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The Complete Geisha, by Andi Watson, 2003, Oni Press I have always had a soft spot for Andi Watson's art style. It is very minimal, but there is always an appropriate amount of detail, especially in facial expressions, that the story is appropriately carried by the art. This book is a collection of some of his earlier works. The story revolves around an android who was raised by a human family as a regular girl. She is trying to make it as an artist, but is having trouble making ends meet, so she joins the family bodyguard business. Naturally, when her protective father gives her a "cush" assignment protecting a supermodel it ends up being rather dangerous. That is the main story, anyway. There are two other side stories which are very much "slice of life" stories about art, family, and a missing cat. I must admit that while I liked the book well enough, I didn't think that the author did enough with the whole "android" angle. Jomi, the main character, gets some grief from the staff at the bar her brother plays at, and she can get shot by guns and still function, but that is about it. You could make Jomi a regular girl, change about two pages of the big fight scene, and the story would still be the same. Ah, well. This book was good light reading. Don't expect something serious and you shouldn't be disappointed. |
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Ghost in the Shell: Human-Error Processor issues 1 & 2, by Shirow Masamune, 2006, Dark Horse Comics I have long enjoyed the Ghost in the Shell series for its great take on cyberpunk and the ethics of turning humans into partial machines. This eight-issue series is being released in monthly booklets, rather than the full trade paperbacks that are all the rage these days. I think Dark Horse is the only domestic manga publisher that still does the individual monthly booklets. Anyway, contrary to the cover, Motoko Kusanagi is not around for this story, at least not in the first couple issues. The action still revolves around section 9, however, as Togusa and Azuma are investigating a recent brain-jacking case (where some hacks into your brain and takes over your body, which sounds unpleasant). The story is typical Shirow, in that it is rather complex, but totally plausible given the level of technology available in this universe. There are assassins (who have been brain-jacked themselves), lots of action, and plenty of detailed drawings. There are a few color pages at the beginning of each issue, just like they did for the first few issues of the second series. I am honestly not sure exactly when this series was first published in Japan. Dark Horse is calling it "1.5," but I don't know if that is because it was originally created between the first and second series, or if it is just chronologically set between the first and second series. Based solely on the art style, I am going with the first option, but I could be wrong. So, Shirow fans, you finally have a new series to read, and it looks to be another good one. |
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Glister issue 1, by Andi Watson, 2007, Image Comics And now for something completely different. Glister is the new book by Andi Watson, indy comics creator extraordinarie. The story revolves around young Glister Butterworth, a girl with a knack for finding herself in odd situations. In this first story, she happens to find herself in the possession of a haunted teapot. The teapot is haunted by the ghost of a Victorian-era British writer, who left his great masterpiece unfinished, and needs Glister to type the rest of the story as the ghost dictates. On its face this sounds rather boring, but the execution of the story is top class. The leading lady also possesses an inordinate amount of charm, and I find myself looking forward to reading her further adventures. Sometimes I like heavy fare, but sometimes a lighter, more whimsical book like this one is exactly what I need. Definitely one to add to the reserve list. |
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Groo: Hell on Earth issues 1 and 2, by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier, 2007, Dark Horse Comics Groo is back! Yes, everyone's favorite idiot-savant barbarian warrior is back for more mayhem and carnage. And this time, he's not even causing (most of) it! The story in this four-issue mini-series revolves around global warming. It turns out that one kingdom's weapon factories are putting out lots of pollution. This is fouling the local air, and melting the polar ice caps. The Sage tries to warn everybody that there may be lots of bad things that will happen if they don't clean the air. Nobody is worried about that, though, as there are rumors of war, and so everyone keeps making weapons. Needless to say, Groo gets involved in the war part of it, much to the chagrin of all involved parties. Due to its subject matter, this series appeared fated to devolve into the standard lefty "Bush/Cheney are teh 3vil!!!" silliness, but it hasn't gone that way. Sure, you could look at one of the kings and see Bush in it, but there is a character that may or may not be intended to be Al Gore, and that character doesn't come off very well, either. The underlying story seems to be "stop making climate change an issue for political gain, and just fix the problem, already", which is an acceptable way of packaging the message for me. So, if you don't mind some preachiness about climate change mixed with your barbarian silliness, then you should enjoy this one. |