The Manga Curmudgeon

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

Quick comic comments: Wild Adapter vol. 3

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Are Kazuya Minekura’s Saiyuki and Saiyuki Reload as insanely entertaining as Wild Adapter (Tokyopop)? If they are, I have a daunting amount of catching up to do. (Dear Tokyopop: All I want for Christmas is an inexpensive Saiyuki omnibus series.)

The third volume of Wild Adapter offers everything I loved about the first two: improbably sexy characters posing through mostly outlandish scenarios, all of which manage to be unexpectedly involving beyond their considerable surface sheen. From time to time, it’s also hysterically, intentionally funny.

There’s a bit in the third volume that I don’t want to spoil, but it made me laugh out loud. It combines everything that I love about the book: deft plotting, high style, and Minekura’s standing as one of manga’s premiere teases.

From the stack: Shortcomings

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I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed reading about someone’s discomfort quite as much as I did in Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings (Drawn & Quarterly). Ben Tanaka is underemployed and in a relationship that’s clearly on its last legs. He and Miko have reached that phase where they spend more time dissecting each other’s behavior than connecting in any meaningful way. The precision of their criticism and the passivity of their mutual aggression is strangely breathtaking.

Under normal circumstances, it would be simplicity itself to just point and laugh at Ben’s many dysfunctions. His best source of comfort seems to be the reliability of his discontent, his desire for things he doesn’t have and reluctance to let go of what he does, no matter how dissatisfying it may be. So when Miko leaves Berkeley for New York for an internship, Ben is torn between inertia and opportunity.

He takes the opportunity of Miko’s absence to explore an aspect of his nature that he’s spent a lot of energy vehemently denying exists – an attraction to white women. Ben doesn’t really take any pride in his Japanese-American identity, but it still trips him up. It’s another thing to blame when life goes wrong, and something resembling pride bubbles up when it can make an uncomfortable situation worse.

His attempts at courting blondes go about as well as you’d expect, and Tomine isn’t even slightly above punishing Ben for his ambivalence. But Tomine isn’t wagging his finger and saying, “See? This is what happens when you step outside of your comfort zone.” He’s just showing what happens to someone like Ben tries to hedge his bets.

If I didn’t end up liking Ben (he’s a liar and a hypocrite), I did find him absolutely engrossing. He’s a perfectly conceived jerk, and his skill at deflection and contrarianism almost qualifies as a mutant ability. There’s never a “Poor Ben” moment in the book, though Tomine persuades me that Ben’s not entirely to blame for his circumstances. The bits of comeuppance Ben endures are funny and resonant, and I felt like I’d been watching him stumble for years instead of a hundred pages or so.

Add in Tomine’s clean, absorbing art and his pitch-perfect mini-satires of so many worthy targets (the art scene, academia, independent film, and so on), and you’re left with one of the most readable books of the year.

Quick comic comments: Formulas

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While Del Rey’s X-Men collaboration with Marvel is still a ways down the road, the manga publisher’s Psycho Busters (manga by Akinara Nao, story by Yuya Aoki) accomplishes roughly the same thing. A group of teen psychics is being hunted by a mysterious organization, and they seek out an otherwise average, geeky boy to help them. The most persuasive evidence of their psychic abilities is that they see potential in Kakeru, their dork savior.

The runaways are all naturally occurring or “wild” psychics. Their pursuers seem to have been grown in captivity by their generically menacing overlords. Since this is shônen, first contact is made by the naked astral projection of the nubile telepath of the group. It’s the first example of some strangely halfhearted fan service that’s sprinkled throughout the book. On the bright side, the fan service is relatively equal opportunity. One foe is a naughty schoolgirl. Another is sexy street trash. You can tell they’re bad because both tend to do suggestive things with their tongues.

Bits of Psycho Busters are quite appealing. After a thoroughly generic opening that even Kakeru identifies as by-the-numbers manga fodder, there are some interesting battle sequences. With no apparent psychic abilities, Kakeru has to improvise to keep up with his comrades and survive the attacks of the tongue people. On the whole, though, it’s pretty forgettable stuff. The most fun to be had is finding parallels to early Uncanny X-Men stories, and that only goes so far.

