|
Mangaphile is a comic featuring_can we guess the magic
word here - manga. There is, however, a fine line between
cutesy, gritty, and intentionally humorous. This
issue of Mangaphile has it all. The first story,
illustrated by CT's own Daniel Fu (Utter Confusion),
is a intriguing sci-fi/fantasy story about a mage who
is in the middle of being attacked by an unnamed
assailant. In spite of a few reversed pages, the
story and art excel and blow the minds of all reading.
The second major section of Mangaphile is an interview
with Kenichi Sonoda, which is, I'm sure, absolutely
fascinating if you're more knowledgeable about Manga
artists than I am. The interview seems very thorough
and well crafted. If you're familiar with Sonoda or
his work in Bubble Gum Crisis, Gall Force, and
Gunsmith Cats, I highly recommend you read this
article.
The third part is a riotous comic strip called Wendy
Comic by Josh Lesnick, which partially parodies MTV's
Spring Break, but mostly just bashes it. If you're as
sick as I am of flipping through the channels and
seeing college age kids who look like they should know
better acting like complete idiots and not in an
amusing fashion, you must check out Mangaphile for
this comic strip.
The fourth part of the comic is an instructional guide
for artists on how to color on their computers. It's
very educational; all people interesting in coloring
their art on their computer might be very interested
in reading this helpful section.
Finally, we get to another story segment, however,
this story is no where near as well crafted as the
first one. This story is entitled Claire's Dragon;
it's written by Rob Lansley and penciled by Kerr-ichi
Lowe. Claire's Dragon is in the cutesy school girl
style of manga both in the story and in the art.
Claire, the main character, has a best friend named
Bets. Bets is apparently a witch and for Claire's
16th birthday, Claire is receiving a miniature dragon
from Bets. The dragon can shrink and speak a few
words like taco, Ho Ho, etc. when he gets hungry. Can
we see the trouble brewing here? Actually, I have to
hand it to the author; it's a cute story without being
nauseatingly cute and the art matched the amount of
cuteness perfectly. You should definitely go out and
buy your own copy of Mangaphile #3 to check it all out.
|