Adventuregame Comics #1: Leviathan

 

Jason Shiga is one of my favorite comics creators, and he has consistently pushed the boundaries of comics, puzzles, and visual deign. He frequently incorporates math and science aspects into his work as well, giving it a very unique dimension. He has created books on a variety of topics, from the choose-your-own-path adventure Meanwhile, to the action-librarian yarn Bookhunter, to the modern romance Empire State, to the definitely adult supernatural escapade Demon. In his most recent publication, Leviathan, he returns to the territory of choose-your-own-path books.

Here, he follows the quest of a young, medieval villager in a quest to find and defeat a giant sea creature. This trail leads to various places, including home, a tavern, and a library, in order gather information and clues about the beast. Your choices dictate the story's path, as panels lead to various page numbers for you to trace the trajectory of the tale. Choose poorly, and you may end up kicked out on your ear, lost at sea, or worse. Pay attention, and you may be shocked by what is revealed. 

These two early pages from the book give a flavor of how it works.

This book is aimed at a younger audience than Shiga's past works, middle school-aged readers, but I think it is enjoyable for older ones as well. It is intriguing and fun and invites lots of re-reading and engagement. With some time and effort, I managed to successfully navigate this narrative, a feat I never have managed to do with Meanwhile, which only has one "happy ending" out of about 4,000 possible ones. So, it's mildly difficult, not diabolical like Meanwhile, a happy challenge for fantasy or adventure-minded readers.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly noted that its "clever dialogue and stout character design impart good humor." Sean Kleefeld wrote, "It's an excellent use of the comic medium and far improves upon the reading experience relative to any other CYOA-style books I've seen." Kirkus Reviews called it "a clever story requiring investigation, diligence, and the ability to think outside the box."

Leviathan was published by Amulet Books, and they have more information about it here. As you may have guessed from the #1 in the title, this book is the first in a series. Book #2, The Beyond, is due to be published in August. For more insight into Book #1, you can read this interview with the author.

Demon, Volume 2-4

As I've written before, I seek out Jason Shiga's work. It is usually fun, funny, and cerebral, full of puzzles, strange gadgets, and/or unique situations. His series Demon is no exception, although here I have to say he has dialed his sensibilities to 11.

This series stars characters from Shiga's past works (Meanwhile, Bookhunter, and Empire State), though it treats them like actors playing new roles. As I recounted in my review of Volume 1, Demon follows the exploits of Jimmy Yee, an accountant who attempted suicide only to find that he kept coming back to life because he is a demon. Shockingly, he went on a murder/crime spree that put him on the authorities' radar. In the three books that follow, much gets revealed about his situation and its causes, and the cat and mouse chase between Jimmy and Hunter escalates to a bloodbath of global proportions. This series revels in depravity, but it is also amazingly clever, well thought-out, and masterfully executed. I cannot do justice to them in this space (and I don't want to spoil much either, so I'll simply give you a free-verse poem for each book:

2. surprise surpise

daughters can be demons, too

3. 100 years in the future

a demon meets his maker

plus uncovers a plot for world domination

4. the fight for freedom involves

a high body count

conjoined twins

and peg-legged amputees wielding baseball bats

Overall, I found these books to be compelling and almost impossible to put down. These adventures follow their own logic, are incredibly graphic, and delve into areas of bad taste in the most entertaining of ways. I think that the whole narrative is a smart, grotesque masterpiece, and I am kind of anxious to see where Shiga goes from here.

Shiga speaks about his future work as well as his take on Demon here. Publishers Weekly gave the books a starred review and wrote, "As with Shiga’s other books, there are puzzles aplenty to solve, with an added layer of urgent narrative drive." They also added that "the story will prove just as addictive for readers finding it in print." Dustin Cabeal called it "one of the funniest and yet intelligent books I’ve ever read."

Demon was published by First Second, and they have a preview and much more available here (Volume 2), here (Volume 3), and here (Volume 4). This series was first published as a webcomic, but now only the first chapter is available online.

These books contain lots of violence, some profanity, and some sexual content, so I advise them for mature readers.

A review copy (of Volume 4) was provided by the publisher.

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen

March 1-7 is Will Eisner Week, and to celebrate this year I read a book I have been meaning to read for a while now.

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen stars the protagonist of Hicksville, though I think the character is being used in the way as Jason Shiga uses Jimmy Yee, namely as a durable character type. In this book, Sam is also a stand-in for the author, who has toiled for large superhero comics publishers and been wrung dry creatively. At the beginning of this book Sam has lost his inspiration and is falling in a depression (or he has fallen into depression and lost his inspiration) and fallen into a state where he feels no pleasure, called anhedonia.

After giving an academic talk, he ends up in a book store, finds an old comic book, and finds himself transported into its pages. After getting his bearings in a fictional world where virile Martian men chase after and kidnap green-skinned Venusian women, he also meets up with a couple of other characters. One is a real woman, Alice, who makes webcomics and is a fan of his, and the other is Miki, a rocket-booted manga-inspired character who has lots of gadgets and comic books. Together, they traverse a number of fictional worlds, trying to make sense of things and also procure the magic pen, which makes it possible to create comics people can enter.

