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Comic Party Book 1: Party Time
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I think that there are quite a few out there that at one point or
another wanted to break into the comic industry. A few years back, if it
was in regards to the American comic industry, that would have been all
well and good, but these days manga is dominating the world is comic
books in the United States, leaving most US titles far behind in terms
of both sales and popularity. Normally, manga is done by a single
creator who handles both the writing and drawing of the book, not at all
like the American industry that requires teams of people to handle one
book, though there are rare exceptions to that rule. Manga also is
usually a single, cohesive story line, but once in a while, there is a
very different approach.
Comic Party is a drastically different approach to manga from what most
of us have seen in the past. This is a collection of stories done by a
collection of independent and aspiring manga artists and authors.
Instead of being one story that flows through the entire book, you have
a vast assortment, some that are only a few pages long, others that can
be numerous, but there is one common denominator through the entire book
and that is that manga is the main focus (usually) in the stories.
You see, Comic Party focuses on the lives of some aspiring manga
creators, and I guess that comes down to the old adage that you should
write what you know. We see various aspects of their lives from the
creation of their craft to some of the more intimate moments of their
lives. When you have an anthology though, things tend to be a bit
different. Some of the stories take a comedic approach whereas others
are a bit more serious in nature and still others have a slight romantic
nature about them.
With so many different creators involved, of course nothing is going to
be the same. The artwork varies from story to story, but they all tend
to take the more "classic" approach, as I like to refer to it as. This
is the standard big eyes look, a contrast to some of the more human
looking characters that are becoming more and more common in manga and
anime, though I do notice it more with anime than anything else. Really
however, this is more than suitable for the content of the story. This
is Comic Party after all, and so a real comic look works very well for
the manga.
Being an anthology, it's really difficult to pick one story over another
as they are all done fairly well and have their own unique style and
approach to them, though I personally am very partial to the last story,
"Attack! Comic Book Defense Team," a rather humorous look at not only
comics, but also take a stab at the cosplay fanatics as well. It's more
of a light-hearted approach though, and it's all in good fun.
The fact that there are quite a few stories actually makes this a very
good read. You can breeze through them quickly most of the time, and if
you're someone who just has too much going on, you don't have to worry
about getting sidetracked or forgetting what was going on. It's going to
be interesting to see what these independent talents can do if given the
chance to work on a full length story, but if Comic Party is any
indication, it should be fantastic.
-mike-
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Genre:
Anthology
Written
and Drawn By::
Hakone Odawara, Hatsumi Nakashima,
Ranma Kusumi, Izumi Kawachi, Triludan, Ruri Akise, Risa Ishimoto, Wataru
Hirano, Maya Kurozaki, Yu Katase, AYA, Fusane Ayaki, Wataru Yamasaki,
Rin Kotoki, Othello Nekono, Bunta Hachi
Pages:
168
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