One Piece Is Awesome, Example #54

If you want tragedy and drama, the extended flashbacks in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece are where it's at. The one that takes place in volume 63 is no exception; it details the struggle for the denizens of Fish-Man Island to gain acceptance among humans, focusing on the heroic Fisher Tiger, who we had previously learned led a raid on the capital city of Marijoa and freed all the slaves (both human and fish-man) being held there. We don't get to see that battle, but we follow the aftermath, as Fisher Tiger and his crew of pirates keep fighting to free the oppressed and fight back against the tyranny of the humans. Interestingly, since he's fighting for acceptance, he insists his men refrain from killing humans, no matter how much they want revenge for decades (centuries?) of oppression:



What really gets me though is when Fisher Tiger is grievously wounded, and the only thing that can save him is a blood transfusion from a human, but he refuses:


...


As much as he wants the best for his people, struggling to do what's right even when his entire race is despised and oppressed, he can't bring himself to completely get over his hatred of the humans. This is fascinatingly complex character work, more of the thing Oda does so well, situating his rich characters in the distinctive world that he has created, but still reflecting the societal concerns of the real world. I especially like the way he recognizes that while prejudices and hate can be difficult to stamp out, if we fight for what is right, future generations will receive the benefit. It's optimistic, but I feel like it's happening in the world every day, and the way Oda details it here is beautifully encouraging and moving. As ever, I'm amazed by the richness that he brings to his work. This is great stuff.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #53

One thing I like about Eiichiro Oda's One Piece is the letter columns which are included in the collected volumes. I don't know how common this is in Japan, but it's the only translated manga series I know of that includes this sort of material, and it's absolutely essential, adding a glimpse into Oda's sense of humor and camaraderie with his fans, as well as a great source of information about the series itself, with Oda explaining little details of his world or confirming little artistic details and Easter Eggs that fans ask about, or discussing the inspirations for various characters or locations. One example of the latter from volume 57 was when a fan asked about the three admirals of the navy, and Oda confirmed that they are based on the famous Japanese actors Yusaku Matsuda, Kunie Tanaka, and Bunta Sugawara:



Likewise, he revealed in volume 58 that Emporio Ivankov, the world's greatest drag queen, was inspired partly by Dr. Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but also by the cross-dressing stage actor Norio Imamura. And what's more, when Imamura found out Ivankov was based on him, he auditioned as a voice actor for the role in the One Piece anime, and he was the person who got cast, which is pretty amazing. I love the neat stuff you learn from these pages; how do other translated manga series manage without them?

The Neverending Fray: Dogs and jails

Groo the Wanderer #103
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



It's nice to get a Rufferto-centric plot once in a while, and that issue does this, splitting its main duo up for most of its length and giving our canine pal a fellow dog to hang out with. It starts when Groo and Rufferto stop to hang out with some guys who turn out to be bandits, and when the authorities show up to arrest them, Groo ends up tasked with escorting them to jail. This separates him from Rufferto, who, along with his new buddy Oso, searches for his master, who he thinks has been imprisoned. And from there, hijinx ensue, with the best stuff focused on Rufferto and Oso repeatedly causing massive breakouts when they try to free Groo from various jails. The two of them have a pretty fun relationship, with Oso being dumb, impulsive, and violent (kind of a stand-in for Groo, come to think of it, although he's more talk/bark than action) and Rufferto often being frustrated with him, but still accepting of him and happy to have a fellow animal that he can communicate with.



Meanwhile, Groo continues to demonstrate his newfound (semi-)intelligence as he accepts the task of delivering his prisoners to a jail and sticks with it, refusing to be swayed by the bandits' guile. When he can't find a jail that has enough room for them, he ends up figuring out a way around the problem by helping to rehabilitate them:





The issue touches on some social issues, such as the necessity for jails weighed against people's preference not to have them nearby, and the way a lack of options can drive those on the lower rungs of society toward crime, but it's a pretty cursory glance at the subject, which is fine for a story like this. If anything, it's an indication of Groo's increasing awareness of the world around him, demonstrating that the knowledge he has gained from his reading is making him consider new ideas and pay attention to how people are affected by his actions. Luckily, he still enjoys frays and does dumb stuff, so we don't suffer for a lack of laughs, but it's fascinating to watch his character develop.

Next: "A Home for Oso"

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: The Sage stars in a backup story, and Oso will be hanging around for at least one more issue.
Moral: "Where there are hearts of gold, there is no need for bars of steel." And the moral for the Sage backup is "You do not solve a problem by making it someone else's."