Certainly, this book is ambitious, and attempts to be several things: It is an exploration of self, desire, and fantasy. It is also an essay about fantasy and what it means and if it should reflect a set of morals. It is also a look at some of the more sexist and misogynistic aspects of the comics industry and also a look forward to what it might be. It is also one cartoonist reflecting on his career. With so much going on, I still felt that the narrative thread held well and that the more academic/critical aspects were well argued. I am not sure it everything the author intended it to be, but it is one heck of a read, an adventure and essay all in one. Additionally, I felt the ending was very powerful and moving (even if it was a bit predictable).

This book's creator Dylan Horrocks is a native New Zealand comics artist best known for his very well received and celebrated graphic novel Hicksville. He has also written for DC on books like Batgirl and Hunter: The Age of Magic. Horrocks publishes most of his new work on his own site, Hicksville Comics. He speaks extensively about his work on this Sam Zabel book in this interview.

Most of the reviews I have read about this book have been very critical of it, though they also recognize much potential and artistry. Publishers Weekly summed up, "There’s plenty of inside-comic analysis here... But it’s also a bracing reflection on the dangers of wish fulfillment and the question of whether artists are 'morally responsible for our fantasies.'” Tom Murphy concluded that "it’s slightly unfortunate that its creator’s undoubted sincerity doesn’t translate more smoothly into a more satisfying blend of story and theme." You can also see the wide range of pro and con reviews in this group blog at Comics Bulletin (for the record, personally, I felt I most agreed with Keith Silva).

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen was published by Fantagraphics, and they have an excerpt and more information available here. This book features nudity, sexual situations, and profanity, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle those things.

Happy Will Eisner Week, everyone! Go read a graphic novel or two!!!

Demon, Volume 1

Jason Shiga is a comics creator whose works I seek out. They are interesting in a cerebral way, as he often includes puzzles in his stories. I thought Bookhunter, his hard-boiled librarian yarn (who thought that would be a thing?), and the peril/escape story Fleep were both great pieces of action and intrigue. I was very much taken with the choose-your-own adventure tale Meanwhile, in both book and app form, and his sort-or-love-story Empire State was very well done. What is pretty funny to me is that the star of those last two books, Jimmy Yee, a sweet, naive character, also stars in Demon, but in a very different vein.

This graphic novel is the tale of a man trying to kill himself in various ways. He checks into a motel, writes a note and then hangs himself, only to awake in the same motel minutes later. I am not going to spoil what is going on, but after multiple further attempts at suicide, he figures out what is happening and then the story really goes into some depraved territory. Jimmy does not really care about his life, or the lives of others it becomes clear, and a spree of violence ensues. Of course the authorities take great interest in these events, resulting in a clever cat and mouse game. Jimmy is wily and tough to trap, they find.

 

 

I found this book to be completely compelling, well-plotted, and enjoyable, even as it revels in its depravity. Jimmy is a surprisingly dark but hilarious figure, and I found myself rooting for him in sort of the same way I rooted for Light in Deathnote. He's despicable, but his resourcefulness is quite admirable.

All of the reviews I have read have lauded this book for its smart, humorous, and dark features. Rob Clough praised various elements of the book: "There are clever action setpieces. There are mysteries within mysteries. There’s squirm humor that gets its charge from violating social norms and expectations." Greg McElhatton wrote, "Don’t get fooled by the simple nature of his figures; Shiga really knows what he’s doing here and he’s a genuine talent." Lauren Davis opined, "While Demon has a much more morbid—not to mention violent—tone than Shiga's recent work, it still has that pleasantly mind-bending quality that makes Bookhunter and Meanwhile so much fun."

Demon, Volume 1 was published by First Second, and they have a preview and much more available here. This series was first published as a webcomic, but now only the first chapter is available online. The entire story will be published in what will be a 4-volume series.

It contains a lot of violence, some profanity, and some sexual content, so I advise it for mature readers.

Comics Squad: Lunch!

This second volume of Comics Squad features some pretty heavy hitters in its line-up. Most of the stories within are humorous, but a few are actually pretty serious. In all, I liked the range of stories and art styles, and I felt this book would be a great introduction to comics for many young readers. Or, because it features so many established creators and characters, it would be a great read for more ardent comics fans as well.

I felt that the standout story was by Cece Bell, about a young girl who is very picky about her meals and particular about her lunch routine. I would like to say that she learns to branch out from her ways, but instead I was treated to one of the weirdest manifestations of nut allergies I have seen.

Other standout stories come from the Holm siblings who gave us another fun and funny Babymouse tale.

I also really enjoyed Jason Shiga's take on a choose-your-own-adventure story that reads like a kid's version of Meanwhile. Though I have to admit in the end I kind of had to cheat on the premise, because I could not get the darn tubes to match up with the stories (I blame operator error). And it is worth noting that this story had some funny bits but not a happy ending.

