Rising Stars of Manga, Book 1

Rating:
Summary: Future of American Comics
Review: I must say that while I enjoyed most of the one-shots in this book, I was also somewhat irritated by all of the entries. Some, such as "Ophelia's Assassination" and "The Proper Magic" might be good stories if they were executed in the long-form, but as one-shots they were convoluted and difficult to follow. Others, like "Devil's Candy", start out well, but end in utter confusion (at least for me). "Van Von Hunter" and "Trickster" are the typical stories retold; "Emmalyne's Mansion" vexed me if only by its lack of tone; the art for "The Little Match Girl" was beautiful, but there was little text, and the story was an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson (I didn't even realize that fit the rules); and "Sitting Ducks" recounted an artist's difficulty with writer's block. My two favourite entries, then, were "Pest" and "Zero."
I recommend this book to anyone considering entering Tokyopop's second Rising Stars of Manga contest; after seeing the product of this year's winners, I am somewhat confident that my friend and I have a chance at winning. Ganbatte, minna-san.

Rating:
Summary: Future of American Comics
Review: I must say that while I enjoyed most of the one-shots in this book, I was also somewhat irritated by all of the entries. Some, such as "Ophelia's Assassination" and "The Proper Magic" might be good stories if they were executed in the long-form, but as one-shots they were convoluted and difficult to follow. Others, like "Devil's Candy", start out well, but end in utter confusion (at least for me). "Van Von Hunter" and "Trickster" are the typical stories retold; "Emmalyne's Mansion" vexed me if only by its lack of tone; the art for "The Little Match Girl" was beautiful, but there was little text, and the story was an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson (I didn't even realize that fit the rules); and "Sitting Ducks" recounted an artist's difficulty with writer's block. My two favourite entries, then, were "Pest" and "Zero."
I recommend this book to anyone considering entering Tokyopop's second Rising Stars of Manga contest; after seeing the product of this year's winners, I am somewhat confident that my friend and I have a chance at winning. Ganbatte, minna-san.

Rating:
Summary: I gotta give it to them...
Review: I respect the dedication it took for these artists to get their entries in to the contest. All in all they weren't bad but looking at them, you definately don't get a sense that anyone amazing is going to emerge out of this, of course. And it is true that, the subject matter was really not for the most part what you would find in any Japanese manga. I was dissapointed because several of the artists are really famous on line and in all those cases, I found their art that I had seen prior to this contest to be better. Oh well... maybe the pressure got to them? I don't know but I found the whole thing so average.

Rating:
Summary: I gotta give it to them...
Review: I respect the dedication it took for these artists to get their entries in to the contest. All in all they weren't bad but looking at them, you definately don't get a sense that anyone amazing is going to emerge out of this, of course. And it is true that, the subject matter was really not for the most part what you would find in any Japanese manga. I was dissapointed because several of the artists are really famous on line and in all those cases, I found their art that I had seen prior to this contest to be better. Oh well... maybe the pressure got to them? I don't know but I found the whole thing so average.

Rating:
Summary: Exceeded my expectations
Review: I'll admit, I bought this book because a) I was interested in entering future Rising Stars of Manga contests, and b) I think manga opens up a lot of great possibilities for American comic artists and wanted to chip in my $ to support the venture. I went in with pretty low expectations about the content.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the stories have problems of one kind or another---several lack professional polish or a really substantial story, and still others suffer from a "too designed/overdrawn" look (the level of black/white contrast or stylization is about the same on all the elements and panels, giving a "noisy" effect to the overall pages and not letting anything stand out), but there is a lot of good art and story in here, and it's very refreshing in many to see a manga-like approach taken to American settings and concerns.

My story by story breakdown:

The Grand Prize Winner, "Devil's Candy" is not my favorite. It's excellently drawn and the cute/goth/punk setting is loads of quirky fun, but in many places it has that busy, overdrawn look that I mentioned, and the story isn't really moving; it comes across as a lot of manga cliches shaken and stirred.

