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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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1.8 Yakitori Cordon Bleu Greeting and welcome to the eighth installment of Comic Book Galaxy’s weekly manga review column, International Geographic. I’m your host, Rob Vollmar, and I have resisted this Fantasy Island joke for far too long so-- smiles, everybody, smiles... This week, we’ll be blowing off our format (again) to take a look at two more Fanfare/Ponent Mon English language releases from the Nouvelle Manga movement (the inspiration for this week’s column title). I keep promising these slash-and-burn weeks but it almost feels like that there is too much good stuff to comment on to spend time chiding the bad. I’m sure it will pass. Anyone feeling like they aren’t getting the bile from these outings due to them is encouraged to register their complaints with the management. KINDERBOOK by Kan Takahama- Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 202 pgs, $19.95, Not rated (Adult themes and language)
Of the ten stories collected in this volume, a mix of mostly fiction with a smattering of autobiography, I’m finding it really tough to single out just one or two to recommend. Each piece is a very distinct animal. What they share in common is a fluid, often, pleasant line that both makes use of the tradition from which it derives (manga) and rejects the blizzard of formal flourishes, visual and narrative, that are so often cobbled together and rehashed ad infinitum in the commercial segment of the industry. As a result, Takahama’s storytelling seems more focused and, in many cases, emotionally devastating for her efforts. Though her rendering style manages to touch just about every point between minimalism and near photo-realism, her understanding of body language and facial expression is unwavering as is her ability to communicate that understanding through how ever many lines are appropriate to the story she is telling visually.
Still, at its heart, KINDERBOOK is much less a book about love and more about the people who occasionally find it amidst the muddle of their everyday life. While nearly devoid of romanticism, Takahama’s outlook is charming, sophisticated, and at least in search of the truth if not completely convinced that it can be found. This material, drawn mostly between 2000 and 2002, represents young work for Kan Takahama yet rightfully earns comparisons to the mature work of Adrian Tomine or Jessica Abel by virtue of the many strengths already on display. Highly recommended. MARIKO PARADE by Frederic Boilet and Kan Takahama- Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 188 pgs, $17.99, Not Rated (Mature)
Consistent with her work from KINDERBOOK, the framing sequences (the first of which is scripted by Boilet) focus on the complex relationship between Boilet and his model/lover, Mariko. Three years have passed since the end of the tempestuous YUKIKO’S SPINACH and the book itself (seen in the opening sequence) has become symbolic of their distance, both emotionally and in time, from the events in it. Even as the two lovers escape to a country getaway to shoot photos for future Boilet comics, the sense of dissipation between them is palpable. Boilet’s character (who, like Boilet, is French) makes this observation even before the mechanism of his eventual loss is made plain. “Don’t ask me why but the Japanese are inclined towards that which is fleeting and sad. They say it’s in their nature. The afternoon soaps are full of adulteries, betrayals, and sorrows. From childhood girls are prepped to expect separation. Barely into a relationship and they’re already thinking about how its going to end...The sweet girl you seduced and who looks after your lonesomeness. Some day for sure, she’ll disappear...It will happen suddenly...and it will hurt.” It is the success with which Takahama sells these characters and their conflicted devotion to one another that allows Boilet’s contributions to transmit the range and depth of emotion from which they were drawn. His first piece, essentially twelve plates representing the signs of the zodiac with Mariko as the model for each, show off both of his strengths as a cartoonist, his easily recognizable photo-realistic style and the bold imagery of his compositions. Some pieces have a wedged-in feel like the several page explanation of Japanese censorship practices regarding genitalia. Others, like “Hotondo Silent” a color piece with a muted palette that brings the reader silently into the pair’s most intimate moment of the book, add such richness to our sense of inclusion into the normally hidden aspects of a relationship that we understand Boilet’s sense of loss and, to an extent, embrace it as our own. While the sexual politics of the story may offend the sensibilities of some readers, the combination of Boilet’s interior perspective and Takahama’s incisively observational one really gives MARIKO PARADE a depth and complexity that neither could have achieved on their own. As such, and as a collaborative work of psuedo-auto-fiction, this synergy elevates the content above the mere record of a failed romance to something enduring that speaks to the ephemeral nature of love and, in the final regard, perhaps, life itself. Thanks for tuning in. Don’t forget to pick up the latest issue of SHOJO BEAT (#3 and counting) and I’ll see y’all back here in seven. -- ROB VOLLMAR Rob Vollmar is the Eisner-Nominated writer of THE CASTAWAYS and BLUESMAN, both with artist Pablo G. Callejo.
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KINDERBOOK is a collection of short stories, written
and rendered by Kan Takahama. Refuting the logic that
manga must be in excess of a thousand pages to tell a
complete story or communicate something meaningful,
Takahama’s stories are rich in detail and nuance
without lingering even one panel beyond the number
necessary to finish the job. The scenarios and the
characters that inhabit them are drawn from everyday
life and derive their strengths from the recognizable
intricacies we expect of it mirrored within deftly.
The content of these stories, rooted as they are in
the mundane, abound with sex and sexual themes, though
more of the latter than the former. Takahama’s view of
sex as a legitimate and vital component of her
character’s lives is balanced in its application and
often, quite frank in its delivery. Each story
revolves around the need to love and be loved but
doesn’t shy away from the fact that the results of
fulfilling this drive turn just as often to tragedy as
sublimity. Her various pairs of lovers are not
guaranteed to be righteous, beautiful, emotionally
healthy or sometimes even likeable but they rarely
fail to resonate with the reader’s understanding of
how people actually behave.
MARIKO PARADE is a conundrum of form, function, and
fiction. It is a collaborative work between Boilet and
Takahama that takes full advantage of the range of
skills available from both creators in service to a
multi-dimensional story. It is a sequel to Boilet’s
autobiographical YUKIKO’S SPINACH but one that is sewn
together from fictionalized framing sequences from
Takahama and evocative shorts from Boilet that we
recognize as being autobiographical though they are
not presented as such.