New Comic: Talking to Strangers, from Sweatdrop Studios

‘Talking to Strangers’ is a new anthology from Sweatdrop Studios, which is debuting at the upcoming October London MCM Expo.  Its a black and white book that boasts a page count of 228 at a standard price of £7 (but will have a special price of £6 over the Expo weekend).  More information, plus page samples, can be found on the thread over on their forums.

This comic is a collection of short stories written by Fehed Said (who also wrote The Clarence Principle) and illustrated by a variety of up-and-coming UK manga talent.  The book features work by

• Sonia Leong, whose work most recently appears in the ‘Domo’ manga, but who also has several other both professional and personal comic titles in print.
• Nana Li, recently the artist for SelfMadeHero’s Manga Shakespeare version of ‘Twelfth Night’
• Chloe Citrine, creator of the popular webcomic ‘Rainbow Carousel’ (of which print volume 1 has now also been released)
• Faye Yong, who most recently worked on the Manga Shakespeare version of ‘The Merchant of Venice’
• Wing Yun Man, who works as an artist for Eyeko Makeup, and has recently been drawing their webcomic

But don’t worry if you can’t make it to Expo!  Sweatdrop assure us that will we be available from their online shop soon after the event.  This promises to be a world-class release, so do keep an eye out for it if you’re going to the show ^_^

New Comic: Dragon Heir Reborn

Hot on the heels of her announcement in our recent interview, Emma Vieceli has unveiled the first five pages of her new series ‘Dragon Heir: Reborn’ as a webcomic.  Its free to read so go check it out!  Her blog post about it provides some more info, and would-be commenters are directed there too.  Happy reading!

10 Questions for Emma Vieceli

Hi Emma, its great to have you here today on Comic Mole!  So lets start right away with the work perhaps closest to your heart

CM: As well as your professional comics work, you have been writing and drawing your own self published series, ‘Dragon Heir’, for several years now – could you tell us a bit about the story and what it means to you?

EV: *phew* You start simple, don’t you? haha.  Dragon Heir is a story that started developing in my head when I was about 16, and just hasn’t left me alone since, haha. I take it as a good sign when a story haunts you for that long…so I know I need to finish telling it at some point! To explain it is…umm…tricky. Do you have a week or two?

Dragon Heir is set in a world where human life is dictated by Spirit signs; marks applied to human babies’ foreheads at the age of five. It is believed that these signs were given to humans by Spiratu, the spirit world, in recognition of skills and powers bestowed. The truth to their origins has long been forgotten.

The story follows the trials and tribulations of four dragon heirs; human vessels chosen by the spirit world to house a part of the Dragon’s full spirit. Protus (protective spirit), Furose (Fighting Spirit), Kalm (Empathic spirit) and Lyntra (Wise spirit) are part of Spiratu’s task to transport the Dragon spirit to the hall of beasts, where it earned its place during its race’s life cycle. No human can house an entire dragon spirit, hence the four heirs for this great beast. Their mission should have ended when, at the appointed time, a spirit binder would come down from Spiratu, gather the spirits as one and transport them, leaving the heirs to continue their mortal lives blessed by the Spirits. However, early on in the story we realise it won’t be that simple, and for the heirs a race is on to fulfil the prophecy before the spirits within them grow too powerful and consume them from the inside. There is a far greater consequence at stake should the prophecy fail, but that will be revealed in the fullness of time…it has a lot to do with Verance; a mistake born from a duplicate dragon soul.

Enter into this bizarre situation Ella, a normal worker spirit with big ambitions, who just happens to be someone also tied into this prophecy, though her over protective brother has not informed her of this and has left her pretty clueless as to the whole shebang.

Drama, legend, love and lots of PAIN follow….that’s Dragon Heir. ^_~

For me, the story means a lot for several reasons. 1. It’s been with me so long that the characters really are old friends. 2. each character represents a part of me as their creator. 3. I now have my wonderful husband helping me with finalising bits of the story and scripting…and seeing him fall for the characters has made me love them all over again!

I think we can all empathise with the five main characters. We’ve all felt that we’re the pacifier in a mad situation, or that we could just let go and fall into anger…or maybe we’ve all wanted to escape what can feel like a pre-destined role in life sometimes. I like to think that every reader will find one character that they feel closest to. I just can’t wait to get further into the story so that more people can share in it with me. ^_^

CM: How many issues of Dragon Heir are there available, and when might fans get to see the next one?

