Reading Over Shoulders
coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee
I’ve recently been introduced to Greg Rucka’s work. I like it though it tend to get repetitive. Kelly Thompson over at Comics Should be Good reviews his latest, Stumptown. Be sure to read the comments!
It’s not a graphic novel but it is a movie I’m considering seeing – Pirate Radio.
Here’s some Blackest Night commentary. (link via Journalista) It’s not collected so I haven’t read it yet but I want a promotional ring!
There’s a bunch of quick manga reviews, including Nana vol. 19, over at Manga Recon.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu – Review
After much anticipation, I finally got ahold of Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu. Finally. But I won’t go into the drama that surrounded getting my copy, instead I’ll just talk about the drama of Pelu.
Now I won’t claim to completely understand anything that goes on in Junko Mizuno manga. A lot of times I just open it up and go for the ride, then try and wrap my head around it later. Sometimes much later. I’m still rereading part of Pure Trance, looking for some clue as to what it all means. If it means anything.
Pelu is essentially a fluffyball little male creature that used to live in the body of a female alien. Also in the body was a female version of Pelu and the biology of this planet dictates that Pelu and his wife (?) would make a baby inside the alien then the alien births the baby who is just like the alien. It’s an all female planet so all the babies are female with little fluffy balls inside of them. But Pelu escapes when the space hippo eats his host, biting her in half and he crawls out. Yeah. I’m serious.
Alone and wanting a baby of his own because he feels like a child will make him belong, he decides to head to the Space Hippo’s home planet, Earth. Once there he begins his quest to find a wife and have a baby. He encounters a singer, a rich girl, a clam diver and a highschooler.
The thing I love about Mizuno is that she writes about women as if the whole world were women, and in some cases, it literally is. Most literature written for and by men is this way. We even have the saying “it’s a man’s world” because, well, it is. A male protagonist means the book is for everyone. To set up a female protagonist is to write for women. The experience of femininity is singular while the experience of being a man is universal. Mizuno flips that. Men in her stories are often caricatures, sad, lonely desperate creatures who’s destinies are tied to the destiny of a woman. Though Pelu is technically male, he is not a man. He is desire. Not just sexual but the desire to belong, to relate and to procreate. Should men read this I think they would be liberated. Literature has denied men these feelings for too long.
Then there is, of course, the artwork. Mizuno’s style is hyper-color. Her eyes are wider, breasts bouncier, bodies rounder creating a sense of unease and awe. Like you’ve eaten too much candy. There’s so much to look at. Her worlds overflow with flowers and bunnies, so cute but sinister. As if she’s reminding her reader that the world, for all it’s beauty, is also withering and rotting. Her characters live their lives and make their choices within the limitations of the world they live in.
I don’t think I could hate a Mizuno manga if I tried. I knew I would love Pelu and I did. Some may not like the short story format but I enjoyed seeing so many ideas in one volume. I would want every page of this manga displayed on my wall!
Webcomic Wednesday
Ha, this Red Meat comic never gets old.
Brain Fog
I can think of a million things to post today and less than zero things to post. Nothings really coming together and I’m at a loss of what I even care about. Tomorrow I’ll have all kinds of epiphanies I’m sure but today?
Oh well, there’s always the New York Times bestseller list.
Of course, R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis is at the top. I heard a review on NPR and although I’m not a big Crumb fan I would like to read this one.
I can attest that the Wizard of Oz has some breathtaking artwork.
As for the superheroes, Geoff Johns is awesome and brings home Final Crisis. I might read Batman: Cacophony but only because I love the word “cacophony”. Deadpool is pretty ok with me as well.
Is anyone else surprised to see Pride and Prejudice on the list? Not because it kind of proves that women are buying comics, though I could speculate that it does, that or highschoolers thinking they’ve got an easy way out but because, oh I don’t know…Pride and Prejudice is so boring! But it’s everywhere. Still for those of you who love it, here’s another way to get a Bennet fix.
No surprises on the manga list. I recommend Black Bird and Ouran High School Host Club.
Happy Anniversary Blog
I missed my own anniversary. I’ve been blogging for one year. I’m not sure what to say about it. I hope some of it has been interesting at least.
Yeah, that’s all I’ve got today.
