reviews
listed newest to oldest
A Patch of Dreams by Hideji Oda
I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason
Graphic Witness ed. by George Walker
Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno
Double House by Haruno Nanae (scanlation)
The City by Franz Masereel
Yuunagi no Machi and Sakura no Kuni by Fumiyo Kouno (scanlation)
Love My Life by Ebine Yamagi (scanlation)
Isaac the Pirate, vols. 1 & 2 by Christophe Blain
Ordinary Victories, by Manu Larcenet
Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko (scanlation)
Hanaotoko by Taiyo Matsumoto (scanlation)
Homunculus by Hideo Yamamoto (scanlation)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano (scanlation)
Slow News Day by Andi Watson
Street Angel 1-5 by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
After the Snooter by Eddie Campbell
Frank by Jim Woodring
Through the Habitrails by Jeff Nicholson
The City by Franz Masereel
published by Dover Books
$7.95 U.S.A.
Franz Masereel is probably best known as the Belgian woodblock artist who created Passionate Journey. While I loved that book when I read it in my early twenties, The City strikes me as the deeper and more mature work. It was published later, 1925 versus 1919, so perhaps this partly accounts for the increased maturity. Passionate Journey has a narrative that draws you in with its energy, but it is basically the manifesto of a young bohemian. It reads a lot like the Beat literature of the U.S. The bravado attitude and formal inventiveness are riveting, but the the book is basically the story of a nomadic young man who either eschews responsibility or is conveniently relieved of responsibility by the plot. As I feel with the Beats, the call to live passionately seems merely to be an excuse to act like a selfish hedonist.
The City has no plot to speak of. It’s basically a series of woodblock prints that together create a commentary on industrial urban existence. But the range of figures depicted creates an emotional breadth that Passionate Journey simply lacks. At first however, I thought the book was going to be very detached. The first twenty pages or so are group scenes and cityscapes. Yet even here we are given things like a group of children playing with a legless, armless man on a wheeled cart. And scenes of families, something absent from Passionate Journey, gradually come to the fore. First we see a picture of a family all sitting around a meager table as the father talks, the mother nurses the youngest, and the city belches smoke outside their window. The figure we see head on is a young girl, whose gaze makes her seem as if her mind is her only method of escape. Yet this is a happy family compared to the one a few pages later. Here the mother holds her infant and gazes at the reader. Is that a smile or a look of being completely overwhelmed by her fate? The man next to her leans away at a diagonal, yet I assume he’s the husband, because he is looking at a girl and a boy playing. His posture and the scowl on his face show that his fancy clothes are not alleviating the feeling of oppression in his life.
Yet the images that really made me stop and absorb the depth of Maserell’s lines were ones of individuals. The first one was the image of a prisoner. He stands in his black cell, gazing up at the barred window that reveals the city. Light pours down on him and his hands rest at his waist. He looks more like a priest than a prisoner. This connection is further accentuated by the drawing of Jesus on his cell wall. His calm expression tells you that, ironically, this is the most spiritual man in the entire city. Two pages later there is a scene of a woman in a bed, petting her cat. Her eyes look tired. Is she just waking up or is she sick? The room is disheveled and above her is a crooked picture of a mustached man, probably a soldier. Her dead lover? Her sad, yet resigned eyes are mesmerizing. This is a small, quiet scene, but the possibilities of interpretation make you linger over it. Then a few pages later, there is another halting scene. A mostly nude woman sits on a man’s lap in a bed. The man holds her and licks her stomach. But her spine is stiff and her eyes gaze to the right of the frame, resting on nothing. Is this prostitute wondering how her life came to this point? Is this a wife who no longer loves her husband (if she ever did)? Again, there are many possibilities, but the sadness and distaste are palpable. Just so you don’t think that they’re all like this, two pages on is the scene of a successful birth. The baby is held aloft by the midwife triumphantly. The mother looks exhausted, but happy. Yet then three pages later we see a man choking a woman to death. It is not Masereel’s intent to leave us complacent in any one emotion. But perhaps my favorite image is the simplest. Towards the end, Masereel gives us a scene of a family going to sleep in a single room. The children are all snug in their beds; the boy and girl share a cot, while the baby sleeps in a crib. The father sits on his bed and takes off his pants and the wife undoes her hair, a whisper of a smile on her lips. What I love about this particular image is its subtlety and honesty. There is no strong emotion, just the nightly ritual of a poor, but seemingly contented family. It is this ability to be quiet that marks this book’s maturity.
