Nicholas
Beautifully brutal. The imagery here is some of the most evocative comic storytelling I've ever seen. Sakamoto uses visual metaphor brilliantly. He's able to juxtapose graphic violence with symbolic imagery in a manner that doesn't overwhelm the reader with gore, but is no less horrifying in its implications.
Definitely not for everybody! But this is an interesting, challenging book for anyone who can stomach its contents. Phenomenal artwork too.
I remember years ago trying to get into Pratchett after finishing Good Omens so I picked up the first book in the Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. I wasn't really feeling it so I gave up, then every Terry Pratchett fan told me nobody should start with the first book of the Discworld series because it's probably the worst book in the series and isn't really indicative of why it resonates with so many people. After reading Guards, Guards, I'm inclined to agree.
I realized that I rated every individual volume of ‘The Rose of Versailles' 4 out of 5 stars, yet I'd consider this to be a 5 star series. Weird.
Anyways, the main narrative of ‘The Rose of Versailles' ended last volume and this last omnibus is a collection of side stories starring Lady Oscar's crime-solving niece. Admittedly, that does sound like a joke, but it works surprisingly well! These stories manage to carry on with the main series' themes about classism, mainly how the aristocracy preys on the common folk, as well as Oscar's choice to rebel against them once she realizes justice within the system is impossible since the government is designed to protect nobles. I don't think any of these stories are as good as the main narrative, but they're a good excuse to spend more time with these characters. I also think this is probably the best looking book of the bunch. Ikeda's linework is beautiful and these are probably the best renditions of Oscar and Andre.
Overall, I loved the time I spent with this series. Lady Oscar is such a cool and inspiring and relatable character. Recommending a series in the review of its last book seems kinda dumb, but I highly recommend this series to anyone reading this and think it sounds even remotely interesting. It's a seminal work in the medium for a reason!
This volume focuses on the build-up right before the French Revolution really kicks off. Tempers are rising, lines have been drawn, and all other options to resolve the class disparity have failed. The tension in this series is real and the story only gets better as it continues. I'm very excited to read the next volume.
There's a lot to like about this series, but I think Ikeda handling Oscar's dueling identities is where it shines. Oscar is split between the noble/commoner divide in the same way she's split between the masculine/feminine divide. Oscar was born on one side, understands the other side better, but can sympathize with both. It's always interested in seeing how older works deal with highly contentions modern social issues in a way that's unburdened by our current political climate.
I recently heard the argument that movies aren't really “narrative delivery devices”, but rather “vibe delivery devices.” Blame! is an excellent example of an artistic work being the latter.
I could explain the broad plot of Blame! if asked to, but I'd have difficulty describing its more intricate details. This is a weird, inhuman world, and the lack of specifics only enhances that strangeness. Still, Nihei is very clearly a student of architecture, and he's able to convey a lot to the reader via a silent landscape.
The world of Blame! takes place in an endless, ever-growing city that has long grown past the needs of humans. The architecture here has its own reasons for existing, and anyone or anything that exists within this city is on its own. This series is definitely one of the more interesting fictional worlds I've visited recently. I really appreciate it's eeriness and emptiness. The Master Editions are great because they really showcase Neihi's artwork. I feel modern media has a tendency to over explain things, getting too caught up in lore over storytelling, and I think Blame! works so well precisely because of it's obtuse world building.
A super cute conclusion to a super cute series.
I really enjoyed my time traveling with Nicola. There's some good world building here that doesn't get too bogged down in minutiae. This series doesn't do anything particularly new, but it does everything with heart. Short and sweet, a good read for the Halloween season.
There are some creators that just speak you personally and Tatsuki Fujimoto is that creator for me.
You can tell Fujimoto has spent a lot of time thinking about why people create and why other people engage with those creations. Both here and in Look Back, he asks the question why do we even bother with art when there are so many more important things constantly happening all around us. And the answer he comes to is that ‘well, it's personal.'
Everyone gets something different out of every piece of art. Sometimes that's something similar to our own, or very different, or even contradictory, but all are valid. Even time can change what one person takes from the same piece of art. Life is chaotic and impermanent and our creations are like a memorial to a specific viewpoint in time. Also Fujimoto is a master at juxtaposing heartfelt emotion with really dumb funny stuff to surprisingly meaningful effect.
I can't wait to read any and everything Tatsuki Fujimoto puts out over his career.
Daniel Warren Johnson draws the most dynamic and impactful fight scenes in western comics currently. Every page of this book has a kinetic energy that's just a joy to look at.
