Meanwhile: ...Scott McCloud is high-fiving everyone in celebration

Elsewhere: I contributed a blurb to Flashlight Worthy's list of comics by women featuring female characters, along with such luminaries as Joe "Jog" McCullough, Sandy Bilus, Noah Berlatsky, David Welsh, Katherine Dacey, and several others.  Go, read.

Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities.
By Jason Shiga

The "choose your own adventure" style of storytelling is an interesting one, but the gap between potential and realization is a big one.  It's hard enough to write a good story, but to together one that has branching plotlines and multiple resolutions and can still capture the attention of a reader can seem not even worth the effort.  So thank god for thinkers like Jason Shiga, who with this book manages to not only weave a compelling story in this style, but uses the comics format in interesting and innovative ways while doing so.  It ends up being a fascinating book, one that encourages the reader to pore over its pages for clues and details, figuring out the secrets that Shiga has buried within them.  It's an ambitious work, and one whose reach mostly manages to keep from exceeding its grasp.

That story?  It starts out simply with a kid at an ice cream store making a choice between chocolate and vanilla, but things soon spiral off into craziness, as he ends up in a mad scientist's lab, with the choice of several different inventions to try out, with wacky results no matter which branch of the plot is followed.  There's time travel, mind-reading, and other shenanigans, and while it's fun, delving into its secrets eventually reveals a surprisingly moving (and maybe even a bit awe-inspiring) story underlying the goofy antics on the surface.

The real appeal, though, is seeing what neat idea Shiga will come up with next.  His comics panels connect to each other every which way, with trails between them stretching across pages, weaving around and through each other, and leading from page to page via an ingenious tab system.  It's like a physical version of Scott McCloud's infinite canvas, and it works perfectly intuitively, especially when the time-travel plot loops back upon itself, or when the main character gets caught in an infinite cycle of calling himself names.  Shiga even comes up with some wonderfully effective ideas, like an illustration of a coin flip that actually seems like pure chance, or a couple of  "secret codes" that equate finding the correct story path to cracking a safe.

If there's any complaint to be had, it would be the semi-crudity of Shiga's art, which sees all the characters sporting circular heads and gaping red oval mouths, but he uses the style well, keeping the story moving and emphasizing the weirdness and wild ideas.  It's easy to follow, providing a welcome opposite number to the daunting complexity of the story's structure.

Yes, comics could certainly use more deep thinkers like Shiga, who are willing to push the limits of the medium and still use it to tell good stories.  The far extents of what can be done have yet to be reached, but we can probably rest assured that he'll be right there on the front lines, coming up with new ideas that blow all our minds.  Who knows what's coming next, but it'll be a blast to see.

More comics of the mini- persuasion

Elsewhere: I reviewed Immortal Weapons #1 at Comics Bulletin. That was a fun comic.

News/press release regurgitation: Viz informs me that the anime adaptations of two of my favorite manga series, Nana and Honey and Clover, are available to watch on Hulu (links: here and here). That's pretty cool. I haven't watched any Nana, but I'm curious to do so just to see how they handle the music; will it live up to what I hear in my imagination when reading the comic? As for H&C, I watched some of that series on fansub back before the manga was ever translated, and I loved it. It's a great adaptation, really funny stuff with some nice animation, good voice acting, and lots of funny comedy. At least, that's what I remember; it's been a few years. If you're curious about either of the series, I recommend giving them a watch. Can't hurt, right?

And now for some reviews of comics which were recently sent to me:

Brian John Mitchell of Silber Media was kind enough to send along five comics that definitely live up to the "mini-" prefix; they're each about 1.5 x 1.75 inches, and something like 40 pages long, which makes for a good little package. Here's what I thought of them, ranking them from worst to best in my estimation:

Lost Kisses #9-10

By Brian John Mitchell (?)

I think Mitchell was the creative force behind these, although there are no writer or artist credits on either of them. But he wrote all the others, so I think I can safely assume he wrote these two, and also did the art, which is limited to stick figures. Unfortunately, the writing matches the crudity of the artwork, being a series of self-involved diary-style musings on life and relationships. None of it is really all that compelling; Mitchell comes off as full of himself and kind of a jerk. Maybe it's supposed to be a bit transgressive and confessional, but it's mostly just uninteresting, and not all that easy to read to boot, since it can be hard to tell whether you're supposed to read the word balloons or the captions first on each page:

I hate to start out on a negative note, but I thought these were pretty poor, more appropriate for a blog or something, with the images being pretty much unnecessary. I wouldn't bother complaining about them, but the differential in quality between these and the other minis is pretty notable. I figure it's best to save the positive stuff for later, and luckily, all the others minis are quite a bit more interesting:

XO #5

Written by Brian John Mitchell

Art by Melissa Spence Gardner

This series is apparently about a young hitman, but this issue seems to function as the first part of a sort of origin story, in which he discovers his capacity for murder while simply trying to maintain his drug-dealing career. It's fairly effective, although the character is sort of a cipher, seeming to move through his life without emotion (although his internal monologue tries to argue otherwise). Maybe it's the art, which is occasionally effective in its cartoony figure work and features some nice toned shading rather than crude, simple linework, but can also be a bit stiff:

It's a decent little slice of a story, but not as compelling as it could be; I don't feel like I need to find out what happens next (or before). And the caption-based narration gets a bit grating, but maybe that's just reading a repetition of Mitchell's tics all in a row. He does better:

Worms #4

Written by Brian John Mitchell

Art by Kimberlee Traub

The Silber website describes this series as "surrealistic horror/sci-fi", and that's pretty appropriate. Even though this is the fourth issue, it's pretty easy to follow, with a one-sentence recap on the first page introducing us to the main character's plight, in which she is trapped in some sort of asylum and being experimented on. It's weird, but pretty effective, with strange details blending with crude, abstracted art to make for a compelling narrative that pulls the reader right into the tale:

It's a quick taste of the story, but it's enough to get the reader on board with its disturbing milieu, making us wonder what's going on and what will happen next. This is one that I'll have to try to keep up with.

