Phoenix - 9pts

I've read a lot of manga but this is the first I'm read that had this sort of style. It took me a while to get into the correct tone of this comic because I was mislead by the very cute style into thinking it would be more innocent and carefree. But then a character dies and I was confused by the storyline right off the bat. Less importantly I got confused by the gender of a few characters, I thought the younger boy was a girl. Then the tone would switch from something very serious to very carefree almost instantaneously and I would lose the character's goals. I forgot about the phoenix for some parts of it as well and had to remind myself of the original plot of the story. There definitely a lot of plot twists though. I think maybe the translation ended up getting me lost sometimes perhaps.

Phoenix Future was even more confusing to me, maybe because I was used to the prehistoric timeline from before but I became confused by this. It was a completely different style than the previous one but I think I began to prefer it. I felt like things were tied down more environmentwise. In the previous comic the island and the village seemed to be floating in the middle of nowhere and it had little concept of space in relativeness to anywhere else.  I found that I liked the relationship with the characters a lot more and the romantic addition to the plot. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dark Knight Returns - 4pts

 I found the style of this comic very interesting but I found the TV interview segments a little confusing and harder to follow. The most appealing and eye opening panels to me were the ones filled almost entirely with a black shape. I liked when the black shapes took up most of the panel and surrounded the characters.  I think the integration of batman's backstory works really well in this way. I found the large lettering for the sounds very effective in the storytelling. In one panel they used the lettering as the frame for a bolt of lightning which was pretty ingenious. Also using the lettering to surround the car tires screeching really helps the sound be in the audiences mind while reading. The lettering surrounding the characters also helps to fill the space with that sound. Overall this story was very eye catching and did a great job of keeping the audience entertained. 
Read more

Watchmen - 4pts

The use of red is very abundant in the comic which I think immediately sets the correct tone for the comic. I found the main character very interesting and I liked how is mask was never really drawn the same way. In three panels side by side they were blatantly all different designs for the mask on his face. I liked the antihero feeling to it all where the motive of the lead wasn't very clear and his morals are a little sketchy. It reminded me a lot of the feeling of Deadpool. At some points I found the character pretty funny in his complete disregard for others, like when he's breaking the man's fingers in the bar and asking everyone else for information. It's more crazy than threatening. This alternate world where all the superheroes are very disorganized, selfish, and fighting with each other is also very appealing. It's sort of a backhanded way of not having trust in humanity to use their powers for good but rather for their own benefit.
Read more