Spending too much on comics, then talking too much about them
Four things of beauty for the day:
There’s a nice profile of Scott Chantler, creator of Northwest Passage, in the Toronto Star (found via ¡Journalista!), tying in with a Beguiling-sponsored event at the Toronto Reference Library. I mention this only because I love the book and will bring it up at any opportunity. The article is an enjoyable read:
“’There’s a real movement within the comics medium into that sort of middle ground, between corporate superhero comics and the independent artsy comics that veer toward mopey autobiographies,’ says Chantler.”
And that movement’s name is Minx! Oh, wait… never mind.
Back on the subject of Northwest Passage, Chantler shared some good news in comments on a previous post:
“You’ll be glad to know that a collected edition of NORTHWEST PASSAGE is scheduled for spring (good thing, too, because vol.1 is sold out.) It’s going to feature an *enormous* section of sketches, script excerpts, and commentary.”
One of the rare comics that I’ll have to buy twice. I can always give the individual volumes to the library.
Another week, another opportunity to ponder the mysteries of the ComicList. Some weeks I get lucky, and Del Rey titles show up earlier than they do from Diamond (as with the excellent Genshiken vol. 7). Some weeks I’m left to writhe in jealousy as everyone else gets Love Roma vol. 4 before I do. MangaCast has a preview of Del Rey’s shôjo version of Train Man, which I believe is due in bookstores today, if not in comic shops tomorrow.
I’m curious about Project Romantic from AdHouse, but it wasn’t a book that I was confident in buying sight unseen. I’m sure I’ll get the chance when I hit Columbus for the holidays.
The concept for Hero Heel (Juné) tickles me, focusing on unexpected romance among actors in a super-hero TV show. Pick your favorite Heroes actors and play along!
Looking for something in a chic, josei, nouvelle manga style? Fanfare/Ponent Mon is releasing a new printing of Kan Takahama’s Kinderbook.
Mmmm… Greek food. Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey travel to the cradle of democracy for Action Philosophers #7: It’s All Greek To You.
Oni releases the second issue of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s The Damned, a solid fusion of mob drama and supernatural weirdness.
I’m intrigued by 12 Days from Tokyopop, either in spite or because of its faintly nauseating premise. Here’s a preview from editor Lillian Diaz-Pryzbyl.
And of course, there’s always Death Note vol. 8 (Viz – Shonen Jump Advanced). MangaCast notes that the first volume of this series keeps popping up on Japanese best-seller lists.
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It seems that John Jakala is not alone. At Read About Comics, Greg McElhatton looks at the first two volumes of Drifting Classroom (Viz – Signature) and finds them really, really loud:
“With The Drifting Classroom two of its eleven volumes are now translated, and I can’t help but wonder if publishing the other nine books could somehow result in a worldwide shortage of exclamation points thanks to its relentless intensity.”
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And in this week’s Flipped, I take the really ill-advised step of reviewing Osamu Tezuka’s Ode to Kirihito (Vertical), in spite of the fact that tons of people have already done it really well. Here are some more successful examples:
My tendency to become distracted by supporting characters has cropped up in Monster (Viz – Signature). I don’t mind dogged Dr. Tenma, though I find him too perfect. (Even his flaws seem calculated to make you sigh, “Oh, that poor, decent man.”) But I find any sequence featuring Nina, the sister of a serial killer who’s determined to do the right thing regardless of the cost, absolutely riveting. Nina gets lots of play in the fifth volume, so I’m a very happy reader.
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Jog notes one of the things that makes Golgo 13 (Viz – Signature) so special: the extras.
“Only in the pages of Golgo 13 could you possibly run into anything like what’s in this volume’s File 13 bonus section: a short essay by Horibe Masashi, ‘founder of the Hakukotsu School of Japanese Martial Arts,’ devoted entirely to the physiology of being kicked in the nuts. Seriously; you’ll learn the science behind what exactly happens in the body during an assault on the family jewels, some fun facts about testicles in Japanese folklore, and even the secrets behind a legendary lost karate skill of temporary bollocks retraction.”
That’s right. A Viz book features a comprehensive look at racking.
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At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson swings by the carry-out for a look at Project X – The Challengers – Seven Eleven – The Miraculous Success of Japan’s 7-Eleven Stores (Digital Manga Publishing).
