I love the graphic novels, yes I do, and I understand a lot of the manga love, too. I just don't get it in a way that makes me pine for the next issue of Nana, or follow anything with the rabid fascination that I have for Fables or Alan Moore's Top 10.
That said, I do keep trying. One of my more recent attempts left me with more understanding of my feelings for this stuff. I enjoyed many things about Matsuri Hino's Wanted. Number one: Pirates, which kind of goes without saying. Two: Pretty pirates with hearts of gold? Definitely OK. Three: Girls dressing up as boys to follow pretty pirates with hearts of gold? These are all okay by me, with bells on.
Where things break down is that although the art is lovely, AND I love pirates AND I can see that the thing has a plot, such as it is, the story isn't told as much as it explained. It is almost exactly like my kids playing store. "I'm the storekeeper and you're the customer. Now you buy something. Now I give it to you. Now you go away and come back angry because I gave you the wrong sandwich. Now we have a sword fight." There is a plot there, but the finesse is missing, and I can do a better job imagining the details than the book gives me space to do. I want to like it! I just can't quite get there.
On the other hand, much like Lik-A-Maid, which I don't really enjoy eating because it gives me a headache and makes me feel sick, but I eat anyway because it is fun, I'm very likely to read #2 of this series and just see what happens.
Anyway, this one almost made it for me, but really, Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh was 150% more my speed. And didn't he do a good job on "Good Neighbors - Kin?" More on that, later.
No comments:
Post a Comment