I was invited to MangaNEXT last weekend, which took place in Secaucus New Jersey. I knew it would be a small con, but I was quite interested to see what it would be like. After all, it claimed to be the first con dedicated to manga – which sounded good to my ears.

The first thing that I noticed about the con when I arrived was that the dealer room was fairly small and the Artists’ Alley was actually quite large with a lively gaming area in the back. I thought this was great because I always enjoy Artists’ Alleys and seeing what the fans are up to. I liked the way this convention focused on the fans and I’d love to see more anime cons in the future give more space to the artists and less to the dealers.

I, myself, had a table in Artists’ Alley where I showed off preview copies of Mangaka America. I was a little apprehensive about what the reaction would be to the book, since many hardcore manga and anime fans are purists and I feared I would receive a bit of backlash for that. But to my delight, everyone who stopped by the table seemed interested and intrigued by the book which was a good sign. And since I’m on the topic, I’ll plug the book again real quick as its release is only weeks away.

Mangaka America a 148 page full color art and tutorial book featuring work from 11 of North America’s most talented, emerging manga artists. Published by Collins Design, this book includes art by Svetlana Chmakova, Felipe Smith, Corey Lewis, Christy Lijewski, and more, with tutorials on everything from digital toning and inking to character and mech design. You can currently pre-order it online through sellers such as Amazon.com and it will be available in bookstores everywhere November 1st. (It’s also available through Diamond so your local comic store can order it as well.)

Okay, back to MangaNEXT. As I mentioned, I liked Artists’ Alley and it was great to see that it seemed quite full of people on Saturday. (Sunday was considerably more quiet). Cosplay was in full force at this convention – and I noticed that the average age of the attendees seemed to be younger than many other cons I have attended.

Their program book listed tons of panels – many of which sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, I think there may have been too many offerings as the panels I went to were poorly attended. I poked a bit of fun at this in my webcomic (www.mypoorlydrawnlife.com), but there really were no hard feelings.

I think a solution would have been to combine some panels with similar topics of interest. For instance, there was a Manga 4 Kids panel and a Manga for Parents panel. According to the description, the Manga for Parents seemed geared more towards explaining to parents what kids like about manga, (as opposed to talking about titles they might like), but what better way to do this than to have kids in the room who can explain it themselves?

But I have to admit that small panels can have their own appeal. I attended the Manga 4 Kids panel with Brigid Alverson (of mangablog.net) and her sound assistant Jack, and we ended up pulling some chairs in a circle so we could have a talk with 2 young girls about their favorite titles. It was less like a panel and more like an intimate conversation, but I enjoyed it!

Speaking of combining panels, I think it would have also been cool to have an overall guest panel with all of the guests at one table discussing various topics rather than give each guest their own, separate panel. I was unable to meet some of the guests who attended MangaNEXT and a panel like this would have been a good chance to not only meet them, but take part in a lively discussion with them. I think this may have drawn more fans as well.

There are no guarantees that MangaNEXT will continue, but despite its setbacks, I hope it does. The first con is always the hardest because it’s trying to figure out its place and its audience. But I feel a manga-oriented con such as this one could be a big success in the future once it finds the right balance. There are already so many anime cons out there, that a manga con is a welcome change and I sincerely hope they stick with it and continue to hold MangaNEXT every year, especially if more and more fans get into making Western doujinshi and other self-published works. I really look forward to what the future brings in that department.

Most of all, I hope it continues because small cons like this are always a unique experience. Seeing all the young cosplayers hanging out in the hallways with their friends and having such a great time is always an inspiring sight for me. Even if it’s starting to make me feel old…

The focus this month is highly intellectual books that will not only make you feel smarter, they’ll make you look smarter when other people go through your comics collection. Each of the titles below (except The Push Man) are must-buy stand-alone volumes that you can loan safely to non-manga fans and impress them. This is what the Comics Journal staff dreams about at night. That said, these titles are not really for younger readers. A lot of issues in them are complex and probably too challenging for high school readers. By challenging I might me “controversial and explicit”. I definitely wouldn’t recommend these books for junior high kids or younger. All of these books are larger than normal manga – around 10″ X 7″, or a little smaller.

How to “Read” Manga: Gloom Party

By Yoshio Kawashima
Digital Manga Publishing

Who would like this book: People who like having jokes explained to them.
Who would hate this book: Hate is such a strong word, isn’t it?

Gloom Party was originally published as a 4-panel or “4-koma” comic strips and published in a collection by Shonen Champion comics. I wish this volume had contained some kind of introduction about where the Gloom Party strips originally appeared – and some preface with an explanation of the format of this book – but none is given beyond the description on the back.

The How to “Read” Manga part of the title is a bit misleading. Notice that “read” is in quotes on the cover. The “How to” refers to the bilingual presentation of the Gloom Party strips. Each strip is presented in the original Japanese with a translation written off to one side. Underneath each strip are footnotes full of cultural explanation.

I enjoy having bizarre or esoteric jokes explained to me. I also enjoy long cultural translation notes in anime and manga. But Gloom Party is full of translation notes and cultural facts that I have never seen before. It has an exhaustive explanation of every joke, in every strip, page after page for 182 pages. It is enough to try anyone’s patience.

One thing that drew me to anime and manga in the first place was an element of inscrutability. I could not understand what was going on in Sailor Moon when I first watched it because it followed a visual language that I was unfamiliar with. The foreign elements of the show of the show made it more appealing. The foreign-ness of Gloom Party, however, is completely isolating. No matter how deeply the translator explains each gag, most of the strips are completely incomprehensible. Even after reading the footnotes, I still have a lot of questions about each joke.

Imagine if you read a version of Gary Larson’s The Far Side written by Martians, and you’ve got Gloom Party.

The only other 4-koma comics I’ve read are Azumanga Daioh, Tori Koro, and some works collected in Secret Comics Japan. Gloom Party is not drawn in the “anime” style like Azumanga Daioh or Tori Koro. Instead, it more closely resembles an underground comic style closer to Secret Comics Japan or the brilliant Short Cuts by Usamaru Furuya.

I recommend Short Cuts and Secret Comics Japan over Gloom Party.

Gloom Party is unquestionably for readers age 18 and up. There are lots of sexually explicit jokes, naked breasts, panty shots, etc. Gloom Party proves that “explicit” is not the same as “sexy”. The only place you will find panty shots that are less sexy than Gloom Party‘s is in the Air Master anime series.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend buying Gloom Party – perhaps on sale. It’s an excellent volume to pull off your shelf and confuse your friends with in the middle of a conversation about crazy crap coming out of Japan.

A Patch of Dreams

By Hideji Oda
Fanfare/Ponent Mon

Who would like this book: Intellectual fans of indy comics.
Who would hate this book: Younger readers looking for casual violence and sexy drawings. Anti-intellectuals.

A Patch of Dreams is a little hard to find, but well worth the effort if you like the intellectual stuff. It is a spin-off of Coo’s World (sometimes spelled Ku’s or Koo’s), a title that is not available in English. After the immediate opening it doesn’t matter that A Patch of Dreams is a spin-off.

Renei is a fine arts major about to graduate from college. Her senior art show is coming up, and she’s under pressure because of it. She doesn’t appear to have many friends at college, her parents are nonexistent, and the only person she’s really close to is the professor she’s having an affair with. Renei is slipping into a deep depression, and is worried she might be going insane.

Renei is having recurring dreams of Ku’s World, a continuation of a dream she had years ago, where every night when she went to sleep she would continue the adventure of the night before. She hasn’t revisited Ku’s World in a long time, but now the dreams are starting again. In Ku’s World Renei is accompanied by her estranged brother and her best friend who committed suicide years ago. There are other bizarre creatures and cute monsters, and a little thing that calls itself God. Creatures from Ku’s World have started turning up in Renei’s real-world life.

In Joseph Campbell’s theory of storytelling, the hero ultimately faces the void alone. This happens in volume 4 of the Nausicaa manga, but it happens in the first chapter of A Patch of Dreams. The creatures in Renei’s dream adventure encourage her to leap into the void after having a conversation about the nature of God.

A Patch of Dreams is heavily intellectual – at times overbearingly so. Readers who appreciate stories about characters facing the void and having conversations about the nature of the universe will enjoy the book, but it will leave many comic readers in the dark. The only comparable graphic novel I’ve read is the Sandman volume A Game of You.

A Patch of Dreams is flipped to read left-to-right, but I didn’t find this distracting. The art is a strange and sketchy style that reminds me more of a traditional artist’s sketchbook than manga. The characters are all very realistic looking (except the monsters).

A Patch of Dreams might appeal more to indy comic fans than traditional manga fans, as many black and white indy comics (Optic Nerve, Jimmy Corrigan) are incredibly depressing. As an indy comics fan I quickly became frustrated at the sad tales the American authors had to tell. A Patch of Dreams takes the reader through the darkest of depressing tales (there may be an abortion or two involved) but eventually it pulls together for a surprisingly happy ending.

The Push Man & Other Stories

By Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drawn and Quarterly

Who would like this book: Mostly Adrian Tomine.
Who would hate this book: I didn’t like it, but I did learn something from it.

This intellectual round-up would be incomplete without a mention of The Push Man. The Push Man is a collection of very short 3 to 4 page stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi collected into one volume. Each story centers on a different character, more like a literary collection of short stories than any manga I’ve ever read. The title story focuses on a young man who’s job is to push people into already-crowded trains so that the doors will close.

Tatsumi’s art is amazing – in simple ink drawings he captures a Tokyo in the 1960′s the likes of which you’ve never seen and may not see anywhere else. There is very little dialog but the stories are very clear and often profound. You might want to flip through The Push Man just for the art.

There is a long afterward by Adrian Tomine, the author of Optic Nerve. Tomine describes reading some bootlegged comics by Tatsumi in his youth – and having read The Push Man and some early works by Tomine you can see the huge influence Tatsumi has had on Tomine’s work.

From the above, you might think that The Push Man is an awesome book that you should buy immediately. But consider this: The Push Man has more dead babies per page (on average) than any other book I have ever read. The number of abandoned baby corpses per page is staggering. The majority of the dead babies are in one story about men working to keep the sewers unclogged. Tiny bundles float by and one worker collects silver crosses from them. He explains to his coworker that women put these crosses on their babies to help them along in the afterlife. A wide shot in the next panel shows a dozen bundles floating by. Afterwards I read A Patch of Dreams, wherein abortion is legal in Japan, and I couldn’t help but consider how much cleaner their sewers must be.

There is only one word to describe The Push Man, and that word is maudlin. Every story is so stark and depressing that it goes through depressing and back into humorous again. I found I had to laugh at the end of each chapter, and I felt bad for laughing, kind of like my experience watching Todd Solond’z film Happiness, except it was harder to tell where The Push Man was supposed to be funny.

Although The Push Man is an excellent book, it is not a book I can recommend to anyone. I’m still haunted and disturbed by some of the short stories. A sequel, called Abandon the Old in Tokyo recently came out. I don’t know if I can bring myself to read it.

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

By Guy Delisle
Drawn and Quarterly

Who would like this book: Everyone.
Who would hate this book: Communists and fascists.

Alright, so this isn’t manga. It’s not even “Global Manga” or OEL. But Pyongyang is the most important book I’ve read this year. It’s a book everyone should read. Besides, I’m reviewing one or two other Drawn & Quarterly titles here, so I might as well throw this in.

