Ending on a high note
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006Well this is going to be my last post for Love Manga for a while.
I’m not disappearing but rather moving in with the good crowd at Mangacast. They’ve kindly offered me board and lodgings, though Ed did insist that I work for it (damn cheek if you ask me).
So that left me pondering what should I write about on my last post here, and well I ‘d thought I’d talk about one title that has been published this year which made an impression or just stood out for me. Boy that was a stupid idea.
Okay so I’m stuck on Dark Horse really. I mean the ultimate title for me from them would have to be the re-release of Crying Freeman, I mean it is a no-brainer for anyone who reads this site. But that was too easy so I moved on to Banya, Eden and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service all fantastic books and greatly enjoyed, though something about them just wasn’t standing out enough for me. I tried Del Rey and their titles Basilisk and ES but ran across the same problem.
So instead I’ve decided to talk about a title which though I like (and I only read it yesterday) is actually in a format I really do not like.
Yes it is an anthology and it’s DramaQueen’s RUSH.
Being involved in talking about RUSH for a little while now I was already anticipating that I would like it, but as they say the proof is in the pudding, so with much glee I devoured the copy that arrived for me yesterday.
I loved it, it was every bit as good as i hoped it would be and in some ways better (there are only so many times you can look at a preview on screen before you want to physically hold it in your hands), so that’s basically it, you can skip to the end.
First off I just wanted to quickly talk about the presentation, because I know you’d all just rather hear about the content. RUSH is essentially a DramaQueen book and well that brings with it an automatic level of quality which surpasses many other publishers so I was very happy to see that this level did indeed carry over to their global title too. The cover features a drool worthy duo character piece of artwork from the Master creator Lara Yokoshima and really sets the level of quality right there and then, which doesn’t stop all the way through to the back cover which features Akira Atsushi’s character Adder. It’s a nice little picture which becomes my next focus of interest as it is also repeated in all its full colour glory as the colour insert. Yes even though this is an anthology, DQ have not skimped on those little fancy extras we’ve all come to appreciate in the standard manga books. Alongside that there are pinups, alternate cover pages even a Roulette Factoid page (which I’d love to see more off, just for the sheer geekiness of it!) dotted throughout the anthology which all make for nice touches in my opinion. It’s the little things like this which help it to stand out.
The book itself is really nice to physically hold with good paper stock which helps to capture the inks and tones nicely on the page (just take a quick flick through the opening story Night and Day to get a good view of that) and whilst I don’t want to talk about the artwork or text as a whole it is a brilliant example of the varied talents that live in the global BL scene today. Guess I should probably talk about the stories themselves.
Issue 00 starts with just four stories but they represent such a vast array of story tropes that it is almost guaranteed that there is a story somewhere in RUSH that would intrigue you. The opening title Night and Day by Akira Atsushi about a bet taken up by the dashing Adder to turn the otaku Jin into a social butterfly is delightfully hilarious and promises to just get better in each instalment. The artwork though is a real treat and almost makes the need for the text irrelevant it is just that great to look at.
Which leads nicely into the story Children of Bones by Theresa Zysk, which ironically has the exact opposite effect on me then Night and Day. The story is about the put upon Taxi who gets the kick from his mothers apartment only to find he has to move in with a man, a remarkably gay man. If that wasn’t enough to cause a frown on his face the streets are crawling with soldiers who are less then friendly to his machete carrying appearance.
This is just great and I could read this one all day long, in fact I cannot wait till issue 01 comes out just so I can continue reading what happens it is just that good. Though this is not to say the artwork is any lacking either with some gorgeous action scenes and my favourite character drawing in Luce, great stuff.
Next up is the cover image title Master by Lara Yokoshima which runs at well the longest instalment in the whole of RUSH but is certainly worth it. The story about the doctor Sho who has a most interesting pet at home in Kin is just great and features a real healthy dose of sex for the first chapter, but this is where Lara really shines. In not only does her writing keep up with what she wants to portray but the artwork is quite simply gorgeous and makes the scenes a whole lot of interesting. ^.^
The final story is the joint collaboration between Tina Anderson and Laura ‘Zel’ Carboni in Roulette and is so manly even Carl would be reading this. Hell its a mafia story which already gets my vote, it features characters which could have easily oozed out of any 70’s 80’s film set and it looks and reads so gorgeously. Yes okay I rather liked this title. The artwork and writing is quite different from all the other titles in RUSH but that just helps it to stand out even more and I’m very curious to see how this one progresses through its remaining chapters. Either way you cut it, it is going to look pretty. ^.^
Strangely for me where an anthology is concerned there really isn’t a weak title for me and for a debut issue that is good thing, and you can tell that all those involved have put a lot of love and effort into RUSH and it has paid off. Issue 01 is only going to get better.
But with all things there is a downside, and that is that issue 00 is a web exclusive only (unless you were one of the lucky people that got their copy at Yaoicon), so poodle on over to the DQ Store and nab yourself a copy before they all disappear. Trust me you wont regret it, and if you don’t well that’ll just make Riley angry and we don’t want Riley angry now do we…