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Reviewed by Charles Webb First Timer’s Edition: Welcome to a new feature in Manga Life reviews: The First Timer’s Edition where an inexperienced reader – say, yours truly – jumps feet first into an ongoing story and tells you how well it stacks up. This feature is inspired by/ripped off from the inestimable Nina Stone’s The Virgin Read over on The Factual Opinion. When you’re done here I’d advise you to check their crew out over there. So without further ado, let’s jump into the first book: Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka v7. Pluto’s been one of those series that the blogosphere’s been making a lot of noise about over the last few months. Readers and reviewers who don’t normally go in for manga have been hyping it like it’s the new hotness. This homage/remix has had a lot of kind words tossed its way: mature, action-packed, brilliant… they even say it’s good-looking. The back cover of this volume even has a quote from nerd memoir novelist Junot Diaz who won the Pulitzer for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao a couple of years back. The inside jacket description describes some super badass robot – the titular Pluto – that’s been wiping out the world’s strongest robots. He’s made his way through 6 of the 7 most powerful, and he’s got his sights set on the last one, a pacifist, solar-powered robot named Epsilon. This is one of those stories where past is prologue and makes all kinds of unfortunate ripples in the present. You don’t kill a bunch of people without consequence and you don’t try to reshape the world without the world reacting. Outside of a slightly dense flashback (I think) at the beginning of the volume it’s pretty easy to follow. It helps that this is one of the rare titles I’ve had a chance to read that includes a summary at the beginning of the earlier volumes. Usually when I read these things mid-story I feel sort of lost, like I’m just supposed to figure it out. I get that the reader’s expected to start from the first volume, but even 24 tells the viewer what Jack Bauer’s been up to for the last few hours. The book has a ton of emotional relationships that re pretty easy to figure out thanks to writer/artist Urasawa’s clear and straightforward storytelling. The bad guys are bad (except for when they’re misunderstood) and the good guys are good. This being my first encounter with the characters, I ended up liking Epsilon, the lead when he could have easily become one of those problematic heroic characters whose dogma is so at odds with the demands of the story that you lose sympathy for them (i.e. superheroes in modern comics who refuse to kill in order to save a life). It’s also a really well-illustrated book. I would have loved for the whole thing to be in color like the first couple of pages with their almost pastel-washed finish. Urasawa’s characters are great actors. Check out the sequence where straight-up traumatized orphan Wassily draws something that’s freaking him out. The little boy’s eyes practically devour his face. Likewise, when action scenes occur they not only feel natural to the story but they look energetic and kinetic. Actually, thumbing through the book again I noticed there were fewer action scenes than I remembered – that’s a real sign that they made an impact. So is it worth all the hype? Yeah, I think so. I wanted to go out and buy the first volume after I wrapped up the 7th. Would I recommend diving in with this volume? No, do yourself a favor and begin at the beginning. I’m betting all these emotional relationship that seem to be paying off here get a lot of development in the previous 6 volumes. Review copy provided by Viz Signature. If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at Monster In Your Veins Think you could have written a better review of First Timer's Edition: Urasawa X Tezuka: Pluto v7 ? Write us and we'll probably let you give it a shot! --EiC PC |
10 February 2010
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