Vol. 1, No. 3. June 2014. About the Artist Jose Sanchez was born and raised in Miami, Florida on March 10,1968,where he still lives today with his wife Aliana. At the age of six, he was introduced to fingerpainting. By first grade, he had picked up his first pencil, but it was not until the summer of 1977 when Star Wars hit the movie screens across America, that his imaginative spark was truly ignited! Like so many other people that were influenced by the cult phenomenon, he was too. So much so, that this led him to seriously explore and develop his talent for creating art further. As time has gone by and he has honed his skills, he has been notably influenced by the works of Science Fiction and Fantasy artists such as: Stephen Youll, Donato Giancola, Chris Moore, Tim White, Jim Burns, David B. Mattingly and Michael Whelan, to name but a few.
He attended Lindsey-Hopkins Technical Education Education Center in Miami, Florida where he received a certificate in Commercial Art Technology-majoring in illustration and minoring in Graphic Design. Jose would ideally like to see himself one day working professionally in the motion picture industry as a Concept Artist. He had previously worked on a low- budget SF/Super Hero Animation flick titled: “Shadow Runner”, designing the individual character’s spaceships. “They tend to depend more on technology than they do on their own superpowers”. He is also interested in the publication and gaming markets. To one of his many credits, which have included several fanzine covers and one semi-prozine cover and interior artwork.
Also appearing in the official LucasFilm Star Wars Insider magazines: “City Patrol”, was chosen for publication in the March/April 2006/issue #86.
“Oil Bath”, “Artoo”, “Pair of Jawas” and “Land of the Rising Suns” in April 2014/issue #148 now being published by Titan Publications and online at starwars.com on the Jan.15,2014 Blog article: Bantha Tracks: Best of the Year, Online edition: “AT-AT Driver” and in the Blog article: Bantha Tracks: Art Galaxy, March 2014 “ Djas Puhr-Settling The Score!”
Much of his art can be currently seen at efanzines.com. One of the problems with doing a fanzine while also being a college student, is that your ‘zine lives and dies (or is delayed) by the whims of your school schedule. In particular, I ended up learning the hard way that I was not able to put together a fanzine over the one week that I got for spring break. I could get all the articles written, but by the time all of that was done, I was out of time to do the important task of doing layout.
So, at long last I’ve come to the third issue, and my initial plan of having this be a quarterly is somewhat out of whack. Further, I only really had time to read one novel over the past few terms - the urban fantasy novel Magic Bites, which has a review this issue. I’m also continuing with my anime & manga articles, with a discussion of some series which require a few pre-requisites in order for you to get the most out of them.
As always, if you have fan-art you’d like to run in the fanzine, or you’d like to submit an article (or comment on one of my articles), feel free to shoot me a LoC at [email protected].
- Alexander Case Contents The Mailbag 5 Internet Reviewer Recommendations 8 Review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier 10 Anime & Manga 201 – Shows with Pre-requisites 12 Book Review – Magic Bites 19 The Mailbag
Before I get started I do want to apologize for the delay. I had intended to send this as soon as I finished Breaking I didn’t have time to get an issue together over the week It Down #1, but #2 came out before I finished #1, so now of Spring Break. However, because of the delay, I have a I’m writing a combined LOC on both issues. bunch of Letters of Comment. The letters will be in bold, while my responses will be in plain text. I really enjoyed it Breaking It Down - I’m hoping there are many more issues to come. I’m really happy to First up is a letter from Jin Mowatt of the TransAtlantic Fan see someone significantly younger than me (I’m 40) Fund producing a fanzine, helping to ensure that the fans in my age group (Chris Garcia and James Bacon are also about Hello Alexander my age, I think) aren’t the end of the line for fanzine Loads of energy. fandom. Many congrats. I liked your idea of using anime programming and a connection with the local anime conventions in order to Will we see you at Loncon 3 this year? bring new blood into fandom. This got me to thinking about the conventions I attended in the early 1990s If so then please seek me out and I’ll buy you a pint. (before I had kids, and hence the last time I attended I have no love for anime but do like the energy in this