Steady Beat Volume 1 [Paperback]

Rivkah (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Steady Beat | Publication Date: October 11, 2005

"Love Jessica"...That's what Leah finds on the back of a love letter to her sister. But who is Jessica? When more letters continue to arrive, along with flowers and other gifts, Leah goes undercover to find out her sister's secret. But what she doesn't expect is to discover a love of her own--and in a very surprising place! Winner of the Manga Academy’s Create Your Own Manga competition, Rivkah has crafted a beautiful and haunting comedy-drama that reminds us that there is no such thing as a simple love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Leah is a star high school athlete with a cool older sister named Sarai and a single mom who is a state senator in Austin, Tex. One day a letter meant for Sarai finds its way into Leah's backpack and she reads it. It's a love letter, and it's signed "Jessica." Thus begins the plot of this American manga by newcomer Rivkah. Leah can't believe her sister is gay—hasn't Sarai dated boys? Leah also constructs a humorous fantasy in which their harried mother kills Sarai when she finds out. A mysterious phone call from someone who saw Leah reading the letter sends the plot in another direction and ends with her getting hit by a car and waking up in the bed of Elijah, a handsome teenage boy who has two dads. The classic YA themes in play easily adapt to manga conventions—characters who mutate into demons and angels during especially dramatic moments, an emphasis on emotion over plotting and numerous story threads that will pick up in subsequent volumes. The art also sticks to the strongest aspects of manga, with appealing character designs set against background details that are by turns romantic and humorous. Steady Beat sets up enough mysteries and cliffhangers to bring readers back for future volumes. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: TokyoPop (October 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598161350
• ISBN-13: 978-1598161359
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #647,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I was hoping for more, June 19, 2006

By 

Brit "Brit" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steady Beat Volume 1 (Paperback)

On the encouragement of my online friends I picked up this book. After reading it I found myself wondering why they liked it.

The Good: I liked the inking in this book and I liked the backgrounds referenced from catalog pictures. I also liked some of the toning.

I wish there was more that I liked.

The Bad: The characters, especially the women all look exactly the same minus their hair and eye shapes which are slightly different. Sometimes. The mother and all of the older characters look too young, except the man in park who just looks like a troll and sticks out as if he didn't belong. The same faces and body shots were used over and over, to the point that I thought I was seeing the same face on every page. The character's expressions, when not freakishly wacky, looked pasted on and randomized some times with no correlation to the dialog. The characters would look mad in a panel but the accompanying dialog seems to say they were happy, hungry, or even bored.

I'm not usually bothered by most of this in other manga but the slow ponderous flat over the top story made me wish there was something more to the characters and art.

The story was painful. Most of the time I was either bored or wondering why I should care. Why does the fact that her sister might be gay matter? The main character while freaked out isn't prejudice and there is nothing in the plot of the sister being gay or not being gay that has any teeth. The book lacks real conflict in regard to this even though it is supposedly the main point. The Mother who is supposed to be threatening is never actually shown as a threat, but has a few moments where she yells and tells the kids to go to bed. Like a normal mother.

There's no bad guy, conflict, movement, edges, and the one guy in the park that is sort of scummy is played as a joke. The main character is perfect. Just not as perfect as her sister who is now not so perfect cause she may be gay- but you won't find out in this book because it ends before she says anything about it.

The drama in this book is turned all the way up to the point where it passes to bad, then parody, then back to bad again in it's excess. There is crying and sadness and glee and sheer mania but it all feels too forced and wacky to convey a powerful story of self discovery?? Family togetherness? Gay tolerance? I'm not even sure why the gay sister isn't the main character of this book as the straight sister doesn't have anything of interest in her life other then her sister's love life.

Also the story is too convenient. While pondering her sister being gay, although not in any prejudice way, the main girl gets hit by a car driven by a nice gay man with a long time boyfriend that has a hot normal son. She's not going to learn something about tolerance from this hot son of two gay parents, is she?

There was humor in this story but next to none of it was actually funny. The jokes felt forced and clichéd. I looked forward to the author's notes scribbled in the margins only cause they at least were not over the top, and rarely they were cute.

Read this at a library or look through it in the book store before buying it. Who knows you may love it or the next one in the series will be awesome but I can't recommend this first book at all.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing, October 2, 2005

By 

Edward Crumb - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steady Beat Volume 1 (Paperback)

The first review I gave this book was removed for no apparent reason, so I felt obliged to repost my thoughts.

Although trying to tackle the very modern issue of homosexuality, Steady Beat can't help but destroy its pacing and momentum with a ridiculous amount of, very stereotypical, "wacky moments" and stale humour. I understand the book is a comedy, but half the time the jokes and goofyness feel so forced, as if Rivkah has written herself into a corner and is unsure of what to do next. The story is just uninteresting and feels as if its heading nowhere, considering that the main "conflict" is hardly a conflict at all.

Although the art is beautiful at times, the characters tend to look very stiff and similar. I tried not to let it distract me from the comic as a whole, but at times its absolutely cringe-worthy.

Although she's stated her opinion on her distaste for the female comic stereotype plaguing the comic industry, Rivkah follows the conventional paint-by-numbers shoujo formula for her own male characters. Interesting.

Nothing ground-breaking here, overall a very forgettable book.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What it's like to discover a sibling or loved one is gay . . ., October 8, 2005

By 

Isabella De Luca - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steady Beat Volume 1 (Paperback)

I first stumbled across this book through my daughter; we're both manga fans, and she reads the artist's online journal. The premise is certainly fascinating. My brother is gay, and I was curious how "Steady Beat" would handle the coming out experience. Everybody reacts a little differently, and some simply don't react at all. How would Rivkah portray this experience not only through the gay character, but the straight ones as well?

"Steady Beat" is stunning in its simplicity. There is a modern edge to the art I find extremely appealing, and I like that it isn't as cluttered as lot of other titles I've read. The characters are expressive but not overly so. The protagonist's internal monologue is punctuated with facial expressions that are original but still recognizable. And I LOVE all the hidden motifs like the "elephant in the room" reference for uncomfortable moments and the Texan (and American) cultural context of the story.

However, what really jumped out to me about "Steady Beat" were the characters. They feel like real people--I found I could easily relate to the main character's thoughts and reactions to the situation--I remember a lot of the same confusion when my brother came out to me fifteen years ago, and found myself chuckling in recognition of her naivete. It's only a big deal when it's still a secret! So just ask her already!

While Leah is in sharp contrast to her "perfect" older sister, Sarai, both obviously have similar doubts and ambitions. I especially enjoyed the love-hate relationship between the two sisters. It's obviously they love each other, but like all siblings, it's a love hidden by default.

Of particular interest to me is the mother: she's a State Senator, and it's obvious this fact will be playing a pretty important role later in the series. But the creator for "Steady Beat" only lightly touches on this fact, hinting at a much deeper plot further down the line. Volume 1 feels more like an introductory story--establishing characters, setting, and theme--and setting up readers for a more fast-paced story.

My only complaint with the book as that it is at times difficult to follow where someone is talking or thinking to themselves. In chapter four, dialog balloons are missing. However, this didn't detract from my overall enjoyment and of "Steady Beat". It's beautifully drawn, reads smooth and quick, and I felt drawn into a world I really want to see more of. It's a delicious tease that leaves me eagerly awaiting future volumes!