Your Tortured Analogy of The Day

If I were more cynical, I might actually think someone was coordinating response to the NYCC overcrowding situation:

"I hear that a lot of people are unhappy because they couldn't get in, but it's like the most popular band in town. The band is terrific whether you got in or not." - Colleen Doran

"Just because you can't get in to a concert doesn't mean the band sucks." - Chris Oarr

OK, fine: Maybe the sold-out band doesn't suck but the concert organizers / show promoters sure might if they were turning away people who had already paid to see the show.

People I Love Today

Neilalien, for having the best (and most amusing -- no one can rant longform like Neilalien) take on the NYCC overcrowding situation. It's nice to hear someone who got in acknowledge that there are serious problems with a show when it wastes the time and money of thousands of fans instead of just saying that those lucky enough to get in had a great time. Bonus love for the fact that Neilalien has been doing this blogging thing for six years now and shows no sign of slowing down.

Christopher Butcher, for reporting on the manga news out of NYCC that the major comic news sites couldn't be bothered to cover. And, as I commented on his blog, extra love for taking the time to post copious pictures as part of his con coverage.

Alibris, for delivering my manga fix quickly and cheaply. (OK, Alibris isn't a person, but I still love it for getting all four volumes of DEATH NOTE in my hands fast (four business days from when I submitted the order) and free (free shipping on orders over $49 if all items ship from Alibris) after discussion over at The V finally convinced me I couldn't wait for this series to show up at the local library. (Additional love for Alibris: It's one of the few online stores I've found that discounts brand-new manga volumes under ten bucks. Amazon doesn't offer any discounts for any of the $9.99 or cheaper digests, but Alibris discounted each book 13-15% -- and that's for new copies of the books. Used versions of most manga are available even cheaper at Alibris, but you'll have to pay for shipping no matter how large your order, which eats into the savings. And did I mention how fast these books arrived? I love Amazon for offering free shipping, but I'm used to orders shipping via their "Super Saver Shipping" taking weeks to arrive.))

Talk About Mixed Messages

From CBR's coverage of the Brad Meltzer panel at the New York Comic-Con [emphasis added]:

“The [reaction to the] rape scene surprised me more than anything. I didn’t expect the venom,” said Meltzer.

But he thought that the response was the result of a very vocal minority, not indicative of the views of most of the book’s readers as a whole. He wishes that rape didn’t exist, obviously, but it doesn’t [sic], and comics should reflect that and deal with real issues.

He wrapped it up with one simple statement.

“Don’t let anyone tell you no,” said Meltzer.

What an odd / unfortunate thing to say right after remarking that you didn't get people's negative reaction to your clumsy / sensationalistic portrayal of rape in a mainstream superhero comic.

UPDATE: The always wonderful Resplendent Beard has her own delightful take on (takedown of) Meltzer's comments.

Teaser Torture

There's going to be a Sgt Frog movie and it looks like it introduces two new characters (translation courtesy Google). How can you resist a movie that sounds so exciting?

When now, the Ro Ro platoon stands up, it came! As expected destiny of the earth? The impressed work which friendship and fighting of space scale is and it draws with the magnificient scale!

[Found over at Ork_Dreadnought's Random Rants]

The only bad part is knowing this wonderful thing is out there but I won't be able to enjoy it for who knows how long. After all, the Keroro Gunso anime is up to almost 100 episodes in Japan and there's still no news of it being licensed for distribution in the U.S. Has anyone else heard something I haven't? Sigh -- I think now I'm beginning to understand the motivation behind fansubbing.

Still busy, so here's a guest review: THE TIMES OF BOTCHAN

Things are still crazy busy at the Cunard household--my wife and I are discussing, debating, squabbling and bickering as we enter the process of building our first house--but I hope to start having some more content posted here soon (that, and my Super Secret Project Thing that should start around Marchish). Until things get back into swing again, Low Road friend and sometimes guest blogger RM is back with another review.

The Times of Botchan

Drawn by Jiro Taniguchi; text by Natsu Sekikawa
Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 2005, US$19.99 each

First volume: 132 pages + end matter
Second volume: 114 pages + end matter

There are very many reasons to be delighted about the publication of these first two installments of this ten-volume series in a good English translation. Taniguchi is already well known to English-speaking readers from his work in Benkei in New York (2001) and The Walking Man (Ponent Mon/2004). Previous translations of this ten-volume series—published in Japan beginning in 1986—have appeared in French (Au temps de Botchan), Italian (Ai tempi di Bocchan) and Spanish (La epoca de Botchan), all in an attractive graphic adaptation by Coconino Press. The cover-price is steeper than it should be, but both books are well produced and carefully translated. They follow traditional Japanese printing convention—right-to-left page layout and cell blocking—in keeping with the now well-established trend of presenting translations without substantial “flipping” formerly used to make them conform to western book layout.

The Times of Botchan is set in the Meiji period (1867-1912), perched between feudalism on the one hand and the Weimar Republic-like atmosphere of the Taisho period (1912-1926) on the other. World War II is not on the horizon in any recognizable way yet, but the Tokugawa shogunate is still alive and well in recent memory. In Taniguchi and Sekikawa’s careful work, the period comes alive in subtle, convincing ways—dress, signs, transportation, etc.—and in not so subtle ways such as an increased role for women in public and intellectual life, the emergence of western-style beer gardens, the development of significant modern literary movements and the beginnings of military-nationalistic expansionism in conflict with Korea, China and Russia. While it is easy to look at the Meiji period as an in-between time during which kimonos and old samurai clan identities coexisted curiously with railroad travel, urbanization, modernization and openness to the West, Taniguchi and Sekikawa portray it well as a point in time with its own distinct cultural identity.

