Forum - View topicThe New Standard For Manga Reviews
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
|
||
|
I finally picked up the latest issue of The Comics Journal, the Shojo Issue, and it sets the standard by which all manga reviewing is now to be judged, and against which most will be found wanting.
|
|||
|
|||
|
.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
|
||
|
Like specifically how?
|
|||
|
|||
|
Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
|
||
|
Good question. Here's an example: one review from the issue. Bear in mind I Think this review, while pretty good, isn't the finest example from the mag, but it still has the balanced, supple critical approach I wish more manga and anime coverage had.
http://www.tcj.com/269/r_wallflower.html |
|||
|
|||
|
Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
|
||
|
One thing that makes the Journal's best reviews so good is that they don't approach a new comic like "Is this gonna be a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Hey this is a brilliant cool fun awesome or stupid lame cruddy comic!" They approach it more like a botanist studying a new kind of flower, and you get a lot more useful information that way than from the hype-based reviews we get so often.
|
|||
|
|||
littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
|
||
|
I always like it when reviewers go well into detail about the art style. They didn't do it so much in here, but it's more than you usually see.
|
|||
|
|||
Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
|
||
|
I usually don't look to the Comics Journal for manga news/reviews, as they've treated it with a certain snobbery in the past (like they treat most things), but from that review it looks as though your right. As for the point about the way they treat reviews, Greg McElhatton of [url]icomics.com[/url] writes reviews very similar, and he reviews just about the most diverse selection of comics I've ever seen from any source. Sometimes I find him to be a bit lenient on somethings, but that's find because he doesn't say if it's good or bad, just gives you a take on the content of the book.
|
|||
|
|||
milcor1
 Posts: 337 |
|
||
|
I like those icomic reviews but man, the guy can be a bit too positive sometimes so I gotta lower my scale compared to his.
One of the best comics ever = recommended. Good book = Impulse buy. Not recommended = Stay the f**k away. |
|||
|
|||
|
Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
|
||
|
Yes, he does tend to be a bit on the possitive side, but because he describes the appeals of the books so well, I can usually tell if a book he recommends won't appeal to me. But thanks to him I discovered great stuff like Eagle and Secret Comics Japan. Recently it brough Capote in Kansas into my radar (not manga, but still incredible).
As for other manga reviews, comicreaders.com is a good source (I'm suprised Chad hasn't posted yet). It largely depends on which reviewer is writing it, but generally they're informative and well done. The now defunct artbomb always had amusing pieces, even if some of them were less than informative (hell, Matt Fraction basically wrote for the sake of amusment, which he did very well). |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group