Trevor Writes

Kadokawa Shoten / Viz Media 25. Neon Genesis Evangelion (Kadokawa Shoten/Viz Media, 2010-2014, Volumes 12-14) Writer and Illustrator - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Shortly after Hideaki Anno conceived the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime in 1993, he met with comics creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and together they collaborated on a manga adaptation that was set to premiere shortly before the anime to help boost interest in the television series. While the 26-episode series aired in entirety over just six months, the manga - which retold the same story, more or less - ran for nearly 20 years, not completing its run in Japan until 2013 (with Viz publishing the final volume in 2014). Being a mostly faithful adaptation of the greatest anime series of all time pretty much guarantees the manga to be solid as well, but what makes it so valuable to the Evangelion diehards is the little differences that set the manga's version apart. Sadamoto makes this story his own, consistently evoking different...

Marvel Comics 30. Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2012-2013, #646-655) Writer - Kathryn Immonen Illustrators - Valerio Schiti, Pepe Larraz Colourist - Jordie Bellaire Letterer - Clayton Cowles The Asgardian flagship title Journey into Mystery , the home of Thor and Loki comics for decades, switched gears towards the end of its long life and centered on Lady Sif, going by the title Journey into Mystery Featuring Sif . This was my introduction into the Asgardian corner of the Marvel universe, having read it before I read a single Thor comic. It immediately attracted me to the universe, and I've been reading all of the Thor/Loki/Sif/Angela comics since. Kathryn Immonen's Sif is an instantly likable protagonist, a good hearted warrior woman who, unlike Thor, doesn't fit in well in Midgard, and feels like an outsider to her surroundings. The comic is as much a straight and forward actioner as it is a meditation on Sif's struggle to understand humans. And speaking of...

After two narrative-pushing story arcs, “Love Dares You” (#11-13) finds Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 in a relaxed state that harkens back to the television show's lighter toned Monster-of-the-Week installments. It's a mode that was as pivotal and often used in the TV series as its season-length story arcs and mythology building episodes, but have taken a back seat during the show's canonical comic book revival. One of the challenges faced with adapting a TV series into an ongoing comic format is accommodating to the differences in form. A 22-episode TV series can move between series-arc and episodic adventures smoothly, because of all they can accomplish in a 43-minute episode. A comic season can't juggle the two modes quite as easily. A 22-page comic isn't the story-telling equivalent of an hour-long episode, so a classic episode such as “Pangs” or “Band Candy” cannot be told with the same clarity in just a single issue of a modern comic. I say modern, b...