Joule's been kicked out of the IDOLIZED competition! As she desperately attempts to find a way back in-- if she does, will she be able to even survive the competition? IDOLIZED kicks into high gear, as Joule faces off against the Top Ten finalists, the show's producers, and her own seething cauldron of emotions, all in order to keep her desperate quest for revenge alive! Written and created by David Schwartz, with gorgeous art by Pasquale Qualano and David Curiel, and featuring a cover by Micah Gunnell, plus a photo cover starring supermodel Rachel Clark, you won't want to miss out on this innovative new series from Aspen Comics!

Collects Idolized #0-5: Aspen Comics proudly presents their first ever super-hero series, IDOLIZED! Welcome to the mind-bending new comic book series about a TV show where super-powered teens and 20-somethings are competing for the ultimate dream-prize: a guaranteed spot in that world's top super-group, The Powered Protectors. The chance of winning offers fame, fortune, massive endorsement deals and, of course, a chance to actually save the world. Kids who dream of being worshipped as the next great, iconic hero would be falling all over themselves to get on -- and hopefully even win -- the show. Against this backdrop, IDOLIZED is the story of a girl with fledgling superpowers and a dark past, who seeks revenge, and ultimately finds redemption, over the course of competing in this televised superhero competition show. It's True Grit meets American Idol...with capes!

Aspen Comics proudly presents their first ever super-hero series, IDOLIZED! Welcome to the mind-bending new comic book series about a TV show where super-powered teens and 20-somethings are competing for the ultimate dream-prize: a guaranteed spot in that world's top super-group, The Powered Protectors. The chance of winning offers fame, fortune, massive endorsement deals and, of course, a chance to actually save the world. Kids who dream of being worshipped as the next great, iconic hero would be falling all over themselves to get on -- and hopefully even win -- the show. Against this backdrop, IDOLIZED is the story of a girl with fledgling superpowers and a dark past, who seeks revenge, and ultimately finds redemption, over the course of competing in this televised superhero competition show. It's True Grit meets American Idol...with capes!

Miroku Osaki is 36 years old, unemployed, and unhappy. Having been bullied in his childhood and even into his adult life, he became a shut-in after being unfairly laid off. For a long time, the only thing that brought him joy was online gaming. Then, he tried the popular "Let's Try Dancing!" karaoke style. It was addicting... and transformative! Inspired by his new hobby, Miroku decides to turn his life around. He begins singing karaoke and going to the gym, where he meets Yoichi, the director of an entertainment company who encourages Miroku to pursue his dreams. Miroku only wanted to be good at the game he loves, but when he accidentally uploads a clip of himself singing and dancing, it goes viral! Can he really become an idol, even at his age? Suddenly, it doesn't seem so impossible!

In medieval Japan (14th–16th centuries), it was customary for elite families to entrust their young sons to the care of renowned Buddhist priests from whom they received a premier education in Buddhist scriptures, poetry, music, and dance. When the boys reached adolescence, some underwent coming-of-age rites, others entered the priesthood, and several extended their education, becoming chigo, or Buddhist acolytes. Chigo served their masters as personal attendants and as sexual partners. During religious ceremonies—adorned in colorful robes, their faces made up and hair styled in long ponytails—they entertained local donors and pilgrims with music and dance. Stories of acolytes (chigo monogatari) from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries form the basis of the present volume, an original and detailed literary analysis of six tales coupled with a thorough examination of the sociopolitical, religious, and cultural matrices that produced these texts. Sachi Schmidt-Hori begins by delineating various dimensions of chigo (the chigo “title,” personal names, gender, sexuality, class, politics, and religiosity) to show the complexity of this cultural construct—the chigo as a triply liminal figure who is neither male nor female, child nor adult, human nor deity. A modern reception history of chigo monogatari follows, revealing, not surprisingly, that the tales have often been interpreted through cultural paradigms rooted in historical moments and worldviews far removed from the original. From the 1950s to 1980s, research on chigo was hindered by widespread homophobic prejudice. More recently, aversion to the age gap in historical master-acolyte relations has prevented scholars from analyzing the religious and political messages underlying the genre. Schmidt-Hori’s work calls for a shift in the hermeneutic strategies applied to chigo and chigo monogatari and puts forth both a nuanced historicization of social constructs such as gender, sexuality, age, and agency, and a mode of reading propelled by curiosity and introspection.

After that day, she stopped being a girl. In the wake of an assault, Nina Kamiyama, a former idol in the group Pure Club, shuns her femininity and starts dressing as a boy. At high school she keeps to herself, but fellow student Hikaru Horiuchi realizes who she is. What secrets is she keeping? The shocking drama starts. -- VIZ Media

Momoko was a typical Japanese teenager with dreams of becoming a famous pop idol, until an alien powersuit transformed her into the spectacular Wonder Momo! This buxom new superhero punches, kicks, and hula hoops her way through monsters, henchmen, robots, and her most dangerous foe... the dreaded paparazzi! Wonder Momo: Battle Idol Volume 1 collects over 100 strips from the hit webcomic, plus rough concepts, bonus art, and more!