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Sean Gaffney

Not By Manga Alone: Supreme and other drawings

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Chicks dig comics, Sean is the world’s foremost Kliban expert, and Wonder Woman was originally named Suprema. But you knew all of that already, right? Welcome back to Not By Manga Alone!

This month Sean pushes onward and upward, in his quest to read all the Kliban ever—this month he checked Two Guys Fooling Around With The Moon And Other Drawings off his list. Megan meanwhile, goes meta with The Comic Book History of Comics and Chicks Dig Comics.

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two guys fooling around with the moonTwo Guys Fooling Around With The Moon And Other Drawings | By B. Kliban | Workman Publishing – After seeing Kliban’s two collections of Playboy cartoons, going back to the sketchbook collections is a relief. Not that they were bad, per se, but this feels like the real, unrestrained Kliban. Ugly, grotesque caricatures; sexual humor too risque even for Playboy; and of course a combination of wordplay and art like no other. The art in particular attracted me this time. It’s quite bold, with strong, thick lines and absolutely no attempt to make the characters and situation anything other than funny. In fact, in many ways the funny art helps to relief a few of the more controversial comics. Again, Kliban has no patience for corporate America or art critics, and both get savaged here. And even if Kliban wrote sexual punchlines for Playboy, some were a bit too weird even for them. The “earmuffs” gag, notably, features a self-portrait of Kliban as its focus—possible wish-fulfillment, if it weren’t so bizarre.

That’s what you really read these collections for. There’s a bit of sexual or political humor, but for the most part all this is just strange. Far stranger than anything The Far Side or Fusco Brothers ever hoped to come up with. There’s a series of Johann Sebastian Bach puns that are deadpan in their simplicity. There’s a couple using a sheet of plywood as if it was a swimming pool. There’s a clever variation on the “child won’t eat his vegetables” situation. It’s not perfect—several gags are here simply to pad out the book, or are simply TOO strange, and Kliban can be sexist at times. But again, this isn’t an author whose books you read just to laugh out loud, although you will several times here. But more often, you may cock your head to one side and go “huh?” Some gags need a bit of figuring out first, which is what B. Kliban is best at. – Sean Gaffney

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comic book history of comicsThe Comic Book History of Comics | Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey | IDW — Near the end of The Comic Book History of Comics, Van Lente says, “The industry might not survive. Should it?” It’s a smart and important question. Van Lente is talking about the great content industry boogie man, the digital revolution, and more specifically, torrents. Comics downloads probably do, as he argues, eat into the Big Two’s profits. They probably eat into their potential profits too, which is an even more ominous prospect for the health of the supposedly dying American comics industry. There’s a generation of comics fans who expect everything to be free—because in their experience, everything IS free. Downloading is easier than visiting a comic book store, especially in remote or rural areas. Downloading illegally is easier than navigating that weird digital back catalog thing Marvel offers. Comixology though, is easy to use and it’s cheap. And there are new and interesting ventures. Last week’s launch of MonkeyBrain Comics sent paroxysms of joy and terror through the industry, and for good reason. Cheap, high quality, creator-owned, digital indie comics? My god! The industry might not survive. Should it?

The Comic Book History of Comics traces the medium from its origins in newspaper cartooning, through the funnybook explosion, the crippling era of post-war censorship, the various booms and busts of a newly superhero-oriented industry, to the the challenges the industry faces today: the slow decline of the direct market, and the digital revolution. While this is a history of American comics, Van Lente and Dunlavey make smart—and necessary—visits to the British, French, and Japanese traditions. You can’t talk about American horror and fantasy comics without mentioning Metal Hurlant (and it needs to be said: Metal Hurlant is just the best). You can’t talk about the 90s grim and gritty trend, or the explosion of female readership, and the push into bookstores without talking about the “British invasion” of creators like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis. And frankly, you can’t talk about contemporary comics without talking about manga.

suprema!The book is pretty much delightful. Dunlavey’s pencils, layouts, and numerous visual quotes make it a fun and easy read. And while Van Lente’s clearly done his research, and has serious and important things to say about the industry and the medium, his tone is breezy, more pop history than academic—and thank god. He quickly and efficiently leads us through the shift from newspaper funnies to funnybooks, as not just a thing that happened, but a radical shift for both creative and business reasons. He keeps the focus both on the ongoing creative transformations within the medium and its presentation—panels, subject, art style—and the economic factors both intersecting with and driving those changes. Why did so many early anthologies have a “house style”? Well, so the artists would be replaceable! Why did horror and crime comics all but disappear for a while? Why was Batman so milquetoast, for so long? Well, because of the comics code. And also because of the subsequent shrinking of the market, and the retreat of publishers into the few things that did still sell—namely, goofy, semi-nostalgic superhero stories. This dual narrative is crucial, because you can’t talk about the history of commercial art, without talking about the commerce.

The Comic Book History of Comics is at its best when covering the great moments and movements in comics history—at its worst, perhaps, when dealing with contemporary issues. Also—what do you really want to say about Stan Lee, guys? There’s a bit of an untold story there, as the famous writer/editor/huckster is depicted as a blithe kind of sinister—maybe the rat, who torpedoed Simon and Kirby’s scheme to working for both Timely (later renamed Marvel), and for themselves on the side—definitely an egomaniac who stole Kirby’s thunder—but was it intentional? Is Stan the badguy? A vaudevillian self-promoter and hack? Or was he just another overworked, underpaid cog in the comics machine, who stumbled into fame and found that he liked it? This is unclear. Unlike the rich, layered depiction we get of Kirby, Bill Gaines, and so many other comics heroes and villains, Stan Lee is little more than a mustache, a pair of glasses and a grin. Van Lente and Dunlavey don’t shy away from making judgements—Disney: definitely a visionary, also an epic asshole—but Lee is left a bit of a mystery.

action comics oh noAnother issue is the treatment of digital comics piracy. The Comic Book History of Comics rigorously researched—I say, as a non-expert—and packed with anecdotes and data (no annecdata). This is a big part of why it’s such a fun read. But this fades away, necessarily, when dealing with contemporary issues. It’s hard to talk about comics distribution and the demographics of the readership right now, because the data isn’t very clear or very deep. How much does piracy cut into publisher’s profits? We don’t know. What percentage of the readership is female? We… don’t really know that either, because the direct market can’t give us reliable figures, and the Big Two have only recently started surveying their readers. And too, as any pundit will tell you, contemporary commentary and predictions are hard. I mean, I think ventures like MonkeyBrain Comics are the next big thing, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the publisher will be a minor footnote of history. It’s easier for Van Lente to organize the history of comics into broad themes and movements than to do the same with a transformation that’s still unfolding.

We don’t know if the industry as we know it is going to survive. And should it?