conventions with any regularity), which in retrospect zine. There’s joy and exuberance. I see you met some seems to me like kind of a golden age for conventions. excellent folks. Jerry and Suzle and Ben Yalow are Fandom was big enough that they could organize decent- absolutely delightful people. sized conventions, but still small enough that all the different fandoms had to band together to produce a con. BTW please give some publicity to the Trans Atlantic Fan You’d go to a con and have RPGs, wargaming, literary Fund http://taff.org.uk. programing, a movie room, an anime room, a room A worthy cause and something that I suspect you will be showing nothing but Star Trek, etc., and everyone played running for yourself at some point in the future. well together. I think it would be good if we could find a way to return to that sort of inclusive fandom. Kind regards Warren Buff’s LOC gave me great hope for the future Jim Mowatt of fandom. I’m 40, and I’d gotten used to always being the “youngest guy in the room” where fanzines are Sadly, I won’t be able to make it to LonCon 3. It’s the curse concerned, but that didn’t mean I liked it. I’m glad to see of being a college student. Sasquan 2015 is a bit more people younger than me coming along publishing zines. likely for me. Having had the time to read up on TAFF, I feel (And doing a great job, too - I’m going to have to step up comfortable in saying that TAFF is awesome, and people my game!) reading this who have a few bucks (or Euros, or Pounds) to spare, should definitely chip in, as TAFF is certainly worth I really enjoyed your manga recs. Looking at the variety supporting. I’ll try to remember to bring up TAFF on my of manga available really plays up just how restricted the web show as well. subject matter of American comics is. One of my favorite manga is With the Light, about the challenges of raising As far as the anime thing goes, in addition to discussing SF an autistic child (a subject I’m all too acquainted with). and Fantasy anime and manga (and SF and Fantasy novels, It’s got really powerful writing - I can’t read more than naturally), I’ll also be bringing up a few SF and Fantasy one chapter at a sitting because I get overwhelmed with video games along the way as well (including a review this emotion. Also, did you know that two of the longest issue of Bioshock Infinite), so hopefully there’s something running manga are cooking manga aimed at young men? of interest for everyone, as well as, hopefully, something It’s true: Oishinbo and Cooking Papa. I’ve read several of new for everyone. the Oishinbo compilation volumes that Viz published and Thank you for reading, Jim! really enjoyed them. My only complaint was that they were thematic compilations; I’d love be able to read the Next is my first letter from Jason Burnett. whole series (though my wallet is probably glad I can’t). Hi Alexander! Take care, Jason Burnett first season, and it was on Star Trek. However, I doubt you’d find that on YouTube or anywhere else online…I With The Light is a manga I’ve really enjoyed reading as think TVOntario ditched the whole of season 1 as being well. I haven’t read Oishinbo yet, but I’ve added it to my a little too weird for an educational broadcaster. Nathan massive to-read list. I’d also recommend, for the foodies Madison’s loc…there are some pulp fans in the Toronto out there (particularly those who enjoy wine), the manga area, and there is a single-day pulpcon held here each Drops of God , which is basically a very well researched, year. The next one is coming up in May. We haven’t been drawn, and written manga about wine. While I understand to it for some time, but may go this year. Fandom now the segmentation of conventions, and why it has happened spans a wide range of ages and interests, and we’ve got (anime like Clannad, Genshiken, and manga like Crows to bring it all together at some point. aren’t exactly Genre), I do think that there room for more cross-pollination among fandom. Day of the Doctor…now, I am not a Doctor Who fan, but I did sneak a few views of this, and I thought the DW fans To really torture an analogy, too much in-breeding in would love it, and the vast majority of them seem to have fandom can lead to the fandom equivalent of the pug- done just that. After some years of regeneration after dog that has difficulty breathing. To put it another way regeneration, Peter Capaldi may be an actor who will – while I’m a fan of Doctor Who, having the nominees settle down with the role…he was a big DW fan himself for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form for the past 2 in his youth, and now, he has achieved what must be for years (including this one) fit in the pattern of 1 