Well, it’s been a minute since I posted an update. Between the weekly newsletter and social media, I tend to not use this place as often. But with the latter crumbling and slowly getting worse, it might be good to utilize this site that I own and pay for more often.
This year has come and gone without much happening on the comics front. Mega Centurions: Mega No More’s last issue came out last year. I was told that the collected edition won’t be out until next year but there hasn’t been much news other than that. If you haven’t checked it out, your best bet is to grab it from the Scout Comics Website.
Most of my other comic work is either coming out next year or seemingly in limbo as it’s mainly work I did for other people. I have been working on some new stories and scripts but so far nothing is on the horizon. Honestly, it might be a bit before I can wrangle the finances and the energy to put another project together after Mega Centurions.
But I’m still plugging along and hoping to make some new stuff in the future. I don’t have anything locked down but I have three stories that I really want to get done.
[Taken from the July 1st Edition of my weekly newsletter No Title Needed.]
My copy of GIGA came in the mail yesterday and I was excited to finally crack it open after ordering it eight months ago. It was written by Alex Paknadel, drawn by John Lê, colored by Rosh, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar and published by Vault Comics.
GIGA takes place in a world where massive mechs known as Giga fought a violent war. When the war ended some continued to roam while many just settled down where they were. Over time, people came to live inside of the machines and worship them as gods. The story begins with Evan, a former member of the Order of the Red Relay, stumbling across a dead nomadic Giga while out looking for parts. Despite not wanting to get involved, he is seen by a former friend and officer named Mason. Mason wants answers and believes that Evan can help him get them. Unfortunately, the answers they get lead to all out chaos and a potential war. Who killed the godlike Giga and why?
I have to say that the premise and world felt fairly unique. The idea that these massive war machines would one day end up being glorified apartment buildings that you also worshiped. Of course, the world itself is much darker than that sounds. The world building was well done and it feels strongly realized and lived in. And the story itself was well paced. I liked it.
The art was expressive and good at conveying the scale of everything as well as making giant mechs fade into the background until you needed to really notice them. It complemented the writing well.
The book also feels very philosophical in some of the questions it asks. Questions that we ask in our own world. But instead of yelling at God, they’re yelling at these massive robotic mechs. And the story doesn’t feel shallow or fake deep. It feels like it is asking interesting questions. Whether or not the answer is satisfying will ultimately be up to the reader.
I largely enjoyed it and found it to be a breath of fresh air. A nice post-apocalyptic story that stands out from the usual stuff. It wasn’t extremely action packed so if that sounds up your alley, you should definitely give it a look. You can grab the comic from Amazon but I’d suggest picking it up from the Vault web store directly.
[Taken from my August 5th Newsletter and expanded upon]
At NWI Comic Con earlier this year, they were giving out gift bags that included a couple VIZ Manga Samplers. One of the samplers had a chapter from the manga Sakamoto Days. I enjoyed it and thought it had a good hook but never really followed up on it due to life’s distractions. Last week, I remembered I’ve paying for a Shonen Jump subscription on the VIZ website and barely using it. Seeing that Sakamoto Days was one of the books they were offering, I decided to give it a shot.
I’m glad that I did.
The Premise: Taro Sakamoto was once one of the greatest assassins in Japan. A ruthless and efficient killer whose name became legend among his peers. Then one day, he vanished. His former protégé Shin goes looking for him only to find him living peacefully with a wife, a daughter, and a few extra pounds. When asked to come back into the fold, he refuses and tells his protégé that he’s given up killing and just wants to live with his family. Unfortunately, his protégé was told to either get him to rejoin or take him out.
Hilarity ensues.
Seriously, it isn’t as heavy and dark as that set up makes it out to be. It does get dark and violent but the story manages to have over-the-top action as well as injecting humor at the right moment to diffuse any tense standoffs. While we start with Sakamoto and Shin, we are slowly introduced to a wide array of characters that could probably lead their own series. There are more than a few chapters that focus exclusively on side characters outside of the main cast.
But it’s Sakamoto constantly shows why it’s his name in the title.
Sakamoto is a man of few words but it doesn’t make him any less interesting. He’s basically John Wick’s good ending. His wife is still alive, he has a daughter, and would prefer nothing more than to spend his days with them in their little mom and pop shop. And in order to preserve that life, he’s willing to go to ridiculous (non-lethal) lengths. Fortunately, he’s like a chubby Saitama in terms of the insane things that he can do. But he’s not the only one.
My only knock on it is that as the story really ramps up and the stakes get bigger, we get less and less of the fun/goofiness when the characters are in the store. It’s still great but I actually enjoy the more comedic ‘lower stakes’ stuff like him trying to get a backpack for his daughter or trying not to ruin his family’s day at the amusement park while assassins attack them.
And I haven’t even talked about the art. When the story first starts, it seems good but no amazing because we only see a couple of venues and the action is pretty grounded. But once things start ramping up, Yuto Suzuki really gets to flex and creates some outrageously cool imagery while showing out wild some of the characters can get when they cut loose.
Overall, this is very much in my wheelhouse and I’ve been tearing through the series this past week. It’s been really helping refresh my brain in terms of the type of stuff I want to make and what I liked about comics and manga to begin with. Because the funny thing to me is that the story that was supposed to come after Professionalism had a similar premise where the two hit men worked at a convenience store that would come under siege. Sakamoto Days ramps up and goes in a way different direction but I just thought that was funny and a reminder that you shouldn’t get discouraged if another book has a similar premise. They will be nothing alike.
While I’m not someone who thinks every manga needs an anime adaptation, I feel like the action and some of the later scenes would lend itself well to animation. Either way, I’m enjoying it so far.
Also: An honorable mention to Kaiju No. 8 which I also started reading and really came to enjoy. I only found out afterwards that an anime adaptation is coming out next year from Production I.G. I’ve enjoyed it as well.
I’d kind of been slacking on checking out new manga but I’ve been getting back into it and man, there’s a lot of great stuff out there.