Of the early days of sweatshop comics, one creator says, “We wanted to be splendid, somehow.” That’s kind of the takeaway for me. The Comic Book History of Comics is the story of an artform still creating itself, while also paying the bills on time. And while I’ve maybe lingered more over its flaws than its virtues, it is splendid. Like Tom Spurgeon says in the introduction, this is necessary book. We need this history of comics—more and many varied histories of comics. So basically this. More of this. – Megan Purdy

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chicks dig comics Chicks Dig Comics | ed. Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis | Mad Norwegian Press — It’s not actually a comic. It’s a book of essays and interviews about comics, chicks who work in comics, and chicks who love comics. I initially picked up the anthology because I’m, you know, a pretty loud geek feminist, and because of Kelly Thompson’s essay. (I’m preparing to interview her, so it was kind of a twofer). I have a lot feelings about Chicks Dig Comics, and they’re decidedly mixed.

To begin with, audience. Or, what is this book’s intended audience? I’m not sure, and the book doesn’t seem to be either. In the foreword, the editors say, “The title of this book describes a phenomenon so manifestly self-evident that we find it difficult to come up with more to say on the topic.” This stopped me short. Is the book intended for chicks who already dig comics? Chicks who would perhaps like to try out comics, and maybe also dig them? “The industry”? Guys who dig comics, who haven’t yet internalized the fact of female readership? I’m not sure. Compounding this confused messaging is the cover design. I read this book at work—during lunch, boss, I swear—at school, and on transit. Everyone wanted to know what I was reading. Everyone thought I was reading some adorable shoujo adventure story. The cover is attention grabbing, and that’s great. Not so great that even after checking out the title and subtitle, they couldn’t figure out what it was. Who is this book for? I don’t know. (These are the questions that keep me up at night…) That said, having checked out Chicks Dig Timelords and similar books, I have to admit that this kind of cover may be a genre convention—unfortunately, the intended “serious! also fun!” tone didn’t translate well to the uninitiated.

The anthology opens with an introduction by Mark Waid and an essay by Gail Simone. While I don’t object to the presence of men in a book billed as “A Celebration of Comics By the Chicks Who Love Them,” I have to wonder at the choice of a guy to introduce the topic. It reads less passing of the torch, than sop to the potential male audience, or an “all clear” for any potential male readers. “Mark Waid digs that chicks dig comics. Also Greg Rucka and Terry Moore.” Gail Simone’s essay hits many of the same points as he does. Both are personal retrospectives of the changing demographics of the industry and fandom. Basically, “When I was a kid not that many girls read comics, and now lots of girls do, and that is great.” All of which is true. When Mark and Gail were kids, girls weren’t a particularly visible or catered to segment of the comics reading population. Because of this thematic repetition, I’m left wondering why the editors didn’t lead with Gail’s essay. Is the book indeed for guys? Did they want a big name to anchor the book?

But this is all about the framing—you want to know about the content. A few of the essays are too brief or too light, and a couple of them are eminently skippable, but many are fantastic. The interviews and retrospective essays especially bring it. Carla Speed McNeil on how she broke into comics, and self-publishing then and now—fascinating! Terry Moore on the “why” of drawing—yes! Sara Ryan’s essay in script form—fantastic! The unevenness of the book made it a not always fun read, but there’s enough solid stuff here to make up for the bad. Sara Ryan’s Nineteen Panels About Me And Comics is tight, neatly constructed, quick, and genuinely interesting. I turned it into a recs list—her passion made me passionate about titles I haven’t even read. Jan Van Meter’s Vampirella: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Page Turn is the comics-reader origin story I didn’t know I was looking for. It’s about monsters and horror and the closed world of childhood, in which horror fiction can be not just scary stories but hope—hope for justice, hope for yourself, hope even, for lesser monsters—and hope that one day, we too might be sexy space vampires with cute boyfriends. And that Kelly Thompson interview I got into this for? Awesome.

It’s undeniably true that women are present in the comics industry and fandom, in a way they weren’t in the recent past (remember, girls and women were big comics consumers before and after WW2!). We’re a loud demographic, sometimes angry, sometimes overjoyed. And slowly, even the Big Two are starting to get that our money too is good money. Those are, as the editors point out, self-evident facts. I love that a book like Chicks Dig Comics exists, and I hope that there will be more books like it. – Megan Purdy

Pick of the Week: Summit of the Gods & more

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KATE: I only have eyes for one book this week: the long-awaited third volume of Summit of the Gods. This manliest of manga focuses on two Japanese climbers’ efforts to find out what happened to doomed explorer George Mallory, who disappeared during a 1924 attempt to reach the top of Mt. Everest. As one might expect of a series illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi, the artwork is superb; if you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to navigate a glacier or dangle from a rope above a yawning chasm, Taniguchi’s drawings will transport you to the Himalayas with the same vertigo-inducing accuracy as an IMAX film.

MICHELLE: I, too, am happy to see volume three of Summit of the Gods appear at long last, but I’ll throw a bit of love toward Alice in the Country of Clover: Chehsire Cat Waltz. Okay, true, the Bloody Twins Clover installment was nowhere near as good as the original Country of Hearts series, including as it did a variety of “what-if” scenarios pairing Alice up with various guys from the video game, but it seems as if Cheshire Cat focuses on her relationship with one guy. Maybe I’m wrong and it’ll disappoint again, but you can be sure I’ll be checking it out.

SEAN: Yeah, I’ll go with Cheshire Cat Waltz as well. It’s still more ‘romance’ oriented than the first series, but does at least make the effort to show that Alice is in a strange land filled with dangerous psychopaths who change moods at the drop of a hat. I hope they go a bit further into her reasons for being there – briefly hinted in the first manga’s ending – but in the meantime, I am content to see her wandering around with the hot guys as long as it keeps up the frisson of discomfort that makes it intriguing.

BRIGID: Summit of the Gods sounds pretty tasty, but it’s 95 degrees and I’m in the last stages of San Diego prep frenzy, so I need something light and amusing. I thought the first volume of Animal Land was kind of strange but interesting in an oh-Japan kind of a way, so I’ll swing for volume 5 this week. Since it springs from the fevered brain of the creator of Zatch Bell, I know I won’t have to take it too seriously, and that’s good enough for me.

MJ: Aside from Summit of the Gods, this week is pretty light for me, so as I’m weighing in last, I’ll to head over to NETCOMICS and recommend their Totally BL bundle, available through the end of the month. While NETCOMICS’ limited-time rental model is looking less and less attractive these days, next to other publishers’ iPad apps and other ownership-based digital venues like JManga (even eManga offers a “Keep” option for their titles), there are a number of Korean titles from NETCOMICS that I must continue to recommend, especially for BL fans. One of these is Hajin Yoo’s Totally Captivated, included in the NETCOMICS bundle along with the super-addictive Let Dai. If you’ve never given Korean BL a chance, this is the time to do so.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 7/9/12

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This week, Kate, Michelle, and Sean look at recent releases from VIZ Media and Vertical, Inc.

