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snarpDicebox, by Jenn Manley Lee
Griffen and Molly are a hard-bitten semi-lesbian sorta-couple who move from place to place in a dysfunctional far-future world, going whereever work is, and sometimes finding explosions in the same places. Griffen, alternately charming and acid-tongued, is a former highly-ranked civil servant. Something happened that left her deeply damaged and bitter, and she compulsively picks fights and keeps secrets. Molly, younger by at least a decade, has brain damage that makes her forget things, and causes her to see vivid hallucinations that may not entirely be hallucinations. She's both protective of Griffen and bewildered by her, though empirical evidence would suggest that she does a better job of understanding Griffen than Griffen does her.
Though they have a deeply caring spousal relationship, it's also a polyamorous one, and we only see them sleeping with other people. The aggressively androgynous Griffen seems to prefer men she can out-talk (though this is true of most men), while Molly's preference seems to be for smart, big-boned women, similar to herself. There are a lot of scenes demonstrating both these preferences! So, not PG-rated. Just so you know.
Most of the art is in the service of the dialog, but occasionally Lee will shock you with a big spread of one of Molly's evocative hallucination's, or of the clearly-carefully-thought-out world the characters live in.
The story so far has apparently only been a prologue to set up the characters; hence we only have hints of what Griffen and Molly's pasts have been like. My guess would be that the real plot, when it starts up, will be the results of something ill-advised Griffen does. This appeals to me!
A hard sci-fi webcomic featuring gorgeous full-color art, thoughtful world-building, a multiethnic cast, lesbians, dark secrets, ungendered pronouns, and snark. What more could one possibly ask?
-
Afterschool Charisma, by Kumiko Suekane
Shiro Kamiya is the only ordinary human kid at an exclusive private boarding school where every other student is a clone of a famous genius of some kind. Along with his best friends, Napoleon and Hitler, and his crush Marie Curie -
You may still be stuck mid-way through that sentence. I'll give you a minute.
Man, Freud, why you always gotta be like that...
This manga walks the shoujo-private-school-manga walk perfectly - sometimes you can't tell if it's aware of the absurdity of its premise. As any historian will tell you, the majority of important historical figures were actually shoujo manga characters, so there are plenty of scenes like this:
And this:
And this!
(That's Mozart.)
But at other times there's a self-awareness to it that makes me think it's going somewhere much crueler.
The cloning project, about which few of our spoiled heroes have thought too carefully, has been going on for some time. In the first chapter the adult clone of John F. Kennedy announces his bid for President of the United States - and is promptly assassinated. At the same time, Marie Curie, who has defied the school by saying she wants to study music, not science, is abruptly "transferred to a music school." You will note that I put that in scare quotes. Is Clone Academy harboring some dark secret?
The answer is yes. Yes, Clone Academy is harboring some dark secret. Possibly even two.
Shiro, the project's head scientist's son, has clearly been enrolled in the school as a mole for his father - though, being a Shoujo Heroine Plucky-Type v. 1.8, his trust in authority is complete, and he has no idea. (Literally every page I expect him to be revealed as a clone of the eugenicist Shiro Ishii, created to take over the project.) Though all seems cheerful on the outside, the stress of the school's expecations of the clones is - in ways both subtle and unsubtle - driving many of them insane.
(Hitler!)
Most of the clones seem to blame themselves for their failings, and a group of them have even started a secretive cult devoted to the worship and emulation of their perfect originals. Shiro's frenemy Freud is the only one of the heroes who seems to have the sense to suspect the motives the creators of the experiment. I suspect doom for Freud. Doom!
No, Freud! Don't sit down in a dimly-lit room and look furtively around you before entering a password! That is something that doomed people do!
I am really enjoying this, but have no doubt that all the heroes are going to be utterly savaged. Be warned!
(Oh, and another warning: the female characters, so far, are reeeally iffy. Somehow, I just don't think Queen Elizabeth and Florence Nightingale ought to be totally dependent on male approval! Doesn't seem right.)
The first volume of this is up on Viz's website for free. Go forth!
-
Otoyomegatari / A Young Wive's Tale, by Kaoru Mori
This is another gorgeous, charming, carefully-researched, occasionally-slightly-less-than-feminist historical comic by Kaoru Mori, artist of Emma.
If you like any aspect of this page, you will like the manga. If you don't, you'll probably also like it! Unless you have no soul. I cannot advise people who have no soul, and so generally exert myself not to attempt it. Maybe you guys should go read, like, friggin' Saber Marionette or something? Christ, I don't know.
I'm really only posting to say, Hey! Translation of the newest chapter just came out! Because I don't feel like reasonable people need to be convinced of this one.