Pyongyang is an autobiographical story of an animator who is sent to North Korea to be the overseas supervisor on a low-budget French cartoon. This is a topic I can identify with, as I work in animation, and I recently visited South Korea and met the overseas supervisor of the cartoon show that I work on. Most American cartoons (Spongebob, the Simpsons, everything on Cartoon Network) are animated in Seoul, South Korea. But in recent years South Korea has become more expensive to outsource to, leaving companies reaching out to even cheaper labor forces in India and China. It’s worth noting that most Japanese anime is primarily animated in China. I can only imagine the show’s budget that gets shipped off to North Korea for completion! The French needed to find a place cheaper than Inia or China?

Guy Delisle smuggles a copy of George Orwell’s 1984 and a radio into North Korea – both illegal in a country where all forms of media are heavily censored by the government. I highly suggest reading 1984 before or in conjunction with Pyongyang, because if you haven’t read 1984 you will miss the terrific parallels between Orwell’s predictions and the stark reality of North Korea.

I can’t emphasize enough how Pyongyang is funny, and not at all preachy, and although there are politics, it doesn’t hit you over the head with a political message. Although the situation in North Korea is very depressing, Delisle’s portrait of it is not depressing to read. If the book were preachy or depressing, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.

In one scene, Delisle is listening to music while he does his work in the animation studio. One of his coworkers closes the door to his office several times. Finally he explains angrily to Delisle, “Your music could influence people!”

The only music played on the three radio stations in Pyongyang are propaganda nationalistic anthems about Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Delisle asks his coworkers if they have ever heard of reggae or disco or rap or rock – they have not. A “rave” is something that North Koreans cannot imagine. It’s a simple scene and it is handled humorously, but it had a profound effect on me. For weeks afterwards I considered the simple freedom of being able to listen to the music of my choice.

As soon as I finished reading Pyongyang I began loaning it to my coworkers in the animation studio where I work. Everyone loved it. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Sexy Voice and Robo

By Iou Koroda
Viz

Who would like this book: Almost anyone.
Who would hate this book: Readers who missed the underlying theme because they were looking for a little less talk and a lot more action.

Nico (codename “Sexy Voice”) is a phone sex operator, although most of the people who call her tele-club are just lonely men looking to talk to someone. Although Nico seems much older, the back cover claims that she is 14. Nico’s part time job has given her several skills, including the ability to recognize a voice in a crowd and a talent for manipulating lonely men.

Nico meets a nerdy 20-something whom she nicknames Robo after his robot toy collection. Not exactly friends, and definitely not lovers, Nico and Robo’s relationship is in a state of flux throughout the story. Is Robo Nico’s employee? Her henchman? Her bodyguard? He’s not really sure and he’s too embarrassed to ask.

Nico is resourceful, energetic, talented, and intelligent. She’s as spunky and fiercely independent as any female protagonist you could hope for. Robo is there for contrast – he is drifting aimlessly through life while Nico sails ahead. When asked what she wants to do with her life, Nico responds that she’d like to be a secret agent, a spy, or a fortuneteller.

She sets herself onto this career path during the course of the book when she starts getting work from a mob boss. Nico becomes an unlikely junior detective, completing missions with Robo’s help. At the climax of the book Nico meets an old woman who was once a spy. They exchange the following dialog:

Nico: Why did you become a spy?
Old Woman: I was good with languages and I wasn’t very pretty.
Nico: No, I mean, did you want to be a spy?
Old Woman: I heard from a classmate that they needed translators… I did it because I could.
Nico: But was it something you wanted? Are you glad you did it?
Old Woman: Well… Sometimes it’s your skills… and not your will, that sets you on your path.

This last line is as good career advice as any I have ever heard, and it has certainly proved true in my own career so far. The line is devoted an entire splash page of Nico’s face, in a book where splash pages are rare.

The art of Sexy Voice and Robo is very different from normal manga. The line strength is very dark and sketchy. It almost looks as if the book was drawn with a brush-pen in thick strokes.

In Japan Sexy Voice and Robo was released as two volumes, but Viz has collected both tankoban into one oversized volume. The cover price is $20, but it is well worth the cost. The print quality is good but the paper stock is not the highest quality. Sexy Voice and Robo won the Grand Prize from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Media Arts Festival in 2002, and the MangaCast nominated it for the first ever annual Yomi award in 2005 for Best Short.

I walked into my local Borders the other day and realized something. The manga section is big. Really big. And every few weeks, it seems that they have to add another shelf to accommodate the influx of new titles. Because it’s not just the fact that there are hundreds of individual titles, but almost every one of them has multiple volumes. It’s like cells splitting constantly; Manga is multiplying at an alarming rate!

Of course, this is a sort of dream come true for me. I remember I used to look at photos of Japanese bookstores which were bursting at the seams with rows and rows of manga and I would feel bitterly jealous that there wasn’t something like that over here. Of course, we’re not quite at that point yet, but we’re getting there. The manga section may only take up a small percentage of the average book store, but it is growing and becoming more of a force to be reckoned with.

Although, once my glee died down at the prospect of marvelous multiplying manga, I was forced to realize the downside of it. My bank account.

Back when shoujo was first being released here in the form of titles like Peach Girl, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Mars, I eagerly snapped up every title I could, eager to support comics for girls. I was thirsty after a long drought in male-oriented superhero land, and I even wasted my money on several sup-par titles just because they were shoujo and I wanted shoujo to succeed, dammit! Of course, I had no idea that shoujo would succeed so well or that it would become one of the biggest sellers overall.

It was a surreal moment when I finally realized there was no way I could possibly support every shoujo title that was released. It was impossible. And, over the last couple years, I’ve found myself cutting back on even the series I had started to buy, or dropping some altogether. Because of the sheer volume of titles, I have been forced to become a selective consumer.

I still have my titles which I’ll buy, no matter what, such as Tramps Like Us, Death Note, and new OELs. And there are other titles that I’ll buy additional volumes of if the mood hits me and if I have extra money. But I’ve gotten to the point where I’m very reluctant to start a new series. There are plenty of titles that interest me, but I’ll only buy volume 1 of the titles that really grab me. I wish I could try more new titles, but each series is likely a hundred-dollar investment (or more) by the time it’s done and I’m just not willing to shell out that much for multiple titles.

Which makes me envy another aspect of the Japanese manga market. Their gigantic phonebook anthologies. I really love Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump, the manga compilation magazines which are currently being released by Viz. For a low subscription fee, each month I can read another chapter or two of multiple titles. Nana is one of my favorite series right now, and I’m content to read it in monthly installments. One day I’m sure I’ll go back and buy the individual volumes, but I like not being forced to.

Rather than wait multiple months for the next volume of my favorite series (where I usually forget what happened in the story by the time the next volume does finally come out), with Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat I get small doses of story each month that I look forward to seeing in my mailbox. It keeps my interest fresh and I like the variety. And I find myself really enjoying titles like Crimson Hero, Baby & Me, and Shaman King which, quite honestly, I would never buy in book form otherwise.

But I want more manga anthologies like this! I want to be able to read more titles each month for less money. Of course I realize that it could never be as cheap to produce those phonebook style magazines here in the States as it is in Japan. For one, there are the costs of translating and preparing the material for an English-speaking audience. Printing costs are also higher in general. And most Americans are spoiled by glossy, superior paper stock and may not appreciate newsprint so cheap that the ink comes off on your fingers.

TOKYOPOP has just received some backlash for putting several of their titles on their website as exclusives. While I can understand the frustration of readers and retailers (I certainly wouldn’t be happy if one of my favorite titles was turned into an “exclusive”) I can understand TOKYOPOP’s desire to try this out, especially given how many titles they do have. But I wonder if it might be better to do something like a monthly manga anthology akin to Shonen Jump that features some of these lesser known, or less appreciated titles and eliminate the book format for these titles altogether. That would leave some space on the over-crowded bookshelves yet still allow fans easy access to their favorite titles, along with a few others.

I may be looking at it too simplistically, but I feel that anthologies might be a happy medium for certain titles. I can only speak personally when I say I’d rather buy 5 anthologies with up to 25 stories total for $6 each a month than 3 single manga volumes. And I prefer the idea of subscribing to an “exclusive” magazine with stories unavailable anywhere else over ordering and paying shipping for individual “exclusive” titles off the internet.

I also feel that anthologies would be a great way to promote Global manga. I was happy to hear about Drama Queen’s plans to release a yaoi anthology called Rush on a bi-monthly schedule. But what intrigues me even more is that the stories are not originally Japanese, but contributed by artists around the globe. What a great idea!

Since the creators of OELs typically don’t have their own team of assistants, each volume of their work can take up to a year to see print. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been eagerly awaiting the next volume of Dramacon. If more global manga was made into a monthly or bi-monthly anthology, these artists’ work would see the light of day faster and develop a fan base more quickly. And readers wouldn’t have to wait as long between volumes to read their favorite stories, and they would also be exposed to other OEL titles that they might otherwise have ignored.

Of course, I’m only speaking as a fan. I’m no expert on the particulars of printing or compiling an anthology each month, so I’m sure there are crucial details that I’m overlooking. But I hope some of the bigger manga companies will experiment some more in the future with affordable manga anthologies. In the meantime I’ll just have to ignore some of those colorful new titles that keep catching my eye as I stay loyal to some old friends.

Cartoonist Jamar Nicholas has made the scene with his autobiographical comic from the 90′s, The Jamar Chronicles, and his online comic strip Detective Boogaloo. These days, he’s got a new and quite unusual project going: the Fat Wonder Woman blog, in which a number of comics creators reinterpret the classic DC superhero in a… fuller-figured context. I spoke with Nicholas about what this is all about.

PCS: So what made you want to do a blog with pictures of a fat Wonder Woman?

Jamar Nicholas: A few years ago, I was sitting around with one of my best pals in and out of comics, the legendary Mike Manley, and we were just noodling around on scraps of paper, sketching, just chewing the fat, and what I seem to be good at is randomly putting things together and making them funny. So on one of these occasions, I asked him to draw a fat Wonder Woman, and he obliged. I inked it, and it was pretty good! I think I subconsciously got the idea from Dave Cooper’s Wonder Woman story for that Bizarro [Comics] DC indy [creators] anthology a while back, and I always thought that Dave and that concept was great. Soon after, I had a theme sketchbook and started asking my cartoonist pals to drop a sketch in it. They were all awesome!

As the book started to fill up, people started saying that it would be a great idea as a blog. At first I relented, probably being selfish, but I broke down and created the BBWW blog, and it’s been very, very popular. Who knew?

PCS: What was the range of reactions to the creators to whom you posed this idea?

JN: There was really no “range” – you know how cartoonists are – we’re all a little off-kilter, and we think anything that’s different is great. Well, at least the guys and gals I hang out with. Everybody thinks it’s super, or disturbingly funny – everything good. There was no shock of “desecrating icons” or disgust, if that’s what you may believe. I think only fans act like that. To us it’s just something neat to draw.

PCS: Obviously the female figure has been idealized to a tremendous extent in comics throughout history, especially in superhero comics. Do you see what you’re doing with this blog as a reaction to the more extreme examples of the hyper-sexualized, hyper-exaggerated images of women we’ve seen in recent years?

JN: I think part of the fun for me is seeing comic fans react to the art on the blog. What I’m finding out is that some, usually younger fans, find it repulsive, because they have this ideal about ‘perfection’ and anything that doesn’t fit into their self, or media-made box is rejected. I remember when I was a teenager and I had those girly posters from the Spencers on my wall, but now, In the real world, you find that most of that is make-believe, and you learn to understand that real women have believable, real-world shapes and curves. Wonder Woman is, for all intent and purposes, is supposed to be the ideal woman. It messes with some people, I guess, that the ideal woman doesn’t have to look like a Gold’s Gym rat. That’s really the thing that throws everybody off – WHY fat wonder woman? I read on somebody’s message board, “What’s next? Fat Batman?” Yeah, no. That’s not nearly as intriguing, and doesn’t hold the same weight, pun intended.

