Croquis Pop, Vol. 1

Story by KwangHyun Seo, Art by JinHo Ko
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

“The word croquis comes from French and means simply “sketch”.” - Wikipedia: Croquis.

Da-Il is the latest assistant to famous comic creator Ho Go, but, sadly, he’s not much of an artist. Still, that’s not the kind of thing that’ll keep him from attempting to fulfill a dream that he and his deceased mother shared: to draw the hopes and dreams of everyone! Of course, not being able to draw does get in the way, but as it turns out that’s the least of his worries. During his first night on the job he encounters Mu-Huk, a spirit who informs Da-Il that he’s a Croquis, a person with ability to give life to his drawings and ideas in the form of ghosts, and it’s Mu-Huk’s job to dispatch these other spirits. Thus begins one of the oddest books I’ve ever come across.

I’m really not sure where to begin. The mechanics behind the plot are just amazingly convoluted, yet incredibly interesting as well. Da-Il can bring to life the images he draws. These then become ghosts that inhabit their own lil’ sphere, a realm that sometimes crosses over with the real world trapping Da-Il inside of it… but Mu-Huk’s a spirit that battles these spirits and who was also given form by Da-Il’s power! To make things even more confusing, he apparently doesn’t need to actually draw anything to create these spirits. We quickly learn that simple stray thoughts and subconscious desires can create them as well. D’oh. Things get even more complicated when Mu-Huk reveals that he then takes these little adventures and feeds them into the minds of other artists (painters, etc) as inspiration, so… yeah. It’s a bit complex and confusing. There’s also a weird connection between the spirits and realms that Da-Il creates and the real world, as at least one or two things are altered in the real world following these otherworldly battles. It’s just mind-bendingly complicated at times, especially since Da-Il seems to create these things at random with little to no warning. He literally runs into a ghost in one part of the story, and actually encounters one that was created by another Croquis at another point. It’s… confusing.

Thankfully, once you get past all the confusing mechanics behind his powers Croquis Pop is kind of fun and there are some interesting directions that the story could go. The encounter with another spirit created by a different Croquis is a nice glimpse at the possibilities, as is the idea that everything he does could pop up elsewhere in some other artists creation. Of course it’s not all just supernatural weirdness, Da-Il is the newest and youngest of Ho Go’s assistants, and the other assistants make up the supporting cast and provide some relationship oriented drama as he gets on the bad side of one right off the bat. There’s also a mysterious museum curator who is some how connected to Mu-Huk and the whole Croquis phenomena as well. Plenty of different hooks and characters floating around and the story is just so wild and out there that you get the feeling that anything could happen.

JinHo Ko’s art isn’t too bad and he does a nice job at rendering some of the more bizarre occupancies. The first-time spirits Da-Il encounters are essentially stick figures he scribbled in the dust. JinHo switches his style to render them in a rough sketchy style which contrasts heavily with the cleaner and more detailed style he uses for Da-Il. Unfortunately ,after this one encounter just about every other spirit is drawn in the same style as everything else. Still it’s a nice effect and something that might turn up again. It would be kind of fun to see Da-Il and Mu-Huk doing battle with an spirit drawn in an impressionist style, or perhaps something done in a more classical bent. His renderings of the action sequences can be a bit confusing at times, but for the most part he does a great job depicting Mu-Huk’s various attacks and the odd abilities that some of the other Croquis creations wield.

Croquis Pop is definitely an interesting title, but I’m a little worried that the complexity of the powers mechanics might be a bit of a turn off. There’s really no clear rules by which these things are created and they seem to happen at random or when the plot requires it. Outside of that it’s an OK teen hero series.

Volume 1 of Croquis Pop is available now.

Once more unto the breach, dear otakus, once more; gird yourself for another round of Manga Shakespeare. This time, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and The Tempest get the graphic novel treatment from the folks at SelfMadeHero, as they attempt to sex up the Bard with chibis and sound effects. I found SelfMadeHero’s first efforts wanting; too much attention was focused on plot and setting—one took place in modern-day Tokyo, the other in a future ravaged by global warming, for reasons never satisfactorily addressed—but too little on language, the stumbling block for most modern readers. Of all Shakespeare’s plays, however, A Midsummer’s Night Dream seems most suited to mangafication, as its magical transformations and ensuing mix-ups lend themselves to the deformations, flapping arms, and sweat drops employed by manga-ka to convey extreme comic emotion.

If yaoi be your food of love, read on; DMP is releasing four new one-shots this week covering every phase of a relationship from Loving Gaze to New Beginnings. The cream of the crop? Hard Rock, a soap opera chronicling the romantic entanglements within a four-member boy band. Also arriving on store shelves this week are the latest volumes of long-running series Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (Tokyopop), Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse), Boys Over Flowers (Viz), and Negima (Del Rey); the first installments of Forget About Love (Tokyopop) and You’re So Cool (Yen Press), two manhwa aimed squarely at the teenage market; and the all-ages title Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai (Viz), which Lori Henderson’s daughter Jenny pronounces “pure funny.”

Being something of an elderly curmudgeon, my top choices this week skew a little older:

Gimmick!, Vol. 1 (Viz): I hadn’t planned to pick up a copy of Gimmick! until I read Phil’s enthusiastic review. Equal parts F/X and MacGuyver, the story focuses on a special effects guru who uses his considerable talents to aid actors and actresses in distress. Though the series “boasts cool characters, fast-paced plots, and stylized artwork,” Phil explains, what distinguishes Gimmick! from dozens of other action-adventures is its “reliance on human ingenuity over strength or swordplay.” No word on whether the hero makes a bomb out of chewing gum, baling wire, and an old alarm clock, but something tells me Richard Dean Anderson would whole-heartedly approve of the concept.

