wDec 25, 2008


A few of the things I've read lately

I think most people with even a slight pulse on the comics/anime industry have heard of the series Fullmetal Alchemist. If you haven't, check it out! A steampunk setting in which two brothers who have committed the ultimate sin set out to get their original bodies back.

I have now read through volume 16, and hope to catch up to the current issue in the near future.

But the reason I wanted to blog about the series is this! If you watched and loved the anime series, I highly recommend checking out the manga. While the series begin almost identically, the anime series diverged from the manga and made up its own ending, as the manga was still on-going. It wasn't a bad ending, as you might be able to tell, I quite liked the anime.

BUT. THE MANGA IS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS! If you liked the anime and want to see Mustang & Co. in the Civil War with Ishbal?! ALL OF VOLUME 15 IS A FLASHBACK TO THAT SHIZ!!

Additionally, Arakawa has some of the most hilarious omake pages at the end of each volume that I've ever seen. She'll take very dramatic and emotional parts that happened in that volume and make hilarious jokes. I think my favorite bonus story was Al as a baby, and Ed as a little kid, slapping him in the face right in front of their mom and then running away, like little kids do. Arakawa's previews for future volumes are also awe-inspiring and EPIC.

In my search for shounen series that I like, Fullmetal Alchemist is the hands-down winner (although I feel like told me that this was seinen? Wikipedia says shounen!). Perhaps this comes as no surprise, because it's one of few shounen manga written by a woman, and strong women are EVERYWHERE in this series. I love it! The women aren't needlessly annoying! They are physically strong! They are not submissive! Their breasts aren't exaggerated beyond recognition!

But mostly, what I love is that the series is tightly plotted, the characters are emotionally believable, and the story is endlessly intriguing.


I've also read The New York Four by Brian Wood, illustrated by Ryan Kelly. A few of my friends rave endlessly about Brian Wood (and before you freak out, yes, I already have a lot of his other stuff on hold at the library). New York Four is basically a Western one-shot version of shoujo manga. It's all about people living in a city, and their relationships to one another. So....I didn't really see anything special about it. Sure, I liked it, but if you read this and loved it, I highly recommend Ai Yazawa's NANA. Likewise, shoujo manga fans might appreciate this rare example of a Western comic written for teenage girls.

decided to make a YA section at our local feminist bookstore after the untimely demise of DC Comics' Minx line (More information on that here), and I'm trying to read what kind of stuff Minx carried, so I'm more knowledgeable on the subject.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 2:13 PM
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