One Piece Is Awesome, Example #43

While there's a lot to love about Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, it's still a kid's comic, which means that some of the humor that gets included is of the juvenile sort. Fart jokes and comments about female characters' breasts or panties occasionally make their way into the comic, but one thing I never expected to see appeared in volume 45, when Luffy tries to recruit the speedo-wearing cyborg Franky to his crew, and the method of convincing him to join involves copious male nudity:




A pantsless chase across the town of Water Seven ensues (as does some testicular trauma when he needs some more enticement), with his attempt to make a principled stand being a moment that made me laugh out loud:




The combination of the crashing waves and sun shining through his legs with the crowd's horrified-beyond-belief reaction hits me right in the funny bone. Oda might include the expected types of gags in his series, but he puts his own spin on them, turning them into the kind of thing you won't find anywhere else.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #42

At the end of the big Enies Lobby battle in volume 44 of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, Luffy has defeated the evil Rob Lucci and the crew has rescued Nico Robin, but it seems like they're not going to make it, since they're surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and a half dozen Navy ships, with their only means of escape having been destroyed. It looks like all is lost, but last-second saves are the stuff of adventure narratives, and that's exactly what happens, although it's from probably the least expected source possible:






That's right, the crew's ship, the Merry Go, last seen destroyed and left on a pile of rubble in Water Seven, has managed to sail itself to Enies Lobby just in time to rescue the crew. We had previously seen that the ship was so well-loved that it took on a corporeal form in order to help out its friends, but this is something else entirely. What floors me is that it isn't completely ridiculous and laughable. How on earth does Oda pull this off, making the inanimate ship come to life in time to rescue its beloved crew a powerful, emotional moment rather than something dumb and contrived? He did lay the groundwork by establishing the Straw Hats' deep love for the Merry Go and through Usopp's conviction that he saw the ship's spirit, but there's something about the pure sincerity of the ridiculousness that Oda portrays that makes the scene a tear-jerking triumph of the power of friendship. And that's what makes what follows so devastating; we knew the Merry Go was damaged beyond repair and not long for the world, so when it finally breaks down and the crew decides to set it ablaze rather than leave it to sink to the ocean's lonely bottom, we get one of the most emotionally devastating scenes the series has seen yet:




Again, this should be idiotic. The crew weeping hysterically at a boat as it tells them that it was happy? As a simple description, that sounds stupid, but Oda gives it such emotional power that the read can't help but be carried along, and it ends up being an incredibly moving scene, one that I'm not ashamed to admit brought tears to my eyes when I read it. This Oda guy is a mystery to me, how he can wring such power out of such over-the-top craziness, but he does it time and again. I don't know if I'll be able to take whatever's coming next...

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #41

In One Piece, Eiichiro Oda goes for the slow burn, with storylines building and building and playing out over volume after volume until they explode in an amazingly satisfying climax; it's a pretty amazing spectacle to witness. The Water Seven/Enies Lobby arc is the longest story yet, stretching over fourteen or so volumes, and while it did seem to drag at times (the obligatory one-on-one battles between members of the Straw Hats and CP9 seemed to slow things down for a volume or two), the big finish in volume 44 is something to see, bringing everything to a close in spectacular fashion, with the Straw Hats facing off against a massive threat while Luffy struggles against his toughest opponent ever, Rob Lucci. Oda throws in excellent character moments for pretty much everybody, but my favorite might be a scene in which Luffy seems to be beaten, but he gains the strength to keep fighting from Usopp, who drops his Sniper King persona in order to encourage his friend:










Being a shonen manga, the big fights usually come down to determination and strength, with the power of friendship often providing the motivation to win, but this is such a moving example, with Usopp overcoming his shame at having quit the crew in order to convince his friend to keep fighting. It's just one powerful moment among so many, but since it hits on the series' theme of friendship, it's the one that sticks with me the most. Wow.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #40

With as much cool action as Eiichiro Oda packs into One Piece, he still manages to surprise regularly, not just with new ideas and powers, but also the artistic depictions thereof. This panel, from volume 44, was one that I thought was especially cool, showing the villainous Rob Lucci using his ability to push off the air molecules and move in a zigzag pattern when attacking:



That's just such a dynamic depiction of movement that it pops right off the page. And while it's not quite as much of a departure from the usual style, I also like Luffy's retaliatory strike, in which he comes up with a new power that sees him inflate his fist to gigantic proportions and punch his opponent right out of the building:



I love the crazy stuff that Oda comes up with seemingly every dozen pages or so in this series. You never know what to expect, and it's rarely less than completely awesome. More, please.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #39

Throughout the Water Seven arc of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, Usopp has been having a sort of crisis of confidence, due to having been beaten mercilessly by the Franky Family, which led to him challenging Luffy to a fight over the fate of the Merry Go. He even went so far as to quit the crew, but when he was put into a position where his help was needed, he donned a mask and took on the identity of Sniper King, pretending to be a stronger, braver, and more confident person than he felt like he actually was. But, like everyone on the crew, he has his strengths and talents, and when it comes time for him to step up and save the day, he does so as thrillingly as anyone, as can be seen in this sequence from volume 43, in which the evil, power-hungry Spandam is about to drag Robin away, only to feel the brunt of a sudden, unexpected barrage:







Oda fills this series with moments like this, last-second saves or triumphs where a character steps up and delivers when it counts, but he somehow keeps it from ever feeling contrived. It would be something to marvel at, if I wasn't so busy cheering in excitement along with the characters.

