Too Lazy To Come Up With A Decent Title Even
You know how it is: Bored at work, but too lazy to write anything
substantive. What to do? Answer: Link to what other
people are blogging.
First up,
Dave
Lartigue reports on some of the manga he's read recently.
More cheers for
Planetes, more jeers for the
"misogynistic streak" running through
Sanctuary, and
comments on several other manga. Also, Dave reproduces a number
of synopses from the Tokypop site in an effort to show that "a load of
the manga they're bringing over here is crap." Maybe I just have
really lowbrow tastes, but the sheer goofiness of some of the summaries
really appeals to me:
"When Mink rushes to buy the latest CD by her
favorite pop star, Illiya, she winds up instead with a software disc
from the future that allows her to become whomever she wants."
"Hideki's luck changes when he discovers Chi - an adorable but
seemingly stupid Persocom - tied up in a pile of trash. His first robot
companion turns out to be a lot more responsibility than he expected,
and she gets him into quite a few embarrassing situations."
"When he sees his crush, Risa, he transforms into his alter ego, the
phantom thief Dark Mousy. Unfortunately, when Dark Mousy sees his
crush, Risa's twin Riku, he transforms back into Daisuke."
That last one in particular sounds like something straight out of a
Silver Age DC comic. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but I
like
goofy Silver Age stories. I'm not saying I want a return to a
period where every comic reads in the same stilted yet strangely
endearing manner, but I do like the occasional comic that's just
unabashedly
fun.
Anyway, Dave ends his piece by writing "There's a lot of bad comics and
some good comics, and some of each is American and some of each is
Japanese. Rather than having idiotic discussions about which format and
country is better, why not point out which titles -- from either source
-- are worth reading?" Aside from the characterization of certain
discussions as 'idiotic,' that's a sentiment I can get on board with.
Next,
Shawn
Fumo, recently returned to blogging, points to a site that's come
up with a few more
Manga
Stacks of varying degrees of Intimidation. Start sending your
requests for future matchups to Alex at Keromaru: I think his
Photoshop skills are much more developed than mine.
Finally,
Sean
Collins did the legwork and found that, according to the US Supreme
Court,
virtual kiddie porn ain't kiddie porn. But as the
soon-to-be-wed
Dave
Intermittent points out, individual communities could still find
comics such as
Blankets or
Battle Royale
obscene by local community standards. So be careful out there,
especially if you're a retailer in
Jesus Castillo's
old neck of the woods. And, Tokyopop, a little more info would be
nice so readers and retailers know what they might be getting into.
