Short Book Review: Leo Geo

This is one of those comics a fan of comics as a medium should be aware of.

This review has an image that shows a bit of why: Structurally, Leo Geo is one of those Scott McCloud-type experimental comics. You need to reorient the book several times to read it (and change the structural order you read pages in), but it's incredibly natural and intuitive.

Despite the simplistic design of the titular character, the art alone would also be worth the read. The story is a strange mix of fantasy, science facts, and things that honestly don't make sense (though in a "I'm willing to ignore that because this is sufficiently fun" way) that... well, let's just say it's not really that much of a story, but it does what it needs to, which is give the artist an excuse to do cool and fun stuff and crack the occasional remarkably straight-faced joke.

"I can't (let the underground civilization invade the surface)! There's too much good solid science going on up there!" (Emphasis mine.)

Seriously.

-Signing off.

Ash Ketchum, Eat Your Heart Out

My mother frequently picks up children's books (traditional books, Western comics, and manga) for my little brother at the local library. Whenever these books happen to be manga, I skim over them because 1) supposed "kids' manga" is often more violent than one might think, and 2) sometimes, "kids' manga" is really great.

This is a little bit of both of those things.

Bakegyamon (Backwards Game) is a manga whose history I know little about. All I know is that I've read most of the 52 chapters. It's a complete little weekly manga. It's mostly pretty silly, especially towards the beginning, but it really picks up in the last two volumes. (I read it in a five volume format; apparently the local library missed volume 3, but I don't care.)

NOTE: Spoilers abound, although I don't think I'll spoil anything I can avoid.

Like many modern "kiddie" anime/manga, Bakegyamon heavily features monsters in the story. Predictably, its protagonist is a kid wearing a black shirt, jeans, an open vest, and a backwards cap, i.e. just like the Pokèmon kid. Whereas Ash Ketchum is an obnoxious little guy who endorses a fancier version of cockfighting, though, this kid, Sanshiro Tamon, didn't accept the status quo: When he learned that the monsters were people too, and had been enslaved for the purposes of this game, he decided that he would use the game's tournament prize, one unrestricted wish, to free them.

However, a previous winner of the game, whose wish was that the game would go on forever (sort of), learning of his plans, decided to eliminate him from the competition by sealing him into one of the cards that the monsters are (predictably) bound up in. There's a game rule that only monsters can be summoned from the cards, so he's trapped forever.

Unless the being who holds the tournament and grants the wishes, and who has despairingly watched it spiral out of control, turns him into a monster.

The problem is that being turned into a monster will probably kill him.

But, even presented with the opportunity to live in a dream world where it will be basically lucid dreaming forever instead, he'd rather risk his life than sit by.

And so, he gets accidentally summoned by one of his friends who's trying to defend herself from the villain.

Some manga artists can and will draw the heck out of anything. This guy is clearly one of them.

Anyway, since he's now a big... thing, the mere fact of his being summoned blocked the villain's last attack.

The villain, annoyed, states that even though he must now be a monster, there's no way a runty monster like himself will stand a chance against his enhanced high-class monsters.

But...

I've read that this will be made into an anime. If this doesn't get a "FALCON PUNCH" meme video, there is no justice.

Predictably, Sanshiro's gigantic fist sends off the villain's monster on the Team Rocket express.

Then Sanshiro's arm falls off.

Yes, his arm falls off. The stress of using his monster powers so soon after being transformed is making his body fall apart, and his arm just snaps right off. (It's depicted like shattering clay, so it's not gory, but it is hardcore.)

What does Sanshiro do next? Keep in mind, this kid is eleven, and his arm just fell off. Most people, much less most kids, would be screaming or passing out at this point.

Well... (Note that it reads right to left, if you're not a regular manga reader.)

Then the villain sends in another monster to attack again. What's Sanshiro's response? (Once again, right to left.)

He does it again.

When the villain sends in a third monster, his response is to grow a new arm and do it again.

He's basically the best kid character since Daiya from Gaiking. (Actually, this manga originally ran just a couple of years after that Gaiking series aired. Hm.)

And I'm not sure that was actually the most batman thing that Sanshiro did. (If you want to know what else he did, go ahead and read it yourself. Going through the somewhat less interesting earlier chapters to get to this one is worth it.

And if you don't know why I use the word batman like that, there's an explanation here. The actual why is because I don't swear except by accident.)

-Signing off.

Tales of Two Fishies

Illustration from a 1987 children's book featuring fish:

(Image obtained here.)

Illustration (or more properly, a derivation of a derivation of an illustration-it's a screencap from a YouTube video) from a 2008 children's book featuring fish:

(Image obtained here.)

I'm sure this says something about societal changes...

-Signing off.

Greatly Belated Book Review(s): M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales

(AKA "Pals in Peril.")

Every once in a while, you find a children's book of exceptional quality. (Here's an older review of a comic-format book that I read some time back. I ought to figure out how to review the Robot City books, which I read a while ago, too...) M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales, of which I have read "The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen" and "Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware" are clearly qualified as exceptional.