Just a Man (#1?)

Written by Brian John Mitchell

Art by Andrew White

This western story is the gem of the bunch, telling a simple, effective story of violence and revenge; it seems like a Clint Eastwood movie along the lines of Unforgiven. The main character is a simple farmer who is quick to respond when his family is harmed, but it's an ambiguous ending; was the right man brought to justice (if you can call it that)? Or did he make a hasty decision based on rage and despair? Although it's not indicated on the comic itself, this is apparently the first issue, so we'll probably find out the answers, but it would be perfectly fine if the story ended here, leaving the reader wondering as to what really happened.

Andrew White's art is probably the element that really brings the story to life here, giving a scratchy, dirty feel to the setting, as if dust and sweat are covering everything we see:

It's definitely the best-looking of these books; I'm interested in another issue, but I'd be even more interested in seeing mitchell and White continuing on to a different story, just to see what else they can do.

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Lost Kisses aside, these are some pretty good little comics, a nice use of the small space they've set out. If you're interested, you can purchase them at the Silber Media link above, and you can also view or download electronic versions of some of them as well. Give them a try and encourage a developing talent!

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The Colorblind Art Teacher #2

By Mark Teel

I don't know if Mark Teel lives up to the title of his minicomic series, but if he's an art teacher, his work is pretty crude. I kid! As the husband of an art teacher, I know that you don't have to be a great drawer to teach people about art, and it's obvious that Teel knows how to tell a story. In this issue, he uses his simplistic figures to relate the tale of taking his young daughter (two years old is my guess) to swimming lessons and getting frustrated at her refusal to participate very much because she is scared. But this also brings up the memory of his own childhood, and the way his own father basically bullied him into jumping off the diving board. It's an amusing juxtaposition, although it ends kind of abruptly, and Teel does seem a bit harsh, but that is certainly a believable reaction to obstinate children and the frustration they can cause.

As mentioned, Teel's art is somewhat crude, with characters kind of being more-detailed stick figures (or, since that's kind of unfair, low-detail cartoons), but he gets a good bit of expression out of them, slumping postures and frantic motion combining with big heads and easily-read facial features:

It's a pretty nice little read; I'm curious to check out Teel's other work. If you're interested, you can see more of his work and order issues of the series at his blog.

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By the way, if you're interested in having your minicomics (or regular-style comics, or graphic novels, or whatever) reviewed here, feel free to email me at the address on the sidebar.

Nana: Rock and roll, cootchie-coo

Ah, something to link to: a review of Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #1. Good stuff. And now this, from what seems to be becoming a manga blitz of sorts (I'll keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't stall):

Nana, volume 10
By Ai Yazawa



Even though this isn't exactly a quiet volume of the series, it's something of a breather, at least compared to the emotional turmoil (for both the characters and the readers) of the last couple outings. Instead of big, dramatic, angst-filled character developments, we mostly see plain old forward plot movement and quiet revelations about characters major and minor.

Yasu especially seems to get a bit of a spotlight here, as what seemed to be a close friendship with and protectiveness toward Nana turns out to be actual unrequited love, which he knows will likely never be returned due to her relationship with Ren. And this also adds an interesting wrinkle to his relationship with Reira, since he broke up with her by saying he wanted to study law instead of playing music, but we now realize was actually because he loves Nana. And who knows if this revelation will have consequences down the road, or if it is simply a nice moment here. That's what's great about Yazawa's writing: all the characters seem so well-realized, and their web of connectedness leads us and them to realize how small decisions and revelations affect everyone else. It's a bit more dramatic than real life, but it's got enough of a realistic quality that we can easily relate to the characters.

And then there's Hachi and Takumi's relationship, which seemed doomed in the last volume, but gets a bit deeper and sweeter here. While he still seems to take her for granted and act all controlling, we do get to see the facade peel back a bit and reveal his affection for her and his excitement about their baby (what's the statute of limitations on spoilers from volume 8? I think I'll wait another volume or two before I start cavalierly mentioning stuff from that volume's big twist. Anyway, you can highlight that last bit of inviso-text to reveal said spoilers). And Hachi is really starting to love him, but how much of that is still based on his fame and image? Is she just trying to convince herself that she loves him in order to make the best of her situation? She is prone to that sort of activity, dating all the way back to that pedophile businessman she dated before the series even started. But whatever the case (and I will certainly enjoy seeing how it all plays out in the future), Yazawa isn't taking the easy way out and making Takumi a hissable bad guy. She's deepening their relationship, which will make for more drama if it ends up falling apart. Damn, she knows what she's doing.

