Ahoy, there, manga-lubbin’ maties! The good folks at Seven Seas have returned to port with a boatload o’ booty: eight brand spankin’ new titles to suit every pirate’s taste, from harem comedies (Aoi House) and extreme sports stories (Free Runners) to yuri-tinged supernatural thrillers (Venus Versus Virus). Tokyopop is also offering a veritable treasure trove of manga with more than twenty new volumes shipping this week. Among them are the third volume of Trinity Blood, the seventh Rising Stars of Manga anthology, and the first installments of Million Tears and Me & My Brothers. Last but not least is Dark Horse, whose Independence Day offerings include a little vampire vs. Nazi werewolf action—yes, the eighth volume of Hellsing is finally here!
OK… time for me to lay off the sea-faring metaphors. (And I didn’t even mention Pirates vs. Ninjas yet!) Here’s the complete shipping list for this week. Note that Independence Day will delay the arrival of new titles until Thursday, July 5th.
REVIEWED THIS WEEK:
- Le Chevalier d’Eon, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
- .hack//Another Birth, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- Agent Boo, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Aoi House, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Avril Lavigne’s Make Five Wishes, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
- Battle of the Bands (Tokyopop)
- Bird Kiss, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- BTX, Vol. 13 (Tokyopop)
- Cipher, Vol. 8 (CMX)
- Dragon Head, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
- Earthlight, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
- Elemental Gelade, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- Free Runners, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Gatcha Gacha, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
- Get Backers, Vol. 19 (Tokyopop)
- Gold Diggers, #87 (Antarctic Press)
- Grosse Adventures, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Gunsmith Cats Burst, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
- He Is My Master, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Her Majesty’s Dog, Vol. 6 (Go!Comi)
- Hellsing, Vol. 8 (Dark Horse)
- Hollow Fields, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Jing: King of Bandits, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
- Kedamono Damono, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
- King of Hell, Vol. 16 (Tokyopop)
- Kingdom Hearts II, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
- Last Fantasy, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
- The Last Uniform, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Lights Out, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
- Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted, Vol. 9 (Tokyopop)
- Magical X Miracle, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
- Me & My Brothers, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
- Metamo Kiss, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
- Miki Falls, Vol. 2 (Harper Collins)
- Million Tears, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Ecole du Ciel, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
- Moonlight Meow, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- My HiME, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Never Give Up, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
- Oath to Love & Passion, Vol. 1 (CPM)
- Peppermint, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- Pirates vs. Ninjas II: Up the Ante #1 (Antarctic Press)
- Queens, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Recast, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Rising Stars of Manga, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
- Rose Hip Zero, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Rozen Maiden, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
- Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 23 (Tokyopop)
- Satisfaction Guaranteed, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- Strawberry Marshmellow, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
- Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- Tezuka’s Buudha, Vol. 8 SC (Vertical, Inc.)
- Time Guardian, Vol. 2 (CMX)
- Trinity Blood, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
- Ultra Cute, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
- Venus Versus Virus, Vol. 1 (Seven Seas)
- VS (Versus), Vol. 6 (CMX)
- War Angels, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
- Zero: The Beginning of the Coffin, Vol. 3 (Infinity Studio)
Le Chevalier d’Eon
Story by Tou Ubukata, Manga by Kiriko Yumeji
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: 16+
The real d’Eon de Beaumont was a multi-lingual, cross-dressing spy in the employ of Louis XV. With such a colorful biography, it’s hard to imagine why anyone felt the need to embroider d’Eon’s story. But Tou Ubukata decided that his chevalier would do more than ferret out anti-monarchist agitators; his d’Eon fights monsters, tracks serial killers, and attempts to decode Old Testament riddles while possessed by his dead sister’s vengeful spirit. Like all heroes with a secret identity, d’Eon hides in plain sight, posing as a bumbling police officer to conceal his involvement in Le Secret du Roi. And like heroes from King Arthur to Batman, d’Eon has an entourage that, in his case, includes a wise-cracking boy Friday and a chess-playing cat.
Masterpiece Theater it ain’t.
For anyone willing to overlook the anachronistic dialogue, however, Le Chevalier d’Eon affords plenty of period detail, court intrigue, sword fighting, and deliciously silly Biblical mumbo-jumbo. Ubukata is an excellent storyteller, offering readers just enough information to orient them to d’Eon’s world while omitting a few crucial details to pique their interest. The only disappointing element of Le Chevalier is Kiriko Yumeji’s artwork. Yumeji’s characters are awkward, gangly-looking creations with Michael Jordan-sized mitts and elongated arms that look more convincing in motion than at rest. Though his fight scenes are decently staged, they’re marred by his excessive reliance on speed lines to convey movement. Yumeji’s best panels show d’Eon transforming into Lia, his sister. Though the change is accomplished largely through props—corsets, wigs—Yumeji makes a few subtle alterations to d’Eon’s eyes and posture that truly make him look possessed by a very, very angry woman.
Volume one includes a brief preview of the next installment and a well-researched, indispensable set of notes explaining the Biblical and historical minutiae important to the plot. I wouldn’t count on Le Chevalier D’Eon to help you pass your European History AP, but it’s fun to see some of France’s most decadent historical figures grace the pages of a gender-bending occult thriller.
Volume one of Le Chevalier d’Eon is available now. Volume two will be released in September. To read a short excerpt, click here.
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