A Look Back At Bargains
Reporting back on some of the
bargains
I mentioned two weeks ago:
Crying
Freeman Perfect Collection: Portrait of a Killer -
Yep. I thought this looked like "a gonzo mix of sex and violence,
all gorgeously illustrated by
Ryoichi Ikegami," and I was right. The gimmick of having Hinomura
Yo cry every time he assassinates someone was a bit odd, though.
Was this meant as a way of making an otherwise unlikable character
sympathetic? ("Yeah, he kills all kinds of people, but he feels
really
bad about it.")
Gon
- Short, silly, silent strips detailing a tiny but powerful dinosaur's
run-ins with other wildlife. The stories are cute but a bit too
quick, even taking into account the time that one can spend admiring
Masashi Tanaka's lavish artwork. I'm wondering how this book
would go over with young children. On the one hand, the stories
are easy to follow and full of broad humor. But on the other
hand, kids might be put off by the detailed artwork, which almost seems
like the antithesis of what one generally considers cartooning due to
its intricate linework.
Club 9
Volume 2 - I generally think of this as a fun,
lighthearted series, so re-reading the chapters collected in this
volume came as somewhat of a shock: I'd forgotten how tense the
scenes dealing with a customer who attempts to force himself on Haruo
are. The book is still an upbeat one overall, but that opening
sequence is as dark and suspenseful as anything Hitchcock came up with.
Chobits
Volume 1 - I can see what
Johanna
likes about this manga, but I still think it's all dressed up in a
manner too geared towards titillation. For example, Chi, a
persocom (a humanoid computer companion), is "turned on" when Hideki
sticks his finger up her vagina. Chi's arousal/activation is
visually reinforced by having all her tattered garments fly off before
she throws her naked body at Hideki. Hideki lusts after Chi,
which is a bit disturbing since the art and plot cast her as a young
child relying on Hideki as her guardian. Later, Hideki meets up
with a little boy who surrounds himself with persocoms dressed as (and
presumably serving as) personal sex slaves. In the end,
the interesting themes this book touches on are undercut by
the art's pervasive pandering.
Sanctuary
Volume 6 - Less annoying misogyny in this volume
compared to earlier ones,
although perhaps that's only because the general presence of women is
almost nil: Ishihara hardly has any scenes in this volume, and
when she does appear, it's basically to fawn over Hojo. A nice
twist involving the primary antagonist of the series and the standard
lovely art from Ikegami make this an enjoyable installment in this
pulpy, political manga.
Berserk
Volume 2 - Well, the villain in this volume was
imaginatively grotesque (I was reminded of the oversized morphing
flesh-babies from AKIRA combined with the slug-people from UZUMAKI) but
the story still fell flat for me. I
can see how the over-the-top action is exciting in a visceral sort of
way, but there's really nothing to ground the spectacle. Yes, I
know that Kenturo Miura is slowly planting the seeds for the eventual
reveal of Guts' tragic past, but it's already two volumes in and I
simply don't care.
Benkei
in New York - The character of Benkei is definitely the
best part of this book. Pudgy and principled (he won't use a gun,
because it distances one too much from the intimacy of the kill), he's
definitely not your average hired killer. But the stories
themselves are somewhat unsatisfying. I'm not exactly sure
why. Perhaps I'm having trouble reconciling the realistic art
with the implausible plots. It's not a bad book by any means, but
I found it disappointing somehow. Perhaps my expectations were
just too high going in.
Ripley's
Believe It Or Not! - A fun but forgettable collection of
strange cases wrapped up in three separate tales. Reminded me
somewhat of Paradox Press' "Big Book" series, but those were probably
more successful in the end because they didn't try to force unrelated
events into one narrative.
Batman:
Gotham Noir - Probably one of the best Elseworlds I've
read, in part because it focuses on a different character than usual
(Jim Gordon instead of Batman) and does such a good job of evoking the
style it's emulating. This really did feel like a noir thriller,
complete with the down-on-his-luck P.I., the dangerous dames, and the
rotten underbelly of polite society. Writer Ed Brubaker turns in
some great hard-boiled dialogue, while artist Sean Phillips and
colorist Dave Stewart do an outstanding job on the artistic
duties. I also thought the twist at the end worked very well.
Batman:
Reign of Terror - What can I say? It was a Batman
Elseworlds. It hit all the familiar notes, although surprisingly
the Joker was not present (unless I missed him). Instead, the
villain of the piece was Harvey Dent, here playing the role of the
Phantom of the Opera. I'm not up on my French literature, so I'm
sure there were references that slipped past me, but it was still a
mildly fun diversion with nice José Luis
García-López art.
Reaper
- Yeesh, this was awful. Reading this I was reminded of the guy
in your high school art class
who spent all his time drawing muscle-bound barbarians chopping up each
other, with the carnage rendered in excruciating detail. I
imagine this is the kind of comic that guy would go on to
create. Plus, it really was an amalgamation of almost every
CrossGen comic ever published. You had a brash young warrior
(Ethan from SCION) who was preternaturally
skilled in combat (Arwyn from SOJOURN); a viciously sadistic and
seemingly unbeatable foe (Mordath from SOJOURN; Charon from NEGATION;
Bron from SCION; come to think of it, pretty much any CG bad guy); a
mysterious floating
lady who went through all the trouble of putting on clothes, only to
have her nipples perpetually showing anyway (kind of a combination of
CG's "mentor" concept with the revealing wardrobe of THE FIRST); a
grotesque henchmen created by the very villain he was sworn to destroy
(Javi from MARK OF CHARON or any of the Negation from CRUX); a
nebulously Asian setting (WAY OF THE RAT, THE PATH); horribly bloody
and violent swordplay (THE PATH); and a magical MacGuffin everyone's
fighting over (WAY OF THE RAT, SOJOURN).