episode of some the ultimate dream…to become the character he Game of Thrones (admittedly great episodes of Game of always liked. Thrones), 1 episode of Something Else (Orphan Black or Fringe), and the rest of the list being packed to the gills Done for now, and I’ve got to get dinner on the go. to Doctor Who gives short-shrift to other great works of Thanks for this, take care, and see you with the next SF and Fantasy being put out in the past few years, from issue. Japanese anime on TV like Log Horizon, Gargantua on the Verdant Planet, and Psycho-Pass, to western animation like Yours, Lloyd Penney. Adventure Time, and Legend of Korra. Lloyd, I do indeed enjoy this way of communicating. One of Part of my hope for the fanzine is diversify some of the things I like about writing, whether as fanzine articles, the nomination categories a little, and add works and message board posts, blogs or what have you is it lets mediums (like anime and video games) to the discussion me simultaneously be candid and off the cuff, while also that I suspect haven’t been brought up in a while. I might letting me look at the big picture of what I’m saying and even bring up Star One or Rhapsody of Fire’s next albums how I’m saying it – something that’s hard to do with my whenever those come out. (That reminds me, I need to videos, with perhaps the possible exception of my scripted listen to Clockwork Angels). episodes. I hope you enjoy this issue, Jason! I think I have seen that episode of Prisoners of Gravity, and I believe it was put up on YouTube. I’ll have to go back and Next is another letter from Lloyd Penny. re-watch it. Dear Alexander: As far as bringing Pulp fandom in among other fandoms, fortunately Dynamite Comics is taking some steps to bring Thanks for another Breaking It All Down, issue 2. I gotta comic fandom back together with pulp fandom, with their ask…enjoying this way of communicating? It may not be new comics based on The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Spider, the newest way of doing it, but I guess if you’re willing to and The Phantom. Dark Horse has a similar comic going do a second issue, this must be something you like. on right now for Captain Midnight. The early issues of Chris Garcia isn’t my age, but I do remember the term Dynamite’s The Shadow were a little rough. I blame Garth Japanimation, especially from those pioneers who Ennis a little for this, for this – as his superhero writing in brought it to Toronto fandom’s attention way back in the general is pretty rough, particularly since Ennis tends to fall 80s. I’ve been in fandom since the late 70s, but meeting back on potty humor. However, the current writer of The people like Dave Kyle, who can trace his own fannish Shadow is pretty good, and The Shadow: Year One, which activity back to the 30s, shows me that there’s something is written by Matt Wagner (who wrote the comic series in fandom that keeps some people around for close to 60 Grendel) is also well done. years. I am finding it, and I hope it stays interesting long I look forward to your next letter, Lloyd! enough for me to hit that 60-year mark. Last up is a letter from Jerry Kaufmann. My loc…the episode of Prisoners of Gravity I was on was Eventually I got around to printing out this issue to read unfortunately. I don’t know if Mr. Moorcock has ever used in comfort, and even more eventually, this letter. mind-altering substances, but A Cure for Cancer felt like it was written on the same amount of drugs that Hunter I’ve been on some of the “Wither Fandom?” and S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta used on the trip that lead “Fandom, Withered?” panels that discuss the apparent to the creation of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, except aging of fandom. Of course, it’s “fandom-as-we-know-it” that the drugs were used by just one person, instead of that’s aging, and that group includes me and fans in my being split between two people, leading to a work that age range that started back when fanzines were much felt divorced from any concept of reality, with very little more central to the fan paradigm. We got to conventions internal consistency. once in a while, but if we didn’t have a local club, then our main fannish interactions took place through the I look foreward to meeting Jerry at OryCon again this year, mail. Fanzines were a better way to contact people than and hopefully I’ll remember to get a picture taken with you letters (although some of us wrote monumental numbers all. of letters) in that not only did we reach more people, we also got to show off our various skills. But I have seen more new fanzines on eFanzines in the last half a year from people new to me; I