Customer Reviews

Steady Beat Volume 1

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

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I should start off by saying that this is the first ever graphic novel I've read!

The story is about a girl named Leah Winters who finds a letter that her sister dropped. It is signed "Love, Jessica" and Leah begins to wonder if her sister is gay. She receives a phone call with the person on the other end saying that they could explain it. She goes to the meeting place and her adventure begins. BUT before any huge plot could come in place the story freakin' ends! I absolutely was not expecting that. There was about 30 more pages, but it was a sample of a completely different story...apparently thats how a lot of comics are. Anyways, I should be getting volume 2 in the mail pretty soon. I will read/review that.

The graphics: Well, this comic is in black/white and, like I said, I have never read a comic before so I don't know what's a great comic and what's not when it comes to the art. I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to the pictures but they looked okay.

Rivkah, Steady Beat, vol. 1 (Tokyopop, 2005)

Not at all what I was expecting, I must say. Leah, one of her school's star soccer players, finds a love letter belonging to her sister Sarai signed "Love, Jessica." And worse, her mother's a Southern senator, and a Republican to boot. Rather than simply asking the question, Leah decides to investigate-- and it doesn't help that there seems to be a blackmailer involved. Not a bad beginning at all. Can't wait till vol. 2 comes in for me. ***

i was expecting more....

character development is *really* important to me... and i feel that there was not enough of it. i didn't get the sense of *knowing* the characters at all. this isn't to say the author didn't flesh out the characters in their head - maybe some of it just didn't communicate itself well across the pages. there were certainly scenes where you felt the potential for it, but ultimately it was a bit absent.

solid art style, paneling, toning. good premise.

for those who are more plot-centric, not people centric, this may yet be a good read for you.

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. I'm more into the usual American comics, but I picked this one up because of a recommendation from a friend. The dialog and pacing starts out a little stiff, but once you get past the first chapter, reading's a breeze, and you can really see the writer/artist starting to come into her own. The art itself is gorgeous--it has the typical manga "big eyes" but it's still original in it's own right, and THE HAIR! (Rivkah draws really beautiful hair)--and I really enjoyed the artist's style of pacing and paneling. She takes multiple panels to linger on a moment, heightening emotion, and drawing the reader directly into the main character's head.

It's a little difficult to judge a series off the first book alone. The first issue of "Steady Beat" does a great deal of setting up the characters and very little actual plot development, but it hints at what's ahead, setting up potential plot lines and twists. And taking so long to set up the characters, I really felt like I was in their heads, especially the main character, Leah. And I'm a guy!

Especially for a first work, "Steady Beat" is a great book, and I'm really looking forward to where it goes from here. The gay sister interests me the most, and I hope Rivkah explores her head a bit in future volumes instead of always following from Leah's perspective. But even if she doesn't, it's still a great quick and emotional read at a girl growing up in a pretty conservative state (Texas) who has the internal battle of more modern perspectives.

I can't claim to be an enthusiast of the form of Manga, but when a
friend who plays in the field of lobbyist politics told me about this
new graphic novel to come out, I wanted to take a look. It's not every
day to find a treatment of sexual identity in what I initially thought
of as "comics". I was pleasantly surprised.

While the plot is simple in theory, and it does seem to be bald-faced
in volume one, the author compensates by throwing the reader into the
middle of dynamic situations from the first page, leaving you
scrambling momentarily to figure out just where you are. You'll have
to look carefully to catch all the subtle reactions flickering across
the character's faces, the passing looks of annoyance or
embarrassment. It's surprisingly easy to find yourself carried along
with the text and miss some of the graphic element.

I liked the body styles and exaggerations. It was almost like being in
the characters head, while still standing as a viewer outside the
frame. While some readers may prefer a constant outside viewpoint,
reading through "Steady Beat" a third time still carries layers of
communication between the character and the reader (and character to
character) that reaches beyond the sometimes extreme contortions of
shock the main character finds herself in.

There's an obvious element to Rivkah's personality that transcends her
art, evident in tiny asides throughout Steady Beat, visual metaphors
and analogies, and unabashed vision. While this first effort from the
writer/artist does show opportunities for growth, the fact is this is
the beginning of a story that's sure to be riveting. There's soul
here, real art. It's definitely earned a place on my shelf

Ok, I'm not really goning to spend time telling you what this is about as several other people already have, what I will say is that this series is one of the few 'ameri-mangas' that I've actually liked on either an art level or a story level. As many people have said, the story starts a bit stiff and the characters are a bit typical but I'm hoping as Rivkah continues the work those things will improve. What I did like was that the story was actually a little different from the usual, of course time will tell if this holds up.

What really drew me to the series initially, however, is the fact that Rivkah's art is actually fairly solid. Though there are a few weak points, over all her line work is solid, she has good layout, and her work maintains a consistancy. Her choice of poses tend to be good ones and she has a solid sense of perportion. While she still has some growing as an artist to do of all the RSoM artists I've paged through she's one of the few that I actually enjoy reading. I don't know a better way to describe it, to me it feels like the manga style is a fairly natural fit for her where as many American artists seem to have to force their styles into the manga form. This is likely why so many 'ameri-manga' artists fail. At least that's how I see it. I look forward to the next volume and hope to see that Rivkah's abilities have grown in the last year.