Category: Comics

Ongoing Investigations: Case #090

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We received a copy of Twin Spica 2 at the last Vertical Vednesday, or should I say I zealously grabbed for it because I was just that eager to read more of the story. A minor amount of time has passed between the conclusion of the first volume and the events starting in the second. As Asumi has overcome her first big challenge (actually being accepted to the space academy) her excitement is palpable but she doesn’t become complacent realizing there are tougher roads ahead. Her spirit and energy is quite infectious, as a reader I always believe in her and admire her hard-work. Asumi has taken up residence in a small out of the way dorm with few other tenants. Of course the many personalities we met during her first test are back as students in the school and once again we are confronted with the slow build of friendship between them, especially that of Marika and Kei with Asumi. The first book has some emotionally gripping moments that pulled you into the story almost immediately, this time around they keep you emotionally focused as more history is revealed. I was also surprised to see such direct villain in the series, it was almost cliche, but I want to see how it further develops before making a call and the motive behind him is highly intriguing. Twin Spica is a must-read, if you were foolishly not reading it already.

hisuicon Asumi is settling in after being accepted to the Tokyo Space Academy. She is excelling both physically and mentally while getting closer to all the students she met during the entrance exam. We have our first clear villain of the story although so far he has been utterly nasty in a completely realistic fashion. His grudge manifests itself in petty but powerful bits of acidic behavior. So far this has mostly been set up for the school life and the dynamics of the relationships the characters will have at school. While the confrontation between Sano and Asumi is the climax of the book, there are many story seeds planted in the volume that will surely pop up throughout the series. After the main story are two bonus stories set during Asumi’s childhood. The first story gives us a more insight into Yuko Suzunari and Mr. Lion. The second story further shows how much the Lion incident has effected the lives of Asumi and her father. I will admit that I openly teared up on the subway when I finished the last story. It was rather powerful and moving if a bit more on the fantastical. But all the flash back stories tend to lean toward the fantastical whenever Mr. Lion is prominent. I do find it worth noting that Asumi’s hard work does not make her the best but it does make her stand out if only slightly. This combination makes both Asumi and Twin Spica stand out in my mind. A solid follow up to the spectacular first book that will leave you anticipating the release of the third.

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REPOST: Brief looks at The Color Trilogy.

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Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa strikes me as the Oscar-bait of manhwa; it is a prestige release. You release this to win awards and gain great praise from reviewers and comic experts but never get more than a handful of mainstream sales. It is a historical, slice-of-life comic about a young Korean girl named Ehwa and her journey towards womanhood. It depicts Ehwa discovering her first feelings for a boy which parallels her widowed mother finding a new love. It is quite frank about the physical development and emotional changes of growing up. Overall, I found in enjoyable if very sedate. The characters were engaging and I was slightly amused by their constant use of metaphor during conversation. It was a stark contrast to the very base matters that are often the point of discussion. The character designs are simple but effective and have a traditional ink drawing feel to them. The backgrounds alternate between being very ornate, especially with some of the full-page spreads, to totally nonexistent during conversations. Most people are going to be captivated immediately or quickly turned off by either the slice-of-life nature or the earthy tone of the book. Still it is a good read for people who want their comics to have the weight of more award-winning prose.

Color of Earth touts itself as a unique work and I would agree. It easily pushes itself with its matter-of-factness of learning about one’s sexuality but at the same time tends toward metaphor and innuendo in people’s conversations. As we follow Ehwa she often finds herself at a loss because of the way people phrase things. It goes to show that even though she has to learn these things, it can be hard to get people to give you a straight answer. And unfortunately that is what Ehwa really needs. But like everyone else in life, you learn about things eventually and get it all straight in your head, sort of. The mother and daughter relationship is at the forefront and the most interesting development in this book. As we go along they become more like confidants rather than parent and child. This seems to happen for a number of reasons, not the least of which is they don’t have any men in the house. The art is very classic feeling. It fits the time period of the book and makes it seem more like fine art than sequential at times. I’d say this series is worth checking out just based on having never read anything else like it. I can’t say it is a story I would normally read, but it is has a charm that requires me to finish reading it.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #089

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hisuiconWildstorm sent us a copy of the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles prelude book. It is a graphic novel that helps link the Robotech TV series and the Shadow Chronicles movie. Rouge officer T.R. Edwards has allied himself with the Invid. Rick Hunter must catch this traitor before he can use his newly stolen technology to strike back at the Earth Forces. The first thing I noticed is that the book has a really American comic feel to it; being a DC Comics imprint and made for American Robotech fans this is unsurprising. Overall the story was nothing objectionable but also immediately forgettable. It seemed mostly for Robotech fans so I felt like an outsider listening to a conversation between old friends to which I was unaware of many points of the undiscussed history. I clicked a good deal more with the characters from the first part of the Robotech saga partially because those are the strongest characters and partially because that is the part of Robotech I remember the most. T.R. Edwards came off as a mustache twirling villain despite the fact that they did make an honest effort to give him some depth. I enjoyed the mechanical designs more than the human and monster designs which seemed bland to me. It was nice to see them dedicating the book to the memory of Carl Macek pretty prominently on the credits page though.

We went to Vertical Vednesday this week which featured the up and coming (and sure to be great seller) Chi’s Sweet Home as well as a look at pet manga in general. Ed even brought along copies of the book for us to peruse which is in full-color if you aren’t familiar with Chi. There is pet manga that stretches back to Tezuka, I urged him to license his dog manga, but Ed felt it really started to get a foothold in the 80’s along side the beginning of josei. And most pet manga today runs along the josei and seinen lines. It was a quick introduction to a small but popular genre, and you’ll be unsurprised to learn cats are the most popular animal. Near the end we also got to take a look at the second book of Twin Spica which I was infinitely more excited about! Vertical Vednesday’s are a relaxed night with the industry making it well worth a short trip.

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