Monday, October 1, 2018

Batman and the Justice League Manga Vol. 1

by Shiori Teshirogi
DC Comics
Publishing October 23, 2018

Description:

A young boy from Japan travels to Gotham City on a mission. A year before, his two parents--both scientists--were presumably killed in an expolosion that destroyed an experimental power plant. But the boy believes they may still be alive. At the very least, he's determined to find out what actually happened. But his quest soon leads to a run-in with some powerful forces--forces that require help from both Batman and the Justice League!

Mangaka Shiori Teshirogi (Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas) creates an exciting new story, combining an authentic Japanese comics approach with the World's Greatest Superheroes. Translated into English and collected for the Western audience for the first time, collected in standard manga size trim, Batman & The Justice League Vol. 1 is phenomenal entry point for fans of the Justice League and manga alike!

My thoughts:

Aside from the manga version of  Superman that I think is a bit too androgynous in typical manga style, I actually like the familiar Justice League characters drawn this way. The end of the . Still, I need to go back to Superman. Shouldn't his head at least be more proportional to his body? Perhaps that would help with the masculinity issue. Just, if you are trying to tell a very American owned story styled in manga aesthetics, it still needs to be an American story which means that our definition of masculinity needs to be addressed no matter how horribly old fashioned that sounds.

On the bright side, the text is easier to read, the manga style storyboarding, compared to the American style template also gives the story more breathing room. I know I am not using the right words for the art or the genre, but I just feel like aesthetically, I enjoyed this story. Although Batman is still dark and moody, especially after the loss of Robin, but he is still heroic and he is still able to mentor Rui as Bruce Wayne. The reader is left with a juicy mystery - what powers does Rui's mother have? And if his mother is still alive, what about his father? 

The back of the book has a great interview with Ms. Teshirogi and in it she talks about some of the things that I actually picked up on just as a reader of both genres. Part of her taking an American story and "translating" the graphics meant that even with drawing the scenery, she had to do a lot of research so that she could pick up on cultural details that would create an American versus Japanese city, even if Gotham is a made up place. 

She also talks about focusing on panel layouts and forgoing the text heavy American comic style for the more graphic focus on emotions by using face closeups typical of the manga. 

This is a great partnership and I can't wait for the next volume.


No comments: