for the movie was amazing.

This movie is a great one to see to just pass some time and have some fun with friends or family. It is enjoyable to watch and is relatively engaging. I would suggest this movie to anyone who just wants have to have a movie night with others.

-Ava G.

Film Review: Aquaman

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I recently went and saw Aquaman, and walked into the theater with the mindset that it would be just like all the other Marvel movies, super dark, a lot of action, a little storyline and some comic relief. And, this movie finally broke that formula though, it wasn’t necessarily anything that seemed that original. But, it was more of a fluff movie than some of the other recent and extremely dark Marvel movies that had been coming out like Avengers. So, it was nice to have something different that was slightly less dark with a little more storyline.

In essence, the movie seemed pretty typical. A forbidden love between two worlds with a child that has to bring the two together. And, of course, the child at first does not want to but, in the end, decides to try to save the day. So, the storyline is pretty much predictable. Though, the actions scenes where cool and the special effects throughout the entire movie were extremely well done.

This movie is the perfect movie to go and watch and turn your brain off. It is entertaining without much substance. But it provides a nice break to just stop thinking. I would suggest as a movie to go out and see with your friends and family to just have some fun. Since it is more of a light fluffy movie than a typical dark Marvel movie, you can finish the movie and not have that air of darkness and instead, it leaves you with a happy humorous mood. So it is great to just have some fun.

-Ava G.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway by Jeff Kinney

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid is probably one of my favorite series, but Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway made it official. This book is like all the other books times two. It shows the Heffley’s true nature as a clumsy, ridiculous, frazzled family. It is similar to The Long Haul, but different at the same time. The book also features some new, funny characters that increase the humor in the book a lot! This book also has a lot more interesting twists and turns than 1-9.

One thing that makes this book interesting for me is that it does not take place in Greg’s town at all. Most of the books feature Greg in his hometown, so this book helped mix it up a bit. Most of the characters the other books generate are not that likable or funny, their main purpose is to be stupid. But the characters this book makes, are always funny! Another good aspect of the story is setup. The book gives us a nice back round story on how Greg and his family get into this trip. This is a very good book overall, and I recommend you get it.

Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Avengers: Infinity War Trailer

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First of all, SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched the Avengers: Infinity War or every movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The trailer for Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War has just dropped late November and fans are already coming up with insane theories and new ideas based off of what transpired in this two minute clip. The trailer has become the most-watched trailer on YouTube within a single day of its release, with over 200 million views in just 24 hours. This film will come out on May 4, 2018 and is the culmination of the last ten years of the MCU. We will  witness everyone from all 17 Marvel movies come together to stop the mad titan Thanos from recovering the six Infinity Stones.

There are a couple of new things we see in the trailer that are new to the Avengers movies. Dr. Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy are new to the Avengers’ movies, while Dr. Strange did have a small part in Thor: Ragnarok. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of how our beloved heroes have gone through some changes since Captain America: Civil War almost two years ago. Vision has two scenes in the trailer, one where he looks human and another where he looks like himself. We also saw a rugged Cap with a beard and long hair, as well as a blonde Black Widow.

Some cool shots from the trailer included Spider-man’s spidey sense and his new suit, Thanos putting a couple Infinity Stones into his gauntlet, and a final scene of Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Black Panther, The Hulk, Falcon, War Machine, and Okoye running head on into battle against Thanos’ minions in what looks like the Wakandan jungles. This will really be the culmination of the past ten years of Marvel movies and will be, as the executive producer Kevin Feige reports, “the beginning of the end” for the MCU as we know it. Next year is going to be full of Marvel movies with Black Panther on Februrary 16th, New Mutants on April 13th, Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Deadpool 2 on June 8th, and Ant Man 2 on July 6th. Get ready Marvel fans, we’re all in for one wild ride in the cinema.

-Kyle H.

Film Review: Thor Ragnarok

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The movie Thor Ragnarok left a hilarious taste on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I have always found the Thor movies of the Marvel universe to be very boring. This movie really put the Thor movies back on the map. In the last two movies, Thor has always been a more serious character. Instead of keeping the serious state going, Marvel turned him into a funny character.