Case Closed, Vol. 43 | By Gosho Aoyama | VIZ Media – In the latest volume of Case Closed, Conan and the gang solve three mysteries: one involving a lost cell phone, another involving a toy company president, and yet another featuring a bomb-wielding maniac. The stories are a little hit-or-miss, relying heavily on surprise twists that few readers will be able to anticipate from the available clues. Of the three, “One Demon Among 53,000” is the best, a crisply executed beat-the-clock thriller in which Conan must find a terrorist who’s threatening to blow up Koshien Stadium during the national baseball championships. Smart pacing and effective jump cuts convey the urgency of the situation, making it all the more frustrating that volume 43 ends without resolving this promising storyline. Guess I’m on the hook for 44! – Katherine Dacey

Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 4 | By Rei Toma | Published by VIZ Media – While this volume doesn’t play up my favorite aspect of Dawn of the Arcana—Nakaba’s inner struggle between her loyalty to her protector, Loki, and her burgeoning feelings for her new husband, Caesar—as much as I would like, it’s still quite an important volume. Nakaba’s influence on Caesar continues to be profound, and when he learns that his father is planning an attack on a village of Loki’s people, he sets out to foil the plan. Meanwhile, Nakaba begins to explore her powers of foresight and starts to think she may be able to use it to help people, only she can’t tell Caesar because the king would execute her if he were to catch wind of her ability. She’s shaping up to be a strong and capable heroine, and I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here! – Michelle Smith

The Drops of God, Vol. 4 | By Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto | Vertical, Inc. – The moment that Shizuku won the battle for the first Apostle, I was ready for the second battle to be Issei’s. He has to be a formidable foe, after all. To that end, he gets the bulk of the character development here, going to the Tibetan desert in order to find the perfect inspiration and also to acquire another love interest (in a sequence which is both heartwarming and laughable in its cliche). Shizuku, meanwhile, seems the odd one out this time – in a volume that is filled with lovers reconnecting and familial bonds, he can’t even understand why Miyabi seems so grumpy when he notes they’re just colleagues. No surprise, then, that he ends the volume with need of some serious soul-searching. Hopefully he’s found it by the next omnibus, which jumps ahead about a dozen or so volumes. –Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 8 | By Julietta Suzuki | VIZ Media – The kami conference wraps up quickly here, and I liked that they did show Kayako again just to have a bit of closure. The bulk of the volume, however, deals with Kurama and his tengu family, as Nanami and Tomoe get involved in a tortuous succession battle. There are sprinklings of the main romance here and there, but for the most part this volume works like many of the previous ones – a new character meets Nanami and takes an instant dislike to her, only to eventually fall for her on account of her gumption, stick-to-it-ive-ness, and general main character syndrome. I don’t expect Jiro to be any different, especially as he’s already noting the differences between men and women. Provided you haven’t grown weary of everything revolving around how swell Nanami is (she needs more obvious flaws), this series still entertains. –Sean Gaffney

La Corda D’Oro, Vol. 16 | By Yuki Kure | VIZ Media – This dating-sim-cum-manga would be a true guilty pleasure if Kahoko, the heroine, wasn’t such a dithering idiot. Alas, her doormat behavior and lack of focus make her an unlikely candidate for classical music greatness, as she spends more time mooning over cute guys than she does practicing her etudes. In volume sixteen, for example, she nearly flops in competition because she’s become utterly preoccupied with aloof but handsome violinist Len. Len’s big revelation — and the fallout from it — could have been handled in five or ten pages, but Yuki Kure milks it for nearly three chapters, treating us to repeated scenes of Kahoko blushing, stammering, and playing sour notes as she frets about Len. Worse still, these scenes feel like they’ve been pilfered from earlier chapters; even the characters seem bored with their lines, sleep-walking through an all-too-familiar tournament scenario. Wake me up when the backstage backstabbing resumes! – Katherine Dacey

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 12 | By Yuki Midorikawa | VIZ Media – For the most part, this manga is content to be a series of short one-shots and two-parters dealing with the yokai world, and the new yokai Natsume has to deal with. We have seen him slowly starting to open up, however, and the three-parter here shows how it’s affecting both him and Tanuma. This is the classic ‘if I’m not close to them, they won’t be in danger’ hero dilemma for Natsume, but we not only see Tanuma’s side – wanting to help but feeling completely inadequate about it – but also Nitori’s, who it is implied made his choice earlier in life and is trying to ensure Natsume does not duplicate it. There’s a lot more action here as well, as if the increase in emotions lends itself to a faster, more frantic pace. Loneliness has plagued Natsume’s life as it did his grandmothers. Can he stop the cycle? Addicting. –Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – It’s great to see Tsubaki’s abilities improve with each volume. In particular, the focus issue she’s always had is almost entirely absent here, mostly due to the fact that there’s only one real plot here – the attempt to crush Okegawa. It’s his story more than Mafuyu’s here, which is why he takes her out right before the final battle – and also why he is seemingly finally allowed to see through her disguise. Okegawa is fantastic here, as we see that being a bancho is not just about thugging it up, but almost a military calling – planning the battle, caring for your subordinates. And loving a good fight as well, of course. Lest you think that this is a serious volume, however, fear not – the author can’t go three pages without sticking in something hilarious, with this particular volume ending in what amounts to a giant pie fight. I still like this series better than most. Listen to me, though, as I’m the correct one. –Sean Gaffney

Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 18 | By Bisco Hatori | Published by VIZ Media – I read the first volume of Ouran back in June 2006, so getting to this final volume has been a six-year journey. Staying true to itself to the end, the conclusion is simultaneously so silly it’s positively ridiculous and so sunny that it’s pretty endearing. I’d say this is a satisfying ending for the most part, though the special side story, about Kyoya’s ambition and his thoroughly Slytherin family, was really kind of dull. I wanted more Tamaki and Haruhi cuteness! Throughout the volume, Hatori includes illustrations and sidebars about the futures of various characters, and some of those are adorable, and we also get one final cameo by Mori’s chicken! I can’t adequately express how much I love that durn chicken. Not without flaws, but still recommended. – Michelle Smith

Toriko, Vols. 10-11 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | VIZ Media – The latest installments of Toriko illustrate what’s bad — and good — about this goofy series. Whenever the story’s focus shifts from food to fighting — as it does in volume ten — Toriko becomes a dreary slog, filled with ugly characters engaged in sadistically violent combat. Making these battle scenes even more tedious is the dialogue, as bad guys pause to outline their plans, or explain the source of their power, thus providing Toriko an opportunity to gain the upper hand. When the story focuses on food and friendship, however, it’s a cheerful, if occasionally stomach-churning, parody of Iron Chef, as Toriko and his sidekick Komatsu scour the globe in search of rare ingredients. For my taste, there’s too much combat and not enough cuisine in Toriko; even the reappearance of master chef Setsuno, one of the series’ most memorable characters, wasn’t enough to erase the memory of volume ten’s endless wrangling. – Katherine Dacey

Hetalia Axis Powers, Vol. 3

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By Hidekaz Himaruya. Released in Japan by Gentosha, originally serialized as an online webcomic. Released in North America by Tokyopop in association with Right Stuf, Inc.

