Weekend reading

Aside from the strong third volume of Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto (Viz), my weekend’s reading ran towards the inoffensively pleasant.

balladBallad of a Shinigami (CMX), adapted by Asuka Izumi from stories by K-Ske Hasegawa, falls into the venerable category of stories about agents (human or supernatural) that help the spirits of the deceased cross over to what comes next. Momo, the titular shinigami, doesn’t quite fit in with her peers. She’s sparkly white, and she bends the rules when a human sparks her sympathy or curiosity. Neither of these qualities makes her especially interesting as an entity in her own right, but the stories are amiable, reasonably moving, and don’t wear out their welcome. Izumi’s art is very pretty, which is a bonus.

yokaidocThe most interesting thing about the first volume of Yuki Sato’s Yokai Doctor is the chance to read the same story twice. Half of the book is filled with Sato’s try-out pieces, followed by the launch of the series proper. The series is about Kotoko, the granddaughter of an exorcist who has turned her family legacy into a comedy act for her classmates. She can actually see yokai, troublesome imps of varying sizes and threat levels, but she can’t really do anything to banish them. Mysterious and nerdy classmate Yuko arrives and reveals himself to be a “yokai doctor,” whose ministrations tend to make the imps cease and desist their mischief. The try-outs are fast and frisky, viewing the weirdness from Kotoko’s perspective. The “real” chapters are more Kuro-centric, and the desire to round the characters out pushes things in an unexpectedly maudlin direction. Kotoko hates yokai; Kuro is linked to them in ways beyond his mystical, medical ministrations; can the two ever be true friends? I didn’t end up caring much, to be honest, and I found myself missing the fast-and-shallow approach of the try-out version. There’s probably a metric ton of comics about an average girl and a weird boy dealing with the supernatural, some of it very good indeed, and this one’s just okay. (Comments based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.)

otomen2I’m always happy to see shôjo titles show up on bestseller lists, but I’m often puzzled by which ones earn that distinction. Both volumes of Aya Kanno’s Otomen (Viz) have shown some impressive initial sales, but I continue to be disappointed with its watery execution of a great idea. It’s about Asuka, an outwardly manly high-school student who keeps his adoration for all things cute deeply in the closet. He’s got a crush on a tomboy named Ryo, and their ever-stalled romance is obsessively observed by Juta, their male classmate who cranks out shôjo manga on the side. I could be wrong, but it feels like there’s a heavy editorial-demographic curfew on the series; it can flirt with interesting, transgressive ideas about gender roles, but it isn’t allowed to actually date them. None of the thematic or plot elements go nearly far enough for my taste; the best bits of the series are when Asuka actually indulges in his secret hobbies – knitting, piping whipped cream, generally turning the world around him into a cuter place. If the series consisted nothing but those moments, I’d love it, but someone stubbornly insisted it have a story.

More vacation reading

A few more items from my recent travels that didn’t quite fit into the Flipped purview:

ppzPride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Chronicle Books. As the blurb claims, “Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” I’m not sure if Jane Austen really benefits from the addition of zombies to her prose (unless they’re mall zombies), but zombie stories sure benefit from the presence of Miss Bennett and Mister Darcy. The insertion of “the unmentionables” is definitely good for a few fresh chuckles, and the fusion is surprisingly fluid. It’s also great airplane reading; I’m the kind of person who likes to unnerve my seatmates with intermittent giggling. The joke doesn’t get stale by book’s end, but if Grahame-Smith envisions a franchise, he should probably pace himself.

borderlineBorderline, by Nevada Barr, Penguin Group. Perhaps it’s morbid of me or reflects some unflattering impulse towards vicarious violence, but I think any trip to a national park benefits from bringing along a murder mystery set in a national park. Barr’s intrepid heroine, law enforcement ranger Anna Pigeon, is actually visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas as a tourist. Her last adventure has left her on the verge of post-traumatic stress disorder (and on administrative leave), so her kindly husband decides a rafting trip would be an ideal distraction. The trip turns disastrous and deadly in short order, and Anna must face a hostile environment, untangle political complications, and confront her never-before-in-evidence maternal side (unless wolf pups count). As usual, the details of the story are much less important than Barr’s gift for communicating glorious settings. Equally important is her portrayal of Anna, almost as antisocial and sometimes as feral as the predators who roam the far corners of her beloved parks. She’s more than a match for the human predators who sully those parks with greed and violence. Aside from the settings, I think the thing I like best about this series is that Anna’s career as a ranger is the second act of her life, not a from-birth calling; there’s something deeply satisfying about a character finding that satisfaction later than you might expect, but still basking in it.

eternalsmileThe Eternal Smile, by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim, First Second. For me, this perfectly pleasant collection of thematically linked short stories suffered in the shadow of high expectations. Yang’s American Born Chinese and Kim’s Same Difference and Other Stories are terrific, terrific graphic novels, so the prospect of a collaboration between their creators left me anticipating a result that could heal minor ailments and spin gold from straw. The actual result offers three tales exploring fantasy’s shortcomings as an alternative to the real world. There’s nothing bad about any of them, though they feel a bit pat and maybe even a bit preachy at times. It’s a distinct pleasure seeing Kim demonstrate his versatility as an illustrator, though.

