11/1/2022 0 Comments Idw doodlejump![]() Each of her characters is distinctive and whole, with his or her mannerisms and psychological concerns and, although it does not affect the narrative at all, the social order of High School intriguingly remains very much intact even though classes are no longer in session. ![]() Her montage pages are exceptional, widening out her “lens” to cover a large portion of her cast in single-panel, everyday moments, creating breadth and scope within her world and yet also intimacy. Her layouts are superb and her manipulation of comics space-time is a highlight. Suburbia’s cartooning is just lovely, with her punk rock kids, starkly contrasting black and white and even her lettering recalling Jaime Hernandez by way of Brandon Graham’s full-lipped, rounded figures of all sizes and shapes. Even in this most unusual of circumstances, the young characters struggle to keep on keeping on as time marches onward and more of their peers are killed. ![]() Sacred Heart is seen predominantly through Ben’s eyes and Suburbia expertly dilutes the high concept nature of Sacred Heart’s premise with beautiful moments of both character interaction and the continuing banality of everyday existence. She’s got a crush on a handsome football player with his own secrets, an increasingly complicated relationship with her best friend Otto and a sister named Empathy who she worries about constantly. An apocalyptic vibe hangs over Alexandria, with the kids well aware of what’s happened to their parents, an odd religious undercurrent and, much more ominously, murders committed on their suburban streets.īen Schiller is one of Alexandria’s teens. It’s not all punk rock parties and young love, however. On the whole, this cast of teenaged punks, nerds and jocks, navigating the minefields of their surging hormones, the complexity of their inter-personal relationships and the responsibility of raising younger siblings, does incredibly well without any grown-ups to guide them. Years ago, all the adults disappeared from the town of Alexandria, leaving the kids to carry on in their absence. #Idw doodlejump seriesJoining a crowded field of contenders is Liz Suburbia’s Sacred Heart, the first book in a projected four-volume series from the Virginia-based cartoonist and published by the fine folks at Fantagraphics. What a year 2015 has been in terms of quality comics – at this point my Best Of “shortlist” is roughly the length of All Star’s weekly Diamond shipping invoice. His artwork is intricate and fluid and his zombies are utterly disgusting. Hanazawa’s fond of playing out big shocks over sequences of stunning and numerous widescreen double-page spreads that only the expansiveness of manga can allow. I’ve “read” the first 500 or so pages of this Zombies-in-Japan epic (roughly the first Dark Horse omnibus edition I’m guessing) and while it is a slow burn, once the zombies show up they don’t stop coming. I’ll write about a few artistic discoveries I made as well as some newer works by amazing non-translated creators and older works by some now sadly no longer with us over the next few weeks, but as I battle the Being Home Blues right now I’ll just quickly point out that I Am A Hero by Kengo Hanazawa is coming next April from Dark Horse (don’t tell me I didn’t warn you in advance!) and it is not to be missed. Although still viable and thriving, the market seems tougher than ever, I’ll say that much. However, there does appear to be a fair bit of digital manga – one guy on the train was reading some kind of motion comic version of Slam Dunk, which with its endless panning did not appeal at all to this particular gaijin reading over his shoulder. I have to admit that it was a little disheartening to see the ever-depleting piles of weekly manga shrinking even further from my last visit. I’ve returned with so much manga and so much up to date info about where to visit and shop for comics (quick tip: always go second hand, unless you’re in shops called Village Vanguard or Taco-Che) that I think maybe the best thing for me to do would be to take some time and put together a shop/place of interest listing. Hello! Oh, what a trip to Japan I had…I honestly don’t know where to start or even if I should start because I might not ever stop. ![]()
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