One Pound Gospel, Vol. 1 (Viz): After twenty years, Rumiko Takahashi finally completed this delightful four-volume series about a boxer torn between two loves: food and Sister Angela, a pretty noviate who takes an interest in his foundering career. After allowing the first three volumes to go out of print, Viz is reissuing the series in a new, unflipped format with a “refreshed” translation and new cover art. If your primary exposure to Takahashi has been Ranma ½ or InuYasha, One Pound Gospel makes a fine introduction to the quieter observational humor characteristic of her masterpiece Maison Ikkoku. A must for every serious manga fan’s collection!

Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1 (Yen Press): Imagine, for a moment, that Chika Umino and Kiyohiko Azuma collaborated on a 4-koma series about life in an art-school dormitory. The resulting series might look a lot like Sunshine Sketch, a gentle, slice-of-life comedy about a quartet of teenagers attending a prestigious art school. As in Azumanga Daioh, there’s no real plot to speak of; the four-panel strips focus on the interactions among the teens, each of whom embodies a certain type, from the tall, athletic Sae (who’s a bossy tomboy) to the spastic genius Miyako (who paints a mean picture but can’t sit still for five minutes). A small cast of supporting characters—a cosplaying teacher, an unnamed principal, a rival from another class—round out the cast. (Continued)

If you’re still solvent after last week’s tsunami of new manga, this week may send you straight for bankruptcy court, with dozens of great books headed your way. The list cants heavily towards continuing series like Basara (Viz), Flame of Recca (Viz), Samurai Deeper Kyo (Tokyopop) Sgt. Frog (Tokyopop) and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles (Del Rey), but also features such noteworthy newcomers as Kamisama Kozuko (Go! Comi) and Toto! The Wonderful Adventure (Del Rey).

My top picks for Wednesday:

Blood+, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse): This brooding vampire tale adopts a kitchen-sink approach to plotting, mixing military conspiracy theory with teen angst and a healthy dose of monster-slaying. The results are oddly compelling; if anything, Blood+ demonstrates that it’s entirely possible to fashion something new and exciting out of shopworn ideas. If you’re a fan of the anime, you’ll notice a few discrepancies between the manga and the TV show. The biggest difference is Saya herself. As depicted in the manga, Saya is feisty, loyal, and only a little hesitant to embrace her destiny as a human weapon—a big improvement over her shrill, conflicted persona in the anime.

Shoulder-A-Coffin, Kuro, Vol. 1 (Yen Press): The story is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition; some may find the art too cutesy for the rather serious subject, while others may find the story ill-suited to the set-up/punchline rhythms of 4-koma format. For the otaku in search of an offbeat read, however, Kuro offers a unique and satisfying blend of humor, whimsy, and melancholy.

Toto! The Wonderful Adventure, Vol. 1 (Del Rey): Yuko Osada’s boisterous romp reads like a mash-up of One Piece and Castle in the Sky, complete with a flying ship, a cute animal sidekick, a spunky heroine, and a band of pirates on the run from the authorities. The artwork has a loose, sketchy feel that nicely complements Toto’s breezy tone. And while the story is positively elemental when compared with many shonen series, its simplicity allows Osada to focus more on characters and plot and less on superpowers and backstory—a decided plus.

Ultimate Venus, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi): Like Ai Morinaga, Takako Shigematsu has a knack for spicing up a stock shojo premise—say, a showbiz melodrama—with liberal amounts of black humor and sexual tension. In Ultimate Venus, Shigematsu’s point of departure is the My Fair Lady makeover, in which a handsome Henry Higgins surrogate teaches a klutzy young woman how to comport herself among the rich and famous. Or in this case, two hot linguists teach a klutzy young woman how to talk and walk like a lady. Eliza Doolittle should be so lucky!

Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 11 (Viz): Every volume of Yakitate!! Japan doggedly adheres to the same basic recipe: one part competition, one part risqué humor, one part yeasty puns, and one part wacky hijinks. Kazuma Azuma and the Pantasia gang are always the underdogs at a world-renown bread-baking tournament, only to pull off a stunning victory on the strength of one of Kazuma’s more outlandish creations—but not before a new, ridiculous opponent (often in a mask or outré costume) announces his intent to outbake them. All of this amounts to predictably good fun, even if the fanservice gets a little out of hand at times. Haven’t tried Yakitate!! yet? Read the first two volumes, then sample at will—you won’t have difficulty figuring out what’s happening.

One final note: from now until May 18th, RightStuf is running a promotion on current and future Tokyopop manga, novels, and tie-in products (i.e. The Fruits Basket Sticker Book). Books are 33% off the cover price; click here for the coupon code. Full shipping list after the cut.

(Continued)

Sometimes the shortest shipping lists pose the greatest hazard to one’s fiscal well-being. Take this week, for example: of the twelve titles below, I fully intend to purchase eight. Whoever decided that Gon, Dororo and the Dayan Collection should be released on the same date clearly intended to send me to my financial doom. David Welsh has already urged readers to check out these three titles (as well another solid sci-fi thriller, Alive: The Final Evolution), so I’ll simply point you to Precocious Curmudgeon with a hearty endorsement: What he said!