will investigate more to see what they’re up to - and what their age bracket is. I didn’t know just how young Warren Buff is, and didn’t know he’d have an interest in fanzines. Nathan Madison’s name is unfamiliar. Good to see new people in the letter column, and I hope they both look into other zines. Remind them that Suzle’s and my ‘zine Littlebrook is on eFanzines, too. I read The Final Programme around the time it came out, and re-read it just a couple of years ago in preparation for a panel discussion at Renovation, the subject being “Science Fiction in the 1970s.” I remember liking it when I first read it, but also noticed it had the same plot as “The Dreaming City.” I thought Moorcock was being lazy when he transferred the plot to TFP, and said so in a letter to Dick Geis’s fanzine of the time. The next issue carried a response from Charles Platt, informing me that I was an idiot for not understanding that this was part of Moorcook’s planned cycle of stories, “The Eternal Champion,” and his idea that newer heroes recapitulate the stories of earlier heroes. I never decided if this was brilliance or bullshit. Thanks for more suggestions of good anime and background on manga, your experiences at OryCon, and all that. We’ll see you at this year’s OryCon. Jerry Well, as Jerry said, Littlebrook is up on eFanzines, and I definitely recommend checking it out. As far as The Final Programme goes, it’s probably a little of both. The concept is modified from The Dreaming City just enough that you can see the framework, but once you get outside of the grounds of The Dreaming City, it goes in some interesting directions. I tried reading some of the next book in the series (A Cure for Cancer), and I didn’t enjoy it as much, Internet Reviewer Recommendations
When I started this fanzine, I decided to pick a name that would make the zine an outgrowth of my web show. The idea behind this was in part to connect the zine to my show, so readers looking for more could check out the show. The other reason was that, hopefully, that if readers liked my show, they’d check out other critics like me. So, here are a few recommendations for video reviewers who cover SF and Fantasy material, whether as prose fiction, graphic novels and comics, video games, or film and television, who you might enjoy. I’ll be focusing on critics who are currently active, and I’m not putting these in any particular order – I enjoy these critics work all equally. I’ll be doing more recommendations in the future, particularly for issues where I don’t have con reports. For this issue, I have two picks and an honorable mention. Honorable Mention: You Can Play This - Justin “JewWario” Carmichael Justin Carmichael, better known as JewWario, was an internet critic who focused on review of Import console video games – video games that were released in Japan that didn’t get a release in the US for home consoles. His series “You Can Play This”, not only gave reviews of import games, but also provided information on how to play these games, and how to get them. The show helped to educate viewers like myself on how to import games, and to build the confidence to purchase and play import games in the future. While some critics, like The Nostalgia Critic and the Angry Video Game Nerd use an abrasive and aggressive tone in their videos, Justin was different. He used a more reserved and friendly tone. He didn’t just want to review the games, he wanted to teach and share his love for import gaming with a wider audience.
Additionally, as some critics include narrative elements in some of their videos, Justin introduced a narrative to his videos based on the Japanese SF/Fantasy superhero television series “Kamen Rider” (or Masked Rider). The storylines were generally very tongue-in-cheek, Justin Carmichel - 1971-2014. but were well put together and entertaining.
Unfortunately, Justin took his own life in early 2014. Thus, while I said earlier that I was focusing this list on critics who are currently active, I feel I can make an exception to Justin, as if he was still with us, I have no doubt that he would still be putting out videos. As it is, he has left us with a wonderful body of work, including an excellent series of videos focusing on how to play import games and how to purchase them.
Justin Carmichael’s videos can be seen at http://youcanplaythis.com/ SF Debris – Chuck Sonnenberg SF Debris is a review series hosted by Chuck Sonnenberg, which focuses entirely on SF and Fantasy television series and movies. The show started out focusing on Red Dwarf and the various parts of the Star Trek franchise, before including SF films, from feature films like Gattica and Dark City, to made-for-TV fare like The Day After.