For the first time in over a year, I get to review a new Tokyopop book. And naturally, it’s the third volume of Hetalia Axis Powers. It was a runaway bestseller, so it makes sense that it should come back. The translation for it had already been done, given it was scheduled to ship a mere month after TP initially went under. And, being one of the company’s few Gentosha books, I imagine the renegotiations were easier than with a company like Kadokawa or Akita, who might inquire about the 7-8 other abandoned titles that there is little interest in reviving.

The quality of the book itself is a huge improvement over the first two, at least production-wise. The paper is thicker and more durable, there are color pages, and it simply feels more ‘quality’ than the almost xeroxed feel of the first two volumes. As for Himaruya’s art, it’s always going to look a bit dashed off, as that’s just what he does, but it does look a bit clearer here than in prior books.

The series is less about World War II than ever before, but that’s absolutely fine. History buffs may like Hetalia, but in the end it’s not particularly written for them. It’s a goofy comedy starring a bunch of (mostly) guys who do dumb things around each other, and happen to be nations of the world. There’s a bit less reliance on stereotype here (though still a lot – don’t think it vanishes) as we have grown to know the characters and therefore the author can rely on simple character-based gags, such as tomboy Hungary not realizing that she’s a girl, or Japan’s crushing disappointment that Switzerland does not look like Heidi at all.

This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of historical strips, they’re just used as setup for the most part. Probably the best in the book is the analysis of the alliance between Poland and Lithuania in the 15th and 16th century, which also gives us a chance to see some actual action in the series, however brief, as the two nations battle against Prussia and Sweden (what an odd pairing. Are their fanfics? … yes, of course there are.) At times the history/gag comic balance can be upset a bit, but it’s mostly unintentional. When Prussia comes across an older Hungary lying beaten against a tree with clothes torn open, the unpleasant implication is that she was just raped by Turkey. While this is not entirely out of place given the actual history that happened between the two, it jars in a comic that mostly has a light touch with catastrophic world events.

There are a few new nations introduced here (including another rare female, Belgium), and some get a bit more development, such as the Nordics. But for the most part the main cast of 3 Axis and 5 Allies remain the focus, and they have lots of goofy times. Several of the gags fall flat, but the book reads quickly, and in the end you read it with a smile on your face more often than not. That said, this is only recommended to those very familiar with the series, and would be a wretched starting point for newbies. Let’s hope it sells well enough to get a Vol. 4… and perhaps inspire some other license rescues?

Attack on Titan, Vol. 1

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By Hajime Isayama. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

When the buzz for this series first started coming out, right about when it got the Kodansha manga award last year, I recall many people mocking Shueisha for turning it down. The author had shown the series to the editors of Weekly Shonen Jump, and was promptly told that the series was not Jump enough. So he turned around and sold it to Kodansha, and now it’s a bestseller. But they were absolutely right. This isn’t a Jump series at all. Leaving aside the basic horror of the premise, modern Jump simply isn’t this grim. Even Kodansha thought it was more suited to their monthly magazine than the flagship.

The series immediately knows that its strength are the titans themselves. They are huge, grotesque, and unknowable, even as the humans in the city desperately try to discover their weak points and flaws. Seeing likeable characters literally getting eaten by these things not only gives a feeling of desperation to the series, but helps you to side even more with our band of heroes who have vowed to destroy them – particularly the brother-sister team who keep the viewpoint.

Speaking of that, and this is a bit of a spoiler, apologies. I’m not at all sure, at the end of Vol. 1, how I feel about Eren. So-called decoy protagonists are nothing new in manga, and we’ve certainly seen folks we thought would be the hero getting mercilessly killed off right away before. But he doesn’t quite have the right *feel* of one of these, and I’m not sure the manga is ready to follow Mikasa and Armin for the rest of the series. I came out of the closing moments of the cliffhanger thinking along the lines of “…really? How are they going to walk back from that one?” Of course, if I prove to be wrong, it’s quite an impressive step to take. Especially given that the seemingly emotionless Mikasa seems more likely the sort to launch a roaring rampage of revenge after this.

If the series does have a downside, it’s the art when titans are *not* on the screen. There’s a fairly large cast filled with military types here, many of whom I presume will form our core cast. It’s a shame I had so much trouble telling them apart, then, and kept flicking to the montage introduction in the middle of the book to try to get them straight. There’s also some basic siege cliches in here – Eren’s fight with Jean is right out of the big book of war movies.

More to the point, I’d like a few more signs that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. This series is still ongoing, at 7+ volumes in Japan, and I really hope that we get a few more bright spots ahead. As if it ends up being the story of how a ragtag bunch of misfits go up against the enemy and slowly die one by one, the story will be fascinating, but far too downbeat for my taste. I hope the 2nd book can show a bit more optimism.

Genshiken: Second Season, Vol. 1

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By Shimoku Kio. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

This review is based on an advance uncorrected proof provided by the publisher, and does not reflect a review of a finished product.

It’s not all that much of a surprise that the Genshiken series has returned for more adventures of everyone’s favorite otaku club. The original series also slowly evolved over its nine volumes, seeing the club shed members and switch club presidents, even though the basic cast stayed the same. But now almost all that cast has graduated, so this sequel also has the challenge of introducing a whole bunch of new people and hoping that the reader will appreciate them in the same way they did when Ogiue joined.

Speaking of Ogiue, as the series starts she’s the new club president, not that there’s much of a club. It only has three people, partly as it seemingly duplicates other club’s interests, but mostly as it still has Kukichi. I have to say that while I appreciate his value as a comic foil, Kukichi’s utter creeptasticness still rubs me the wrong way, even in this new series. Luckily, as in the original series, he is used sparingly. This is partly because Kio-san also has another comic relief character to balance things out, Suzanna. Who is also creeptastic, particularly in her inability to speak in anything but old anime phrases, but at least doesn’t make me want to wash afterwards.

As for the new folks, there are two characters who get the bulk of the screen time, and I suspect they will start to force out Ogiue and Ohno just as those two slowly took over from Sasahara and company. Yajima is a poor artist but wants to be better at it, and seems to be filling the ‘we need at least one normal person in the club’ function that used to be Kasukabe’s, though Yajima at least is also an otaku. More interesting is Kenjiro Hata (I thought this might be a Hayate the Combat Butler joke, but it seems to be a coincidence), a character who I can’t really discuss without spoiling the first volume. It’s Hata I expect most Japanese fans will be glomming onto, though I’m not sure about Western fans.

