In this week’s column, we check back with three series that haven’t been covered on the site in quite some time! Ken starts us off with a look at volume two of the dense and dark Me and the Devil Blues (Del Rey); Michelle is up next with her take on the seventh and final volume of 10, 20, and 30 (NETCOMICS); and Connie does her best Keyboard Cat impression as she plays us out with a review of volumes nineteen and twenty of The Wallflower (Del Rey).
Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 2
By Akira Hiramoto
Del Rey, 576 pp
Rating: Older Teens (16 +)
The highly fictionalized take on the life of blues legend Robert Johnson continues in this brick of a book. Thrown into prison for killing a white man, RJ finds himself facing down various demons as he awaits his lynching. Meanwhile the infamous Clyde Barrow plots to rescue RJ, but in the process makes a disturbing discovery about the positively satanic Mr. McDonald, the man who practically runs the town.
The first half of the volume is fairly heavy and dense stuff. With RJ trapped in jail and Clyde figuring out his next move, Hiramoto takes the opportunity to explore some rather disturbing issues. He delves into the race issues of the time and provides some disturbing rationalizations for murder, suicide and more. Once RJ and Clyde escape from the town the book becomes a bit more action-oriented, focusing on their attempts to evade Mr. McDonald’s forces. The shift in tone isn’t as heavy as you might think; the book maintains the dark and grim tone, plus Hiramoto gets to play up Mr. McDonald as a demonic figure by introducing his freakish hunting dogs.
The story and artwork compliment each other beautifully throughout. During the prison sequence, and even during the chase in the woods, Hiramoto’s artwork takes on a thick and heavy claustrophobic and oppressive feeling. Alternatively, the few scenes in the town during the day or near the open fields are sparse and lack much of the toning and hatching that dominates other parts of the book. Speaking of the book’s visuals, something that really struck me was the way that time always seemed to move at the same steady rate. From the fight scenes, to the opening with Timmy being strangled by the mysterious hand, to the conversations in the prison. The pacing of the panels always seemed to maintain this slow and steady rhythm.
This dark and grim tale isn’t quite what I was expecting from the series, but it’s a fantastic read nonetheless. Hiramoto’s artwork is lovely to look at and the chilling and disturbing nature of the story appealed to the horror fan in me. A very different and very interesting manga.
Volume two of Me and the Devil Blues is available now.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
By Morim Kang
Published by NETCOMICS
Rating: 16+
Morim Kang’s warm, family-oriented manhwa comes to a close in its seventh volume, bringing the tales of thirty-something Krumb, twenty-something Belle, and teenager Rok to a satisfying close. Each woman has faced personal and romantic challenges throughout the course of the series, and the ending resolves nearly all of these plot lines well while still retaining the sense that life will go on for these vibrant characters.
My one complaint about the conclusion involves the resolution of a subplot concerning an art teacher of Rok’s who became obsessed with her and who, it was suggested, suffered from mental illness. One of Rok’s friends does a bit of investigating but the solid truth behind his mysterious behavior is never known; I suppose that’s true to life—we sometimes never know the motivations of those who puzzle us—but it’s frustrating from a reader’s standpoint.
I’m not sure what the Korean equivalent of josei is, but whatever it is, I bet 10, 20, and 30 qualifies. Although there are some teens among the cast, two-thirds of the focus is on Krumb and Belle and their forays into the workplace and the dating scene. Though its tone is quite different from Mari Okazaki’s lamentably languishing Suppli, I’d recommend it as a possible consolation read for fans of that series. If nothing else, it’ll make you feel like hugging your mom.
Volume seven of 10, 20, and 30 is available online at NETCOMICS.com.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
By Tomoko Hayakawa
Del Rey, 178 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)
I’ll be completely honest and admit I’ve never read the other volumes of this series. But even without them, I can tell that it’s an episodic shojo comedy that doesn’t rely on plot development. Volume nineteen soured the series for me because the episodic chapters are pretty boring. The first chapter features a gag (?) where Sunako gets back at a boy who has kissed her by cooking carrots for dinner instead of meat. When their misunderstanding is resolved (and I realize there is actually zero romance between the heroine and the romantic interest), she cooks carrots again at the end of the chapter. It isn’t funny the second time, either.
I am also pretty disappointed by the sloppy art. There’s no detail, and almost all the panels are rendered in a cartoony, super-deformed style. Sunako is always drawn like that, and often has no face. She appears “normal” maybe two or three panels per chapter. The narrative is also bad about cutting abruptly, which doesn’t help the flow of the story, the humor, or much of anything, really.
Volume 20 is a lot better, and in addition to having an interesting two-part chapter where Sunako meets a prince with similar (creepy) interests, there was a fun (if jumpy) New Year’s chapter. Now, it’s clear that Kyohei is the love interest, but even in volume 20, with a plot involving a romantic tease, there is zero chemistry between he and Sunako. The other three boys are relatively faceless and interchangeable, but the story does attempt to spotlight each of the three periodically, which I appreciate.
But with bad art and characters that seem to stick to their one-line personalities, even the more interesting stories in volume 20 did not improve my outlook for the series. It’s possible I’m missing out on the humor and am misjudging the characters by not having read the rest, but even so, neither volume made me really want to go back and try.
Volumes 19-20 of The Wallflower are available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
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