The Times of Botchan allows the reader to view Meiji Japan through the lens of the life of Soseki Natsume (1867-1916) whose delightful coming-of-age novel Botchan (坊っちゃん, published in 1906) lends its name to the title. Natsume’s novels include some of the best-loved classics of early modern Japanese literature; he is pictured on Japan’s 1000-yen note and it is not an exaggeration to say that every Japanese student reads at least some of Natsume’s work. Much of his writing is available today in English translation, and some of it has been produced in anime versions.

Botchan follows the misadventures of an earnest young teacher from Tokyo assigned to a high school in small-town Japan. In The Times of Botchan we follow Natsume’s life during the creation of Botchan and the whimsical but profound I am a Cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru, 吾輩は猫である, published in 1905). The manga chronicles use a combination of biographical facts and artistic license to illustrate the author’s life during this period of extraordinary creativity. The publication of the first two volumes of this series in 2005 was all the more significant for the release of an important new English translation of the novel Botchan, translated by J. Cohn (Kodansha America, 2005). If readers find themselves drawn into the life and writing of Natsume through this solid manga series, it is fortunate that they will be able to turn to an accessible and accurate translation newly in print.

Natsume is often described as the Japanese equivalent of Charles Dickens or Mark Twain, and the sense of immediately recognizable coziness that still today characterizes his work for many readers bears this out. In fact, the best part of the charm of The Times of Botchan springs from its ability to produce the same kind of captivating atmosphere that hovers around Botchan and I am a Cat themselves.

Natsume’s grandson, the manga critic Fusanosuke Natsume, contributes an essay to the first volume in which he reflects on the accuracy of this comic depiction of his grandfather’s life. (As it turns out, the raging alcoholism depicted in the book does not appear to have been a part of the real Soseki Natsume’s life; it was added by Taniguchi and Sekikawa as an illustration of his struggle with writer’s block.) Two essays in the second volume give Sekikawa’s perspective on the history behind the writing of I am a Cat, and the story of his early collaboration with Taniguchi that resulted in The Times of Botchan.

The end-matter essays have not been translated into the smoothest or most idiomatic English. And if Japanese right-to-left printing format has been preserved, why have all the Japanese and Korean names in the book been inverted to make them given-name-first? These names would have been more recognizable if they had been presented in the usual Asian way of family-name-first, e.g. Natsume Soseki, Ito Hirobumi, Ishikawa Takuboku, etc. A small note at the beginning of each volume could have explained that names are presented in their original format.

But these are two really minor points; the first two volumes are wonderful, and English-language readers thankfully have eight more to look forward to over the next several years. This is a very promising series, and it says very promising things about the work of Fanfare/Ponent Mon.

The Strange Sexual Thoughts of Matthew Murdock

Poor Daredevil: He used to be so hung up on Karen Page that he could hardly focus on lawyering or crimefighting. Check out some of these sample panels from Essential Daredevil Volume 3 where DD's train of thought is interrupted by his fixation on his lovely blonde assistant:


You know, if you're trying not to think of someone, it's probably not helpful to list out all of the features you find so attractive about her. "Mustn't think of her long, luscious legs ... her ample bosom!" At least save your creepy listmaking until after you're not branded a coward since there's nothing worse than a creepy coward.

Man, Daredevil's really a melodramatic sap, isn't he? I mean, referring to her as "Karen, my darling Karen" in his internal monologue is a little over the top. And if I remember correctly, it wasn't Fate that came up with the great idea of killing off his own alter ego, genius.

Since he's a lawyer, DD knows that the "craaaazy" defense justifies creepy behavior like breaking into your ex-girlfriend's roommate's apartment and rifling through her underwear drawer (shown a couple panels later). "I was right! Karen is staying here!! I'd recognize that particular pair of panties anywhere!!" (I don't even want to know what heightened sense Daredevil used to identify the underwear as Karen's...)

Okay, now you're just weirding me out, man. Maybe Warren Ellis' description of superhero costumes as "pervert suits" isn't so far off after all.


Nice stalling technique, Karen: Pretend you can't hear him, then run far, far away. (OK, I cheated a little on that last one, altering one word; but, in my defense, I'd like to think I was just making explicit what the writer really had in mind in that scene.)

The Scarlet Bunny

So I'm reading Essential Avengers Volume 4 when it suddenly dawns on me: The Scarlet Witch's costume is basically the Playboy Bunny outfit plus a cape:


Look at that -- the Witch's little headgear thingie even looks like the bunny ears. I'm a bit embarrassed that I never noticed this before. Perhaps seeing it in black & white made it more obvious. (Coloring Witchy's arms and legs pink: Genius camouflage job!)

The worst part about working as a Playboy Bunny: All the grabby hands.

For more examples of bad superheroine fashion, be sure to check out Marionette's Fashion Disaster Week at Dance of the Puppets.

OK, one more of these (last one from me, I promise):