Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams

Being contacted by the Louvre, one of the most well known and prestigious museums in the world, to collaborate on a comic seems a highly unlikely proposition, but then again most artists are not as renowned as Naoki Urasawa. Among his many manga credits are contemporary classics such as 20th Century Boys, Monster, Pluto, as well as the ongoing Asadora! Urasawa has won numerous awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award three times, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award. He has also been recognized internationally, with honors from the Angoulême International Comics Festival and the Eisner Awards.

Mujirushi is exceptional among Urasawa's works in two ways: first, because it is based on holdings and input from the Louvre, it features a lot of the architecture, artworks, and behind-the-scenes schematics from the buildings. Second, it is a serial story that can be contained in one graphic novel-seized volume and not a multi-volume epic that takes years to be published. Still, it features the grand craftsmanship, pacing, and vivid characters that are a hallmark of his past work. 

The plot focuses on a father Kamoda and his young daughter Kasumi. Kamoda stops paying taxes and gets mixed up in some get-rich schemes, which end up with him destitute, desperate, and stuck with a factory full of unwanted rubber novelty masks. Also, his wife leaves him. Through a convoluted series of events he and Kasumi end up involved with a Francophile con man ("the Director") who has a scheme to "borrow" a Vermeer painting from the Louvre. What they do not know is that they have all become people of interest in an investigation of an international art smuggling ring, and the detective is determined to catch them in the act.

What makes this book work is its incredible artwork, strongly defined characters, and a plot that takes many twists and turns as the complicated backstory of the Director is slowly untangled. There are many revelations and twists in these nine chapters, maybe too many coincidences, and the ending is a clever weaving together of seemingly unrelated plot threads. If you would like to get a taste of what makes Urasawa's work so appealing and do not want to invest the time to read multiple volumes of a manga serial, this book is for you. If you are already a fan of his, this book is another gem to be enjoyed. 

The reviews I have read of this book have been mixed. Morgan Santilli wrote, "Though perhaps not as engrossing or complex as some of Urasawa’s other offerings, Mujirushi does leave the reader with that familiar feeling of awe at a master’s manipulation of line, panel, and story." Irina found it "to be both entertaining and endearing in many ways." In a long critique of this book and Urasawa, Austin Price calls the story "cute" but also "contrived and overblown."

Mujirushi was published by Viz Media, and they offer more information about it here.

The Banks

Way back when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the country, the comic book industry shut down for a couple of months. In that time, the publisher TKO ran an initiative to both sell their books and also pay a portion from each sale to local comic book stores. That's when I got this book. 

 

I am sucker for a well-done heist story, and The Banks is exactly that, with an intriguing twist. The thieves in this story are a grandmother/mother/daughter team who operate in Chicago, three generations brought together by the family business. This is not to say that all goes smoothly. The youngest and oldest members of the team especially rub each other the wrong way, with constant posturing and calling into question each others' integrity/commitment to the task at hand. 

The Banks themselves are some interesting characters, and much of this book works because they are so compelling. The oldest member of the team, Clara, got her start in the early 1970s, and the flashbacks into her past are great period pieces that look cool and also inform the plot/characters in definite ways. In the present, these women are very selective of their jobs, and they only work with lots of planning and an intention to act as modern-day Robin Hoods. 

The granddaughter, Celia, lives the high-stress and privileged life of an investment banker (a legitimate sort of thief), but when she gets a lead on a high-roller who seems a great target she presents the case to her mom and grandmother. While they are doing their homework, they find they might have the opportunity to avenge Clara's husband, Melvin Banks, which makes this job inevitable for them. In addition to all these goings-on, there is also a hotshot detective who is onto the team of thieves, and she would just love to make her career by taking them down.

As I said, the characters make this book unique, but what makes it work so well is taut plotting replete with great twists and a huge cliffhanger at the end of each chapter. The action is excellently paced and plotted. I just had to finish reading this book once I got started. The artwork is very lively, especially in the flashbacks, conveying emotion and affect even in its more dialogue-heavy sections. I highly recommend this book for any fans of heist/noir stories.

This book was a collaboration between high-profile, accomplished creators, including best-selling author Roxane Gay, illustrator Ming Doyle, and colorist Jordie Bellaire. Gay is best known for her novel Hunger, and has a slew of other publications. Doyle is best known for her work on the series Mara and The Kitchen. Bellaire is a multiple Eisner Award winner with too many credits for me to list here.

All of the reviews I've read about this book have been positive. Caitlin Rosberg called it "an engrossing, interesting read and would pair perfectly with last year’s film Widows for a celebration of unexpectedly emotional female-focused heists." Matt O'Keefe wrote, "Unlike most heist stories, the plot isn’t the central element, the characters are. The comic will ultimately be remembered for its three leading ladies, the lessons they learned, and what readers themselves can take away from the series." LaNeysha Campbell called it "a great graphic novel that also makes a refreshing addition to the heist genre."

The Banks was published by TKO, and they have a preview and much more available here. There is some profanity, violence, and sexuality in this book, so it is recommended for more mature readers. A film adaptation is in the works.

