Charisma Man
Charisma Man
|
|
| The Cover of Charisma Man |
| Check out Charisma Man |
| Sample 1 (big, 288K) |
| Sample 1 (small, 115K) |
| Sample 2 (big, 262K) |
| Sample 2 (small, 108K) |
| Sample 3 (big, 286K) |
| Sample 3 (small, 111K) |
Behold! CHARISMA MAN!
Neil Garscadden was interviewed a few weeks ago in the Japan Times about Charisma Man, a collection of some very funny comic strips about living as an expatriate in Japan. The article was a huge one-page article with funnies, a good interview, and a theme which is near and dear to this expatriate's heart. Also, as someone who has had more than twenty years of serious comic book reading and collecting behind him, I am also very much in love with graphic art, and graphic art story-telling. I was intrigued by this funny book and wrote an email to Neil asking him to send me a review copy. He kindly did, so now you can all read about something interesting that I found over here.
I might wax eloquently about the works of Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditka, Frank Miller, Art Speigleman, Shannon Wheeler, and Alex Ross, but I shan't bore you with the details. But those who know comics know how exciting it is to find someone who is innovative and funny, creative, and who pushes boundaries. These guys do some of that, and in fact, the first half of this little book (and I mean it, this book is not a mighty tome by any stretch!) is simply excellent. The art is phenomenal, and the style is recognizable in format, approach, and pen work. Nevertheless, the five-panel set up and punch line method is time-tested and true. And it works just fine for Charisma Man.
Charisma Man is basically “Single-Guy Expatriate in Japan Man” and it is a hoot to see this common theme captured so well in comic strip form. As mentioned before, the first half of this book has simply excellent art. Each strip was obviously a labor of love. Sadly the art rapidly diminishes in the last quarter of the text and is a mere shadow of its promise. The humor, luckily, is pretty solid all the way through. So kudos on that, but re-draw the strips you guys did on barstools with a magic marker in a dingy pub. The art is terrible and deserves a better effort!
To order Charisma Man you can place an order with the editor, or I might suggest you try this URL to speed things along:
http://www.rimjapan.com/yakyushop/charisma_man.html
Charisma Man is not available on Amazon, but I am sure one day it will be. Obviously with such a huge potential as being a perennial cult favorite with the expatriate crowds the cycle through Japan, this first collection of comic strips could be a collectors item. But then again, people did say the same things about pogs.
Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
September, 2003
This page is Copyright ©2003 Mark Groenewold
| Site Home | Book Reviews Home |