For those wondering if this will resolve anything from the prior series, such as Madarame’s unrequited love… well, Madarame does show up throughout, despite having graduated, and he still seems to be hung up on Kasukabe. Whether that goes anywhere I suspect depends on how fast the new group of characters catches on. I am reminded of the K-On! series, which tried to have its came and eat it too by introducing some new girls for Asuka’s high school band while also following the four others to college. In the end, neither one caught on with readers. Genshiken has been doing this from the start, but we now have a bit more of a tonal shift. As the cast has gotten more and more female, the otaku obsessions have grown more and more BL. The series still runs in Afternoon, a magazine for young men, but I do suspect that the sequel over here may find a larger crossover BL-audience than the original did. (Though the original also had its female fans, of course.)

In the end, I enjoyed getting back to this series. It’s like visiting an old hangout and seeing what’s changed. Thankfully, there’s little melancholic ‘good old days’ here: things are the same as ever, just with a new cast. I look forward to seeing their awkward fits and starts of growing up. Which is, of course, the real plot of Genshiken: Awkwardness Is Magic.

Manga the Week of 7/11

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As one would expect after this week’s huge stack of manga after manga, next week is slightly quieter. But there are still a few new manga out there to please everyone.

Digital Manga Publishing starts us off with a new volume of the ever popular Finder. It’s a big title with yaoi fans, despite reviews tending to use the word “sexplosion” when describing it. There is also Flutter, whose cover features two really depressed-looking guys. And they have Secretary’s Job as well, which does not seem to be a sexplosion, but at least the cover doesn’t feature leads who want to kill themselves. So it’s a nice balance.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon has Vol. 3 of mountain climbing epic Summit of the Gods. Even if it wasn’t illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi (which it is), you should get this anyway as one should always support any Business Jump manga that actually gets brought over here.

Kodansha has the 5th volume of Tarzan-ish shonen manga Animal Land, which should appeal to anyone who liked Zatch Bell, the author’s other imported series.

Despite the cover, which looks remarkably like Seven Seas’ other OEL titles, Angel Para Bellum is in fact Japanese. It’s from the artist who does Dance in the Vampire Bund, and runs in Softbank Creative’s Flex Comics! Remember them? That’s right, CMX’s old buddies. And now Seven Seas has them! They also have the start of a new Alice spinoff, this one featuring Boris. At 7+ volumes, it promises to be longer than the original series. There’s also some Korean titles: Jack the Ripper/Hell Blade, and an omnibus of Vol. 5-6 of My Boyfriend Is A Vampire, which I presume is one of those titles that is also the plot.

Lastly, Viz has Vol. 4 of the adorable Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll, which I always misspell. But not this time! Ha!

Be patriotic, Americans! Buy Japanese manga! Which one are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Jiu Jiu, 5 Centimeters & more

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SEAN: Given that there’s about 40 gazillion titles coming out this Wednesday at Midtown Comics, narrowing down a pick of the week is hard. I am therefore going to do what I usually do in these cases, which is assume my colleagues will pick the more ‘upscale’ titles and go for my own personal biases. Jiu Jiu is Viz’s latest Shojo Beat series, and it’s from Hana to Yume (and its spinoff), a magazine I adore. It combines shoujo romance with fantasy, as most of the currently licensed crop do (hey, you go with what sells), and features a heroine who is cool and can kick ass when required. Who could ask for anything more?

MICHELLE: Actually, even though I know I should pick the third volume of Wandering Son because it’s bound to be awesome, my heart is drawn unerringly—over other greats like One Piece and Ooku—to the 28th volume of Skip Beat!. I think it says a lot about the series that it inspires such loyalty and genuine expectation so long into its run. Also, I have successfully gotten a coworker addicted. Muahaha!

MJ: I think we can all agree that Wandering Son is a must-buy. But since there will be much more of it to come, I’ll give my vote this week to a single volume release—the manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second. I’m a fairly devoted fan of Shinkai’s work and vision, and as this adaptation is based on my very favorite of his films, it’s not a release I’m willing to miss. There are images from this melancholy film that are among my favorites in any medium—moments I carry with me day-to-day, even now. And while I expect I’ll find the manga’s strengths to be different than the film’s, it’s hard for me to imagine Vertical licensing this if it had no strengths at all. So, despite my usual skepticism over adaptations of this kind, I approach this manga optimistically.

BRIGID: Wow, so many good books to choose from! I’m loving Drops of God, so I’ll want vol. 4 of that, and I’ll be going for 5 cm too. But in the dog days of summer, I go for the simple pleasures, so my first choice this week will be vol. 1 of the Kitchen Princess omnibus. I’m ready for some sweet, sweet shoujo, and Kitchen Princess delivers, treading very familiar ground with the story of a cheerful orphan at an elite boarding school who solves everyone’s problems by cooking for them. It’s charming, funny, and broken up into short story arcs so I can pick it up and put it down whenever I like. Yeah, I’ve read it before, but summer is a good time for reruns, so bring it on!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Alice In The Country Of Hearts Omnibus, Vol. 3

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By Quin Rose and Soumei Hoshino, based on the game by Quin Rose. Released in Japan as “Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~” by Mag Garden, serialized in the magazine Comic Blade Avarus. Released in North America by Yen Press.

I have a sad confession to make. You see… I forgot to spoil myself for the end of this manga. I know, it sounds unusual. After all, you are my faithful readers, and know me well. You know that I traditionally spoil myself rotten. And indeed, later on in this review I will be discussing ‘the big spoiler’, be warned. But when Tokyopop released Vol. 5 of this series, they hadn’t yet gone under, and there wasn’t as big a need to find out what was going on. Afterwards, well, I just forgot to. What this means, though, is that for once I came at an ending with no idea what would happen, and thus managed to be both surprised and pleased. Which is especially surprising given the ending’s hardly happy…

In a previous review of this series, I had noted that what I enjoyed most about it was that all of Alice’s choices for her ‘reverse harem’ were so broken. And even though there was a good deal of ‘and she changes them with her pure heart and friendship’ to it – this is still an adaptation of an otome game, after all – many of them stayed pleasantly psychotic and bloodthirsty anyway. Indeed, Ace was probably my favorite character, as he recognizes and is actively fighting against what Alice represents. There’s also some good backstory given throughout, especially regarding Blood Dupre, Vivaldi, and Eliot March. You get the sense that life actually happened before Alice arrived, which is hard to achieve in a setting like this.