One person who stole Thor’s spotlight was the rock man Korg, a warrior held captive in The Grand Master’s arena. Many critics and fans thought this rock alien stole the spotlight from Chris Hemsworth. Even though Korg stole the show, Thor was still a star. Every line that he spoke was hilarious.

Then there was Bruce Banner, or the Hulk if you want to call him by that. He was also a funny addition to the team. It was a great idea to have the Hulk associated in the movie. The main idea of adding the Hulk to the movie was that he wasn’t going to have a stand alone movie of his own. Marvel decided to have Hulk in Thor’s movie so there wouldn’t be any problems with Universal. In my opinion, making Hulk into a Thor Movie was a great idea. Thor and Hulk have always been close together. Putting them into a movie showed how their bond progresses from movie to movie.

The last of the “Revengers” in Thor Ragnarok is Valkyrie. She was a great addition to the movie because, in the Thor comics she was a very big character. She was involved in so much in Thor’s life she could be his sister.

But of course how could we forget Loki. He was another funny character in this movie. Tom Hiddleson has always been a standout attribute to the Marvel Universe. Whether is was being a villain or being a complete good guy until he betrayed Thor. Loki and Thor’s relationship was strong and funny in this movie. Besides Korg stealing the spotlight, Loki and Thor where an amazing duo whether it was telling a joke or fighting along side each other.

My honest opinion of Thor Ragnarok was that it was hilarious but, it could use some more advanced feelings. Thor Ragnarok was a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and i hope you go see it.

-Max U.

Film Review: Wonder Women

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I was really excited when I heard that DC had finally made the iconic Wonder Women into a movie. And I wasn’t disappointed. DC did a great job with the movie keeping Wonder Women the iconic female superhero that everyone remembers.

Diana is just a little kid who wants to fight. Who wants to be just like all the other Amazons on Themyscira, even though she is the only kid on the island. But her mom, Hippolyta doesn’t want her to. So she trains in secret.

But one day, Steve Trevor crashes into the island. Not far behind him, an entire army of Germans. The amazons, defeat the army, but they lose many and Steve explains the raging war, World War 1, the war to end all wars.

Only Diana believes this is the war, created by Ares, that the Amazons were created to defeat.  So she sneaks out, with Trevor, and they sail to Europe.  Where she finally sees the full-scale of what she is dealing with. As well as how different modern life is compared to life on the Amazons island.

She fights. Becoming the hero everyone needed. Helping give courage to those around her. Until she finds Ares.

I really loved this movie. And I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves superhero movies.

-Ava G.

TV Review: Gotham

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Gotham is a crime drama series that is inside the Batman Universe. The plot takes place when Bruce Wayne was just a kid, growing up in the wake of his parent’s death. Jim Gordon, who will later be Commissioner Gordon, is the main character. Most of the drama centers around him. The villains are younger versions of Penguin, Mad Hatter, Victor ZsasZ, The Riddler, and Mr. Freeze to name a few. My personal favorite villain is the Penguin because he is very complex, and tricky too.

The storyline is very intense, and always leaves you with a cliffhanger. I feel like it has the perfect balance between drama and action. This is the only TV series that I watch weekly and am really pumped for the next episode to come out. I feel like Gotham is like a darker version of the series The Flash or Supergirl. The storyline is very well-written, however because this takes place in Batman’s past they can’t be very creative with it. For example, we know that Jim Gordon will become the commissioner, and that Bruce Wayne will become Batman.

A big con that happens is that we know certain characters can’t die or that they will come back somehow, because they are inside the movie. However even though they have to follow a set in stone storyline, they did an excellent job with it. They create a lot of suspense in almost every episode and the winter break they took was torturous to us fans. I really would recommend this series to any Batman fan, although it has its cons it still the does an excellent job with what it has and is a great series overall.

-Max G.