This week’s column focuses on three brand-new series from Yen Press: Kaze no Hana, a story about an amnesiac teen who may possess extraordinary powers—if only she could remember her past; Kieli, a manga about a girl who sees ghosts; and Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, a story about a mysterious pilgrim who travels with a coffin strapped to her back.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Air Gear, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
Alive: The Final Evolution, Vol. 4 (Del Rey)
Aventura, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
Cy-Believers, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi)
Dayan Collection Books: Dayan’s Birthday, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: Thursday Rainy Party, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: White Eurocka, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: Chibikuro Party, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
Dororo, Vol. 1 (Vertical, Inc.)
Gon, Vol. 4 (CMX)
Warriors, Vol. 3: Warriors Return (Tokyopop/Harper Collins)
Witchblade Takeru Manga, Vol. 1 (Image/Top Cow)

Kaze no Hana, Vol. 1

By Ushio Mizta and Akiyoshi Ohta
Yen Press, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

Kaze no Hana is a textbook example of that most basic of shonen genres: seemingly ordinary teen discovers that he or she is, in fact, the only one capable of saving the world. The ordinary teen in question is Momoka, a high school student who suffers from amnesia after losing her parents in a fiery car crash. When Momoka is summoned to her relatives’ home in the distant city of Mitsurugi, she makes an incredible discovery: she is one of eight guardians chosen to protect Mitsurugi from Kishimi, a vengeful demon sealed beneath the local temple. If Momoka fails to master her powers, said demon will break free and upset the balance between the real and the shadow worlds. Making her dilemma more acute is her own ineptitude; try as she might, she can’t even remove her sword from its sheath, let alone dispatch the susami (petty demons) that prey on Mitsurugi’s citizens.

Though much of the backstory is related through conversations, the narrative unfurls at a decent clip, seldom bogging down in the kind of minutiae that can make shonen series such a chore to read. The story never settles into an interesting groove, however, as the wafer-thin characterizations and so-so artwork do little to make the basic premise more interesting. None of the characters rise above the level of type: the klutzy heroine, the rude but tender-hearted male love interest, the humorless female authority figure. The characters are awkwardly drawn, with razor-sharp chins and oversized limbs; they seem almost crude in comparison with the backdrops and the monsters, which are rendered in considerable detail. Furthermore, there’s an oddly flat quality to the artwork, despite the cinematic use of perspective; all of the characters appear to float above the picture plane, rather than occupy three-dimensional space. The bottom line: Kaze no Hana is OK, but nothing special.

Volume one of Kaze no Hana is available now.

Kieli, Vol. 1

Story by Yukako Kabei, Art by Shiori Teshirogi
Yen Press, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

As I read the promotional copy for Kieli, which explained that its title character “sees ghosts,” an ability that makes this fourteen-year-old girl “a bit of an outcast at her boarding school,” I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to sing:

People,
People who see dead people,
Are the luckiest people in the world.

Kieli sounded like just another manga about a teen who communes with spirits. Thankfully, Kieli proved far more interesting than its all-too-familiar set-up suggested.

The story is set on a distant planet that looks suspiciously like fin-de-siecle Paris or Vienna with its elegant cathedrals and petticoat-clad schoolgirls. Eighty years ago, this unnamed planet’s inhabitants created the ultimate weapon: The Undying, a race of nearly indestructible soldiers fashioned from the corpses of fallen comrades. These undead soldiers played a pivotal role in ending decades of warfare, only to find themselves the object of an extermination campaign spearheaded by the Church. After a brief prologue explaining the plight of The Undying, we meet Kieli, a plucky schoolgirl who sees (and keeps company with) ghosts. While wandering off-campus, she bumps into Harvey, a brusque young man who also has the same ability. Kieli attempts to befriend him without realizing that Harvey is, in fact, one of the few Undying to have escaped detection by the Church. As she begins to piece together his story, she faces a choice: should she join Harvey on his quest to honor a fellow soldier’s dying wish, or remain at her boarding school?

True, the Spirit Seer and the Sole Survivor of a Persecuted Race are stock manga characters. But Yukako Kabei and Shiori Teshirogi have fleshed out Kieli and Harvey into fully realized players in a compelling, beautifully illustrated sci-fi drama. Each page is masterfully composed, striking the right balance between atmospheric detail and clarity. I had two minor reservations about volume one: first, the lengthy recaps at the beginning of every chapter, which stall the narrative momentum, and second, the rather sophomoric musings about organized religion. Granted, these voiceovers are meant to help us understand Kieli better, but they read like freshman glosses on Nietzsche rather than genuine interior monologues, and might have been cut. Still, these are minor criticisms of a very promising series—one that I intend to continue reading.

Volume one of Kieli is available now.

Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, Vol. 1

By Satoko Kiyuduki
Yen Press, 124 pp.
Rating: Teen

Don’t be fooled by the kawaii cover: Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro is a melancholy little book. The story focuses on Kuro, a somewhat masculine young woman on a pilgrimage to find the witch who inflicted a mysterious curse on her. Everywhere she goes, Kuro cuts a dramatic figure, wearing heavy black clothing, a Pilgrim hat, and a custom-sized coffin, which she straps to her back. Though she begins her journey with only a talking bat for a companion, she soon adds two members to her traveling “family”: Nijuku and Sanju, a pair of genetically engineered nekomimi whose creator was brutally murdered.

Kuro’s pilgrimage is related in 4-koma (four panel) style. Most of the images are black and white, with full-color pages marking the beginning of each chapter. The four-panel format imposes a certain rhythm on the material that occasionally makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro a little too talky; I found myself wishing that Satoko Kiyuduki had allowed her spiky, expressive artwork to play a more prominent role in the storytelling. But the format also frees her from the constraints of a linear narrative, allowing the story to unfold in a less schematic, more relaxed fashion. The predominant mood is wistful bordering on elegiac; Kuro is always mindful that Nijuku and Sanju are too naïve to understand what befell their creator, and worries what will happen to them at the end of their journey. She, too, faces an uncertain future, as her body is slowly consumed by a unexplained illness.

The jacket copy promises “all the whimsy of the most memorable fairy tales,” but I think that misses the point—if anything, Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro explores some of the darker, more psychologically complex issues raised by the uncensored versions of “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood” rather than their more whimsical aspects. To be sure, the somber mood is lightened by plenty of broad comedy as various characters mistake Kuro for a vampire, a demon, a gravedigger, or, worse still, a boy. But even these comedic moments are tinged with sadness: Kuro often finds herself cast out of towns, even after rendering their citizens valuable services.

