Rocket Bomber - reviews

originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]

The weekly columns are fun, and the watch lists are also certainly an important part of our mission here, but I really should be getting back to our bread-and-butter; dare I say, our whole raison d’être: the comic reviews!

Genshiken: the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, vol. 8
Published by: Del Rey Books
Writer & Artist: Kio Shimoku

208 (182) pages.
Original Language: Japanese
Orientation: Right to left
Vintage: 2005. US edition March 2007.
Translation & Adaptation: David Ury
Lettering: Michaelis/Carpalis Design
Publisher’s Rating: Older Teen, ages 16+

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: The geek field guide turns it’s attention to geek love. [*heart*] …but with a side of yaoi dojinshi.

Synopsis:

Oguie isn’t quite ready to admit her feelings for Sasahara. She likes him, he likes her, but both are a bit socially awkward and shy — so much so that even after advanced plotting and a fair amount of prodding from all of their friends, it still looks like the relationship will never go anywhere.

Is it just that she’s shy, or is there something deeper that prevents Oguie from responding to Sasahara’s confession?

(some things from here on in might be considered spoilers)

##

Ah, geek love. The furious blushing, the uncomfortable silences, the unshakable conviction that even when opportunity knocks, she’s coming for your roommate, not for you.

Volume 8 isn’t the best place to just jump in, but this volume almost works as a stand-alone story; most readers will be fine even if they haven’t been following the series thus far. The focus is on one of the newer members, the manga artist Ogiue, and her struggles on the way to love as she comes to terms with all her emotional baggage: a past that haunts her, a future in art that seems to elude her, and a love she can’t bring herself to accept…

Hey, who spilled all this shoujo crap in my perfectly good otaku paean/parody? [*grin*]

Actually, it’s still the Genshiken you might all remember; a touch of “romance”, if we can use that word for this manga, has always been a part of the series. The first couple, Kousaka and Saki, outlined the problems two people have—or, that Saki has—when her love interest is an otaku but she isn’t. The dynamics and comedy potential of that pairing was the hidden engine in the first few volumes, to the point where one might almost have thought Saki was actually the main character. The next time a couple of characters got together it wasn’t as much of a plot point; since the two had complementary interests (cosplay) — it was pretty obvious. A “discovery” B-plot was all that relationship could manage.

This third go-around is a little different, in that we are dealing not just with geek love, but with geek love denied. These two are both so socially inept that it’s no wonder they need all the interference from their friends that they can get. The oddly touching part is that the relationship only seems to work when the two embrace what is geeky, about themselves and about each other, and figure out that they don’t need to be “normal” to be happy.

This is actually my favourite storyline in the series so far: yes, a lot of the humour is in the overall “geek field guide” premise for the series, and for some folks just seeing the culture (perhaps for the first time) is going to be the best part of the manga — but I feel that in this volume we’re moving beyond that, finally seeing at least a couple of these characters as real people with real problems. They happen to be manga and anime related problems, but still. (and the humour is still there; I almost shot beer out my nose when I saw Sasahara reference dating sims, trying to figure out how to handle a real-life encounter — )

Sasahara and Oguie are also a pair of characters with whom the readers could easily identify. Back in volume one, he was a fan but not yet an otaku, and his story arc takes us from an entry point into the odd subculture all the way to gainful employment in the industry. Oguie, when introduced in volume 4, bluntly stated that she hated all otaku, especially other female fans. He story arc has been one of acceptance, finding both personal confidence and professional competence while coming to terms with her own “inner otaku”. (or should I say, “inner fujoshi“)

The climatic scene between these two works even better if you’ve read volume 7 and recall that recent-graduate Sasahara just landed a job as a manga editor, so it is not just a meeting where a girl shyly shows off her drawings to the guy she likes, but one where an aspiring manga-ka is presenting her work and asking the opinion of a professional editor. There’s a lot of depth to the scene.

Like all good things (or natural disasters) of course Genshiken can’t last forever. I understand that volume 9, currently scheduled to release at the end of November, is the last volume. With the series having survived one “reboot” I can understand that perhaps it is time to let the Genshiken go, but it seems like just now, in the penultimate volume, we were finally getting past the jokes to see something of the characters. I feel hesitant to leave this odd world writer/artist Shimoku has invented.

Volume 8 isn’t perfect, but works very well even on it’s own. 4 marks out of 5.

originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]

Errant Story, vol. 1
Published by: Keenspot Entertainment
Writer & Artist: Michael Poe

134 (127) pages.
Original Language: English
Orientation: Left to right
Vintage: June 2004

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Premise: Swords, sorcery, and sarcasm, with healthy doses of ninja-like assassins, gunplay, and humour, a sprinkling of anachronisms and fourth-wall assaults, and a touch more satire and social commentary than you’d expect from what at first blush merely seemed a light-hearted RPG-fantasy-influenced black comedy.