Humor is also mostly absent from the short Hazardous Tales entry from Nathan Hale, but I still appreciated his version of a peculiar World War II naval battle. He makes great nonfiction, and it is good to see such work rounding out this collection.

Among the other tales here include Jeffrey Brown's "Cave Soup" featuring Lucy & Andy Neanderthal, which acts as an introduction to a forthcoming book (series?) and a look at Lunch Lady when she was just a kid. The only real clunker in the bunch was the Peanuts piece, which made me a bit sad. There are so many good Schulz stories, but this one was a studio-created one that I found insipid. More an 8-page commercial for Snoopy than a story really.

Almost every review I have read about it had great things to say about this book. Andy and Gwen commented that "The eight stories collected in the anthology are relatively short, making them ideal for reluctant readers or for readers who are new to comics." Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "One rotten apple aside, a second helping of tasty treats." The Mayor of Bookopolis called it "the ultimate 'sampler platter' of graphic novels."

Comics Squad: Lunch! was published by Random House, and they have some more information about it here.

Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not)

Jason Shiga has created a reputation for himself as an innovative comics maker. His mazes and puzzles have appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly and Nickelodeon Magazine. His book Meanwhile was a technical marvel, a choose-your-own-adventure graphic novel with thousands of tube possibilities. He has also drawn some memorable, creative, and challenging comics like Fleep and Book Hunter. Here he turns to a more mundane topic, trying to figure out what to do with one's life.

The story follows Jimmy, a 20-something, wanna-be programmer who lives in Oakland, California. He still lives at home, works at a library, hands his paychecks over to his parents, and gets paid an allowance (It's "an Asian thing," he quips). He is friends with Sara, a young Jewish woman who smokes, has a dry, caustic sense of humor, and is very blunt. Then, she moves to New York City to chase her dream of interning at a book publishing company. Eventually, Jimmy is moved to visit her, partly because he feels he is in love with her. He writes her a letter telling her to meet him in the Empire State Building (ala An Affair to Remember or Sleepless in Seattle), gets on a bus, and embarks on an utterly unromanticized cross-country trek. Of course, when he gets there, not everything follows according to his plan...

This book has been pretty well reviewed thus far. Wired's Jonathan H. Liu wrote that "the book captures that feeling of growing up and taking on responsibilities — that time when you start to understand that you are an adult whether you’re ready or not." Nicole Wong noted that "Shiga’s style, known for incorporating puzzles and mysteries into his narrative style with wit and humor, is alive and well." The Comic Journal's Tucker Stone, who is a Shiga fan, was disappointed by the book, and wrote that he "failed to stick the landing (as well as the approach, the dismount, and everything in between)." But he is also hopeful Shiga will do better work in the future.

Even though the story is rather conventional, this book does have its share of dynamic features. It uses a non-linear narrative, indicated by changes of coloring for the time period shifts. Shiga talks more about the creation of this book in this interview with John Hogan at the Graphic Novel Reporter.

Empire State was published by Abrams ComicArts. There is a short preview of it available at Amazon.com.

Meanwhile

A choose your own adventure story to end them all, Meanwhile boasts 3,856 story possibilities that spring from Jimmy's simple choice of getting vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Following the story across multiple panels connected by arrows and tubes across pages, the reader can choose what happens next. Most paths lead to "DOOM and DISASTER," according to the introduction, with only one path leading successfully home. The fun comes in figuring out which choices lead where.

The stories I have seen so far have been very creative, involving the choices that come from meeting Professor K, a scientist with fantastic inventions. One allows a person to travel 10 minutes back in time. Another allows a person to read the last 10 minutes of someone's thoughts. The last one, the Killitron 2000, kills every living being on Earth that is not safely enclosed in its cabin. Getting the choice to use all of these devices leads to some pretty interesting, often funny, outcomes.

Writer-creator Jason Shiga is renowned for including mazes and puzzles in his work, and his unconventional stories have appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly and Nickelodeon Magazine. He has been nominated for multiple comics awards and won the 2003 Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition for his comic, Fleep. More information about Shiga's life and career can be found here. To get an idea of how much time and thought went into Meanwhile, check out this picture of the book laid out in matrix form. This interview sheds more light on his work on the book and this video interview with Shiga describes how it can be read.

The interactive features have lead many to praise the book. Travis Jonker wrote that the book should appeal to "puzzle solvers, mathematicians, and the scientific-minded" who love to solve riddles. A reviewer at The School Library Journal called it "one of the most original titles I've ever encountered" while also providing a bevy of related links at the bottom of their page. Wired's GeekDad Jonathan Liu was so impressed with the book he's putting Shiga on his list of people to watch. Kirkus Reviews offer a slightly less enthusiastic response, noting some problems with a simple and circular plot but still admitting that "this clever book should amuse for hours."

Meanwhile was published by Amulet Books. There is a short preview at Amazon.com, but it does not do justice to the book's format.