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Reviewed by Tom Rosin Here's a niche market. These are in Japanese to save you time. Right, who's left? Akkasu is an alternative comics anthology from Japan that's been going since 1998 and these two volumes have left me wanting more. Volume 36 has a Sof' Boy cover by Archer Prewitt (Acha Puruwitto) and an article about Adrian Tomine (Edorian Tomíne) meeting Yoshihiro Tatsumi. I can't read that bit so I'll skip it. Tomine's 'Dylan & Donovan' story is translated and it's hand lettered! Very important. After that you've got my favourite creator from the two books and I wish I knew their name. If you go to the publishers page, see the little, pointy-headed bloke bouncing around. Well, he's the star of the strip. Imagine Woodring writing a children's story for Gilbert Hernandez (or Ulif K) to draw. Right, who's left now? Minoru Sugiyama provides the cover, a poster and an insanely detailed 18-page story for volume 37. Imagine Mark Oakley re-drawing Five Star Stories under the tutelage of Miyazaki with a touch of Megan Kelso. There's so much variety in these two books. Lots of scratchy lines, some obsessive-compulsive cross-hatching, a lot of grotesque ugliness. Even though (most of) the art is unmistakably Japanese there's little that looks like 99% of the manga on our shelves today. I've often found reading untranslated manga (or 'reading' untranslated manga) to be an excellent way to see how comics work, how different artists can portray an event, how they frame or crop a scene. To a lesser extent it's like reading comics before you could read. When I was tiny (and stop me if you've heard this one before) I had a Tom & Jerry comic that I loved. I couldn't read at that point but would happily 'read' it and make up what was happening. As I learned to read I'd go back to this one and I'd still see my story laid over what was actually happening in the word balloons. My version of the stories in this book will be forever safe as I'll never get around to learning Japanese. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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