Mangaman [Hardcover]

Barry Lyga (Author), Colleen Doran (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: November 15, 2011

East meets West in this innovative and very smart graphic novel by Barry Lyga, illustrated by Colleen Doran.

Sci-fi adventure meets love story—and East meets West—in Mangaman, an original
graphic novel for teens.
Ryoko, a manga character from a manga world, falls through the Rip into the “real” world—the western world—and tries to survive as the ultimate outsider at a typical American high school.
When Ryoko falls in love with Marissa Montaigne, the most beautiful girl in the school, his eyes turn to hearts and comic tension tightens as his way of being drawn and expressing himself clashes with this different Western world in which he is stuck in. “Panel-holed” for being different, Ryoko has to figure out how to get back to his manga world, back through the Rip . . . all while he has hearts for eyes for a girl from the wrong kind of comic book.
Barry Lyga writes a metafictive masterpiece as manga meets traditional Western comic book style, while Colleen Doran combines manga techniques and conventions with Western comic book

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An inventive offering, sure to please fans of both American and Japanese comics."—Kirkus, starred review

"Fantastic—in every sense of the word! Lyga and Doran have created an eye-popping fun-ride through the comics traditions of East and West. Fans of both comics and manga will love Mangaman. Colleen Doran’s encyclopedic, rapid-fire grasp of manga conventions blows my mind!"　—Jeff Smith, author of Bone　

"This is a wonderful, funny, touching story about the ultimate outsider seeking adventure and　love within the borders that surround us all.　 There's some seriously innovative storytelling going on here, and the artwork is sensational.　 If you're looking for a fun read, a romp, a rollicking good time...then seriously: buy this book."  —J. Michael Straczynski, New York Times Bestselling author of Superman: Earth One "This title will appeal to readers who are fans of both manga and Western comics or crossover titles such as Wolverine: Prodigal Son (2009) and X-men: Misfits (2009)."—Booklist "Esteemed artist Doran juggles manga and Western illustration styles effortlessly, capturing their defining characteristics with pitch-perfect accuracy." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Wonderfully quirky and subversive humor."--Bulletin

About the Author

Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek and the author of many books, including, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Goth Girl Rising, Boy Toy, and Hero-Type for HMH and Wolverine: Worst Day Ever for Marvel Books and Archvillian for Scholastic. He has also written comic books about everything from sword-wielding nuns to alien revolutionaries. He worked as Marketing Manager at Diamond Comic Distributers for 10 years. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Visit Barry online at www.barrylyga.com.

　

Colleen Doran, in a career spanning more than twenty years, has worked on some of the greatest characters in comics, including Superman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman, partnered with such writers as Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Her books include A Distant Soil and Girl to Grrrl Manga. She has traveled and lectured extensively in Singapore, Japan, Germany, and England, and served as Artist in Residence at the Smithsonian Institute in 2006.

She won a grant from the Delphi Institute to study American popular culture, and was chosen to represent the United States at the Japan/America manga/comics seminar in Tokyo.

Visit her website at www.colleendoran.com.

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (November 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547423152
• ISBN-13: 978-0547423159
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good times. August 4, 2011

By trashcanman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Mangaman is a metafiction comic exploring the differences between Japanese manga and the western graphic novel. The premise is a manga character suddenly appearing in a straightforward American comic. It's a quick and funny read that takes time to poke fun at the conventions of both mediums, be it the earnest straightforwardness of classic graphic novels or the obscene gender-bendiness of their Japanese counterparts. It's a great notion that will probably make a great film someday if anime and manga continue to increase in popularity.

The title protagonist, Kyoko, is the stereotypically effeminate manga/anime hero ("I don't know if I should kick it's @z$, or screw it!", relates one stunned male bystander). He describes the day he found himself transported to our world as "normal", which is to say he was hanging out with his "girlfriend" (a stubbly dude in a schoolgirl outfit....don't ask) and preparing to fight giant tentacled monsters in his mecha suit. So yeah, an average manga day. All of his exaggerated facial expressions and even the motion lines and visible sound effects make him as much of a freak as his cartoonish appearance and Kyoko finds he doesn't so much fit in in high school. But, as with both mediums, there's always that one girl who finds herself enamored with the stranger from another world and love is ready to bloom as the man from the East shows the beauty from the West that all of our lives are just comic books where we just move from one panel to the next, regardless of what direction it's read in.

Otaku should have a great time picking out the manga conventions made use/fun of in the story, which is broad enough for even those who don't have much knowledge of Japanese entertainment to grasp the gist of. There are some fourth wall hijinks involving censored nudity and the occasional panel-hop out into the borders of the story to add another layer of meta-humor to the mix as well. Mangaman does justice to it's semi-classic meta-comedy premise, but seems rather brief and very rushed at the end for a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. Nonetheless, a fun read whether you prefer good old fashioned American comics or Japan's more out-there brand of printed visual entertainment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story and great art March 16, 2012

By Jessica Izaguirre

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I loved this little love story about about a manga character trapped in the "real" world. The difference the between the real comic art and the manga art was nice too. I just wish it had been a little bit longer or the story deeper, but overall I enjoyed it a lot!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bending Your Expectations February 15, 2012

By Sarah Beach

Format:Hardcover

I came into reading MANGAMAN without a grounding in the conventions of manga comics - other than recognizing them when I see them. But I love the work of Colleen Doran and so was willing to go along for the ride. I'm very happy I did.

What I found was a delightful story that runs on all the tropes of high-school romance. The writing stays true to the emotional level and sophistication of high-school students (as in, the emotions are volitile and the psychological sophistication limited). But it also addresses something more than just the obvious story issue of being an outsider and the prejudice that comes with that. Lyga's story places his heroine, Marissa, in a rather tight social box -- everyone's expectations around her of what she's supposed to dress like, what she's supposed to do, who she's supposed to date -- all that is pushing at her on all sides. And then Lyga playfully finds a way to "let her out of the box."

Lyga plays meta-games with his storytelling, making the characters comment on the manner of their presentation. But he never talks down to the reader about it, instead assuming that any reader will in fact be smart enough to follow along. He plays fair by the rules of the worlds inside the covers of the book, and sticks to staying on point with the teen-romance.

For those who grouse about what this book does not do, I have to wonder what they were expecting? I opened the book knowing only that it was to be a cross-pollination of two different forms of graphic storytelling, and that the artist was one I trusted to deliver a story well. What I found was a thoroughly enjoyable storytelling romp.