Multiple Warheads, issue 1

By Brandon Graham
Released by Oni Press


Slugline: This is the sort of title where a character's name of Sexica does not raise any eyebrows...

Sexica has just returned from an organ smuggling run with some primo organs, such as the midas tush, which turns you know what into gold. She stops by the place she shares with her boyfriend, Nikoli, who she gave a present of a wolf organ for his birthday and he still he wolf dreams. They both share a waking dream, of leaving the Dead City and going to Impossible (City that is), and this last organ run may be what puts them over the top. But the city does not alway let people leave easily.

Multiple Warheads is in a hard format to love, a 48 page floppy. Not something that you can find in most bookstores and most comic shops would not stock it long term. That being said, I think it is still worth the effort of tracking down. Brandon Graham has a sort of mad genius for inventiveness for the future, twisting stuff so they are just outside of the bounds of credulity, but so close to that line you have to think and ponder it. And in pondering it, appreciate it. Plus there is a couple that have a relatively normal relationship when surrounded by craziness, despite being just as weird as the world that surrounds them. When Sexica is worried about Nikoli, you can feel it. Brandon Graham has also done King City for TokyoPop, (reviewed here) that shares a lot of the same impulses, a strange world that you can believe along with characters that are fully share the weirdness but also feel real. There is some sexual nudity here, so it is rated 17+, but despite the difficulty of finding it and the rating, it is worth finding. We would suggest starting with the One Press website. (www.onipress.com)



-Ferdinand

Sharknife, vol. 1

By Corey Rey
Published by Oni Press

Slugline: No need for sluglines when the actual comic has lines like "Let the Poetic Dance of Battle Ooze from our Fists into our Faces!"

Ceasar Hallelujah is a modest busboy at the Guangdong Factory, a five story temple to the art of Chinese culinary chefs, which has creature catastrophically lurking in its walls, occasionally disgorging monsters intent on masticating on customers who are enjoying a power-up at the restaurant! But I insist you leave fear in the anteroom, for Ceasar upon sneaking a fortune cookie is totally upgraded to the lava hot ninja 'bot of bodacious beatdowns, SHARKNIFE! Thrill to massive combo attacks that can only be managed by wielding six controllers at once, a feat of ease due to Sharknife's own Six-Gills Style of Kata knockdown! But perhaps the nattily attired gregarious gangster Ombra has plans to silence Sharknife's sayings from the seers that condense their brainsweat into each and every fortune cookie that is his startup screen!

Forgive me, but I love writing like that. May have exaggerated things a little bit.

But not by much.

This title blends its manga and video game influences seamlessly, along with a healthy does of ironic self-awareness. Sometimes the action is so massive that other than seeing some of tail that is being kicked it is hard to determine what is going on beyond it. But if one wants to see action on a scale only imagined by people who defeated Halo 3 on the "your frickin' crazy" within a single sweep of the timepiece, this is your title.

-Ferdinand

Polly and the Pirates, v. 1

by Ted Naifeh
Published by Oni Press



Slugline: Polly, the long lost daughter of the Pirate Queen, is far too prim and proper for the treacherous world of pirates -- or is she?

This one jumps high on my list of books I would hand to any kid, any where, any time, and tell them to read. It lands, in fact, right next to the Courtney Crumrin series, also by Ted Naifeh.

Both Polly and Courtney have excellent adventures, NOT oversimplified, NOT oversweetened, just the right mix of cleverness and honor and humor for all-ages readers.

Polly is whisked from her boarding school into the world of pirates and treasure maps and at first she wants nothing to do with it. She even betrays her mother's former crew before she comes around. But she does show her true colors and outfox the foxes, find the treasure and mend her mistakes.

Ted Naifeh is a San Francisco resident, so he works nice historical bits like the Emperor of the United States into the story (though it's not set in San Fran.) And the art is lovely and whimsical, but I could live without the written brogues a few characters speak in. It's a minor quibble, though, in an otherwise excellent read.



- Miranda

Love as a Foreign Language, v. 3

Written by J. Torres and Illustrated by Eric Kim
Published by Oni Press



Slugline: Joel, an American teaching English in Korea, is flabbergasted and unsure how to act when invited to a welcome dinner for the attractive new secretary, Hana.

While not strictly a manga or manwha, I think this title comes close to being an OEL and it's far enough outside the world of manga readers that they need this pointed out to them.

Joel is an American living in Korea, teaching English in a school. He has had a horrible time adjusting and is in the process of wrapping up his contract when the school hires a new secretary, Hana. He is attracted to her, and even better, he sees her in a manwha-bang, a shop that rents out manwha, which means she likes comics!

Heck, I want to make the moves on her! That is, if Miranda hadn't also shared my love of the graphic storytelling form...

(So Miranda, no need to sic Ariel on me!)

The volume covers Joel's realizing that there is going to be a welcoming dinner for Hana, his various worries about the Korean rules for meals, and the teasing that his colleagues, both English and Korean natives, dish out on him. The volume captures this by leaving the Korean dialogue translated only in the endnotes, so that we share Joel's confusion as we read the book and try to determine what is being said, like him, by inference. Plus, there is a startling revelation about Hana at the end of the volume.

While the volume is a little thin and reads quickly compared to most manga collections, the price is lower to compensate. While I have seen romance stories like this before, this one is very much set in Korea and communicates the sense of place very strongly. This sense of dislocation and exploration, along with a decently told story that utilizes this unfamiliar terrain, makes Love as a Foreign Language worth checking out.



- Ferdinand