Too wordy? Hm. How about this: Psycho Teen Mage Chick vs the Universe.

Synopsis:

Meet Meji Hinadori. She’s a half elf, a student of magic who is on the verge of graduating from her academy. …at least she would be graduating, if she hadn’t slacked her way through most of the past year and was about to fail miserably. Her only hope is to get an ‘A’ on her senior project. She’s a slacker, not stupid, but her prospects seem pretty dim.

In a flash of inspiration, she recalls an old school rule that states if a student can challenge and defeat the entire school faculty, then they are automatically graduated with honours. Of course, to win out over a whole ivory tower of crotchety old mages, one would need the power of a demigod, at the very least — and with that much power and to spare, the risk of eventually becoming corrupted by it and enslaving the whole world…

Well, Meji is already a tad corrupt, so she decides to make enslaving all reality her senior project. It’s a handy side benefit that she’ll also graduate.

Helping, or at least commenting sarcastically, is Meji’s familiar Ellis, a talking winged cat. Ellis is nigh indestructible, which Meji proves on a fairly regular basis as Ellis’s running commentary usually goads her into blasting the housecat-demon with a handy lightning bolt spell or three.

A quick trip to the school library (and a flashy [*cough*] “divination” spell) provides the lead she needs to actually pull off this mad project, if only it weren’t a continent away and in a country run by mage-hating religious fanatics.

You didn’t think that would stop her, did you? This is just the first chapter.

The rest of volume one follows Meji on her “heroic” quest, and introduces two traveling companions for her. The first, Jon, is a Gewehr Assassin and general bad-ass who becomes a bodyguard of sorts after a rather complicated introduction & re-introduction, and for reasons largely his own; the second is Ian, another mage on a similar (but more noble) quest for knowledge. After a hundred or so pages of action, there is also a little handy exposition toward the end of chapter four, outlining in thumbnail sketch the larger struggles ahead as both the characters and the plot take a necessary breather before volume two.

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Review:

First off, the writing is excellent. Each character’s voice is pitch perfect, the dialog trips along like this was a Whedon or Sorkin TV show, and the fantasy universe being built up here is both true to the form–with elves, mages, talking cats–while simultaneously poking fun at all of the hallowed precepts that are the supposed unshakable foundations of the genre.

It’s a fantasy, but written with modern sensibility. Amazingly, it’s done with almost no pop-culture references; other comics that take this route (and there are quite a few webcomics trying) usually pick a single property to spoof (RPG World, Order of the Stick) or are dropping names and quotes in every other panel so you know (wink wink nudge nudge) that the author is ‘making funny’.

Poe manages to capture that feeling while making it all work within the context of the book. And he also makes the jokes work while he’s doing it. Not only does this give us chuckle-inducing dialog on every other page, it adds to the unique setting of Errant Story: here is a fantasy world as complex, jaded, and absurd as our modern one. It’s high satire, worthy of literary study… though of course it’s also profane, lewd, coarse, crass, and damn damn funny.

I wouldn’t call Errant Story a comedy, though. Action and [*gasp*] story are in full evidence as well. There is a building plot with numerous forces and factions hinted at; though not a classic struggle of good against evil, since it looks like everyone is really just acting in their own self interest. We’ll have to see where all the foreshadowing is leading us in future volumes.

Poe is both writer and artist, and for the most part I can’t fault his artwork either. (go see for yourself at www.errantstory.com) Two issues we run into with the art aren’t faults, per se, but artefacts of the adaptation from screen-to-page. First, all the gutters are black, sort of like the flashback convention adopted by most manga titles. This isn’t bad but rubs me the wrong way, and distracts in some cases from the art on the page. The other thing is that a 1024×768 or 1600×800 monitor is going to give us a lot of lovely fine detail that doesn’t always make it to the 5×8 page, at least not in this printing. Some of our screentones become smudgetones and whole pages roll by where shading isn’t evident at all, and it looks like it was all done in ink. This isn’t bad either, but having seen the computer image originals, I know the book isn’t supposed to come across as that dark, or stylized.

This one is definitely worth seeking out — and it may take a little searching, unless you buy direct from the author — but it comes with my hearty recommendation, and aside from printing issues would have received my highest rating. As it is, I give volume one 4 marks out of 5.

originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]

Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe
Published by: Sterling
Writer: Roy Thomas, with audio commentary by Stan Lee
Artist: reproductions of covers and panels by Kirby, Ditko, Romita, and the rest of the Marvel bullpen

200 (189) pages, hardcover.
Vintage: 2006

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: Excelsior! via 50 “Marvel Moments” (seminal issues, and a few multi-part series) this book captures Stan “in action” over his many decades at Marvel (’41-’97 are covered in the book), though with an obvious emphasis on his work from the 60s.