Ultimately, it’s this mixture of melancholy and humor that makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro such a compelling read. The story never succumbs to mawkishness or easy sentiment, yet at the same time, it dares to tug a little at the heartstrings. Not everyone will find the book’s odd tone to their liking, especially those in search of a breezy riff on Western fairy tales. But for those in search of something a little more thought-provoking–the kind of story that lingers in your mind after you’ve finished reading it–I highly recommend Kuro.

Volume one of Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro will be available on May 6th.

What manga will you be reading one year from now? Viz, Del Rey, Yen Press, DMP, Dark Horse, and CMX unveiled the titles they hope you’ll purchase, from adaptations of popular anime series to works by established masters. Below is a run-down of the day’s big licensing news.
(Continued)

Yen’s first big announcement came via email today: they’ve acquired the rights to the Haruhi Suzumiya manga and light novels, which will begin publication in October 2008. Details below.

Yen Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA, today announced that it will publish the first official English-language manga edition of Japan’s hottest property, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Acquired from well-known Japanese publisher Kadokawa Shoten, the manga series will be adapted into English from the original Japanese manga volumes illustrated by Gaku Tsugano. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Volume 1 will launch in October 2008 with both full-color and black-and-white illustrations. Subsequent volumes in the series will be published every four months. Available at major bookstores and comic book retailers, each volume is rated OT (Older Teen) and will cost $10.99 at retail.

(Continued)

I’m glad to see that manga publishers will be making a stronger showing at this year’s Free Comic Book Day; as I noted in my report on FCBD 2007, Tokyopop was the only manga publisher to actively court comic book fans with its Choose Your Weapon sampler. This year, Gold Sponsor VIZ Media is offering a special 32-page edition of Shonen Jump highlighting Bleach, Naruto, and Slam Dunk. Not to be outdone, other manga publishers will be wooing readers with their own offerings, including:

• Antarctic Press, which will give away copies of Rod Espinosa’s Neotopia;
• Del Rey, which will distribute a sampler featuring In Odd We Trust, the highly anticipated Dean Koontz/Queenie Chan project;
• Drawn & Quarterly, which will circulate a 24-page sampler highlighting their big 2008 manga releases, Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Good-Bye and Seiichi Hayashi’s Red Colored Elegy; and
• Yen Press, which will be unveiling a short excerpt from James Patterson’s Maxium Ride.

For more information about VIZ’s offering, read on.

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced its participation as a Gold Level Sponsor in the 2008 Free Comic Book Day, taking place May 3rd. VIZ Media is producing a special edition (rated “A” for All Ages) of SHONEN JUMP Magazine (rated ‘T’ for Teens) to be distributed for free at participating stores nationwide.

The annual occasion, developed by Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books, is designed for comic book retailers across North America and around the world to offer a range of select titles for free to further spread awareness of new and upcoming series and highlight the diversity of the comics and manga (graphic novel) genres.

SHONEN JUMP will publish a special, free condensed issue of the magazine to appeal to new comic book fans as well as established manga readers. The SHONEN JUMP Free Comic Book Day issue will contain 32 action-packed pages including special previews of three of VIZ Media’s most exciting serialized manga: NARUTO, BLEACH and the newly serialized SLAM DUNK as well as coverage of many of the magazine’s other popular series such as ONE PIECE and YU YU HAKUSHO, and introduce new readers to the diverse array of content the magazine offers. Longtime SHONEN JUMP fans will also love the BLEACH poster included in this special edition.

SHONEN JUMP joins a select group of ten other preeminent publishers participating in Free Comic Book Day including Archie, Bongo, Dark Horse, DC, Dynamite, IDW, Image, Marvel and Virgin. For more information on Free Comic Book Day please visit www.freecomicbookday.com.

“Despite the massive popularity of manga in the United States, there is still a huge audience waiting to experience the range of unique art and compelling stories featured in these excellent Japanese comics,” says Marc Weidenbaum, Editor-In- Chief of SHONEN JUMP. “By supporting Free Comic Book Day, we hope to get manga into as many hands as possible, and let American comic readers discover the pleasures of the ninja epic that is Masashi Kishimoto’s NARUTO, the soul-reaper action of Tite Kubo’s BLEACH, and the high-school hijinks of Takehiko Inoue’s SLAM DUNK.”

SHONEN JUMP, which celebrated its 5th anniversary earlier this year, appeals to over 1.9 million readers monthly aged 12-17 - with an average monthly circulation of over 241,000. SHONEN JUMP is the first place fans can read new chapters of the latest hit manga from Japan as titles such as NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE have two or more chapters regularly serialized each month in addition to product articles on a vast array of related video games, trading cards, animation and toys. Ardent fans appreciate the easy to read and affordable presentations of a notable array of different genres, stories and art styles, yet the magazine still offers new readers the opportunity to test several manga at once. For more information on SHONEN JUMP Magazine please visit www.shonenjump.com.

This month’s Manga Minis column has enough high-fallutin’ cultural references to please even Harold Bloom. Whether or not he’d cotton to the actual manga reviewed—which include the eleventh volume of Claymore (Viz), the eighth volume of Nana (Viz), the first volume of Vampire Hunter D (DMP), Y Square (Yen Press), and the second volume of Zombie Loan (Yen Press)—remains to be seen. Our February feature is notable also for its contributors. Joining me and Erin are Chloe Ferguson, the newest member of the Manga Recon team, and Ninja Consultant Noah, Erin’s podcasting partner-in-crime (and life). Welcome, Chloe and Noah!

Claymore, Vol. 11

By Norihiro Yagi
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Pity the poor, medieval villagers of Claymore. Their town is infiltrated by shape-shifting yoma, they have no choice but to hire mercenary warrior women toting enormous swords—who are themselves half-demons—from a shadowy Organization, and pray that should the whole thing go south, they aren’t left with something infinitely worse on their hands. “Battle not with monsters,” warns Nietzsche, “lest ye become one.” It’s a lesson these “silver-eyed witches” know all too well; for if a Claymore pushes her supernatural powers too far, the yoma within overtakes her soul and she transforms into a creature far more powerful and hideous than a yoma: an Awakened One.