I understand, having spoiled myself NOW, that fans of the games were a little annoyed at the opaqueness of the manga, especially towards the end. There’s apparently a whole lot left out about the nature of Peter White, etc. (Which doesn’t seem to bother me as much, mostly as I loathe Peter White. The manga apparently turned up the ‘jerk’ level on several characters, and he was the worst of them.) This is the nature of such adaptation, though, and I recall Higurashi fans being similarly annoyed with the anime. The question is whether one can get a gleaning of what actually happened from what the manga writer givens us. And I think the answer is yes, though it’s only a gleaning. (Apparently the manga writer didn’t understand the game’s ending.)

Here’s where I talk spoilers, by the way.

We’ve had Alice in Wonderland for most of the manga series, but occasionally she gets these pangs of conscience that she really should “wake up” and return to the real world, as her big sister is waiting for her. And as she interacts with the others, the vial she was given at the start fills up with liquid. When it’s full, she can return. And so she does, despite some misgivings, and others telling her not to, and those strange headaches she gets sometimes. And when she returns, she finds… well, actually, she doesn’t. Blood Dupre goes screaming off grumpily into the ‘real world’ after her and forces her to return. Having gotten approval to do this by Nightmare, who can now ‘Seal Off’ Alice’s memories again. And then we see her older sister in a coffin.

And suddenly the entire premise is thrown on its ear. Suddenly instead of ‘a teenage girl lands in a magical fantasy land where she must decide which hot guy she likes best’, it would seem that the land itself is attempting to prevent Alice from sinking into what is presumably hopeless despair in the real world, and that her sitting with her sister having tea and talking books is actually the dream. And that the vial which fills up as Alice interacts with the others is likely to be filling with ALICE’S feelings, not the guys falling for her. And we see why she gets so upset when all the others in Wonderland keep trying to murder each other (well, besides the usual reason anyone would).

So what we have here is a bunch of sociopathic clockwork people attempting to rise above their station and change themselves, even though that is completely impossible, and also help to heal the heart of a broken and damaged young woman devastated at a death in the family by sealing off her memory and keeping her in a fantasy world filled with blood and chaos. And that’s fantastic. Discomfiting, but fantastic. In short, this manga is more for Higurashi fans than for, say, Ouran fans. Highly recommended, and re-reading all 3 omnibuses in one stroke definitely helps as well.

Manga the Week of 7/4

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A few things before we begin:

1) There was no post last week as Midtown had no manga this week. not a scrap. Sorry. They’re making up for it next week.

2) Diamond is shipping on time, so comic shops open on 7/4 should have your manga right on time.

3) Diamond has been doing weird things with Viz deliveries the last two months. They’re staggering them, shipping a few at a time. I can’t say if this is deliberate or not. All I know is of the Viz I’m listing below, I’m not getting several of them till later. And I *still* don’t have Toriko 10 from last month. Diamond, why?

Now, onward.

Fantagraphics has the 3rd volume of outstanding seinen masterpiece Wandering Son, which will continue our story of its two leads and their ongoing exploration of gender, puberty, and life. This should be on everybody’s pull list.

Kodansha delivers to Midtown a bunch of stuff that’s been out in bookstores for a bit. Ongoing volumes of Air Gear, Bloody Monday, and Mardock Scramble. A new reissue of Gon. And an omnibus edition of one of their biggest shoujo sellers, Kitchen Princess. The big one for this week, though, is the debut of their new shonen series, Attack on Titan. Part apocalyptic horror, part military bonding, and part action thriller, Vol. 1 of this manga start fast out of the gate and doesn’t let up. Kudos to Kodansha for getting this award-winning series.

Penguin is releasing Gandhi: A Manga Biography. Note that it is only ‘A’ manga biography, which I can only assume is just in case they decide to add Gandhi to the cast of Legend of Koizumi.

Vertical is releasing the 4th volume of Drops of God, which wraps up the first ‘arc’ of this series, and reveals the 2nd Apostle! They’re also putting out a Five Centimeters Per Second, which is a poignant and thoughtful look at friendships, love, and the unrelenting passing of time. It’s worth checking out, and is complete over here in one collected volume.

Viz. Oi. Time for the bulleted list:
— Afterschool Charisma 6, an Ikki title hitting a week early. Clones!
— Bakuman 12. Manga writing!
— Bleach, Vols. 42 and 43. Speedup!
— Case Closed, Vol. 43. Not actually in Shonen Jump. Still called Jimmy!
— Claymore, Vol. 20. Youma!
— D.Gray-Man, Vol. 22. Gothic!
— Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 10. Go bald!
— Hana-Kimi, Vols. 7-8-9. Go buy the rest individually!
— Mameshiba: We Could Be Heroes. Adorable tie-in!
— Naruto, Vol. 57. Epic ninja battles!
— Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 12. Yokai! And no threesomes, sorry, fandom.
— One Piece, Vol. 63. Pirates! Fishmen! Together, they fight… well, each other.
— Ooku: The Inner Chambers Vol. 7. Shogun! (Not by James Clavell, honest.)
— Oresama Teacher, Vol. 9. Comedy! And banchos!
— Pokemon Black & White, Vol. 8. Um… Pokemon?!? (shrugs)
— Psyren, Vol. 5. Powerups!
— Rin-Ne, Vol. 9. Sakura not getting angry!
— Rosario + Vampire Season II, Vol. 9. Fairy Tale! but not Fairy Tail? … wait, now I’m confused.
— Skip Beat!, Vols. 7-8-9. Go buy the rest individually!
— Skip Beat!, Vol.. 28. Just kiss already!
— Vampire Knight, Vol. 14. Vampires! Angst! Prettiness! And you CAN’T STOP READING IT!
— WINX Club, Vols. 1 & 2. More tie-ins!

The debut from Viz this week is Jiu Jiu, which is a new Hakusensha title (woo hoo!) which began in Hama to Yume and now runs in spinoff The Hana. It’s from the author of Clean Freak: Fully Equipped, for those who recall that cut short Tokyopop series (hey, why not ask Stu about it at AX this weekend?), and is about a girl and her werewolf bodyguards. As with many Hana to Yume series, it’s better than it sounds. Looking forward to this one.

Lastly, Yen has Olympos, which I mentioned already a post or two ago, but which Midtown is getting in next week for some reason.

So, out of that nightmarish pile, what suits you?

Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 6

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By Ume Aoki. Released in Japan as “Hidamari Sketch” by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I have noted many times before, there are certain manga that I like *because* I can go into them and not be surprised. Most 4-koma style manga fall into that category, mostly as plot development, if any, is glacial. In the case of Ume Aoki’s Sunshine Sketch, I have a limited pallette I want to see. Will Sae and Hiro have not-quite-yuri moments? Will Miyako be extremely silly and weird? Will Yuno be adorable? And indeed I got all of these things while reading the 6th volume of this series. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that I did also get some character development, as well as a sense that Vol. 7 may be the final one (at least for our favorite third-years).