But no, the big events here aren't personal, they're professional (although in the music business, those two often get enmeshed, don't they?). A small slip-up on Ren and Nana's part leads to the paparazzi getting photos of the two of them together, splashing their relationship all over the tabloids and inadvertently kick-starting Blast's major-label debut. Or is it inadvertent? There are hints that higher-ups in their record label masterminded the whole scandal as a means to get people interested in the band, and that leads to some interesting quandaries about the mixture of art and commerce. Nana and the guys want to become famous, but is it right to piggyback on Trapnest's popularity? Shouldn't they be able to make their name by themselves? Or should they take advantage of the situation into which they've been thrust, and make the best of things, showing that they deserve acclaim and aren't just riding their more famous friends' coattails?

And in the midst of all this, I'm loving the character moments and fun details that Yazawa includes throughout the volume, like Yasu punching out a tabloid reporter who is harassing Nana:



Or Nana making a public promise to Hachi:



And Yazawa really makes it fun to read, having the cast engage in goofy repartee and adding funny little details into the art, like this bit in which Shin has trouble using chopsticks:



And that last panel makes me laugh, since it features that flowery philosophizing and descriptiveness that often shows up in Japanese works. Here's another example, which I think is a great thing to yell at people when you're angry:



And as you can tell from these samples, Yazawa is a really good artist, varying from cartoony stylizations to beautiful emotional imagery and wonderfully evocative expressions of emotion. I did want to point out one thing I noticed:



That's a scene with Hachi, her sister, and their mother. I was really impressed at how well Yazawa makes these characters all look like they're related, without just drawing basically the same face on all three of them. The sister looks like an older, more domesticated (i.e. plump) version of Hachi, and the mother looks like an older version of that. It's fascinatingly subtle, and just one tiny example of Yazawa's artistic excellence.

So, yeah, it's another great volume of one of my favorite series. Are things settling down after the big shakeups, or will more dramatic rumblings continue to develop? I can't wait to find out.

Nana: I'm like a teenage fangirl for this series

Jeez, how embarrassing. It's worth it though. I should mention that I have a review of Anna Mercury #1 up at Comics Bulletin, as part of their Sunday Slugfest from the other day. I was slacking though; I didn't get it in until Monday. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Anyway:

Nana, volume 9
By Ai Yazawa

It’s hard to know what to talk about for this volume of Nana, because it’s more of the same excellence we’ve come to expect from the series. Ai Yazawa continues to craft compelling drama, and it’s so good, you feel every emotion right alongside the fascinating characters. I love that she refuses to back down from the big, series-changing twist of the previous volume; we don’t get a cheerful “Nana, now featuring a cute baby!” (you can highlight that previous sentence to reveal some spoiler-laden inviso-text; I don’t want to ruin the series for anyone who hasn’t read through volume 8 yet). Instead, the characters’ actions have real, devastating results, and it’s hard to watch after Yazawa gave us so much time getting to know and love them.

So: this volume kicks off with the announcement that Hachi and Takumi are getting married, which drives a wedge between Nana and Hachi. Oddly, Hachi seems to be acting subservient to Takumi’s wishes, almost giving up her will to him. It’s unclear why she’s doing this, since she doesn’t seem to like him too much, but she also enjoys playing the part of a wife, and maybe she is sacrificing her ideas of love in order to (inviso-text alert!) provide for her child (end inviso-annoyance). I’m a little bothered by her near-complete submission (especially when it comes to sex), but from what I understand, that’s part of Japanese culture, where wives are expected to submit to their husbands, and a submissive woman is considered sexy (if I’ve misrepresented this, I’m sorry. You know I love you, Japan!).

Takumi kind of comes off as the bad guy here, since he’s ruining Hachi’s dreams of love with Nobu, and he also tells Nana to stop spending so much time with Ren to avoid an inter-band scandal. He seems to want to put his band Trapnest (quick aside: I don’t find the name of their band so ridiculous as David Welsh does; this is Japanese music we’re talking about. Don’t they have bands with ridiculous names like L’Arc-En-Ciel or SMAP?) above everything else. But then he ignores his own advice when he fails to realize that his impending nuptials will send their singer, Reira (who, in a bit I found amusing, we discover is named after the Japanese pronunciation of Eric Clapton’s “Layla”) into a spiral of depression. And when he is given the chance to reach out to Reira and comfort her, he chooses to send Reira’s assistant instead. But while he seems focused on his success, he still seems to have real feelings for Hachi, wanting her to be happy. It’s not a black-and-white situation, with Nobu being the heroic love interest and Takumi being the villain who she leaves at the altar in the climactic scene of every romantic comedy movie. Yazawa is putting together something much deeper and more interesting here.

Also interesting (and heartbreaking) is the plot about the relationship between the two Nanas. Each chapter sees them drift farther apart, feeling like they can’t communicate, and it’s so hard to watch. It’s like seeing two friends having a falling out, and even though you know they should just talk to each other, you can’t do anything but watch helplessly. And then there’s Nana’s increasingly distressing mental health issues; it seems like she might be bipolar, or at least struggling with depression. That’s hard to watch too, to the point where I’m almost yelling at the pages for her to get help.

