The Manga Curmudgeon

Spending too much on comics, then talking too much about them

I bought a Secret

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Well, that was a disappointment. The first issue of Marvel’s Secret Invasion mini-series wasn’t nearly as dreadful as I’d hoped. It’s not good by any standard I currently hold for comics, but it’s far from the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.

What struck me most about it was that all of the soap opera is political instead of interpersonal. Tension comes from differences in philosophy or the suspicion that people they don’t like are Skrulls. (Nobody catches his or her breath long enough to say, “Well, that would explain why you’ve been such an ass for the last three crossovers.”) I miss the days when characters could spew scathing, entirely personal reproaches at each other while fending off alien invaders.

The plot moves surprisingly quickly, with a number of minor characters revealed to be Skrulls, several big explosions, and a handful of other twists of varying levels of impact. With so much stuff happening, there isn’t much room for dialogue to turn execrable. The notable exceptions are scenes with super-geniuses Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Hank Pym. Brian Bendis seems more interested in making everyone talk in a way that he thinks is conversationally natural, so smart people don’t quite come across with that quality intact.

I seem to be in the minority in being generally unimpressed with the pencils of Leinil Francis Yu. It’s hard to create a palpable sense of paranoia when the portrayal of character acting is so weak. Facial expressions are more blank than intriguingly ambiguous. His style and storytelling seem too sketchy for the big set pieces. With so many characters in play and so much happening, an emphasis on clarity and detail would seem to be in order.

For me, the overall effect of reading the book was what I always imagined would result from attending a high-school reunion. It was vaguely interesting to check in with a group that used to matter intensely, but I’m not going to go out of my way to keep up with them.

I will admit that the big reveal that concludes the comic is intriguing enough to incline me to follow what happens in the series through message board conversations, though not actually by means of buying more comics. (If anyone chooses to start an annotations blog, for example, please let me know.) Spoiler-rich link after the cut.

See, this is the kind of thing that I think would be meaningless to the casual reader who’s absorbed the title’s hype but is a virtual buffet for the dedicated Marvel fan. If even, say, two of the characters portrayed in this splash are the genuine articles as opposed to Skrull feints, then there are genuine possibilities of the “Everything you know is wrong” variety. With a good third of the characters rendered here, I can come up with a healthy list of things i wish had never happened to them. While it’s probably 95% misdirecting tease, I have to give Bendis credit for putting at least part of the joke on himself. He wrote a good 70% of the stories I wish could be wiped out of the Scarlet Witch’s personal canon. That doesn’t constitute actual story-generated interest so much as residual fanboy wistfulness, mind you.

Well, shut my cow-mouth

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The angel that sits on one shoulder is anemic on the best of days, but I do find myself this close to giving in to the siren call of what may well be a truly terrible comic. I mean, after seeing such deathless prose as “So shut your cow-mouth or I’ll remove your face by hand before I stop your whore’s heart,” I feel the same sense of giddy possibility that I generally associate with a cable broadcast of the musical version of Lost Horizon or Can’t Stop the Music. I mean, if Dr. Doom can talk like that, what kind of Mamet-esque horrors can I expect from the Skrulls? The mind boggles.

Putting aside gender issues (if that’s possible), “You’re a fat piece of furniture I may need for trade!” is nonsensical by just about any standard. Does Dr. Doom haunt online auction web sites that favor the barter system? Is Latveria’s unit of currency the Stickley sofa or Eames chair? I always thought Dr. Doom was given to bombast, not gibberish. (It is Dr. Doom in that sequence, right? It’s not a malfunctioning robot or a teen Skrull, pretending to be a grown-up Earth despot because his friends dared him to?)

I really, really shouldn’t, because every penny I purposely spend on a comic I fully expect to be awful is a penny that I can’t spend on one that I expect to be good. (And plenty of those turn out to be awful anyways.) But I just have to know. Does the dialogue get worse than the samples I’ve already seen? Is that even possible?

Upcoming 4/2/2008

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I’m having a weird week, so today’s look at Wednesday’s arrivals is going to be a little perfunctory. Still, there were a few titles I wanted to mention.

First up is the tenth and final volume of Minetaro Mochizuki’s Dragon Head (Tokyopop). I have no idea how this series is going to end. Will the survivors finally be rewarded with safety and rescue, or will they succumb to the dangers around them? Will Mochizuki explain precisely what happened to Japan and place it in context of the rest of the world? I don’t know, and I’m enough of an admirer of Mochizuki’s work that I’m perfectly willing to trust in his execution of whatever conclusion he derives. This book has received critical acclaim but not much in the way of sales. Maybe now that the whole shebang is available, more readers will take an interest.

I’m very intrigued by the premise of Lars Martinson’s Tonoharu (Top Shelf), which focuses on an American teaching English in a rural Japanese village. Martinson won a Xeric Award for the work, which is generally a good sign, and I like the look of the preview pages.