Volumes 1 - 10 of Claymore chart the progress of Clare, a tenacious but low-ranking member of the Claymore order, who adopts the orphaned boy Raki after a yoma she is sent to kill first devours his parents. As a child, Clare herself was taken under the wing of a Claymore, whose death at the hands of a colleague-turned-Awakened One has led Clare to swear vengeance, and often requires her to tackle foes far beyond her weight class. This leads to her partial Awakening, and results in an uneasy relationship with the Organization, whose inclination, it seems, is to eliminate any of their agents they deem on the verge of losing control and going rogue.

Volume 11 finds Clare fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow Claymores against a large contingent of Awakened Ones in the frozen northern town of Pieta. Normally solitary, the creatures have joined together for unclear reasons and are grinding their way through the female warriors with blood-drenched abandon. Clare takes on Rigaldo, the Silver Eyed Lion King (!), who proves to be more than she can possibly handle without far exceeding her limit. The Awakened Ones fall upon the remaining fighters, and Raki, now unknowingly in the company of the monster who slew Clare’s foster mother, is hundreds of miles away.

The body count is so high, and speed lines drawn with such reckless abandon it can sometimes be difficult to follow the action; not to mention that each Claymore is more or less identical but for a slightly different hairstyle. There is much meat to this volume however, and very little dead air. When the fighting is over, the action immediately gives way to intrigue as the machinations of the Organization and the ambitions of the most powerful Awakened Ones are revealed.

If you’re not a fan of this series, no amount of oversized sword-swinging or spontaneous dismemberment contained herein will make you one; but if you are a fan, you will certainly not want to wait until July 2008 for the next volume.

–Reviewed by Ninja Consultant Noah F.

Nana, Vol. 8

By Ai Yazawa
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Mature

A soap opera is only as good as its most recent plot twist, and in volume eight of Nana, Ai Yazawa uncorks a doozy: Hachi discovers she’s pregnant. Forced to accept the consequences of her boy-crazy behavior, Hachi must decide whether to remain with new love Nobu or return to Trapnest hottie Takumi. (I just love typing that phrase—kudos to the copy editor who coined it.) Yazawa does an excellent job of evoking Hachi’s loneliness and fear, using spare, stripped-down layouts that make Hachi look small and overwhelmed by her surroundings. When Yazawa puts words into Hachi and Nana’s mouths, however, the results are less effective, reading more like an earnest public service announcement about birth control than real-life drama. Though these exchanges have a didactic quality to them, they do serve an important role, reminding us that Hachi has reached a crucial moment in her adult life: she can no longer afford to be the sweetly feckless groupie who avoids responsibility through her bed-hopping and job-hopping. What she decides to do next, and whether Nana will support her choice, should provide plenty of dramatic grist for at least five or six volumes.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1

By Saiko Takaki
DMP, 250 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Vampire Hunter D is Saiko Takaki’s debut manga, commissioned by DMP in America. Takaki writes about his experiences drawing the book in the author’s notes - DMP gave almost no editorial feedback, only artistic notes, as poor Takaki stumbled in the dark, writing the entire book in one go and balding from stress. The road to editing manga is a long one, and although DMP and Tokyopop have taken their first steps into the field, they still have a lot to learn.

I can’t remember if the manga closely follows the plot of the movie and I’ve never read the novel series. There is considerably less evil-dinosaur and random-demon fighting in this manga version of the story, but rest assured it still takes place in 12,090 AD with plenty of cybernetic horses. For an analysis of Adam Smith’s invisible hand theory as it relates to the vampiric aristocracy, be sure to check out this podcast.

The plot is obviously like a Western: the mysterious dhampir D rides into town and offers to protect the orphaned Doris and her younger brother. Doris has been bitten by the vampire Count Lee, who has an eye to marry her—if the townfolk don’t kill Doris with torches and pitchforks first. Doris’s little brother is a stereotype and the love story is painstakingly predictable.

The artwork uses a lot of heavy lines, giving the book a dark look and feel. The figure drawing is very accomplished, and Doris’s breasts are very, very accomplished. She appears naked at least twice, and occasionally a sound effect appears near her bust. Whether it was intentionally comedic or not is up for debate. The story reads like a rough draft of a much better story. The chapter divisions seemed clunky as the book plodded on. The dialog read very smoothly and I enjoyed the purple-edged pages, but otherwise, I’d recommend reading the original novels and seeing the films instead.

Reviewed by Erin F.

Y Square

By Judith Park
Yen Press, 184 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Judith Park takes a stock manga premise—boy-crazy teen seeks love coach—and turns it on its head. Her protagonist, Yoshitaka Kogirei, isn’t a ditzy, love-starved girl, but a wannabe ladies’ man whose cheesy pick up lines, lecherous behavior, and crude language send his classmates running for the exits. Enter Yagate, a new student who’s an immediate hit with the girls. After watching Yoshitaka offend yet another prospective date, Yagate agrees to mentor Yoshitaka until he can make a love connection on his own.