Another highlight of this volume is a 50-page bonus story that flashes back to show the “secret origin” of Trapnest. Yazawa does a great job of showing us the highlights of the formative years of those characters (I especially like her depiction of Ren as a young teen; he’s so cute!) and explaining the tangled relationships of Ren, Takumi, Naoki, Yasu, and Reira. It’s nicely done, throwing a light on the past in order to help us understand their present and future actions and personalities.

So who knows where this is going next, but as you can see, I’ve become very passionate about the characters and their story. That’s the mark of a really good writer (and I haven’t even mentioned the excellent artwork, which continues to shine in this volume as it has in the past); Yazawa has talent to spare, and I can’t wait to read the next volume (and the one after that, and etc.).

A quick post, relating to my Nana obsession

I just read this post on Manga Xanadu, and I felt like I had to point it out and offer my own commentary. If you're interested in Nana, I suggest reading the post (unless you haven't read the eighth volume yet; it's got spoilers!), since it brings up an issue that I never really considered: namely, that the series was probably dropped from Shojo Beat due to possibly controversial subject matter rather than sexual content. While there was a pretty risque scene (which I excerpted in my review of the volume), it wasn't really any worse than previous sex scenes. Instead, the issues raised by the direction of the plot may have been considered too "adult" for the teenage audience, at least to the point where the editors probably worried about parental complaints. However, as "manga mom" Lori Henderson mentions in her post, this was exactly the wrong moment to stop teenagers from reading; it's the point when the series breaks from its lighthearted tale of girly soap operatics and starts considering the consequences of a sexually promiscuous lifestyle. I hadn't even considered this idea, but I think I'm in total agreement; if you're going to show teen (or young adult) sexuality, it's better to show the consequences instead of hiding them behind a protective (shrink-wrapped) barrier. I guess it's another example of the weird attitude toward sexual matters in the United States. Ah well, it doesn't affect me too much (I'll still be reading the series!), but it's an interesting issue. Make of it what you will.

Nana: Ah, the itch has been soothed. Also: Holy crap!

I mean, really! Dirk Deppy wasn't kidding! Wait, let me start this for real:

Nana, volume 8
By Ai Yazawa



In Dirk Deppey's "best of 2007" list at the other end of the link above, he mentions that the entirety of Nana up until this volume was essentially prologue, and a single event in this volume changes everything. And, man was he right. I won't spoil it, but the big twist here is a fucking amazing one, yet one that fits the series incredibly well. It's really just raising the stakes for the characters, and Ai Yazawa does a masterful job of pushing her characters through these compelling stories.

But let me back up; Nana is probably my favorite manga series at the moment. I've been following it faithfully since the first issue of Shojo Beat, and I was horribly upset when the magazine stopped serializing the series (yes, I'm a dork). However, after reading this volume, I understand the decision; not only does the sex get more explicit:



But the entire dramatic underpinnings of the series shift to a more adult sensibility, one that doesn't fit the intended teenage audience of the magazine as well. And now that the big twist has happened (I'm trying very hard not to spoil it here, but I might slip), I can see how the themes have been subtly shifting to more mature subject matter over time. Rather than the teenage worries about finding a boyfriend or an apartment, Yazawa has slowly introduced ideas like keeping a steady job in order to be responsible and pay the bills, or how to manage a long-term relationship. It's fascinating to look back and see the steady growth of the characters as they become adults, and I'm sure we'll get to keep watching it over many future volumes.

But even avoiding the spoiler (rrrrrgh!!), the series is great fun to read. The characters are just so well-realized, and whatever happens, it's impossible not to enjoy watching them bounce off each other. One highlight of this volume is watching Nana (that's Nana Osaki, the rock star, as opposed to Nana Komatsu, otherwise known as "Hachi") try to take care of Hachi or boss her bandmates around. She's got a hard-edged punk attitude, but we get to peek under her shell somewhat here. But the outer image is fun too:



There's plenty of other characters and scenes I could talk about, but I'm really trying not to spoil things. All I'll say is that it gets incredibly dramatic, and I was turning pages with rapt attention, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Yazawa has a great sense of pacing, springing events and revelations and confrontations on readers in such a way as to create maximum drama. Her expressive artwork doesn't hurt either, and I love some of the tricks she uses, like this panel of Hachi's rock-star (ex?)boyfriend Takumi eating some "plebian curry":



That's actually a scene transition from higher up on the page, but it's structured to look like Hachi is standing on his plate; he kind of considers her to be "beneath" him, little more than a fling. And when you read that in context, it's pretty devastating and sad.

So I'm definitely still a fan, and I can't wait for the next volume. Where can Yazawa go with this? What's going to happen next for our heroines? How will they cope with these events? Damn, this is some effective soap-operatic storytelling, making readers feel like they have to keep reading! I'm hooked; don't be surprised if you see me strung out on the floor of Borders' manga section.
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So that's Nana. I managed to get through the thing without revealing anyth....All right! I can't stop myself! SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!! Holy shit! Hachi's pregnant! Holy shit! I thought shojo manga was all lighthearted and fun, full of drama, but nothing that can't be worked out by the end of the chapter. It'll all be roses, and the heroine will be able to run away with the prince, right? Well, suddenly we're hit with a very adult situation: Hachi is pregnant by the guy she wanted to break up with, Takumi. He's a playboy, and he's not going to want to get tied down with a kid. Plus, she was falling in love with Nobu, and she wanted to start a relationship with him; what the hell is she supposed to do now? Yazawa spent seven volumes working her characters into the perfect positions for this revelation to have maximally devastating consequences, and (as far as I can tell) she's refusing to take it lightly and treat it as a frivolous obstacle. The book suddenly got a lot more grown-up, and a hell of a lot more compelling (no mean feat; it was already pretty un-put-down-able). I'm fascinated by this choice, and what this means for the future of the series. Damn. Damn. Yazawa just made a fan for life. I am seriously on the edge of my chair waiting for the next volume.
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Okay, that's the real ending. Sorry if things got a bit incoherent there. Anyway, join me tomorrow for a sophisticated discussion of something less emotionally reactionary and more intellectual, like Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library. Or maybe I'll just post gory panels from MPD Psycho. Whatever.

