Creator: Morgan Luthi
Publisher: TokyoPop
Age Rating: Teen
Genres: Sci-Fi, Mystery
RRP: $9.99
Snow v1
Reviewed by Dan Polley

In “Snow,” creator Morgan Luthi skillfully blends rudimentary, cartoony art with a strong story. The story, a sci-fi almost mystery, sees the lead character, Snow, try to find his life on a distant planet. Snow meets a band of resistance fighters and gets caught up in their struggle.

And when that struggle leads to a major confrontation, Snow reveals a telling secret. After Snow’s previous employers find him, Snow is forced to make a decision about how he wants to spend the rest of his life.
The train sequence in which Snow and his company confront a rival gang led by a larger-than-life talking and walking parrot is arguably the best of the book.

One thing that Luthi does well that is often overlooked is his panel composition. Often he uses interesting and refreshing camera angles that make the reader feel as if they’re a part of the story. And he varies up how many panels he puts on a page, which leads in some places to a better-paced story. These things combine to help fuel an already pumped-up story.

The story is well paced, but does feature a few clichéd parts, especially for a sci-fi story. But overall, the story stays true to itself and does a good job transitioning from one point to the next. Luthi especially does well with Snow, developing his character so that he’s multi-dimensional and is able to appeal to all readers.
The art is presented in a manner that’s open to readers of all ages. Children will certainly find the art amenable and will enter into the story through it. But even adults can be enticed into reading this English-language manga.

And the art is really the feature that most entices when the reader cracks open the first page. Although Luthi’s artistic style closely resembles that of a Saturday morning cartoon, he’s able to put character and poignancy into his art. That helps to make the characters more believable and more down to earth.
Luthi was a finalist in Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga contest. And it’s apparent from his work in “Snow” that that title would be accurate if bestowed upon Luthi.

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6 October 2009
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