Lumberjanes Series Overview

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lumberjanesA summer camp for “hard-core lady types”, filled with bear-women, dinosaurs, alternate time dimensions, and a whole lot more crazy supernatural stuff, is the setting of Lumberjanes. Lumberjanes is a graphic novel series created by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Brooke A. Allen. Lumberjanes is chaotic and full of the unexpected, and it’s great. It follows five best friends, April, Molly, Mal, Jo, and Ripley, during their time at summer camp, which is way more magical (literally) then they ever could have expected. And for the most part, they just roll with it, which makes for some great adventures.

The characters, both main and supporting, are diverse and well rounded. There is a lot of representation going on in these comics, which is great, especially for an all ages comic. One area of representation that I was very pleased to see was LGBT+ because it’s largely absent from most all ages/kids media.

The supernatural aspect of the story is really enjoyable. It’s a bit random and not always super explained, but it’s always really fun and just seems to work. You never know what kind of supernatural antics will occur, but whatever they are, you know they will be enjoyable, even if they don’t totally make sense.

One thing that I think is a really nice touch is the way they work the Lumberjanes earning badges into the story. For each story arc (which lasts a few comics each), there is a page at the begging detailing a badge they are working on. The story somehow ties into that. It’s an interesting take on the idea of scouts earning badges because with the Lumberjanes, the requirements for getting a badge are never as straight forward as it seems.

Being a comic series, the art is an important aspect. And honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. Their isn’t a constant artist/style for the series, and while I’ve never read an issue where the art was bad, there have been some that just didn’t feel like Lumberjanes to me. Sometimes the art is fairly realistic, sometimes it’s more stylized, so it’s really a matter of personal preference whether or not  you like the art in a specific issue. Overall though even when I’m not  a fan of the art I still love reading the comics because the story and the characters are always great.

Lumberjanes has been around for a little while now, there are currently 33 issues of the main series comic, with the 34th being released later this month, as well as a spin off series and some one-offs. This may be a bit overwhelming for some new readers, but as far as comics go it’s not really all that much, plus it would be pretty great to be able to read that many back to back without having to wait.

Overall Lumberjanes is a really fun read that’s doing some great things in terms of representation and overall is something I highly recommend.

-Angela J.

Movie Review: Ant-Man

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antmanI’m going to be honest, I’m a pretty big fan of superhero movies. Unfortunately, I wasn’t blown away by Avengers: Age of Ultron, but I was intrigued as to what Marvel would do with Ant-Man, a hero whom I never even heard of and whose name makes me laugh every time I see it. It’s safe to say they’ve surprised me again.

Ant-Man is directed by Peyton Reed and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Evangeline Lilly as Hope Pym. It’s an action comedy set in present day United States. Hank Pym was a scientist who became the original Ant-Man after creating a substance that could shrink him down in size. Darren Cross, his former apprentice, wants to steal it to create his own super weapon. Hank asks help from Scott Lang, a former thief and divorced father failing at making a living.

What you’ll notice right away is just how humorous the movie really is. This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, since Marvel is known for their witty dialogue and new age comedy. However, this movie takes it a step further by having actual comedic actors, like Michael Pena, play large roles. This amount of comedy may seem unnecessary, but I felt it really added to the tone of the movie and situation very well. It still maintains enough seriousness to make you understand the weight of the situation, though I’m glad the director didn’t try to make it dark and brooding. After all, this is a movie about a guy who shrinks and controls ants, right?

The movie paces itself quite well, introducing and setting up the main characters in a short time, explaining back stories and character relationships within the earlier points in the movie. It has action sequences throughout, and has a spectacular finale. It also much more emotional depth than you’d expect from a movie like this, but it serves the story well. The entire scope of the movie is very small compared to Marvel’s more recent film, Age of Ultron, and that’s very good because it lets you explore the characters more and it, again, works for this hero.

Overall, Ant-Man is a fun, humorous, action-packed summer blockbuster that anyone can enjoy. Whether you’re a superhero fan, an action fan, comedy fan, or just a fan of movies in general, you will most likely enjoy this film.

Ahmed H., 11th grade