EV: Herein lies an interesting answer. *ahem*

There are currently 9 issues of DH available through Sweatdrop. 1-6 are contained in the volume, with 7,8 and 9 still in single form.  HOWEVER….the story is an old one, and also one that I know I dived into far too early. I tried to tackle a vastly complex story in comic form before I really knew how to make comics…so: as I’m 40 pages in now, I feel I can reveal what I’ve been conjuring up in my secret basement ^_~

Issue 9 did leave us on somewhat of a cliffhanger, and I do want to ease the tension very soon, but I hope readers will also be excited about the fact that I am currently working on Dragon Heir Reborn – the first five issues, retold and re drawn from scratch! This will not be released as issues, but will possibly see a webcomic release – and, when I’m done, I’ll be looking to release 9 or even 10 issues together as one shiny, shiny graphic novel.

Sneak peak: two never-before-seen pages from Emma’s upcoming work ‘Dragon Heir Reborn’

I think readers should be pleased with Reborn. I know I am. Largely it follows what we already know, but the younger me creating issues 1 and 2 way-back-when was a scaredy cat and would omit certain scenes or moments purely because I didn’t know how to draw them, haha….this is me revisiting those early scenes as a professional comicker, and those who have read the early issues of DH will see a few marked changes in scenes, and even brand new scenes in some cases! The reborn section will meet up with issue 6. I won’t be redoing anything from 6 on, as 6 – though a little old – was created post-Hamlet….so there’ll still be some legacy artwork in the new book ^_~

I really hope people will look forward to this! I can’t wait

(I for one certainly will be! – CM)

CM: How do you find writing and drawing your own story compares to doing professional work for others?

EV: Freedom is a wonderful thing. I love playing with the page, with layouts and pacing…and though some writers will let me get away with murder, most of the time I can only really do that with my own work.  So i feel a lot more in control with my own work.

That said, I feel I learn so much as an artist by working with writers…and the ability to work to a panel description and find the most interesting way of showing what I’m being asked to is a totally different skill, and one I really enjoy as well. It’s great sometimes to just relax into the role of an artist and not think about the script, just enjoy drawing what I’m given. I guess I love both in their own way….though like anyone, I love to tell my own stories more than anything ^_^

CM: You’re probably best known in the UK comics community for being the artist on SelfMadeHero’s Manga Shakespeare adaptations of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ – what is it like to work on adaptations of such classic and well-loved material?

EV: Tiring and challenging, but fun and ultimately hugely rewarding. The series has really touched people from all walks, and I love knowing that the books are being enjoyed by comics fans and Shakespeare scholars alike ^_^

I’ve learned shedloads through doing both books…combined they make up 400 pages of comicking, and that’s a BIIIIIIG learning curve! They’re also my 2 favourite Shakespeare plays, so you can imagine how much fun I had, knowing certain scenes were coming up and such!

It’s always a little scary approaching such well-loved texts, but I think we’ve been clear from the start that what we’re offering are not alternatives to the originals, but complements and stepping stones…and as a Shakespeare fan myself, I love them!

CM: ‘Hamlet’ was originally released in 2007 and ‘Much Ado’ was released earlier this year (2009) – have you found that your production techniques have changed over the years with experience?

EV: Gosh, was Hamlet only 2007? It feels much longer ago…it’s been a busy couple of years!! Yes, definitely. When starting Hamlet I had only just moved onto digital work. I had an A5 tablet, comicworks and was at the start of the learning process. It was all new and really a HUGE thing to dive into. When I started Much Ado, I was in a far more confident place and, thanks to Hamlet and later projects, I knew much more about pacing myself and scheduling workload. I had an A4 tablet and Manga Studio. Hamlet was almost entirely digital, pencils and all. Much Ado was all pencilled manually on paper and then scanned for inks and such. So there were several differences!

CM: Conversely to the ‘Hamlet’ adaptation, which was set in a cyberpunk future, ‘Much Ado’ was set in period Italy.  As the artist on the project, did you have a say in the setting of ‘Much Ado’? And did your Italian heritage help at all with the comic?

