A colossal read: Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan

A colossal read: Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan

by rick olivares

I must admit that the sight of a menacing giant with its skin all peeled over -- ala a twisted anatomy lesson -- threatening to break a massive stone wall and the title, “Attack on Titan Colossal Edition” in big bold letters is enough to get my attention. And for me to dig into my wallet.

This volume, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama, is colossal in size (7x10.5 inches), weight (2 kg), page number (over a thousand pages from the first five books), and price (Php 2,499.00).

Daunting? I read the synopsis and immediately picked it up.

I’ve always been a fan of “giant” literature since I read the Cornish folk tale, “Jack the Giant Killer” (and not oafish Hollywood version that came out last year), as a kid. It was included in a two-volume collection of fairy tales and folklore by Reader’s Digest. So in the years since, I’ve been a fan of Andre the Giant, Marvel Comics’ Giant Man, and Christy Canyon (go figure).

Attack on Titan has those basic elements of Japanese manga and anime culture -- young protagonists versus massive beings in an extinction level event. So if you got a kick out of this stuff as a kid, Hajime-san’s work will keep you riveted (especially when you gravitate to the anime version that is faithful to the book).

The basic plot is how humanity survived an attack by a race of sexless giant beings called “Titans”. They are humanoid in appearance but do not speak nor communicate. It seems that their sole purpose in life is to eat every man, woman, and child like they were munching on cheese sticks; you know -- tasty, easy to eat and you gobble them by the dozen.

For eons, the remnants of humanity lived in peace behind massive walls designed to keep these Titans out. Without warning, the Titans attack and the whole cycle repeats itself. Caught in the middle is young Eren Yaeger who witnesses the tragic death of his mother at the hands of one of the Titans. Eren swears his revenge by becoming a soldier in the Survey Corps. Except that he discovers that he has a direct link to these monsters.

It isn’t only a David versus Goliath story as there’s an element of the anime classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion, where young child pilots have their nervous system synched with massive machines to fight the tall beings called “Angels.”

In Attack on Titan, Eren finds himself able to generate one of these 60-foot giants from his own body while being connected through tissue, cells, and nerves. Because of his iron will, Eren is able to override the basic nature of the Titans which is to wreak havoc and satiate its hunger for human flesh (in the spirit of the recent popularity of zombie culture). The Eren Titan crushes and stomps the giants in his path and eventually presents some form of hope to the human military as a weapon they finally use to do battle the giants on level terms. Yet the military distrusts Eren as the true nature of his being has not been fully explained yet.

So there’s violence and gore. Much like those ancient folklore stories like Jack the Giant Killer that are in no manner a child’s bedtime story.

And… like any good story, you need a Scooby gang and Yaeger’s aides de camp comes in the form of Mikasa Ackerman, an adopted child of the Yaeger family who is fiercely protective of Eren for many reasons. Eren is like the Titans where he is focused only on eradicating them and finding a life outside the walls of his home. He is absolutely clueless about Mikasa’s true feelings for him.

And there’s Armin Arlert, the frail childhood friend of both Eren and Mikasa who bucks his fear of the Titans to eventually join the 104^th Training Corps of the elite Survey Scouts. And there are others there – Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, and Jean Kirstein among many others.

The story isn’t simple where its an “us against them” storyline. There are enemies from within and knowing how unpredictable Japanese anime and manga end, there is now way of knowing how Attack On Titan will end. Surely, that will keep you riveted.

Attack On Titan is was the first manga comic tome I had purchased since 2004 when I collected the Battle Angle Alita books. And after devouring it and the first 13 episodes of the anime version in a marathon 24-hour session, all I can say is, I had a colossal time.

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Attack On Titan (Colossal Edition) can be purchased at Fullybooked or Comic Odyssey

This is not your parents’ Archie!

This is not your parents’ Archie!

by rick olivares

Did you read Archie comics as a kid?

I didn’t. I did go through them a few times as my sister, who read them, left them about the house but I was never a fan. I think I saw the Saturday morning cartoon a little more and that is where I got to know the characters.

However, in this day where comics crossovers are possible, the first “Archie” comic I bought was Archie Meets the Punisher. I thought it was hilarious as it is a most unlikely crossover.

Then there was Archie Meets Kiss, that 1970s rock ‘n’ roll band that became notorious because of their use of make up and onstage theatrics. But that was a poorly done story.

There’s also the Archie Meets Glee but I am not going there at all.

