Jason Thompson Launches Manga Drawing Game Kickstarter

Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide , has a new project. He’s put together a Kickstarter for Mangaka, which he describes as “the fast and furious game of drawing comics”. Currently, he’s about halfway to his goal of producing the first print run.

I don’t know a lot about game Kickstarters, so I don’t know if $40-50 (depending on how early you pledge) is a typical price point or not, but the concept sounds fun. It’s like Pictionary, but it’s a card game for 1-8 players where you have to illustrate manga themes and keep up with the art trends you draw from the deck. They’ve been playtesting it at conventions and libraries for the last four years.

You don’t have to have a lot of drawing skill, just the ability to execute the random subject of your manga in the time allotted. He says, “When the final round ends, every player has a comic of their own creation… but only the person with the most fame tokens earns the coveted title of Mangaka!” You can see some sample comics produced playing the game at the project website.

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Lumberjanes #13

Late to the Lumberjanes bandwagon? Don’t worry, this new starting point is perfect for you.

Brooke Allen, the artist on the first series issues, returns for a kind of origin issue. Noelle Stevenson and Shannon Watters have written a story where we get to see the first day of camp for the girls and how they all met.

It’s fascinating to find out more about the background of each scout. Jo’s well-to-do fathers are pushing her to live up to her potential, but she wants a summer first of normal fun. Ripley comes from a family of like a dozen people. April is cool and competent, a good problem solver. Mal’s family doesn’t pay much attention, which has given her a lot of self-reliance, and Molly is good at making friends quickly.

Lumberjanes #13 is a terrific introduction to the characters and series with lots of adventure and humor. I feel like I know a lot more about the cast, but I want to know still more. I guess that means I should keep reading the series.

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The Fox #1

written by Dean Haspiel and Mark Waid; art by Haspiel

The Fox first appeared as a character in 1940, so it takes a certain amount of guts to make your first story in his relaunch be about the need to let go of nostalgia for objects from one’s past. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good story, as I’d expect from two such talented and experienced creators. I just found the theme somewhat surprising.

(To be fair, Haspiel and Waid first brought back the character at the end of 2013 in a five-issue miniseries, although that was part of “Red Circle Comics”; Archie is now calling its superhero imprint “Dark Circle Comics”, perhaps to emphasize that they’re going grimmer.)

Paul Patton is a photojournalist who became a superhero to further his career; as a crimefighter, he’d be more likely to be on the scene of important news, he thought. His arch-enemy is Mr. Smile, who moonlights as CEO of a major tech company in a modern update to the big-business enemies of the past.

The issue is heavily narrated, which helps in understanding the character, his motivations, and his predicaments. He gets into several. We start with his tour of “the forgotten town of Beaver Kill”. It’s about to be flooded to create a city reservoir, and Paul’s been sent to document the deserted locale. He has to use the new smartphone created by Smile’s company for his pictures in a sell-out tie-in.

His son (which was a surprise to me) accompanies him and doesn’t appreciate his nostalgia for the old place, since Paul grew up there, in a convenient coincidence. The writing about his memories, though — “I spent years looking out that window, watching the world go by. Learning so much about people. The drugstore? My first chocolate shake, my first comic book, my first punch, and my first black eye.” — is quite evocative.

He’s blindsided by a speeding woman who turns out to be the daughter of the town tarot reader. She doesn’t want to give up on her memories, either, but she’s doing something about it by infesting the town with fungus to make the water toxic. I’m not sure why she needs to be topless, but perhaps that’s part of the more “adult” Dark Circle imprint.

My favorite part was in the speech the Fox gives when captured. (He’s the kind of hero who gets captured a lot.) He says

You know what my mom used to say? “Never cry over anything that can’t cry over you.”

…Get over the buildings, they’re just things, and things change, thank God. And when we need reminders of our innocence, we still have memories.

That’s not a bad attitude for a revamp, particularly one that wants to do some things differently. The reluctant hero, based on the last few pages of tease, is going to keep getting pulled into adventures, but he seems to have a good handle on what family means. He reminds me of the classic Animal Man revamp in that way.

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Frederik Schodt in Madison This Afternoon

Frederik Schodt, author of the essential Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics as well as The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution , will be in Madison this afternoon giving a talk titled “Osamu Tezuka and Astro Boy: Creating the Modern Manga/Anime Complex”. It will take place from 4-6 PM in Van Hise Hall, Room 104, at UW-Madison.

It’s sponsored by the UW-Madison Comics Club, who also have a Tumblr. The Facebook event page elaborates on the subject matter:

Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) is often referred to in Japan as the “god of manga”. In this illustrated talk, Fred will discuss how Osamu Tezuka’s greatest contribution was to create a framework for the modern manga and anime industries, now at the core of the entire “Cool Japan” movement. In the process, Fred will cover the history of both Tezuka and Mighty Atom, or “Astro Boy”, and highlight the development of manga and anime as global entertainment media.

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My Neighbor Seki Volume 2

My Neighbor Seki volume 2 is just as cute and funny as the first volume by Takuma Morishige, and that consistency is a good thing.

Yokoi is still distracted by the weirdly creative things Seki does with, on, and to his desk during class, but this installment expands their world a bit with the introduction of a new character and different settings.