4 Kids Walk Into a Bank

4 Kids Walk Into a Bank was originally published this year as a 5-issue limited series. Its story focuses on Paige, a tough tomboy who is trying to keep her father out of trouble, only in perhaps the most terrible way imaginable. She may or may not have hatched a plan to rob a bank, so that he will not have the chance to do so first. Led by Paige, the rest of this unlikely quartet of tween wanna-be bank robbers consists of Stretch, who you might have guessed is tall, Berger, who is annoying and profane, and Walter, a soft-spoken science nerd who barfs a lot. Taken as a group, they are a motley crew, fascinating to observe as they interact and especially when they play together.

Of course, along the way are complications. Paige's uncle is a cop who is clearly onto what is happening. There are also multiple squabbles, including ones with bullies at school and ones with the bunch of ex-cons who want to wrangle Paige's dad into trying one more score. Also, the group is into using a CB radio, where they keep interacting with a shady fellow named Doctor Gloryhole, whose name might tip you off that this book is not intended for younger readers..

There are many reasons to recommend this book. The artwork is very attractive, crisp, and clean, and I feel like the characters are not only clearly detailed, they pop off the page they're so vibrant. Also, this book features a lot of snappy dialogue and clever narration. It's fun to read and often funny. The plot is intriguing and interesting. And not to spoil things but the story does not end happily, but I think I'd be disappointed if it had, because this whole situation is such a complicated mess. If I have anything negative to add about this book it's that the final chapter seems a little less well executed than the first four, but it still sticks its landing. Any book that leaves the reader wanting more is successful, I feel.

This story was a collaboration between writer Matthew Rosenberg, artist Tyler Boss, and letterer Thomas Mauer. Rosenberg has written a bunch of comic book series for Marvel and Archie. As far as I can tell this series is Boss's solo debut, though he publishes some of his work online. Mauer has worked in many capacities for several comics companies, and he had a hand in a number of Harvey and Eisner Award nominated and winning titles, including Image Comics’ POPGUN anthology series and the webcomic The Guns of Shadow Valley. Rosenberg speaks about his work on this series in this interview.

I was not able to locate many reviews for the book as a collection, but the ones I did find are very positive. Ben Snyder wrote, "I’m just going to spell this out and make it really simple, 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank is phenomenal and one of the best books that I have read all year. The ending is heartfelt and earned, Paige is one of the best characters in recent memory, and the art is stellar. Pick up this book." Heidi MacDonald called it "a virtuoso performance from the whole team."

4 Kids Walk Into a Bank was published by Black Mask Studios, and they have more info about the series here. You can access a preview of the first chapter (issue) here. This book features some puerile, profane humor as well as some violence, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle both.

Ghosted Volume One: Haunted Heist

This book collects the first five issues of Ghosted, a comic book series that combines two things I love: crime and horror comics. The covers are by Sean Phillips, whose work on Criminal and other books I adore, but the guts of the story did not really live up to my hopes. The premise here is a high-concept one: a rich, old, crooked eccentric hires a seasoned, troubled crook to steal a ghost from a haunted house where a remarkable amount of murders took place:

In order to accomplish this job, the crook, the impressively named, Jonathan T. Winters, gathers a rag-tag crew. I have to be honest, some of the folks in this group just seem thrown in for the sake of driving the plot forward, and some of them are clearly just cannon fodder. You can see the potential victims here:

And because this is a heist book, complications arise, backstabbing happens, and there are a bunch of plot twists.

In the end, this book was not really my cup of tea. The characters were unlikable, which I actually don't have a problem with (I like Arrested Development and The League for instance), but also very flat and uninteresting. I get that Jackson T. Winters is supposed to come off as some kind of master criminal/John Constantine type, but he falls way short of those expectations. Also, the heist aspects of this book just left me cold. There were points where big twists, turns, and reveals happened, but I did not feel there was ample set-up to make them satisfying. I enjoyed some of the horror aspects of the book though. And the artwork, while not spectacular, was solid in its storytelling and especially fun when it focused on the gruesome spirits. Maybe later volumes are better, but I don't really feel motivated to seek them out.

This volume of Ghosted is a collaboration between writer Joshua Williamson,  artist Goran Sudžuka (Y, The Last Man), and colorist Miroslav Mrva. Williamson talks a bunch here about the origins of the series, which is currently up to issue 16.

The reviews I have read about this book have been pretty mixed. Rob McMonigal felt it started badly but got better and summed up, "Horror fans who appreciate carefully crafted visual storytelling really need to jump on this one."  Nina savaged it in her review, writing, "The book is notable deficient in terms of plot, artwork and characterizations without even mentioning the author’s insulting attempts to shock his audience in that very first panel." Patrick Hester liked the book but his review seems lukewarm, including blah statements like "It definitely falls in the supernatural horror genre, and if you're a fan, you'll like this."

Haunted Heist was published by Image Comics, and they have more info about this book and series available here. This book features nudity, extreme violence, profanity, and some scary supernatural images, so I recommend it for readers who can handle those things.