Spanish words: Sergio says "lo siento" ("I'm sorry") again. Oso is named after the word for "bear". The town of El Bote means "the pot".
Running jokes: There aren't many of the regular running gags, but within this issue, the robbers mention several times that they like to "rob, loot, and pillage (usually in that order)." And Oso constantly wants to tear people or animals apart, but he never gets to.
Intro follies: Sergio prepares to read an introductory speech that Mark wrote for him, but he forgot it, so he tells the readers to wait until he comes back before they start reading, with the page just ending on a blank panel. I disobeyed him and read the story anyway.
Value-added: This month's puzzle page is an actual puzzle:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Warden
Letter column jokes: The initial theme this month seems to be threats to Mark's person if he doesn't print people's letters. Matt Peck threatens to go to Mark's house and make him read every Groo ever written. Mark begs for mercy, then realizes he read the letter wrong, thinking Matt had said he would make him write every Groo ever read. Robert Feldman threatens to flood the Marvel offices with cheese dip. Mark isn't worried, since he is located more than 3,000 miles away from New York, and he doesn't think the smell would go much further than Kansas. Joey Cool Nicolosi threatens to reveal Mark's secret fear of Kermit the Frog, which is apparently the last straw, prompting Mark to announce that he's retiring the running gag (or attempting to do so) of sending in these sorts of threats. As a replacement, he suggests "Groo is so dumb..." jokes, providing some examples, including "Groo is so dumb, he thinks Rush Limbaugh is a very fast dance from the Caribbean." He also offers an autographed copy of The Life of Groo to anybody who can get a "Groo is so dumb..." joke printed in some other comic's letter column. I'm not sure if this prize was ever awarded, but I wouldn't be surprised, since Groo fans can be pretty resourceful. Rayson Lorrey compliments Sergio and company on their inclusion of explicit morals in their stories, saying that Sergio is like a modern Aesop. Mark agrees, saying that when Sergio promised to pay him, it turned out to be a fable. Charlie Ehrenpreis thinks James Horton's suggestion of a Groo 2099 comic would be a good idea. Mark says that he wants to revive the 2001 comic as 2001 2009, and since Dark Horse has a book called 2112 and Image has 1963, they should all do a crossover and call it 8175. John Lewis wonders if he's the oldest Groo fan on record, at 60, so Mark asks if anyone else wants to lay claim to the tile of oldest Groo fan (or Groo fan, period). He also notes that his mom is older, but he doesn't think she counts, since she gets her copies from him at 20% off. Zeke Saed says that he chose to write to Groo instead of to his grandmother, so he asks Mark to print the letter to make sure she reads it. And in an M. Wayne Williams reference, he says she only reads one issue of Groo a year, so he wants to make sure his letter gets printed in an issue she'll read, not one she'll skip. Mark agrees, claiming he'll print the letter each month for the next 12 months. We'll see if he keeps his word.

The Neverending Fray index

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #52

I've mentioned this many times, but I love the goofy stuff that Eiichiro Oda comes up with in One Piece. Following the devastating defeat that Luffy suffered in the Paramount War storyline, he resolved to spend two years training to get stronger before continuing on his voyages, and he sent a message for the members of his crew, who had been scattered to various locations across the world, to do likewise. That battle was so huge that it makes for a perfect point to take a break and re-orient, and apparently Oda did just that, taking a month off (the series had been running weekly for fourteen years at this point) for a vacation and rejuvenating his imagination and creativity, then jumping forward two years in the series timeline upon his return, with the characters newly strengthened and prepared for even greater adventures. But before he did that, he set up their various situations, showing what they would be doing as they trained and learned new abilities. Nami was on a sky island, learning all about how to control the weather; Zolo was training under Dracule Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman; and so on. But the one that especially tickles me is Sanji, who was stuck Kamabakka, the land of drag queens (ruled by Emporio Ivankov, of course). He learns about "attack cooking" and resolves to study under the 99 masters of New Kama Karate:






That just cracks me up; it's a hilarious example of Oda coming up with something that's weird and funny and awesome all at the same time. I can't wait to see how he and all the other characters have grown and changed in the two years they were gone, and I expect it will give Oda fuel for many, many stories to come.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #51

I don't think I've got a lot to say about the Paramount War that takes place in volume 57-59 of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, aside from the expected assertion that it is amazing, a massive battle scene that pays off the expectations that had been building for dozens of volumes, full of explosive action that involves hundreds (or even thousands) of characters, while still providing some great character moments from just about everyone involved, and culminating in one of the most emotionally raw moments the series has seen (which is saying something). It's an amazing spectacle, an example of how great Oda is at delivering on both mind-blowing action and heartfelt emotion (while still sprinkling in plenty of comedy, somehow managing to include Buggy the Clown's goofy antics and Boa Hancock's awkward crush on Luffy in the middle of the battle without disrupting the high-stakes momentum).

