Self-Loathing Theatre
Augie De Blieck Jr. reviews two manga in
this
week's Pipeline. I haven't read any
Lupin III, but I
have read the first two volumes of
Iron Wok Jan. I'm not
sure what Augie meant by referring to this series as his "
personal
comics find of the year": I've always understood the
expression "personal find" as signifying the unassisted discovery of
something no one else knows about. But
Iron Wok Jan has
been recommended by a number of reviewers:
Randy
Lander,
Greg
McElhatton,
Peter Siegel,
Tony
Isabella,
Bill
Sherman, and probably others I'm overlooking. Perhaps all
Augie meant to say was that
Iron Wok Jan is something he just
got around to reading, and boy is he enjoying it so far. It just
seems strange not to mention the critical buzz surrounding this book,
which appears to be one of those manga (along with
Uzumaki)
that
even self-proclaimed non-manga devotees universally enjoy.
Personally, I've always been surprised that
Iron Wok Jan enjoys
such critical acclaim. Although the book stands out for its
efforts to make cooking exciting,
Iron Wok Jan also relies
heavily on the formulas of many
shonen
(young boy) manga, most notably the single-minded determination to
become the best
X there is (where
X = ninja, card game
player, cook, shaman, fighter, pirate, etc.), usually driven by some
half-acknowledged desire to live up to a family member's demands or
expectations. This isn't to say that
Iron Wok Jan isn't
fun, but I am surprised that more attention isn't given to how
formulaic the series can be.
I suppose part of it depends on how familiar one is with a given
formula, and I don't know how familiar various reviewers are with manga
conventions. Bill Sherman, who's pretty up-front with the fact
that he's just beginning to explore manga, does point out how
Iron
Wok Jan fits the mold of another genre he's familiar with:
"In a way, the chapters of
Iron Wok Jan! are structured like an
old Silver Age superhero comic: we have a problem and our cooking hero
solves it, then explains how s/he solved it to the other chefs and the
reader." And Augie points out how
Iron Wok Jan subverts
the expectations of romantic comedies: "As you can imagine, two
opposing personalities like that are bound to explode when pushed
together. Thankfully, this isn't MOONLIGHTING. This isn't romantic
tension. They sidestep that thorny and clichéd issue all
together in this book. Jan and Kiriko are heated rivals, and that's the
end of it. There are some stories that present one or the other finding
new things to respect in their opposite number, but there is no sense
that a romance is a fait accompli." (Bill doesn't sound convinced
that
Iron Wok Jan will be able to avoid the
Moonlighting/
Cheers
effect, writing "At one point, the two trade so many one word barbs
that you just know romance is inevitable.")
Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure how
qualified I am to pontificate on the conventions of shonen manga, since
my exposure to that genre is basically limited to what I've read from
one source--
Shonen Jump. Perhaps my perspective on the
matter is skewed by the material Viz has chosen to carry in the
anthology. And I haven't even bothered to discuss the ways in
which
Iron Wok Jan deviates from the formulaic structure I
think I see in other shonen manga. (For one thing, Jan, the
protagonist, is characterized as irritating and unlikeable, which is a
change from other shonen manga where the lead is portrayed as kind and
sympathetic.)
So what was my point again? I think all I've really done in this
rambling entry is expose myself as one of those annoying commentators
who's read just enough about something (in this case, manga) to act
like an expert when he thinks others are getting it wrong. Which
is especially ironic/annoying/hypocritical because less than a year ago
I was begging readers' forgiveness for my lack of knowledge regarding
manga as I set out to review manga for
Anime News Network.
So today's lesson? Man, I suck.
