I don't have a great deal of time today, and these are both collections of material that I have mentioned before in a little more detail in this blog before, so I'll direct readers to those entries for more details about the actual stories.
Starman is a work of simple genius, easily one of my two or three favorite American comics of the 1990s, a story as much about family and place as it is heroics. I wrote more about Starman here. Its run had previously been compiled into ten trade paperbacks which, under various editorial regimes, were assembled in different fashions, with stories skipped or moved to later books. Now the whole series is being reassembled into six big hardcovers which will collect everything, on nice paper, with lots of supplemental information.
Volume one was released this summer. For a dollar less than 17 new comics will cost you, this book contains the first 17 issues of Starman. Since, honestly, nobody in the US is publishing anything right now that's as good as Starman, your money is better spent here. Unmissable.
One Pound Gospel is a sweet, breezy comedy about a young boxer with willpower problems and the young nun who believes in him. I wrote more about One Pound Gospel here. Its truncated run had previously appeared in Viz's old format of Western-format Japanese comics, overpriced and with the art flipped to follow English language left-to-right reading. Now the whole series is being reassembled into four digest-sized books which will collect everything, including the stories not released in the US previously.
Volume one was released this summer. For five dollars less than the old version would cost you, this book contains the same stories in their original Japanese size and configuration. Since Viz has finished up its American editions of Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi's fans can try this series out. Recommended.
(Originally posted August 07, 2008 at hipsterdad's LJ.)
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