Dragon Ball: A joke about testicles here would not be inappropriate

God, I'm such a liar. Why do I lie so much? From now on, I'm going to say, "I'll have a review up when it's up, so don't expect it at any specified date. So there!"

But I do have another review of Fantastic Four: True Story #2 up at Comics Bulletin.

And I did want to link to this short comic by Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley. Enjoy.

Okay:

Dragon Ball, VIZBIG Edition volume 1 (a.k.a volume 1-3)
By Akira Toriyama



I haven't read a whole lot of shonen manga, possibly due to a subconscious condescension toward the genre. It's aimed at little kids; it can't be worth my valuable time! But I do often hear that some shonen series are quite good, so I feel like I should check some out. But then there's the other factor: length. Many of the series are intimidating in scope; series like One Piece, Naruto, or Dragon Ball last for dozens of volumes and would potentially make for months or years of reading. If I start, will I ever be able to finish? And if I'm ever going to try to read some of these, where's the place to begin? If I go with a more off-the-wall series, like, say, Beet the Vandel Buster, will it not be good enough, and thus taint my interest in the entire genre?

Well, why not just jump in to one of the most popular series from a respected creator? Dragon Ball is an incredibly well-liked manga, and Akira Toriyama is somebody who I've really enjoyed in the past, so why not start at the beginning and see how it goes?

While the series as a whole is overwhelmingly long, it's easy to jump right into at the beginning. In short order, we get introduced to Son Goku, a young, monkey-tailed orphan who lives in the wilderness. He's pretty sheltered, so he's pretty surprised when a girl named Bulma shows up and disrupts his life. She's looking for all the "Dragon Balls" in the world, mystical jewels which, when all seven of them are collected, will summon a dragon god who will grant one wish. She already has two of them, and Goku has a third, left to him by his late grandfather. Bulma ends up recruiting Goku to join her on the quest for the Dragon Balls, and they embark on a series of wacky adventures looking for them.

It's pretty enjoyable reading, since Toriyama has built an interesting, unique world, full of futuristic technology, talking animals, mystical creatures, magic, and dinosaurs. And the characters are tons of fun to spend time with; Bulma is faux-sophisticated, but still young and naive, while Goku is so sheltered, he's astonished at everything he sees, including the differences between boys and girls:



He's also incredibly strong, so he ends up in plenty of fights and other adventures. He has a magical extending staff, and in the course of their journeys, he acquires a cloud that he can fly around on, but it only works for those who are pure of heart. He seems to qualify simply due to his ignorance; he's so simple and clueless that it comes across as a complete lack of guile.

Plenty of other characters soon join the fray, including Oolong, a shape-changing pig who is obsessed with girls' pantiesl; Kame-Sen'nin (a.k.a The Turtle Hermit, a.k.a Muten-roshi, a.k.a the Invincible Old Master), a weird, horny old man who is also obsessed with panties; Yamcha, a badass thief with a mastery of martial arts and a deadly fear of girls; and Pilaf, an evil, dictator who is also collecting Dragon Balls. It's constant hilarity, and surprisingly, the Dragon Ball quest reaches its goal before the end of the second volume. I wasn't expecting that; it seems like the sort of story that could be dragged out for several more volumes. Of course, it ends in just about the silliest way possible, leaving the possibility of another quest in a year's time, when the Dragon Balls become eligible for collection again (that's the rules of the game, I guess). In the meantime, Goku decides to go for training with the Invincible Old Master, who, despite his goofy look and complete lack of morals or decency, is the great martial arts master who trained Goku's grandfather.

This training sequence takes up most of the third volume, as Goku is joined by Kuririn, a fellow trainee who is a bit more on the worldly side (he can tell the difference between boys and girls, for one). After a lengthy qualifying feat that sees a new member join the cast (Lunch, a girl who changes personalities from sweet and nice to mean and violent whenever she sneezes), they end up going through an over-the-top, cartoonish version of the training sequences in martial arts films. The Turtle Master has them run all over the place delivering milk, plow large fields with their bare hands, swim through shark-infested waters, and dodge a swarm of bees while tethered to a tree. Amusingly, he says that while they might already be skilled, the goal is to "break the wall of humanity" and achieve superhuman abilities. Hey, sounds logical to me.

