I’m going to the city again today for live-drawing “classes”, so here’s a good opportunity to unload reviews of all the work I’ve read in the past FEW days. Granted, all the stuff that I bought in the previous entry, and thought it would be good to share my views.
First Up – Scholarly Works on Manga
The three “academic” works I bought off Amazon last week were all good reads, though some more relevant to my interests than others. To re-cap what they are, they are “Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics” by Frederik L. Schodt, “Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga” by the same author, and “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics” by Paul Gravett.
Out of the three, “Dreamland Japan” was the one I found most useful. The book itself is a sequal to “Manga! Manga!”, so people who have read that book would benefit greatly. Not only does the author write with an insider’s view of the Japanese manga industry, but it illustrates some aspects of manga culture that other scholarly works don’t brush upon enough. Case in point would be the introduction to the best-selling and most influential manga zasshi, which like it or not, is what defines the type of work most manga-ka creates. Another would be the overviews of several influential alternative manga-kas – unknown outside Japan, but who has created incredibly influential works inside their country’s borders. This blows away the cliche that most manga are aimed at the shoujo and shounen market. That may be true of the commercial manga world, but the number of alternative manga works being created in doujinshi markets are also staggeringly high. Overall, a highly recommended book – the only drawback being that it was published a decade ago, and so only covers the manga market up to 1996.
The other two, “Manga! Manga!” and “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics” are pretty much equivalent in their content for the newbie manga scholar. Both serve as an introduction into manga, outlining both history and recent trends, though “Manga! Manga!” is much disadvantaged in that area since it was published in 1983. If you’re looking for pretty colour pictures and coverage up to 2002, I suggest you go for Paul Gavett’s book. If you’re looking for a more in-depth history and an insider’s perspective (and manga shorts in the back), then go for Schodt’s book. There is no reason to get both, because they cover the same ground. I would recommend “Manga! Manga!” over the other book though, due to the quality of its sequal “Dreamland Japan”.
Western Comics – Preacher: All Hell’s a-coming (Vol.8)
I’m attempting to shore up my list of Western Comics purchases, and is making good headway with my current “Great Hits” shopping list (nearly all Vertigo books). However, I wish I didn’t randomly buy the second last volume of “Preacher” the other day. It was my first “Preacher” book, and not only did it explain quite wonderfully what went on in the previous volumes, but it also negated the need to buy any of the previous volumes to understand the plot and the characters. Not that it’s going to stop me from sampling the previous volumes, as “Preacher” is a pretty good read.
It belongs in a genre I like to call the “Apocalyptic Texan Rebel” genre – a genre that came to fruition by collision of 60s and 70s genres. It comes complete with an anti-hero, a tough-chick love-interest, apocalyptic visions, powerful and secretive religious cults, every Hollywood Western ever made, the seedy underside of “this great country of opportunity we live in”, and… alot of Texan “stuff”. There aren’t any zombies popping up in this volume, nor are there any commies to shoot at, but I’m almost certain they show up in the other volumes (unless you count Cassidy). So yeah, I like stuff like this, and “Preacher” is a wall-done example of something that is familiar to me, whether from the movies or other comics. There isn’t much else to say about it, other than the fact that if this is your cup of tea, then you should go and buy it, beause you’ll have a good-time. And the way the author gets to vent his hatred of pop-music is also pretty funny.
If there is anything that bothered me about “Preacher”, it would be something that alot of people don’t care about. Namely, the confessional way complete strangers talk to each other. Most of the character interaction is well-done and realistic, with good dialogue (some satirical) and sharply-drawn personalities, and yet, for some reason, hitch-hikers and bar-tenders see no problem in revealing their intimate life-stories to people they met just two minutes ago. You shouldn’t ask for realism from a story like “Preacher”, but I was… bothered when a bar-tender revealed to a stranger that he was once mistaken by police for a pedophile and had his family jewels dissolved as a side-effect. I know you hear all sorts of strange stories from bar-keepers, but (1)bar-keepers talk about others alot, but almost NEVER about themselves, and (2)I wouldn’t mention myself and the word “pedophile” in the same sentence in any place where alcohol is sold. Not especially when you run the bar (unless you hate your boss), because you would want to avoid anything that may POTENTIALLY spook your customers and make them leave. Once again, none of the content bothered me – just the way it was revealed. So I have a soft-spot for fictionalised bar-keepers. It’s actually a fantastic basis for a story – because the role of good barkeepers are to listen to your sob stories, keep you drinking, make sure you leave before you’re so inebriated you’ll make a mess, and inspire some hope in you (from the stories they here from other people) so you’ll come back for your next drinking binge. It’s a delicate social act, much more delicate than most people realise. Oh, I see a plot bunny running around in my head.
