Mangaman

I love the library, and I think everyone should have a library card. My neighborhood library is where I read the entire Rurouni Kenshin and Buso Renkin manga series. There, I found Afterschool Noghtmare which remains one of my top favorite comics of all time, and where I have also found some very BAD material.
Recently, on one of my annual visits, I picked up a hardback book titled Mangaman.

The book - more like a graphic novel rather than a manga - takes place in an American town named Castleton. Before to a local annual get-together for high school seniors to drink and party, a girl named Marissa Montaigne and her friend Lexa argue about the leading lady's decisions in their last year of school - dumping her uber-popular boyfriend and wearing outrageous outfits ranging to fem!Indiana Jones to Marilyn Monroe - while vaguely mentioning an article in Time magazine. Supposedly, a scientist recently made contact with a boy from another dimension, who is now stuck in our world. Late for the party, Marissa has a run-in with her ex, and they're interrupted by the very boy mentioned earlier. His name is Ryoko Kiyama, and appears to be a living manga character.
Marissa, fed up with her superficial classmates and old life latches on to Ryoko, amazed by a boy who drops speed lines and sound effects in class. As they grow closer, he teaches her to see the world in 2-D. However, not everyone welcomes Ryoko into the community. Shunned for being different, he's persecuted and even attacked all while monsters called Kaiju are determined to enter Castleton through the still-open dimensional rip.

Really, Mangaman was just a fun book to read, plain and simple. Ryoko and his scientist guardian are likeable, Marissa's movements drawn in classic American Superman-esque style are gorgeous, and the gags about the manga world versus ours had me stifling giggles. The fact that Ryoko will have to mop up water from a personal rain cloud or yank hearts off his eyes after seeing Marissa in a kimono make up for the slightly cliched style he's drawn in - something akin to Sailor Moon rather than a modern manga. Then again, that goes for the western characters as well, as they are drawn by a woman who once worked on the Superman comics. The dialogue is realistic, the pace is fast but enjoyable, and throw in a reference to Article 175 and you have a fantastic, quick and easy read for almost anyone - manga-lovers trying to get into Western comics or vice-versa.
I highly, highly recommend Mangaman.

- Much luvz, Hideki.