First off, it has to be said that Yoshinoya-sensei, the girls’ teacher, has never particularly been a favorite of mine. She’s there purely as comic relief, and the exhibitionist and boob jokes have always seemed vaguely out of place in a moe blob series like this. And indeed, we still get both of those here. But I was also pleased to see signs that she is a good teacher at heart, as well as a few strips showing her bonding with her own generation of friends. And her advice to Hiro at the end is spot on, seeing through all of Hiro’s stress right to what’s really going on, and soothing her while letting Hiro understand the solution has to come from her. It’s a nice thing to see.

Speaking of Hiro, I was rather surprised by the final collection of strips here, as I figured that if anyone was going to freak out about graduation and losing her best friend, it would be Sae. Hiro has always seemed to be the more mature and together one in our favorite pair. That said, the desire to have a beloved situation stay exactly the same is a well-known one. Hiro’s choice of career, as Sae notes, is an excellent one, and has been quietly signposted through the previous volumes. But most of all, there’s Sae’s reassurance that things will be OK, even if the two are separated that finally soothes Hiro and gives her resolve. They are a wonderful couple (except they aren’t a couple), and everyone around them knows it.

As for the rest, Nazuna has the cover with Yuno this time around, and I’m slowly getting used to her and Nori. She seems to be funniest when horrible things are happening to her, sad to say. As for the art style, well, it’s Volume 6. If readers disliked the art I’m sure they would have dropped it by now. I have noticed a lot less ‘squashed SD’ style in these latter panels, as the girls seem to be drawn more ‘normally’, presumably as Aoki has gained confidence in her work.

Sunshine Sketch 6 gives readers exactly what they want from this sort of series: more of what they like about it. And, as an added bonus, there’s some additional depth as well. An excellent quick read.

Love Hina Omnibus, Vol. 3

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By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Things are beginning to pick up a bit in this third volume of Love Hina. Yes, there is still a lot of Keitaro seeing people naked and Keitaro getting hit, but it’s far less than in the first few volumes. Akamatsu is finding he can indeed do things other than ecchi comedy, and is also starting to realize something important: he has no idea where to go with this once his heroes achieve their goal.

Yes, surprise, Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi all make it into Todai in this collection. Admittedly, it takes 2/3 of the omnibus for this to happen, including a visit to another turtle-infested South Sea island. The reason for this being that Keitaro, convinced he failed, has run away. Except… he didn’t fail. He’s in… provided he submits his paperwork on time. This is what drives most of the comedy here, a fast-paced race against time chase with increasingly ludicrous situations. Something that should be very familiar to Negima readers. Yes, Ken can still bring the ecchi comedy, but the difference between this and the start of the series is the *pacing*. The first volume is glacial, and you only realize how much after seeing these volumes.

Speaking of realization, as I noted, Akamatsu has realized he does not really want Keitaro in college stories. This is what leads to the broken leg that keeps him sidelined most of the last third of the book. And kudos to Akamatsu for lampshading this heavily, given the amount of abuse he’s taken from Naru. Everyone jokes that they had thought he was immortal. Admittedly, making him physically vulnerable does undercut the ‘comedic sociopathy doesn’t hurt’ rules of this universe… I suppose I should be lucky he didn’t get the broken leg via a Naru punch. Anyway, getting back to my point, Keitaro as a hapless college student, worrying he and Naru are growing further apart is kinda boring. But Keitaro the competent archaeologist, using his bad luck for good rather than for evil? That works. Keitaro on the island is the most likeable we’ve ever seen him. (Akamatsu will go too far with this, but we aren’t quite there yet.)

On the romance front, Keitaro has at last confessed to Naru. Who takes her own sweet time in answering him, mostly as she’s just as bad as he is in most respects. This gets contrasted with Seta and Haruka, who not only turn out to have dated when they were students, but also have many similarities to the current Keitaro and Naru. In fact, Haruka’s enraged beating of Seta after embarrassing her one too many times could easily have been a typical Keitaro/Naru farce. It’s a really sweet chapter, though, and one hopes that they can resolve things soon… especially as our heroes seem to realize the parallels with their own situation.

Motoko and Shinobu also get some short arcs towards the end. Shinobu proves to be a fairly mediocre student, and most of her story is spent trying to teach her to study properly while showing off her crush on Keitaro. (Naru doesn’t help by still being in the ‘who likes that idiot?’ phase of her life.) And Motoko’s sister, Tsuruko shows up, supposedly to test Motoko’s allegiance to her sword art, but in reality to try to make her mature more and get over some of her worst hangups. Of course, this being Love Hina, Tsuruko goes about this via some tough love. This gives us an iconic image of Motoko dressed as a maid, determined to become the perfect feminine woman since she can’t please her sister by her sword mastery. The anime would take this and run with it, I seem to recall.

So things look almost ready to wrap up here. Keitaro and Naru aren’t together, but both know their feelings for each other. And they got into Todai. Looks as if this series is ready to wrap up. Of course, it’s not. There’s 2 more omnibuses to go. Join us next time when we introduce the second most controversial character in all of Love Hina (Naru being first, of course.)

Bookshelf Briefs 6/18/12

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This week, Sean, MJ, and Michelle look at recent releases from Kodansha Comics, VIZ Media, and Vertical, Inc.

Fairy Tail, Vol. 19 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – I suspect that this arc will wrap up in the next volume, which is good. Of course, that means that this volume is all fighting, which is bad. Not that it makes for a bad volume, it’s just harder to know what to say about it. Our heroes get an assist from the Blue Pegasus Guild, who arrive to tell everyone how to defeat the bad guy. Jellal starts to remember some things – particularly Natsu hating him, which is sort of amusing. And Erza gets to kick ass, which is probably the main reason anyone reads Fairy Tail. There’s a cute little short story right near the end which shows Lucy putting Fairy Tail over love, to no one’s surprise. Overall, though, it’s a fighting volume, so sit back and watch the punches and magic as we crawl closer to a climax. –Sean Gaffney

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 3 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – Certain situations in stories (no matter the medium) never fail to make me feel antsy, and right at the top is “misunderstandings that could be cleared up by communication,” followed closely by “no no no, don’t trust that girl, something terrible is going to happen!” The third volume of A Devil and Her Love Song had me on edge because both elements are in play, as a superficially sunny student returns to class and proceeds to make herself appear to be Maria’s victim. One really does feel for Maria throughout, as she is honestly confused, and there are some great scenes where she gets support from the three friends she has thus far managed to make. Maria may be prickly, but she’s always honest and never fake, and this volume really makes it clear how much potential she has to be a truly fabulous friend. Heartily recommended. – Michelle Smith

