Two-in-One Review: Viz Publications Part Two Don and Randy take a look at some of Viz Comics' recent offerings. Randy: Last time out, Don and I took a look at Viz's shojo (or shoujo) manga, aimed primarily at girls (although in fairness, some of them are aimed at boys in their original target market, as a dedicated manga reader wrote to tell us). This time, it's the boys' turn, as we look at some more action-oriented manga, such as Dragonball or Mobile Suit Gundam, which may sound a little more familiar to the casual reader, especially the casual reader who watches Cartoon Network. Don: It's no secret that more often than not, I just don't get manga or anime. I admit I went in with some biases toward some of these properties, but some of those preconceptions were disspelled after reading these trade-paperback editions of popular manga adventure titles. Dragonball Volume 7 by Akira Toriyama Don: Son Goku is a diminutive martial-arts master with magical weaponry, and he's on a quest to recover the seven Dragon Balls, as legend says that he who gathers all seven will be granted one wish. He's aided in his quest by several allies, and opposed by the evil Nazi-esque Red Ribbon Army. Along the way, he even encounters Dr. Slump and his "family" of androids, including the cute, playful and helpful Arale. Randy: Given the age of the average Dragonball buyer that I see at my day job, I think I'm a little late in life to become a Dragonball fan. So I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this manga, perhaps the most of any of the books we received for review in this package. Dragonball is high-level martial arts comedy, with as much in common with Looney Tunes and Jackie Chan as it has with classic super-hero books. It's shamelessly goofy and violent, but it's also remarkably kid-friendly, and I found it to be utterly charming. Don: I don't entirely agree. On the surface, it seems aimed at children, but there are moments in which more adult (albeit low-brow) jokes and character traits arise. It's easy to see why kids have latched onto this book, though. The smallest characters are the heroes, and the most powerful figures in the book. There's an outrageous, irreverent tone to the book that will appeal to young and old alike. Randy: Toriyama's art style is a classic one, very expressive and kinetic. If you've seen the term "manga-influenced" used to describe American artwork, nine times out of ten, it was probably Toriyama they were talking about. The big eyes, the speedlines, the outrageous and comical expressions and the flair for action storytelling are all very evident in Dragonball. The martial arts sequences, in particular, manage to be both funny and exciting at the same time, and Toriyama manages to make the more surreal elements of Dragonball, such as Son Goku's use of a flying cloud for transportation, feel less surreal and more simply goofy. Don: It's funny that you mention that Toriyama has an influence on a number of Western comics creators, because his work here, though clearly manga, reminded me more than a little of the style of longtime cartoonist Sergio (Mad, Groo) Aragones. Randy: The translation on this manga is done by Gerard Jones, who used to write a fair number of comics for Marvel and DC. Jones's sense of humor meshes well with Toriyama's, as some of the characters have dialogue that is a riot. I particularly enjoyed the martial arts master Kame-Sen'nin, whose absent-minded and ego-maniacal behavior made him a joy to see whenever he appeared on the page. The rest of the characters are just as vividly realized as well, whether it's Son Goku's childlike enthusiasm and determination, Bulima's wishy-washy personality or General Blue's fastidious and comically evil style. Don: Though there's an expansive cast of characters -- and even a crossover with one of Toriyama's previous titles, Dr. Slump -- a playful approach to background information at the beginning helped to make this an accessible and enjoyable read. This book is printed in the back-to-front, right-to-left Japanese style, and though it took a while to adjust, the story nevertheless flows smoothly and at a brisk pace. Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Volume 3 by Kazuhisa Kondo Don: In the distant future, Earth and its space colonies find themselves embroiled in a vicious civil war. The Federation and the Zeons battle one another not with tanks or missiles; the weapons of choice in this war are mobile suits, giant sets of armor controlled by pilots. The most skilled Federation pilot, Amuro Ray, pilots Mobile Suit Gundam, but he's lost interest in waging war. His timing stinks, though, as the Zeons have unleashed a new weapon of mass destruction, a flying saucer called the Adzam. Randy: Gundam seems like a concept that has been around a long time, and it has seen numerous variations and revamps. In a way, it seems like the manga equivalent of X-Men or Spider-Man or something of that nature. The basic ideas here, a war fought with giant robots, reminds me of Robotech, the first anime I ever saw when I was younger, so I came in fairly receptive to the material. Unfortunately, the story is so complex, with so many characters and vehicles and little in