All Ages Comics and Manga List For 10/01/08

Welcome to the All Ages Comics and Manga List!  Every week I go through the list of comics and manga (and sometimes novels) that are being released for the week, and pull out the titles that are most approriate for an all ages audience.  I then pick two titles to highlight with descriptions and commentary of them.  I try to highlight titles that might not get a lot of attention, and I do it with a parents perspective.  So let’s jump right in with the first week of October’s release list.

ANTARCTIC PRESS
Land Of Oz Manga #3 (of 8), $2.99

ARCHIE COMICS
Betty #176, $2.25
Pals N Gals Double Digest #125, $3.69
Sonic The Hedgehog Archives TP Vol 9, $7.95  ^^AA Pick^^
Tales From Riverdale Digest #30, $2.49

BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS
Ray Harryhausen Presents Back To Mysterious Isle #3, $3.99

CINEBOOK
Lucky Luke TP Vol 12 Rivals Of Painful Gulch, $11.95

DARK HORSE
Harvey Comics Classics TP Vol 4 Baby Huey, $19.95

DC COMICS/JOHNNY DC
Batman Strikes #50, $2.25
Looney Tunes #167, $2.25

DEL REY MANGA
Sugar Sugar Rune GN Vol 8, $10.95  ^^AA Pick^^

HARPER COLLINS
Neil Gaiman Graveyard Book HC, $17.99  ^^Halloween Pick^^

IDW PUBLISHING
Dreamland Chronicles IDW #4 (Scott Christian Sava Cover A) $3.99
Dreamland Chronicles IDW #4 (Jerry Bingham Cover Cover B), $3.99

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Two-In-One #16, $4.99
Spider-Man Magazine #3, $6.99

NEMO PUBLISHING
Undersea Adventures Of Captain Eli GN Vol 2, $9.99

SOFAWOLF PRESS
Digger GN Vol 1, $18.95

Picks:

Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Vol 9 – Sonic the Hedgehog has not only enjoyed a lot of success in video games, but here in the US, he has also had a long and successful comic run.  The title is currently at #192 and going strong.  That also means it’s been going for a long time.  It started publication in the 1990’s, so early issues of this title are very hard to come by.  Archie Comics is rectifying that by re-releasing the series in trade paperbacks.  This volume is notable by not only collecting some difficult to find issues, #33-36, but it also marks the time when the comic came in line with the Saturday morning animated series.  In this volume, Sonic and friends are searching for Sally’s father, King Max, and must journey through the Zone of Silence.  This series features a lot of action and excitement kids love, as well a thought out, and relevant plots.  Sally is also a strong female character that makes a good role model and challenge for Sonic.

Sugar Sugar Rune Vol 8 – This is the only manga title from Del Rey Manga that is in the all ages category, with an age rating of 10+, although, I do find that Del Rey does tend to be overly conservative with their age ratings.  This is the final volume in this series.  Chocolat and Vanilla are best of friends who also both want to be Queen of the Magic World.  To do so, they must enter a strange competition in the Human world, and try to attract as many boys as possible.  In this volume, the girls are in for the fight of their lives, as Chocolat must fight her father Glace, the king of the Underworld.  All the witches must unite, friend and foe alike, to stop Glace and his ogres.  And the Queen must still be crowned!  The art for this series is very sugary, like it’s title.  The girls have big eyes, and long, swirling hair.  This is definitely a title aimed more for girls, but has the potential to be entertaining to all.

The Graveyard Book HC – This being October, I thought I would add an extra pick that fits the Halloween theme.  This week starts with a novel by Neil Gaiman.  Nobody Owens is a normal boy; except that he lives in a graveyard, and is raised and educated by ghosts, and has a guardian that is neither alive nor dead.  There are still dangers and adventure in the graveyard for a young boy, but he can not leave, as Jack, the man that killed his family will find him and kill him too.  Even when it isn’t Halloween, tales of the supernatural are still popular among kids, and this story has all the elements that would appeal to a child.  Action, and adventure, ghosts and ghouls, and someone their age that they can relate to that is going through it all. 

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