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At Keromaru, Alex Scott offers more details on Books-A-Million’s Mature Graphic Novel section and gets confirmation from an employee at another B-A-M outlet.
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I’m glad to see that The Damned (Oni Press) is being received well. Mobsters and demons aren’t exactly my protagonists of choice, but I thought this book made interesting use of both. Jeff Lester at Savage Critics called it “surprisingly Good,” and Paul O’Brien at The X-Axis gave it an A-.
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After a couple of heavy weeks at the comics shop, this Wednesday is comparatively subdued. Despite a smaller number of titles of interest, the quality promises to be really, really high. I need to catch up with Josh Neufeld’s The Vagabonds (Alternative Comics), as I really enjoyed A Few Perfect Hours. Fantagraphics releases the second issue of the second volume of Linda Medley’s wonderful Castle Waiting.
But the undisputed pick of the week is Osamu Tezuka’s Ode to Kirohito (Vertical), 832 pages from the God of Manga for the ridiculously low price of $24.95. If you need more convincing, check out Jarred Pine’s review at Anime on DVD.
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I document the next step in Dark Horse’s continued (and successful) attempts to woo me in this week’s Flipped. First it was the thoughtful sci-fi of Eden: It’s an Endless World! Then it was the nostalgia-triggering charms of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. Now it’s indie-flavored Ohikkoshi.
What will they roll out next? New shôjo?
Chris Butcher at comics212.net (no dot!) notes that Tokyopop is trying its hand at the “If you like…” game in favor of some of its global manga titles. It’s not a bad idea, though Chris notes some of the flaws in execution in this particular example.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that a number of these titles have more in common with the books that Oni Press, or Image Comics publish (and I’m sure both of those companies are really excited by the prospect of competing with Tokyopop for shelf-space and dollars in comic stores) than the Japanese- and Korean-originated titles they publish, but several of them really aren’t very ‘indy’ at all. Some of these books are exactly what the average person thinks of when they think of manga; relationship-oriented drama and teen-boy adventure stories. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it muddies the waters of your promotion somewhat…”
In some cases, I think comics shoppers view any manga in the same way dedicated super-hero readers view books from Oni or Fantagraphics or Top Shelf; it’s all undiscovered country, even if the content is very mainstream (romances, mysteries, zombies, what have you). That isn’t a criticism – everyone should read what they like and what gives them the best return on their investment.
It’s surprising to me that Tokyopop didn’t include I Luv Halloween (written by Keith Giffen) or Boys of Summer (written by Chuck Austen), though the latter would probably appeal more to the morbidly curious who’ve missed having Austen to kick around. Of course, the ILH comparisons would probably pain me. I can just see it being categorized with Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin books, and that would be agony, because Courtney doesn’t deserve that kind of company.
And speaking of Oni books, they’ve always struck me as the company best able to straddle the indy-manga divide, if in fact there is one. Their books cover a lot of the same narrative territory, and while the illustration styles don’t necessarily scream “manga-influenced,” their trim size and packaging frequently do.
While the effort is flawed, it’s good to see Tokyopop reaching out to local comic shops, particularly after they generated ill will with the recent on-line exclusive initiative. I do think publishers like Del Rey or Dark Horse might be better positioned to make a pitch like this. Del Rey’s Love Roma, Eternal Sabbath, Genshiken, and other titles strike me as having strong crossover potential. Dark Horse has always done well with manga in the Direct Market, and some of their recent releases (Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and next week’s Ohikkoshi spring to mind) would rest quite comfortably in the indy comic section.
But, as last month’s LCS sales figures (ably examined by Brigid of MangaBlog) demonstrate, Dark Horse doesn’t really need a comic-shop specific initiative. (Full figures for the month are at Comic Book Resources.) Neither, apparently, do Digital Manga’s Juné books, which is great in one sense, but bad because the line’s momentum makes me wonder even more if we’ll ever see more books like IWGP or Bambi and Her Pink Gun (in other words, books you’d think would have flown off the comic shop shelves).
The latest Previews catalog has me in a Veruca Salt kind of head space.
David Petersen’s splendid Mouse Guard (Archaia) concludes with issue #6, but the solicitation text describes it as “the first Mouse Guard series,” all but promising there will be more.