While many modern comics depict neurotic navel-gazers, it’s nice to look back into a time when socialism wasn’t a bad word and artists weren’t afraid to make commentary that went beyond the scope of myopic individualism. And it’s good to see that Masereel got beyond his own myopic individualism. Passionate Journey is still an important work and it’s a fun romp that celebrates life while thumbing it’s nose at authority. However, The City gives us a broader and deeper look at the human experience. It’s a book I see myself picking up over and over again through the years.
Just as a fair warning, this book has a horrible font on the cover. Yet I’m glad Dover is making books like this available for a relatively low price. Be sure to check out their Lynd Ward books, too.
Yuunagi no Machi and Sakura no Kuni by Fumiyo Kouno
These stories are about the city of Hiroshima after the atomic blast. Yuunagi no Machi takes place ten years after the horror. The people in the story go through life normally, sewing dresses and fixing rooves. Yet the spectre of the past hangs behind everything they do. The main character obviously has survivor's guilt. What's nice though is that Kouno manages to handle such heavy material without being melodramatic. I think the banality of the characters' actions helps to keep the story from veering into overbearing sentimentalism. Yet Kouno can really hit you when she wants to. My favorite scene is when the main character kisses the love interest and suddenly the bridge they are standing in front of is littered with dead bodies. The power of this scene alone won me over to this comic. Kouno's art is very light and cartoony. I think this also helps the story from being overbearing. For instance, in the bridge scene I just mentioned, the corpses are barely more than fleshed out stick figures. I think if they were more realistic, the reader would focus on the gore instead of understanding immediately the emotions of the main character. Also, her choice for what to do with the panels at the end is quiet yet effective (I don't want to give the story away too much, so I'm being vague here). I really recommend this comic.
Sakura no Kuni is even more rooted in the everyday. In fact, if it didn't appear with Yuunagi no Machi then you might not know it had anything to do with Hiroshima. The story is a fairly standard one about a young girl at school who has a sick brother. Nothing is very suprising here, though the acts the young girl preforms for her brother are touching. It's interesting to get a child's prespective on the effects of Hiroshima. The main character seems oblivious that her brother's sickness could be an after effect of the blast. And at one point she even says she is happy to not have a mom, because her grandmother scolds her enough already. While I didn't like this story as much as Yuunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni really shows how people just keep living their ordinary lives even after a holocaust.
Yuunagi no Machi and Sakura no Kuni by Fumiyo Kouno.
Also here.
Love My Life by Ebine Yamagi
Love My Life is a story about a young lesbian who comes out to her father. But nothing that happens is a cliché and nothing is overly dramatic. It's actually a quiet little story. Even when you learn the unique details of the main character's birth, the fallout from it is low key and believably human. Also, the relationships between the characters are likewise believable. The characters can come across as being a tad bit more mature than most people who habitate comics, but for me that makes them all he more true. And the sex scenes that develop between the characters fit the relationships. The sex scenes are real and not exploitative at all. On top of all this, the art is open and approachable. It's realistic, but spare enough to allow the reader to enter the story. I'd really like to read more by Ebine Yamagi.
Link.
Isaac the Pirate, vols. 1 & 2 by Christophe Blain.
At first, I wasn't really taken with Blain's art. It seemed a little too scratchy and hasty to me. But when I really sat down with this book, I began to love the art. It may be scratchy, but that scratchiness can be at the service of an incredible range of moods. It has an expressionistic looseness that really adds a lot to Blain's storytelling. And it's not hasty at all. Blain is in full command of his art and the lines convey meaning; they are not nervous ticks. And he varies the depth of the scratchiness to fit the scene he is telling. Really, his art is amazingly versatile. And so are his characters. Blain has a wide array of personalities in these two books and they never fall into easy stereotypes. One pirate may be vicious, but also harbor a secret vanity in the way he dresses and a desire to be a great man. Another may be a killer, but also value friendship above all. And the scenes with these characters range from the funny to the horrific. Blain takes the reader from one mood to the other seamlessly. The breadth in these books makes for a very satisfying reading experience. I realize that I haven't even described what the story is about, but you can go to Amazon or the NBM (the publisher) website for that. What I want you to know is that you should read these books. Blain is a master and Isaac the Pirate is his current masterpiece.
You can get the book from NBM.
Ordinary Victories, by Manu Larcenet.