PCS: Not as intriguing for you to do or for you to see someone else do?

JN: A picture of a fat Batman or other male superhero is funny ‘ ‘Heh, Spider-Man is fat. He let himself go.’ You don’t think anything else about it. But with this Wonder Woman thing, depending on how it’s done, can be flipped to show that there’s pride there – something ELSE. You get that from the interest that the blog has received. The other guys can go eat cake.

PCS: Would you call it empowering?

JN: Empowerment would be a great way to put it. But as viewed on the blog, the artists sometime take their images to a not-so-nice light, so I can’t say that everyone is striving for the same result – but it is one I believe in.

PCS: As a male, do you find drawing a fat woman more aesthetically pleasing than drawing a physically fit woman?

JN: I think being trained in a way by reading mostly mainstream comics, it’s hard to NOT draw muscle-bound people, and the real stretch is trying to not fall back into that. It’s much more appealing to draw something that’s different. I’d rather not draw that way, and if you’re familiar with my stuff, you know I don’t.

I’m a big, big fan of Dave Cooper, and I think he draws the most interestingly disturbing-slash-appealing girls. I think I like the emotion that comes out of images that ask you to look deeper into your own psyche – to ask yourself, “Why does this drawing make me feel funny?” I’m pretty sure it’s a different feeling looking at a Bloodgirl Dagger-Claw comic vs. a Dave Cooper painting.

September 2006 Blacklights

Checkmate #6 (DC). Amanda Waller brings back the Suicide Squad.

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #4 and LSH: Death of a Dream (DC). Ken Lashley does all the art on Flash and some of the art on the Legion trade.

Snakes on a Plane #1 & 2 (DC/Wildstorm). I recently read an interview with Samuel L. Jackson which helped put this bizarre phenomenon called Snakes on a Plane in some perspective. He said, among other things, that he was more interested in making entertaining movies than so-called ‘important’ ones, and that people get enough drama in real life and could stand some fun and escapism in the movies they see. After reading about the opening weekend screenings of this summer’s most unlikely action film, and seeing how this particular moviegoing experience has become the modern-day equivalent of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I’m inclined to understand his point of view. I have not seen it yet. I never got caught up in all the hype leading up to its release, and while it’s amusing to see Fandom Assembled dissect this movie and its box-office performance up and down the Net, I doubt I ever will see it. Call me a snob if you like. I have my tastes and other people have theirs.

Chuck Dixon calls upon the skills honed, no doubt, in writing Way of the Rat in penning this adaptation.

The American Way #8 (of 8) (DC/Wildstorm). Final issue of what has been a very enjoyable mini-series. Written by John Layman with pencils by Georges Jeanty.

Ant #9 (Image)

Emissary #5 (Image). This is getting to be a pretty decent book. I liked the way the Emissary learned how to express himself better in issue two.

Occult Crimes Taskforce #3 (of 4) (Image). Co-written by Rosario Dawson.

Spawn #162 (Image)

Beyond #3 (of 6) (Marvel). Written by Dwayne McDuffie.

Black Panther #20 (Marvel). Written by Reggie Hudlin. See my thoughts on the wedding arc here.

Blade #1 (Marvel). On the occasion of the premiere of the Blade TV show in June, I did a ‘Blade Week’ at my blog, in which I talked about and/or posted to links about the Wesley Snipes films, the comics, and the show itself. As a result, there’s not too much more I can say about Blade here that I haven’t already said there except this: if this new series is gonna be integrated more fully into the Marvel Universe, that’s fine, but at the same time I hope it doesn’t lose its horror roots. With the unexpected success of Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Zombies mini-series, we’ve seen that horror can still be done within the context of the MU; the one doesn’t have to preclude the other. I hope series creators Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin don’t forget that. Click here for preview pages.

Civil War: X-Men #3 (of 4) (Marvel)

Heroes for Hire #2 and Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets TP (Marvel)

Nextwave #8 (of 12) (Marvel)

Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man (Marvel). Face front, true believers! Olivier ‘Can-Do’ Coipel provides the scintillating sequential scenery for this monumental Mighty Marvel one-shot, part of a series of equally pulse-pounding one-shots, in which The Man Himself, Smilin’ Stan Lee, teams up with your favorite Marvel heroes! It’s history in the making! Nuff said!

Adrenaline #1 (of 8) (A Wave Blue World Inc). This new publisher has been kind enough to provide the entire first issue of this new mini-series free at their website, and after having read it, I can safely say that I think you should give it a try. The protagonist is this African doctor who runs afoul of the heir to a television empire who fancies himself a world traveler and adventurer, and he presents her with an unusual opportunity to raise money for her medical facility. Good dialogue, decent artwork, well-paced story and a heroine you can easily root for. Can’t ask for too much more.

Yenny #7 (Alias)

Gold Digger Annual 2006, Gold Digger Max Pocket Manga V1, Gold Digger Super Poster Mania, and Fred Perry’s S-Guild (Antarctic). Story and art by Fred Perry.

CVO: African Blood #1 (IDW). Talk about your high concepts ‘ this book is about vampires working for the government fighting worldwide threats. Some people might question the logic in using operatives that can only function when the sun goes down, but hey, it’s comics! Anything’s possible, right? Right… Anyway, CVO has been around for awhile, from what I’ve seen at the IDW website, and in this new title, the team heads off to Africa to look for some magic thingamabobs or something. I’m uncertain if this is a mini-series or not but it probably is; the webpage for CVO doesn’t definitively say, nor does the original solicitation.

The Anubis Tapestry: Between Highlights HC (Komikwerks). I almost wasn’t gonna include this, but I figured I should at least mention it. It’s an illustrated novel written by animator Bruce Zick that draws upon African mythology and throws in some other crazy fantasy/pseudo-horror elements as well. Apparently the titular tapestry is one of those all-powerful doodads the ancient Egyptian gods created while they were getting high on hashish or whatever, that can eff things up big-time if it falls into The Wrong Hands. White protagonist of course, so all this kooky primitive stuff won’t seem quite so intimidating. Forgive me if I sound a little snarky; I’m sure this’ll be somewhat decent and all, but it seems like there are already so many stories throughout history, from the Phantom to Tarzan to every mummy movie ever made which appropriate African culture for white audiences. Rarely do you ever see this kind of story with an actual black protagonist. The best example I can think of in recent years is Gregory Walker’s Memnon series of books. (In comics, there’s also Robert Roach’s Menthu.) So I can’t get too excited about this Anubis book unless I was convinced it was nothing less than mind-blowing. And it doesn’t look mind-blowing.

Rosen Graphic Biographies (Rosen Publishing Group). And now, six fun facts about the six people who are the subjects of this series of graphic novel biographies:

You probably know that Muhammad Ali (nee Cassius Clay) won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1964 with an upset victory over Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. Ali trained for the fight in the Fifth Street Gym, where among his many visitors included the Beatles. He taunted and jeered Liston throughout the days leading up to the contest, including the weigh-in on the day of the fight, calling him an ‘ugly old bear,’ but it was nothing more than calculated showmanship, designed to get under the champion’s skin. Less than 9,000 fans were in attendance at the Miami Beach Convention Center (among them, Rocky Marciano and Joe Dimaggio) to watch the 8-to-1 underdog take the title from Liston, and afterwards, he announced his name change from Clay to Ali as a result of his joining the Nation of Islam. Over 40 years later, this fight is still regarded as one of the greatest moments in sports history.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a book about the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, Stride Toward Freedom, in which he described the segregation within the buses. If you were black, you’d pay your fare in the front and then reboard the bus in the back. Often times, black passengers would have to stand over empty ‘whites only’ seats even if there were no white passengers. Also, if all the ‘whites only’ seats were occupied, any additional white passengers could kick out black passengers seated immediately behind the white section. King, of course, went on to become a pivotal figure in the bus boycott, which lasted 13 months until the Supreme Court forced the Montgomery Bus Company to integrate its buses in November 1956.

Nelson Mandela was a superhero! Well, sort of. In 1944 he co-founded a splinter group of the African National Congress because he and his cohorts believed the leadership at the time wasn’t up to the goal of national emancipation for South Africa. He would go on to become a major leader in the fight against apartheid, but in 1960, the ANC was outlawed, and the next year he was forced to go underground after publicly challenging the ruling regime to either adopt a more democratic system of law or expect a mass general strike. During this period he was separated from his family and had to adopt a number of aliases in numerous places, always one step ahead of the police. For this, he was referred to as the Black Pimpernel, a riff off the Scarlet Pimpernel, the title character from the book about the French Revolution. Whether he wore a cape and mask is unknown.

Many consider Exodus the definitive Bob Marley album. Indeed, Time named it the best album of the 20th century, one which includes the classic reggae songs ‘One Love,’ ‘Jamming,’ and ‘Exodus.’ It was recorded after a failed attempt on Marley’s life in December 1976. Six armed men took shots at Marley, his wife Rita, some of their children, and his manager in their Kingston, Jamaica home. There was speculation that it may have been politically motivated, possibly even carried out by the CIA. A week after the shooting, Marley and the Wailers would perform at a music festival in Kingston, and one of their great anthem songs, ‘War,’ was very much directed at the CIA. Exodus was recorded the following year and would go on to spend 56 weeks on the UK album chart.

Rosa Parks was involved in the civil rights movement, and activism in general, long before her fateful bus ride. After finishing her high school studies in 1933 (she was forced to drop out in order to care for her grandmother and mother), she succeeded in registering to vote after three attempts. In 1943 she joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and served as volunteer secretary, a position she would hold for the next 14 years. (Her husband Raymond was also a member.) At one point she worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for a liberal white couple who helped sponsor her at a Tennessee education center for workers’ rights and racial equality. Three months after the murder of black teenager Emmett Till at the hands of whites, she was at a meeting in Montgomery centered around how to respond to this and other recent murders.

A USA Today article from this past spring talked about the deification, so to speak, of Oprah Winfrey. Apparently there’s this growing movement, if one can call it that, in which the celebrated talk show hostess is looked upon as not just a savvy businesswoman and influential media figure, but as a spiritual leader and moral conscience for many people. The article at the link goes into more detail.

Earthlight V1 (TokyoPop) and Firestorm the Nuclear Man #29 (DC). It’s been a pretty good year for Stuart Moore. His run as writer of Firestorm has begun to get some serious notice (even if DC STILL hasn’t put out a trade paperback yet ‘ makes you wonder what they’re waiting for), and now he’s entering the world of manga with this new title called Earthlight. It’s set on a lunar colony, with the focus on a small group of teens. The central character is a kid named Damon whose father is the new head of the colony. Plus there’s all sorts of political turmoil back on Earth that affects things on the colony. You could say it sounds a bit like Deep Space Nine from Jake Sisko’s perspective. Based on what Moore’s doing on Firestorm and what I’ve seen of his writing elsewhere, on books like Para, I think this could be good. Moore’s specialty is hard sci-fi, and he has said in interviews that the work of Robert Heinlein, especially his teen novels, was a major influence on Earthlight. As someone who favors more multi-cultural outer space fiction, this sounds like it’s exactly up my alley, so I’m gonna make a leap of faith and name this my Buzz Book of the Month. I think this has a strong potential to appeal to all kinds of people. Wanna know more? Check out this interview with Moore about Earthlight.

Jamal Igle pencils Firestorm; Brian Stelfreeze does the cover.

Seven: Gluttony #1 (of 7) (Zenescope). The Gift writer Raven Gregory kicks off this anthology of horror stories inspired by the David Fincher film.

