The rich emotions and passionate characters of Hernandez (Love & Rockets; Luba) are translated to a welcome new graphic novel,- which fills B-movie situations with real drama. The story tracks the harsh world of the Empress, an otherwise nameless orphan who survives a hellish existence in an impoverished environment filled with machine gun–toting survivalists, roving gangs of delinquent murderers, and vile child molesters. She is taken in by a poet who resides in an urban hellhole of a different stripe, a place rife with vice and the exploitation of human misery. The adolescent Empress becomes influenced by the intellectual challenges posed by her poet mentor and the earthier realities evidenced by a teen pimp and his "Hearts of Gold," a trio of multiethnic whores. While briefly in control of the pimp's stable, the Empress commits an appalling murder and flees to the more "normal" confines of a Catholic home for girls, growing up to meet a lawyer who will become her husband. A brief description only scratches the surface of the story; as always, Hernandez takes his readers on a harrowing journey that examines the damage done in childhood and how it affects the individual as she moves on through life. It's heavy stuff, but highly recommended. (Sept.)

Maki Murakami is the manga-ka [creator] of the silly, at times avant-garde boys' love (yaoi) hit, Gravitation, published in the U.S. by Tokyopop. Gravitation is light boys' love, suggestive but not sexually explicit like some boys' love. It's the story of a young pop singer on the verge of stardom and his ongoing romantic relationship with a famous male romance novelist. Murakami also creates her own doujinshi (self-published comics) of Gravitation, called Gravitation Remix and Gravitation Mega Mix.

• Gunsmith Cats Vol. 3 (Darkhorse)
• Laika (First Second)
• DMZ Vol. 3: Public Works (DC/ Vertigo)
• Process Recess 2 (Adhouse Books)
• Devil Within Vol. 1 (Go! Comics)
• Togari Vol. 2 (Viz Media)
• Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm (DC/ Vertigo)
• Punisher: War Journal Vol. 1 (Marvel)
• Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair (Dark Horse)
• Lovers Flat (Digital Manga Publishing)
• Outcast Vol. 1 (Seven Seas Entertainment)

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