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This star means that the title or site is recommended especially for younger teens
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...and let slip the dogs of war. Hee. Ahem. This section is devoted to those tales that will get your adrenaline rushing. I don't know about the rest of you, but action and adventure are pretty high on my list of entertainment musts, when you're in that pumped up, wired, time-to-appreciate-your-strength kind of mood. Embarrasingly, the closest I get to feeling my strength in real life is shoveling out my driveway after a snowstorm, but here are a few titles that let me leap from precipices and strategize with the best company.
Jump to a title:
Bulletproof Monk
Spy Boy
Steve Canyon
Whiteout
Yongbi the Invincible
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I'll be the first to admit that ever since I picked up Powers, I've thought Michael Avon Oeming is a god. I love the man's style, and I am unashamed. I was deleriously happy to see his work grace the cover of the latest installment of Norma Howe's young adult novel Blue Avenger series. So, in truth, I sought out this title not because it was a movie starring Chow Yun Fat and directed by John Woo, but because Oeming was attached to it. So shoot me. What I got for my trouble was a kung-fu action story with a great big heart at the center of it, full of loyalty, a key awareness of history, and an array of intriguing characters that I still want to know more about. Kar, a young Tibetan man living in the U.S., has generally gone where life has taken him, currently that path leading him into the society of street gangs. What he doesn't know is that both Chinese assassins and the government are seeking him out to discover his place in a puzzle streching back to Nazi experimentation in Tibet before World War II. As Kar begins to search his own memories and his family's stories for the truth behind the legend of the Bulletproof Monk who saved the Tibetans from Nazi horror, he also begins to find the worth in himself and his own choices. As with the best stories, the plot wraps up but also leaves the story wide open to continue -- a thing I'd love to see. Of course, Oeming's artwork still kicks butt. review by robin |
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Ever seen The Manchurian Candidate? Conspiracy Theory? The Bourne Identity? Yes, indeedy, it's another man-gets-programmed-as-a-spy-but-doesn't-know-it tale of suspense, action, and snappy dialogue. This one, however, has a slight hitch the man in question is not so much a man, but a teenage boy. Specifically Alex, a teenage boy who is used to getting his head flushed in the toilet by the school bully. No so much the super-spy, huh? Little does Alex know that with a twinkle of certain lights, he becomes Spyboy, a butt-kicking, no nonsense agent working for...someone. It also seems to be a family affair...but no one's talking. Facing off with the vicious Gourmet, Spyboy a.k.a. Alex is in for the ride of his life. review by robin |
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Ah, the end of the 1940's, when women had "intuition" and men who had fought "the Japs" pined for the excitement of a military life. Milt Caniff sketches an era of arch-eyebrowed villainesses with hearts of gold, and heroes who are almost as quick with a witticism as with their fists. Muscular and lantern-jawed, Steve Canyon considers himself a cowboy of the airways, seeking adventure in the cockpit of a plane as the owner of Horizons Unlimited, a freelance international shipping concern. According to his secretary, Steve is a nearly-bankrupt ne'er-do-well whose charm won't protect him much longer from mounting debt and a seemingly terminal lack of gainful employment. Just as the situation begins to look bleak, Steve and his band of ex-military pals are handed a break in the form of a shipping job for the proud and high-handed Copper Calhoon. Debt and a love of adventure call Steve away from Copper's side to assist a mining company in transporting some equipment before this relationship can blossom. Steve is once again catapulted into a scene of international high jinks, caught in a web of lies and treachery by gangster Big Red and her unwilling accomplice, the beautiful Delta. Just as Steve begins to see past Delta's deceptions to the smart and sensitive woman within, they are separated as Steve embarks on a world tour at the whim of a newly-made millionaire. Steve is still not safe from plots and counter plots in the third episode of our story, but he has finally found a woman who wants neither to kill him, nor to disappear... too bad she's one of those confounded know-it-all woman doctors! The Steve Canyon stories are all "ripping good yarns" which retain most of the humor and excitement for modern readers that they elicited when first published in 1947. Characters in Caniff's stories all eventually defy the stereotypes they at first seem to embody, lending this post-war story an interesting complexity, and plenty of unexpected twists. review by Alison |
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A crime story of a different color -- the glaring white of the Antarctic sets the backdrop for this story of murder, spies, and battling the elements. U. S. Marshall Carrie Stetko has come to love her world of ice and silence and is particularly angered when her peace is shattered by a murder. She begins tracking the killer, knowing it is one of five men scattered across the continent. Enter British intelligence agent Lily Sharpe, determined to figure out why this man was apparently murdered for mysterious ice core samples. Hardcore crime drama at it's most tense, and most exciting. review by robin |
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Yongbi is a young and daring bounty hunter who isn't afraid of anything. One day he comes to the small village of Gang Ho, where he encounters and captures Goo Hwi, the feared leader of the Black Snake assassination organization. Yongbi then finds the child of Mok In Yul, a rich an powerful merchant who lives in Hobook Castle. Yongbi takes him there along with Goo Hwi, who constantly threatens Yongbi with retribution from the members of the Black Snake, who surely would have noticed that their leader has been captured. Upon reaching Hobook Castle, things should have become easier for Yongbi, but hid pursuers catch up with him and war between rival organizations erupts. Yongbi is caught in the middle, forced to fight his way out of a sticky situation. The story is full of interesting plot twists and detailed artwork as well as a surprisingly funny cast of characters, making this manga one that should definitely be checked out. review by jack |
Bulletproof
Monk
Spyboy:
The Deadly Gourmet Affair 
Milton
Caniff's Steve Canyon
Whiteout
Yongbi
The Invincible, Volume I
copyright Robin Brenner 2002-2004