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My mental jury is still out on Kazune Kawahara’s High School Debut (Viz – Shojo Beat). On the one hand, I’m naturally averse to stories about a girl whose life seems to revolve around finding a boyfriend. (It’s just as tiresome with the genders reversed.) But the girl in this case, former jock Haruna, is just so weird.

After overdosing on shôjo manga, Haruna has decided to pursue romance with the same vigor and methodology she used to master softball. Her initial efforts are completely unsuccessful, so she seeks out a coach in the form of popular, ruthlessly blunt Yoh. It’s kind of a case of those who can’t do teaching; Yoh’s had a bunch of girlfriends, but he’s driven them all away with his excessive honesty. He reluctantly agrees to coach Haruna, provided she promises not to fall in love with him.

The obvious conclusion is that she’ll break her promise, but I hope she doesn’t. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but Kawahara seems intent on derailing her own formula. Determination aside, Haruna seems impervious to the kind of improvement Yoh offers. She even finds a dorky soul mate all on her own, to Yoh’s consternation.

This is where things get tricky. Logical conclusion demands a love match between coach and trainee, but as things stand, that would be utterly unsatisfying. The only way Yoh could emerge as a suitable alternative to Haruna’s other suitor is if the boy (an adorable goof) dies suddenly, to be honest. But I am curious as to where Kawahara is going with all this. If she takes the unexpected path, High School Debut could be a lot of fun.

(Reviews based on complimentary copies provided by the publisher.)

Upcoming 12/19/2007

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Wow, there’s quite a few comics worth nothing coming out this week.

Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá have created quite the entertaining comic in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite (Dark Horse). The fourth issue arrives Wednesday.

DrMaster gets on the omnibus… um… bus with a collection of the first three volumes of Gokurakuin Sakuraks’ bluntly creepy Category Freaks. (I’ll probably pass on the collection, but it does remind me that I still need to catch up with the third volume.)

Go! Comi releases two first volumes this week: Yuu Asami’s A.I. Revolution and Kyoko Hashimoto’s Love Master A.

The third issue of Andi Watson’s absolutely charming Glister arrives from Image. What bizarre and mildly irritating difficulties will our heroine’s bizarre family manse present this time? I can’t wait to find out. (And okay, is it just me, or should the ratio of frame and banner to actual content be a little higher than it is at Image’s web site? It’s like Watson’s poor comic is hiding down at the bottom of the page. There’s very much of a “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” vibe to it.)

A new issue of Otaku USA arrives, which means I need to swing by Barnes & Noble. Not that I ever need a specific reason.

Queenie Chan’s The Dreaming (Tokyopop) concludes with the third volume. And if you’re looking for the gift that may secretly be plotting world domination, there’s a three-volume collection of Sgt. Frog.

And Viz releases its intermittent avalanche of Signature material, with new volumes of The Drifting Classroom, Naoiki Urasawa’s Monster, and Uzumaki. In the more commercial (though no less artistically worthy) corner of Viz-ville, there’s a new volume of Fullmetal Alchemist due as well. Oh, and a new issue of Shojo Beat, which I have to buy because of Honey and Clover and The Sand Chronicles.

See? Something for everyone. Or lots of things for me.

Monday links

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This week’s Flipped is up, with lots of special guest stars making pitches for books they don’t think get the love they deserve. It’s the first of two parts.

Elsewhere, Tom Spurgeon has an excellent interview with Jason (Manga: The Complete Guide) Thompson over at The Comics Reporter.

And John Jakala isn’t crazy about the new BN.com. I shop at Barnes & Noble a lot, because the local store has a pretty great graphic novel selection, but my online shopping dollars tend to go to Amazon. I generally buy stuff that’s priced under Amazon’s discount cut-off at a brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble, and I can generally find everything I need in that category.

One thing that does bug me about Amazon is when I request items to be grouped into a single shipping and they end up broken up into a few different deliveries. I know that it’s probably because different stuff is at different warehouses, but… cardboard! Packing materials! Fuel spent during shipping! I’m paranoid that my carbon footprint looks fat.

In the shops

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ICv2 has posted it’s list of the top 100 graphic novels for November, and even Naruto can’t trump the draw of Fruits Baskets (as usual), the only manga title to crack the graphic novel top ten. The fourth volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s delightful Scott Pilgrim series managed to beat two of that month’s Naruto releases as well, landing in 14th place. Of course, all three of that month’s Naruto releases cracked the top 20, so Viz has nothing to complain about.