After eight months of training, they end up entering the Tenka'ichi Budokai, a martial-arts tournament that will determine "the strongest under the heavens". When they get there, they discover that all the training has given them amazing speed and strength. While they worry that they might not be able to compete against the hundreds of other contestants, they both easily make it to the finals, which will mostly take place in the next volumes, seeing them compete against a variety of strange characters, which include a dinosaur, a powerful old man, a sexy girl, and a disgusting fat guy who fights with the power of his stench. It should be incredibly fun to see it play out.

So, it's a hell of an enjoyable story, due to Toriyama's skill at setting up fun situations and populating his crazy world with quirky characters. Being a story aimed at the younger crowd, it's chock full of bathroom/anatomy humor, with joke after joke about butts, boobs, wee-wees, poop, panties, and so on. It seems a bit weird, considering the difference in cultural appropriateness between Japan and the U.S., but it's still quite funny; Toriyama has a great sense of timing:



He's also good at upending expectations; when the evil Pilaf captures Goku, Bulma, and Oolong, he grabs Bulma, intending to torture her to get her to reveal the location of a hidden Dragon Ball, the most degrading act of torture he can think of is this:



He also pulls off some nice wordplay (probably more so than we realize, considering how difficult it is to translate a lot of Japanese puns; the translators should be commended for what does come through). Pilaf makes for an especially rich source of comedy; he and his cohorts are known as the Reich Pilaf, and he's constantly using phrases like "order of Pilaf", "side of Pilaf", and so on. I don't know, it's silly, but it cracks me up.

And the action! Considering that there are still a few dozen volumes of constantly-escalating stakes to go, the fighting here is already pretty exciting, with Goku seeming near-invincible. Toriyama has such a dynamic style, it's super-fun to watch people get beat up:



Like the rest of the story, I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

I should also mention that the series is apparently based on Journey to the West, a classic of Chinese literature. I'm not especially familiar with the story, and I'm not sure how exactly this series maps onto it, although I'm pretty certain Goku is the Monkey King, and Oolong is Zhū Bājiè (a.k.a "Pig"). Perhaps the rest of the connections are yet to come.

So I'm certainly glad I gave this story a shot, because I think I've quickly become an addict. Toriyama has a skill at crafting page-turning stories that make you highly excited to find out what will happen next. It's ridiculous; this is kids' stuff, but I can't tear myself away. I'm going to have to keep reading and see where it goes. I don't think I have any other choice.

This review was based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
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Bonus self-referential humor!



Man, I guess I'll need to read Dr. Slump sometime as well.

COWA!: there are no cows in this book

Man, I am way behind on writing about books I've read recently, so I'm actually reading a novel for once, in hopes of catching up. It's Catch-22, one of my favorites, but I have to read it again because my wife doesn't believe it's actually as good as I remember it. She gave it a try a couple years ago, but gave up after twenty pages or so, which seems crazy to me. So she says if I read it again and still think it's good, she'll try again. I think she's destined to lose this challenge, because I'm loving it so far, and I haven't even gotten to any of my favorite parts. I'll keep reading. Take that, illiteracy!

In addition to the review below, I've also got a look at Fantastic Four: True Story #1 up at Comics Bulletin. Dig it.

COWA!
By Akira Toriyama



I still haven't read hardly any of Akira Toriyama's more famous works, but after checking out this kids' book, I'll definitely want to read more of his stuff. In this one-volume work, he tells the story of some monster kids who end up going on a quest to save their village when everybody gets the "monster flu", necessitating the need to travel far away and buy some medicine from a witch. Leading the group is Paifu, a half-vampire, half-werekoala who has personality to spare. He's a headstrong kid who barrels into every situation without thinking, dragging his friends along with him. The one who gets included most often (and with the most reservations) is Jose, a ghost kid who always gets wrapped up in Paifu's schemes, but Paifu's rival Arpon, a Japanese-style yokai monster (he probably fits a familiar type, but I don't know what it is) who is always in competition with Paifu, whether the latter cares or not:



Rounding out the main cast is Mr. Maruyama, a human and former sumo wrestler who moved to Paifu's secluded village after accidentally killing an opponent. He's actually the most interesting character in the book, coming off as irritable and stand-offish, but revealing himself as lonely, friendly, and loyal through his actions, a testament to Toriyama's storytelling skill. In a string of jokes that probably read better in Japanese, the kids mispronounce his name as "Marumaya", badger him to learn his first name (it's Mako, which he is embarrassed about, because it sounds like a girl's name), and then call him "Makoleen", because it's easier to say. He gets mad at them about this at first, but eventually gives up and just accepts it, as adults usually end up doing with kids' annoying behavior.

It's incredibly fun to watch these goofy characters as they go on their journey. The kids often react with astonishment at the crazy human world they've never seen, getting excited about simple pleasures:



Most of their interactions with humans end up in fights, which is highly enjoyable, since if there's anything Toriyama can draw the hell out of, it's fighting. Paifu is especially fun to watch, since he always leads with his head:



He also has the ability to turn into a giant, ferocious koala, leading to some really funny gags involving the others trying to get him to turn normal again. And Makoleen, being a champion sumo wrestler, is a force to be reckoned with:



It makes for a rousing story, with some exciting action, hilarious jokes, and just an all-around good time. I love Toriyama's art here, which seems kind of different than his usual style at first (at least, from my limited experience), with simple, rounded characters that have dots for eyes (but pointy ears still reign supreme). When the more human-looking characters debut, they feature the more familiar, triangular-shaped eyes and hairstyles (or bald heads) that mark them as Toriyama cast members, but he still throws in plenty of unique creatures and locales. The settings are beautifully-realized as well, with a colored opening chapter that gives the monster village a dark, spooky feel, full of bizarre creatures and weird-looking houses:



This contrasts nicely with the normal-looking human cities, and also with the creepy forest and tall mountain where the medicine-making witch lives.

It's just tons of fun (sorry if I'm overusing that word) throughout, and there are tons of other details that I could point out, such as the Donkey Kong-like sound effect that results when Paifu runs:



Or Paifu and Arpon totally kancho-ing a mean guy:



It's an excellent book, fun for all ages and a hell of a good read. I've really got to read more of Toriyama's manga. He's definitely one of the best there is at what he does.

This review was based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

Shonen Jump: A different sort of animal from the manga magazine I usually read

Quickly, before I start the real post, here are a couple links to neat stuff. First, Chip Zdarsky (using his real name, Steve Murray) has a funny comic strip up for Canada's National Post describing a journalistic-minded trip in which he and another reporter spent a weekend at a nudist colony. Good stuff.

Then, NBM has a lengthy excerpt from the upcoming book Moresukine, by Dirk Schweiger, which collects a blog he did while living in Tokyo and performing "assignments" that readers asked him to do, like sleep in a pod hotel or check out the crazy local fashion. It looks quite good; I'll have to check out the book when it comes out.

Okay, on to the good stuff:

Shonen Jump: Fifth Anniversary Collector's Edition



I spend so much time reading shojo comics, it's always interesting to look at the other side of the pond. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience with the shonen stuff, but luckily, this fancy special version of the popular magazine arrived in the mail, giving me a good opportunity to get acquainted with some popular series. It's a pretty nice-looking package, a $25 hardcover volume (I guess Viz is banking on their audience getting older and having "nostalgia money" to spend) that reprints all the manga that appeared in the first issue of the magazine, along with the first chapter of Naruto (which didn't show up until the second issue), and a best-of selection of the magazine's articles from over the five-year run. There are also some editorials, some puzzles, a gallery of every cover from those five years, and a timeline of the history of manga (with special focus, of course, on Shonen Jump-brand manga) on the back side of the dust jacket. There's some good stuff in the articles, like a neat flowchart looking at the process of creating a manga series, a series of Japanese tongue twisters, and a travelogue-style guide to Bleach's Soul Society. I especially liked a lot of the creator interviews, where I learned things like Hellboy is one of Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei's favorite manga, or that Bleach's Tite Kubo is more involved than the average manga artist on the animated adaptation of his series, especially working on character designs. I was especially amused by a series of questions that readers sent in to Akira Toriyama about Dragon Ball, since they were all incomprehensible to me. Here's a typical one:

Q: What happened to Vegeta's tail after he was defeated on Earth? A: The tail lets you gain tremendous strength instantly by transforming into a giant ape, but the risks are equally great--you'll lose your strength if it's squeezed. Once you're as powerful as Vegeta and Goku, the tail just gets in the way. It is thought that the bodies of Saiyans, who are a fighting species, decided that their tails are unnecessary appendages.

Maybe that makes sense if you're a regular reader of the series, but for me, it's a bunch of gobbledygook.

Anyway, as with Shojo Beat, the main thing here is the manga, so let's look at the various series. Interestingly, I've seen episodes of the anime versions of almost all of them, but this is the first time I've ever read any of them in manga form. How about that?

Yu-Gi-Oh!
By Kazuki Takahashi

I've seen a few episodes and the movie of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and it's entertaining enough, if a bit simplistic. I do enjoy the dramatic way characters play their cards, saying things like, "You think you have won, but I still have one more card: Shining Valkyrie Armor Beast! Now attack, with Ultimate Sword Energy Blast!" I don't know why, but that always amuses me. But none of that matters here, since I found that the card game didn't show up until around seven volumes into the manga series. In the beginning, the story was about all sorts of games, like dice and puzzles, but once Takahashi introduced the cards, there was no going back.

This first chapter is kind of an awkward start, focusing on short, dorky little Yugi, who gets picked on by other kids because he would rather mess around with puzzles instead of play sports. He has an ancient puzzle that he's been trying to complete, which he manages to do, of course, giving him access to the Shadow Games. This chapter sees him play a dangerous game with a greedy hall monitor that tried to extort protection money from him. It works like this: each person takes turn putting a stack of money on the back of their hand, which is pressed flat on a flat surface. Then they try to stab as many bills as they can with a knife. That's not what I expected for this series, but it's interesting. Yugi's "shadow self" seems really sinister here, and it seems like the story could go in some kind of dark directions, if not for a lot of sappy talk about friendship. Eh, I don't think I have much interest in reading more, but it seems competent enough. I did like one bit of art, in which the bully is magically fooled into thinking he's surrounded by a pile of money:



The leaves there look like the ones in Andy Runton's Owly. Cool.

Dragon Ball Z
By Akira Toriyama

As popular as it is, I think this is the series I know the least about, having not even managed to make it through a whole episode of the anime. I always hear that it's really good though, so I suppose I could try to read it sometime (which is a virtual certainty, since I've got the first VizBig volume in my review pile). It's just so intimidatingly massive though, so I approach it with trepidation. For instance, the storyline which starts here is 28 volumes into the series. Damn. Fortunately, there is a pretty good plot summary and character guide (which takes up two whole pages), so I was able to get caught up fairly well. At this point in the story, the hero Goku had defeated a villain called Freeza and then apparently perished after a planet was destroyed. The rest of the cast ends up hanging out on Earth for about a year and resurrecting various dead characters, before being faced with a huge threat and a cliffhanger ending. Crap, who knows when I'll ever find out the resolution to that one.

It's all ridiculously complicated, but the thing is, it doesn't feel too exclusionary. I feel like I could keep reading from this point and still get an entertaining story and a good understanding of what is going on, which is probably more than I could say for anybody picking up current issues of X-Men or Avengers. Maybe it's my age though; when I was a teenager, I enjoyed throwing myself into series with a long history (like, well, X-Men) and trying to figure them out. But I imagine Toriyama's skill at storytelling is probably the explanation here for the ease of entry. He's very clear in depicting what is going on, and he does a great job of conveying the drama and danger through characters' expressions:



He throws in some good humorous moments too; it's good all around. Yeah, I've definitely got to read more of this, but it could take me years to get through it. We'll see what happens.