EV: I did indeed. And I desperately wanted to set it in the warring states as they’re so close to my family. I had a great opportunity for background reference, and the setting fitted the story so well! Thankfully Emma and Doug at SelfMadeHero agreed with me ^_^

CM: Who are some of your biggest inspirations in art at the moment?

EV: Hmm…so many! Right now: Adrian Alphona, Terry Moore, Clamp and Yoshinaga Fumi would be my top four I think ^_^

There are a crazy amount of people I draw inspiration from. I couldn’t possibly list them all, but artists like my Sweatdrop cohorts, my DFC chums, Kate Brown, Paul Duffield, Nana Li, Jamie McKelvie, Amy Reeder Hadley, Svetlana Chmakova and lordy, tons more all teach me over and again how much we should strive for and what can be achieved with hard work and dedication…I’m so lucky to be friends with such talented and amazing people!

CM: As well as illustration, you write your own comics – are you inspired by any particular writers or genres in literature or comics?

EV: When I was younger I ATE books…seriously, read SO MANY books. I wanted to be a writer (who didn’t? haha!), and was hugely influenced by a strange combination of Anne Rice, Douglas Adams and Douglas Coupland. These days I read comics far more, and some of my favourite writers are Brian K Vaughan, Terry Moore, Warren Ellis, Kieron Gillen and Bill Winningham. I also adore Morag Lewis’s ability to create worlds and fantasy realms that feel so real! But really, I absorb anything I read and see…you have to ^_^

CM: Working back to the very beginning now: what first made you want to start drawing and writing comics?

EV: Ranma 1/2. Though not the first comic I read, it was the first time I thought ‘hmmm, maybe I could try this’. And then, years later, I met Sweatdrop! haha. Sweatdrop really was the biggest inspiration and drive I could have hoped for. Without the group I simply wouldn’t have made comics. Simple as. ^_^

CM: And it just wouldn’t be a Comic Mole interview without this final question!  What’s your favourite dessert?

oooooh, Apple crumble and custards…TONS of custard ^_^

–

I’d like to say a massive thanks to Emma for giving me her time for this interview, and my first scoop with the news about Dragon Heir Reborn!  As mentioned earlier, Dragon Heir is published by Sweatdrop Studios and is available to order from their online shop.  SelfMadeHero‘s Manga Shakespeare volumes Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing are readily available from high street bookstores or online through shops such as Amazon.

Emma also has a work blog and art site where you can keep up with her current projects ^_^

Mini review of Manga Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing

It seems life has taken away most of my review time of late, so rather than write a few semi-decent notes about a UK manga such as ‘Much Ado’ on my Goodreads page and promise myself I will write more here on Comic Mole at a later date (but then never get the chance), I will try to write a proper mini-review here instead, so sorry for the shortitude. (yes ‘shortitude’ is now a word..)

Note: this review was also written for REDEYE Magazine 2.2

(William Shakespeare, adapted by Richard Appignanesi & illustrated by Emma Vieceli, 208 pages, A5 softback book, Self Made Hero, £7.99)

Benedick and Beatrice are old flames who are now at each other’s throats in an on-off battle of cutting remarks on each other’s characters. When Benedick and comrade Claudio come back from the wars, Claudio proceeds to fall madly in love with Hero, daughter of the local governor. The villainous Don Jon has other plans though, meaning to put a stop to Hero and Claudio’s wedding using trickery. With a backdrop of hijinks as police constable Dogberry investigates what is really going on between Hero and Claudio (with a fake death thrown in for good measure), another plot is hatched; this time to see Benedick and Beatrice fall in love and marry happily…

If you couldn’t already tell from the somewhat convoluted plot description, ‘Much Ado’ is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies. I might not have been able to successfully bring it across in so few words, but the pacing and story elements of this play really complement each other. Yes, it’s a collection of crazy antics and melodrama, but it never falls into confusion and always remains amusing to read.

Unfortunately, as I’m not a scholar of English Literature, I can’t comment on Richard Appignanesi’s adaptation of the original text to comic form. However, I can say that Emma Vieceli’s artwork suits this particular play very well. Emma’s character designs appropriately pick up on each character’s unique personality traits. The strong and witty Beatrice keeps her hair done up out of the way and has a slightly more sharp look to her face than the beautiful Hero, who keeps her hair down and flowing, and has larger, more ‘girly’ features. The artist’s light touch with the pen throughout also suits the comic’s sunny setting of period Italy.

