9/30/2017

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, by Kabi Nagata.
By Kabi Nagata
Translation: Jocelyne Allen
Letters: Karis Page
Cover Design: Nicky Lim

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness opens with mangaka Kabi Nagata attempting to have sex while inside a Love Hotel room with an escort she hired from a lesbian escort agency. She’s sitting on one end of the bed wearing a terrified expression on her face. Nagata is 28 years old, never been kissed, never been in a relationship, and has only recently come to the realization that she prefers women. She’s spent most of her youth suffering from bouts of depression, manifested in her life as eating disorders, acts of self harm, an inability to hold down a steady job, or form lasting friendships. So, off course she’s scared. The book’s opening (and its risque cover) initially produced an expectation that this would be a story of sexual hijinks, the stress of dating, and the difficulties of being single in the modern world. But I suspect that those thoughts were conditioned by the consumption of too much Hollywood entertainment. What actually follows is an extended and earnest bout of self-examination, gradually leading Nagata to the realization about how much she’s been suppressing her own sexuality in order to fulfill her own preconceptions about responsible adult behaviour.

Nagata’s focus is narrow. She talks about the toll depression took on her own health with great candor. By her own telling, the problems began when she dropped out of university. The resulting loss of a sense of direction would make her extremely anxious. But even securing a part-time job fails to deliver for Nagata the sense of belonging she desperately craves. On the contrary, her self-harm and eating disorders escalate to the point she has to be hospitalized. In one of the most harrowing moments in the manga, Nagata is overcome by an intense desire to eat while in the middle of her shift. She starts stuffing a bowl of uncooked instant ramen into her mouth, but is forced to stop when she notices how the hard noodles have torn into her gums and caused Nagata's mouth to bleed.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, by Kabi Nagata.

But this isn’t a tell-all book. Nagata’s increasing self-awareness forces her to confront how her emotionally stunted relationship with her parents has shamed her into feeling completely inadequate as a functioning adult. There’s a lot of ground to be covered here which Nagata declines to explore in greater detail. She also keeps her portrayal of other supporting characters similarly nebulous. They’re mainly described as either being disapproving or supportive towards her. Every act of kindness shown to her tends to overwhelm the inexperienced Nagata. This includes the escort from the book’s opening. As a mangaka, her primary source of information about sex are the doujinshi she’s read. And as a client, Nagata prefers to ignore the economic nature of the transaction she initiated and would rather project an artificial intimacy to their encounter. But it’s arguably an illusion she needs to maintain just to make it through what is to her a new experience.

The loosely drawn chibi style Nagata employs is both very conventional and a little unusual. Mangaka often use it for the bonus material included at the end of a manga volume, and it helps establish a tone of breezy intimacy between author and reader. But it’s not something typically employed for the long-form narrative. The most eye-catching part of the book's design is the pleasant tri-color scheme (black and white, plus pink) which belies the subject matter within. Otherwise, this aesthetic can sometimes appear a bit too generic.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, by Kabi Nagata.

But it’s not hard to feel for Nagata. Her vulnerability is genuine. And it’s painful to witness her toil so hard to achieve any sense of self-worth after a decade of feeling useless. Whatever Nagata’s particular circumstances, there’s something all-too familiar about the struggle to overcome loneliness.

9/16/2017

Sheena #0 & #1

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #0 Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Art: Moritat Colors: Andre Szymanowicz. Letters: Thomas Napolitano Covers: Emanuela Lupacchino, Fabio Mantovani, J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Ryan Sook. Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #0
Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo
Art: Moritat
Colors: Andre Szymanowicz.
Letters: Thomas Napolitano
Covers: Emanuela Lupacchino, Fabio Mantovani, J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Ryan Sook

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #1 Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Art: Moritat, Dimi Maheras Colors: Moritat, Casey Silver Letters: Thomas Napolitano Covers: J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Ryan Sook, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Carli Ihde, Michael Atiyeh, Cosplay Photo.  Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #1
Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo
Art: Moritat, Dimi Maheras
Colors: Moritat, Casey Silver
Letters: Thomas Napolitano
Covers: J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Ryan Sook, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Carli Ihde, Michael Atiyeh, Cosplay Photo

Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.