The first chapter features a “lucky laugher” game. I’m not familiar with this piece of Japanese culture, but it appears to be a human-oriented version of “pin the tail on the donkey”. A blindfolded player tries to get facial features onto the template of a person, while others laugh at the faces created. Of course, Seki takes it much further, telling the story of a reformed gangster starting a family. In just a few panels, I was left wanting to know more about whether these paper people pieces would find happiness. Morishige sets up characters and situations quickly and thoroughly, drawing in the reader.

In another chapter, Seki involves Yokoi in his card tricks. I’m impressed by the expressiveness of Morishige’s art, particularly here. Yokoi doesn’t just tell us Seki has an “overwrought smile”; he’s shown in the image as almost a ventriloquist’s dummy, his face so fixed in what he thinks a performer should look like.

For fans of other manga, there’s a chapter in which Seki’s bento of hot dogs cut to look like octopus fighters evokes Attack on Titan , with giant warriors trying to eat people. The punchline, with another famous food item shape, is perfect.

There’s also a game with chess pieces rearranged into a tragic generational love story; flower arranging with feet; Seki playing a rather athletic game of jenga; and, as I mentioned, some encounters outside the usual classroom. A field trip to a mountain forest hike reveals some hints into Seki’s childhood (unless Yokoi is reading too much into his reactions). My favorite, the robot family (seen in the first book), returns in a chapter set during a CPR training class at the pool.

We meet new friend Goto in art class, a girl who reads the level of attention Yokoi pays to Seki as sign of an intense attraction. Just as Yokoi’s attention to Seki takes on dramatic heights in her mind, Goto envisions all kinds of romance from watching the other two interact. Ah, youth, when everything is so meaningful … and potentially misunderstood. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

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End of an Era: DC Has Left New York City

I was in New York City this past weekend for MoCCA Fest 2015, and whenever I left the show area, I had a vague sense of melancholy. That’s because DC Comics had decamped for the west coast, and there would no longer be any point in walking by 1700 Broadway, where I worked in 1996.

It’s been a long time since then, of course, but memories keep coming back, particularly when I read Bob Greenberger’s posts on his long and storied history with the company. There are five so far: one two three four five. It’s a view into another world, a long-ago time where business was done very differently.

Contrast that with Heidi’s overview, which considers more of a look toward the future and the inevitability of change. I know that’s the case, that nothing lasts forever, but it still feels different to me. Which is silly, logically, since it’s been almost 20 years since DC has been important to my daily life. Yet change, good, bad, or irrelevant, is worth noting.

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Archie vs. Predator #1

Like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch, I got more entertainment out of the title and concept than I did from sitting through the content. Archie vs. Predator #1 is mostly a tease, as the title characters don’t even encounter each other — presumably, that’s to save something for the remaining three issues.

It’s written by Alex de Campi, drawn by Fernando Ruiz, and inked by Rich Koslowski. The kids win a beach vacation to Costa Rica, where the girls engage in a best-dressed contest. I miss the days when the artists paid a lot of attention to the most current and fashionable outfits, since Betty’s entry (borrowed from Cheryl Blossom — I also miss the days where her imagination and creativity would allow her to make her own) is pretty ugly and doesn’t resemble any high-fashion outfit I’m familiar with. The whole thing feels very retro, and not in a good way.

I can’t evaluate the Predator bits of the story, having never seen the movie, and not given any help from the comic in understanding the hint panels, beyond them being foreshadowing.

The personalities are more exaggerated than usual, with Veronica, particularly, acting like a spoiled diva. Jughead’s snarky, and Dilton’s spouting sexual innuendo at his telescope. There’s no subtlety here, but I don’t suppose I should expect any, given the title.

In a way, it doesn’t matter what I say about Archie vs. Predator, since it’s a curiosity that will attract attention (and presumably, customers) just based on the incongruity of the gag. The publisher has promised real deaths, in keeping with the new, more mature take of the direct market-focused titles, so watch for the body count to rise in future issues. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.)

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The Tithe #1

The Tithe is a heist story set in a megachurch carried out by a bunch of hackers.

I have no idea what’s going to happen next, and that’s a good thing when it comes to adventure comics these days. Launching the book with a quote by Jim Bakker while pointing out his time in jail sets a certain mood as well.

Matt Hawkins writes and Rahsan Ekedal draws the tale. A heavily armed crew wearing Jesus masks breaks into the cash room of a church that’s raking in the dough. Meanwhile, the many screens surrounding the gesticulating preacher are hacked by “Samaritan” to show what the leader is really up to with all that money.

Two FBI agents, a church-going family man and a reformed hacker, are sent to find out who’s behind the theft, but along the way, they wonder why the pastor is lying about how much money was taken. This is one in a series of thefts, and all the churches hit turn out to be committing fraud, which makes the agents less than sympathetic to the case they’re investigating.

Religion is an important motivator for a lot of people, but most comics stay away from it. I’m intrigued to see a book with a distinct point of view (against greed and hypocrisy) that’s taking a more nuanced approach.

The dialogue tilts a bit too much toward the expository, with characters telling each other their histories and motivations, but the art is solid without being as exaggerated as one fears from a Top Cow title. The text pages tell Hawkins’ history as a former Christian, which helps put the material in perspective, as well as showing character sketches for the two agents. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.)

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