The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1847: Ranma 1/2 part 5 #5, 1996

I had meant to mention something about the comic yesterday, but it shares this particular aspect with today's comic, so I'll address it today. The English translation of this issue was done by comics writer Gerard Jones. He's well-known for a run on Green Lantern in the 80s, and wrote a few books, not all of which were well-reviewed, on the history of comics.

He also, a few years back, was busted on child pornography charges.

I have this dilemma that I wrestle with on a frequent basis. Mostly it's with regard to H.P. Lovecraft, whose writing and creations I absolutely adore, but whose virulent racism is tough to take. (If you're not convinced, consider that so many of his stories are about white families who mix with non-white families and start to devolve.) I've come to the idea that with Lovecraft, recognizing that racism actually makes the stories even more horrific - he's achieving an effect in a way that I'm not sure he'd be completely okay with.

I don't know if I can do the same thing with Jones' work. This is definitely a series that is dealing with younger people and is playing with questions of gender, even if not in quite so deep a way as it might. But the underlying attitude that one inevitably will layer on Jones, that of sexual gratification with underage children, doesn't really add to the humorous intent of something like Ranma 1/2. Where we can take Lovecraft's attitude and actually use it to increase the intentional atmosphere of the stories, here the inflection of the intentional atmosphere (one of comedy) is detrimental, rather than in some ways helpful, to our enjoyment of the story.

That said, I have no fucking clue what was going on here. Way too deep into the story, way too little back story. Ranma turns into a girl, and then back into a boy, and then back into a girl, as people around them are consuming pills that make you fall in love with the first person of the opposite gender you see (systemic homophobia rears its ugly head!)

Back to Mr. Sable tomorrow. More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1846: The Return of Lum Part 4 #6, 1998

A couple days break from the intensity of Jon Sable, and this is about as different from Mr. Grell's series as I could possibly get. I've been slowly but surely discovering Rumiko Takahashi's work, though I definitely could jump right in given the proliferation and popularity of her Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2. I'm preferring reading the less-well known series, especially her creepy Mermaid stories, so I can get an idea of what her writing is like without the pomp and circumstance of a popular comic. That said, coming in at what appears to be the very end of the Lum series of comics, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. There was a vampire, and a bat, and an alien lady in tiger print, and the ubiquitous hapless male lead who everyone loves for some reason, but who seems completely incapable of taking care of himself, or developing relationships.

Actually, something I'm finding about a lot of the manga and anime I'm consuming these days is that it's often the female-identifying characters who are the pursuers when it comes to romantic relationships, which is really very different from the primary motivating factors in a lot of North American media. I wonder why that is, given that the picture painted for us of the culture is one of demure women who don't pursue a man/partner. As I've noted in my other readings of Ms. Takahashi's work, my knowledge of the culture and the medium is very limited, so my readings really can only come from the comics to which I'm exposed. That said, my limited understanding aside, Ms. Takahashi's work is frickin' weird and I love it. She has a nice handle on taking similar weirdnesses (mostly supernatural ones) and applying very different atmospheres to them, so that the vampire in this comic is comedic relief, but the flesh-hungry characters in the Mermaid books are terrifying. All with very similar aesthetic choices with regard to the artwork.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 720: Rumic World #2, 1990

You know what I like? A good, spooky manga. There's something gently terrifying about a well done Japanese ghost story, and today's comic is such a story. Apparently Rumiko Takahashi is best known for InuYasha, which I've heard of, but never read, but she's also known for her short story manga work. In the early 90s, Viz published two of her stories under the Rumic World title, though it appears to have not lasted very long. I read part of her longer creepy story Mermaid Saga a little while ago, and mentioned that it reminded me very much of MuShiShi, in that the ghosts and strangeness of the stories are accepted as being simply phenomena that happen, and that there are people whose job it is to handle such things. Even the more comedic Ghosttalker's Daydream graphic novels have this feel (though mixed in with a healthy dose of bondage and domination). It's an attitude toward the supernatural that we really only see in Western culture in our religions. Only there do we accept the spiritual as simply a fact of life. Ghosts and spirits, though, not so much.

I will be looking out for more of Ms. Takahashi's scary little stories. They really are excellent. And if you're interested, here's a link to the first part of an OVA that was made of this story.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 709: Mermaid's Dream #3, 1995

I think this is the first comic I've read from this quarter bin collection I picked up that has made me want to go and track down the rest of the series. It's got that lovely, dark sensibility that only the cute style of manga can achieve. It seems at once adorable and sinister, and puts me in mind of the fantastic Mushishi. The story appears to have to do with characters becoming immortal after eating a mermaid's heart. All I can picture in my head is a typical manga badass cleaving poor Ariel in twain and eating her liver. Which, all things considered, is a pretty comical image. Don't judge.

The artwork is stark, which nicely reflects the characters' internal landscapes. The immortals are trapped in a world that is at once familiar and foreign, and what we're obviously seeing is individuals coming to realize the ramifications of living forever. One imagines it would be lonely.

As I say, I'm intrigued by the series. This is the final issue of this particular adaptation, though the whole Mermaid Saga has been collected in traditional manga form. I may have to see about tracking it down. It also turns out that Ms. Takahashi is responsible for the very successful Inu Yasha, though I think Mermaid is slightly darker than that series. The art style is the same, however.

I feel like I just don't know enough about manga to give a decent reading of it. Is this good? Is it doing what manga does well, or doing what manga is capable of? It drew me in, even with relatively little dialogue or plot. In a purely aesthetic sense, it's quite spectacular. I guess I'll have to wait until I find the full story to say anything about the narrative. The hunt, as always, is on!

To be continued.