Last, and least, is the first volume of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Gun Blaze West (Viz). It’s a perfectly competent example of “young man with a dream” manga, but it never quite transcends its familiar formula. Its Old West setting just about provides sufficient novelty, but I’ve never been a fan of gunslinger stories, so I’m left to amuse myself with nitpicking about the period and setting. (Why doesn’t his sister wear petticoats? What kind of schoolmarm is she, anyways? How come I never knew that Illinois had mesas, and where did they go?) I also found myself feeling like a grandpa as I thought that nine-year-olds probably shouldn’t be given a gun, no matter what their destiny may be. I kind of get the feeling that I’m missing the bus on this one, and that Watsuki’s reputation for Rurouni Kenshin will carry the book to healthy commercial heights.

Travelogue

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I went to Columbus to visit relatives over the weekend. As usual, I had a delightful shopping experience at The Laughing Ogre – good selection, friendly staff, etc. While wandering around the city, I happened upon two other comic shops that weren’t open during their posted hours. It was pure chance that I stumbled upon either store, so I’m not outraged or anything, but it did strike me as an odd and not at all encouraging trend. I’m just saying.

I also did an informal Barnes & Nobel/Borders compare-and-contrast. The Columbus Borders reinforced my perception that they have a better selection of comics and graphic novels. Again, if Barnes & Noble takes over Borders, I hope they let Borders set the course for graphic novels and manga. I tend to pre-order anything that I suspect won’t ever show up in a Barnes & Noble, but the last thing anyone needs is a smaller number of outlets that will carry interesting graphic novels. Just ask Dark Horse.

Also, this struck me as kind of depressing. There once was a funky, interesting neighborhood called The Short North in Columbus (think Dupont Circle in Washington) that seems to be kind of a victim of its own success (as is Dupont Circle, which has too many pricey shoe stores to be funky and interesting any more). It’s kind of gone mall, if you know what I mean. The great gay bookstore that was there forever has been shoved several blocks north of its former neighborhood.

Drama, drama, drama

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Over at Comics Should Be Good, Danielle Leigh once again demonstrates her great taste, listing her top five current shôjo series. This reminds me that it’s time to make a few more Great Graphic Novels for Teens nominations.

The sixth volume of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare (Go! Comi) features some juicy forward plot motion and some ruthless character development. Back when I used to watch soap operas and participate in that branch of online fandom, many of us would decry what we called “Knight in Shining Armor Syndrome.” Mizushiro thrills me to no end by ripping one of her characters to shreds for indulging in this kind of behavior. Seriously, you won’t find a more psychologically acute melodrama in this category.

The 19th volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket (Tokyopop) makes me geek out a round of “The Gang’s All Here.” After some extensive focus on individual characters, Takaya rounds everyone up for what feels like the beginning a very satisfying endgame. It’s a testament to the excellent work she’s done developing her cast that I’m delighted to see so many of them return and that their complex dynamics are still so clear and emotionally effective. As usual, threads that previously seemed extraneous are woven into the story’s larger tapestry, which tells me that I should just assume that everything matters. It’s a marvel, and it really shouldn’t be dismissed on the basis of its commercial success.

“Mature Content” rating be damned. Teens are probably reading Ai Yazawa’s Nana (Viz) anyways, so I’m throwing the ninth volume into the mix. More to the point, if there’s a better portrayal of the fallout of capricious behavior, I can’t think of it. The happy, shiny world of the entire cast has been thrown into disarray by an unexpected turn of events, and friendships, romances and careers are fundamentally changed. Yazawa doesn’t give the material anything resembling a punitive quality, but hard choices and hurt feelings abound, taking the well-crafted soap opera to a higher level. And Yazawa even reveals the secret origin of Trapnest. (I have to watch the movie, as Kate Dacey swears they’ll seem less cheesy. I don’t know how that will alter the reading experience, to be honest.)

Mergers and acquisitions

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There’s so much food for thought today.