While I wait

The On-Sale Calendar in yesterday’s Publishers Weekly Comic Week notes the arrival of Byung-Jun Byun’s Mijeong from NBM. It doesn’t seem to be shipping this week through Diamond, but I appreciate the heads-up all the same.

I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and considered just how much reading pleasure I’ve gotten out of NBM’s catalog. Maybe it’s because they have a very restrained publishing schedule, only a few books a month. Still, it’s remiss of me, because they’re one of those publishers like Drawn & Quarterly and Fanfare/Ponent Mon with an excellent rate of return for my comics dollar. I can’t think of many NBM books that I haven’t really loved, or at least appreciated for their ambition and craft. So while I wait for Mijeong, I thought I’d run down memory lane and revisit some of my favorite books from NBM.

Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella

Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella

The second volume of Lewis Trondheim’s Little Nothings (The Prisoner Syndrome) just came out, and it’s every bit as charming as the first, The Curse of the Umbrella:

“I just can’t say enough good things about this book. It’s charming, funny and sincere without being saccharine or remotely self-involved. There are plenty of cartoonists who have tried to strike this kind of personal, conversational tone, but I’ve rarely been so disappointed to see the conversation end.”

Glacial Period

Glacial Period

Nicolas De Crécy’s Glacial Period came out just in time to make it onto my list of favorite comics from 2006:

“I had some initial reservations about the book’s price — $14.95 for 80 pages – but those faded in the face of the book itself. It’s beautifully produced and carefully annotated; I wouldn’t call it a bargain, but it’s worth it.

“Glacial Period is a delightfully imaginative, even loopy look at art. I hope NBM publishes the rest of the graphic novels created through the initiative.”

The Murder of Abrahama Lincoln

The Murder of Abrahama Lincoln

It’s very difficult to pick a favorite from Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder series (and why try), but I think I’ll stick with The Murder of Abraham Lincoln:

“Geary ticks off the events of the day, alternating between domesticity with the Lincolns and conspiracy with John Wilkes Booth. Against all likelihood, the sequence ends up being wonderfully suspenseful, quickly cutting between concurrent events. The combination of inventiveness and detail in these books always impresses me, and this is no exception, but The Murder of Abraham Lincoln achieves an even higher level of pathos than usual.”

Run, Bong-Gu, Run!

Run, Bong-Gu, Run!

And since this whole post started with eager anticipation of Mijeong, I shouldn’t neglect NBM’s other Byun property, Run, Bong-Gu, Run!

“I think it takes an enormously gifted creator to tell a sentimental story well, and I think Byun has gifts to spare. With a minimum of manipulation and unerring visual skill, he creates an unexpectedly moving work.”

So what’s your favorite book from NBM’s catalog?

Upcoming 2/4/2009

Let’s take a quick look at this week’s ComicList, shall we?

The undisputed pick of the week is obviously the fifth volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, Scott Pilgrim Versus the Universe. It just is. In this penultimate volume, “Scott’s band is in total turmoil, his own exes have all boarded the train to crazy town, and Ramona’s evil exes have started appearing in pairs!”

During last week’s trip to the comic shop, I found myself without much in the way of purchases, so I wandered around looking for something out of the ordinary (for me, at least). Having heard so many good things about Jeff Parker’s writing on super-hero comics, I decided it was safe to pick up the collection of his Agents of Atlas (Marvel) mini-series, and it was a lot of fun. (I’ll post a longer review in a couple of days.) This week, Marvel launches an ongoing series with the characters, also called Agents of Atlas, and while I’ll pass on the monthly version, I’d imagine that, next year at this time, I’ll probably pick up the first trade. These things work in cycles.

My manga pick of the week is the 14th volume of Hikaru No Go (Viz), written by Yumi Yotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. This series was included in the recent Great Graphic Novels for Teens list for any number of good reasons – engaging story, well-developed characters, and terrific art.

Viz also releases two promising-sounding titles in its Shojo Beat imprint. Having read complimentary copies provided by the publisher, I’m forced to conclude that one of them should be meaner and the other should be smuttier.

