Beowulf #1
Wait - didn't I review this comic way back when? Nope.
Heading into the comic store this week, I encountered a pleasant surprise in my pull box: Antarctic Press' manga-ized version of Beowulf. Apparently, the title "Beowulf" was still listed on my subscription list, so the comic stores guys ordered this, even though it was the Speakeasy comics version I had in mind (too bad about that company - they produced some quality comics, even if their Beowulf had a severe drop in quality when the creative team changed).
This one billed itself as a "manga" version (though it is in standard comic book format) of the original legend, so I figured I'd give it a try.
As Napolean Dynamite might say: Freakin' awesome.
It follows the original tale very, very closely (though it skips over things like long drinking parties and boasting competitions), even though the setting has changed into the futuristic wasteland often found in anime. I don't want to give away too much, because a lot of the fun is seeing how naturally the changes made in this adaptation fit the story.
Go get a copy of this now - this series deserves to be a best seller.
posted by John Phelan at
3:34 PM
1 Comments:
You know, I haven't really tried any of AP's stuff in a long time. Perhaps it's because there was already some translated manga out there that I was reading, but when I did get a few issues of an AP story, it was when Ben Dunn's Ninja High School was nearing the end of its original run at Eternity Comics and they were writing stories about warrior priests and some of the characters harboring homosexual feelings. I was a little uncomfortable with Dunn's style, too, which had strayed away from some of the funniness that I recalled in early issues. When the anime fandom picked up soon afterwards, I saw where AP was expanding into other titles (warrior nuns, etc) and Fred Perry's Gold Digger became the flagship title. Because they kept changing things around, though, I found that I couldn't really get into it any more. The new NHS with the younger Feeple brother as the lead character is looking a little too much like more of the same, so there's no real desire on my part to try it again.
Knowing that, though, I really do think that I should at least try one or two things every now and then. It's a nice alternative to the usual strains of "bad gal" indies and the general superheroics and I've seen some good artists with AP every now and again. Perhaps with a future TPB, I may do so.
By
Anonymous, at 4:45 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home