There is a sight similarity to Blain's art here. It also reminds me of the work of Blutch and Joann Sfar. It seems the younger generation of French artists is trying to get away from the Hergé clear line style that people like Vittorio Giardino and André Juillard had set as the standard. The simple, expressive cartoony art in this story serves to keep things low key and light. This is a good thing, because some of the subject matter here- Alzheimer's, war atrocities- might be too melodramatic if drawn too realistically. The story revolves around Marc, a young photographer who's fed up with his job. We see him get stoned with his brother, try to deal with his aging parents, and try to navigate a new relationship. Nothing is overly dramatic (again, in part due to the art style), but the events are realistic and sometimes contain some very mature insight. This book doesn't have the power and drive of Isaac the Pirate, but it's a nice quiet story about learning what really matters in life.
You can get the book from NBM.
Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko
This is a light comedy with nothing too deep about it, but the premise is really clever. It's about a rookie female teacher who is hired on at one of the worst high schools in Tokyo. The students are thugs and wanna-be gang bangers and they harass her endlessly because she looks so straight and innocent. But she has a secret that she tries to keep under wraps. When she was seven, her parents died and she went to live with her grandfather, who just happens to be the head of a Yakuza gang. And in the end of volume one, the grandfather gets sick and she has to assume the mantle of Yakuza boss. Maybe it's because I'm a teacher myself, but I really enjoyed this story. Some of the supporting characters are hillarious. And I love it that every time the cops show up the main character runs away, just like her Yakuza family taught her to, leaving her students to scratch their heads. Anyway, check this out if you'd like a light comedy with a fun premise.
Link.
Hanaotoko by Taiyo Matsumoto
Taiyo Matsumoto. What else do I need to say? If you don't know his work, he's the creator behind Black and White, Blue Spring, and Number 5, all put out by Viz. I love Taiyo Matsumoto's art and am a big fan of his work. Hanaotoko doesn't have the violence that is in the other works; he forsakes that for goofy comedy. This story is about a young boy who is determined to be the best in school. He has a one week summer break between his summer cram school and the regular school term. He was planning to study more, but his mother sends him to live with his father, who left them years ago to follow his dream. And what is his dream? To play professional baseball. Yet this is not a sports manga. The focus here is on the relationship between father and son and the wacky personalities of both of them. This is a really fun story that almost anyone would find entertaining. I wish Viz would pick this up too.
Link.
Homunculus by Hideo Yamamoto
This story has a great set up and is really well told, though it started to lose me around volume three. As it begins, Homunculus is about a 30-something man who sleeps in his car, which is parked between an expensive hotel and a park full of homeless men. The main character has the ability to diagnose problems with his car through smell and touch. And he's also a pathological liar. He gets approached by a Goth-looking young man who offers to pay him a lot of money if he'll let a hole be drilled in his skull, trepanation. The main character blows the weird youth off, but after his car gets impounded he changes his mind. I don't want to give away what happens next, but it's really creative and cool. In volume three, the Goth youth tries seducing a woman and the main character goes after her too and things generally get very strange. The motivations no longer make any sense. But the first two volumes are really fun and unlike anything else I've read before. Very unique and creative stuff.
Link.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano
Scanlation is a debatable practice, but it's a way to see comics, especially manga, that you would never see otherwise. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou ("Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip") is one such example. I can't imagine a U.S. publisher ever picking up this series. For one, there's no real plot. YKK is all about mood. It's also a sci-fi story, but you'd hardly know that. Yes, the setting is Japan after an ecological catastrophe that made the oceans rise. Yes, the main character is a robot (though you can't tell by looking at her). But the stories are mostly about watching the lights at night, sleeping in the sun, riding a scooter across the changing countryside, and having tea with a good friend. And really, that's about it. And I love it.
Read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou here.
Slow News Day by Andi Watson
Slow News Day is a nice, solid little story. It reminds me of a light romantic movie. And so what would be pretty normal fare in another medium is made unique because of the state of the comics medium in the U.S. In other words, this is a well-told, though forgettable, story that stands out because not too many other people are doing stories like this in comics (in the U.S. at any rate…).
Watson has many of the standard romantic movie tropes. The main characters meet because of their respective jobs, but their life paths are completely different. And there is a cultural barrier that they must overcome as well. The characters must both realize what they really want in life and their time together helps them on this journey. Watson does a nice job handling these things. Nothing is played too heavily and the simple, Seth-like art conveys the emotions cleanly. While everything is done well, nothing really stands out. Believable dialogue, but not clever. Realistic characters, but not memorable. Nice art, but not breath-taking. Clear pacing, but not inspired.