I don’t think I mentioned the new Astro City: Samaritan one-shot. That got by me, but don’t let it get by you because it’s really good. It’s a Samaritan story, but the focus is on his nemesis Infidel, a centuries-old sorcerer who has fought Samaritan so many times that they’ve reached a d’tente of sorts. As usual with an AC story, it’s as much about the character as it is the story, and Infidel is a fascinating super-villain, with a specific worldview shaped by his experiences and the intelligence to operate on a near-cosmic scale. Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson once again make it all look easy. Pick this one up ‘ and don’t forget to keep an eye out for Book Two of Astro City: The Dark Age this fall.

Geoffrey Thorne is a sci-fi writer, mostly in the field of Star Trek novelizations, crossing over into comics, and his new title The Red Line looks like a winner. It’s not too far removed from the Astro City paradigm, actually: set in a city full of superheroes, the story focuses on a girl in a neighborhood mostly overlooked by the heroes ‘ that is, until a big fight blows her way and she accidentally acquires a weapon of immense power. What she does with it next is the basis for the series. Very solid dialogue and characterization, with decent art. Give it a try ‘ and look for his Star Trek: Titan novel next summer!

Till next time…

2006 will be halfway over by the time you read this, so let’s take this month to look back on what we got in the realm of black comics so far and what we should expect down the road. Overall, I’d have to say it’s been a good though not great year so far. Some work has really jumped out at me and gotten me excited, but not a lot. I’ve made a few wonderful discoveries, talent-wise, and been disappointed by quite a few others as well. Still, I remain hopeful that more gems will be uncovered. (Keep in mind that there are a few titles I haven’t gotten to yet, like Lance Tooks‘ The Devil and Miles Davis or the new issue of Brodie’s Law).

Stagger Lee is without a doubt the year’s best black comic to date. The true-crime aspect of the story is the main focus – creating a narrative based on what little is known about the life of the real Stagger Lee, and that alone is fascinating. The creators, however, also sprinkle in short pieces, mostly humorous, about the history of Stagger Lee in song, a history which is just as interesting. Beautiful artwork and strong dialogue and storytelling, this is dynamite stuff. Congratulations to Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix for putting this out.

By contrast, Public Enemy is perhaps the biggest disappointment so far. I explain why in my blog. It’s not even as if I expected it to be that great a book, but given the rap group’s long history of eloquence on the microphone, speaking out about the issues that matter most to the black community, to see them reduced to being just another misunderstood superhero team is not what I had hoped for. The book could get better, but I honestly don’t hold out much hope for that. (Click here for preview pages from PE #0)

David Bircham and Daley Osiyemi‘s Brodie’s Law left a huge impression on me after picking it up at the New York Comic-Con. The British duo hooked up with Markosia Publishing this year, only the company has gone through some serious financial restructuring since. Let’s hope that the changes have been to D&D’s benefit and that their awesome crime book will take off, because these guys are ready for the big time.

Eric Jerome Dickey has done an outstanding job with the Storm mini-series; better than I could have anticipated, and David Yardin’s art is a revelation. I cannot wait to see how the collected hardcover edition does in the bookstore market this fall. Marvel absolutely must not forget the black bookstores; they will provide the biggest litmus test in how well the black audience – particularly the black female audience – takes to this book. This is something I plan to examine in closer depth in my blog when the hardcover is released.

Reggie Hudlin has so far handled the wedding storyline in Black Panther ably, for the most part. I have been most impressed with his willingness to let BP and Storm, these two near-iconic heroes let their hair down, figuratively speaking, and behave like old lovers reunited instead of paragons. I think it’s important to make that distinction.

I admit I haven’t been following Firestorm all that closely since One Year Later began, but from what I have seen of it, Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle continue to impress. Jason has indeed become much more confident in the use of his powers, and while I do think there is some merit to the belief I’ve seen expressed that Jason has inherited too many of his predecessor’s trappings (the puffy-sleeved costume, Professor Stein, Lorraine, college, etc.), he still seems to me like he’s his own man.

Other highlights: Doug Braithwaite has been the unsung hero of Alex Ross’ Justice maxi-series, which continues to pull strong numbers and has gone back to press on more than one issue, which should give you some idea of the demand for this fully-painted Justice League tale… One screenwriter, John Ridley, has put together a superb period superhero mini-series in The American Way (with Georges Jeanty), while another screenwriter, Kevin Grevioux, has gotten his line of books at Alias off to a flying start… Luke Cage and Jessica Jones had their baby and tied the knot… Fred Perry celebrated fifteen years of the manga action comedy Gold Digger… The two major black comics conventions, in Chicago and Philadelphia, both had good years; you can read about them by going through the archives of my blog… And the American release of Jean-Pierre Stassen’s Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda brought this moving and poignant story the wider audience it deserves.

New talent? There’s been quite a bit to go around. Earlier this year you got to meet Mark Page of the all-ages fantasy comic Kana’s Island. I’ve mentioned cartoonist Masheka Wood here before; look for a huge interview with him and his fiancée and fellow cartoonist Mikhaela Reid in my Comic World News column this month. The team of Robert Garrett and Patrick David has gotten off to a nice start with their futuristic martial arts epic Galtow. And while neither of them are new exactly, both Steven Walters and Robert Roach have been getting noticed with their respective books, Suburban Folklore and The Roach. Plus, with the launch of the black online comics web site Paradigm, one can check out even more new talent.

Things to look forward to: the Black Panther/Storm wedding finally happens this month in Black Panther… Dwayne McDuffie‘s new mini-series Beyond debuts this month, as does the latest volume of the Bluesman graphic novel… A new Blade series is on the horizon, with industry legend Howard Chaykin illustrating… A graphic novel biography of Malcolm X is due this fall… Mat Johnson has a new Vertigo mini-series forthcoming… The big Captain Africa/Purge crossover, Crimson Seed, is coming (and if you picked up the ashcan preview at ECBACC, you have a pretty good idea of how beautiful this will be when it’s completed)… Big changes have already begun for Steel in DC’s weekly mega-series 52, and they’re only gonna increase… The Boondocks comic strip will come back from hiatus this fall (no official release date on Season 2 of the animated series yet)…

…and sometime soon, we hope, we PRAY, Kyle Baker will finish Nat Turner!

Comic-Con International is this month, and once again, I’ll follow the proceedings in San Diego as it pertains to the black comics and creators in the Glyphs blog. Also, as I said, look for my interview with Masheka Wood and Mikhaela Reid in my Comic World News column this month. These two do excellent political cartoon work and they’re just beginning to take off, and they both have a lot to say about the way of the world right now, so don’t miss that. Also, look for an interview with Candorville creator Darrin Bell in Glyphs this month.

July 2006

Perhapanauts TPB (Dark Horse)

Robin: To Kill a Bird TP (DC). With some art by Damion Scott. Look for him in a new series from DC this fall.

Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #3 (of 3) (DC). Final issue.

52 Week 12 (DC). Inked by Rob Stull.

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2 (DC). Art by Ken Lashley.

Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #27 (DC). Pencils by Jamal Igle. That’s an awesome Brian Stelfreeze cover, isn’t it?

The American Way #6 (of 8) (DC/Wildstorm). Story and pencils by Ridley & Jeanty.

Occult Crimes Taskforce #1 (of 4) (Image). Hmmm… what to say about Rosario Dawson? Not much, really. She was alright in Sin City, I guess, though I hated the movie. Interested to see what she’ll be like in Clerks 2, even if she is in what looks like a rather unglamorous role.

I know; I’ll talk about her role in Rent. Yes, sports fans, that’s right – I’m a fan of the long-running Broadway musical. I remember when they were still offering reduced-price tickets that you had to wait on line all day for. That’s how I got to see it. I went with my friend Travis and friends when the original cast was still performing and we got seats in the third or fourth row, so we could see it all. As you probably know by now, Rent is a modern-day version of La Boheme, set in Manhattan’s East Village during the late 1980s, give or take. It’s about a year in the lives of hipster artisans being threatened with eviction from their squat by one of their own who sold out and now wants to develop a high-tech studio space with the help of his rich girlfriend. It’s also about love and loss in the time of AIDS, and how living can be braver than dying.

Dawson’s character, Mimi, is at the heart of the story’s love triangle. A nightclub dancer, she meets Roger, a musician living in the same building as her, and though she’s attracted to him, she’s ashamed to tell him that she has AIDS. (Of course, Roger is in the same situation himself.) To complicate things, she has a history with Roger’s ex-roommate Benny, the guy who’s now trying to build his super-studio.

Rent the film was fairly different from Rent the musical, even though most of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles. The timeline is different, for one thing. Act One takes place in a single night, Christmas Eve, in the musical; in the film it’s stretched out a few days. Some songs are taken out, including the bittersweet “Without You,” a Mimi-and-Roger song (that actually appears as a deleted scene on the DVD). Bits of dialogue and/or monologue that are sung in the musical are either spoken in the film or removed altogether. Some changes I could deal with, but others I didn’t care for. They’re the kind of things a fan of the musical would notice but not someone who’s never seen it. I thought Benny was shortchanged significantly in the film. He’s not as critical a presence as he is in the musical, and Taye Diggs, who’s a strong singer, didn’t come across as such here. Overall, I didn’t hate the film version, but all the changes stuck out in my mind and I couldn’t get past most of them.

Dawson, as I said, was very good. The role of Mimi is meant for a soprano, but Dawson sings at least a half-octave lower (at least to this untrained ear). Some songs, like “Out Tonight,” are definitely in a lower key than on the original Broadway cast album. Even though I didn’t feel much chemistry between her and Adam Pascal (one of the original cast members), who played Roger, she made the best of her end. Maybe seeing her in Sin City made me think she couldn’t pull off the role of an ingenue (Mimi’s supposed to be 19), but I was able to suspend my disbelief once I got used to seeing her as Mimi. I guess I’d recommend seeing Rent the film, but don’t see it after you’ve seen the musical, which is way better.

Dawson is co-creator of this supernatural crime mini-series and is the model for the protagonist. Is it any good? We’ll see.

Bomb Queen: Woman of Mass Destruction TP (Image). Story and art by Jimmie Robinson. Look for a special crossover one-shot with Jim Valentino’s Blacklight character next month.

Ant #7 (Image)

Emissary #3 (Image). The first issue wasn’t bad. I detect a slight Bendis-like influence in the writing (back when he was still relevant); by focusing on the large cast of characters and heightening the mystery of who the Emissary is, the story feels like it’s taking its time, which is okay for now. Emphasis on FOR NOW.

Do I want the identity and origin of the Emissary to be kept secret, based on what I’ve seen so far? I’m not sure yet. The writing is sharp enough that I believe the series could be sustained this way, but I also can’t help but want to know what his deal is, especially if this title plans to explore the ramifications of a super-powerful humanoid who happens to resemble a black man. So I really hope we don’t get too much decompression here. You wanna keep who the Emissary is a mystery; fine. Then at least give us a story that moves in all directions and keeps us thinking. So far, the creators – Jason Rand, Juan Ferreyra, and Clayton Brown – have done that. (A word about the art – generally good, but if you look carefully at the Emissary on the cover, you’ll see that not only does he have man-boobs but he’d have to have a neck like Plastic Man…)

Spawn #160 (Image)

Beyond #1 (of 6) (Marvel). The good news: Dwayne McDuffie is writing a new mini-series for Marvel! The worrisome news: it looks like a Secret Wars rehash starring Spider-Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Venom, and a bunch of D-listers. Huh? I wish I could be more excited about this, but I’m not. Still, I’ll give the first issue a look, simply because it is McDuffie. His Fantastic Four one-shot last winter was well done, and him writing comics again is a Good Thing.