The production values for ‘Much Ado’ are very high. It has glossy, full-colour covers and interior pages are printed on good-quality white paper. If someone wanted to use this book for study purposes (i.e. read it through many times, scribble notes in the margins etc.) it seems like it would hold up well to that treatment, whereas a book printed on the newsprint-style paper you get with a lot of mass-market manga wouldn’t.

New Comic: Aya.Takeo, by Lloyd Prentice and Sonia Leong

Debuting at the May MCM London Expo this year is a new print volume of the free webcomic Aya.Takeo by Lloyd Prentice with art by Sonia Leong.  The volume collects the first year of the webcomic and, quite uniquely for a small press book, is presented in full colour.  It will be available to buy online from Sweatdrop Studios’ online shop shortly after the event, so it should still be easy to get hold of if you’re not planning to attend ^_^

Mole side note: as you can probably tell from the scarcity of posts lately I haven’t had an awful lot of time for writing comic reviews in the last month, but I’m hoping to be able to get back on track with more solid updates soon so please bear with me.

New Comic: Ambient Rhythm volume 1 by Morag Lewis

Ambient Rhythm volume 1 is going to be launched at Minamicon 2009 (27th-29th March).  This volume collects pages from the first year and half of the webcomic,  and its written and drawn by a comicker you may have heard of if you’ve been keeping up with recent Mole posts – Morag Lewis!

If you just can’t wait to read it, the webcomic is still updating on toothycat.net each week as well.

My copy is already starting to look a bit read, as well it should because I just finished reading it this morning. I had been keeping up with the weekly webcomic updates already but I found that reading the story as a printed book rather than on-screen suited this comic very well: the subject matter of characters searching for answers around old university buildings and libraries just works nicely on paper, plus I was able to flick back easily to see if I had missed any clues, or to check someone’s name.

I won’t say anything more about what happens in this comic apart from that, personally, this one is turning out to be my favourite Morag Lewis work (after Artifaxis), so I recommend taking a look at it.  The rest I will leave to a proper review post, hopefully not too far in the future ^_^

An Introduction to Reya

Very soon I will be posting up an interview with Morag Lewis, the creator of several web and print comics including the completed series ‘Looking for the Sun’ and the ongoing webcomic ‘Ambient Rhythm’, both published by Sweatdrop Studios (check Morag’s own website toothycat.net to read most of her comics for free online, or the Sweatdrop Studios shop to buy print editions).

In our interview we focused on her soon-to-be-released comic, ‘Reya’, published by Markosia, as well as talking about many all-important comics topics (like desserts ^_~ ).   ‘Reya’ is a comic which debuted in 2008 – Chapter One is available to read for free on Myebook and the entire comic should be available to read for free online and as a print edition soon (I’ll post an update when the full comic is released).  The writing, penciling and inks are all done by Morag and the colour work on the first few pages is by Natalie Roberts.

The comic is named after its lead character, the young girl Reya, who has just moved from her home village to a new town to study magic.  She is a little confused however because, as far as she knows, she has no magic within her and therefore cannot study it properly.

Neither can I, unfortunately, tell you much more of the plot, as with only one chapter to read there’s not an awful lot that can be said at this stage.  However, if you’re hungry for some more Reya straight away, you might be happy to know that this is not the first time we have been graced with her presence: she was originally part of a short story that was submitted to a past Tokyopop ‘Rising Stars of Manga’ competition.  Unfortunately she didn’t win, but her tale can be found in Sweatdrop Studios’ ‘Stardust’ anthology, which I reviewed in a previous blog entry.

Like her previous incarnation, the general feel of the comic ‘Reya’ is all-ages friendly.  Morag has mentioned that the story will get darker as it progresses, but she hopes that it will remain accessible and enjoyable to as wide an audience as possible.  The art style’ will be familiar to anyone to has read the author’s other work – it very much has her signature look to it.  The colour pages by Natalie Roberts are a treat for online readers but it can be assumed that, because of high printing prices for full colour works, the printed edition will probably be black and white only.  I recommend checking out the colour pages online even if you are planning to buy the print edition as they are very well executed, as you can see:

Thus ends my introduction to ‘Reya’ – as said previously I will upload the interview with Morag ASAP, and keep your eyes peeled for a future announcement of the release of the full edition!

