The Manga Hall of Shame: Color of Rage

When reading historical manga, I grant the artist creative license to tell a story that evokes the spirit of an age rather than its details. What rankles my inner historian, however, are the kind of anachronisms that result from sheer laziness or paucity of imagination: modern slang, gross disregard for well-established fact. Alas, Color of Rage is filled with the kind of historical howlers that would make C. Vann Woodward or Leon Litwack gnash their teeth in despair.

The story begins in 1783. Off the coast of Japan, a whaling ship sinks in turbulent seas, claiming the lives of all but two crew members: George, a Japanese man, and King, an African-American slave. The two wash ashore, cut away their shackles, and set out in search of a community where they can live peacefully — no small challenge, given how conspicuous King is among such a homogenous population. Of course, this being a manga by Kazuo Koike, George and King’s journey is anything but picaresque, as they bump up against the vigorous defenders of Edo-era status quo: ruthless daimyo, yakuza thugs, samurai-for-hire.

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The Best Manga You’re Not Reading

On Saturday, June 26th, Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, Martha Cornog, and I gave a presentation at the American Library Association’s annual conference called “The Best Manga You’re Not Reading.” The goal of our talk was to remind librarians about all the weird, wonderful, and diverse offerings for older teens and adults. Recommendations ran the gamut from Junko Mizuno’s Cinderalla (one of Martha’s picks) to ES: Eternal Sabbath (one of Brigid’s), with an emphasis placed on titles that are in-print and appealing to readers who self-identify as manga fans — and those who don’t. Below are my four picks, plus a “mulligan” (to borrow a term from Brigid).

THE FOUR IMMIGRANTS MANGA: A JAPANESE EXPERIENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1904 – 1924

Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama • Stone Bridge Press • 1 volume

In 1904, aspiring artist Henry Kiyama sailed from Japan to the United States in search of economic opportunity. After living in San Francisco for nearly twenty years, Kiyama documented his experiences in the form of 52 short comics. His memoir — one of the very first examples of a graphic novel — examines the racism and economic hardships that he and his friends encountered on a daily basis. Kiyama also addresses major events of the day, critiquing several Congressional acts designed to curtail Asian immigration, and remembering what it was like to live through the Great Earthquake of 1906, attend the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, and survive the flu pandemic of 1918.

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Carl Horn Talks CLAMP

Dark Horse editor Carl Horn just posted a lengthy essay tracing the company’s publishing history from Oh! My Goddess to Bride of the Water God. It’s an interesting piece, both for what Horn has to say about DH’s recent collaboration with CLAMP on new editions of Clover, Chobits, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Cardcaptor Sakura, and for what he has to say about Bride, surely one of the most beautiful and inscrutable comics I’ve read in some time. It’s also interesting to note that Horn’s stated theme of “Love & Wonder” is at odds with most fans’ perception of the DH catalog as a festival of blood, boobs, and bullets; for folks who wondered how books like Clover took their place alongside Lone Wolf and Cub, I think Horn’s remarks will be a revelation. Click here for the full text.

Short Takes: Dorohedoro, Vampire Hunter D, and A Wind Named Amnesia/Invader Summer

If I were to draw a Venn diagram with three circles — “horror,” “fantasy,” and “things I like to read” — the overlap among these categories would be very small. As part of my year-long effort to stretch myself as a reader and reviewer, therefore, I decided to take a gander at three titles that mix elements of horror, fantasy, and a genre I do enjoy, science fiction. First up is Dorohedoro (VIZ), which is being serialized on the SIGIKKI website; next is Vampire Hunter D (DMP), a manga adaptation of Hideyuki Kikuchi’s illustrated novels; and last but not least is A Wind Named Amnesia/Invader Summer (Dark Horse), a Kikuchi prose double-header.

DOROHEDORO, VOL. 1

BY Q HAYASHIDA • VIZ • 176 pp. • RATING: MATURE (18+)

In a city aptly named “the Hole,” wizards — or “Magic Users,” in the series’ parlance — have been kidnapping and performing grotesque spells on unsuspecting humans, killing some and maiming others. Among the few to survive such an encounter is Caiman, an average joe who ended up with a crocodile’s head and a person living inside him — literally. (One of Caiman’s favorite activities is forcing wizards to peer down his gullet to talk to the man within.) With the help of Nikaido, a feisty short-order cook who rescued Caiman from the brink of death, Caiman prowls the city’s slums in search of the Magic User who transformed him into a scaly monstrosity.

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Ten Must-Read Manhwa

After visiting “Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames” last weekend, I was struck by the homogeneity of titles on the exhibit’s suggested reading list. The list isn’t bad by any means, but it places heavy emphasis on recent, teen-oriented titles such as The Antique Gift Shop, Chocolat, Click, Moon Boy, and Snow Drop while overlooking some less popular choices such as Buja’s Diary. As a supplement to my write-up of the “Korean Comics” show, therefore, I’ve compiled my own list of must-read manhwa. Though my goal is to direct readers to works in a variety of styles and genres, I freely admit that this list reflects my own tastes and biases. I’d love to hear from you about what you think belongs on a must-read manhwa list and why. And if you’d like a copy of the SFPL’s Korean Comics bibliography, let me know — I’d be happy to mail one to you.

THE MANGA CRITIC’S TOP TEN PICKS

10. DEJA-VU: SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER (Youn In-Wan and Various Artists • Tokyopop • 1 volume)

Déjà vu is a manhwa smorgasbord, pairing writer Youn In-Wan with six artists with distinctly different styles. The first four stories follow the same basic template: two lovers find themselves drawn together by mysterious forces, only to be separated by a moment of terrible violence. The settings and circumstances range from the vaguely folkloric — a warrior and a fox demon fall in love after he frees her from a hunter’s snare — to the contemporary — a blind Korean-American girl and an up-and-coming pop singer meet cute on the streets of San Francisco. The best stories, “Spring” and “Winter,” deftly interlace the fates of the warrior and the fox with the survivors of a twenty-third century apocalypse, bringing to mind Sun, the final installment of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix. Though the stories aren’t uniformly excellent, Deja-vu still makes a fine introduction to the contemporary Korean comics scene in general and the writing of Youn In-Wan in particular; look for his series March Story in October 2010. (Reviewed at PopCultureShock on 1/30/08.)

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Devil, No. 1

WARNING! I discuss plot points from the final scene in issue one. I wouldn’t exactly call them spoilers (well, only in the sense that they spoiled the story for me), but if you’re the kind of person who gets antsy when reviewers divulge such details, then I suggest you check out these spoiler-free reviews at Comic Attack! or Bloody Disgusting News in lieu of reading mine.

When I visited my local comic shop yesterday, I noticed the first issue of Devil shelved alongside Alice in the Country of Hearts, Megaman, and Panic x Panic. Dark Horse has been aggressively promoting this four-issue mini-series as a Western comic with an otaku-friendly pedigree, a collaboration between manga-ka Torajiro Kishi (Maka-Maka) and Madhouse Studios (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ninja Scroll, Trigun). I read a short preview online, and while the premise didn’t grab me, the sharp, noirish illustrations did. Curious to see if Devil was more interesting than those first four pages suggested, I bought a copy.

Boy, was I sorry.

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