That said: Preacher = good read.
Manga – Random Snippets
Both “Bizenghast” and “Van Von Hunter” were pretty much what I expected, and I enjoyed reading both. Bizenghast can benefit from more consistent art, but already I want to do fan stories for the book. I like Edaniel and Vincent, moreso because Vincent seems like the ideal boyfriend and you can always have someone like that around. And “Van Von Hunter” follows on somewhat indirectly from the amusing webcomic, so perhaps it’s better to read the webcomic so you can better enjoy the story in book 1.
Manga – “Death Note”
I’m going to get flamed for. Takeshi Obata’s my favourite artist, but I was very disappointed by this and I hated the first volume. I may check out the next volumes but I’m in NO hurry. For those who don’t know, “Death Note” is about a boy who finds a special notebook dropped by an Angel of Death – if you write a person’s name in it (along with all these complicated side notes), then that person will die. Sounds like a good premise? Yes, it’s a good premise, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Since our hero Raito Yagami (aka. Kira) ends up killing a whole lotta people (namely criminals) in a twisted bid for global justice, you would think the story would question the morality of his actions, and the guilt he should be feeling for this. Good psycho-drama coming up? But no, Raito remains a pretty apathetic guy for much of the first volume, even when he’s being chased by… Interpol? So, it’s going the thriller route, especially when Interpol gets involved. Sounds good, eh? A good psycho-thriller concept.
Nah. It wants to be a good thriller, but fails miserably because of the author’s failure to ground its supposedly real-life sections in reality. Interpol gets involved because of… 52 criminals dying in the space of one week from heart failure. Why something like that is relevant to Interpol is beyond me. Angels of Death and Notebooks I can believe, but not Interpol becoming fixated on heart failures in Japanese criminals. Has there been any actual sign of criminal activity? And aren’t international terrorists, gun-runners and human traffickers more important (why aren’t any of those guys dying)? If I were Interpol, I would post a list of all the Most-Wanted criminals on prime-time news TV and hope they drop dead too. But wait, there’s more. Interpol, to solve this apparent lack of criminal activity and evidence, decides to call on a mysterious figure known as “L”, who somehow has solved many criminal cases Interpol has been unable to solve over the years. If I were Interpol, “L” would be the first person I’d arrest in conspiracy with said criminal cases. “L”, is ofcourse, a teenager, and more brilliant than any of the top minds that work at Interpol. And so on and so forth.
“Death Note” will appeal to Obata art fans, anyone looking for handsome bishounen to pin on their walls, people who want a real “Death Note” themselves to kill off their classmates, and people who don’t care for realism in a supposedly realistic thriller. Anyone who wants a good thriller to read, go look elsewhere.
Talking about realism, “Ghost in the Shell” by Shirow Masamune has it in spades. We have realistically-drawn robots and cyborgs, realistically-drawn weaponry and buildings, not-so-realistic naked women, enough technical sidenotes to fill another volume, and complicated plots firmly grounded in reality. Perhaps too complicated, because I constantly have to read over the previous pages again to know who is who and doing what and why (I still don’t quite get it). Other than that, “Ghost in the Shell” is a collection of short stories (I think) about Major Kusanagi, a touch female cyborg in charge of a crack squad of government special forces. And… yeah. People used to Western comics will like Shirow’s style – it’s pretty removed from the 10-second a page reading of many manga and much closer to Western comics. If you’ve seen the anime “Ghost in the Shell”, now you know where it comes from.