Cold Sweat and Tears, an Anthology by Sweatdrop Studios

Cold Sweat and Tears is an anthology by Sweatdrop Studios which was first published in 2007 and is available to buy from their online store.

The book is a compiled collection from 2 previous anthologies: ‘Love, Sweat & Tears’ and ‘Cold Sweat’:

As a few readers might already own the original anthologies, firstly I will be looking at the differences between ‘Cold Sweat & Tears’ and the originals, and the pros and cons of buying this book in addition to the other two.  After that there will be a run-down of the actual comics (if you want to skip to that section, scroll down the post and it’s just after the photo of the book).

A Little Bit of History

‘Love, Sweat & Tears’ and ‘Cold Sweat’ were Sweatdrop Studios’ first and second anthologies. They were both released in a simple stapled format, so it seems to make sense to bind them together as a collected volume for future sales.

Saying that, if you are interested in the creators’ newest work then this is not the book for you. This is a good buy however for anyone who is interested in UK manga in general (especially UK manga history), those who are just starting to create their own comics who are interested in seeing what some of the Sweatdrop members were producing when they were also first starting out, or for those who are specifically following the work of one or more of the artists in question.

Additional Material in Cold Sweat & Tears

Introduction (by Dock): this explains where the book came from and why it has been produced.

The History: some freshly written information about the original anthologies, along with a reproduction of the original introductions by Keds.

‘About Us’ Section: there is about a paragraph of information on each creator, positioned towards the end of the book (similarly to the notes about the creators in a Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga anthology). This covers the achievements of each creator since the original anthologies were printed and makes for an interesting read.

Illustrations: new black and white illustrations of some of the characters from the original comics, produced by the creators specifially for this volume.
- 2 new illustrations by Emma Vieceli, based on ‘Love Senseless’ and ‘The Politics of Tears’
- 2 new illustrations by Dock, based on ‘Out of Reach’
- 1 new illustration by Laura Watton based on ‘Black Peace’

Comic Strips: 10 strips from ‘Rabid Monkeys’ are printed towards the back of the book.  This was webcomic by Fehed and Shari that ran from 2002-2004 but has now ended. One strip from it had appeared at the front of each of the previous antholgies.

Trivia: there are 2 pages of trivia at the end of the book covering the production of the original anthologies. They range from stories of printing mishaps to some of the cameos and references present in some of the comics.

Ads: a few pages of ads for books the artists are now appearing in.

Lineup of Comics in the Anthology

Note: ‘Biomecha: Thought’ by Laura Watton, which originally appeared in ‘Love, Sweat & Tears’ has been removed from the lineup for this re-print, however it is still in print and now appears in Biomecha volume 1 instead.

‘Love Senseless’ by Emma Vieceli

Love Senseless is a moving 20-page story about how a chance encounter changes two people’s lives, and how we should cherish the things we have as we might never know when they might disappear.   As this was Emma’s first comic there are quite a few inconsistencies in the artwork, however the writing holds up remarkably well – the story fits well into the page count and has a very satisfying (if not completely happy) ending.

‘Simple Love’ by Hwei Lim (no longer a Sweatdrop member)

Simple Love takes a look into quite a grown-up situation regarding love – losing someone you once loved through divorce.  A man is taken on a trip through some of his memories by hearing the words to a song.  The comic is only 6 pages long but manages to portray the situation well.  The art is also well thought out, switching from stark black and white for the present time to softer tones for the memories.

‘Out of Reach’ by Dock

Similarly to ‘Simple Love’, the 7-page comic ‘Out of Reach’ also looks at adults dealing with a separation.  However, this time there may be hope, as a memory jogged by a playful child might help to bring the couple back together.  The artwork uses some uncommon camera angles in some of the panels, adding interest to a simple story.