I'll admit, children's books often have an easy time engaging me. I might be an adult who is generally regarded by those who know me as smarter than average (not boasting, just stating what others state), but I'll happily read or watch things aimed at any age group if it suits my tastes.

And these books have what is usually an easy way to interest me: Make things funny. They are very funny. Even better, it's hard to explain a lot of the funny bits without spoiling the plot.

The narration is extremely lemony, to the point of getting lost in talking about mostly irrelevant things that are happening rather than the plot. Amazingly, the books don't suffer for it.

However, the humor isn't what makes the books great, although it is the primary contributing factor to what makes them an enjoyable read.

No, what makes these books great is that they are perhaps the best metatextual commentary on the nature of fictional characters I have ever seen. And despite being about good and positive things, like friendship, courage, problem-solving, and heroism, the world the characters live in is one of the bleakest fictional worlds I've ever seen because of it. (Though like our own world, it also has its moments of wonder. Those're the good bits.)

Explaining why would be telling.

Also, Jasper Dash is one of the best characters ever. Why? Because he's an Edisonade character living in the modern world. And it is hilarious. (Also, while he's funny and silly, I also think he's a genuinely great guy.)

-Signing off.

Children's Educational Books On Robots

Fact: The most exciting thing about the old How and Why Wonder Book about "Robots and Electronic Brains" (publication date 1963) is the cover. (See it here.)

Reading really old books can often give interesting perspectives on the present, and the ancient How and Why books (from all the way back in the '60s) is no exception. It is also a good way to actually learn about some of the basics of computing... although if you want that, there are almost certainly better modern sources.

One of the most amusing and idiosyncratic features of this particular old book is that it calls any random robots that are mobile and have work arms "MOBOTs." It seems to further assume that in the future, all robots that perform dangerous, exotic work for people will probably also be called Mobots. Sadly, there seem to be no references to the original Mobot on the internet, although Wikipedia redirects the search term to "mobile robot," which is what it's short for. (The closest thing on Wikipedia in terms of time and name to Mobot was actually Mowbot, the first lawnmowing robot. No joke.)

The book also talks about teaching machines, an amusing anachronism far less fascinating than its neighbor in that article, the pigeon-guided missile. Of course, the teaching machines described in the book are at least a little bit different than the ones described in the article, so I dunno.

Then there's the Robots book from the "Modern Technology" series. Published in 1986 (the year my sister was born), this book likewise focuses on then-modern ideas of robots and the then-near future. It's a bit less jarring in that respect, and itself almost quaint.

It's also rather boring.

Don't get me wrong-it actually has pretty good information on robotics and the like. It even has photographs of many robots that are obvious progenitors of today's sophisticated humanoid robots, as well as a picture of a "seeing eye robot." (It also hints at Japan's dominance in robotics, although it doesn't refer to it explicitly.)

But I find it a bit hard to believe that it could really make a kid excited about robots, especially these days.

There was another book I was going to talk about a little bit, but it belongs to my kid brother, and got itself thoroughly lost last week. Sadly, that was the fun one.

-Signing off.

The Other Iron Man

If one is observant and alert during the credits of the movie The Iron Giant, one notices the following: "Based on the book The Iron Man"-wait, what?

No, not that Iron Man.

The book was written by someone named Ted Hughes. The title was coincidental-it was originally published in England, and its title was changed to The Iron Giant before publishing over here.

So, other than really nice movies and having metal armor and the word "iron" in both their names, what do they have in common? Even in the original book (a children's book), the Giant was a superhero.

So what did he do there?

According to Wikipedia, after an initial scare, the Giant was accepted by the local village (which, by the way, was in England), but the peace was short-lived because

astronomers monitoring the sky make a frightening new discovery; a massive "star spirit" shaped like a black dragon moving from orbit to land on Earth. The "Star Spirit" crashes heavily on Australia, later demanding humanity provide him with food. Terrified, humans send their armies to destroy the Star Spirit, but it remains unharmed.

OMG just like in the comic books!

Then,

When the Iron Man [Giant] hears of this global threat, he allows himself to be disassembled and transported to Australia. There, he challenges the Star Spirit to a contest of strength: if the Iron Man can withstand the heat of burning petroleum for longer than the Star Spirit can withstand the heat of the Sun, the Star Spirit must obey the Iron Man's commands forever more; if the Iron Man melts or is afraid of melting before the Star Spirit undergoes or fears pain in the Sun, the Spirit has permission to devour the whole Earth.

After playing the game three rounds, the Star Spirit is so badly burned that he no longer appears physically frightening. The Iron Man, by contrast, has only a deformed ear-lobe to show for his pains. The Star Spirit admits defeat.

Boy, the Star Spirit was dumb.

So, yeah. Probably just a lot of eerie coincidences... I think.

-Signing off.