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Stuff I've Been Reading (Graphic novels)
1) Volume 1 of the Archie reboot by Mark Waid: I grew up reading the Archie comics as a kid, and wasn't sure how I'd like the new reboot, but I really enjoyed it. The art is drawn in a more realistic style, and the story is a bit more serious with more in-depth character development, but there's still plenty of humor and Archie and the gang are still reconizably themselves.
2) The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillen: The official promo blurb reads, "Every ninety years, twelve gods return as young people. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are all dead. It's happening now. It's happening again." The gods are apparently reincarnated in human form, and when the time comes, a mysterious woman named Ananke awakens the latent divinity inside them. The public treats the gods like rock stars--quite literally in some cases, as we see some of them giving concerts where their fans/worshippers whip themselves up into a divine frenzy. However, as the summary says, they are hated as well as loved: assassination attempts are made on some of the gods, and the goddess Tara becomes the subject of a vicious online hate campaign in Vol. 3 when she won't give her worshippers what they want.
What's most fascinating to me is the way that the gods deal with their two years of glory: some embrace their divinity and consider the trade to be worth the price, while others are bitter that their young lives will be cut short. However, they're stuck with their godhood even if they'd rather go back to a normal human life with a normal lifespan. Highly recommended, but be warned that Volume 2 of the trade paperbacks ends on a huge cliffhanger that isn't really resolved in Volume 3, which leaves the reader asking more questions than it answers.
3) The Wayward series by Jim Zub (or Jim Zubkavich; he's listed both ways on Amazon) and Steven Cummings: It's obviously influenced by manga and anime, as well as Japanese folklore, but doesn't try to imitate manga-style with the artwork, which is gorgeous and, the backgrounds are realistically detailed right down to the kanji on the shop signs. To me, it feels like the author and artist are putting their own spin on the folklore-inspired story, while being respectful of the Japanese culture and influences without being derivative.
The first volume starts off telling the story of Rori Lane, a half-Japanese, half-Irish teenage girl, who moves to Japan with her mother after her parents divorce. Though she speaks fluent Japanese, she's having trouble fitting in: the other students aren't very welcoming to the new foreign student, and her teacher scolds her for having red hair (even though it's her natural color, not dyed--he even suggests that she should dye it black). On top of everything else, she begins running into supernatural creatures from folklore (including a cat girl who befriends her, along with some much less friendly monsters), and discovers that she has magical powers of her own.
Interestingly and a bit unexpectedly, Volume 2 gives us a new protagonist with a new perspective. In contrast to her former classmate Rori, Emi Ohara fits right in as a model student and dutiful daughter. But she feels bored and dissatisfied, and soon discovers that she has supernatural powers as she gets caught up in the danger that threatened Rori in the first book. I very much enjoyed both Rori's and Emi's stories, and am looking forward to Volume 3, which comes out at the end of this month.
That's it for now! I have some other manga, book, and movie reviews that I hope to get around to posting in the near future. (Maybe over the 3-day weekend here in the States.)
2) The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillen: The official promo blurb reads, "Every ninety years, twelve gods return as young people. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are all dead. It's happening now. It's happening again." The gods are apparently reincarnated in human form, and when the time comes, a mysterious woman named Ananke awakens the latent divinity inside them. The public treats the gods like rock stars--quite literally in some cases, as we see some of them giving concerts where their fans/worshippers whip themselves up into a divine frenzy. However, as the summary says, they are hated as well as loved: assassination attempts are made on some of the gods, and the goddess Tara becomes the subject of a vicious online hate campaign in Vol. 3 when she won't give her worshippers what they want.
What's most fascinating to me is the way that the gods deal with their two years of glory: some embrace their divinity and consider the trade to be worth the price, while others are bitter that their young lives will be cut short. However, they're stuck with their godhood even if they'd rather go back to a normal human life with a normal lifespan. Highly recommended, but be warned that Volume 2 of the trade paperbacks ends on a huge cliffhanger that isn't really resolved in Volume 3, which leaves the reader asking more questions than it answers.
3) The Wayward series by Jim Zub (or Jim Zubkavich; he's listed both ways on Amazon) and Steven Cummings: It's obviously influenced by manga and anime, as well as Japanese folklore, but doesn't try to imitate manga-style with the artwork, which is gorgeous and, the backgrounds are realistically detailed right down to the kanji on the shop signs. To me, it feels like the author and artist are putting their own spin on the folklore-inspired story, while being respectful of the Japanese culture and influences without being derivative.
The first volume starts off telling the story of Rori Lane, a half-Japanese, half-Irish teenage girl, who moves to Japan with her mother after her parents divorce. Though she speaks fluent Japanese, she's having trouble fitting in: the other students aren't very welcoming to the new foreign student, and her teacher scolds her for having red hair (even though it's her natural color, not dyed--he even suggests that she should dye it black). On top of everything else, she begins running into supernatural creatures from folklore (including a cat girl who befriends her, along with some much less friendly monsters), and discovers that she has magical powers of her own.
Interestingly and a bit unexpectedly, Volume 2 gives us a new protagonist with a new perspective. In contrast to her former classmate Rori, Emi Ohara fits right in as a model student and dutiful daughter. But she feels bored and dissatisfied, and soon discovers that she has supernatural powers as she gets caught up in the danger that threatened Rori in the first book. I very much enjoyed both Rori's and Emi's stories, and am looking forward to Volume 3, which comes out at the end of this month.
That's it for now! I have some other manga, book, and movie reviews that I hope to get around to posting in the near future. (Maybe over the 3-day weekend here in the States.)