The Manga Curmudgeon

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

From the stack: We Were There

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wwt

I love a lot of shôjo for its embrace of emotional ambivalence, but even I can admit that a lot of that ambivalence can come in a fairly narrow flavor profile. How many times can I be asked to care which generically attractive, somewhat condescending boy is the right boy for the heroine? Now, some series execute that conundrum beautifully, and I really care, but books that go a different route always catch my eye.

wwtcoverYuki Obata’s We Were There (Viz) seems to be one of those welcome alternatives to triangular angst. The first volume demonstrates a sharp appreciation for ambivalence of the internal variety.

Like many of the sisterhood, protagonist Nanami is starting high school and hoping to make friends and have fun. She isn’t yet engaged in the boyfriend hunt, which is a nice change of pace. Of course, active engagement isn’t always required for the boyfriend hunt to begin. Nanami finds herself evenly divided between irritation and infatuation when she meets Yano, a cute classmate. Circumstances conspire to bring them closer. Her heart races and she doesn’t know why. And the school festival looks like it’s going to be a disaster! Slide your Scantron sheet into the Shôjomatic 3000X, right? Well, not quite.

Obata uses a couple of approaches that make We Were There distinct. The first is what I can only call a kind of flatness of affect. It’s like she’s minimized the stylistic extremes that have become shôjo stereotypes to get back to the emotions that inspired those stereotypes in the first place. Second is the fact that she does the hard work of translating stereotypes into actual characters. Yano actually is half irritating, half admirable.

The core question of the book is whether Nanami really knows Yano at all. His first love has died, and Obata examines the messy emotional fallout of that scenario with intelligence and restraint. What exactly is lurking under Yano’s shôjo-prince façade, and why is he giving Nanami peeks under the veil? Does he actually like her, or is he trying to appear normal? Is he in touch with his own feelings at all, and how can Nanami sort her own feelings out with so many questions?

That’s a really meaty, emotional foundation for a story. We Were There doesn’t wallow in emotional lows or titter through shrill comedic highs, and I think it’s more interesting for that. I like wallowing, and I like tittering, but introspection can be engrossing too.

Free Comic Book Month underway at YACB

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Dave (Yet Another Comics Blog) Carter is holding his fifth Free Comic Book Month giveaway! What’s it all about?

“Each day of May [Dave will] pick someone to receive a free comic, taken from [his] personal collection: duplicates, things [he has] in trades, and other stuff. [His] goal is to match up people with a comic that they haven’t read but that they may like. [His] tastes are wide and varied, so chances are [he has] a comic for you.”

It’s like the twelve days of Christmas, but longer and with comics instead of disease-ridden birds and high-maintenance performers!

While I wait

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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 4/29/2009

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A quick look through this week’s ComicList:

parasyte7There’s a crazy amount of really excellent shôjo coming out this week, but more on that later. The comic I’m anticipating most eagerly would have to be the seventh volume of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte from Del Rey. This is the penultimate installment of this science-fiction classic about a boy and the shape-shifting parasite that’s taken over his hand. The book has just gotten more engrossing as it’s progressed. There’s plenty of crazy metamorphosing action, solid and surprising character development, dollops of bizarre humor, and an increasingly suspenseful plot.

The list qualifies a bunch of Viz’s offerings with “release not confirmed by Diamond,” which generally means that you’re more likely to find them this week in a bookstore than a comic shop, I think. It’s probably just as well, as there’s quite a volume of crack, and it couldn’t hurt to divide your purchases up over a couple of weeks.

I’ve fallen a bit behind on Hideaki Sorachi’s very funny Gin Tama, but I’ve enjoyed every volume I’ve read. The series is up to its twelfth volume. I’m more up to date with Yumi Yotta and Takeshi Obata’s marvelous Hikaru no Go, which reaches volume fifteen this week.

Now, to the crushing deluge of truly awesome shôjo:

  • High School Debut volume 9: Charming and sharply observed relationship study.
  • Nana volume 16: Terrific soap opera about urban twenty-somethings.
  • Sand Chronicles volume 5: Heartbreaking but subdued drama about a girl coming of age.

    • Many people whose opinions I respect are also excited about the following: Kaze Hikaru volume 13, Love Com volume 12, Skip Beat volume 18, and We Were There volume 4. Of them, We Were There sounds most like it’s up my alley. I read a few chapters of Kaze Hikaru in Shojo Beat and found it baffling, but the depth of affection people have for the series may force me to take a longer look at it at some point.

    Carrion luggage

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    I’m sure I’ve used that joke before. Anyway, there’s a new Flipped up, in which I talk a bit about four-panel comics to camouflage the fact that I’m going on about Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro yet again.

    They stab at thee

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    This is what I get for dawdling in checking my Google news feeds. Big news from UPI, but what exactly does it mean?

    “Shogakukan Inc. said by offering an authorized version of the Japanese language comics online, it hopes to limit the spread of illegal copies of its comic books in Europe and the United States, Japan Today said Sunday.”

    Is Rin-Ne just the beginning?

    Other takes:

  • Japan Today
  • The Japan Times

    • At long last love

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    chad1

    Chad looks sad, doesn’t he? You can’t really blame him. You see, Chad is pretty much the only protagonist from Tite Kubo’s Bleach not to be featured in John Jakala’s list of great manga romances. This wasn’t a result of neglect or a lack of affection on John’s part, I assure you. You see, in spite of his redeemed-thug hotness, protective streak, and all-around lovableness, Chad can’t even seem to score a subtext romance. Who, we are left to wonder, is a worthy match for this still-waters-run-deep stalwart?

    After an exhaustive search, I believe I’ve found the right person for Chad.

    sakaki

    While opposites often attract, I think similarity would work better in Chad’s favor. Hence, the bewitching Sakaki from Kiyohiko Azuma’s Azumanga Daioh. Sakaki’s waters are equally still and run equally deep. Beneath her slightly intimidating exterior beats a loving and loyal heart. I don’t even care to think what would happen if Chad put on a pair of cat ears.

    Alas, like so many great romances, this one would be star-crossed. For how can a boy from shonen adventure and a girl from seinen four-koma ever truly be together? Only in fan fiction, my friends.