I hadn’t noticed that Housui Yamazaki, who provides illustrations for the excellent Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, has his own book, Mail, also coming out from Dark Horse. This demands further investigation, particularly since the protagonist from Mail will apparently cross over into KCDS. (I don’t like typing “cross over” when discussing manga, but I’ll reserve judgment.)
As I like Hiroki Endo’s Eden: It’s an Endless World!, and I’m also a fan of collections of shorts, chances seem good I’ll also like Endo’s Tanpeshu, also from Dark Horse.
DC – Wildstorm gives me the opportunity to enjoy a comic written by Gail Simone without having to try and wade through seventy-three different crossovers with the debut of Tranquility.
DC – Vertigo revives a book I enjoyed a lot, Sandman Mystery Theatre, with a five-issue mini-series, Sleep of Reason. Based on the pages shown in Previews, I’m not entirely sold on the art by Eric Nguyen, but I love the protagonists in this series.
Do you like Masaki Segawa’s Basilisk? Del Rey gives you the opportunity to read the novel that inspired it, The Kouga Ninja Scrolls.
Evil Twin Comics unleases another Giant-Sized Thing on the comics-reading public with the second collection of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey’s excellent Action Philosophers!
Dave Carter notes that the singles of the second volume of Linda Medley’s marvelous Castle Waiting (Fantagraphics) series aren’t doing that well, despite strong sales of the beautiful collection of the first. Fantagraphics gives you the opportunity to correct this sorry state of affairs with the December release of the fourth issue.
Go! Comi rolls out its seventh title, Train + Train by Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma. (In the future, all manga publishers will have a book with “train” in the title.)
I’ve heard a lot of good things about SoHee Park’s Goong (Ice Kunion), a look at what Korea would be like if the monarchy was still in place.
Last Gasp, publisher of Barefoot Gen, offers another look at life in Hiroshima after the bomb with Fumiyo Kouno’s Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.
If Marvel’s current efforts at politically observant super-heroics make you roll your eyes, you might find respite in Essential Defenders Vol. 2, which includes mosst of Steve Gerber’s mind-bending Headmen arc. It strikes me as idiotic not to include the entire arc in one place, which this book just misses. It has Defenders 15-39 and Giant-Size Defenders 1-5, but not #40 and Annual #1, the conclusion of Steve Gerber’s deranged masterpiece of deformed craniums, clown cults, and women in prison.
NBM offers two books that go onto my must-buy list. The first is the paperback edition of the eighth installment of Rick Geary’s superb Treasury of Victorian Murder series, Madeleine Smith. The second is Nicolas De Crécy’s Glacial Period. De Crécy contributed a marvelous short to Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, and I’ve been hoping to see more of his work in English.
Oni Press rolls out Maintenance, a new ongoing series from Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez. I reviewed a preview copy earlier this week; the book looks like it will be a lot of fun.
Seven Seas unveils another licensed title, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, a gender-bending comedy by Satoru Akahori and Yukimaru Katsura. If you’ve been waiting for some shôjo-ai to come your way, now’s your chance.
Tokyopop – Blu promises that Tarako Kotobuki’s Love Pistols is “too crazy to be believed.” Human evolution isn’t just for monkeys any more, people.
I wonder why there aren’t more workplace comedies in comics. Television sitcoms have certainly mined the genre with great success, and some of my favorite movies have been built on workplace dynamics. But as far as graphic novels go, I can only think of a few.
Digital Manga Publishing has Antique Bakery and Café Kichijouji de, and I suppose you could count Iron Wok Jan (DrMaster) and Yakitate!! Japan (Viz). (I’m noticing a trend towards the food service industry here.)
Maybe it’s because comics creators tend to work in isolation? That the ideal working state of the cartoonist doesn’t involve time sheets, endless meetings and productivity memos? Whatever the reason, I would like to see more comics that explore that particular territory.
So I was glad to find a preview of Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez’s new ongoing series Maintenance (Oni Press) in the mail the other day. It takes the frustrations of everyday employment to an appealingly absurd place.
Doug and Manny are janitors who work for TerroMax, Inc., a research and development firm that provides new breakthroughs in evil science for despots who just don’t have the time to cook up their own man-sharks. It’s a dirty job, and mad scientists aren’t the most appreciative of co-workers. But hey, it’s a paycheck.