But as great as that is, the follow-up flashback to Luffy and Ace's childhood in volume 59 and 60 is what gets me thinking and considering the themes that Oda keeps returning to throughout the series. They live in a small mountain village, but they end up befriending a boy named Sabo from the nearby city of Goa and hanging out with him among the poor dregs of society who live in Gray Terminal, a giant heap of trash piled outside the city. Fascinatingly, this is actually based on a real location in the Philippines known as Smokey Mountain, and it's an indication that Oda is basing his themes of freedom and inequality on the real world. He does turn the drama up to exaggerated levels to befit the style of his comics, so the big turning point comes when Sabo is forcibly dragged back to his aristocratic family in the city, only to learn of a plan to burn the mountain of trash (along with everyone living in it) in order to clean the city of undesirable elements. It's a horrifying act of pure human cruelty, but what makes it so disturbing is the way the upper-class citizens are completely blase about it, as if they just don't care about the lives of those that are beneath their notice. This gets spelled out a bit too neatly when a rich guy tells his kid, "They're getting their just desserts, child. Think about it. It's their fault for not being born aristocrats," then advises her not to worry about it because she has studying to do. As silly as the exchange is, it hits home for those of us in the first world who can turn a blind eye to the suffering, hunger, and death that we can so easily ignore. Oda doesn't let his characters forget about things so easily though, but when Sabo tries to warn Ace, Luffy, and everyone else, he gets a lesson in the difficulty of bringing about real change:




That's Luffy's father Dragon there in the last panel, and we've learned that he's the leader of a band of revolutionaries fighting against the World Government. We've only seen hints of him in the series so far, but this incident seems to be a defining moment in which his resolve to fight injustice was solidified. As ever, I'm fascinated by the ideas that Oda works with in what is ostensibly a kids' series, and I'm excited to see where he goes with them next.

The Neverending Fray: Even when he's smart, Groo is still pretty dumb

Groo the Wanderer #101
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



Following the incremental upgrade to Groo's intelligence in issue #100, it looks like the Groo Crew is trying out some new variations on the kinds of jokes they can tell with the character. Now that he can read, he's a bit more confident and less prone to just wandering into whatever circumstances he finds. He's also eager to use his newfound abilities, giving us fun scenes like this one:




His main goal in this issue is to relocate to a new land where people don't hold such a low opinion of him, which necessitates a sea voyage and allows for the inclusion of everybody's favorite panicky skipper, Captain Ahax. He's as funny as ever, having formulated a grand plan to sail to new territories and escape his ship-sinking nemesis, Groo, but as one would expect, Groo himself ends up on that voyage, prompting more nervous breakdowns. This also provides another chance to demonstrate Groo's increased intelligence when he provokes Ahax for a laugh, something he would have been too oblivious to do previously:



Between Groo and Ahax's quests to move to someplace new and the tension of Groo's expected destruction of the ship, we would seem to have enough plot for one story, but there's also an undercurrent of commentary about the exploitation of resources. The king who sponsor's Ahax's voyage has two advisors, a religious leader and a general, and they both seize the opportunity to expand their influence into new territory. But when they get to the new land, it is populated by what appear to be simpleminded natives who don't put up any fight when attacked and happily hand over any food or riches that the more "civilized" people demand. I'm not sure what the Groo Crew is going for here; there's the obvious power-hungry characters who seek to control others, but the portrayal of the natives as happy to be exploited is kind of problematic. There is an interesting bit about their realization of the ultimate uselessness of gold:



This plot does provide the opportunity to demonstrate another aspect of Groo's increased intelligence: his sense of fairness. When he realizes that he's fighting against people who have no ability or desire to fight back, he switches sides and defends the defenseless, indicating a new sense of honor and a desire to help people out. That might be the real reason for the conqueror/native story, but it seems kind of shoehorned in to the issue when the real focus should be on the Groo/Ahax conflict.

Whatever the case, it ends up being a pretty fun issue nonetheless, indicating a new direction (or maybe just a slightly refined focus) for the series, one that should breathe some new life into it and provide opportunities for more interesting uses of the character and his milieu. Not that it was getting stagnant or anything, but maybe the jokes about every issue being the same had gotten to the Groo Crew and they wanted to prove they could do something (slightly) different. They're still pros, so there will always be plenty of hilarity to be found. I know I'll be happy to keep experiencing it.

Next: Next up is issue #103, "Jailbirds".

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: Captain Ahax, and Pal and Drumm show up in a backup strip.
Moral: "Some fair deals are fairer than others."