Black Panther #18, Marvel’s Greatest Comics: Fantastic Four #52, Storm #6 (of 6), Black Panther by Jack Kirby V2 TP (Marvel). The wedding is here at last. It’s a Civil War tie-in. I doubt anything can top last month’s Civil War-related bombshell, but stranger things have happened. (For the record: I’m both repulsed and intrigued by it; I think it’s the worst thing The Character in Question could have possibly done to himself, yet Joe Quesada claims they’re not only gonna run with it for awhile but they will not resort to a deus ex machina restoration. He’s got brass ones, give him that much.) BP written by Reggie Hudlin, Storm written by Eric Jerome Dickey.

Civil War: X-Men #1 (of 4) (Marvel). Please don’t explain Bishop’s convoluted time-travel origin to me; I don’t care about any of it. All I need to know about the character I learned during the short-lived but exquisite series District X, written by David Hine, who’s also writing this mini-series. Here, Bishop will apparently be at odds with Cyclops over the Registration Act. Who will join his side? How will the X-Men deal with the situation? Do I even care? Eh… I guess I’ll take a look at this, since Hine is writing Bishop again.

Nextwave #7 (of 12) (Marvel)

New Avengers #22 (Marvel). A Luke Cage solo story set during the events of Civil War. Look for a second Essential Luke Cage volume next month.

The Vindicators #0 and Alius Rex Book 1 (Alias). A pair from writer Kevin Grevioux for older audiences.

The Blackbeard Legacy #3 (Alias). Flipped through issue one and the art was an absolute turn-off. I didn’t expect the protagonist to look 100% like Traci Bingham, but they look nothing alike. The hyper-stylized and ugly-looking cartoon art doesn’t help.

Public Enemy #1 (American Mule). I listen to hip hop radio at work. It’s not by choice; hip hop is the preferred music in my office by an overwhelmingly wide margin (with Spanish-language music being second), so I’m hopelessly outvoted. (One time I put on the local classic rock station here in New York and I was met with befuddled expressions by co-workers who couldn’t grok Pink Floyd or David Bowie.) I certainly have nothing against hip hop as a genre – the problem is with hip hop radio.

New York has two competing hip hop stations, Power 105 and the infamous, often controversial Hot 97. Each one claims to be tops and each one claims to be the most representative of their chosen musical genre, but the way they define that genre is remarkably narrow. Both stations essentially play the exact same music – a small selection of whatever their corporate masters determine to be hip at the moment, played again and again and again ad nauseum. A given single on either station can and often is played every other hour. Yes, that’s right – every other HOUR. At least.

What’s worse, however, is the fact that both stations claim to represent hip hop and R&B, yet almost never play songs by its greatest practitioners. As of this writing, Prince, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J, Reverend Run and DMC, and oh yeah, Public Enemy, all have new albums out now and I have yet to hear any of them played on either station. These aren’t exactly obscure artists here; these are legendary singers and rappers, the ones who helped shape hip hop and R&B over the past quarter century. How can any radio station that claims to number one in this genre ignore new music (or even old music) by these people? How can any hip hop radio station have so narrow a focus? And how can its listeners willingly accept this format?

I recently read a book called Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade. It’s a fascinating look back at the genesis of the genre as told by its pioneers: Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and many, many more. The differences between then and now far outweigh the similarities, and while I’m certainly not so naive as to think that this era could be recaptured again in the future, I certainly believe that the musicians and producers and disc jockeys and program directors and record executives could learn a great deal from it. Essential reading for anyone who cares about hip hop…

…unlike issue zero of Public Enemy, which kinda sucked.

Gold Digger #76, Gold Digger: Throne of Shadows #3 (of 4), Gold Digger: Tangent #2, Gold Digger Color Remix 4-pack, Peebomanga Pocket Manga V1 GN (Antarctic). Story and art by Fred Perry.

The Damaged #1 (A-10 Comics). MD Bright of Quantum & Woody and Icon fame (among other fine comics) illustrates this new series which sounds like another Rising Stars riff based on the solicitation.

Killer 7 #1 (Devil’s Due). A re-release, so you won’t remember that it’s behind schedule.

Bluesman V3, V1, V2 (NBM). I’ve written about this series of graphic novels here before – I know because I went through my archives and checked. So you don’t need me to give you another hard sell on it. If you’ve read it already, you know it’s primo material; if you haven’t, well now’s your chance to catch up so you can read the brand new third volume in the series, which is my Buzz Book of the Month. While you’re at it, go take a look at the Bluesman web site.

Have fun in San Diego!

I think I was just as surprised as most people when I went to TOKYOPOP.com a couple weeks ago and saw that it sported an entirely new look – one that resembled a cross between MySpace and Deviant Art.

My first reaction was confusion. I had heard that they were redesigning their site, but this was like sensory overload! I just wanted to see when the next volume of Tramps Like Us was coming out and found myself lost in the new layout. Clicking on “Manga” didn’t bring me to, well, TOKYOPOP’s manga, but to an entirely different section filled with fan comics. Okay, so I think it’s super cool that kids can put their own comics into a manga player and share their work… but I just wanted some basic information about my favorite series!

I know a lot of people have been quick to criticize the new website and I could certainly understand their disdain. But I didn’t want to judge the site until I had a chance to really get a feel for it. So I’ve spent the last couple weeks poking around and forming an opinion.

And to be honest? I don’t think it’s terrible. It seems like a lot of kids are really getting into it and making the most of all the different arenas – art, photos, blogs… (although, lets not get into the fact that about 70% of the blogs are filled with people saying “ummm… I don’t know what to say, lol!”).

You know, if I were still 13, I would totally be loving the site and showing off my work and making digital friends. I think the sense of community TOKYOPOP is trying to achieve is a good one and it will become even stronger down the road. But I’m also starting to feel old at 26. Like, as if the new website is only truly navigable by those who grew up with the internet and who are fluent in leet speak.

I’m also leery of the amount of art-stealing that is going on and it makes me bristle to see someone literally taking art from someone else on Deviant Art, reposting it as their own creation with their own title and everything. I know TOKYOPOP has a detailed set of rules and regulations, but I think the rules could be made even more obvious. For instance, before a user actually submits a piece of art, a warning should pop up reminding them of the terms and that art-stealing is a definite no-no.

Policing all the material that is submitted must be quite a task given how many fans are posting work, but I also feel it’s important and I, for one, won’t be submitting any of my own work on the site until I feel secure in doing so. I guess the site also weirds me out a bit for the same reason MySpace does. Kids posting photos of themselves online always makes me fear for them slightly. I can’t help but feel anxious about those unsavory characters who might be prowling the web, particularly unsavory characters who also happen to like anime and fan service. But then again, that could just be me being an old worrywart.

That said, I think there are a lot of good things about the new site as well. One being the abundance of new columns and articles which keep things fresh and interesting each time I visit the site. And, as I mentioned, I also enjoy the reader-submitted manga section quite a bit and I look forward to seeing if any of the artists put new comics up consistently.

I guess I just wish that the whole fan element was kept slightly separate from the corporate side of the website. I’d like to go to the TOKYOPOP website for clear information about upcoming releases, press releases, appearances, etc. and then visit a separate area for all the fan art, blogs and message boards.

But there is no denying that TOKYOPOP is being quite bold in taking the site in this direction and that they aren’t interested in remaining in the mold of what a publisher’s site “should” be. By putting their fans first, they are going to create a lasting relationship that will surely benefit the company in the end. In my last column, I wrote about how Western mangaka are much move open and interactive than their Japanese counterparts. It appears that this is extending to Western manga publishers as well.

I wonder if any of the other big publishers will follow suit and invite fans to interact more within their sites, or if fans will even be willing to create multiple profiles on different sites or stay loyal to just one.

Well, in any case, I think I’ll sit back and let the kids have their fun while I stick to looking for the release dates of my favorite titles. Like Tramps Like Us. Which, incidentally, doesn’t come out till October, *sniffle*.

Welcome to “Fangirl Rampage” number fourteen. Today I’m talking with Melody Glass, the creator of the comic, Earthgirl. I met Melody on MySpace quite a while ago, and we started chatting about comics and our love of all things geek related. It didn’t take me long to realize that I absolutely had to interview her for my column.

Name: Melody Glass
Age: old enough to know better, but young enough to still do it anyway.

Location: Dallas, TX
Local comic store: Zeus Comics

Thanks for taking the time to be part of my column, Melody. Would you mind starting out by telling us a little bit about yourself?

I’m just your regular sci-fi loving, super-intelligent goofball. I’ve been known to be a free-spirit, a flower child, an artiste, a word weaver, a muse, a philanthropist, an energetic ball of fire, a mentor, a peacemaker, a rabble-rouser, an instigator, an entrepreneur, a trusted friend, an intense lover, a joker, and a bitch (you know, somewhere, someone is sick of my s**t ). I’m all that and more. I love life. Every moment of every day is precious. I am very blessed.

What’s your favorite TV show?

Currently it’s Lost. The writing is what holds my attention.

Do you have any speculations on the next season of Lost?

Well, now that they don’t have to push the buttons down in the hatch, it will free up more time for golf. But, seriously, there is going to be some major shake-ups with the storyline considering all the deaths, captured lead characters, and electromagnetism (did they crash another plane again?). At least the question of “Are the characters in Purgatory?” was answered with the Polar Research outpost discovering the electromagnetic disruption. Yay! Also of interest, will Him be Widmore? And I think we’ll see finally Jack and Kate hook up. Did you see the look they shared before the hoods went on? Tasty!

That was a great look between Jack and Kate. =) What are your favorite movies?

I also write screenplays, so pinning down favorite movies can sometimes be overwhelming; the category is vast. Recent favorites include Primer, Ridicule, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 40 Year Old Virgin, Pirates of the Caribbean, and A History of Violence. Old favorites are The Quiet Man, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Matrix, Fight Club, The Shawshank Redemption, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, Young Frankenstein, and Caddyshack.

What would you say your favorite books are?

Six books within arms reach are Bach’s Illusions, Annie Rices Beauty novels, Choose Your Own Adventure: The Cave of Time, Ellison/s The Invisible Man. (This doesn’t do my favorites list justice, but gives you a clue into my psyche.)

And how about your favorite Web site?

I’m such a MySpace whore—yikes.

Check out Melody’s Myspace blog to learn more about Earthgirl and all her crazy adventures. It’s filled with great stories and pretty pictures.

Name five things you couldn’t live without.

1. love
2. sex
3. food
4. clothing
5. shelter

What is your dream career?

WRITING and getting paid for it.

What steps are you taking to make that a reality?

In January, I started scripting out the adventures of Earthgirl and Atomic Adonis via a MySpace blog that I update weekly. It seemed logical to me to create a fictional character who uses MySpace to tell her story. Hell, it was MySpace that helped her get into her crazy adventure anyway.

Now, Earthgirl is going pulp, baby! Issue #1 will be out in May 2006. (and yes, I’m taking orders at elytracomics@yahoo.com). Adam Talley of Pleasant Hymns is illustrating. The comic book issue is in the here and now, whereas the blogs are back story. Like I said, I have the greatest friends.

Could you tell us more about Earthgirl?

Shes a modern-day Barbarella meets Lost in Space—at least that’s the tagline a fan suggested. I love it. The story is a combination of sci-fi, sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, sophistication, and spirituality. You know, girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy is from another planet, boy abducts girl, girl lands in an alien harem, and girl is pissed.