Synopsis:

The book features a nifty electronic gadget, affixed to one side of the over-long back cover so it is always there to the right of whichever pages you happen to be reading. The gadget allows the selection and playback of any one of 68 audio clips, where Stan the Man can tell you himself what they were thinking when first writing and drawing the comics in question.

The book isn’t so much a history of Marvel itself, but more a series of Stan’s career highlights: starting with his first writing credit (Captain America #3) to his own early co-creations (with Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko) the Fantastic Four and Spider-man, and covering how both the Marvel cast and Universe continued to grow under Stan’s tenure as editor-in-chief and occasional writer.

Included are descriptions of the origins of FF and Spidey, along with the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, Sgt. Fury (later Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D), the X-men (both in ‘63 and the re-launch in ‘75), Dr. Strange, Daredevil, the return of Cap (as he joins the Avengers in ‘64) and even the origin of some villians, noteably Dr. Doom & the Sub-Mariner (a Golden Age character re-introduced as a foil for the Fantastic Four).

Oh, and the last time Captain America died, back in ‘69. What, you thought the recent Civil War was the first time they pulled stuff like this?

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Review:

One of the best features of the book is the audio commentary.

One of the worst features of the book is the audio commentary.

…if you didn’t happen to like Stan Lee as a speaker, or perhaps got a little sick of the Stan-central focus of the book. Also, there isn’t a headphone jack (mercifully, there is volume control) so if you’re listening to Stan talk about why the Avengers line-up continually changes, so is everyone else in the room.

Stan deserves a lot of credit, obviously, but since his commentary reflects the memories and experience of just one of many Silver Age comic creators, (especially if you’ve looked into comics history of this era) it often seems one sided. A complete noob might read this book, and come away thinking that Stan was entirely responsible for anything innovative or dramatic about a whole decade of comics.

He probably was… but no other viewpoint is given. The author, Roy Thomas, does a good job with the text though, so there is a fair amount of background presented (usually 2-3 pages) to go along with one of Stan’s 20-30 second sound bites. Also, the panels and pages included are great. Some are chosen for the dialog bubbles more than the artwork, but seeing classic Marvel 4-color action, even in small snips and bits, is almost worth the cover price by itself.

About that price… Originally, this book listed for $50; and even a full-color 200 page book, with gizmo, was a bit over-valued at that price — at least for me. Quite a few other folks agreed with me, I suspect, because now 6 months after it first appeared on shelves, you can find it here and there for $15 or $20, which seems a bit more reasonable.

One for the fans, or for folks looking to pick up a little history, or perhaps for someone who has enjoyed the recent onslaught of Hollywood adaptations from Marvel’s back catalog, and wanted more insight on where these iconic heroes got their start.

And, thankfully, you don’t have to listen to Stan if you don’t want to — the book holds up pretty well on it’s own without the electronic add-on. 3 marks out of 5.

originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]

In the Starlight, vol. 1
Published by: Netcomics
Writer & Artist: Kyungok Kang

224 (216) pages.
Original Language: English
Orientation: Left to right
Vintage: 1987. US edition February 2007.
Translation: Jennifer Park
Production: Ecomix Media Company
Cover Design: purj
Editors: Nick Aires & Philip Daay
Publisher’s Rating: for ages 13+

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: High school girl with her head in the stars, figuratively, finds herself with her head in the stars, literally.

Synopsis:

Shinhye Yoo is an ordinary student, maybe a bit more serious than most, maybe just a bit cuter than others, but other than an intense interest in astronomy inherited from her college professor Father, she’s no different than most girls her age.

Donghoon Soo is interested in Shinhye, and asks her out. As he gets to know her better, though, he sees that she and her family are ideal for a program run by his uncle, a bigwig of some sort in the Ministry of Science. (We’ll set aside for the moment how a high school kid is involved with top secret government programs, let alone held in high enough regard that he has influence over policy. Maybe it’s covered in volume two?)

Donghoon convinces Shinhye to host Sarah, a foreign exchange student. Sarah is a little different though… just how different will become very clear to Shinhye before the end of the volume.

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Review:

Comparisons to To Terra… [previously reviewed] are going to be inevitable, so let me clear that smoke out of the room first. First, the other is manga while In the Starlight is manhwa, and To Terra pre-dates Starlight by a decade. Takemiya’s work is a space opera set in the distant future, while Kang’s comic is a light drama with hints of romance set in a present day (80s, at the time) Korean high school (at least for now).