Aya Kanno’s Otomen is about a sturdy young man with a secret. Under his sports-champion façade, his heart that beats only for the feminine things in life. He cooks, he sews, he devours shôjo manga, but he feels the need to hide these hobbies and be more traditionally masculine. When he falls for a pretty classmate, his girlish inclinations stage an all-out assault. Complicating matters is a third party who may have designs on the girl and who knows his rival’s secret passions. It’s a smart premise, but the characters are bland, and the story begs for some of the nasty edge that a creator like Takako Shigematsu might bring to it.

How delightfully bizarre is the idea of a high-school massage club? Much more delightfully bizarre than the reality of Isumi Tsubaki’s The Magic Touch, unfortunately. Maybe I just have stereotypical western ideas, but shouldn’t there be a few dirty jokes in a comic about a roomful of high-school students giving each other rubdowns? Or at least a few jokes about the utter absence of dirty jokes? Alas, there are none. Worse still, the narrative is all over the place, like the publication schedule for the series rapidly outstripped Tsubaki’s plans for it. And while the art is competent for the most part, if one of your plot points hangs on identical twins, shouldn’t they resemble each other? Imagine if this series had been done by Ai Morinaga.

Lip curls, eyes roll, heart reluctantly races

I was going to make a New Year’s resolution to try and stop sneering at Oku Hiroya’s Gantz (Dark Horse), but the only way I could fulfill it would be to not read Oku Hiroya’s Gantz at all, and I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to do that.

You guys, seriously… the buckets of manly tears, the lovingly drawn violence, the dialogue (“This isn’t a manga!”), the boob sock bonus shots, the philosophical questions that seem sprung from the reject pile of a junior-high-school literary magazine… It’s like almost everything I came to hate about Marvel and DC’s super-hero comics distilled into an essential oil.

That said there’s a hard-to-fault lack of cynicism to the whole affair, which just about absolves it. Gantz may be disgusting, but it’s not joyless or coy. The ultra-violence is at once inexcusable and genuinely exuberant, and the philosophizing may be half-witted at its absolute best, but it at least reads as sincere.

I don’t believe that Gantz will ever cohere into something artistically successful or remotely meaningful, but it certainly manages to deliver “I cannot believe I just read that” moments with enviable frequency. So I will continue to sneer, and I will refuse to feel badly about it. I mean, a sneer is part of a smile, right?

Out of order

We went to our nation’s capitol last week to get out of town and enjoy the thrill of watching costumed legislative aides and lobbyists pour out of the Dupont Circle Metro Station. There were lots of Mario brothers and a fair number of Piper Palins. (Speaking of Metro Stations, the Chinatown/Gallery Place stop is really interesting. Turn right and you can find fabulous cuisine. Turn left, and you are thrust into the Valley of Chain Restaurants and That Guy. I beg you to always turn right if you’re faced with this choice, unless you have a high tolerance for twenty-something lawyers smoking cigars and acting entitled.)

Anyway, I stopped at a comic shop in hopes of finding a copy of Tokyo Zombie (Last Gasp), but I had no joy on that front. (I’ll keep looking, not to worry.) I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave without some satirical zombie comic in my hands, so I picked up a copy of Faith Erin Hicks’s Zombies Calling (SLG). I’d heard a lot of good things about it, and I was in a rare mood for zombie satire, so…

It’s one of those books that make you really eager to see what the creator does next. I don’t think I’ll ever encounter what I’d consider a great zombie comic, even a satirical one, because the genre has been making fun of itself long before anyone sat down with the specific intent of doing so. Hicks takes a Scream-esque approach, featuring a devoted fan of zombie films faced with an actual infestation of the shambling undead. College-student Joss is part-horrified, part-thrilled that she can put her encyclopedic knowledge of genre tropes to practical use, trying to shepherd her friends through the hordes of the recently deceased.

There are some very funny bits, along with evidence of some of the pitfalls of this kind of satire. At a certain point, the creator either needs to go serious – hewing closer to the tropes she or he is tweaking – or find some new direction. Hicks almost succeeds in straddling the two, blending in some smart generational satire. And even if Zombies Calling doesn’t quite hold together as a story, the general level of craft and wit is more than high enough to carry you along.

As I said, it’s a comic that’s most notable for the promise it conveys. The prospect of watching Hicks get better with time is definitely enticing.

If I’d read his books in the order they’ve been published, I might have had the same reaction to Matthew Loux’s Sidescrollers (Oni). In spite of wide acclaim, I stalled on picking this book up until Oni re-offered it recently. (As with zombies, there are plenty of comics about slackers, and one can’t simply pick up all of them, because they won’t all be Scott Pilgrim or Solanin.) So I read Loux’s terrific Salt Water Taffy (also from Oni) first. And while Sidescrollers offers a certain amount of wooly fun, it can’t quite compete in my mind with the sharper, more polished work on display in Salt Water Taffy.

