The Return of Yokaiden

I finished reading Yokaiden 2

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin. This is one of the better recent Global Manga titles originating in the U.S.

I Reads You Review: X-MEN: MISFITS, VOL. 1

Creators: Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman (writers); Anzu (artist)

Publishing Information: Del Rey Manga, paperback, 186 pages, $12.99 (US); $15.50 (CAN)

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-0-345-50516-3 (ISBN)

X-Men: Misfits is the second book produced from the joint venture between Del Rey Manga and Marvel Entertainment to create global manga (or OEL – original English language manga) based on the X-Men franchise. [The first book from that deal was a shonen (boys’ comics) take on Wolverine, entitled Wolverine: Prodigal Son.]

X-Men: Misfits is a shojo manga (comics for teen girls) take on the X-Men. Writers Raina Telgemeier (Baby-sitters Club graphic novels) and Dave Roman (the Astronaut Elementary webcomic) focus the story through a girl character, and their protagonist is Kitty Pryde. In fact, Misfits is practically a reinvention of X-Men #129-131, the stories that introduced Kitty Pryde into the X-Men franchise 30 years ago, using the templates established by the 2000 X-Men film and the “X-Men: Evolution” animated series.

The X-Men’s headquarters and home, the mansion of their founder Professor Charles Xavier, was nominally a school. In the first X-Men film, it became an actual boarding school, filled with underage students, and the X-Men were their teachers. Misfits is set in this version of the school. Storm, Colossus, and Beast are teachers, while Cyclops, Angel, and Iceman are among the students.

The Kitty Pryde of X-Men: Misfits is a Chicago high school student. She’s also a mutant, a human born with strange super powers. Kitty’s mutant power is the ability to become immaterial, which allows her body to pass through solid objects. This power has been manifesting itself at the most inopportune times, which includes when Kitty’s at school. Professor Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr (Magneto) recruit the 15-year-old Kitty into Xavier’s Academy for Gifted Students in Westchester, New York, a school for mutants. Kitty hopes that this will be in a place where her powers won’t mark her as a freak and an outcast to her classmates.

However, Xavier’s Academy is an all-boys school, so she ends up feeling like a freak all over again. Relief comes when Kitty catches the attention of a brash teenager named John Allerdyce a.k.a Pyro, who can create and manipulate fire. Pyro introduces Kitty to Xavier’s most important clique, the Hellfire Club. However, Kitty has misgivings about the Hellfire Club and the super-rich friends she gains by being part of the club. Kitty even begins to have doubts about dating Pyro, especially as she is also drawn to his rival, the cool and aloof Bobby.

My main enjoyment of X-Men: Misfits is the art by Anzu (The Reformed), because I love how her art remakes the X-Men using the visual language of shojo manga. Anzu gives the readers everything from sparkles and lacy tones to catgirls and super-deformed.

The story and plot are crowded with too many characters. If this story is about a girl trying to fit in, then the focus should not be on finding every unusual character inhabiting Xavier’s Academy or covering every nook and cranny on the school grounds. The focus should be on Kitty; after all, no matter how interesting the setting of a shojo manga may be, the story really is about its female lead. The best parts of Misfits are the beginning, which introduces Kitty and establishes her dilemma, and the ending, which presages coming conflicts. The writers do both parts very well, precisely because those sequences are more about Kitty’s struggles and problems than they are about the Academy.

However, Anzu makes even the lesser parts of this story interesting. She is quite skilled, as a graphic artist, in creating shojo manga visuals, or at least the American version of it. So while the writers seem intent on excavating the X-Men mythology and re-imagining it in admittedly clever ways, it is Anzu who makes X-Men: Misfits a shojo manga and not just another X-Men comic book.

B+ is the grade for X-Men: Misfits

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Thank You Very Much for Domo

I recently reviewed Domo: The Manga, TOKYOPOP's OEL manga starring the mascot of Japan's NHK television station. I think that this full color, all ages title would make an excellent comic book gift for a young reader. I plan on passing Domo to my six-year-old nephew who is already showing a growing love for comic books.

I don't know how good TOKYOPOP is at marketing and publicizing their titles, especially the last few years, as they've apparently shed people from various departments, including publicity. It would be a shame if Domo simply got lost in the shuffle of comic books and graphic novels released each and every week (to say nothing of the avalanche of books of all types unleashed on booksellers every week).