Alrite, just finished both of these bad boys. Quick summary for both in case people wanna know what they are about.
Global Frequency:
Battle Royale:
So starting off with Battle Royale, Vol. 10 (of 13 I think). This is probably the weakest of the series so far, mainly because nothing much happens. However, the bar has been set high recently, with many of the more minor characters getting whittled away in increasingly gruesome ways. Book 9 had the amazing "Lighthouse" scene (those of you who have seen the film will know what I'm talking about).
I've heard criticism of this manga series, that the writing is not that great, but these people can eat shit and die. The writing is not the best but it is translated so I never expected it to be. What this manga does have though is tension and tonnes of emotion. It is a very worthy edition to the film and novel already out, allowing beautful artwork to accompnay the gruesome killings and interesting back-stories of the characters (something the film missed out a lot of).
Anway, I love it, despite Vol 10 being my least favourite so far.
Global Frequency is as good as it should be (given the people behind it) and perhaps better. While book 1 had a series of unrelated stories with no real introduction to the recurring characters (e.g. Miranda Zero, Aleph), book 2 is very different. We have a back story for Aleph and get to know Miranda Zero a bit more (although no real history of the Global Frequency as yet).
This second book of the series is great. Every story is illustrated by someone different and in book 2 we have artwork from thye likes of Simon Bisley and Gene Ha.
All in all this series is amazing and I can't wait for more. It has everything you want for a comic, humour, great characters, artwork and writing and a hell of a lot of action and twists. After the greatness of Transmet, really pleased this is as good as it is and will certianly keep buying the TPBs as they come out.
Also, HBO pilot of Global Frequency should be airing sometime late this year/early next year.