Customer Reviews

Johnny Hiro

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read "Johnny Hiro" as a sample in The Best American Comics 2010, and it was the only selection in that anthology that impressed me enough to seek out the graphic novel. There was something infectiously happy about Johnny Hiro, his Japanese girlfriend Mayumi, and the hijinks as the sushi joint that made me want to read more.

While I thought this was going to be a twist on the slice-of-life-young-couple-in-New York genre, by page three of the collection I knew it was going to be completely different. While Johnny and Mayumi are asleep in their small apartment, the wall suddenly burst in and Mayumi is grabbed by Gozadilla, a giant monster out for revenge. It seems that Mayumi's mother was once the arm in a Voltron-like giant robot called Super A-OK Robot who beat up on poor Gozadilla. I kept waiting for the familiar reveal that it was all a dream-sequence, but eventually you realize that this is real, and that this is the story, which makes it oh so good. Eventually Mayor Blomberg walks into save the day, but Johnny and Mayumi's problems are just beginning.

This collection contains the four issues of the "Johnny Hiro" comic series, and each issue has some goofy delima mixed in with the very real worries of a young-couple-in-New York. Paying the rent. Keeping the jobs. Fighting off an attack by 47ronin employees of a company put out of business by a friend's company's IPO. Hanging with Coolio and David Byrne (Mayumi's comment was classic "You look very handsome. Sit fit you nice.") Catching with a giant tuna with chef Masago off the shores of Shikoku. Mayumi having troubles at work because of her perceived English skills. The restuarant being short of Aji. Johnny Hiro has some sort of strange karma that attracts weird troubles, and he is learning to roll with it.

So yeah, the series is a little bit sureal, a little bit sweet, a little bit goofy, a little bit cool, a little bit serious, and a little bit out-of-nowhere. But the whole packages comes together just right.

I love, love, love this book! The book combines the first three issues of Johnny Hiro with issues 4 and 5, as well as some bonuses here and there. The art is spectacular, the story is touching, and I just can't say enough good things about Johnny Hiro. I highly recommend this to everyone I know. Buy it, buy it, buy it!

I really just wanted to write that review title...but this is really an exemplary piece of cartooning, and one that I enjoyed wholeheartedly.

The two leads are instantly relatable and likeable, and Chao generates as much humor from that as he does the pop culture-inspired action pieces. The human connections are tangible: between Hiro and Mayumi, as well as the friends and family of theirs that we meet here. And as befits a comic book by a single creator, all of these strengths are provided and supported as much by the clean, energetic artwork as the writing.

Enjoyed the excerpt featured in Best American Comics of 2010, so I really wanted to buy the book. But after completing it, I was pretty disappointed. I hated Mayumi's character more and more (she's an extremely passive and ever-agreeable), and the plotlines all ran flat with somewhat surface-level action scenes in between.
I still stand by the "Lobster Run" chapter, which is great, but I don't recommend buying this.

This book is beautiful, endearing, romantic, funny, and it has dinosaurs! Truly, you can't beat that!

In creating Johnny Hiro, the author brings out the human hero in all of us. This is obviously a work from the heart - it is passionate and well crafted. In the world of Indy comics, this one really stands out.