In fact, Viz had a great month overall, with a reasonable sprinkling of Shonen Jump titles joining Naruto in the mix. With the exception of the seventh volume of Loveless, the list is largely boys’-love free, though vampires, game tie-ins and Muppets all make a strong showing.

And Kimmie66 continued the trend of respectable Direct Market showings for DC’s Minx line, coming in at 37th place. A total of 21 manga titles made the top 100.

Listings after the cut.

(9) – 1 – FRUITS BASKET VOL 18 GN (Of 22) – TKP
(11) – 2 – NARUTO VOL 24 TP – VIZ
(15) – 3 – NARUTO VOL 23 TP – VIZ
(17) – 4 – NARUTO VOL 22 TP – VIZ
(18) – 5 – BERSERK VOL 20 TP (MR) – DAR
(31) – 6 – HIDEYUKI KIKUCHIS VAMPIRE HUNTER D VOL 1 GN (MR) – DIG
(38) – 7 – LOVELESS VOL 7 GN (Of 7) (TKP) (MR) – TKP
(39) – 8 – LEGENDS O/DARK CRYSTAL VOL 1 GARTHIM WARS GN (OF 3) – TKP
(49) – 9 – STREET FIGHTER VOL 4 BONUS STAGE TP – UDO
(52) – 10 – NARUTO VOL 19 TP – VIZ
(57) – 11 – YU GI OH GX VOL 1 GN – VIZ
(59) – 12 – CHIBI VAMPIRE VOL 6 GN (Of 11) (MR) – TKP
(65) – 13 – MPD PSYCHO VOL 3 TP (MR) – DAR
(67) – 14 – ONE PIECE VOL 16 TP – VIZ
(74) – 15 – TRINITY BLOOD VOL 4 GN (Of 8) (MR) – TKP
(81) – 16 – GUNSLINGER GIRL MANGA TP VOL 06 – ADV
(85) – 17 – SAMURAI DEEPER KYO VOL 25 GN (Of 38) (MR) – TKP
(94) – 18 – D GRAY MAN VOL 7 GN – VIZ
(95) – 19 – BLACK CAT VOL 11 TP – VIZ
(98) – 20 – TENJHO TENGE VOL 16 (MR) – DC
(100) – 21 – STREET FIGHTER SAKURA GANBARU VOL 2 GN – UDO

Curious

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That’s interesting. Looking through the call for submissions for the upcoming round of Eisner Awards, I think a category is missing:

“The tentative categories include best single issue, best short story, best continuing comic book series (at least two issues must have been published in 2007), best limited comic book series (at least half of the series must have been published in 2007), best new series, best title aimed at a younger audience, best humor publication, best anthology, best graphic album—new material, best graphic album—reprint, best reality-based work, best archival collection, best U.S. edition of foreign material, best writer, best writer/artist, best penciler/inker (individual or team), best painter (interior art), best lettering, best coloring, best comics-related book, best comics journalism periodical or website, and best publication design. The judges may add, delete, or combine categories at their discretion. The cover letter should include both a mailing address and an e-mail address.”

That would be “Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Japan.” The release does say that the list is tentative, so maybe it will be added back in later. And last year was the first year for the category, I think.

Update: In the comments, writer Tina Anderson notes that the category is listed on the application, and past judges chime in to explain the flexibility of the process.

Friday rambling

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How I get in the holiday spirit: I substitute “killer bees” for key lyrics in many beloved Christmas carols. It works in almost all of them.

Commercials I really hate: Okay, I get it, T.J. Maxx. There’s something pumped into the ventilation system at your stores that turns people into insufferable bargain braggarts. Consider me warned.

Oh, and I can’t forget Jared, the Galleria of Jewelry, the bauble outlet of choice for viciously competitive people who weigh love based on brand names.

Future shop: ICv2 runs through some upcoming releases from DC, including the single-volume Shirley from Kaoru (Emma) Mori. If I didn’t already own the entire run in one form or another, I’d also have my eye on the Starman Omnibus, one of my favorite super-hero titles ever. (Okay, writer James Robinson had a tendency to give his pet villainess, the Mist, the full Dark Mary Sue treatment to make her seem threatening, but it was great all the same, and the later issues give you the opportunity to see why many people liked Ralph and Sue Dibny.)