Despite being one of the more popular characters from comics Golden Age, Sheena has fallen into partial obscurity as the jungle queen archetype declined in popularity. I should note that I don’t really follow the character, which makes it difficult to trace her history. Sheena has bounced from one publisher to the next, with her continuity being adjusted along the way. Sheena was transplanted from Africa to South America during the 1980s, distancing her from her original but regressive “Darkest Africa” setting. Her last comics appearance was published by Moonstone Books. That series took its cue from a reboot written a decade earlier by Hollywood writer Steven E. de Souza for Devil’s Due Publishing. As was his habit, de Souza located Sheena in the banana republic of Val Verde (the same settings of the movies Commando and Predator). Her biological parents were changed to be an American man and a local woman. I presume this was done to avoid the equally regressive convention of a displaced white saviour living with the natives and becoming their leader/greatest warrior. This latest incarnation from Dynamite Entertainment follows in the steps of the de Souza reboot.

Sheena held one advantage over other jungle queens which has kept her from completely vanishing from our collective memory - her iconic appearance. Jungle queens have always catered to adolescent males. But Sheena popularized the fashionable leggy blonde who wore an impractical leopard-skin swimsuit, a choice which allowed for both the display of ample cleavage and maximum freedom of movement. It’s a  look that’s been shamelessly copied many times, with diminishing returns. And none of her imitators could claim to be the first female character to headline her own title, making Sheena a pioneering figure for the statuesque “Amazon” beauty as heroic lead. The prevalence of this body type in comics has since come under considerable criticism for promoting a pretty narrow view of women in general, and rightfully so. Not that the Dynamite comic makes any apologies for this piece of the character's legacy.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #0 Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Art: Moritat Colors: Andre Szymanowicz. Letters: Thomas Napolitano Covers: Emanuela Lupacchino, Fabio Mantovani, J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Ryan Sook. Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.

Hiring Moritat to be the series regular artist certainly doubles down on these qualities. But he’s still a bit of an unconventional choice. His anime-influenced aesthetic is a departure from the more familiar good girl art of past cartoonists. Moritat’s beautiful women are not what is often referred to as classically proportioned. They’re all voluptuous torsos and limbs that go on forever. His figures are elongated in a way that the anatomy doesn’t always seem to properly hold together. Sheena is drawn with juvenile facial features which imbue her with an unexpected and strangely elf-like bearing. This is further enhanced by the digital coloring which gives her darker skin tones than past versions. Moritat’s Sheena seems like a deliberate move away from the more traditional caucasian-looking portrayal of the character. But she also doesn’t resemble anyone hailing from any country in the real world.

This hazy exoticism extends to the rest of the story. The plot requires Sheena to enter an ancient ruin already covered up by jungle overgrowth. Despite its state of advanced decay, the structure’s various boobytraps are still in working condition because off course the are. Now I realize that Val Verde is a fictional nation, but seeing as how it’s also supposed to be located in South America, I found it odd that the ruin’s architectural details more closely resembled ancient South Asian art than anything found in pre-Columbian cultures. Later on, Sheena defends the tribal inhabitants of the jungle from the armed goons of a greedy multinational corporation bent on strip mining the place. The portrait of the natives are fairly generic: diminutive brown-skinned people who wear loincloths, carry primitive spears, and live in thatched houses. The attempt simply feels lazy. I could also point out the dissonance of seeing lemurs, which are native to Madagascar, included in the cover.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #0 Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Art: Moritat Colors: Andre Szymanowicz. Letters: Thomas Napolitano Covers: Emanuela Lupacchino, Fabio Mantovani, J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Ryan Sook. Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.

So at this point, there’s not a whole lot to recommend the comic if you’re not already a fan of Moritat’s brand of cheesecake. Or the alternative covers drawn by other artists. The most intriguing part of the story right now is that Sheena has experienced at least two separate encounters with flying drones being operated by an unidentified male university student or professor searching for something lost in the jungle. It’s kinda creepy that someone has the ability to spy on Sheena from the air, even though those encounters are purely accidental.

But for me, the most baffling sequence involves a camera. While prancing around the ancient ruins, Sheena finds an abandoned 35mm SLR camera which still contains a canister of exposed film. Despite her unfamiliarity with the device, Sheena instinctively pockets the canister. After she escapes and reaches the open air, Sheena unspools the film from inside the canister and examines a single frame of what is now a magically processed roll of color negatives. WTF! Just because virtually everyone takes pictures with digital equipment these days shouldn't be an excuse for this kind of slapdash storytelling.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #1 Story: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Art: Moritat, Dimi Maheras Colors: Moritat, Casey Silver Letters: Thomas Napolitano Covers: J. Scott Campbell, Sabine Rich, Ryan Sook, Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz, Carli Ihde, Michael Atiyeh, Cosplay Photo.  Sheena created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger.