Final UPDATE! San Diego newseses

UPDATE: See the bottom of the post for the newest updates.

I was going to put this entry in its own post, but I figure there will continue to be more news and announcements from what is often referred to as the "nerd prom", so I'm dedicating this post to news out of the San Diego Comicon that I find interesting, starting off with:

A new Jeff Smith book! RASL is a crazy-sounding sci-fi story about a dimension-hopping art thief. Looks cool:



Looks like Top Shelf is putting out an omnibus of Marshal Law, which is cool, because that's an awesome series. It's a good look at early Kevin O'Neill artwork, if you only know him from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And a hilarious, violent, fun series too, with some great lampooning of superheroes.

UPDATE:

Darwyn Cooke is leaving The Spirit after issue #12. Bummer. Unless his replacement is somebody amazing, I think I'll be leaving it too.

Jon Favreau (who's directing the Iron Man movie) and Adi Granov are doing an Iron man limited series. It'll probably finish coming out sometime in 2010. Might be interesting, but if I read it, I'm sure I'll wait for the trade.

More news to come...
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UPDATE on 7/27:

CBR has a gallery of images from Brian Wood's upcoming Viking series from Vertigo, Northlanders. There's going to be a panel about the series later today, so there will be news and whatnot at that same link.

This one is pretty interesting: Dark Horse is launching a MySpace page called MySpace Dark Horse Presents, and it's kind of a new version of their anthology series, except it's free to read on the page. It's up now, and the first "issue" has a story called "Sugarshock" by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon, along with an Umbrella Academy story by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. Cool. It'll be something to watch. You can read more info in this CBR article.

Viz announced a few new manga titles (I like the title of Monkey High), but their interesting news is that they've licensed the anime versions of both Nana and Honey & Clover. I don't know about Nana, but I've seen some of the H&C anime, and it's excellent.

There will probably be more news later today, so stay tuned (since I'm such a great source for comics news...).
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UPDATE 2 on 7/27:

Newsarama has a good interview with Cory Doctorow about IDW's upcoming series of comics adaptations of his short stories.

UPDATE 3 on 7/27:

Lots of news from Marvel, including a new ongoing Eternals series that's a sequel to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita Jr. miniseries. However, it's by Daniel and Charles Knauf, with whom I'm not familiar (apparently, they write Iron Man), and since I was kind of disappointed with the mini, I'll probably skip it.

Also from Marvel, Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos will be the new creative team on Runaways after Joss Whedon's six-issue arc. I'm not so sure about this, especially Ramos' art style, so I think I'll be dropping the book and possibly picking up a collection if I hear good things.

And the big news is the announcement of Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi as the new creative team on Astonishing X-Men after Joss Whedon and John Cassaday finish their run. Apparently, the title is going to change to Astonishing X-Men: Second Stage, and maybe starting with a new #1. I'm pretty leery of this prospect, since I don't know if I like Ellis on big mainstream books like this (although his Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate Galactus books were pretty good), and while Bianchi can draw pretty, I don't know if his art style will work on a book like this at all. Plus, I'm sick of the X-Men and wish Ellis would do more stuff like Desolation Jones (I guess I should be happy with Black Summer and Doktor Sleepless...). Anyway, here's a picture:



Oh, crap, that's X-23 in that picture, isn't it? Well, I should probably assume I'm going to be skipping this then.
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I guess that's all for right now, but there might be more interesting stuff announced later (and tomorrow, and Sunday), so I'll keep adding to this post. I suppose I could have mentioned Mark Waid's new post as Editor in Chief of Boom! Studios, but whatever.
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UPDATE 4 on 7/27:

Vertigo is starting a new House of Mystery series, with Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges (writers of Jack of Fables) writing. Might be cool.

Also from Vertigo, Joshua Dysart is writing a new Unknown Soldier miniseries, and it will take place in Africa, dealing with the little-reported (in the United States) conflicts on the continent. Could be interesting.

Vertigo again: Jamie Delano is writing a Hellblazer graphic novel, with Jock providing art. I don't usually read Hellblazer, but I suppose I could read this.

Well, crap. I have very little interest in all this "Crisis" stuff that DC seems to have going on all the time, but apparently the so-called Final Crisis is going to be written by Grant Morrison (with art by J.G. Jones), ensuring that I will at least pay a little bit of attention to it. Not that everything Morrison touches is gold (see my upcoming review of Batman #666), but it could be really big and cool, in the manner of his JLA stories.

