I thought this was a really interesting comic and I wish I’d done a better job of dissecting it. I didn’t wanna get too crazy with the page layout discussion cuz I really woulda gone nutzoid and I’m glad you and Tulpa expounded upon it and did a better job of it than I did.
If I taught a comics class I think I’d use this book. I can’t think of anything similar from a top tier creator. It’s simultaneously super polished and super amateur hour and that’s just fascinating to me.
I think another interesting aspect of it is how compressed it is. Maybe I haven’t read enough failed/mediocre licensed manga but I wonder if the studio* had trouble adapting to a more limited format (I assume this ran over the course of 12 issues but maybe I’m wrong.) Also maybe they just didn’t give a shit cuz it was for Nintendo fucking Power.
Nintendo Power was really fucking cool looking back then though. That Terada art was the first time I saw Moebius-esque shit and it blew my fucking mind as a kid.
- Using studio here cuz I can’t help but think that Ishinomori was spending 99% of his hours on the golf course or at soaplands at this point in his career and only came in once a week to draw some eyes. This Is a totally baseless, likely unfair assumption but…I can’t help but be a cynic.