Stuck in the Nyebo Star System, Earthgirl is on a quest for rare stalpik that will buy her way on an intergalactic cruise ship home. She’s got Maleovians and bounty hunters on her tail thanks to her boyfriend, Atomic Adonis. Luckily, she’s got her brilliant cat, Cynister Kitty, with her. Although something happened in the transport from Earth, because her cat can now talk and wants to rule the galaxy . . . talk about high strung. The story is intended for mature audiences.

What do you most enjoy about working on a comic?

I think, for me, one of the most exciting things that has come from creating a comic in this way is the interaction with the fans. Not only do I have the most wonderful of friends, but many are other creators in the industry. It really is a great way to network. My fabulous CGI creator, Raul Reyes, loved my story and began collaborating with me on conceptualizing the characters. This is also how I met my illustrator for the comic, Adam Talley.

Tell us a silly story that helps give us an insight into who you are.

I’ve been writing stories since I was eight. They’d invariably be of the fairy-tale/action/superheroine/comedy genre—go figure. Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman was my hero. You should have seen me sport my Wonder Woman Underoos at the time; I used to wear them like real clothes to the grocery store. My mom was so embarrassed; she made me at least wear a skirt over the panties. Though, I would spin around and flash the surrounding customers. I wonder if I could still get away with that today? By the way, I still have my original Wonder Woman Barbie doll.

What comics do you read?

Mostly indie stuff. I dig noir, horror, sci-fi, action, and fantasy stuff, especially those with an erotic edge.

If you could have any superpower, which would you pick and why?

I don’t know if it’s a superpower but I think its pretty cool: I’d see things others couldn’t, kind of a mystic-Buddhist-semi-trance state that reveals the true nature of things. It’s discovering how to use it appropriately that would be the trick.

What are your favorite comic series that are running?

Hellblazer and Strangers in Paradise

What is your favorite comic that is currently running?

I’m giving props to my friend, Drew Melbourne’s new series, Archenemies. Roommates that want to kill each other, which are also superhero archenemies that want to kill each other. The fun is endless. Ha!

If you could recommend any series to someone who doesn’t generally read comics, which one would you suggest?

Anything they can relate to or that interests them. There really is something out there for everyone’s tastes. Say you like monkeys, so Google monkey comics and Viola! Your result is Space Monkey Comics—quite funny, too.

What is your favorite team book?

Uncanny X-Men, baby! I will forever be indebted to mutant superheroes.

Which Uncanny X-Men story arc has been your favorite?

The entire arc of Jean Grey has been one of my all-time favorites. Who else would sacrifice her life to save the lives of her friends on a doomed shuttle returning to Earth during a solar storm (Uncanny X-Men #101)? Her continuing story was amazing as Phoenix, then into Dark Phoenix (“The Dark Phoenix Saga”), and then committing suicide to save others from herself. And then she’s back again and again and again. Come on—the creative team had balls. She is the epitome of self-sacrifice and rebirth. Dig?

Who is your favorite female comic character?

My Earthgirl of the adventures of Earthgirl and Atomic Adonis.

Why is she your favorite?

She embodies the balance of feminine sexuality and strength that I’ve always admired. She’s sarcastic and sexy.

How about your favorite male comic character?

John Constantine of Hellblazer.

What makes him your favorite?

Any guy that can stare down the devil and God and blackmail them both has my vote. He also has a knack for making acerbic remarks at the most inappropriate moments. I love a guy with wit!

Who’s your favorite artist?

Salvador Dali. His surrealism will always move me.

What’s your favorite piece by Dali?

The Fashion Designer

How about your favorite writer?

Do I have to only pick one?? That is so hard. I’m going to go with my friend, Terry Rossio. That guy can write scripts that will blow your mind—his action sequences alone are brilliant (Shrek; Pirates 1, 2, and 3; Déjà Vu; et.al.). If he ever starts writing comics, I’ll be his first fan.

How did you first get into comics?

Funny, it wasn’t until my brother got into reading Uncanny X-Men back in the ’80s that comics really started appealing to my inner creative soul. I was hooked. That series was a great introduction to the world of comics, at least for me. People ask, “What appeals to girls?” It’s girls in/with power (this is a very “broad” category), and you must have one hell of a story.

What conventions do you attend if any?

Dallas Comic Con, Wizard World, and San Diego Comic-Con. San Diego is by far the best. If you can go to only one con, go to this one.

With San Diego fast approaching [this interview was conducted prior to Comic-Con 2006], what are you most looking forward to about the convention?

Wearing my Earthgirl costume (yes, you can find me on the convention floor walking around whoring my comic book). I’m so excited to meet new friends, renew old acquaintances, load up on sketches, and take home free booty! Woo-hoo!

Do you have any interesting convention stories that you’d like to share with us?

Being interviewed at SDCC by Kevin Pereira of G4 and being told “You’re smoking hot!” while I was dressed as a beetle. ;)

What is it about comics that you enjoy?

I enjoy losing myself in the story.

What has been the most memorable moment in comics for you?

Realizing that my stories connect on some level with others. The feedback/comments on my blogs make me feel like I am home.

What are your thoughts on the way females are portrayed in comics?

I’m glad there is such diversity. I’m always appreciative when a female character is real and fully developed with a natural, multifaceted persona readily apparent. Here’s a little kernel of knowledge I’ll share for writing great female characters: Even in the most subservient of positions, a woman can dominate.

And finally, have you noticed any challenges being a female in an industry dominated by male fans and professionals?

Yes and no. It is a double-edged sword to be female in the industry. It can gain you access, but you can find yourself not being taken seriously if you are not professional about your business. Always have a plan.

Thank you so much for being a part of the column, Melody. I can’t wait to read more of Earthgirl’s adventures! It’s going to be awesome to finally get the chance to meet you in San Diego. Be sure to send Melody an e-mail and order her comic at elytracomics@yahoo.com. See everyone in two weeks. =)

(All of the artwork in “Fangirl Rampage” is done by Chris Moreno , the artist for Dracula vs. King Arthur, Super Frat, Sidekick, andMonkey in a Wagon vs. Lemur on a Big Wheel. If you’re a female fan and you’d like to be interviewed for “Fangirl Rampage,” please feel free to send me a message here on PopCultureShock, or e-mail me at sareara at yahoo dot com.)

Boy Princess, Vol. 1

By Seyong Kim
NETCOMICS

Who Would Like This Book: Yaoi fans? Shounen-ai fans? I’m not exactly sure. Am I a yaoi fan? This book didn’t lead me to any strong conclusions about my yaoi fandom one way or another.

Who Would Hate It: People not interested in yaoi.

Boy Princess, not to be confused with Princess Prince or Princess Princess, is a Korean manhua shounen-ai title being released in North America by Netcomics. There’s no real nudity, and the age rating is an appropriate 13+.

In the first few pages, the story hits the ground running. Prince Nicole is the youngest son in a small medevil kingdom of some unspecified European-looking country. Nicole’s sister has run away instead of being married to a neighboring country’s prince in a political marriage. Nicole is forced to cross-dress and take his sister’s place. And all of this happens in the first three or four pages. Prince Nicole finds himself married and living as a woman in another kingdom before chapter one is half-way over. Fortunately it doesn’t turn into some kind of Madame Butterfly affair; the prince realizes almost immediately that Nicole is a guy. Instead of divorcing or killing Nicole, Prince Jed, decides to let him continue living in his kingdom as his wife.

If this were Shakespeare, a chick would fall for cross-dressing Nicole and he would be unable to return her affections until the end of the play. Shakespeare would also throw in some twins, some more cross dressing, and maybe a sea monster. But this isn’t Shakespeare, it’s yaoi. So it’s no surprise when Nicole starts to fall for Jed. They kiss a few times during the course of the volume one, but there’s always some bizarre set-up for it, like the kiss is the prize in a kingdom-wide tournament, or Jed’s men are bugging him to kiss the princess. So although Nicole and Jed have feelings for each other, none of their kisses ever really “count,” and they can’t seem to tell each other how they really feel.

Meanwhile, Prince Nicole must adjust to palace life as a chick. While Jed is out defending the realm Princess Nicole must deal with the drama of intrigue of castle politics – or in other words, he has to put up with bitchy female relatives being snarky to him. Apparently Nicole is considered lower than dirt in the royal family until (s)he can produce an heir to the crown. This is the most interesting part of the book, in my opinion. But Nicole doesn’t want to deal with this kind of female nonsense and royal court intrigue, so he goes to hang out with Prince Jed and his soldiers in the woods instead.

This isn’t exactly yaoi, it’s shounen-ai, or boy’s love. Ultimately I suppose the question is: Is it sexy? At this point, I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer that question. I preferred the more explicit Brother, which is actual yaoi. Boy Princess is funny enough and kind of sweet, and that might be the point of shounen-ai, a genre which I am not terribly familiar with.

The art is really interesting – the characters are drawn in bizarre proportions. Something about the length of their necks just isn’t right. The profile views are sometimes really freaky looking. Anatomy aside, many of the textures and costumes are really incredible. I often paused in my reading to look at the detailed tones and textures. There were enough backgrounds to suit my tastes, and the characters’ hair was all very long and detailed. The art is different, but I wouldn’t call it “hot”.

The characters’ names are kind of odd. “Jed” seems like a redneck name from an American point of view, and not so much a prince’s name. I suppose “Nicole” is gender-neutral, but mostly I’ve only met girls named Nicole, and I suppose that’s appropriate for this book, all things considered.

Overall I don’t have many complaints about Boy Princess. It’s alright, and it’s the first Korean yaoi/shounen-ai/whatever I’ve read, so it was interesting from that perspective. The story didn’t knock me out, and some of the characterizations could’ve been better. I might take a chance and read volume two.

Enchanter, Vol. 1

By Izumi Kawachi
Digital Manga Publishing

Who Would Like This Book: 13-15 year old boys, for whom ecchi is not (yet) a cliche.

Who Would Hate It: I didn’t haaaaaate this it, but I read it for free. If you paid the full cover price you might feel ripped off. $13 is a bit much for this generic tale of wizards…

Digital Manga was nice enough to rush me an advance copy of Enchanter with a note attached saying “Finally, a title that’s not yaoi!” I had to laugh – 90% of the books DMP have sent me so far have been yaoi, or at least “boy’s love”.

Enchanter is presented like the rest of DMP’s titles – they’re just a little bigger than the rest of your manga so they won’t fit on your shelves if you specifically sized-out your bookshelf to fit Viz and Tokyopop releases. Enchanter comes with a nice dust jack like Japanese books do, but is the dust jacket worth the extra $2 for the cover price? The printing is really nice, on quality paper. The sound effects are translated off to one side the way I like it. Overall, it’s an excellent presentation of a mediocre book.

Enchanter is the story of Haruhiko, a hapless high school student who’s in love with his teacher Yuka. Yuka also happens to be Haruhiko’s childhood friend and next-door-neighbor. She’s only four or five years older than Haruhiko, and perhaps more importantly she is both shy and totally hot.

Enter the demon who looks identical to Yuka, and goes by the name of Eurakanaria. Unlike Yuka, Eurakanaria has demon wings, wears a miniskirt, and has absolutely no shame. Eurakanaria breaks through some dimension wall and starts hanging out with Haruhiko because it turns out he’s identical to Fulcanelli, a very powerful enchanter who has lost his body and exists only as a soul contained in a jewel that Eurakanaria wears.

Eurakanaria wants to put Fulcanelli’s soul into Haruhiko’s body, and this makes up the main conflict of the manga. Naturally, there are demons who are out to get Fulcanelli, or maybe just eat his soul. And as luck would have it, if Haruhiko uses Fulcanelli’s “spirit energy” he can defeat the demons plaguing his school using something that looks like a light saber. It’s all very Bleach-like.