Not dead yet: The fifth volume of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Dark Horse) is much better than the fourth, which cheers me. (Again, the fourth was still very good manga, just not what I’d come to expect from the generally stellar series.)

Sir, it’s too good, at least? Mely notes that Stephen Sondheim has given his thumbs-up to Tim Burton’s movie version of Sweeney Todd, which has apparently been nominated for Golden Globe awards before it’s even opened in cinemas. (I’ve always found the Golden Globes to be the least persuasive of movie award programs.) I’m unconvinced. I love Sondheim, and I think he’s brilliant, but he has shown a worrying tendency to roll over for celebrities in the past. (I mean, he rewrote the lyrics to “Send in the Clowns” for Barbra Streisand. I know it’s his song, and he can do what he likes with it, but that song is one of the perfect gems of the musical canon.)

Top Secret

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Okay, I clearly just suck at this Previews look-through thing. (Either that or I’m very cleverly trying to stretch a single post over several days in a shameless attempt to pad content. I really think it’s just that I suck, though.)

Anyway, I inexcusably forgot to mention the listing of Ai Morinaga’s Your and My Secret, arriving via Tokyopop (page 331). And bless Tokyopop for picking it up, because I loved the single volume that ADV published three and a half years ago.

If you’ve been enjoying Morinaga’s My Heavenly Hockey Club (Del Rey), you should definitely give it a look. If you’ve found that book a little flighty and silly (never a problem for me, but I hear such things happen), you should give it a look anyways, because it’s very smart and subversive in its look at gender roles. I can’t wait to finally see what happens next.

(I couldn’t find the book’s page on Tokyopop’s web site, but I’m delighted to note the following passage in Katherine Dacey-Tsuei’s excellent Anime Fest wrap-up at Manga Recon:

“Tokyopop will be overhauling its website, making it easier to navigate and locate information about its own products.”

Seriously, Tokyopop’s site used to be the most navigable in terms of finding product information, and now it’s… considerably less so. Here’s hoping that the pendulum swings back with extreme prejudice.)

More YALSA nominations

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I just wanted to do a quick trawl for comic and graphic novels in the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults nominations, since they’re closed now:

Fiction:

  • Carey, Mike. The Re-Gifters. Illustrated by Sonny Liew and Mark Hempel. 2007. DC Comics/Vertigo, $19.99 (978-1-4012-0303-0).
  • De Crecy, Nicolas. Glacial Period. 2007. NBM Publishing/Comicslit, $16.95 (978-1-56163-483-5).
  • Gipi. Notes for a War Story. Spectrum. Translated by Spectrum. Illustrated by Gipi. 2007. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.95 (978-1-59643-261-1).
  • Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid A Novel in Cartoons. 2007. Abrams/Amulet. (978-0-8109-9313-6).
  • Lat. Town Boy. 2007. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.95 (978-1-59643-331-1).
  • Peterson, David. Mouse Guard, Vol 1: Fall 1152. Illustrated by David Peterson. 2007. Archaia Studios Press, $24.95 (978-1-932386-57-8).
  • Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel. Illustrated by Brain Selznick. 2007. Scholastic, $22.99 (978-0-439-81378-5).
  • Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Adapted by Richard Appignanesi. Illustrated by Sonia Leong. 2007. Abrams/Amulet, $9.95 (978-0-8109-9325-9).
  • Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Illustrated by Shaun Tan. 2007. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, $19.99 (978-0-439-89529-3).

    • Nonfiction:

  • Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. Illustrated by Randy Duburke. November 2006. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Hill & Wang, 15.95 (978-0-8090-9504-9).
  • Lutes, Jason. Houdini: The Handcuff King. Illustrated by Nick Bertozzi. 2007. Hyperion, $16.99 (978-0-7868-3902-5).
  • Siegel, Siena Cherson. To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel. Illustrated by Mark Siegel. September 2006. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, $17.95 (978-0-689-86747-7).
  • Vining, James. First in Space. May 2007. Oni Press, $9.95. (978-1-932664-64-5).

    • If I missed any, let me know.