Hey Readers!
We may or may not have talked about this in the past, but I’m not a huge manga fan. I don’t read it, but more than that, I’ve never really had the desire to read it. I’m a word girl – I want words to tell me a story and I’ve never been much into comic books. Therefore, I’ll be honest when I say that I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to read Svetlana Chmakova’s “Dramacon.” In fact, I really didn’t want to read it. However, I read it, and more importantly, I enjoyed it.
“Dramacon” definitely opened my eyes to manga as an art form AND a form of writing. After reading it (really reading it, as in, not just flipping through the pages and trying to get an idea of the story), I realized that manga really is a form of narrative. In “Dramacon,” Svetlana tells the story with words, but she also tells the story with illustration. The characters’ facial expressions, the scenery, the con costumes – they are all part of the story.
I guess what I’m trying to say, readers, is that “Dramacon” opened my eyes to manga. I haven’t become a total manga buff, I’m not sure that I’ll read more, but now I’m able to appreciate it for what it is – a unique art form that tells a story just as the written word can. So readers, if you think you’re not a fan of manga, give it a try. Read “Dramacon” … it certainly warmed me up to the genre.
Awesome! It's always great to hear about people giving the comics medium a try. You're absolutely right - the artwork is essential to enjoying them. They're sort of like the comics "version" or prose description, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Dramacon, but I have read a bit of Svetlana's more recent work, Nightschool, and highly recommend it.
(At the risk of being plug-y, I have a blog called Hey, Women, Comics! with a small-but-growing collection of recommendations, many of which include manga.)
http://heywomencomics.blogspot.com/
If you need a more personal rec, let me know, and I'll do my best to come up with something you might enjoy! :]
i love svetlanas book shes a great manga writer
ReplyDelete