One Piece Is Awesome, Example #38

In One Piece, Eiichiro Oda somehow keeps flexing his imaginative muscles and coming up with crazy powers for the various characters who wander into the purview of the Straw Hat Pirates, and this often presents the opportunity to portray a classic manga reaction panel, in which something wacky is happening and a character's face can be seen to the side of the panel, often freaking out at the ridiculousness of what they are seeing. Here's an example from volume 42, in which Nami is fighting Kalifa, who has the power to create soap bubbles so relaxing that they render her victims incapacitated and unable to move:



Or this moment from volume 43, where Zolo is fighting the square-nosed Kaku, who can turn himself into a giant giraffe:




Those are both kind of hilariously dumb, but the context behind this is that both Kalifa and Kaku recently ate the Devil Fruits that gave them their powers, so they're still figuring out the extent of what they can do, and some of the moves they are workshopping end up being pretty goofy. This keeps from making their threat seem oversold, since they had been sold as rather dangerous, part of an elite group of secret assassins. They're still tough, they've just got plenty of new ways to kill you, and if some of those seem funny, well, at least you'll die laughing.

C2E2 2013: Groo and other sketchy subjects

At any convention I attend, I'm always excited to get some contributions to my Groo sketchbook, and here's what I obtained this year:



Jeff Zwirek drew this nice image of Groo and Rufferto thinking of food; I especially love the body language.



Boulet contributed this detailed image. He wasn't actually familiar with the character or Sergio Aragones; he said the only MAD cartoonist with much of a reputation in France is Harvey Kurtzman. Since the person in front of me had him draw Thor, he said this was his barbarian day. It was a real treat to watch him draw; the way he drew straight to ink was incredible, as if the details were flowing straight out of his imagination and through the pen.



Jason Copland, the artist of Kill All Monsters, drew a more realistic take on the character, although he didn't seem satisfied when he was done, so his partner Michael May later tweeted to show some more sketches he did that he thought turned out better (I'm happy with my version, of course; it's got a nice grittiness to it).



Amy Reeder did this nifty cartoony take on Groo; I especially like the expressive eyebrows.



And K. Lynne, the artist of the webcomic Plume, drew this nice penciled image of the character.

But that's not all of the drawings which I brought home. My daughter also asked several artists to draw her favorite subject: princesses. Here are the results:



Chris Samnee whipped out this Sharpie sketch of a cute, friendly young royal.



Jill Thompson drew Princess Delirium, although she's just a mermaid princess as far as Magnolia is concerned.



Maggie switched things up a bit with Geof Darrow, asking him to draw a doggie for her little sister.



Amy Reeder was happy to draw a princess for Maggie, since they are a favorite subject of hers as well.



Amy Mebberson went to the Disney well with this depiction of Maggie's favorite princess, Cinderella.



Denver Brubaker did a nice, simple sketch of Sleeping Beauty.



Sean Dove drew a really cute Belle.



And Jeremy Bastian finished things off with a nicely detailed little lady.

The one other sketch I ended up with was one I didn't even ask for; Geof Darrow scrawled it self-deprecatingly on the back of the posters for his series Shaolin Cowboy that were being given away at the Dark Horse Booth:



All in all, a pretty nice sampling of good artwork from talented creators. My world has been enriched.

C2E2 2013: Through the eyes of a five-year-old

It's the duty of any nerdy/geeky person to do their best to impart their passions to their offspring, so since Sunday is kids' day at C2E2, I brought along my five-year-old daughter Magnolia, and we had a great time. There was plenty to do for all ages, and whether we were participating in specifically kid-focused activities or taking in comics-related sights that we could both enjoy, we had a great time.

First up was Ben's Bubble Show, a fun display of soapy virtuosity from a professional entertainer who found all manner of neat stuff to do with his medium of choice, blowing bubbles of all different sizes with various implements (but mostly his own hands), creating cool chains and structures of bubbles, and even bringing kids up on stage to envelop them in huge soapy spheres. It was tons of fun to watch, and even though Maggie isn't the type of kid to join the throng of kids near the edge of the stage and leap around frantically, trying to pop any bubbles that floated over their heads, she loved watching the ones who did.



The kids' costume parade was scheduled to appear onstage after the bubble show, but we decided to move on to see what else could be found, so we headed over to Artist's Alley. Maggie was interested in getting people to draw her some pictures, and she wasn't disappointed; several artists drew her subject of choice: princesses. She got some wonderful drawings from Chris Samnee, Jill Thompson, Amy Reeder, Amy Mebberson, Jeremy Bastian, Denver Brubaker, and Sean Dove, and she even asked Geof Darrow to draw a doggie for her little sister. Everyone was incredibly friendly and happy to contribute to her growing appreciation for the art form; nobody wants to disappoint a cute little girl. We also picked up a few children's books, which she found even more engrossing than the artists themselves:



We did catch the end of the costume parade, and we both loved seeing all the cute outfits the kids sported, ranging from toddlers dressed as Wonder Woman to fantastic homemade robots, Transformers, and Martians:



We also stopped by the game room, which contained a huge library of tabletop games that people could check out and play, and we ended up spending a great deal of time playing the physical Angry Birds game, in which one player sets up structures and the other launches bird figures with a catapult to try to knock them down. It was a lot of fun, just one example of the many activities to participate in:



At the end of the day, we took the train home, and it was obvious that my goal of creating a lifelong comics fan has proceeded as planned:



C2E2 is a great convention, whether you're there to find comics or merchandise to buy, meet creators, attend panels, or meet up with like-minded fans, and now I've found that it's a great opportunity to share your passions with your family members. I can't wait to do it again next year. It looks like we'll have material to tide us over until then: