there it is, plain as daylight.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what draws me to manga over western comics, partly because I’ve started reading Captain America, which I’m enjoying, but wow it is hard for me to get used to reading comics in color. I feel like I should like it *more*, but I mostly find it overwhelming (which is, I think, the main reason I haven’t made it through all of Sandman, despite my deep love for Neil Gaiman). For some reason it is a lot easier for me to follow comics that are in black and white, and there’s no getting around it. I’m also really accustomed to the number of panels found on a page of manga, rather than on a page of a western comic book, and I find manga easier to look at because of that as well. What I’m really getting around to here, though, is why I tend to consider my graphic novel in-progress to be an OEL manga rather than an American comic book, and these things (as well as others) influence that. In the next couple of months I’m going to be searching for an artist to collaborate with me on the project, and I think I need to be clear with myself about what I’m looking for, before I get all tangled up in that.

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I’ve started re-reading Fullmetal Alchemist from the beginning, mainly to pass the time until the next volume is released by Viz, and I’ve been posting my thoughts about it as kind of a read-a-long with others in a non-public place. I thought I’d try adding these posts here as well, to be publicly accessible. If anyone else wants to join me in re-reading, that’s great, or if you might start the series for the first time and read along, I’d be completely thrilled!

One note before I begin, I’m using clips from scanlations in my discussions, because I don’t have a scanner available to scan the pages from the books myself, but I *am* reading the Viz editions, and I encourage you all to do the same!

And so, on to discussion of Fullmetal Alchemist, Volumes 1 & 2! (note: restored after editing snafu!)

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This post is kind of a catch-all, I suppose. There’s been so much going on. I mentioned the car crash, didn’t I? Well, I won’t go into detail about that here, but suffice it to say that I’ve seen both the best and the worst of human nature throughout the experience, and that I finally have a car again. Some of that is good. The rest, I won’t talk about right now.

In the world of media, I have to say I’m perplexed at some of the harsh criticism I’ve seen of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Basically, this is a geek video made by a geek and his friends in their spare time, just like all the geek videos I ever saw during my high school and college years, the main difference being that this geek and his friends have enough talent and cash on hand to make something that is actually watchable for people outside their A.V. club or local cable access channel. Continue Reading »

I’ve been waiting anxiously for the official release of xxxHolic volume 12, and though it’s been quite an ordeal getting to finally read it (late shipments, car crashes, etc.) it was such a treat to finally really sit down with it. I read it once last night while I was still pretty screwed up in the head (that would be the car crash factor), and then again tonight, slightly less screwed up. Both reads were pretty intense. Volume 12 is very special to me, and I’ll talk a bit about why.

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I haven’t come here to talk about manga for a while, and I’ve really read quite a bit of it in the meantime, though much of it has been a single series.  Work on my own graphic novel has been going slowly, but right now, I feel like talking about other people’s universes.

I think I mentioned that I finally got the last 11 volumes of Banana Fish (thank you to a generous birthday gift from my folks), and I gobbled them up in very little time.   

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I’ve been MIA, I know. Lots going on lately. But I did have some time to write up reports from my experience at Anime Boston this past weekend. Continue Reading »

Work has been insane for me this week, as I prepare information for our company’s tax accountant, and it becomes impossible for me to leave work at work at these times of year, so I haven’t had a lot of time to think about anything, you know, fun. Fortunately, last night after visiting our own tax accountant (and by “our own tax accountant” of course I mean “the random accountant we were assigned to this year by H&R Block”), Paul and I had a nice, relaxing dinner, followed by a stroll to the local comic shop, and as a result, I came home with two shiny, new volumes of xxxHolic. I haven’t discussed xxxHolic much here, or anywhere else, leading some friends to believe that it is about porn (um, no), so since I did let myself read the first of my new volumes (volume seven) last night before bed, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about it.

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In my last post, I talked about how I tend to experience fiction by total immersion. Then for two days after, I proceeded to immerse myself once more by reading all 21 volumes of Please Save My Earth. This is a manga I have been meaning to get to for a while, and though I resorted to scanlations due to lack of funds, I will definitely be buying it when I can, because, really, it was like a nostalgic visit to my very own young teen brain, and that’s something pretty incredible. Four volumes in, I said to friends, “It’s like they removed my teenaged brain and stuck it on paper for all of Japan to read.” This only became more true as I continued through the series.

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