Again, what is sad is that a solid work like this is rare in alternative comics in the U.S. And what’s also sad is how few people will probably end up reading this book. Because, as I was hinting at in my comparison to a romantic movie, this book is easily accessible to a wide readership.
Street Angel 1-5 by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
So many people have said how much they like this comic that my expectations were a bit high going in. While Street Angel is a lot of fun, it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. The issues get progressively better– issue 5 being my favorite– but the series has so many holes and inconsistencies that I had trouble fully getting into it.
First off, we never really learn who Street Angel is. Why is she homeless? Where did she learn her ninja skills? None of this is even hinted at. I think Rugg and Maruca want us to simply have fun with the concept and not think too much about it, but I found the missing pieces distracting. And the holes are not just in the main character, they are in the stories themselves. Issue two is filled full of characters, some of which, like Cosmick, seem to only be there because they have funny names. Why are they there? How does this all fit together? Who knows. In issue three we see Street Angel fall from a window and we never learn why. In issue five, we are never told why Street Angel is protecting Afrodesiac. And as a character, Street Angel is inconsistent. In issue one she doesn’t seem to care what other people think about her. Then all of a sudden in issue four (which I enjoyed the pacing of, if for the simple fact that is was so different than the other issues) she is upset that a classmate sees her dumpster diving. This just didn’t work for me.
Still, there’s a lot of cleverness in this series. Seeing Jesus break someone’s neck and then try to take credit for all of Street Angel's work was fun. “Afrodesiac” has to be one of the best blacksplotation superhero names ever. The final gun battle in issue five is a blast. I just can’t help feeling that this comic would be better if Rugg and Maruca filled in some of the holes and really worked out the character of Street Angel. The concept by itself is just too slight to hold up the whole series.
After the Snooter by Eddie Campbell
This is a wonderful collection of little autobiographical tales that coalesce to give you a picture of the life of a comics artist. And I don't mean a self-pitying, day-job-hating, whiny youth comics artist either. Campbell did the art for the successful From Hell (if you didn't know), and he is a complete creator in his own right with a keen ear for dialogue and sharp eye for the incongruous. He is also a husband and a father. How he balances these various responsibilities is often the focus of this book. The one caveat I have about this book is that if you know nothing about comics, then many of the references here will go right by you. But there's still plenty of stuff in this book to enjoy, especially when Campbell turns his pen towards his family. This is an incredibly clever book told by an artist in complete control of his craft.
Top Shelf distributes the book.
And here it is at Amazon.
Frank by Jim Woodring
This one you might have heard of, but it didn't get as much media play as other works that came out at the same time, such as Ghost World, so I thought I'd give it a mention. If you've never seen Frank, imagine a Bugs Bunny cartoon filtered through Hieronymous Bosch. What you get is something cartoony and surreal, and a bit apocalyptic. The Frank stories are (mostly) without dialogue, but the pantomime is clear and affecting. What is amazing about this is that Woodring creates a world that operates on its own alien principles, and yet makes perfect sense when you get into it. These are engrossing stories done with incredible skill. You'll be thinking about them long after you've read them.
Fantagraphics publishes Frank.
And here it is at Amazon.
Through the Habitrails by Jeff Nicholson
Do you feel like your job is draining the life fluids from your body? Does it make you feel like a gerbil in a cage? Hopefully not, but most of us have had jobs that have made us feel like this at one time or another in our lives. What Nicholson does is to take these feelings and their related metaphors and make them a visual reality. A lesser artist would choose to make these metaphors the central piece of the book. What Nicholson does is make them the setting, and instead focus on the characters within that setting. This makes for a deeper and more moving analysis of modern work culture. In Kafka's "Metamorphosis", what is interesting is not that Gregor becomes a bug, but how his family chooses to treat him as a result. Likewise in Through the Habitrails, the fact that the workers are tapped of their bodily fluids and are forced to work beneath a labyrinth of gerbil runs is not as intriguing as how the workers choose to deal with these facts. The downward spiral of this book is engrossing, and yet the whole thing ends on a hopeful note. Others may find this ending unbelievable, but having had a similar experience, it worked for me. Even if you don't like the ending, everything up until there is carefully crafted and suitably creepy. The art here might not be as accomplished as in the other books I've recommended, but this is a solid read and one that holds up over time.
Here it is at Amazon.