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Reviewed by Robert Murray This kind of book is not my cup of tea. The only reason I chose to review Serenity was to prevent myself from being typecast as a reviewer. See, normally I like to review comic books that are on the daring side, willing to take some risks with the material being presented. Serenity, based on my impressions of an online preview, looked like a title that would be played nice and straight, with no coloring outside the lines. And, for the most part, that initial analysis holds true. If this title was radical in any way, I think my whole comic reviewing world would have been thrown out of orbit! Serenity is a Christian title, a way for the writer and artist to reach kids about the teachings of Jesus. When religion is your main focus for producing any body of work, risks are not something you wish to take. Still, this manga-style work proved to impress me more than I initially thought. What struck me most was the entertaining story written by Buzz Dixon. The characters presented here are very typical of Japanese manga stories, particularly Serenity, who could have been pulled straight out of an issue of Shoujo Beat. But, the fast-paced storylines within were a nice surprise, particularly with my lowered expectations at the start. None of the characters were too sugary-sweet for comfort, and the plots featuring a purity test and an abandoned baby were not completely derivative or cheesy. Basically, if my 10-year-old niece was looking for a manga title to read, I would probably recommend Serenity. There is a lot of wholesome material here. Also, the preaching was kept to a minimum, and when Christianity was brought to the forefront, it never felt forced or overbearing. In my opinion, overly preaching about faith or ideology has always ruined any work of art with Christian tendencies. Believe me, we are all preached to constantly throughout our lives, and we should have some escape from that exhortation in our forms of entertainment. I’m sure there are some who are screaming at me right now, telling me there is no need to take a break from the glory of God. But, all I have to say is this: we all fell in love with comic books and manga because of the few minutes of escape we receive from the real world, even if the world is a beautiful place. The stories and images we see on those pages transport us somewhere we never thought possible, which is why we come back month after month, year after year. Didn’t I say something about overly preaching? Moving on... The positives of the story don’t really change the fact that this is a very simple manga-minded issue. Min Kwon’s art is probably the best example of this simplicity. There is absolutely no visual excitement within Serenity, creating quite a bland presentation barring the brighter-than-the-sun coloring throughout. Flipping through this book doesn’t give a reader any indication of the fairly well-written story within. Yes, the story is fast-paced almost to the point of being rocket car-paced, but this is directed toward younger readers with shorter attention spans, so I think this approach is just about perfect for the target audience. Comment on this review of Serenity v3: Basket Case on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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