Will someone who doesn't care for professional wrestling like this book? I don't know, but if you do, it's fantastic and one of the most fun comics I've read all year. ‘Do a Powerbomb!' exemplifies the spirit, passion, skill and emotion that is the art of pro wrestling.
Wow, this is such interesting world building.
In 2023, if seems as if every franchise will have it's lore over explained. Every tiny bit of minutiae will be explored and covered via side stories told in every form of media imaginable. “Blame!” is the opposite of that. It throws you head first into the deep end of a foreign, dangerous, and alien world. And in that way it's thematically apt!
This is a world long dead, living on via inertia alone. The inhabits of this city don't know much more than the reader, and any answer is slowly revealed simply by exploring further into the city. The artwork here is beautiful, filled with detailed cityscapes and horrifying creatures. I think the action scenes can be a bit messy, but the imagery itself is enough to keep reading.
I'm not entirely sure why I've avoided this for as long as I have, but I'm excited to finally get around to reading Blame!
The process of artistic creation is a scary, daunting, and isolating act. We put a part of ourselves into even the smallest of our creations, and putting any part of ourselves out into the real world is just opening us up to the judgement of others.
‘Look Back' is about two manga artists who form a bond over the joy of artistic creation. Together they inspire each other to improve and become not just better artists, but better people. They both have their own reasons to stop drawing, but they realize they're better because of one another. The scene where Kyomoto thanks Fujino for getting her out of her room spoke to me on a personal level.
Fujimoto is quickly becoming one of my favorite comic book artists. I love how he explains things via the medium. For example, Fujino is repeatedly drawn from the back, head-down, by herself, ignoring the world around her while drawing. After she befriends Kyomoto, Fujino is still drawn in the same pose, but with Kyomoto hanging around and drawing too. However, the last few pages features a couple of beautiful, dynamic two page spreads of the two of them together, enjoying each others company, working together as one. Extremely moving imagery given what's happens throughout the book. The actual act of creation may be solitary, but it's ability to connect with others is unparalleled.
I went into this book blind, and it went in a direction I did not expect, and while certainly not for everybody, I found it to be a very poignant book that will really resonate with those on the same wavelength.
I'm pretty bored with legacy sequels nowadays. Every major, and most minor, media franchises from my youth have been revisited in some way in an attempt to update a proven property to appeal to modern audiences. I can understand the appeal, I certainly understand the economic reasoning, but most of them fall flat to me. Works of media are of their age, and you can't just pull them out of their time and expect them to have the same impact on an entirely new generation. And most of them just remind me I could be engaging with the original, and usually much better, version.
The Last Ronin is a legacy sequel, but it's good! it's not just a continuation of the original Eastman & Laird TMNT series, it's the end. It feels very much like the stories of theirs I read back in the 90s, and it's a perfect ending to that story. Sad, sure, but also a love letter to one of the most enduring pop culture franchises of the past 40 years. After reading this I hope there are more legacy sequels intent on ending their story instead of trying to create a new, updated version with the main purpose of making more money.
There's a whole lot I like about this book, but one I want to mention is how Thorogood uses wildly different techniques and art styles to create a mood or represent a thematic element. Her usage of line, space and color expertly conveys her ideas, no matter how non-traditional she may get. Everyone's journey with depression is unique, and Thorogood is able to use the medium of comics to craft a very personal tale about her own brand of mental illness.
I have a ton of thoughts and feelings about this book, but overall it's an excellent comic about creating your own meaning both in art and in life. I'm excited to follow Zoe's career!
An oral history of a group of young people willing to risk it all in hopes for a better tomorrow, only for it to be violently crushed by those in power in order to preserve the status quo at all costs. Thankfully every nation on Earth learned from this incident and nothing like this has ever happened again.
I'm very wary about reading anything modern about China since I expect it to be either pro-CCP or anti-Chinese propaganda. However, this book feels as if it's being told by people who were actually a part of the pro-democracy student movement so it seems believable, at least to me. I was very young when this occurred but I still remember seeing these images playing across the evening news. I appreciate the nuanced explanation of how and why this particular pro-democracy movement started, especially the media's role at attempting to influence popular opinion. The book can be occasionally dense, but it's presented in a clear and concise way that doesn't bog down the narrative.
I think the thing that personally stuck out to me is the acknowledgement that revolutions are joyous, hopeful things, driven more by a desire to help everyone rather than an angry desire to overthrow the state.