From a tonal perspective, Y Square reads like a shonen romance with a healthy dose of fan service, including a textbook example of the I-saw-you-naked scene. The artwork, however, has a distinctly shojo feel. If Park’s style were more polished, this hybrid aesthetic might seem innovative instead of incongruous. But her indiscriminate use of screentone and her frequent juxtaposition of crude sight gags with girly, floral backgrounds make for a visually chaotic layout. The other major drawback to Y Square is its lead character. Though Yagate insists that underneath Yoshitaka’s “tough shell” is a “heart full of charm and romance,” Park does a poor job of showing the reader that Yoshitaka is, in fact, a decent guy who just doesn’t know how to talk to girls. (He behaves like a boor throughout the entire volume, insulting girls who rebuff him and announcing that “watching porn” is one of his hobbies.) Still, Y Square does have some genuinely funny moments as Yagate tries to smooth out his protege’s rough edges with advice pilfered from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab 5’s Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better. Too bad it didn’t seem to sink in.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Zombie Loan, Vol. 2

By Peach-Pit
Yen Press, 194 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Now into its second volume, I’d love to say that that Zombie Loan took the potential fun parts of volume one and ran with them. Regrettably, this is not the case, and creative collective Peach-Pit sells its title short by busting out clichés en masse while attempting to wrangle with a convoluted central plot. Protagonist Michiru’s acquisition of a backbone is a welcome change, but there’s not much movement on any character front throughout the book particularly those of equally important zombie hunters Shito and Chika. Instead, Peach-Pit shunts two new characters into the fray in the form of an… erm, overly friendly female dorm mate of Michiru’s and Shiba, an old friend of Chika’s who serve little purpose other than to stir up some superficial controversy. The title’s obligatory dose of creepy is supplied by a maniacal serial killer named “The Butterfly” who engages in everything from cult killings to illicit zombie manufacture. Of course, it’s up to our young protagonists to track down and eliminate the aforementioned killer, whose Raskolnikov-esque street wandering tendencies keep him popping up all over the book. Now if only Peach-Pit would stop impeding their progress with boatloads of tired clichés, the protagonists might actually be able to spot him…

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson

For this column I got to read two books by publishers I haven’t read much from: Go! Comi and Yen Press. It occurred to me later that King of the Lamp is kind of the girl’s equivalent of Sundome. It’s just a theory… Without further ado, here’s Heroes Are Extinct!!, Vol. 3, King of the Lamp, and Sundome, Vol. 1

Heroes Are Extinct!!, Vol. 3

By Ryoji Hido
DMP, 200 pp.
Rating: 13+

This tokusatsu parody manga wraps up in volume three, released on January 15th.

Katherine and I have reviewed the previous two volumes here and here and a little bit here.

I found volumes one and two had good moments, but the simplistic, hastily-done, anime-style art really bothered me. For most of the team working on the manga, this was their first professional work. The original concept was intended as a pitch for an anime series. I think I would have liked this as an anime OVA rather than a manga series. By volume three the art improved greatly, but I never found the character designs appealing.

In volume three the Bazue Empire attacks earth for real–unlike in volumes one and two where aliens Cassiel and Jude faked an invasion to play Power Rangers with earthlings. We learned in volume two that Cassie is actually from Earth. It’s a cute twist, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that is totally racist. Cassiel would have been a more interesting character if he really was an alien bent on creating heroes to protect earth based on a love of Japanese television.

I really couldn’t get into the Bazue Army political drama which opens volume three. I couldn’t remember the various generals from the other volumes, and I even confused Jude and Aster! Had I read the entire series at once, or followed it in a weekly magazine, I might have had an easier time of it.

I was more interested in the Earth Terra Force characters than the Bazue military royalty. Unfortunately, Terra Force gets very little face-time in this volume.

The conclusion is satisfying and over-the-top, and fits well with the rest of the story. Despite the bad art, Hido’s love for the characters and the genre flow out the pages. In some ways, it’s similar to watching the original Doctor Who series: the writer’s love pours through in the best episode, despite the extremely poor special effects.

Nevertheless, I can’t imagine why anyone other than Mike Dent, the tokusatsu podcaster, would buy this series, especially at a higher-than-average cover price of $12.95. Statistically, there may be many Mike Dents in the world, but I’m not confident the real Mike Dent will like the series. I plan on sending it to him as soon as this review is posted.

King of the Lamp

By Takako Shigematsu
Go! Comi, 200 pp.
Rating: 16+ (Older Teen)

I haven’t read much by Go! Comi! A.I. Revolution and Love Master A fell a little flat. I was pleasantly surprised to find King of the Lamp to be a light-hearted and bizarre anthology of smut. Unfortunately it’s more fun to summarize than to actually read, since the over-toned art really drags the book down.

Rather than a traditional genie, a king is sentenced to live in a lamp as punishment for having a harem of 1,000 stolen women. Instead of granting wishes outright, the King demands payment; a kiss for small wishes, and second base for larger favors. In each chapter the King grants the wishes of a different client/girl/victim.

The King must help out 1,000 girls to free himself from the lamp. He helps three in this volume, leaving only 986 girls to go. The rest of the book is padded out with a short story about a girl who is adopted by a pair of un-aging male incubi. The girl falls in love with one of them after coming of age. (WTF SRSLY: “You are my adopted daughter but since you’re 18 now let’s get it on.”)

Takako Shigematsu, who is also the author of Tenshi Ja Nai!! (I’m No Angel), adequately portrays the King’s character as a prankster without delving too deep. The bulk of the girl cast is not terribly interesting. At first I expected monkey’s paw endings to each girls’ wish. Every chapter could easily become “comeuppance theater” but it doesn’t. For example, in one chapter a girl is jealous of her sister’s boyfriend. When the boy goes blind temporarily because of an accident, the girl wishes for her sister’s voice so she can care for her crush in the hospital. In comeuppance theater the boy might marry the girl’s sister after regaining his sight, but in King of the Lamp, the boy realizes he has fallen in love with the other sister. They then have sex, which is how every chapter ends.

The paneling is not terribly adept - in one scene a girl drops a tray of hospital food which is abruptly cleaned up by the next page. The action wasn’t clear and I read the sequence twice to understand it. Many pages look crowded or cluttered. The high point of the art is the King’s character design. He’s a hottie, but his tanned skin ultimately adds to the over-toned look of the book.

The make-out scenes are surprisingly graphic compared to the manga I usually read. Nothing ridiculously explicit happens and for the most part the sex is off-camera, but holy crow, his face is in her crotch there…! Instead of anyone learning a lesson, each story ends with the happy [teenage] couple getting it on.