Massey and Rodriguez have happily avoided the choice to make their protagonists idiots. Doug and Manny are just average guys who happen to work in an extraordinarily weird setting. They’re a little grumpy, but who wouldn’t be when their job description includes cleaning up after toxic spill monsters?
Despite the absurdity, Maintenance is a very easygoing book. The first issue sets up the premise by following Doug and Manny through an average day, introducing the TerroMax setting, surly superiors and out-of-whack experiments. The pace is leisurely, but the thirty-two pages are packed with a nice mix of situational and character-driven comedy.
Sometimes the jokes can be a little labored. (There are a few more references to Porky’s 2 than are strictly necessary.) But the gags are generally good-natured and successful. There are plenty of chuckles here.
Maintenance doesn’t really have a whole lot on its mind, and that’s fine. Massey and Rodriguez have created a nice mix of the everyday and the weird, generating plenty of appealing comedy in the process.
(This review is based on a preview copy provided by the publisher. Maintenance arrives in comic shops in December. There’s an interview with the creators over at Comic Book Resources.)
I know, I know… more linkblogging. What a surprise! Let’s start off with a round-up of manga reviews:
At Crocodile Caucus, Lyle synthesizes much of the recent talk about manga anthologies and takes a look at comics anthologies past and present.
At Love Manga, David Taylor filters through the week’s ComicList for manga offerings. At the risk of repeating myself, god, finally.
Other Wednesday highlights include the concluding chapter of the first volume of Scott Chantler’s Northwest Passage (Oni Press), which I may have previously mentioned in passing. Or ad nauseum. And before I’ve even gotten around to reading Pyonyang: A Journey in North Korea, Drawn & Quarterly releases Guy Delisle’s Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China. A PDF preview of Shenzhen can be found here.
In truth, I’m still fixating over some of the books I bought over the weekend, particularly Dokebi Bride (NETCOMICS). I liked the first volume so much that I had to hit Amazon for the second.
On an unrelated note, I’m developing a horrible case of WordPress envy. I crave tags, but I worry that my web haplessness would lead to disaster if I tried to transition. Many others have survived the experience, so I’m sure I wouldn’t make too much of a muddle of it. We’ll see.
12 Reasons Why I Love Her (Oni) has a lot going for it. Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones have carefully crafted something that feels very real. Maybe it feels a little too real for my tastes, but more on that later.
First, I have to mention the structure. The book is composed of vignettes of the romantic relationship of Gwen and Evan, two urban twenty-somethings. Rich and Jones have abandoned conventional chronological order for emotional sequence. The individual moments of Gwen and Evan’s relationship are laid out in a way that maximizes cumulative effect.
But the book’s structure doesn’t distract from the content. It doesn’t seem like mere cleverness, a reader comprehension test. It’s unconventional, but it’s a natural fit for the emotional arc that Rich and Jones have built.
Then, there are Jones’s illustrations. Like the narrative order, they suit the material without overwhelming it. She conveys body language and facial expressions with lovely precision, but she avoids any tendency to overstate. She doesn’t restrict herself to conventionally realistic depiction, either. The style varies from straightforward to expressionistic depending on the vignette, and she peppers the pages with appealing, shôjo-esque touches.
The script is much the same, largely conversational but heightened in small ways. The voices of the characters are distinct and specific, and the tones of their conversations are suited to the individual moments being depicted. Those tones range from playful flirtation to raw confrontation, but the voices hold within that wide range. Gwen and Even always sound like themselves.
Rich and Jones have successfully crafted a work that feels very believable without lapsing into the mundane. Their protagonists and their world are entirely credible. Maybe they’re too much so. In an interview at Broken Frontier, Rich expressed the following sentiment:
“My initial concept was trying to imagine my ideal couple for a romantic story. I am kind of a sap and I really enjoy romantic movies, and I think they live or die based on how much you like the two people falling in love. The movie could be clichéd and kind of crappy, but if you have a genuine affection for the actors, you get into it anyway and want them to be together. I wanted Gwen and Evan to be that perfect couple.”
I agree with him. Unfortunately, my dislike for Evan, carefully created as he is, is fairly intense.