I don't know of this has much news, but CBR has a report from the Groo panel, and it's fun to read if you're a fan of that series. I wish I could have been there. Maybe the news about a Groo/Tarzan crossover is new; I don't know. I'll be glad to read the 25th anniversary special coming out next month.
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UPDATE on 7/28:

You can see the Eisner Award winners here. They all seem like pretty good choices, except that awful Batman/Spirit book written by Jeph Loeb (you can read my review here).

DC announced the titles of lots more Minx books. Some of them sound interesting, mostly due to the creators involved, which include Steve Rolston, Inaki Miranda, Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly, David Hahn, and Rick Mays.

I don't know if this is new news, but I guess P. Craig Russell is adapting Neil Gaiman's The Dream Hunters into a comic. That seems weird, since it's already a sort of comic with Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations. I guess Russell is also adapting Gaiman's novel Coraline, which is also being made into a movie. Ah, I'm sure I'll read them both when they come out; I love Russell's art.

According to Bully, the second Spirit anthology issue (#13?) will feature contributions from Gail Simone, Michael Golden, and Jeff Smith.
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UPDATE 2 on 7/28:

Lots of interesting stuff from the Image panel, but what stood out for me was the anthology Pop Gun and Corey (Sharknife) Lewis's new Slimline series Pinapl.

Newsarama has an interesting interview with Christos Gage about his upcoming graphic novel The Lion of Rora from Oni, which he's co-writing with his wife, with Dean Trippe provided the art. That might be one to watch for.
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And I think that's everything of note for today. There was some talk about Marvel's thrice-monthly publishing plans for Spider-Man, with the most notable news being Dan Slott as one of the writers and Chris Bachalo as one of the artists. I probably still won't read it though. We'll see if anything else gets posted on any of the news sites, but it's possible that the flow of news is slowing down, so this might be the last update. I don't know if I'll do any more like these, but I thought it would be interesting to keep track of the news from the convention that I found notable. I'll probably post something about Wizard World Chicago next month, but that's only because I'm going to be there. Anyway, I'll hopefully get my replacement scanner on Monday, and then I can get back to the regular reviews.
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Okay, one last update (yeah, right): Blog@Newsarama showed the cover art for the Brian Wood/Ryan Kelly Minx book, The New York Four:


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Okay, hopefully this will be the last update (7/29):

Image is doing a revival of some Jack Kirby properties, Silver Star and Captain Victory. Looks like they'll be written by Erik Larsen (at least at first), so that doesn't excite me too much. We'll see who ends up doing the art. I doubt they'll be able to capture Kirby's energy (see Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters for an example of that sort of failure), but it might be interesting to see what they do.

DC had a Fables panel, and Newsarama's report doesn't really have any earth-shaking news, but it's an interesting read if you're a fan of the series (and its sister title, Jack of Fables). The biggest news is probably that the two titles will start to tie together a bit more, and that a sort of follow-up to 1001 Nights of Snowfall is being planned, although they really only mentioned vague details, saying that real news and a title won't be announced until next year's San Diego convention.

I figured I was going to skip this, but since I'm updating again, I suppose I'll mention it: manga creator team CLAMP is going to be doing a series for Dark Horse. I'm not really a fan of any of their series, but it is interesting news.

Not too much of interest from CBR's report about the Wildstorm panel, except the cover of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier:



Now we'll see if it actually comes out this year.

The new company Radical announced some interesting-sounding books, especially the ones by John Bolton and Bill Sienkiewicz.
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Okay, I think that's really the last update. All major news has been reported, so if I find out about anything else worth mentioning, I'll just put it in its own post. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to a more normal schedule tomorrow.

Shojo Beat: Goodbye, Nana! (Boo hoo hoo!)

Shojo Beat
August 2007



For me, the question going into this issue (and the next, I suppose) is whether I'll want to keep reading this magazine, now that my favorite series, Nana, has ceased serialization. Well, it seems I'll continue to be on board, and Nana's replacement, Honey and Clover, hasn't even started yet! This month, I'll talk about Sand Chronicles, Crimson Hero, Absolute Boyfriend, Nana, and a one-shot story by Arina Tanemura. Vampire Knight continues to do its thing without impressing me very much, and Baby & Me looks to be wrapping up its run of serialization with a story about the kids' evil great aunt trying to steal them from their father so they can inherit the family's dancing academy (there's also an amusing bit in which Takuya looks up the term "knocked up" in the dictionary). So anyway, on to the more detailed reviews!

Shojo Eve * Eve's Applework 24 Hours
By Arina Tanemura

Damn, that's a long title for a short story. By the way, the asterisk is supposed to be a star, in an instance of a symbol being inserted into a series' title. Maybe creator Arina Tanemura does this often; I know she has another series called Gentlemen's Alliance [cross symbol]. Anyway, this story is about a girl with the terrible, terrible affliction of being too cute. Oh, the horror! Guys ask her out all the time, which is annoying, and girls are all jealous and refuse to be her friend. Oh, and there's this:



She hates being called cute and has to fend off the constant advances of the most handsome boy in school, while pining after an average-looking boy (although they look almost identical to me). It's actually not that bad of a story, and I liked the twist that since she has an unfair reputation for stealing other girls' boyfriends, she can't ask out the boy she likes without hurting the girl he just started dating.

