What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I used to think the Chimera Ant arc of Hunter X Hunter was pushing the boundaries for graphic violence/disturbing imagery for a modern shonen manga.

Then I read Franken Fran.

...yeah....Hunter X Hunter's got nothing on that. And Franken Fran's a comedy. 

The artwork of HXH was always too cartoony for me to consider it too violent a serious way. It was more of the cheap "shock value" that I found to be unpleasant, such as Meruem killing a little girl for no reason and eating her brain. Visually it wasn't disturbing, but just in terms of the concept I found it to be repulsive. As for gore and such, I think that there are plenty of series that are more graphic than HXH, partly due to having much less shitty artwork.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, I was never myself disturbed by anything that happened in HXH or Franken Fran, but before reading the latter I did think the former had more "cruel" violence in the Chimera Ant arc on a conceptual level than most other contemporary shonen manga. If we're just talking about bloodiness and body part loss or whatever, basic gore, than even stuff like Bleach are much bloodier and violent shonen manga, but not much of shock/horror value can be found in anything that happens in the violence or anything else. Franken Fran isn't any less cartoony in it's art style than HXH, but yet the majority of the stuff that happens in it is much more disturbing than in any other shonen manga I've read so far, not because it's more violent than other series (it's not, really), but because the body horror/implications of what happens to many of the people in it is just that much more cruel.

[Mr. Big]

Got a shitton of comic books today.



Groo the Wanderer (Epic Comics) # 11, 34, 36, 40, 50, 51, 52, 53
Sergio Aragones Action Speaks #2, 3, 5, 6
Sergio Aragones Louder Than Words #2, 3
Sergio Aragones Day of the Dead (one shot)
MAD Magazine #276, 317, 400
SpongeBob Comics #34
Lumberjanes #1
Simpsons Illustrated #11
Popeye Classics (Sagendorf reprints) #25
Usagi Yojimbo Senso #1

It's probably obvious, but I'm a Sergio Aragones fan 

[Rynnec]

Murcielago is the best manga you're not reading.

[LumRanmaYasha]

^ Well then, I won't not be reading it for long.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I just finished Daytripper. A great story of a person's life told at different ages. Probably one of my favorite comics ever. Highly recommended.

It's probably obvious, but I'm a Sergio Aragones fan 

[LumRanmaYasha]

Managed to score the first volumes of three manga at the bookstore today for $10: Ooku: The Inner Chambers, The Heroic Legend of Arslan, and Shokugeki no Soma. I was especially pleased to get the Soma volume. I've been enjoying the series for a while now, but don't have any space in my budget to keep up with the releases as they come out. Hopefully I can score future volumes of it for discounted prices later on in the year as well.

[Avaitor]

I picked AnJ back up, and holy shit, the end to his fight with Rikiishi. You know which one I mean.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I was waiting for you to get to that part.

As I was saying way earlier on, I really enjoyed the series up to this point, but it's after this part where it truly became cemented as a favorite for me. The next arc is personally my favorite in the entire series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I picked AnJ back up, and holy shit, the end to his fight with Rikiishi. You know which one I mean.

Wow, and just in time too! 

Yeah, the aftermath of that fight hits hard, and has a lasting impact on the series. It only gets better from there.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Ugh, it looks like Dark Horse has delayed the release of the first Astro Boy omnibus to a yet undetermined date.  And right when there's a sale on Dark Horse manga on Right Stuf too.

[VLordGTZ]

I just finished reading Dr. Slump.  Overall, It was a great series, and it's clear that Toriyama had a lot of fun making it.  It has definitely become one of my favorite manga.  I think I'll now start reading Ashita no Joe and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run since they've been on my backlog for a while. 

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Dr. Slump is really Toriyama's representative work. More so than Dragon Ball, it perfectly and fully showcases all his skill and eccentricities. It is by far his most personal work, capturing everything he loves to draw and write about in one succinct 18-volume series, and there is simply no one else who could've created it. Dragon Ball was a story created in part by Toriyama being nudged along by editors to make a marketable battle shonen adventure, the sure path to fame and success. But Dr. Slump is pure Toriyama, nothing else, and the fact that it got popular, immensely popular, I might add, is a testament to his skills as a creator. In Dragon Ball, you can tell there were times that Toriyama was getting tired of drawing and writing the series, especially during the Cell arc. And it kept going do to popular demand, and Toriyama couldn't end it when he wanted. But there is never a point in Dr. Slump that feels like Toriyama is getting bored or tired: he always puts his A-game and feels like he's having a lot of fun with it, and that comes across in the series as well, which makes it a wonderful read beginning to end, and it lasts just as long as Toriyama wanted to, just right the point where he felt he didn't have any more ideas for it and needed to stop lest the quality suffer. It's a fantastic manga, and I don't think you can truly understand the depth of Toriyama's skills as a mangaka, and what made him stand out among his contemporaries, and still today, without reading it. I know there might be some people who may not appreciate it's sense of humor, and just prefer the more story-driven action adventure nature of DB, but even so, I will always stand by my opinion that it ranks among the very best manga comedies, and perhaps manga in general, ever made. While Dragon Ball will always be my favorite thing he's done, for incredibly personal reasons, I must say that Dr. Slump is actually arguably his best work: it's his best drawn, it's his funniest, it's his most creative, and there is nothing else before or since that has ever been like it. It was the series that really made me a life-long fan of not just Dragon Ball, but Toriyama himself, and he was the first person I ever became a fan of as a result, and it's why I will always respect and admire him as an artist and creator, and why he will always be one of my favorite mangaka. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I don't believe for a second that Gyokuen/Arba is dead. A villain as important as that wouldn't be done in off screen. It's probably some ploy by Judar. If not, then perhaps she allowed him to think that she was dead for her own reasons, but when and if she actually dies, it'd have to be a big enough moment to be on screen. We didn't just spend an entire flash-back learning about her past in Alma Torran in order for her character arc to just be dropped for no reason. Clearly, this is a Red Herring by Ohtaka.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And, while on the subject of Dr. Slump, I have always wondered: Does it take place wit hint the Dragon Ball Universe? I've heard mixed opinions from fans. Some say that because of the Penguin Island cameos during the General Blue Saga, it does. However other fans have pointed out that there are some direct contradictions between the content of Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, and have instead suggested that the DB cameos should be considered as an alternate reality version of the main DS cast rather than the actual DS series taking place within the same continuity. I suppose that I'll have to read it for myself, some time, just to figure it out.