Chuck’s tone tends toward the jocular, but his reviews are clearly written as reviews first and exercises in comedy second. Chuck’s here to entertain, but he’s not going to let jokes get in the way of commenting on how effective something is, particularly when it comes to very dramatic and serious material like, The Day After. While Chuck doesn’t review literary SF, he clearly isn’t ignorant of it in his works, and makes references to it when appropriate. Also, he doesn’t appear on camera in his reviews keeping the focus on the work being reviewed, and on his opinions about the work. Not to say that I don’t like reviewers who are on-camera, this stylistic decision definitely distinguishes Chuck from most other critics on the internet. Episodes of SF Debris can be found at http://www.sfdebris.com/
Atop The Fourth Wall – Lewis “Linkara” Lovhaug Atop The Fourth Wall, Linkara’s show, can probably be described as “MST3K for bad comic books”. Linkara’s focus is on comic books, generally superhero comics and SF comics, with some occasional fantasy and conventional comics tossed in there as well. Linkara also generally focuses on reviewing bad comics, and explaining why they’re bad and also making fun of the comics for their failings. Linkara does occasionally review good comics (such as his comprehensive retrospective on the Teen Titans), but he focuses on the bad stuff because it’s easier to make reviews of them entertaining. As it is, his reviews are insightful and his jokes work really well for me.
Aside from the subject matter, one of the points that distinguishes Linkara from other comic reviewers is his use of storylines in his reviews. His frames some of his reviews with narrative sections somewhat modeled around superhero comics, with the character of Linkara having to contend with some sort of alien or paranormal threat against him (and occasionally the world). The storylines tend to be played straight, though they usually have some sort of absurdity to them that makes them work.
This is helped by the variety of characters that Linkara plays in his storyline segments, along with some guest segments in his reviews. For example, he has the character of “The 90s Kid” to parody the excesses of Rob Liefeld and other comic writers and artists in the ‘90s, and the character of “Doctor Linksano” (based on a character created by another critic – Noah Antweiler) who is used to poke fun at some of the more absurd plans made up by various mad scientists in comic books.
Atop The Fourth Wall can be seen at http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/ Review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier Disney and Marvel, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have been doing an excellent job of building a combined world, with a story interlacing between multiple films and an increasing cast of characters. In short, they are managing to make a manageable version of the big crossover events that happen so often in comic books. I say manageable because instead of spreading the storyline between 8 or more ongoing titles that will cost you $4 apiece over several months, they’re doing it over a handful of movies coming out every couple months, and paced enough that if you can’t afford to see them when they first hit theaters, you’ll still be able to see the movie in a second-run theater before the next movie comes out. The latest installment in the franchise is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which loosely adapts the storyline penned by Ed Brubaker. As of this issue, the film is still not yet out on DVD, so I’m going to refrain from giving away spoilers for those who missed it in theaters and who have remained unspoiled. The storyline involves Captain America, who is currently doing missions for SHIELD, running up against a mysterious cybernetically augmented assassin called The Winter Soldier, with Cap trying to find out the assassin’s identity and goals, and ultimately stop him, with Cap discovering that the assassin’s identity relates very closely to his history and some of his missions in World War II. I say “loosely”, because the original storyline had The Soldier going after some of Marvel’s other legacy heroes – successors to heroes who had fought alongside cap during World War II, like Union Jack. Here, the Soldier is related to a different threat – a mysterious conspiracy that is targeting SHIELD, one brazen enough to launch an assassination attempt against Nick Fury in broad daylight. After the attack, Cap and Black Widow have to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, while trying to figure out who they can trust. Chris Evans continues to deliver an excellent performance as Captain America, to the point that when I read last month that Evans was planning to take a break from acting to go behind the director’s chair after his contract was up, I became somewhat concerned as I was unable to figure out who could play Captain America as well as Evans does. Steve Rogers is a character who could very easily turn in to a gosh-and-gee-willikers over-naïve caricature in the hands of the wrong actor. Evans, in all three of the films in the MCU he’s been in thus far, has managed to avoid that, giving Cap a forthright earnestness that makes him work. Like the best written versions of Superman, Evans recognizes Cap works as a character who doesn’t blindly follow, who has a moral compass which he follows, and when he sees someone doing something that is morally wrong, he’ll call them out on it. There’s a great example of this in a scene relating to a part of a sub plot of the main plot. SHIELD is working on the Insight project, which consists of three semi-autonomous helicarriers directed by an orbital satellite and an algorithm that gives them targeting information on terrorists who are current threats or potential future threats to the US. The “potential future threats” part concerns Cap, and when Nick Fury shows him the carriers and tells him about this, Cap calls him out on it. The scene, and Cap’s speech in particular, are very well written, but as good as those parts are, Chris Evan’s performance sells it even more. Evans skill in the role is brought to the fore by the film’s b-plot, which relates to Rogers attempting to re-accommodate himself with civilian life after missing a little over half of the 20th century. This is done through Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. Wilson is a former officer with the Air Force who handled SAR missions for downed pilots in Afghanistan, who is now working with the VA to help provide counseling for vets with PTSD. Through this plot, the story uses Captain America’s origin story, and in particular his status as a man out of time, to talk about the difficulties some soldiers have re-integrating in society after serving overseas. The film isn’t exactly subtle about this, but that’s okay, particularly considering this is the B-Plot. Additionally, Mackie is perfect in the role of Sam Wilson/Falcon, and the character is written incredibly well. Much as Cap, from the very beginning, could have been a super-white-bread caricature, Falcon could have become a sidekick without agency, always a step behind Cap in every respect. Instead, the writers recognize that while Falcon can’t literally keep up with the physical abilities that the Super Soldier Serum grants Cap, Falcon can still bring things to the table that won’t make him a third wheel, both in terms of the flight-suit which is pictured in the film’s poster, and in terms of helping Cap adjust to the 21st century. The main plot, with Cap and Widow trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, plays like a super-powered version of some of the ‘70s conspiracy spy-thrillers like Three Days of the Condor. The script is tightly plotted, with all sorts of very well written twists and turns. The films main twist could have been foreshadowed a bit better, as there’s no foreshadowing in any form for the reveal. The foreshadowing might have been done in the Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD TV series, but if so, it’s disappointing that the tease of the reveal is in a work that some of the film’s viewers might not have had a chance to see before. Throughout the film, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson have tremendous chemistry. The two play off each other very well, with Scarlett and the script giving Black Widow a sense of humor that she hasn’t had in her either of her prior appearances, and with Evans playing Cap as the perfect straight man for the situation – serious, but not uptight. Additionally, the characters are written as friendly without being romantic, which is a nice touch. Generally when you have a male and female lead they end up romantically involved, even if in the work being adapted, they aren’t being romantically involved (for example, Cap being involved with Sharon Carter/Agent 13 in the comics, and Widow being initially romantically involved with Hawkeye). On the minus side, some of the action sequences tend to get dangerously close to the realm of shaky-cam. I understand a director wanting an action sequence to feel kinetic and chaotic. However, as someone who grew up on martial arts films, I recognize that fight choreographers, stunt performers, and actors put a lot of work into making fight scenes look good. I want to be able to appreciate that work, and if I can’t get a good grasp of what’s happening, I’m not able to enjoy the fight scene and I’m also potentially unable to get the emotional response the director, the actors, and the choreographers are trying to provoke from the scene. I was able to keep track of the action, when it got into the shaky- cam, but it took every ounce of concentration I had. Still, this is an excellently written and acted film that is going to have some significant repercussions on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. I don’t need to tell you to see this film if you’ve been actively following the MCU. However, if you’ve been more casually following the Marvel movies, I’d say this film is definitely worth checking out. Anime & Manga 201 – Shows with Pre-requisites In my last three articles on anime and manga, both for this ‘zine and The Drink Tank, I discussed anime series and manga that were good introductions to the medium for SF fans who had