Unfortunately, as with other Tanemura works (Full Moon and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, among others) I just can't get past the artwork. It's very nicely rendered, but she draws the characters with really gigantic eyes:



It's like the term "saucer-eyed" was invented for her artwork. I know manga characters typically have big eyes, but this is just ridiculous, and distracts me from whatever story is being told. So, I have to pass on her stuff, but I'm sure other (probably younger) people will like it (and do, judging by the popularity of the aforementioned series).
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Sand Chronicles
By Hinako Ashihara

This is the series that replaced the abysmal Yumekira Dream Shoppe, and while I was glad to see that one go, I'm even happier to get a series as nicely drawn and intelligently written as this. It's about a twelve-year-old girl who moves from Tokyo to the countryside with her mother, following her parents divorce. It actually starts with a scene from the main character Ann's adult life, as she is packing up her belongings with her younger sister and comes across a memento of her childhood, prompting memories that form the story of the series. She and her mother went to live with her grandmother, and while she hates it at first, small-town life grows on her as she begins to make friends. There's some good comedy in scenes with a neighborhood boy named Daigo, like the one in which they work together to catch a rabbit, which she wants to keep as a pet and he intends to eat:



Later, they both find work helping out in the house of a rich family which includes two other kids around the same age. And we find out the reason for her parents' divorce (and a sure source of drama for the series): her mother's clinical depression. It's a jarring shift in tone halfway through the chapter when her mom collapses at work. For extra angst points, Ann is guilty because she urged her mom to work really hard and support the family. So it looks to be a mix of goofy comedy and serious, well-written drama, and I'm pretty excited to read further chapters.
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Crimson Hero
By Mitsuba Takanashi

Apparently, the previous chapter marked the end of "part 1" of this series. Maybe there was a hiatus or something between parts when it was published in Japan, because this chapter serves as kind of an introduction to the series, recapping plots and reintroducing characters through captions:



We do get a new subplot, and perhaps a shift in focus toward the boys' team, as tension between the first-year and second-year players is causing problems. But that might only be a short subplot for the next few chapters. The real drama is seeing the renewed enthusiasm of the girls' team, as they set a goal of not losing any more games and making it to the Spring Tournament (the national high school volleyball competition). It continues to be a good series that I enjoy quite a bit, but there were a few difficult-to-read bits in this chapter, which is strange and out-of-character for this series. For instance, check out this page:



Is the word balloon with the single "Tomoyo" supposed to come before or after the other balloons in that row? Either way, it seems awkward and interrupts the flow of the page. I guess it's not that big of a deal, but, as I said, this series doesn't usually have problems like this. Oh well, I'll still be there to read the next chapter.
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Absolute Boyfriend
By Yuu Watase

Well, this is a pretty wacky chapter, with Mini-Night spending time with Riiko's classmate while Soshi and Riiko argue over whom Riiko is going to choose as her boyfriend. The love triangle thing is getting a bit tedious, but Watase is always ready to serve up some more goofy comedy:



There's also an elderly man who fills his yard with samurai/ninja-style booby traps. I thought that was pretty amusing. Anyway, we get a cliffhanger at then end of this chapter, because Night's body is supposedly irreparable. Will he remain as Mini-Night for the rest of the series? Who knows? I'm sure that whatever happens, it will be funny.
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Nana
By Ai Yazawa

And then we save the best for last, as Nana goes out in style. Man, I really love this series; it's full of such rich, well-developed characters and realistic (yet soapy) plots that keep me wanting more. I think I see the reason Viz is ceasing serialization on the series though (and giving future volumes a "Mature" rating):



That's right, more sex! And nudity! Actually, I'm a bit curious as to whether that scene was slightly censored (that is, were the nipples erased?) for the magazine. Huh. Anyway, a good portion of the chapter is spent with Hachi and Nobu having a post-coital conversation about their relationship (with a flashback to Nobu and Nana in high school!), and I love the bit where Hachi realizes that this relationship is reversed from a typical one for her, with Nobu being the clingy one.

We also get some more character-related discussion, in the form of Hachi's friends Junko and Kyosuke having a conversation about her with her ex-boyfriend Shoji. I was surprised to see Shoji again; I figured he would disappear from the series when he broke up with Hachi. It makes sense to have him appear again, since he was also friends with Hachi's friends; yet another example of Yazawa's good, realistic writing.

And then we have some more character development, as Nana reveals why she encouraged Hachi and Nobu to get together, in a follow-up to a revelation from a few chapters ago. Also, we learn some of Shin's backstory, with hints as to why he's so promiscuous with the ladies. Yazawa continues to build on the world she's created here, and I can see how the series could continue to last through many more volumes (it's still coming out in Japan). I want to keep reading, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait a while.

So this is the last chapter of serialization in the magazine, but the story continues with the next digest collection, volume 8, which comes out in January. They'll be coming out bimonthly after that, at least through September 2008. I'll be there to buy it as soon as I can; this is good comics.
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So that's it for the August issue. I'll be back next month to talk about the debut of Honey and Clover, which I'm pretty excited to read. As for what's coming next on the blog: probably more reviews. Stay tuned!

Girly, girly, girly! That's me.

But you could say I have an excuse this time. Of course, my annual subscription might conflict with that argument...

Shojo Beat, July 2007



So it's back to my monthly dose of manga for teenage girls. As you can see, the cover feature this month is Nana, which is good because next issue will be the last chapter of serialization in this magazine. But it'll be replaced with Honey and Clover, which is hopefully just as good. It's got a great reputation, and if it's anything like the anime series, it'll be awesome.