Spanish words: Sergio says "lo siento!" which means "I'm sorry!"
Running jokes: Despite Ahax's best efforts, Groo manages to sink his ship. Rufferto bites a guy on the ass.
Intro follies: Sergio tries to construct a large "welcome" sign for the issue, but it collapses and flattens the rest of the Groo Crew, so he then welcomes everyone to the "big first issue after one hundred old ones!"
Value-added: This issue's puzzle page is a cool maze:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Wordsmith (again!)
Letter column jokes: Aaron Belisle asks why his letter was printed in both issue #93 and 94, wondering if he's the next M. Wayne Williams. Mark explains that it was originally omitted from issue #92 for lack of space, so he added it back into issue #94 without realizing that someone had already included it in issue #93. He also promises to reprint Aaron's most recent letter next month to make sure he sees it. Joel R. Pierce states that he is only writing to prove he can write an intelligent letter, and Mark responds that he's supposed to actually buy a stamp rather than just draw one on the envelope in crayon. Mark Gagnon notes that he realized writing to Groo-Grams is a waste of a stamp, and Mark suggests following Joel Pierce's example and drawing one on (he also makes a joke about Elvis stamps, which were a big deal at the time). Scott Murray contributes a twist on the numbered list of questions by providing a list of answers and asking Mark to "question them". These include "Soon" ("When will Scott Murray write us an intelligent letter?"), "The Minstrel's poems" ("What did Evanier spend most of 1992 writing?"), "Sergio's mustache and Tom Luth's sanity" ("Name two things Mrs. Aragones can kiss goodbye."), and a plug for Mark's writing on the TV show "Bob" ("Describe a shameless plug for a TV series that actually hired Evanier."). Jason Potratz suggests some titles and 90s-style gimmicks for Groo spinoff series, including "The Amazing Groo" (with a cover with a holographic picture of cheese dip), "The Spectacular Groo" (with a glow-in-the-dark picture of cheese dip), and "Groo 2099" (with a 3-D cover of some tubed cheese dip).

The Neverending Fray index

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #50

Never let it be said that Eiichiro Oda doesn't have a long-term plan in mind for One Piece; he had been showing conflicts simmering in the background for at least a couple dozen volumes before having them finally erupt to the fore in the Sabaody/Impel Down/Paramount War storyline, resulting in an all-out war between the full force of the World Government Navy and an allied force of pirates led by Whitebeard. As of volume 57, the battle is just getting started, but I'm already marveling at the crazy characters involved; it's a chance for Oda to just empty the craziness in his mind onto the page, with dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of characters leaping into the fray. Just look at some of these guys:





I love that Oda just tosses these designs out there. In earlier volumes, he might have introduced each character by name and explained their powers and abilities, but the scale of this conflict is so massive that he can just cram them into a series of fight scenes and let our imaginations run away with us. Just look at all those guys! There's a guy with a four-barreled gun for a hand wearing a mink stole, a guy swinging around a chain-chomp, a guy with a bunch of spider arms that are all wielding swords, some sort of dalmatian-man, a guy with robot arms, a walrus-man, and who knows what else. It's totally nuts, pure, over-the-top chaos, with the action exploding off the page. I can't wait to see where it goes next.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #49

Following the Thriller Bark storyline in One Piece, Eiichiro Oda has kind of gone nuts, moving the overarching plot forward at a breakneck pace, with incident and information accumulating in an exhausting fashion. The Straw Hat Pirates reached a major waypoint in their journey around the world, but while preparing to outfit their ship for an underwater journey to Fish-Man Island, they got mixed up in a huge conflict with the government after learning of the generally accepted practice of slavery practiced by the privileged World Nobles. Oda introduced nine other "rookies", pirates with a level of notoriety similar to Luffy's, and revealed that Luffy's brother Ace had been captured by the government, who were planning to publicly execute him in order to spark a war with Whitebeard, one of the world's most powerful pirates. But before the crew can do much about this, they get scattered to various islands across the sea by a powerful opponent, and Luffy ends up on an island of warrior women ruled by Boa Hancock, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. And when he finds out about Ace's predicament, he rushes off to break into the maximum security underwater prison Impel Down and rescue him, where he ends up teaming up with various former opponents like Buggy the Clown, Mr. 3, Mr. 2 Bon Clay, and Crocodile. It's a non-stop rush of action that is compacted into a relatively short number of volumes (considering the length of the epic Water Seven storyline, which was about 15 volumes long), so while it's a blast to read, one almost has to struggle to keep up, with barely a chance to pause and appreciate all the wacky jokes, crazy characters, and explosive action that Oda throws in. But there's one moment in volume 55 that made me marvel at its pure, mind-boggling insanity, and that's when Luffy ends up in a secret floor of the Impel Down prison which is ruled by one of Oda's craziest characters yet:



Yes, that is Emporio Ivankov, the world's greatest drag queen, who has managed to build a genderless society of acceptance in the middle of the world's most dangerous prison, a place where he puts on drag shows accompanied by fishnet-wearing weirdos and plots to eventually break out and join the revolution against the government. If I ever needed proof that Oda is an insane genius, this is it.