‘A Message to You’ by Keds

17-page story ‘A Message to You’ shows some definite Japanese influences.  Even though the artist has challenged himself by tackling lots of different character poses and backgrounds, he had not quite found his own style and rather seems to more directly reference Japanese manga.  Also the characters’ names are Japanese, which just reinforces this influence.  That aside though this is a sweet little story which is easy to understand and wraps itself up well within the page limit.

‘Faded and Torn’ by Fehed Said and Keds

‘Faded and Torn’ is an interesting short piece which very much reads like it came directly from the mind of its’ young writer onto the paper.  This 6-pager questions the place of creativity in our modern lives – asking that, if we live like drones going from 9-5 work to inane socialising day-in, day-out, are we any better off than being dead?  Its easy to see how the creators, just beginning on their professional adult lives, would worry that their imaginations might be crushed by the monotiny of everyday grown-up life, and how they might believe that if they ever stopped expressing their individuality through writing and drawing, they might as well be dead.

‘Black Peace’ by Laura Watton

‘Black Peace’ is 9 pages of distilled Japan-influenced melodrama, from the Tokyo location through the gang member and gothic lolita clothing, to the Japanese names of the characters.  The artwork uses lots of screentone and heavy inking, but has a level of energy that complements the dramatic subject matter, even though sometimes it can be a little wonky.  Most of the content will seem very fannish nowadays, especially as UK manga artists are striving to find their own identity outside of a direct Japanese influence, but at its heart this comic is a glimpse into the not-too-distant past of UK manga creation, and an entertaining one at that.

‘Eine Kliene’ by Selina Dean

As the title suggests, ‘Eine Kliene’ is a very short comic – just 4 pages in all.  The artwork is simple but punchy, as is the story.  It just goes to show that not all dreams end well…

‘Caveboy Bink’ by Monkey-X (no longer a Sweatdrop member)

‘Caveboy Bink’ is a cute little 4-pager about a cave boy, a small dinosaur, and an intrepid snail.  Its a slient comic with no text apart from sound effects.  The art is sometimes a little wonky, but the pacing and panel layouts work well, and it brought a smile to my face at the end which is always good.

‘The Politics of Tears’ by Fehed Said and Emma Vieceli

Comics where the text is a poem, accompanied by images, are often interesting as they can make it easier for the reader to interpret the text.  This time, I think that Emma’s story illustrated a certain interpretation of the text using a particular story, but the poem itself I believe is meant more generally than just to refer to the events portrayed in this comic.   The poem paints a pretty grim view of humanity (well I guess this is the ‘nightmares’ portion of the book), and unfortunately the artwork is a little hard to follow, with confusing panel layouts and oddly placed screentone – although readers should be aware that this is some of Emma Vieceli’s earliest work, and doesn’t really compare to later projects.

‘Bunny’ by Selina Dean

This comic is a rare opportunity to see some of Selina Dean’s non-chibi-style artwork, however it is one of her older comics in print so the art is not as polished as newer projects.  The story is a mildly disturbing one about a girl who treats a bunny like a baby (or perhaps she gives birth to a bunny, its never clearly stated which and anything can happen in comic land…). As with several of Selina’s newer one-shot projects, the plot fits very nicely into the page allowance and gives you a nice little punch at the end.

Conclusions

If you have never seen the 2 original anthologies that this book was compiled from and you are at all interested in UK manga, then you will probably find this an interesting (and possibly even essential) addition to your manga collection.

However, if you aleady own the originals and are not someone who is very into extra content you are not going to find any new comics here.

So, having thrown scepticism about buying a volume full of comics I already own aside, the extra content needed to be examined. Luckily it has had a lot of thought put into it, and on the whole lends more depth to the experience of re-reading the comics. Should I want to re-experience these short stories again, I would most likely pick up this book from my shelf rather than the originals, as it is a neat microcosm of comics and extras.

Rainbow Carousel by Chloe Citrine

This is one of my old ‘Webcomic Mole Investigates…’ columns for the now defunct (as far as I know) website, IndieReview.co.uk.  But never fear!  I have checked it over and updated it to include the new print volume of Rainbow Carousel as well as the webcomic – the print version is available from the Sweatdrop Studios online shop and the webcomic is still available to read for free over on DrunkDuck.