And in the wake (pun intended) of the success of The Walking Dead comes Afterlife with Archie. And this isn’t your parents’ Archie at all. The highly-romanticized high school life of teen age crushes, soda parlors, football games and luaus and prom nights depicted by writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana that made Archie a staple of early Americana is absent. In its place is the dark and foreboding art of Italian artist Francesco Francavilla who is doing the excellent Black Beetle for Dark Horse Comics. He’s also done some Captain America with Ed Brubaker (I didn’t think the artwork was a match for this character) and Detective Comics with Scott Snyder.

How dark has Archie become? This is the first Archie comic book to be sold in the direct market (that means comic book specialty shops and no newsstand or grocery digest editions) and is the first to be rated, “Teens and up.” And the response has been overwhelmingly positive with print runs selling out that the publishers need to go to a second and third printing.

This change of pace is actually welcome change of pace for what has been traditionally children’s fare. The publishers of Archie books have attempted to woo their crowd that has grown up and might have graduated to other more mature books with Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty type of stories. Afterlife with Archie will otherwise bring in the crowd that won’t touch the romantic and cheesier books. 

When Hotdog, Jughead’s sheepdog is accidentally run over by Reggie Mantle, Sabrina brings back to life the beloved pet. Only something goes wrong and Hotdog takes a massive chomp on Jughead infecting him with a zombie virus. Jughead makes an appearance at the high school dance that also serves as a costume party. His friends believe his decayed corpse to be a work of art. Only after he makes a snack out of Ethel does everyone realize what is going on. Soon familiar faces are infected and the survivors make it to the Lodge Mansion where they attempt to hold out against the zombie horde.

Friends become zombies and Riverdale is completely overrun.

I saw the first issue of Afterlife with Archie on the racks and the rotting visage of Jughead did catch my attention. Burned by the offending Archie Meets Kiss (yes, I was a massive fan of the band during my younger years), I didn’t bother to check it out until a few issues later. Only then did I realize that it was pretty good. I waited for the trade paperback that collects the first five issues

Just because the story has gone all horror, the creators, Francavilla and writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, maintain some elements of the traditional Archie comics.

When the undead Jughead tries to gorge on Veronica at the dance, she thinks to herself, “Wow, so this is how I die… at a dance, eaten by my arch-nemesis, Jughead; how pathetic. My second thought was, ‘Not to mention Betty finally going to have Archie all to herself…”

So she decides she wants to live. And in the nick of time, Archie fights off Zombie Juggie. But these zombies are hard to kill and the heroes and heroines still have not figured out a way to permanently put them to rest.

The best makeover, however, belongs to the Lodge’s butler, Smithers, who suddenly turns into Alfred Pennyworth (from stately Wayne Manor). Now, this is exactly what needs to be added to Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide – a hatchet carrying, security-camera monitoring, ready-to-move-in-a-moment’s-notice butler! Can’t live without them!

Who lives and who dies? If you grew up reading the book passionately or as a casual reader like me, you’ll find yourself invested in the story because you want to see how each character adapts to this world gone to hell. Who flips out? Who is this story’s Rick Grimes (obviously, that’s Archie). Is there a Michonne in the making because as much as Smithers is dressed (in a suit) to kill, I don’t think he’s worthy of the katana wielding heroine.

Nevertheless, each single issue has that cliffhanger feel of the television version of The Walking Dead. You’re riveted.

And after reading the first five issues you’ll think to yourself, “Yes, there is life after kiddie books…. Thanks to the Afterlife with Archie.”

Hunting down the comics of my youth: The Raven Banner

Hunting down the comics of my youth: The Raven Banner

by rick olivares

Of late, I have been picking up a lot of the comic books that I enjoyed as a kid. Is that an indictment on the medium today? Somewhat.

There was a time when Marvel was not only producing terrific superhero comics but also mature and fantasy stories. In the 1980s, the House of Ideas came out with the Epic line and Epic Illustrated.

What was featured there? Arthur Suydam’s The Adventures of Cholly and Flytrap. Dean Motter’s and Ken Steacy’s The Sacred and the Profane. Dave Sim’s Cerberus. Rick Veitch’s Abraxas and the Earthman. Chris Claremont’s and John Bolton’s Marada the She-Wolf. Michael Moorcock’s Elric. And there was Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar.  There was also J.M. DeMatteis’ and Jon J Muth’s Moonshadow.

Epic was so diverse that it was indie before indie was even a concept. In fact, they paved the way for Vertigo (as DC saw the success of Epic).

One original graphic novel that I loved was Alan Zelenetz’ and Charles Vess’ The Raven Banner that was a tale of Asgard.

In a nutshell, the story is about a young man who goes on a journey to retrieve the Asgardians gods’ enchanted Raven Banner that was stolen by some trolls after it was lost in battle. This Asgardian goes from an irresponsible son (his father was the bearer of the banner) to a noble warrior who loses his life at the end of the story during a battle with invading giants.