Speaking of Manga cliches, the second place story, "Van Von Hunter" uses lots of them in a clever and amusing parody (plus the occasional metastory gag: "Hey, you read the balloons!"). This one makes good use of shading and the pages and panels for the most part are well-designed. Not quite a professional polish, but close. The story isn't quite to my own taste, being a parody that isn't too awfully original, but if you like Slayers, you should like this.

The third story, "The Little Match Girl" is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, but the entrant did a wonderful job of envisioning it in the comics medium. Again, good shading, and this was the best entry in terms of giving the pages an overall design, to excellent effect both visually and in terms of narrative pacing. The effect in the end is heartwrenching. My one complaint: this was apparently done on a computer at too low resolution; the art looks pixellated.

I also loved "Trickster"; again, the art is a little unpolished and the concept of a shoujo-manga about a supernaturally-gifted high school student is nothing new, but this is an excellent rendition of it, and I just loved seeing such a concept done in terms of American mythologies. And I just had to love Bianca's dad!

"Emmalyne's Mansion" suffers most from the too-designed loud page problem. The stylization of the characters and the use of line is very skilled and utterly delicious, but everything is rendered in that style and with very little use of shading/tone, so the result is a sort of visual anarchy that makes certain moments difficult to read. The story, while sweet, is also rather pat.

"Pest" also has the loud-page problem, though not as much. Here everything is rendered in bold shapes and stark black/white contrast, but it all remains clear. It's a short and sweet kind of comedy with a touch of realism that makes it well grounded.

"Sitting Ducks" is literally an entry about having trouble making an entry, but it works so well that it's one of my favorites. The stylization looks great, the pages are very clear and well-designed, and despite the gimmicky way it sounds in summary, the story is one of the best, truly touching the slings and arrows facing those who want to follow artistic dreams (laziness included!), the importance of persevering against them, and the importance of having support in doing so.

"Ophelia's Assassination" is an allegory about angels representing aspects of justice. The drawing and design is really beautiful in this one, and the drawing is generally very good although anatomy occasionally gets lost. The writing is strong, but occasionally the progression of panels seems a bit disjointed, and character differentiation isn't always easy; especially in the fantastical setting and at the climactic moment, it's a little hard to understand what who is doing or where they are in relation to each other.

"Zero" is a story about a troubled singer and the source of the emotion he puts into his songs. It's very boldly designed, and the writing is powerful to the point of brutality. The story is non-linear and rather sketchy, but I don't see that as a flaw, just the nature of this work. It's hard to see the Japanese influence and this much grit isn't quite to my taste, but it is very good.

And finally there's "Proper Magic", probably the weakest story included. The renderings of mecha and other technology are superb, but the characters are scratchier and have a retro look (more like Project A-Ko than more recent anime), and the story is trite and rushed sci-fi.

So in sum, this book is a mixed bag, but IMO, the good stuff in here is well worth $!

Rating:
Summary: Exceeded my expectations
Review: I'll admit, I bought this book because a) I was interested in entering future Rising Stars of Manga contests, and b) I think manga opens up a lot of great possibilities for American comic artists and wanted to chip in my $ to support the venture. I went in with pretty low expectations about the content.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the stories have problems of one kind or another---several lack professional polish or a really substantial story, and still others suffer from a "too designed/overdrawn" look (the level of black/white contrast or stylization is about the same on all the elements and panels, giving a "noisy" effect to the overall pages and not letting anything stand out), but there is a lot of good art and story in here, and it's very refreshing in many to see a manga-like approach taken to American settings and concerns.

My story by story breakdown:

The Grand Prize Winner, "Devil's Candy" is not my favorite. It's excellently drawn and the cute/goth/punk setting is loads of quirky fun, but in many places it has that busy, overdrawn look that I mentioned, and the story isn't really moving; it comes across as a lot of manga cliches shaken and stirred.

Speaking of Manga cliches, the second place story, "Van Von Hunter" uses lots of them in a clever and amusing parody (plus the occasional metastory gag: "Hey, you read the balloons!"). This one makes good use of shading and the pages and panels for the most part are well-designed. Not quite a professional polish, but close. The story isn't quite to my own taste, being a parody that isn't too awfully original, but if you like Slayers, you should like this.