Seconded

I’m really glad Tom Spurgeon reviewed American Widow (Villard), because some variation on cowardice has been keeping me from writing about my own negative response to the book. I’m reluctant to review autobiographical works in the first place, which springs from the probably false assumption that creators are more sensitive to criticism of their own stories as opposed to criticism of ones they’ve invented. (There’s also the unpleasant prospect of essentially telling someone either that their life story is kind of boring or that they don’t tell it very well, or both.)

Anyway, Tom makes a fine argument against the book, and the only thing I’d add is that I felt like I knew less about the subject after I read it than I did before.

Downgoing?

I’m just not feeling the ComicList love this week. So, for a change, I’ll recommend some old (or “old”) comics.

The Walking Man, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon): This is one of the most soothing, serene comics reading experiences you’re ever likely to enjoy. It’s basically about a suburban guy who goes on walks, taking in the scenery as he goes. That’s all, and that’s plenty, because the gentle spirit of the stories marries beautifully with Taniguchi’s richly detailed visuals.

Paris, by Andi Watson and Simon Gane (SLG): A sweet, slight story of young women in love, masterfully illustrated by Gane. Watson’s observations about class and youth provide a nice enough spine, but the real appeal is Gane and his rich, odd renderings of Paris in the 1950s. I had never seen Gane’s artwork before, and there’s really nothing else like it.

Polly and the Pirates, by Ted Naifeh (Oni Press): Is it possible to be both a proper schoolgirl and the terror of the high seas? It is if you’re being written and drawn by Naifeh, who can combine tight plotting with fanciful, funny bits that don’t disrupt the flow.

Livewires: Clockwork Thugs, Yo, by Adam Warren and Rick Mays (Marvel): Even when working for Marvel, Warren (creator of the demented and thoroughly charming Empowered for Dark Horse) can turn out a funky, smart comic. This one’s about a black-ops group of android teens who are tasked with cleaning up a proliferation of similarly covert tech cells. Imaginative violence, smart plays on the “even an android can cry” motif, nifty fad jokes, and eye-popping art by Mays are more than enough to render the tiny, tiny lettering a non-issue.

Only the Ring Finger Knows, by Satoru Kannagi and Hotaru Odagiri (Juné): This sweet, squeaky clean example of shônen-ai is still one of my favorites. It’s a gentle, character-driven romance between two temperamentally opposite high-school students (try and contain your shock at the novelty of such a concept, I beg). I keep meaning to read the novels based on the property.

Note to self (6/20/2008)

It’s entirely possible that Hinako Ashihara’s Sand Chronicles (Viz) is less a great graphic novel for teens than a great graphic novel for former teens who remember the pointed moments of awkwardness and uncertainty of that time of life. Actual teens might look at it and think, “Yeah, I’m there now, so thanks for the reminder.” Either way, I think it’s a great graphic novel, so I’m going to nominate it.

In the second volume, Ann finds her life disrupted again by the return of her absentee father. She’s built a life for herself in the country, finding solace in friends and family after a dramatic loss in the first installment. Now she’s got to decide whose needs come first – her own for comfort and happiness, or her father’s.

Ashihara is so deft at balancing big drama with small moments. Ann’s woes never feel out of scale, heightened as they are. The difficult choices she faces are presented with nuance and surprisingly effective balance; there aren’t any villains here, just people whose priorities clash. Ashihara’s delicate illustrations and quirky sense of humor round things out beautifully.

The game changes

I always enjoy new volumes of Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata’s Hikaru no Go (Viz), but I think the twelfth is the best of the series so far. After budding go player Hikaru achieves a significant milestone, he and his mentor, Sai, are forced to reevaluate their relationship.

Sai is the ghost of a go expert who died before he could achieve his full potential. When Hikaru found his grandfather’s antique go board, Sai latched onto him as an earthly vessel, a way to play. Over the course of the series, Hikaru has developed a passion for the game that’s entirely independent of Sai’s influence. Hikaru has his own goals as a player, and they’re at odds with Sai’s ambitions.

It’s a sad and rather lovely portrayal of the mentor-student relationship that seems perfectly natural but is rather fresh for this kind of comic. It’s inevitable that the protégé should outgrow his or her teacher, but that moment is usually greeted with tearful pride and a feeling of inevitability. The development between Hikaru and Sai is much more complicated and, in my opinion, more rewarding.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the dynamic between Hikaru and Sai develops from this difficult point. It gives weight to Hikaru’s increasingly challenging matches and adds depth of feeling to the narrative as a whole.