Sand Land
By Akira Toriyama

I take back what I said earlier; I had never even heard of this series before, but I definitely feel like I want to follow it further. And it's only one volume long, so I should go for it. The story involves a post-apocalyptic desert inhabited by demons, with our hero being the spiky haired Prince Beelzebub, son of Lucifer. He and his demon buddies hang out hijacking water from human vehicles, but they get recruited by a human sheriff named Rao, who wants them to help him find a lake in the middle of an unexplored, monster-filled area (the payment he offers is a working Playstation 6, including Dragon Quest 13). Adventure ensues! It looks like a fun time, with some excellent art that is full of neat details, cool monsters, and nice character designs. And some brooding:



That scene is really just an excuse for exposition though. Yeah, I've gotta check the rest of this one out.

YuYu Hakusho
By Yoshihiro Togashi

I think this is my least-favorite of the series included here, if only because of the wonky artwork. Togashi's main character Yusuke often sports a strangely-shaped head and lots of weird facial expressions. That's probably due to the style of the time in which it originally came out, in 1990. It seems like an interesting concept though, as the thuggish troublemaker Yusuke dies on the first page, then flashes back to what happened. He was a no-good punk who was always getting in fights and skipping school, but he did one good deed, pushing a kid out of the way of a car, and getting run over in his place. But it turns out it was a pointless death, as Botan, the cute girl guide to the afterlife informs him, since the kid was supposed to survive miraculously. So rather than go to heaven or hell, he has a chance to take a test to come back to life. I don't know if he makes it or not, but I think he turns out to be a ghost detective/psychic karate master or something, judging by the episode or two I've seen of the anime.

Once you get used to the art, it seems like it could be a fairly enjoyable series, but I don't know if I would bother reading more of it. There is one nice moment, in which a rival of Yusuke's flips out at his wake, angry that he'll never get the chance to defeat him in a fight. Then, a teacher badmouths Yusuke, and gets chastised by the guidance counselor for his lack of respect for the dead. But that's not really enough to make me thirst for more.

One Piece
By Eiichiro Oda

Now this is a series I could read more of; I love Oda's goofy comic style and crazy character designs. I probably don't need to explain the concept of the series, since it's a pretty popular one, but suffice to say it's about the adventures of the stretchy-limbed Monkey D. Luffy, who longs to one day be "king of the pirates". This first chapter sees his early days as a young boy who hangs out with a local band of non-threatening, hilariously-designed buccaneers:



I especially like the fat guy, who seems to always be chomping on a giant turkey leg, even when he's shooting a bad guy in the face (really!). This chapter sees some drama of the "stand by your friends" sort, as well as some of the "true courage involves more than getting in meaningless fights". You've also got the scene where Luffy eats a magical fruit that turns his body all rubbery, in an indication of the goofy plots and characters to come. It's all good times, with lots of energetic action and some ridiculously over-the-top expressiveness; I don't know if anybody can draw hugely wide-open mouths like Oda:



So, yeah, I'll have to try to read more of this.

Naruto
By Masashi Kishimoto

And here's another one that I really don't need to describe to anybody, since I'm probably the last person around to actually read some of it. It's also a lot of fun, with some nice-looking art and a lot of potential for action and drama. I like the over-the-top nature of the story, with a ninja academy, garish outfits, and weird weaponry, not to mention the crazy ninja techniques that get used. The main one focused on here is the doppelganger, in which a "spirit double" is conjured to confuse the enemy. Young Naruto, being a troublemaker, has his own take on the exercise:



Gotta love the projectile nosebleed. We get some good drama here as well, as Naruto discovers his true nature as the host of a dangerous fox spirit, battles the treachery of a rogue instructor, and learns to focus his power and do awesome feats of ninja badassery. It's a good beginning, and surprisingly violent for a kids' series:



That's gotta be the biggest throwing star I've ever seen. I'll definitely have to check out more of this one of these days.
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And I think that's everything. At the very least, it's given me a desire to read more shonen manga, so look for more discussion of that sort of thing here. Or maybe just more girly stuff; we'll have to see what happens.

This review was based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.