There are only two remarkable aspects of Enchanter; first, it’s pretty ecchi. Eurakanaria is often shaded in such a way that her leather shorts are so reflective that it looks as if she’s not wearing pants. Yuka’s bra is revealed during a demon fight seen in an erotic way. Characters randomly get water dumped on them for what must be a wet T-shirt contest in which you, the reader, are the judge.

Second, demons can only be hurt with magic weapons. This might be a standard manga thing, but it reminds me of the game of Dungeons and Dragons that I play with my friends. We often run into powerful enemies that can only be hurt with magic weapons, and it’s really annoying, because magic weapons are hard to come by in our campaign. My characters have had to sit out of many fights for lack of a magic weapon. Since Enchanter takes place in the real world, the lack of magical weapons is a problem, at least in the first volume.

In the second half Eurakanaria and Haruhiko meet an enchanter who is only a skeleton. He’s a pretty funny character – and a physician – but that’s not really enough to save an otherwise generic story.

Overall, Enchanter is well-drawn enough, but the plot is filled with cliches. The ecchi aspects only annoyed me. It’s rated 16+, but I think it’s too immature of a book for most 16-year-olds to enjoy. Even though it’s totally inappropriate (maybe because it’s totally inappropriate) I’d say that 13-15 year olds might get the most enjoyment out of Enchanter.

Life, Vol. 1

By Keiko Suenbu
Tokyopop

Who Would Like This Book: Mostly girls who like drama.

Who Would Hate It: If you’re not interested in melodrama, and only want to read light-hearted stuff, stay far away from this one.

I first heard about Life at the New York Comic Con, where someone high-up on Tokyopop’s staff described what it was about, and how when she heard they aquired the title, she sat down and read the first one – and immediately had to read the next four volumes. (I’m assuming she was reading them in Japanese.) Life is just that gripping of a story – I wish I could read the next four volumes as quickly!

Life is about cutters. Cutters, as described by the clinical psychologist who wrote the afterward, are people who cut themselves because they can’t control other kinds of pain in their life, and they don’t have any other coping strategies. Cutters are not suicidal, but they can injure themselves very badly at times if they cut too deep. They usually cut their arms and legs, and wear long sleeves and pants to cover up their habit.

Life is the story Ayumu, who becomes a cutter over the course of volume one. Ayumu is a junior high student who doesn’t have any friends at all beside her best friend Shii-chan. Shii-chan is a top student in their class, but Ayumu is kind of an idiot. When Ayumu learns that Shii-chan is going to try to get into an elite high school, Ayumu is terrified that she’ll be left alone and friendless in high school. So Ayumu decides to study hard and aim to get into the same high school as Shii-chan.

While studying late into the night Ayumu hears a story on the radio about an exam student stabbing herself with a mechanical pencil in order to stay awake. Ayumu gives it a try, but the mechanical pencil does nothing for her. She stabs herself with something sharper – and although it’s painful and terrifying, it wakes her up enough to keep studying all night long.

Soon Ayumu’s grades get better and better. So much so that she starts to pass Shii-chan. Then the worst thing possible happens; Ayumu manages to get into Shii-chan’s high school of choice, but Shii-chan fails the exam.

Even worse, Shii-chan takes it really hard. She blames Ayumu for her failure. If Shii-chan didn’t have to help Ayumu study, maybe she could have done better. Shii-chan and Ayumu have a heart-wrenching best friend break-up. Ayumu can’t deal with the pain of losing Shii-chan and going to high school alone, so she starts cutting herself even more.

Perhaps what’s most gut-wrenching about this friend break-up is that it’s obvious that Shii-chan wasn’t being a true friend to Ayumu. If she was really Ayumu’s friend she might’ve been angry when Ayumu started getting better grades, but she would’ve gotten over it if she honestly loved Ayumu as a person. It’s obvious from the way the story is told that Ayumu just doesn’t have any other friends, and Shii-chan, by default, is her best friend.

Things get worse as Ayumu enters her new school and makes friends Manami, a crazy chick who starts manipulating Ayumu right from the start. It’s obvious that Manami isn’t a true friend to Ayumu either, but Ayumu is too depressed to interact with the other students and too easily manipulated by Manami to know better.

It’s hard to describe Life in the equivalent of American storytelling. Life doesn’t play out like an after-school special or “a very special episode of Blossom”. The next-closest manga equivalent that I’ve read is Confidential Confessions, but those seemed more like after-school-special morality tales, where the kid doing drugs is obviously in the wrong and you should clearly Go To A Parent, Teacher, or Another Trusted Adult To Help Your Sick Friend. There is no such moral in Life. The plot simply forges ahead, at times melodramatically. Only Tokyopop’s provided epilogue tells you how to find help if you or someone you you know is a cutter. They provide a few links to look up for further reading.

On one hand I kind of respect that there is no obvious moral to the book. The reader is presented with Ayumu’s problems in a sympathetic and straight-forward way. There are no easy answers to Ayumu’s pain, and it’s heartbreaking to read. It’s also really gross when there’s a gory close-up of Ayumu cutting or stabbing herself. Unlike in normal manga when a demon gets cut in half or whathaveyou, you feel Ayumu’s pain. And Ayumu is no emo kid like Shinji from Evangelion – it’s obvious Ayumu would be a cheerful girl if her life didn’t suck (one can’t say the same for Shinji).

Life is a fast-paced, horrifying, gut-wrenching read. It’s fairly short and you can get through it all in one sitting. I’ll read volume two for sure – but it’s up to volume 12 in Japan. How can Ayumu keep cutting herself for 12 volumes? Does she meet a new screwed-up best friend in each volume? Maybe she should date that kid from Loveless…

Here’s a comic I drew of myself reading Life volume 1:

Pretty Maniacs, Vol. 1

By Shinsuke Kurihashi
DrMaster

Who Would Like This Book: Mostly me, but I might be a very small demographic.

Who Would Hate It: If you’re looking for a lot of realistic depictions of female manga fans, you’re not going to find them here.

Pretty Maniacs is the sequel to Maniac Road, which I’ve never read. It’s less of a sequel than it is a spin-off, so I didn’t feel lost after the first few pages. Pretty Maniacs is the story of Shinano, the little sister from Maniac Road. As Pretty Maniacs opens she inherits her school’s manga club. At first she’s thrilled when she’s informed that she will be the new president of the manga club, but she is perhaps less thrilled to find that she is the sole member of manga club.

She might not look like it from the outside, but Shinano is an otaku through and through. She knows more than she should for a high school freshman about old mech anime series and manga. The beautiful Otowa is introduced early on as a rival and more reluctant female otaku. Otowa and Shinano disagree on favorite mech series and favorite robots. They have a falling out and Shinano fails to recruit Otowa into the manga club.

Part-way through the book the school decides to cancel clubs that don’t do anything and clubs with too few members. The manga club is going to get the ax. Desperate to do something to save her club, Shinano decides to produce an amateur comic (doujinshi). The only trouble is that she can’t draw…

Enter Tateshi, an Art Club drop-out who’s secret desire is to draw manga!

By the end of the Pretty Maniacs volume 1 Shinano has recruited more members to the manga club and they’re off to sell their doujin at ComiFest. Sure, it’s a plot we’ve seen before in Comic Party and Genshiken, but it’s a plot I’m not tired of yet, and this is a newish spin on it. The manga club of Pretty Maniacs consists entirely of high school girls who don’t really know what they are getting themselves into.

And therein lies the weirdness of Pretty Maniacs. All of the girls in manga club, but particularly Shinano and Otowa are really cute. To the point that it’s kind of ridiculous. Usually no one that good-looking is a hardcore otaku. For more of a realistic look at what girl manga fans might look like, check out High School Girls volume five. It’s a cute fantasy on the part of the author that adorable high school girls might be selling their adorable first comic at ComiFest, but the reality of the nerds in attendance is much closer to Genshiken. I’ve seen pictures.

I really enjoyed the art of Pretty Maniacs. There’s something about the way that the book is inked that is visually intriguing. There isn’t too much tone. There’s something about the way the hair is drawn that’s different from most manga and it comes as a refreshing change of style. The panels are laid out in a very squared-off way, more like an American indy comic, although not to the extreme of Love Roma. I’m almost tempted to say that Pretty Maniacs looks like it might be some kind of doujin, or it’s by an author who started off drawing doujinshi, but I don’t really know enough to be able to say that definitively.

Like many DrMaster books, Pretty Maniacs is a little smaller than average manga size. The cover price is $10. The sound effects are translated just off to one side similar to how Del Ray does it. The paper quality is a little crappy, but not as crappy as the $8 Viz releases.

What really carried me through this story was the energy of all of the characters – particularly Shinano’s spasticness. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and I’ll probably check out volume two and read Maniac Road as well, if only because I like the author’s unique visual style.

First off, for those of you who regularly read this column, let me apologize for the fact that this month’s column is late. As it turns out, I just got married last week and I have to admit that more than one of my professional obligations was somewhat neglected in the wedding whirlwind.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m looking forward to San Diego Comic Con, which is coming up real soon. I’ve never been before. I’ll be going purely as a fan—no being chained to a table for me! I want to see lots of things, meet lots of people, and hopefully do it without spending too much money.

I’ll also be curious to see how the manga/anime scene will be at the con. I know TOKYOPOP and Viz will probably have a strong presence as always, but I’m also curious about the smaller companies—and about any individual aspiring manga artists that may be in Artists’ Alley.

I always enjoy meeting creators of American manga. Not only did I get to work with ten of them while putting together Mangaka America (coming out this November!), but I have befriended a number of young Western manga artists thought the Internet as well.

In fact, this has made me think about some of the cultural differences that exist between Japan and the West. In Japan, manga artists are celebrities, maybe even superstars. They are respected and, in some cases, revered. Japanese mangaka also have a reputation for being rather secretive and elusive. It seems that many of them are reluctant to do interviews or even show their faces at all. This surely adds to their mysterious charm and I’m sure some of it has to do with Japanese reluctance to place the individual beneath a spotlight. But I have to admit that I am often frustrated by Japanese creators and their secretive, coy ways.

Every time I read an interview with a Japanese mangaka I feel like they are holding back—giving polite answers and speaking only from the surface. I crave to know more about them: What makes them tick? How did they develop their style? Where do their ideas really come from? What are their lives like? But it is rare that I read an interview that gives me a glimpse into the things I really want to know.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s just a translation thing. Perhaps the English language has butchered and concealed all the intricate nuances and secret thoughts of the interviewee. Maybe only a Japanese person can read an interview and really understand what it is that is being said below the surface!

But then again, maybe it’s not like that at all and Japanese mangaka are just plain secretive—or actually are boring individuals with not a lot to say. Who knows? All I can say that in America, it’s different. Here, our young manga artists are certainly basking within the glow of their respective fan bases, and seem more than happy to connect with their readers. And while they have a ways to go before they reach superstar status, I have no doubt that, down the line, they will become as well known and admired as many Japanese mangaka.

In fact, I think it may happen sooner than it would in Japan simply because Western creators are so willing to share themselves with their fans. Very few American manga artists are secretive and elusive. Most of them seem perfectly happy and willing to blog frequently, giving fans an intimate glimpse into their personal lives and thoughts. They attend conventions and events regularly; they volunteer to teach classes at libraries. They form actual friendships with their fans; they debate with them. They share their work, their thought processes, and accept criticism (some better than others).