the way of action, that I put the book down at the end feeling little but confusion. Don: I had the same problem. This is far from the most accessible book in Viz's stable. Some of the problems stem from the overly complex and seemingly random plotlines, and I never really got a sense of the characters either. The artwork is often sketchy, usually in an attempt to convey movement and energy, but as Randy says, only confusion results. Randy: One thing I noticed right away about this book was the vast difference in production quality, and that certainly didn't help matters. It's smaller than the Dragonball volume, both in size and page-count, and it's printed on cheap newsprint quality paper, and yet it costs only three dollars less. While 170 pages for $10 isn't a terribly value, on this type of paper it seems a bit expensive. More to the point, the paper quality doesn't do the artwork any favors. Kondo's work uses a lot of black ink, and it soaks right into the paper, making many panels little more than muddy and indistinct shapes. Don: Again, Randy's hit the nail on the head. The effect of the paper quality is most clear when white letters turn up on black backgrounds. It's not easy to read, and it slows the reader down in a book that demands a hectic pace. It's too bad... I really wanted to like this book, because Joe Doughrity -- a co-worker and friend from the old Psycomic.com days -- used to extol its virtues at the drop of a hat. Randy: The biggest problem I had was with the sheer number of characters and vehicles, and how similar they all looked. If this was a more complex story of war, I could understand the difficulties, but there really is a pretty simplistic conflict at the heart of things. Kondo has gone to great lengths to overcomplicate it with a story of one of the lead characters being somewhat rebellious or with a number of attacks and defenses whose goals aren't really clear in the scope of an overall war effort. While each of the manga that Don and I have read has been an example of us coming into the middle of a series, I never felt quite as lost as I did when reading Mobile Suit Gundam. Silent Mobius Volume 7 by Kia Asamiya Don: In the not-too distant future, a gateway between our world and a dimension called Nemesis has been opened, and demonic creatures known as Lucifer Hawks have begun to creep through. They cause death and chaos everywhere they go, and it's up to Tokyo's new police division -- A.M.P., comprised of cops, bionic women, psychic and sorceresses -- to protect and serve... and to tear the monstrous flesh from the hideous extra-dimensional invaders. Randy: Kia Asamiya is a name that even casual manga fans will probably know, as he has done work on Marvel and DC characters as well as work for Image with his Dark Angel series. Even I, a relative neophyte when it comes to manga, have read some of Asamiya's work. Silent Mobius is an interesting mixture of science-fiction, fantasy, cops and robbers and apocalyptic genres. It's got a little something for everyone, and a cast of heroes who are psychics, mages or gun-toting warriors. There's also an interesting series of subplots running about romantic interests, family secrets and shared heritages. Don: The first thing that struck me about this book was that its core cast of protagonists are all women. It's an impressive change of pace. I think I would have found this feminine emphasis more interesting, though, if I didn't find it hard to follow the story along. In black and white, it's hard to tell which characters are which, and my lack of footing in this property didn't help matters much either. Randy: For big explosive action and wild fantasy/science-fiction concepts, Silent Mobius is hard to beat. This story alone features one of the "Lucifer Hawks" slaughtering an entire apartment building just to get at a hero, and the use of powers is often very explosive. Those who enjoy high-octane, widescreen entertainment like The Authority would probably be pleased by the scale of destruction and power on display here. Don: This definitely stands out as the most adult, intense and emotionally nuanced of these three books. There's a sophistication to the plotting, characterization and the script, and there's a strong level of detail, atmosphere and texture in the art. It all helps to draw the reader into the book, but ultimately, it remains inaccessible. Randy: While the concepts at the heart of Silent Mobius intrigued me, I found the same confusion in this story that I have found in a lot of manga, particularly the more action-oriented manga. Asamiya's characters are distinctively his, but that similarity of art style also makes them hard to differentiate at times, and though the characters do make a habit of shouting out each others' names fairly frequently, there were times when I wasn't sure who was doing what. In addition, though the outline at the front makes the various relations fairly clear, there seemed to be an undercurrent of attraction or past relationship between some of the villains and some of the heroes that I just didn't get. For more information on Viz Comics, visit www.viz.com. Email Randy and Don comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.