Stephen Lewis introduces our newest reviewer - teenage comic fan Ollie Holliday.

MEET Ollie Holliday, the Evening Press's latest book reviewer. Or should that be comic reviewer.

The 15-year-old Oaklands School pupil took us to task for never featuring the graphic novels he loves. So we asked him to review them for us.

The novels - properly referred to as 'manga' - have titles such as Trigun, Naruto and Hellsing, and feature the likes of a futuristic android with a bounty on his head; a medieval Japanese Ninja warrior; and a 567-year-old vampire.

They are dark, action-packed stories about honour and the battle between good and evil - many of them translated from Japanese (although there are a few American ones too).

Manga come in series - often linked to TV shows - and there are loads of young people out there who love them, Ollie told us.

Many of the most popular series build up cult followings.

Ollie's favourite series at the moment is Trigun. Set in the far future on a distant planet after Earth has been destroyed, it features an android named Vash, who has a $60 million dollar bounty on his head for allegedly blowing up a city.

Actually he didn't: he's a pacifist and the good guy, Ollie says. It is Vash's evil brother Knives who's the baddie. The pair spend lots of time having almighty scraps.

What is it Ollie likes about the Trigun novels?

"They are really funny," he says. "They are like westerns with a sci-fi element - and a bit of comedy as well."

Here are Ollie's first couple of reviews. More will follow...

Cowboy Bebop Volume One by Yutaka Nanten & Hajime Yatate (Tokyopop. Age 13+)

One of the best manga series, featuring a crew of space-travelling bounty hunters. Spike knows all the Bruce Lee moves and has the gunslinging skills of Chow Yun-Fat in a John Woo movie. At 77, Faye Valentine is the oldest member of the crew - but she did spend 54 years in suspended animation. Jet Black is the cook and pilot, while computer expert Ed has the longest name (Edward Wong Hau Papelu Tivrusky The Forth, but call her Ed for short). She can hack into any computer anywhere anytime. In this first book, the crew go off bounty-hunting - in prison and in a restaurant. In fact, Spike, Faye and Jet go after three different bounties in the same restaurant.

Great for those who like comedy and also for action fans.

Verdict: 9/10

Cromartie High School Volume one by Eiji Nonaka (ADV Manga. Age 13+)

The story of Takashi Kamiyama and his new school - Cromartie High School for Delinquents. This really is a school for delinquents. Pupils include a gorilla, a bully who gets motion sickness just going on the bus, a hairy guy who looks 40 years old and doesn't speak English, and a robot who thinks he is human.This is one of the best-selling high-school comedy series in Japan at the moment, although while I think it is quite funny, it is not as amusing as some other mangas. ADV is considering a UK release of the Cromartie High School TV series on DVD.

Verdict: 7/10

Updated: 16:39 Friday, April 08, 2005