Teenager Bubblegum Soda has a whole heap of problems.  He’s been forced to change schools and leave the person he loves behind, and is getting stick from his teacher for being in a bad mood about it.  On top of that, some unwanted attention from a new girl has brought out the local bullies too.  But just when life seems at its darkest, an enchanting group of people enter his life, not least of these is a mysterious elf called Sundae.

Mysterious elves and characters with foodie names? It could only be  Rainbow Carousel by Chloe Citrine!  The comic has the feel of a light, sparkly slice-of-life story, but on top of this it also tackles some real issues that teenagers can face.  Romance amongst classmates is covered, as is bullying, and some of the issues facing gay high school students.  There are shonen-ai themes within the comic, but the story doesn’t get bogged down in following only the gay characters like some other series in the genre.

Just in case ‘shonen-ai’ is new to anyone out there, it’s a sub-genre of girls manga which covers romance between boys (another name of it is ‘Boys Love’).  Most shonen-ai stories are based on romantic relationships, however they do not usually include any adult content.  What could be seen as a problem with a lot of ‘traditional’ Japanese shonen-ai manga is that the characters don’t often act like actual gay men, rather they are overly romanticised idealised figures, and they seem less ‘real’ because of it.  What’s great about Rainbow Carousel is that the gay characters are a lot more believable.  For example, Bubblegum has to face having a long-distance relationship with a boyfriend who wants to keep their relationship under wraps, leaving him unable to mention his boyfriend’s name to anyone else he meets.

Rainbow Carousel is both written and drawn by Chloe Citrine (aka. Wyldflowa).  It was begun as a webcomic in 2006 and is still running presently.  It used to update regularly but updates have unfortunately slowed down over the last year or so.  However, although that is a shame, if you are new to the comic there are already three long chapters weighing in at well over 150 pages for potential fans to get their teeth into before relying on updates.  Plus, if you’d rather read your comics on paper than on a screen, volume one of Rainbow Carousel is now available to buy (a link to the shop is at the top of this post).  As you can see from the photo below, its a nice chunky size with a very good print quality (note – the inside pages are in black and white, manga-style).

Extras in the print volume include 3 pages of standalone artwork by Chloe, 4 pages crammed full of readers’ fanart, an author’s note and 3 pages filled with funny 4-koma (4-panel) comic strips also created by Chloe.  In fact, the volume is peppered with extra 4-koma strips throughout which make for cute little funny interludes in the plot.

You might think that with so much attention paid to the print volume the web version of the comic would be a more barebones affair, but in fact Rainbow Carousel is a comic that had really embraced its web status long before it was printed.  Its host, the free site DrunkDuck (link at the top of this post), allows comments to be made by readers on each page – therefore if a reader has anything to say about the story or the characters (or simply wishes to cheekily poke the artist for more updates) they can do it directly.  Complimenting this audience participation is a separate fanart gallery that features readers’ art, each piece receiving a comment from the comics’ author.  Additionally to the readers’ art, there is a large gallery of sketches, desktops and icons as well as full-colour standalone images completed by the creator.  To help any new (or more curious) readers, there is also a character profile page that holds a portrait and description of each of the comic’s main characters.  At the end of chapters one and two, the author has uploaded a tutorial on how she produces the comic.  She also comments on each page as she uploads it, giving little asides about the characters, the plot or simply her day-to-day life.  These kinds of extras would be much more difficult to provide in a printed edition, especially as the majority of the gallery work is in full-colour.

You might be thinking that this is all very well, but having fantastic extras doesn’t necessarily make it a good comic.  Well luckily Rainbow Carousel is also a very enjoyable read (even for a crusty old twenty-something like me who’s not so into high school shonen-ai).  Some people might be turned off by the thought that most of the main cast are teenagers and a lot of the comic is set around their school, however the characters themselves really bring the comic to life. The past history, personality and motivations of each character have obviously been carefully considered by the author before she committed her drawing pen to paper. Because she knows what each of her characters is like, they each have their own way of reacting to different situations. For example the main character, Bubblegum, is a pretty sullen and whiny young guy (at least at the start of the comic) so he doesn’t show much emotion on his face unless he’s about to cry.  Conversely the character who bullies him in chapter one, Turpentine, is hot-headed and emotional, so his feelings show much more on his face.  One of the only trip-ups with the art is that the characters’ faces sometimes seem a bit elongated, especially in profile, however this does seem to improve as the story progresses.