Griffen and Molly are a hard-bitten semi-lesbian sorta-couple who move from place to place in a dysfunctional far-future world, going whereever work is, and sometimes finding explosions in the same places. Griffen, alternately charming and acid-tongued, is a former highly-ranked civil servant. Something happened that left her deeply damaged and bitter, and she compulsively picks fights and keeps secrets. Molly, younger by at least a decade, has brain damage that makes her forget things, and causes her to see vivid hallucinations that may not entirely be hallucinations. She's both protective of Griffen and bewildered by her, though empirical evidence would suggest that she does a better job of understanding Griffen than Griffen does her.
Though they have a deeply caring spousal relationship, it's also a polyamorous one, and we only see them sleeping with other people. The aggressively androgynous Griffen seems to prefer men she can out-talk (though this is true of most men), while Molly's preference seems to be for smart, big-boned women, similar to herself. There are a lot of scenes demonstrating both these preferences! So, not PG-rated. Just so you know.
Most of the art is in the service of the dialog, but occasionally Lee will shock you with a big spread of one of Molly's evocative hallucination's, or of the clearly-carefully-thought-out world the characters live in.
The story so far has apparently only been a prologue to set up the characters; hence we only have hints of what Griffen and Molly's pasts have been like. My guess would be that the real plot, when it starts up, will be the results of something ill-advised Griffen does. This appeals to me!
A hard sci-fi webcomic featuring gorgeous full-color art, thoughtful world-building, a multiethnic cast, lesbians, dark secrets, ungendered pronouns, and snark. What more could one possibly ask?
-
Afterschool Charisma, by Kumiko Suekane
Shiro Kamiya is the only ordinary human kid at an exclusive private boarding school where every other student is a clone of a famous genius of some kind. Along with his best friends, Napoleon and Hitler, and his crush Marie Curie -
You may still be stuck mid-way through that sentence. I'll give you a minute.
Man, Freud, why you always gotta be like that...
This manga walks the shoujo-private-school-manga walk perfectly - sometimes you can't tell if it's aware of the absurdity of its premise. As any historian will tell you, the majority of important historical figures were actually shoujo manga characters, so there are plenty of scenes like this:
And this:
And this!
(That's Mozart.)
But at other times there's a self-awareness to it that makes me think it's going somewhere much crueler.
The cloning project, about which few of our spoiled heroes have thought too carefully, has been going on for some time. In the first chapter the adult clone of John F. Kennedy announces his bid for President of the United States - and is promptly assassinated. At the same time, Marie Curie, who has defied the school by saying she wants to study music, not science, is abruptly "transferred to a music school." You will note that I put that in scare quotes. Is Clone Academy harboring some dark secret?
The answer is yes. Yes, Clone Academy is harboring some dark secret. Possibly even two.
Shiro, the project's head scientist's son, has clearly been enrolled in the school as a mole for his father - though, being a Shoujo Heroine Plucky-Type v. 1.8, his trust in authority is complete, and he has no idea. (Literally every page I expect him to be revealed as a clone of the eugenicist Shiro Ishii, created to take over the project.) Though all seems cheerful on the outside, the stress of the school's expecations of the clones is - in ways both subtle and unsubtle - driving many of them insane.
(Hitler!)
Most of the clones seem to blame themselves for their failings, and a group of them have even started a secretive cult devoted to the worship and emulation of their perfect originals. Shiro's frenemy Freud is the only one of the heroes who seems to have the sense to suspect the motives the creators of the experiment. I suspect doom for Freud. Doom!
No, Freud! Don't sit down in a dimly-lit room and look furtively around you before entering a password! That is something that doomed people do!
I am really enjoying this, but have no doubt that all the heroes are going to be utterly savaged. Be warned!
(Oh, and another warning: the female characters, so far, are reeeally iffy. Somehow, I just don't think Queen Elizabeth and Florence Nightingale ought to be totally dependent on male approval! Doesn't seem right.)
The first volume of this is up on Viz's website for free. Go forth!
-
Otoyomegatari / A Young Wive's Tale, by Kaoru Mori
This is another gorgeous, charming, carefully-researched, occasionally-slightly-less-than-feminist historical comic by Kaoru Mori, artist of Emma.
If you like any aspect of this page, you will like the manga. If you don't, you'll probably also like it! Unless you have no soul. I cannot advise people who have no soul, and so generally exert myself not to attempt it. Maybe you guys should go read, like, friggin' Saber Marionette or something? Christ, I don't know.
I'm really only posting to say, Hey! Translation of the newest chapter just came out! Because I don't feel like reasonable people need to be convinced of this one.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 10:22 pm (UTC)I should mention (and should probably add this to the post) the the Dicebox website's navigation is a little broken in places - after chapter 6, you need to be sure to click through to the table of contents to get to the next chapter, because the helpful little "next chapter" links disappear.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 02:24 am (UTC)("Wrong" is probably the correct adjective for this manga!)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 05:35 pm (UTC)