Slightly amusing but ultimately forgettable, smutty but not pornographic, King of the Lamp could have a sequel, but stops just short of the King reaching his goal.

Sundome, Vol. 1

By Kazuto Okada
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: M (Mature)

When I first started reviewing for Manga Recon in 2005, I hadn’t read much manga. My early reviews dwelled on the different methods of handling sound effects–I used to enjoy Del Rey’s best, but now I like Viz’s full translation for faster reading. This is my first Yen Press title. Yen translates sound effects in teeny-tiny letters in the gutters between panels, beginning each translation with “SFX:”. I found this distracting, it slowed me down as I read the “SFX” acronym aloud in my head.

Some of the dialog was printed too close to the binding, and I couldn’t open the book wide enough to read it. This would be a bigger problem if I were reading the book standing on the subway, however, since Sundome is explicit I didn’t take chances. My decision was justified: The book features drawing after drawing of erections (in jeans) and… let’s just say “c_m_l t___s”.

Hideo Aiba is a member of the “Roman” club in his high school. Roman in this instance means “Romance,” therefore, the club “researches” ghosts, aliens, and mysteries. Virginity is required for membership, so all the members are total losers, and all males, until Kurumi Sahana transfers in.

The attractive (although frankly creepy) and popular Sahana attaches herself to the Roman Club, and specifically Aiba. Sahana kicks off a bizarre relationship with Aiba, whom vows never to sleep with, however, she promises to torture Aiba to the point of near-ejaculation. Sundome, in Japanese, literally means “stopping the moment before,” as explained in the useful translator’s notes.

Sahana coerces Aiba into a number of extremely physically painful situations–sticking a nail in his penis, being crushed by a member of the judo club–and then rewards him with a semi-sexual favors, like untying the side of her side-tying underwear. Aiba decides this is better than being rejected, and despite the genital bleeding, he misses Sahana desperately the first day of summer vacation.

I found the book neither funny nor titillating. Everything is toned too dark, and the characters designs are unappealing. Sundome seems to (ironically?) stop at the point just before it would be truly ugly or cute or sexy or funny. The front cover is kind of sexy, but the pin-up chapter break drawings of Sahana wearing transparent underwear just get weirder and grosser as the book proceeds.

Although I’m not the target audience for this, I do enjoy bawdy sexual humor, like Golden Boy, Ping Pong Club, High School Girls, Beavis and Butthead, Superbad, and most Adult Swim shows, but I’m not sure who would want to pay $12.99 for this. At least DMP’s $13 books have dust jackets.

Now that the last cosplaying Soul Reaper has hung up his zanpakutou, I thought I’d take stock of the major manga news stories to emerge from the first New York Anime Festival. If you want the lowdown on individual titles, I encourage you to visit About.com, where Deb Aoki has posted plot summaries and release dates for series discussed at NYAF, and MangaBlog, where Brigid Alverson has filed detailed reports on the weekend’s big panels. Anime fans and fujioshi should check the Manga Recon blog later this week, when Erin F. files her reports on the anime panels and Drama Queen’s big plans for 2008.

Here are my votes for the five most important manga-related news stories from NYAF 2007:

5. Everyone’s riding the omnibus.
Chalk it up to budget conscious consumers or burgeoning back catalogs, but several publishers announced plans to repackage fan favorites in new, multi-volume editions. Tokyopop and Viz are focusing on older titles, with Tokyopop offering both deluxe, hardbound editions of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy and Fruits Basket (complete with extras and larger trim size) and more wallet-friendly omnibus treatments of crowd-pleasers like Chronicles of the Cursed Sword and Kare Kano. Viz, meanwhile, will be rolling out Big Editions of Rurouni Kenshin and both DragonBall series. The Viz Big Editions will be formatted like Tekkonkinkreet, with a larger trim size, color pages, and a dust jacket. Curiously, no one at the Viz panel mentioned the more exciting news that Inoue’s Vagabond will also be getting the Big Edition treatment in 2008. File that under Things That Make You Go Hmmmm….

While Del Rey has no plans to continue its Barnes and Noble omnibus program, it will be offering readers a deluxe presentation of Me and The Devil Blues (June 2008), a fictionalized biography of legendary Delta guitarist Robert Johnson. Each installment will include two volumes of the manga—that’s nearly 500 pages of story—formatted for a slightly larger trim size.

• Tokyopop Graphic Novel Editions: Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, Kare Kano, King of Hell, Rebirth (Spring 2008), Sgt. Frog (December 2007) (3 volumes each; $12.99; limited availability)
• Tokyopop Ultimate Editions: Battle Royale, Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy, Fruits Basket (available now) (2-3 volumes each; hardcover; $14.99 - $29.99)
• Viz Big Editions: DragonBall (April 2008), DragonBall Z (August 2008), Rurouni Kenshin (February 2008), Vagabond (Fall 2008) (3 vols. each; softcover; $17.99)

4. nisiOisin: not just an acronym anymore.
In an effort to capitalize on popular manga franchises, Del Rey and Viz have licensed novels by prolific author nisiOisin. Del Rey will offer CLAMP fans xxxHolic: Another Holic, a novel set in the xxxHolic universe, while Viz will be releasing Death Note: The Last Note, a prequel to the manga. nisiOisin’s work will also appear in the first volume of Del Rey’s Faust anthology, which will include a collaboration between him and Loveless manga-ka Yun Kouga. And Del Rey has licensed his light novel series Zaregoto: The Kubikiri Cycle.