also enjoyed anime & manga in the past and had lost interest, or were completely new to the medium. These were works that you could come in and enjoy without any prior knowledge of the medium. These were works that generally didn’t require prior knowledge of other works of anime or manga to appreciate the story. However, not all works of anime are like this. There are some great works which build off of the works created by other writers and artists in the past, from telling new stories to de-constructing earlier stories. For this next little sequence of articles, I’ll be talking about some of these works, and the series that they build off from. In particular, I’ll be focusing on major works that you may see come up often as you look for more SF and Fantasy anime and manga to check out. This issue I’m taking a look at a couple of series by a creator who I’ve discussed previously when reviewing the book Notenki Memoirs back in my first issue – GAINAX.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Neon Genesis Evangelion is a show is heavily discussed and somewhat controversial amongst anime fans. Fans tend to be torn over whether this series, directed by Hideaki Anno, is a work of unmitigated genius, or a work by a creator who has his head firmly wedged up his keester. My view of the show is somewhere in the middle. It is very well written show, though it’s one that expects a certain degree of cultural background that viewers might have, and also builds off a bunch of other works. In short, Evangelion is a deconstruction of the Super Robot genre of Japanese science fiction and fantasy. You’ll note that I didn’t specify anime and manga there. This is because, to a certain degree, while giant robots are frequently related to anime, Super Robots – giant-robots that are effectively superheroes, fighting monsters sent by vile supervillains, appear not only in animated works and works of sequential art, but also in live action as well – from Mecha-Godzilla in the Godzilla franchise, to Giant Robo (which was aired on US TV as Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot), to the various ‘Zords in the Power Rangers franchise (Super Sentai in Japan). Evangelion follows Shinji Ikari, a high school student in a semi-post-apocalyptic Earth. The Earth’s climate has been dramatically effected by an event known as “Second Impact”, a catastrophe that struck Antarctica. Shinji has been sent to join his emotionally distant father, Gendo, in Tokyo-3 (Shinji’s mother having died several years before the show starts). On arriving, and after being picked up by one of Gendo’s subordinates, Misato Katsurugi, Tokyo-3 is attacked by a giant monster called an “Angel”. Misato takes Shinji to the semi-secret organization that Gendo is in charge of, NERV, which is building humanity’s only weapon against the Angels – the Eva Units, massive giant robots that can probably be better described as cyborgs than just robots, as they contain organic and technological elements. On arriving, Shinji discovers why he’s been brought here – to pilot an Eva against the Angels and help save humanity. As the series goes on, the audience, and the shows characters, end up learning some of the dark secrets around the background of the setting, from the origin of the Angels, who NERV’s backers are, and all the various conspiracies and wheels within wheels that are moving throughout the settings. In addition, this war for the fate of humanity wears a psychological toll on Shinji, his fellow pilots, Asuka Soryu Langely, and Rei Ayanami, and the other staff members who work for NERV, particularly Misato, who serves as Shinji and Asuka’s guardian. Evangelion debuted as a 24 episode TV series, which was very highly regarded, and which had a degree of cultural permeation that I’d compare to The X-Files or Lost in the US – in the sense that while not everyone watched The X-Files, if you whistled the first few bars of the theme when something weird was going on, people would get the reference, and The Cigarette Smoking Man basically became cultural shorthand, at least for a time, for sinister conspiracies. The ending of the Evangelion TV series was controversial and felt anti-climactic in the eyes of some, as the series basically ends with a sort of variation on Jean-Paul Sarte’s No Exit, set in Shinji’s psyche. Consequently, GAINAX, and the show’s director Hideaki Anno followed up the series with a feature film which serves as an either alternate or supplemental ending (depending on who you ask). This film, titled The End of Evangelion, had another film released before it titled Death & Rebirth of Evangelion, which was made up of a short compilation sequence (titled Death) which recapped the character relationships and traits of the shows leads (as opposed to recapping the events of the series), and a portion of the first half of End, with the title of Rebirth. All three of these, the series and the films, were licensed for US release, but are currently out-of-print. However, Evangelion isn’t too hard to find, particularly in the form of the series “Platinum Edition” release. This version includes some alternate versions of several episodes that