  • I agree with Tom Spurgeon that the notion of an unholy alliance between Borders and Barnes & Noble is not displeasing. There are significant differences between the two chains that I wouldn’t like to see lost, though. I wouldn’t want to see Borders follow suit with Barnes and Noble’s approach to graphic novel buying. I’d much rather see Barnes & Noble’s offerings expand than Borders get trimmed.
  • I could be wrong, but when a key part of a comic publisher’s marketing strategy seems to be the plugging of unsanctioned leaks of future plot developments, there’s a problem.
  • That said, I would probably favor Marvel’s Secret Invasion over DC’s Crisis thing if I were still reading American super-hero comics. Of course, the fact that Secret Invasion is being written by the person who made most of my favorite Marvel characters unrecognizable to me in the first place would probably mute my enthusiasm, as opposed to if it were someone else cleaning up after that person. That whiff of apologetic desperation would be as irresistible as sautéing onions. (I couldn’t stop myself from taking a look at the preview pages at Entertainment Weekly, and wow, some of that dialogue is hilariously awful.)
  • Okay, speaking of that hilariously awful dialogue, Luke Cage’s “Hey, man, I need a solid, ASAP” prompted a friend to wonder if I wasn’t quoting slash fiction. I am deeply disappointed that there don’t seem to be entire sites devoted to Power Man/Iron Fist slash, but maybe it’s too easy.
  • Steve Bennett’s ICv2 column on Marvel’s and DC’s reluctance to embrace a manga aesthetic (and Direct Market retailers’ varied willingness to stock the product at all) is interesting, but I think it overstates things a bit. I agree that Marvel and DC show a bunker mentality with regards to their franchises, but I think Marvel’s project with Del Rey for a separate line of manga-style X-Men treatments is a promising model for the kind of product Bennett is talking about. I think a lot of the Marvel’s and DC’s existing audience would scoff or howl at the strategic introduction of a perceived manga aesthetic to the product they buy with such regularity, and I’m unconvinced that either company could convincingly bring successful elements of whatever that aesthetic might be to the table to begin with. That leaves the Marvel-Del Rey outsourcing model as the obvious solution – don’t change your primary product, but offer targeted side products to a different audience with the assistance of people who already know how to reach that audience. It just seems much more likely that the target audience for a shôjo-styled treatment of the X-Men or Wonder Woman would be prompted to pick up the “real” version than the other way around.
  • As for the Direct Market missing the manga bus, I’m decreasingly of the opinion that all retailers are fools if they don’t stock manga. Entrepreneurs seem to function on something of a financial razor’s edge to begin with, and there are probably plenty of places that already sell manga in their communities. It seems like it would take a remarkable amount of strategizing and effort for a local comic shop to compete with a Borders or Barnes & Noble. Do I like to walk into a comic shop and find a healthy selection of manga? Sure, but only if someone on the staff is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the category. Token efforts lead to neglected stock, which seems worse than not bothering with manga at all. (I do think such retailers are dumb if they don’t make it a widely-known practice that they’ll order any kind of comic their customers want if they don’t see it on the shelves, but that applies to all kinds of comics.)

    • Rumor patrol

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    Bloomberg.com has some additional information on the potential for a Borders takeover, highlighting some recent corporate developments that might make such an acquisition attractive. Apparently there are rumors that none other than Barnes & Noble is eyeing its rival, which did wonders for the price of Borders’ stock shares.

    Update: ICv2 follows up on the stock story here.

    Upcoming 3/26/2008

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    Some picks from the ComicList for Wednesday, March 26, 2008:

    Do you need anyone else to tell you that Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail (Del Rey) is a very entertaining fantasy adventure? Probably not, but I’ll chime in with my agreement anyways. Mashima isn’t aiming exceptionally high here, offering unapologetically mainstream entertainment about quirky wizards and their comic quests. It’s a very good example of an increasingly crowded field of comics that offer storytelling that’s as amiable as it is accomplished. The characters are lively, the art is eye-catching, and the stories are fast-paced and varied.

    I think it’s smart of Del Rey to introduce the series by releasing two volumes at once. Endearing as it is, it’s also fairly lightweight, so doubling the quantity available should help to cement it in readers’ affections to a degree that a single volume couldn’t, at the same time drawing more critical interest than the series might have enjoyed otherwise. As I said, there’s a lot of competition in the field of amiable, accomplished, mainstream entertainment, especially on the manga shelves.

    So yes, there’s nothing wrong with a comic that only wants to entertain. Allow me to contradict that assertion by wondering if Eiji Otsuka and Sho-u Tajima’s MPD-Psycho (Dark Horse) has enough on its mind. Part of the reason I’m so fond of Otsuka’s The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is the writer’s ability to fold deeper issues into superficially engaging stories. Imaginative gore and varied psychoses aside, MPD-Psycho seems to be vamping along, and I’ve got the feeling that it’s really going to need some larger purpose to keep me from losing patience. Up to this point, it’s read like a collection of creepy grace notes (like barcodes on people’s eyeballs) in place of a driving, meaningful narrative.

    Along with Charles Berberian, Philippe Dupuy has created the wonderfully entertaining Mr. Jean, star of Get a Life (Drawn & Quarterly), and Maybe Later, a nicely modulated look at their creative process. Drawn & Quarterly offers a solo work from Dupuy, Haunted, which sounds a lot less down-to-earth but very intriguing.

    Villard offers a handsome paperback collection of David Petersen’s first Mouse Guard mini-series. In addition to the beautifully rendered, smartly told story of courageous rodents, there are plenty of extras that make the $17.95 price tag very reasonable.

    Best. Analogy. Ever.

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    Tom Spurgeon on Osamu Tezuka’s MW (Vertical):

    “It’s like Vincent Minelli’s Taxi Driver, or Frank Capra’s Deer Hunter; I had a hard time taking my eyes off of it, although I can’t say I enjoyed every minute of the reading experience.”

    If he’d likened it to Ethel Merman’s disco album, that would obviously have been going too far, but as it stands…

    On the third day…

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    … our hardwood floors shall glow with renewed finish. In the interim, my brain will be addled with the residual rattling of the sander and the polyurethane fumes.