The Earl and the Fairy, Vol. 2 | By Mizue Tani and Ayuko | VIZ Media – This volume of EaF is a bit darker than the first one, and there seems to be an air of melancholy about the whole thing. When one of our protagonists betrays Edgar, he seems less surprised than simply resigned. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a lot of his backstory yet. Which, while it adds to the air of mystery around him, makes him hard to take seriously as an ‘antagonist’. He’s not really bad enough for Lydia to be doubting him as much as she is, so we just end up frustrated with her. That said, the volume’s climax, with Lydia displaying some amazing gumption *and* cleverly resolving the whole ‘title’ thing, is well-handled, and actually makes the rewards feel earned. The volume ends with a brief tease for the future two volumes, but it also marks a good stopping place for those who find this series OK, but not great. –Sean Gaffney

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Vol. 3 | By Toru Fujisawa | Vertical, Inc. – It’s no secret that the first two volumes of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan were an unexpected success with me, so it should be no surprise that I had a similar experience with the third. Onizuka continues to be my new favorite shounen anti-hero even when he’s creepy, which is certainly the case in this volume. Thankfully, Onizuka’s creepiness is easily trumped by his badass brand of insightful compassion, though it’s worth mentioning that this volume’s most poignant moments belong to the White Swan kids themselves, whose tragic histories are laid out for us with honesty and true pathos. Less successful is a middle chapter revolving around the White Swan’s perverted headmaster, rendered tolerable only by its brevity. Fortunately, no amount of questionably tasteful vagina metaphors can cancel out this series’ general awesomeness. Still recommended. – MJ

Pick of the Week: Abundance

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MJ: There’s quite a bit manga on its way to Midtown Comics this week, but despite the wide range of tasty-looking titles, making my pick is astonishingly easy. Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves is one of my very favorite titles currently running, and a new volume of that trumps nearly anything else the industry could put before me. I love this series’ idiosyncratic artwork, its passive protagonist, its ambiguous morality, and its meandering style. For me, this series is always a must-buy.

KATE: I second MJ’s recommendation; House of Five Leaves is my favorite Natsume Ono manga (it beats out Ristorante Paradiso by a whisker), and I never miss an opportunity to sing its praises. The other series on my mind this week is Alice in the Country of Hearts, which Yen Press rescued from licensing purgatory. I missed out on Alice when Tokyopop was publishing it, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to read it without bankrupting myself or resorting to scans. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this title’s shojolicious riff on Alice in Wonderland, so I go into the new two-in-one editions with high hopes.


MICHELLE: I’ll cast my vote for Yen Press’s license rescue of Alice in the Country of Hearts, which is hitting stores complete in three omnibus editions. Yes, I’ve read it already, but I had to rely on a somewhat dodgy translation for the final volume, so I’m looking forward to checking it out and seeing whether it makes any more sense (hopefully!) when handled by professionals!

SEAN: I know very little about Olympos other than that it’s a josei manga from Ichijinsha, and is apparently about Apollo and Ganymede. It’s always fascinating to see how Japan handles Western mythology, and the art for this series looks absolutely gorgeous. (The author also did Utahime, which DMP has.) It’s also nice to get a manga that’s complete in one, which this is, by virtue of it being an omnibus collecting both Japanese volumes. But I have to say, in a week which already features a lot of high-minded and worthy manga, Olympos simply looks *classy*. Looking forward to it.

BRIGID: Well, you guys grabbed the obvious choices, so let me chime in with a recommendation for a manga that is near the end of its run: Vol. 32 of Kekkaishi. I have only started reading this series, but what I have read I have liked a lot—it’s a shonen battle manga with a lot of personality. It has the usual ingredients—teenage boy with special powers, girl who is a childhood friend—but it also has some nice quirks (the main character longs to be a pastry chef) and the art is clear and easy to follow—even the fight scenes, which often lose me in shonen manga. It’s hard to jump in over 30 volumes into a series, but Viz has started issuing the earlier volumes as 3-in-1 omnibus editions, and the first 27 volumes are also available digitally. It’s a nice alternative if you’re just in the mood for some straight-up shonen manga.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 1

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By Magica Quartet and Hanokage. Released in Japan by Houbunsha, serialized in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Forward. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This is another in a series of media tie-in manga where I have not actually seen the original medium. With Haruhi Suzumiya’s manga I can at least tell you how the manga falls down when compared to the anime and light novels. And Higurashi is the interesting case where most fans agree the manga *is* better than the anime. Madoka Magica, though, is a big phenomenon, one I know through cultural osmosis more than anything else. And while this manga adaptation was perfectly pleasant and didn’t have anything hideously wrong with it (except maybe the usual art style problems), I came away from it with the desire to see the anime and see how it improved on the story. Which, admittedly, may be the reason for many media tie-in adaptations – to get you to seek out the anime/game/novel/toy.

The manga adaptation of this series ran in a seinen magazine for young men, Manga Time Kirara Forward (one of Houbunsha’s many ‘Manga Time’ variations, though unlike most other series that run there Madoka Magica is not a 4-koma). And indeed, despite the cute magical girl plot, young men seems to very much be its target audience. Not that there’s a huge amount of fanservice or adult situations – there isn’t, really. But a lot of this reads like how a male anime fan would want magical girl shows to work. Darker, more weaponized, with a lot less shining optimism. As for me, a person who loves his shining optimism, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Forming a contract to become a magical girl is presented as something you can’t turn back from, and the cliffhanger for this volume fills you with dread rather than inspiring you.

And then there’s Kyubey. As I said, cultural osmosis has led me to know several things about this work without actually seeing it, and Number One With A Bullet was that everyone hates Kyubey. Kyubey looks cute and adorable, like many mascots in similar shows, but his lack of real expression and determination to make magical girls give the whole thing an ominous undertone. Even if I didn’t know about him, I suspect I’d find him creepy.

Our heroine is a bright and shiny optimist in the Usagi mode, and she’s contrasted here with Homura, who is cynical, grumpy, and clearly has a horrific past we don’t know about yet. There’s a yuri fandom associated with this series, and it’s no surprise that these two are a big part of it. Homura is a girl with a mission, and that mission seems to be to stop Madoka becoming a magical girl. Well, so far so good… but with her best friend giving in, I’m not sure how long that’s going to hold up. As for Mami, well, she fills her function. And she does have one of the better lines in the book when she notes that “magical girls don’t always have to be allies”. That line more than anything else shows this is not a shoujo magical girl manga.

As I said at the start, this is pretty solid for the most part. The art is a bit generic (I really couldn’t tell they were designed by Ume Aoki of Sunshine Sketch fame, which I could when I saw the odd anime screencap), but the beats all seem to be there. If you are like me, and can deal with emotional wreckage better on the printed page than on the screen, then this may be the Madoka Magica for you. Anime fans, though, I suspect won’t find much here that’s new.