Interruption In Sevice/Manga Post

Believe it or not, the "interruption in service" was not due to the protracted case of "blogger blah" that I've been suffering from. This really nasty storm swept through the area last night, knocking down (very big and sturdy) trees and hurling various small creatures many hundreds of feet. (A small freshwater aquatic worm found its way to our yard, where it probably died after a member of my family put it in a bucket to show it to the rest of us.) Of course, it wasn't the tree-breaking and critter hurling that caused the interruption in service, no sirree. Everything had calmed down, and I had time to get on and use the ol' Internets. Then, without warning, the power went out for twenty minutes or so. Since there were still traces of lightning and thunder echoing in the distance, I resolved it wasn't a good idea to turn the computer back on, and aside from briefly making sure it wasn't fried, I didn't.

So, that's why there wasn't a post. See you Monday.

...

Just kidding.

So, in the continuing saga of Ultimo, Vice didn't turn into anything insane this time. But Dunstan content was remarkably high when you consider he didn't actually appear in this chapter:

Also, Ultimo is still creepy (Ultimo speaks in the third person very much), although he was actually genuinely intentionally kind of funny this time. (Also, now Vice is the one talking creepy to Ultimo. Heh.)

On the non-Ultimo Shonen Jump front, why do people hate Naruto?

(Before you react, keep in mind: I know Naruto's really popular. I'm talking about the people who "hate on it.")

I'm well aware that Naruto is kind of a... well, a stupid series. It's about ninja wizards (or wizard ninjas? or perhaps you'd prefer "magic ninjas") who beat the stuffing out of each other. And that's pretty much it.

Is there anything wrong with that?

I don't watch (and will probably never watch) the Naruto anime. It holds no special place in my heart-in fact, it holds no place in my heart whatsoever. (Shame on you, anime, for having cruddy animation rear its head throughout the first episode [which came with an issue of Shonen Jump, the only reason I've seen it]. If you're not wasting your budget on the first episode, you aren't getting attention, and you're not setting people up to like it.) But I love the Naruto manga.

Why?

Because Masashi Kishimoto can draw like heck.

Now, let's get one thing straight-Shonen Jump hates Naruto readers. I mean, not really literally. But it treats them horribly. Rather than publish Naruto consistently and continuously, we've been subjected to jump-ahead after jump-ahead so that Viz Media can ram a few hundred dollars worth of Naruto graphic novels down the throats of any hardcore Naruto fans and make millions and millions more dollars than they would otherwise. You ain't gettin' my money, Viz, 'cuz I can't afford it. Maybe five years from now I'll buy quarter-price discount Naruto on Amazon or something, but not today.

(Note to Viz: If you ever do this with One Piece, Shonen Jump won't be worth reading anymore. That's the only manga still going since the first US Shonen Jump that hasn't had its Shonen Jump releases mangled horribly, and the only Shonen Jump Manga I'd truly suffer without. I miss Naruto when you screw with it, but don't you touch my One Piece. ... That sounds wrong somehow.)

Anyhow, Naruto is admittedly a stupid series by nature. It's a series you read if you want to see guys summon twenty story toads to fight giant sand demons, or a giant puppet thing with a poisonous stinger tail. Not that there's anything wrong with that-in fact, that's quality entertainment. But the thing that really makes Naruto, at least for me personally, is that the art is stunning.

Kishimoto can draw giant frogs in pseudo-feudal Japanese regalia like nobody's business. He can draw dynamic scenes with a frenetic energy that is truly rare on the printed page. His layouts and lines are rough but flawless. (It's a phenomenon that's hard to describe. It's kinda like what I've seen of vintage Jack Kirby.) His character designs are... well, I'm not sure what I think of his character designs, because they simply exist. There's just something about them. I know that there have been a few that made my forehead crinkle, and a few that struck me as cool, but for the most part I barely notice them.

I'll never claim that Naruto is the bestest story ever-that'd be dumb even if I'd read every story ever and stood a chance of judging it on those grounds. (Although I think the story's just a smidgen less dumb than what you might think from the way I talk about it. Also, just 'cuz it's dumb doesn't mean it's not moving.) But it's quality comics that I can read over and over again without getting tired of it. That's got to count for something.

By the way, Monday will be my 300th post. Dunno if I'll do anything special for it.

-Signing off.