The New Deal

I have heard some talk about how 2015 has been a down year for graphic novels in terms of quality, but for the life of me I can't see it. Perhaps I have not read one transcendent book so far, but there have been many well crafted ones. The Sculptor was technically great and had an incredible ending sequence; Tim Ginger was very mature and intriguing; Omaha Beach on D-Day was an excellent use of multimedia, and Russian Olive to Red King was a very mature and affecting book. And I have not even mentioned some of the most fun books I have ever read, like Nimona or Fantasy Sports No. 1. All of this is prologue to me talking about The New Deal, which I think is a gorgeously rendered graphic novel, a period piece that might not be the most substantive thing I have ever read. But it features fantastic artwork while being a fun, breezy read, a throw-back to old school comedy films.

The story here is set in 1930's New York City at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The main players are Frank, the bellhop who is a bad liar with a poker problem that has put him in debt; Theresa, the African-American maid who moonlights as an actress in Orson Welles' production of Othello, and Nina, an eccentric socialite who has just checked in.

Frank is tempted to pilfer some of the guests more expensive items to dig himself out of his hole, and Nina is a busy-body who inserts herself into Theresa's and Frank's business. Further complicating matters, there is a racist guest who casts suspicion on Theresa when some of her items goes missing. Also, it turns out that there is a thief in the hotel who may be pinning their work on Frank. So, to sum up with out spoiling things, there are a lot of instances of mistaken identity, snappy wordplay, interesting social situations, and sophisticated folks in snazzy clothes acting cool. All of this adds up to an enjoyable romp, replete with crisp, expressive, and clean artwork.

Even though I enjoyed the story, I feel the art is the best part of this book, as was also my experience with the other works by Eisner Award winning artist Jonathan Case I have read, The Green River Killer and Dear Creature. He is an illustrator and member of the Periscope Studio based in Portland, Oregon, and he has also been working on the Batman '66 comic book series for DC. He speaks more extensively about his work on The New Deal in this interview. He also expounds about his artistic process in this profile.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Henry Chamberlain called it Case's "best work yet" and "a thoroughly entertaining and remarkable work." Itho called it "an instant classic" and added that it is "masterfully done, and deceptively simple." Jason Wilkins called the artwork "stunning" and stated that this graphic novel is "one of the most visually pleasing books of the year."

The New Deal was published by Dark Horse, and they provide a preview and more information here.

Bandette Volume 1: Presto!

I bet 99% of the reviews about this first volume of the Bandette series use the word fun, because dang it, this book just contains so much of it. It follows the exploits of Bandette, a young woman who is also a master thief with a cheeky sense of humor and panache. In addition to that simply brilliant set-up, the book also has a few other amazing qualities, including deft, witty dialogue; imaginative, taut plotting; and excellently composed and colorful artwork. Just take a look at that page and I dare you not be charmed.

Bandette's exploits and appearance belie an old-school, David-Niven-in-the-Pink-Panther type of thief, but the story is very much set in the present day, with the clever use of modern gadgetry and social media to coordinate efforts among Bandette's very large (for a secret thief, I gather) band of accomplices, who include a delivery guy, a band of street urchins, and a trio of dancers.

Plus, the series features further colorful characters, including colorful assassins, rival thieves, criminal masterminds, and the salty police inspector who begrudgingly collaborates with Bandette in times of crisis.

With all these characters and situations, there is the danger of a book like this trying too hard to contain too many "OMG THAT IS AWESOME" elements. But I am happy to report that this one brings everything together in an organic narrative that buzzes along in breathtakingly entertaining ways. This may be the most fun book I have read all year.

Bandette is another creation of husband/wife creative team Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover. They have collaborated in the past on the web-series Gingerbread Girl and Banana Sunday, an all-ages graphic novel about a young woman who becomes guardian of three monkeys. They are both members of the Periscope Studio. Tobin has written a number of comics, notably many entries in the Marvel Adventures series. He has also written a novel about superheroes, Prepare to Die! Coover has also written and drawn the adult comic book series Small Favors, which has a strong following, and a number of short works for Marvel Comics. Coover and Tobin speak more about their work on Bandette in this interview.

Bandette won the 2013 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, and all the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Hillary Brown called it "wonderfully ephemeral." Publishers Weekly summed up, "This is a wonderful gateway comic for readers of all ages—one of the brightest, and most fun, comics of the year." Craig Neilson gushed, "I honestly can’t recommend Bandette highly enough to those of you who may fancy a change of pace from the overly serious, ‘grimy and gritty’ titles which seem to make up the lion’s share of comic book shelves these days."

The chapters in this book were originally published as 99¢ e-comics from MonkeyBrain, and you can keep up with the more recent episodes there. This book contains the first five installments, plus a bunch of bonus stories from some very talented artists as well as notes from Tobin and Coover about how they create the comic. It is a very well designed and purchase-worthy book, even with the option to cheaply buy the main narrative in shorter segments.

Presto! was published by Dark Horse, and they provide a preview here.