I have always loved Thor because of its mythological origins but what attracted me to The Raven Banner was largely Vess’ artwork. Along with P. Craig Russell who drew Elric as written by Roy Thomas, this was the closest I could get to the works of Frank Frazetta and Roger Dean whose works were so darn expensive.

If Frazetta was the epitome of high fantasy, and Dean, an architect of alien worlds and futuristic landscapes, Vess’ art was the first name in magical and mythological landscapes.

And Vess was the first – to my knowledge – to depict Asgard as something really out of myth instead of the gleaming spires of a futuristic city.

I became such a huge fan of Vess that I picked up his Marvel Fanfare #34-37 featuring The Warriors Three, Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth, The Books of Magic #3, Stardust, and hardcover collection, Drawing Down the Moon.

The Raven Banner could have been really good. The caveat there is the pacing by Zelenetz (who also wrote Alien Legion and Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu). The adventures of Greyval Grimson who seeks to redeem the stolen banner takes up a lot of story but when we arrive at the climax with the second battle on the plains of Ida, it is over in the space of two pages. It feels as if the ending was rushed.

But no matter. I loved this story as only a kid can.

I lost this graphic novel during Typhoon Ondoy along with many other cherished collections. In the years since, I have enjoyed the thrill and frustration of the hunt of tracking down my favorites books and issues. Many of the older issues have been collected in new hardcover novels or omnibus tomes. But The Raven Banner has been out of print.

I checked out my usual sources in the United States – Midtown Comics, The Strand, mycomicshop.com and milehighcomics.com but it is has been unavailable.

After a lengthy search, I was able to find it through the help of a stateside cousin in someone’s collection that was sold for the princely sum of $1.99. It’s not in mint condition but beggars cannot be choosers. Furthermore, it has aged gracefully. I am totally fine with it.

Now, I have three of those old over-sized graphic novels of my youth – The Raven Banner, Marada the She-Wolf, and Spider-Man: Hooky (as illustrated by the great Berni Wrightson whose inimitable style is kept alive today by the equally superb Kelley Jones).

And I feel like a kid all over again.

An out of body experience: The Other Half

An out of body experience: The Other Half

by rick olivares

Prepare to be shaken, rattled, and rolled with Noel Pascual’s and Mervin Malonzo’s The Other Half.

Stormy nights in the province. The setting is just right for kids scaring the bejeezus out of each other about foul creatures of the night. Only one of them, the human-eating manananggal, has made a house call. It looks as if this creature is about to make a meal out of an unsuspecting unbeliever when the parents arrive but not before their car hits something along the road.

Unfortunately for the manananggal, it’s the lower half that it leaves behind that is struck by the car sending it sprawling like road kill. Due to the inclement weather, the parents’ don’t spot the bloody stump but the unbelieving kid does.

In true cliffhanging fashion, the authors end the 14-page story right there leaving the reader to wonder if all hell is about to break loose or if the manananggal is going to go batty with its meal interrupted and lower half missing.

The prose and the art immediately sink their teeth into you. There is no more frightening story when it uses elements of your darkest fears and drops it in places where you’re supposed to be secure like your home and you’re with your family. And Malonzo’s watercolors perfectly capture the children’s stark terror about being home alone during a storm when the electricity goes down. Since the children have no reference point to base their image of the manananggal, they are depicted just as a child might illustrate a creature of the night. It’s a light counterpoint to the moody art that already lends to the chilling atmosphere.

I love the variety shown by Malonzo here. In the most excellent Tabi Po, there’s a Michael Zulli type of feel to his art. In The Other Half, it evokes Scott Hampton’s work in Neil Gaiman’s The Books of Magic.

And there’s a dark night (pun intended) moment when Kuya Roy says, “The manananggal’s gonna eat us” and he’s against the light with the winged creature at his back. I immediately thought back to Batman Year One where the Dark Knight crashes the dinner of corrupt public officials with a classic opening line, “Ladies. Gentlemen. You have eaten well.”

Before this foul creature can be greeted with a “bon appétit,” the authors present a twist to manananggal stories. Everything I have watched and read before depicted the crazy brave searching for the lower half to seed with garlic and such only for the manananggal to catch them in the act.

In this story… it’s an “oh, sh*#” moment for all involved.

The Other Half is a fun read. You read it and go, “Oh, no. Oh, no! Oh, noooo!!!” And that is the essence of a horror comic.

Now I only have one thing to say to Noel Pascual and Mervin Malonzo…. I want the other half of the story.

Noel Pascual’s and Mervin Malonzo’s The Other Half can be downloaded from flipreads.com