We also see the end of Yumekira Dream Shoppe this issue, and good riddance. Wow, that was an insipid series. Maybe it skews too far below my age range cutoff for manga. Teenagers? Sure. Middle school? Maybe. Younger? Uhhh, probably not. Anyway, it's going to be replaced with Sand Chronicles, which looks interesting. Here's the half-page of info about that series:



It certainly has an appealing art style, if the colored promo image is anything to judge. I'm optimistic.

My other less favored series, Baby & Me, will be ending serialization after the October issue, and it's going to be replaced by Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, which is described as "science-fiction fantasy", whatever that means. I'm sure we'll learn more in the next couple months.

I'm also not a fan of Vampire Knight, but it seems to be popular, so I'm sure it'll keep chugging along in these pages. One thing to note about this chapter:



Apparently some vampires have exploding blood. Make of that what you will.

(by the way, in case you didn't know already, this is manga, so read right-to-left on all images).

Okay, on to the reviews of series I do like! But first, we get a special feature this issue: an exclusive excerpt of Princess Knight, by Osamu Tezuka! An essay by Douglas Wolk credits it as the very first shojo manga, and I would believe it, since Tezuka seemingly kick-started every known manga genre. We actually get two excerpts here, with the first being the origin of the main character. In heaven, God is tasked with assigning the sex of babies about to be born, but his plans are screwed up when a cherubic little angel named Tink gives a baby a boy's heart, then God gives it a girl's, as was originally intended.



He sends Tink to earth to get the boy's heart and make sure the baby becomes a girl. Then we skip to the next excerpt after a text summary of what we missed. It seems the baby was the princess of a kingdom, but her parents pretend she's a boy because there is no other heir. So Princess Sapphire grows up pretending to be a prince, but is exposed by an evil duke who wants to take over the kingdom. He has her sent away to a tower to work as a maid. I was annoyed that we missed too much, but it seems all that was mostly an intro to get to the real heart of the manga, in which she escapes the tower and poses as a Robin Hood-esque knight called Ribbon. Meanwhile, Tink has taken the form of a boy to try to complete his task:



It's all really cute, full of the excellent cartoony action that Tezuka was known for. I was a little bothered by the idea that the only way for a girl to be heroic is to have the heart of a boy, but I guess I can chalk that up to Japanese culture, especially 50 years ago. Or maybe the whole point of the story is to prove otherwise. In another essay by Jonathan Tarbox, Tezuka is credited with breaking ground with this story; he challenged the usual idea of a girls' comics hero, showing that girls can be heroic while still being feminine.

I must say, now I really want to read the entire series. I'm hoping Viz printed this excerpt in hopes that they can eventually publish a translation of the series in digest format. I would be first in line for that one. I'll have to write a letter letting them know.

Okay, on to the reviews of regular series:

Absolute Boyfriend
By Yuu Watase

As we saw last chapter, Night is in teeny tiny form while his regular body is getting fixed. And he's found a great place to hang out:



There are some other goofy hijinx, including a bit where Night is hiding in Riiko's pocket while she's playing basketball in gym, and he manages to make an incredible shot, leading the coach to beg her to join the team:



As I've said before, Watase is a master of that sort of outsized comedy. It's good to see some wacky shenanigans in this series rather than disturbing threats of violence against the main character. And then there's a twist that might be bringing a new regular character into the series. I won't give it away, but it does lead to something of a cliffhanger. The next chapter should be interesting.

Crimson Hero
By Mitsuba Takanashi

There's a pretty damn good emotional payoff in this chapter, as Nobara gets a chance to play with the All-Japan Juniors team, but realizes she would rather play with her friends. Very nicely done. And Takanashi is amazing at portraying the athleticism of the game:





I love that stuff. I guess I don't have too much to say about the chapter, but it brought a real smile to my face to see the result of all the character work in previous chapters. That's some good writing.

Nana
By Ai Yazawa



I had to share that title page, 'cause it's so pretty. This chapter sees lots of lovey-dovey soap opera drama, as Hachi decides to try to get together with Nobu, but she has to extricate herself from Takumi, who, being a rock star, probably isn't used to being dumped. Most of the chapter is a really sweet scene between Hachi and Nobu:



How romantic. And, for any perverts out there (a group which I'm sure my wife would agree includes me), there's a girl/girl bath scene:



Wowzers! There's also an amusing bit in which Hachi tries to break up with Takumi over the phone, and he gives her every reason to do so:



That's not gonna help. So, we have one more chapter to go before I have to start reading the series in digest form. I'm pretty interested to see how it reads in that format. Interestingly, the editorial in this issue notes that it's going to have a "mature" rating, rather than the "older teen" rating of Shojo Beat. More sex and nudity, I guess. There's always been sex in this series, but maybe it gets more explicit. We'll see.

Bonus! There was a fold out poster included in the issue, and it's going right up on my wall. One side has the cover image of this month's issue, but the other side is this cool punk rock group shot:



Awesome. I'm proud to display my girlish proclivities to all visitors.

So that's it for this month. We'll see what happens next month, as we say goodbye to Nana, welcome Sand Chronicles, and, I dunno, play some more volleyball and drink some blood, I guess.
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More reviews tomorrow? Maybe.