Evan’s behavior demonstrates an all-too-familiar blend of insecurity and aggression. When Gwen makes a sweet, unconventional gesture towards him, he fixates on the ways it makes his own efforts seem inadequate. He shifts conversational goalposts, lightly tossing off a serious question and then becoming hostile when Gwen’s reaction doesn’t meet his expectations. Instead of dealing with points of conflict directly, he creates further opportunities for Gwen to disappoint him.
All of this makes Evan cohere into a believable, real character, though not an especially likeable one. Gwen has her own foibles and failings, but it’s still entirely possible to wish her happiness in her current state. I can’t extend that wish to Evan, because he’s too immature.
And that constitutes a fatal flaw for me as a reader. Despite the craft and imagination that Rich and Jones have poured into 12 Reasons, I simply don’t care if one of their protagonists is happy in love, because I don’t necessarily believe he’s capable of that yet.
(This review is based on a preview proof provided by Oni Press.)
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Quick comic comments: Oni previews
An Oni Press preview pack came in the mail the other day, and there’s lots of interesting stuff that should appeal to a variety of tastes.
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In The Damned, writer Cullen Bunn and artist Brian Hurtt have concocted a slick fusion of gangster drama and supernatural horror. Prohibition-era gangsters answer to demonic dons, and a shaky peace treaty among three of the leading families is about to go up in smoke. A key player in the alliance has disappeared, and Big Al Aligheri puts down-on-his-luck Eddie on the case.
Of course, he has to resurrect Eddie first. Eddie’s run of bad luck is a little more extreme than average. Thanks to a curse, he can’t really die, though there’s no shortage of people who want to put that curse to the test.
What follows structurally is a fairly standard tour of lowlifes – hit men, sub-bosses, molls, and hookers – with the occasional demon thrown in for variety. The demons fit right in, and Bunn and Hurtt are actually rather cautious in the way they embroider the mob story with supernatural elements. Given the similarity of motive among mobsters and devils (profiting off of people’s baser instincts and weaknesses), the fusion is a natural one.
Bunn has a good ear for the tough-guy vernacular of his cast. The construction of the story is solid, and there are some nice twists in the 48-page first issue. Hurtt’s illustrations hit the right notes along the way.
I’ll never be a fan of mob drama. Watching horrible people do horrible things for profit isn’t ever going to be my cup of tea. But the suggestion in The Damned that the devil is literally making them do it helps things go down easier.
(The Damned comes to comic shops Oct. 18. A 23-page preview is up at Oni’s web site. According to Bunn, the book is initially planned as a five-issue mini-series with the possibility of a subsequent ongoing, depending on reader response.)
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I picked up the first issue of Local when it came out, and while I was intrigued by the idea behind it, the actual comic seemed a little slight to read in individual chapters. Brian Wood’s script was fluid, and Ryan Kelly’s art was appealing, but as a comic, it didn’t seem like quite enough.
The sixth issue doesn’t do anything to change my opinion, but it doesn’t diminish my level of interest in a potential collection either. I’m a sucker for graphic novels with a strong sense of place, and Local certainly has that.
But wow, is the lead character tough to like. In the two issues I’ve read, the pattern seems to be that Megan comes to a new city, makes bad choices, and leaves when she’s alienated enough of the people around her to make staying intolerable. That’s kind of a tough sell for me, though Kelly’s detailed and evocative art goes provides plenty of diversion.
(Local 6 comes out this week. You can find out a lot more about the title at its blog.)
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I didn’t need a preview to be excited about the third installment of Scott Chantler’s period adventure, Northwest Passage. For those who haven’t been following along, the book is set in colonial Canada with competing forces trying to chart the future and secure the trade of Rupert’s Land. A small band of colonists and explorers is struggling to reclaim their fort from ruthless invaders.
Chantler packs the book with action, and he layers it with plenty of interpersonal conflicts. Everyone in the large cast of characters gets a moment to shine as the tension builds. Twists and turns pile up without ever derailing the story. And Chantler’s art is as snappy and stylish as ever. All of the elements come together to make a tremendously entertaining comic.
But Chantler also leaves enough plot points unresolved to promise equally entertaining sequels. The story that concludes is satisfying in its own right, but it’s definitely left me wanting to see more of these characters and their world.
(The third volume should be out soon, though I can’t find a precise date. I hope Oni puts together an attractive omnibus edition of this, because I think librarians would go nuts for it.)
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Okay, maybe those weren’t exactly quick comments, were they?