What the two share is a stylistic sensibility (both have been influenced by the same predecessors, I think) and a general sci-fi overlay on what are essentially human dramas. That and a little ESP. The comparisons are inevitable because the two properties were each pulled from a little deeper in the past archives (20-30 years back) and came out in US editions within a month or so of each other.

I’m not going to say one is better than the other. [*sigh*] Though I suppose I have, since we do rank these on a 5 point scale — but the good points of one should not be immediately taken as faults of the other. So there.

Enough with Terra and the distant future. What do we have here?

“In the Starlight” is a intriguing title, obviously an earlier work but from an artist that shows great potential. (I’m not familiar with Kang’s later work but I invite anyone who is to let us know in the comments.) In fact, in some cases the retro, “cuter”, unpolished style allows the book get away with story points that might otherwise be cringe-worthy: Flying saucer? Well OK, yeah, that fits.

It’s easy to get caught up in the style and story of writer/artist Kang’s book. The characters are all likeable and engaging (even the “villain” in his own bishounen way) and it seems like everyone but Shinhye has some secret hidden in their backstory that portends even more drama for future volumes.

This is a vision of the sci-fi future that was set up by Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., a more innocent view untainted by the X-Files, Aliens, and other 90s pop-culture. Volume one serves merely as a introduction and launching point; later volumes will no doubt take us deeper into the romantic future-that-was.

originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 2
Published by: Viz Media
Writer & Artist: Kenjiro Hata

192 (182) pages.
Original Language: Japanese
Orientation: Right to left
Vintage: 2005. US edition February 2007.
English Adaptation: Mark Giambruno
Translation: Yuki Yoshioka & Cindy H. Yamauchi
Touch-up Art & Lettering: Freeman Wong
Design: Yukiko Whitley
Editor: Kit Fox
Publisher’s Rating: Older teens, ages 16+ (strong language, realistic and fantasy violence, and crude humor)

Previously Reviewed: Vol. 1
Rating: Upgraded, 2 out of 5

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Premise: Hayate, the Combat Butler. Through a series of misunderstandings, a young man down on his luck gets a break (we won’t call it a lucky break, yet) and goes to work as a Butler-slash-bodyguard.

Synopsis:

Hayate Ayasaki is 16. He works as a butler. His employer is Nagi Sanzenin, one very rich little girl. Though despite the size of the mansion and all of Nagi’s wealth, there are only 2 other staff: Maria the maid and Klaus, the head butler.

Hayate hasn’t been employed long: the first book, you know, 180-some pages, nine chapters, all that? That just covered how he got hired, and then his first day at work.

And the day isn’t over yet: We wade into the second volume with the return of the killer nursing robot, #8, who demands a rematch with Hayate and Tama (the talking 300 lb. tiger). Actually, this serves as a fair re-introduction of the characters while providing a neat little action sequence along with a punchline.

After the appetizer, we get to the meat of the book, a sequence of episodes each of which introduces a new character or two, and explains their relationship to the young Miss Nagi. She has a few friends her own age, all of whom happen to also be filthy rich (makes sense) and it turns out she’s not the only member of the Sanzenin as might be assumed; she has a grandfather (who lives at the “main” house, which looks likes a small principality) and numerous, more distant relatives. As the closest blood relation, Nagi is the currently the only heir, but Grandpa is a bit eccentric. I sense a major plot point coming… which I won’t spoil for you.

Aside from the disposition of the inheritance, which is put to one side for the remainder of the book, episodic hijinks continue in much the same ways as volume one, but with Hayate’s situation more settled (though he still owes 150 million yen) he seems to be in a better position to handle it. The last chapter begins ramping it up again as a lead in for volume 3, with a new character and a reveal on the last page [cue dramatic “dum, dum, DUM”] that isn’t all that much of a surprise but is as close to a cliffhanger as we’ll get.

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Review:

More combat and more housework for our Hayate, along with slower pacing and an opportunity to explore character as opposed to merely being as zany as possible, makes volume two a vast improvement over volume one.

Still only giving it 2 marks, but really: big improvement, I’m impressed.

Most of my complaints about the first volume have been addressed, so I suspect someone at Shogakukan is exerting a little more editorial pressure. Or who knows? Maybe it just took writer/artist Hata a little longer to find the right groove, or it’s just an illusion caused by how the individual installments were pulled together into the tankoban.

The art is adequate but not exceptional, and works just fine for a light comedy. The story, likewise, is adequate but not exceptional and aside from the so-wacky-it-must-be-manga premise, is much like any other action-comedy. It’s a quick read, nothing substantial but just fine as an afternoon snack.