All Points Bulletin: Midorikawa Nao, The Windy City Detective

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If you have any suggestions for what to highlight on an APB drop us a line via email or Twitter.

Narutaki’s picks:

  • Akira’s Climatic Scene, in LEGO
    If someone makes something I already really like out of LEGO, well then I’m probably just going to like that thing 10X more.
  • Really Weird New Anime Movie (Which I Never Heard About on Anime Sites)
    Cartoon Brew is generally my source for international animation and every once in a while they’ll have something anime news sites skip over or at least don’t highlight. The After School Midnighters is just such a case. Judging by the borderline lucid dream trailer and premise I can’t say I’m surprised many anime fans aren’t looking forward to it.
  • Brucie, You Got Some Splainin’ to Do
    Batman reveals how he learned his detective skills in this terrible issue from the 50’s. Chris recounts all the highlights while also explaining what works and doesn’t in an origin story.
  • Pokemon Fine Art Exhibit
    Two things you might not put together, but nevertheless this showing looks pretty interesting.

Hisui’s picks:

More Kaneda!

Fate/Zero S2 TV #004: Azoth, Dagger of Ironic Murder

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We get mother flippin Saber in a mother flippin suit on a mother flippin motorcycle in this episode. While we have not see the best of Saber on a motorcycle we have at least been given a taste of the wonders that are yet to come. That aside I guess there was that B plot of betrayal and corruption in this episode as well. I suppose I shall spend the bulk of my post going into the details of the events that are not Saber riding around on a sweet chopper. I will say that I was slightly amused that Kiritsugu’s rather Machiavellian dispatchment of Lancer and Kayneth almost universally won the Mage Killer a dedicated fan base. I was slightly surprised by the number of people who were sympathetic to Kayneth and conversely by the lack of people who condemned Kiritsugu. But the one character whose death did not seem to effect most people at all is oddly enough the one that triggers everything that happens in this episode.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #167

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Sumo is a gimmick comic. That might seem like an insult but when a gimmick comic concept mixes with a solid story it can become something far greater. When the story is weak in a gimmick comic than you often just wind up rolling your eyes as you call out the novelty piece of the story. But with Sumo its storytelling twist adds to its great story to give you the feeling you are reading something innovative.

The story in itself is simple. A washed out NFL hopeful moves to Japan to become a Sumo wrestler after a devastating breakup. While he has an amazing amount of promise he has been doing rather mediocre and his next match is a pivotal point in his career. The story jumps back and forth in time with each period in time being its own color. This lets the reader know when each piece of the story takes place without text balloons or exposition but at the same time also lets the color of the time period reenforce the mood of the story at that point. The blue really helps reinforce the melancholy feel of Scott’s time in America, the green shows Scott’s awkward transition to life in Japan as he gets to know his manager’s daughter, while the orange helps express the spirit invested in Scott’s critical match.

If the story was not there, this would merely read like a slight curiosity. But instead this instead demands your attention and begs to be used as an example for anyone wanting to explore the use of color in comics.

Sumo is by Thien Pham who worked with Gene Luen Yang on Level Up which we liked a lot.

The story of Scott is a fairly simple one told in alternating time frames but each piece meets up at the end with poetic force. Though I was a bit surprised we don’t know the full outcome, but we do know that Scott’s life and his understanding of what he wants has changed.

Thien’s simple artwork is bold and iconic using strong lines to express a variety of emotion. One minor quibble I had with the art was during the Sumo matches, it was sometimes hard to tell who was who. The use of color as Hisui mentioned is very important in the book with oranges for Scott’s life in the present, bright with possibility; blues for his past in America, a time of coming-of-age and letting go; and greens for his (more recent) past in Japan, new life and growth taking over. All of this makes the sparse amount of dialog more powerful allowing you to let the emotions wash over you.

Sumo is a quiet story that has immense power.

There is a preview available, too.

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