reading: mostly manga: Legend of Grimjack, Black Cat, Vampire Knight, Fullmetal Alchemist

[meganbmoore]

Sigh...comics came today, but as usual, the mailman didn't try to get them to me, just took them straight to the office, and they closed early today for a funeral, so I can't get them until Monday.  Figures that once I finally get out of the comics funk, I can't even get them for a while.

Also, now that I'm through with the Dark Hunters books until I get more, I have to say:  I want a normal sized heroine and a normal sized hero.  One heroine between 5' and 5'7" and a hero around 5'10"-6'2"....that's all I ask.  And not even necessarily in the same book.  Every single one of these heroines so far has been taller than my father, most as tall or almost as tall as my brother...and if I stand behind him, I stare at his shoulder blades.  And the guys have all been at least a head taller.  Can we just have one of each where I wouldn't have to break my neck just to see their faces?

Legend of Grimjack Vol 6:  It's been so long since the last Grimjack trade, not to mention the month or so I've had this but haven't been able to get to it, that I've started to forget some specifics...such as whether or not Katar is really dead.  One of the appealing things about Grimjack is that he rarely if ever reacts the way a typical comic book hero-especially one of the 80s-does.  Tell him that he has a son and, oh yeah said son is a guy who tried to kill him a while back so Gaunt killed him instead?  Most heroes would spend the next 10 issues wailing and wallowing in angst.  Gaunt?  Someone tried to kill him, he killed them.  Neither one knew their real relationship.  If they had, it may have been different, but he's not going to torture himself for saving his own butt against some random guy months earlier.  (I'm actually somewhat surprised Ostrander was able to get away with that, but then it was First, not Marvel or DC.)  About the only thing he reacts to like a traditional hero is attacks against his friends, in which case, he will hunt you down and destroy you.  I also liked Spook's story, and how it was dealt with.  I like that, even though they're the "good" guys, Gaunt, Blakjacmac, Goddess, mechanic and his chick(yeah, I forgot their names...) Gordon and Spook aren't really good or nice people(well, except maybe Gordon) they just aren't evil heartless monsters like the people they face, and Spook's backstory and her need for vengeance were a good example of that. Incidentally, since I'm too lazy to investigate, can any Grimjack fans reading this tell me if this is the end of the series, or if there's more?

Vampire Knight Vol 2:  Ok, I have to say...I like Yuki, I adore Zero and possibly even get fangirlish about him while reading, I like the supporting characters, even the ones we'll probably never see again, like Zero's master.  I don't, however, like Kaname.  He's supposed to be repressed and intense and enigmatic and such, but something about him gives me a queasy, squicky feeling...he seems to look at people-especially Yuki-as possessions and pawns more than anything else.  And as far as the triangle goes...it gives me the feeling the early Fruits Basket triangle did...one guy (Kyo/Zero) just wants her to be happy no matter who she's with, the other (Kaname/Yuki) wants her to make himself feel better (or in Kaname's case, to have a greater feeling of control, I think.)  In FB it didn't bother me much because I liked Yuki and there was no feeling of a desire to own or possess Tohru...just to feel better.  But with Kaname...uhm...yeah. Ick feeling.  I can't shake the feeling  there's a bit of a sadistic control freak under the exterior or something.  I'd worry that I'm on the wrong side of the triangle, but hey, one guy touches  Yuki and it's all "fluster fluster scoot away embarassed" the other one she's all "oh you poor woobie...here, drink my blood so you'll feel better."  Uhm...yeah...I think I'm safe in shipping the "right" pair...I hope...

Black Cat Vol 8: Not much Train and Co. in this volume, but that's fine, as 7 and 8 have been compensating(for me) for the lack of Rinslet in the couple volumes before(have I mentioned how much I love her lately?) and it's interesting to get a look at the Chronos organization and the other numbers.  It's curious, though, that they aren't numbered accordign to when they joined up.  Train, who seems to be younger than most of them, is XIII(an unlucky number) while Jenos, VII(a lucky number) joined AFTER Train left the organization.  Makes you wonder just how the get the numbers they get.  Rinslet seems to be entering the Yuya/Kaoru field of heroines...perfectly(extremely, in her case) capable against your average guy, but surrounded more and more by people way out of her lead.  Of course, she backs down to them even less than Yuya does(read: doesn't quite have Yuya's common sense) and tends to go around making assassins pull over the car so she can slap them for wrecking her heist without causing a car wreck in the process, and requiring that the head assassin of a scary corporation step down as payment for her services(which, fortunately for her, was taken rather well)  Be interesting to see how Train reacts to the other three Chronos agents next volume(or the next...it IS a shonen action manga, so it might take that long)  He doesn't know Jenos, but I wonder if he knows the other two.

Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 13:  First of all, the front cover of this is one of my favorite manga covers(I think someone of my flist even has an Ed from it as an icon?  Maybe?  Anyone?)  It's kinda odd reading this one because I've read the scanslations up to the present, which makes most things in here even better, and all I want to do is talk about the NEXT volume but I can't because some who might be reading this haven't(as far as I know) read scanslations and don't want to be spoiled.  *gnashes teeth*  Mustang deciding to test the waters(after trying to be protective which, really, he should know better than to try that with Hawkeye...it'll never work) was interesting...I'm not sure he's ever FUBARed that badly or completely before in his life.  And Bradley?  Certainly knows how to strike straight to the heart with the most effectiveness (and what we see here isn't all of it)  Also, while I have little use for the little Xing girl(don't care for her at all, really)  must admit that Scar the "cat" hunter cracks me up everytime, as does the idea of big bad Scar following around a little girl like a sidekick  (of course, he's not evil or cruel, just overly focused and slightly nuts and more than a bit vengeful, so it's not a HUGE stretch for him)  Gluttony's stomach...ok, the second Ed took off his boot, all I could think was that Winry will KILL him if she finds out he was dragging her automail through a literal sea of blood.  And it seems Izumi's style of survival training can prepare a person for ANYTHING..  *avoids the really big thing this volume incase someone reading this hasn't read the book yet and she won't spoil that*