ShutterBox, Book One: Orientation, Damien, Adrien and the Running of the Hyperpans [Paperback]

Rikki Simons (Author), Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2003

When Megan Amano dreams, she journeys to a place called Merridiah University, one of the afterlife's premier educational institutes. There she studies as an exchange student, learning the skills necessary to become a living muse. Traditionally, only spirits attend the University, where they are educated before being reborn into the world of the living. However, Megan is still alive. She attends college in Santa Monica, California by day and Merridiah University at night. One day, she finds mysterious pictures from the dream world in her digital camera. They reveal a mystery so deep that Megan is compelled to question her very existence and set forth on a quest to find the answers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Back in the 1960s, comic book racks were dominated not by superhero tales, but by westerns and horror. The cowboys may be long out to pasture, but this month, three comic book publishers are offering particularly good ways to revisit the scary stuff. In ShutterBox, a manga-style haunted romance from TOKYOPOP, a young girl's dreams lead her to a ghostly university where she's an earthly exchange student.
-- Chris J. Petropoulos, Washington Post

This is a really nice opening story for ShutterBox; it's got just the right hints of mystery, intrigue, and romance all tied into a neat package that I can't help but think this is going to do really well."
-- Greg McElhatton, iComics

Manga is not necessarily always from Japan. In fact, manga isn't restricted to any one geographical location or ethnic group. A manga artist or writer need not live in Japan or be Japanese. Manga is transcendent. It is an art form and not restricted by borders or race. In TOKYOPOP's ShutterBox, Rikki Simons and Tavisha team up to present a manga, with all the traditional Japanese symbolism and story structure, taking place in the U.S.A... ShutterBox is mysterious, foreboding, enchanting and compelling. In other words--a total manga experience.
-- Collectors' Corner

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Tokyopop (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591823617
• ISBN-13: 978-1591823612
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,277,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I must say....., December 31, 2003

By 

Liolania "In2Jesus" (Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: ShutterBox, Book One: Orientation, Damien, Adrien and the Running of the Hyperpans (Paperback)

I was immediately drawn into Shutterbox when I saw an add for it. The pretty, yet mysterious guy on the cover intrigued me, and since my brother had the first Volume, I figured I'd give it a shot. At first, I wasn't sure what I thought about it. In fact I didn't like it much at all really. And I was sad because the guy on the cover cuts his hair. :( hehe Okay, so I'm a dork, sue me.! :p Anyways, as others have said, the story is intrigueing:

A girl named Megan has been having weird dreams lately. She's been unsure what to do with her life, and she's been seeing people or things that she's not sure are real, her mother sends her to a psyciatrist, doesn't help much though. But then one night when she goes to bed she discovers just how real it is. That she has been chosen to be a Shutterbox, an exchange student at Merridiah Univrsity where dead people are trained to be muses, and she is there to be trained as a living muse.

The characters are interesting enough, I really like Adrien, I hope to see his character grow. And I REALLY *hope* to see Megan grow out of somewhat typical manga-girl character she is right now, and become something that is a more 3-dementional. Not say she's a flat character, but I was more intrigued with Damien and Adrien then I was her. What kept me reading was knowing that I would see Adrien. And that the plot itself is very interesting.

Shutterbox seems like a very promising manga, I have a feeling it will only get better once the characters are giving room to breath and live. I did like the chapter names and pics though. Esp. the title "Quixotic" made me think, that maybe this is more poking fun at the typical manga, and celebrating them as well, by having Megan be the sort of character she is. If you are familiar with Don Quixote or the Female Quixote(which I studied in college), then you will know that they are characters transfixed with a romance novels and detimerined to live the lives of the romance characters. I think in a way, that is what the authors here are doing. :D

Well that's my bit, you may or may not like Shutterbox, that my friend, is up to you.

God Bless & *Enjoy* ~Amy

PS: The artowrk takes getting used to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good..., May 11, 2005

By 

Devore D. L. Fortney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ShutterBox, Book One: Orientation, Damien, Adrien and the Running of the Hyperpans (Paperback)

Like a lot of people, I first came to know Rikki Simons from his work on Invader Zim. As I also happen to be a Manga/Anime fan, and since it's not often you see an official Manga by an American, I thought I'd give it a look.
To my opinion, Shutterbox is more Lolita than Gothic. The characters seem a bit too light to be Goth, and the clothing designs are quite Lolita. The art quality you might find resembling doujinshi more than anything, but the character designs are quite unique. The character Megan seems to be the usual bright, cheery girl in Manga who has found herself thrown into another world, which may be a little cliche, but Mr. Simons pulls it off well without making Megan appear too annoying. I am also a fan of top hats, so I give the character Thomas a thumbs up.
Overall, I have to say it was basically what I was expecting, and I'm looking foreward to the second volume that I ordered. Being Mr. Simons, I would have thought that the humor in Shutterbox would have been a bit darker and random (which shows in the scene with the exploding corpse) but overall the kind of humor you will find in Shutterbox will be "cute humor". As the first volume is mostly for exposition, the second volume should be even better.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars shutterbox....an interesting read to say the least, November 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: ShutterBox, Book One: Orientation, Damien, Adrien and the Running of the Hyperpans (Paperback)

shutterbox, it seems it's one of the first american mangas published. the plot i particualry like, since you often must read it over again, to get all the hints though at times it's a bit confusing. i wonder what audience this sory is aiming towards....the main character seems a tad too pre- teen princess at times, though the male characters are very interesting to watch.
abother thing is the art. it seems as though this particualr story,it tries a tad to hard to act shoujo instead of being drawn in it's own unique way. i was immediately impressed with the very lovely front cover and the first few pages of the story. though when megan is in the ofice of her shrink it's quality goes down it seems, whih is rather unair because there are some very lovely shots, and the gothic cute fahion desings are wonderful as well.
while the art , perhaps not the same level as clamp or paradise kiss, it's still recomendabl. while some scence (as when megan is crying about her mom) are a little pitful,the sucide is very well done. the plot is quite interesting and most of the chapter pictures are fun to look at.
don't expect and incredible amount from this book, but just take it for it's down points and it will probably very fun read at least.