9/09/2017

Calexit #1

Calexit #1, Story: Matteo Pizzolo Art: Amancay Nahuelpan Colors: Tyler Boss Flats: Dee Cunniffe Maps: Richard Nisa Letters: Jim Campbell Flags: Robert Anthony Jr. Assistant: Philip W. Smith II.
Story: Matteo Pizzolo
Art: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colors: Tyler Boss
Flats: Dee Cunniffe
Maps: Richard Nisa
Letters: Jim Campbell
Flags: Robert Anthony Jr.
Assistant: Philip W. Smith II

Secession has become a regular part of American political discourse because it’s mostly just wishful thinking. The consequences for any state attempting to secede would be disastrous. Without outside intervention or the state's declaration of independence inspiring a much wider popular uprising throughout the country, the U.S. military would face fewer obstacles and easily outmatch any local standing army. And if the federal government does become a truly fascist regime as some well-heeled liberals fear will happen in the near future, it won’t have any compunction operating in the most ruthless manner to suppress even the most nominal opposition. All of these anxieties inform the bleak setting of Calexit, a collaborative effort from writer Matteo Pizzolo and artist Amancay Nahuelpan. The comic doesn’t actually begin with California’s declaration to secede. It shows what happens after the U.S. National Guard has been sent in to keep the upstart state from leaving the Union. This is a story of the resistance being driven underground and seeing no option but to wage asymmetric warfare on the occupying forces and their collaborators.

Calexit is not a subtle work. The comic extrapolates the country’s divisive political climate since the 2016 elections and dials it up to eleven. There’s no doubt who the story's fictional president is meant to resemble, both in physical appearance and his word salad style of oration. A throwaway line about certain retail chains boycotting the first daughter’s fashion line mirrors the real world administration’s all to familiar nepotism. And let’s not forget its flagrant xenophobia. Calexit quickly reveals that the action which triggers California’s defiance is an executive order signed during the president's second term, calling for “the immediate deportation of all immigrant civilians not recognized as U.S. citizens.” To quote the words of a wise man in order to summarize the effects of the process, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

Calexit #1, Story: Matteo Pizzolo Art: Amancay Nahuelpan Colors: Tyler Boss Flats: Dee Cunniffe Maps: Richard Nisa Letters: Jim Campbell Flags: Robert Anthony Jr. Assistant: Philip W. Smith II.

The main villain however is Father Rossie, the government’s point man in rounding up California’s immigrant population and squelching the resistance. He’s the kind of over-the-top James Bond villain who loves to watch people squirm while he monologues about how they’re all going to die. He’s also drawn to look like a latter day Steve Jobs when he was finally succumbing to cancer, with a dash of the creepy Mr. Burns for good measure. Playing Princess Leia to Rossie’s Governor Tarkin is the headstrong Zora McNulty, an immigrant on the run and a leading figure in the resistance. We know she’s a big deal because several well-off L.A. residents would sooner die at Rossie’s hands before revealing to him Zora’s whereabouts. And Calexit even has its own Han Solo figure in Jamil, a happy-go-lucky smuggler inadvertently caught in the conflict between the two.

Jamil is the main POV character, and his ability to get along with both sides allows us to witness the terrible conditions of the occupation. He supplies a Guardsman anti-depressants because they’re not exactly legal. Jamil has a friendly conversation about his profession with Rossie. He passes by an entire neighborhood razed to the ground by a pro-government militia without batting an eye. The comic’s main contention is that internal divisions within the state had already doomed California even before the federal government put boots on the ground. Many of its residents would have supported the executive order had it been enacted in real life.

Calexit #1, Story: Matteo Pizzolo Art: Amancay Nahuelpan Colors: Tyler Boss Flats: Dee Cunniffe Maps: Richard Nisa Letters: Jim Campbell Flags: Robert Anthony Jr. Assistant: Philip W. Smith II.

This topicality makes it complicated to assess Calexit as an object. There’s a rawness to the art that imparts an unfinished quality, especially in the flat color palette. There’s also a sense of urgency throughout which transcends the usual objective of producing a comic book. Calexit presents an extreme forecast of the future in the hopes of heading it off. This urgency has only grown since its initial conception. Pizzolo explains in the afterword that when he was writing Calexit, “We didn't know the winning presidential candidate would lose California by nearly 2-to-1, a margin of almost 3.5 million votes. We didn't know the day after that President took power, the largest mass demonstration in history occurred, and the state with the largest turnout was California. We didn't know that California’s two major international airports, LAX and SFO, would be blockaded by furious protesters… I think one thing we can all agree on is that shit’s been hurtling into the fan at an accelerated pace lately.”

Of course, we could still end up being spared a second term.