The third story, "The Little Match Girl" is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, but the entrant did a wonderful job of envisioning it in the comics medium. Again, good shading, and this was the best entry in terms of giving the pages an overall design, to excellent effect both visually and in terms of narrative pacing. The effect in the end is heartwrenching. My one complaint: this was apparently done on a computer at too low resolution; the art looks pixellated.

I also loved "Trickster"; again, the art is a little unpolished and the concept of a shoujo-manga about a supernaturally-gifted high school student is nothing new, but this is an excellent rendition of it, and I just loved seeing such a concept done in terms of American mythologies. And I just had to love Bianca's dad!

"Emmalyne's Mansion" suffers most from the too-designed loud page problem. The stylization of the characters and the use of line is very skilled and utterly delicious, but everything is rendered in that style and with very little use of shading/tone, so the result is a sort of visual anarchy that makes certain moments difficult to read. The story, while sweet, is also rather pat.

"Pest" also has the loud-page problem, though not as much. Here everything is rendered in bold shapes and stark black/white contrast, but it all remains clear. It's a short and sweet kind of comedy with a touch of realism that makes it well grounded.

"Sitting Ducks" is literally an entry about having trouble making an entry, but it works so well that it's one of my favorites. The stylization looks great, the pages are very clear and well-designed, and despite the gimmicky way it sounds in summary, the story is one of the best, truly touching the slings and arrows facing those who want to follow artistic dreams (laziness included!), the importance of persevering against them, and the importance of having support in doing so.

"Ophelia's Assassination" is an allegory about angels representing aspects of justice. The drawing and design is really beautiful in this one, and the drawing is generally very good although anatomy occasionally gets lost. The writing is strong, but occasionally the progression of panels seems a bit disjointed, and character differentiation isn't always easy; especially in the fantastical setting and at the climactic moment, it's a little hard to understand what who is doing or where they are in relation to each other.

"Zero" is a story about a troubled singer and the source of the emotion he puts into his songs. It's very boldly designed, and the writing is powerful to the point of brutality. The story is non-linear and rather sketchy, but I don't see that as a flaw, just the nature of this work. It's hard to see the Japanese influence and this much grit isn't quite to my taste, but it is very good.

And finally there's "Proper Magic", probably the weakest story included. The renderings of mecha and other technology are superb, but the characters are scratchier and have a retro look (more like Project A-Ko than more recent anime), and the story is trite and rushed sci-fi.

So in sum, this book is a mixed bag, but IMO, the good stuff in here is well worth $!

Rating:
Summary: at least there's lots of it!!!!!!!!
Review: One thing I'd like to mention that this book is very thick.For 10 bucks I'm happy that at least I'm getting some quantity.
As for the quality,I was pretty impressed with the technical aspects of all the entrants.The backgrounds and tones look very good and it all the entrants seem to have many experince in graphic design.
But unfortunatley there really isn't a standout,someone that makes you gasp,like a manga-ka equivalent of Michael Jordan.
I would have to say most of the stories are a bit odd,having a cult favorite vibe.In fact the most touching story was the most unoriginal of all,the match girl.I have to say the story of the little match girl was brilliantly shown in graphic novel form.
The most dissapointing aspect of this manga compilation would have to be the art.No better how technically good you are,your characters have to be good looking.I don't neccesarily mean like a model but the style must be a certain way.Take a look at popular manga like Cardcaptor Sakura,One Piece,or Chobits.There characters all look clean,with simple designs and are asthetically pleasing.Most of the characters in RSM look like bums and that is basically the main problem.
If artists from the United States are truly serious about drawing manga they must copy artists like CLAMP and not try to do some ugly,hideous character designs trying to be original.
My advice would be try to use American themes that Japanese authors don't while emulating their art,not the other way around.

However I would encourage everyone to buy this regardless of the above because American manga lovers need to support this.
The artists in this book may be raw but they are pioneers of what may lead to the manga style being more mainstream and accepted in this great country.