• Del Rey: Faust: Fiction and Manga from the Cutting Edge of Japanese Pop Culture (short story w/illustrations by Yun Kouga; summer 2008), xxxHolic: Another Holic (light novel; one volume; illustrations by CLAMP), Zaregoto: The Kubikiri Cycle (light novel; nine volumes)
• Viz: Death Note: Another Note (light novel; one volume; February 2008)

3. Yen Press has 4-coma fever.
Among the many titles Yen Press plans to release in 2008 are four series that follow the same yonkoma format as Azumanga Daioh. The first, Shoulder a Coffin, Kuro (May 2008), follows the adventures of a young girl who travels the countryside with a talking bat and a coffin strapped to her back; the second, Sunshine Sketch, is a slice-of-life comedy set in a boarding school dormitory (June 2008); the third, Suzunari! (July 2008), tells the story of a young girl and her cat-eared doppelganger (and yes, wacky hijinks ensue); and the fourth, SS Astro: Teacher’s Lounge (October 2008) offers a humorous look at how faculty members really interact when their students aren’t around.

2. X-Men/1999.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (or avoiding the Internet), you’ve probably heard the news that Del Rey and Marvel have teamed up to produce two manga series based on the X-Men. Before you roll your eyes, keep in mind that Del Rey and Marvel are bringing A-list talent to the project (writers, artists, and editors) in an effort to create a product that manga fans will want to read.

The first will be aimed squarely at a shojo audience. Editor Tricia Narwani reassured readers that the story would “respect shojo conventions” while remaining faithful to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original characters. The concept sketches suggested something in the vein of X/1999 or Godchild—a tone that I hope carries over to the dialogue and plot as well. (Please, no X-Men: Fruits Basket or Dr. Xavier’s Here Is Greenwood. Keep it dark, and keep those chibis to a minimum!) The second series, Wolverine, was aimed at a shonen audience. Though Del Rey had secured a writer for the project, no artist was announced, nor were any plot points discussed. (UPDATE: Deb Aoki has posted some preliminary character sketches at About.com. Click here to view bishonen Wolverine!)

• Wolverine (2 vols., Spring 2009; Story by Antony Johnston)
• X-Men: The Manga (2 vols., Spring 2009; Story by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, Art by Anzu)

1. Shonen Jump may face some stiff competition.
Received wisdom is that the US market can’t support manga magazines. Given how many worthy anthologies have tanked—remember Super Manga Blast or Raijin Comics?—it seems like a fool’s errand to launch a new magazine. But Kurt Hasseler may have hit on a winning formula with the just-announced Yen Plus: run cool titles by big-name artists and authors. A manga adaptation of James Patterson’s best-selling YA series Maximum Ride will be serialized in Yen Plus, as will Svetlana Chmakova’s highly anticipated Night School. Among the other franchises slated to run in the magazine are Jack Frost, a supernatural Korean adventure story, and Pig Bride, a soong-jeong comedy about a young man who’s never seen his bride-to-be’s face. (She wears a pig mask at all times. Paging Dr. Phil…) Each volume will be approximately 460 pages, and will sell for $8.99 at a variety of retail outlets. Look for the first issue in the summer of 2008.

Del Rey will also be publishing an anthology, though Faust will offer readers a mixture of fiction and manga. The first volume, scheduled for an August 2008 release, will include contributions from CLAMP, Takeshi Oba (Death Note, Hikaru no Go), nisiOisin (Death Note: The Last Note), and Yun Kouga (Loveless), while the second will feature a short manga by American cartoonist Fred Gallagher (Megatokyo).

Most fan-friendly licensing news: Tokyopop announced that it will be releasing a manga adaptation of Kyo Kara Maoh! in the third quarter of 2008, while Bandai Entertainment announced that it had acquired the rights to the Code GEASS manga and light novels.

Most YALSA-friendly licensing news: Go! Comi announced that it will be publishing Song of the Hanging Sky, a folkloric story about an indigenous people threatened by modernity. The concept and the gorgeous artwork suggest that this might be a future YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens pick. Ditto for Kasumi (Del Rey), an OEL title from American writer Surt Lim and Japanese artist Hirofumi Sugimoto. The premise sounded quite amusing: a teen moves to a small village where a tree god grants her (and other teens) special powers. The catch: they can only activate these powers by closing their eyes or holding their breath, making them less-than-ideally suited for saving the world.

Least surprising licensing news: Viz will be pushing more Naruto and Death Note products in 2008, including The Official Naruto Fan Book (February 2008) and a Death Note 13: How to Read (February 2008), while Tokyopop will be releasing a Fruits Basket sticker book (May 2008) that will include pin-ups, posters, and temporary tattoos inspired by the series’ zodiac theme.

Best news for manga bloggers and web surfers: Tokyopop will be overhauling its website, making it easier to navigate and locate information about its own products. Tokyopop will also be launching a new program that will dovetail beautifully with their Rising Stars of Manga initiative. I can’t say more right now—the details are still being hammered out—but I think that it will be a real boon for both the company and for creators.

Best news for booksellers: Del Rey will begin staggering its releases, offering two to four new titles per week instead of ten or thirteen titles on the same day each month. As an added bonus, Del Rey will be simultaneously releasing the first two volumes of several series including Hiro Mashima’s eagerly anticipated Fairy Tale (March 2008).

Best convention swag: Vertical’s Guin Saga leopard masks.

Most entertaining panel: Drama Queen. (And I’m not saying that just because I won volumes one and two of DVD—I swear!)

Most abused marketing hook: Comparing a series’ premise with Harry Potter. I heard no fewer than four pitches that began, “It’s like Harry Potter in manga form” or “Think of it as Harry Potter meets…”

What the kids will be reading next: Gakuen Alice (Tokyopop), Night School (Yen Press), The Record of a Fallen Vampire (Viz)

What the old curmudgeons will be reading next: Black Jack (Vertical, Inc.), Dororo (Vertical, Inc.); Manga Sutra (Tokyopop); Me and the Devil Blues (Del Rey); Real (Viz), SS Astro: Teacher’s Lounge (Yen Press); Summit of the Gods (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)