Adding to the actions and emotions of the characters is the use of effects and panel layouts.  Some imaginative effects are used throughout the comic (a good example being ‘Sherbert Vision’ on page four).  The panels throughout show a good balance of open space to full detail.  A lot of different panel layouts are used, but they are never confusing to read.  Some layouts show the artist being more experimental (such as the more minimal layout on page 17 for example) which is great to see .  On the web, the pages are presented in monochrome, however each chapter is coloured slightly differently – this reflects the ‘Rainbow’ in the title and suits the slightly otherworldly fantasy theme very well.

So to finish, if imaginative, emotional characters, slice-of-life drama, fantastical twists, shonen-ai elements, unique art or beautifully varied panel layouts appeal to you, then try this comic on for size in whichever format suits you best!

Artifaxis by Morag Lewis

This is an older review, however seeing as the comic series in question was complete at the time of writing and it is still on sale (and available for free on the web too) I think its worth re-posting the review here.

Artifaxis is a gaslamp fantasy comic series (gaslamp fantasy is like steampunk, but without the steam) written and drawn by the prolific comic creator Morag Lewis.  Morag has created several long-running comic series which are usually available to buy printed and also to read for free online.  She was a winner of Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga and a first prize winner at the International Anime and Manga Festival in 2006.  But today I’ll have to set all her other work aside as the name of the game is Artifaxis and only Artifaxis!

This comic is a series that spans 10 chapters, although the printed version has only 8 issues because issues 6&7 and 8&9 are double-issue releases.  The printed version can be bought from the Sweatdrop Studios shop and (like most small-press comics), issues come in black and white.  However, if you choose to read the comic via the web on Toothycat.net each page is in full colour.

The story begins with Miriam, an academic who has finally got her own department at the university where she works: The Department of Anomalous Artifacts.  She looks after mysterious objects which there are no known uses for.  It sounds fascinating, however in reality its a very quiet place and no-one seems to take much interest…that is until one day an object is stolen.  Whilst investigating the theft (and what the object really was), Miriam crosses paths with the tall-dark-and-mysterious Rua and the meddlesome Rain, who will become her on-and-off companions as she follows the trail of the missing object.

Similarly to the author’s other complete long-running series ‘ Looking for the Sun’, this story centres around a female protagonist and her companions’ adventures as they travel through many varied places.  The difference with Artifaxis is that the places are all cities in the same world rather than multiple worlds.  Overall there is also more of a science-fiction than magical twist to this tale.

The story starts off simply and becomes much more complex in later issues as further characters and cities are introduced.  At some points it is helpful to be able to refer back to previous issues.  Some may find the story a little confusing, however a lot of readers would probably find it fun to have to work out what’s going on.

Miriam, the main character, doesn’t change fundamentally through the course of the series but her personality and back story are explored well.  Rua is ever the mystery man, but we do see glimpses of his past and who he is throughtout the series.  Rain provides quite a bit of comic relief in the story as well as having a pivotal part in the plot.

Artwork-wise this comic charts the author’s progression through over 2 years of work, from 2005-2007, therefore the art style and accuracy do change and improve over the 10 issues, with the later chapters reflecting the author’s progression to the standard that won her two awards in 2006.

Even though the look of the first couple of issues is not as polished as the later ones, the characters remain distinct so any changes in art style do not affect the reader’s enjoyment of the story itself.  As I mentioned before, the printed issues are predominantly black and white and the web version is in colour – the colours used in earlier issues are quite vivid, but they are toned down to a more realistic level as the series goes on.

Another interesting thing to note with this series is the development of the pacing and structure of the panels on each page as the story continues.  Morag starts out using mostly rectangular panels, but they become much more fluid and manga-influenced in later issues.

So when all the comic pages are finished are there any extras to enjoy?  Well yes!  There is an artists’ blurb and the odd splash image, sketch page or fanart printed in each issue (issue 10 containing an especially long extra section) which is fun.  Online there is a gallery of standalone art and fanart as well as a prologue not seen in the printed issues – so all in all, lots to enjoy here for those who like a bit of fantasy, sci-fi or even gaslamp fantasy!