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Yaoi Review: Hanky Panky

Hanky Panky
Story and Art: Koreaki Kamuro
Published by the Deux Press Imprint of Aurora Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1934496251
ISBN-13: 978-1934496251

Review by Linda Yau

Hanky Panky is a collection of one-shots, where each of the stories features characters that develop a crush or act on a pre-existing crush. The cover is pretty attractive, and I heartily recommend picking up this steamy book. In the title story of Hanky Panky, Manaka has a double life by daytime he is a geeky college student, but at night he is Itsuki the sexy hot host club owner. Now what is he to do after his classmate Doi seeks a job at his club, and shows sexual interest in him as Itsuki, but not as Manaka?
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Manga Review: Wanted

Wanted
Story and Art by Matsuri Hino
Published by the Shojo Beat imprint of Viz Media.
ISBN10: 1421519348
ISBN13: 9781421519340

Review by Linda Yau

All songstress Armeria ever wanted was to find Luce her first love, after he got kidnapped by the infamous pirate captain Skulls. Fast forward eight years later, she has disguised herself as a boy, and joined up with the crew. Unfortunately her plans of finding Luce is dashed when the crew realizes that she is a women. Now what is she to do after Skulls tether her at her feet binding her to his side?
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Yaoi Review: Two of Hearts

Two of Hearts
Story and Art by Kano Miyamoto
Published by the Deux Press, Imprint of Aurora Publishing, Inc.
ISBN13: 9781934496367
ISBN10: 1934496367

Review by Linda Yau

Haruya Ito is a writer who has moved away from Tokyo to the countryside. He consistently frustrates Yagisawa, his editor/lover with his existing writer’s block, and the fact that he is satisfied with his country life. One day though, after being advised by Yagisawa to become more motivated – Haruya took a walk along the beach nearby. He sees a young man undressing and this is how he meets Maki Hidaka, a troubled young man. Their relationship develops from that one meeting.
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Manga Review: Mao-chan Vol 1

Mao-Chan
Story by Ken Akamatsu
Art by Ran
Published by Del Rey Manga imprint of Ballantine
ISBN10: 0345501810
ISBN13: 9780345501813

Review by Linda Yau

Japan is under attack from aliens from the outer space, and only the force that could defend the earth is a team of three elementary graders. They are Mao, Misora, and Sylvia respectively representing the Ground, Air and Navy Army forces, following their grandfathers who are the general for each force. However their three grandfathers don’t often see eye to eye, so how will the three girls face approval to be united against the common evil? The common evils are aliens that are really cute critters, with the objective of stealing famous landmarks. Why through cuteness, friendship and when the situation seems very bleak of course.
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iPhone comics from iVerse Media

Review by Tom Good

Comics ought to be a great type of content to read on a hand-held computer, but I haven’t been really excited about comics on a hand-held device until now. iVerse Media has created a great reading experience on the iPhone with their iVerse Comic Reader. This app could be a case study on how to make digital comics work well on the small screen. Here is a list of my requirements, and how iVerse satisfied them:
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Yaoi Review: Red Blinds the Foolish

Red Blinds the Foolish
Story and Art: est em
Published by the Deux Press Imprint of Aurora Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1934496286
ISBN-13: 978-1934496282

Review by Kris

Rafita Alonso is the hottest star in bullfighting. He’s well known, young, fearless, and wears a red costume. He’s the talk of the bullfighting world. He soon falls in love with the young butcher who rends the bulls he kills, Mauro. Mauro has a scar on his back in the exact location where matadors stab their bulls to kill them. Also Mauro is color blind, just like a bull. Soon Rafita starts having nightmares where instead of a bull charging at him he’s staring down his lover. Because of these nightmares his bullfighting is suffering and for the first time in his life he’s scared to step into the stadium.
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Josei Review: Object of Desire

Object of Desire
Story and Art: Tomoko Noguchi
Published by the Luv Luv Press Imprint of Aurora Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1934496499
ISBN-13: 978-1934496497

Review by Kris

Object of Desire by Tomoko Noguchi is an anthology of sexy stories from Aurora’s own Luv Luv josei line.

We have stories like the title story. Kako is tired of dealing with guys who want to date her just to sleep with her and not be with “her.” She wishes that guys would be up front and be direct in what they want. She’s taken aback when Mizoguchi gets to the point and asks her to sleep with him just once. In Lovey-Dovey we deal with an obsessive stalker type girl and her cheating boyfriend. Oil & Water and With Lemon are about Shizuka and Kimura. Shizuka is an intelligent girl who has a crush on a fellow classmate, Kimura. Shizuka is kind of a tough chick and all of the guys treat her as one of their own, with the exception of Kimura. He teases her and treats her differently than the other guys and Shizuka likes that. Maid for Love is about a clumsy girl who works in a maid café and her salaryman boyfriend. The final story, Summer Prince, is about a girl who falls for the womanizing foreign exchange student who is staying with them.
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Yaoi Review: Black Sun

Black Sun
Story and Art: Uki Ogasawara
Published by 801 Media, Inc.
ISBN-10: 1-934129-27-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-934129-27-2

Review by Kris

Gerun Fortress – home to 200 Monastic Knights is on the verge of falling to the enemy, 20,000 Middle Eastern soldiers under General Jamal Jan. To save the lives of his men Prince Leonard de Limbourg offers himself to Jamal as a prisoner of war to spare the lives of his men. Jamal takes him up on the offer but forces himself on Leonard and rapes him in front of all his men as punishment. As they travel from Gerun Fortress back to the capital city Jamal uses this opportunity to continue forcing himself on Leonard and pounding him into oblivion.
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Comic Review: Owly: Tiny Tales

Owly: Tiny Tales
Story and Art: Andy Runton
Published by Top Shelf Productions
ISBN-10: 1-60309-019-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-60309-019-3

Review by Kris

Owly is a kind-hearted owl who cares for all those around him. His best friend is a worm and he associates with many fun characters in the place where he lives. He has many adventures like entering the ultimate birdbath contest, to helping his many friends out of all kinds of trouble. This is a collection of comics that Andy Runton published for free comic book day at conventions and out of print collections of tales.
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Josei Review: Make Love & Peace

Make Love & Peace
Art and Story by Takane Yonetai
Published by Luv Luv Press imprint of Aurora Publisher Inc.
ISBN10: 1934496324
ISBN13: 9781934496329

Review by Linda Yau

College student Ayane Shinoda’s boyfriend Koichi is a hardworking police detective. They are passionately in love with each other. Every three pages or so, there is at least one sex scene between them, and that is quite graphic. At the beginning of the book, there is a brief mention of their initial meeting, while catching a thief. They hit it off (rather Ayane stalked after Koichi), and sparks flew.
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