The point is, my belief is that this openness will propel these artists’ careers and help them reach new heights. Of course, it could also be argued that some secrecy is also a good thing. Not only for the artists who may regret what they blog in front of hundreds of fans, but for the fans as well. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has idolized someone only to be disappointed upon finally meeting them. After all, we’re only human, and realizing that someone that you have looked up to is just an average person with faults can be somewhat disenchanting.

Despite that, I think I’d still prefer to know an artist as a person, faults and all. I also wonder if part of Western mangaka’s openness is due to their age. Many of the emerging American mangaka are under thirty years old and, therefore, are about as old as their fans. So it would seem natural that friendships would form more easily between the creators and their readers—no doubt they have a lot in common. Conventions aren’t just a place to line up and meet young creators, but to hang out with them too. In return, the creators are active on various Web sites and message boards providing advice, critiques, and support to aspiring artists. I think this kind of rapport is wonderful and I hope it continues even as the creators become more and more famous.

A notable downside to this back-and-forth conversation is that the Internet is a breeding ground for misinterpretation. Tempers often flare and feelings can be easily hurt when someone says exactly what they think of someone’s art. I realized, when I first started a blog and became more vocal on the Web, that not all the people I communicated with would be nice. And I have, indeed, been on the end of spiteful criticism or strange requests from various people I will probably never meet. But even though it may be tempting at times to retreat into obscurity, where I’m protected from harsh opinions, I won’t. Because I really believe that to create loyal fans, you have to treat them with the same respect they treat you. It works both ways. And, hey, I’ve made some good friends along the way as well.

Welcome to lucky number thirteen of “Fangirl Rampage.” Today I’m going to be interviewing Melanie Barnes, a dear friend of mine who is one of the most interesting and fun women I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Mel’s been in my life for about four years now and I was thrilled when I found out that she’s an avid comic book fangirl. I’ve been looking forward to interviewing her and delving deeper into her particular interests as far as comics go.

Name: Melanie Barnes
Age: 30
Location: Lancaster, PA
Local comic store: The Comic Store Lancaster

Thanks for chatting with us today, Melanie. I’d like you to start off by telling us a little about yourself.

I’m a daydreamer. You could say I don’t have my feet firmly planted in reality. I’m a diva. I’m a dancer. I write really bad poetry. I read way too much. I participate in roller derby for the Dutchland Rollers. My visual and sensory tastes lie in a Bohemian style. I love unique, creative people.

Would you tell us more about the Dutchland Rollers and what it’s like to be a derby girl?

Dutchland Rollers is the new flat track roller derby league in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is so much fun. The girls are great and offer so much support to each other and the community. We do work for charity. I can’t wait until we start to take on other teams. It certainly is a workout and improves your agility. My derby name is Gypsy Witch #XO.

Readers, be sure to stop by and check out the Dutchland Rollers Web site and show your support. Melanie, what are your favorite television programs?

12 oz. Mouse, Perfect Hair Forever, The Winx Club, The OC, Gilmore Girls, Dharma and Greg, The Munsters, Bewitched, The Addams Family, and shows about ancient history and science.

Which ancient civilization is your favorite?

I know it sounds cliché, but I love Egypt.

What is is about Egypt that you love so much?

There is such a mystery around that culture. It almost seems like they started at their peak and have been working backwards since. They were advanced in so many of the arts and sciences. But even more fascinating than their history sometimes is the speculation of the history. I’ve heard some pretty incredible theories. I find every time I research this topic I turn up something new and exciting. I could write a book on this, so I’m going to stop here and you’ll have to wait for it to be published to find out more.

How about your favorite movies?

The Giant Gila Monster, Dream a Little Dream, Romeo and Juliet.

What are your favorite books?

Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Adventure’s in the Imagination of Periphery Stowe by Joshua Wagner, Focault’s Pendulum by Umberto Ecco, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, and anything by Laren Stover.

What character from Alice in Wonderland do you most identify with and why?

The Cheshire Cat. It fully knows and acknowledges the madness all around it and it chooses when to join in and when to sit on the side and just smile at it all.

Which Web sites are your favorites?

MySpace
eBay
Wikipedia

Name five things your couldn’t live without.

1. computers
2. my dog, Sachi Valdez
3. coffee
4. black eyeliner
5. Lauren Perry

Awww . . . love ya, girl. So what would you say is your dream career?

My dream career is to be either a socialite or a housewife.

What steps are you taking to make that dream a reality?

I haven’t figured out a game plan yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll need to win the lottery to obtain it. I love to be domestic—cooking, cleaning, doing anything inside the home. But I would not at all be opposed to having a maid and a chef. Then I could spend more time reading. But for now I guess I have to get up every morning and go to work.

Tell us a silly story that helps give us insight to who you are.

Well, it’s silly but it’s not really an insight—more like a turning point in my life. One time, I went out to a bar in Philadelphia called La Tazza to see some bands play. A friend of mine hosted a night there once a month, so I always went to support him and he always had some great bands. I went to the downstairs bar and a band called The Lonesome Kings were playing. I thought they were really good, but mostly I couldn’t help thinking that the guitar player was hot and also an amazing musician. After the evening was over, everyone was out walking to their cars. I saw the guitar player across the street and blew him a kiss. The next night I saw him again at a bar in New Jersey called The Loop Lounge. We spoke for a while. Well, a friendship progressed from there and we are still together after four years. He now plays for The Butchers. If I never blew that kiss, who knows where I would be!

That must have been one hell of an air kiss! =) Now on to all the fun comic book questions. Which comics do you read?

Fables, Dracula vs. King Arthur, Vampirella, Razor, Tank Girl, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Dead World, The Devil’s Panties, and Emily the Strange to list a few.

If you could have any superpower, which would you pick and why?

Teleportation. I love to travel—to be in different surroundings, see far flung friends. But I’m impatient. I want to get to having fun as soon as possible.

What is your favorite comic/series that is currently running?

Fables. I love fairy tales and it’s interesting to see the story lines in this series develop. I’m currently collecting old books of fairy tales from around the world.

Tell us about your favorite fairy tale.

“Jorinda and Joringel” from Grimms Fairy Tales.

This is a wonderful fairy tale. It features a boy and a girl (Jorinda and Joringel) who are in love and get lost while they are out walking in the forest. They come upon an old castle that is under a spell placed by the witch who lives inside. She turns all the girls that come near her castle into exotic birds and keeps them in cages in her castle. She captures Jorinda but Joringel escapes. He dreams of a red flower with a pearl in the center. He searches out the red flower and after nine days he finds a flower with a drop of dew that resembles a pearl. This flower has the power to remove all of the witch’s spells. He releases all the birds with the flower and they turn back into girls. He is reunited with Jorinda and as they are fleeing the castle, he touches the witch with the flower. It took all her magic away and she can no longer cast any spells to harm anyone again.

If you could recommend any series to someone who doesn’t generally read comics, which one would you suggest?

This is a hard question. I think to properly do this you would need to know where the person’s interests lie. I believe there is a comic out there for everyone. It’s like the prince finding the princess who fits the shoe best.

What is your favorite team book?

I don’t really go for teams.

Who is your favorite female comic character?

It used to be Razor. I loved that she had no superpowers. She was just a badass on a mission. Then they killed her and brought her back with powers. Thumbs down! Now I’m more into Emily the Strange. I feel like I can understand where it is coming from. I wasn’t a normal little girl either.

Do you have any interesting Emily the Strange merchandise?

I have a few things and I love them all. My favorite is my Emily lighter. It looks like a Zippo and it says “Don’t Bother Meow” on it. Because Emily is such a trouble maker it feels appropriate that I can set something on fire with her by my side. (Kids, don’t try this at home!)

So, who would you say is your favorite male comic character?

Happy Noodle Boy.

What makes him your favorite?

I am a HUGE fan of complete nonsense. People take the world way to seriously most of the time.

Who’s your favorite artist?

Chris Moreno is my favorite artist. That guy can do ANYTHING. He is truly amazing. I cannot wait for the next Monkey vs. Lemur.

Well he certainly appreciates your support. The next issue of Monkey vs. Lemur should be in the stores soon, so spread the word! =) How about your favorite writer?

I don’t really have a favorite comic writer. I love seeing what people can create. Imagination rocks my world. But if we are talking about just writers in general, I love Josh Wagner’s style in The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe.

What is The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe about?

This book is about a boy named Riggs Bombay who is not afraid of one single thing. He goes on an adventure with his hallucinations and makes new friends. The mission is to save Periphery Stowe from his endless sleep. I can’t tell you anymore because EVERYONE should read this book. It’s a wild story. The writing forces you to picture everything in your mind.

Be sure to keep an eye out for more of Josh’s work. His first comic project, Fiction Clemens, is scheduled to be released July 2007.

Where does your interest in comics stem from?

When I was in elementary school, every Tuesday my grandpa would take me to the local convenience store and buy me a cherry Icee and a comic book. I usually picked up things like Betty & Veronica and Casper. I was an only child and spent a lot of time alone. Reading and using my imagination were my favorite pastimes. The trips to the store with my grandpa are one of my favorite childhood memories.

What conventions do you attend?

I haven’t been to any comic conventions yet, but I am planning to go to San Diego Comic-Con this year. Generally I attend music festivals. I love Heavy Rebel Weekender in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I’m not going to make it this year for the first time since it was started. The first year I went as a fan; the next two years I was in a band called The Pits that played the event. I also worked on and acted in a haunted house there for two years by Dixie 666. My other favorite music festival is The Drive Invasion. Nothing beats camping in a parking lot with no shade in the Atlanta heat to relax!

What are you most looking forward to about your first San Diego Comic-Con experience?

It’s so big! I’m sure it will be a sensory overload. I love exciting chaos. I’m looking forward to having a great time and meeting lots of new people.

What has been the most memorable moment in comics for you?

Honestly, opening the cover on a newly purchased book. You never know what you will find in-between the pages.

Are there any particular story lines or moments from one of your favorite comics that stands out in your mind?

I really enjoy the Grendel comics. I like how Grendel comes back as different people with different lives. Each adds something unique to the legend. My favorite will always be the Hunter Rose Grendel, though I do have a cat named Zora, after the series.

What is it about comics you enjoy?

I love that comics can go anywhere. They can be very serious with rich stories or they can be completely ludicrous. Anything can happen. And you get to see it through amazing artwork. Full color or black and white, you get so many choices of stories and designs.

What are your thoughts on the way females are portrayed in comics?

This is a hard question for me to answer. I don’t consider myself a feminist. I look at comics as art, pure and simple. Art is meant to be enjoyed in all its forms. Art should make you think. If someone finds offense with a particular depiction of women, they do not have to purchase that book. We are given the free choice to both create as we choose, or to not purchase what we do not find appealing.

And finally, have you noticed any challenges being a female in an industry dominated by male fans and professionals?

I can’t really say that I have. I’m also not deeply involved on a professional level. I have noticed at some comic stores you have to “prove” that you know something to get a better level of service. It’s a shame, because those stores have lost me as a customer.

Any final thoughts?

Thank you for taking the time to dig through the sand trap that is my mind. Congratulations on your column and I wish you and all your readers the best life has to offer.

Thank you for being a part of the column, Melanie. It was certainly fun traipsing through the sand and finding out more about the comics you enjoy. I’ll be back in two weeks with the next installment of “Fangirl Rampage,” so be sure to stop by. =)

(All of the artwork in “Fangirl Rampage” is done by Chris Moreno , the artist for Dracula vs. King Arthur, Super Frat, Sidekick, andMonkey in a Wagon vs. Lemur on a Big Wheel. If you’re a female fan and you’d like to be interviewed for “Fangirl Rampage,” please feel free to send me a message here on PopCultureShock, or e-mail me at sareara at yahoo dot com.)