incorporate new footage made for the recap sequences in Death in addition to some expanded information to expand on the background of the series. Evangelion was also adapted as a manga, which began while the series was running, and due to various reasons just finished in Japan last year. All of the manga up to the last volume have been released in the US, and are currently in print. Anno, along with his new animation studio, Studio Khara, have also started retelling the story of Evangelion through the Rebuild of Evangelion series. The first film adapts the first 4 episodes of the show very faithfully, before shifting off the tracks of the original series in the second film, and going completely into new territory in the third installment, which was shown in US theaters in 2013, and released in Japan in 2012. The Rebuild films stand-alone moderately well, though there some bits that have more impact if you have prior knowledge of the series. All of the films to either have been released on DVD in the US or are due to be released on DVD in the US. As Evangelion is a deconstruction of the super robot, it does assume that you have some passing familiarity with the genre. It’s the same way that Watchmen requires readers and viewers have an understanding of superheroes. While casual readers and viewers who know nothing about superheroes can get something out of Watchmen, someone who has read superhero comics before, or seen superhero films, or watched TV shows with superheroes in them (whether animated works like Batman: The Animated Series or Justice League, or live action works like The Flash, or the 1960s Batman series) will get more out of it. These viewers will get that Alan Moore is trying to explore what kind of person would put on a flashy costume and fight crime, and what getting the kind of super powers that Doctor Manhattan develops would do to a person’s psyche and ultimately their worldview. In the same way, if someone who is relatively new to anime and manga were to buy Evangelion on DVD or as the manga, without any familiarity with super-robot shows, you can still appreciate it. However, with a little additional viewing I think you’ll get a little more out of it. In particular, viewers will be able to appreciate how the show uses the dramatic tropes of the super robot genre to explore how piloting a giant robot (particularly one that has sensory feedback as the Eva’s do, with their organic components), in life-or-death combat over time can take a psychological toll on their pilot. I’m not going to go much further into the tropes that are played around with in the work here, so I don’t spoil the plot, as I do recommend that you check it out. Instead, I’m going to give a few shows that play the Super Robot genre straight that are worth checking out.
Gao-Gai-Gar GaoGaiGar is part of a long running franchise of super robot anime called the “Brave” series, consisting of 8 generally unrelated super-robot anime series. The show follows the titular robot, GaoGaiGar, and its pilot, Guy Shishioh, as they face alien creatures called Zondarians who threaten humanity. Helping guy is Mamoru Amami, a young boy who has the strange ability to purify the cores of the monsters the Zondarians send against humanity, creatures which are powered by transformed humans who are under great psychological stress. The show is 49 episodes long, and while it’s good, some of the early stages of the show’s narrative tend to fall into the trap of using “monster of the week” stories to pad things out, before the narrative kicks into high gear after you get past the first third of the series. The animation is still very good, and the music is enjoyable, but the narrative for the first third just doesn’t have anything to hook a viewer who hasn’t already been grabbed by the action. To a certain degree, this is due to the origin of the Super Robot genre – toy sales. Many super robot series were either created around a toy concept, or were adapted to animation or live action because a toy company thought that a work from a particular series could work for toys. A good example of the former scenario (a Super Robot series being created to sell toys) is the Transformer franchise, in addition to the “Brave” franchise. The next show I’ve got to talk about, Mazinger Z is a good example of the latter case. GaoGaiGar was licensed for a US release by Media Blasters, and while the DVDs are out of print, they aren’t too hard to find. The first season will run about $25 used on Amazon, while the second season runs higher, around $50. I think this is due to the second season having a lower print-run, but I’m not certain about that. The show is also available on disk from Netflix. Mazinger Z Mazinger Z comes from the mind of Go Nagai. Nagai is a creator whose work can be hit or miss. On the one hand, in addition to creating Mazinger Z, which was one of the first Super Robot series to feature a piloted giant robot, Nagai created the character of Cutey Honey, who was the first Magical Girl character to be written as a superhero, and who I’ll talk about more in a later article. On the other hand, he created series like Kekko Kamen, which basically exists as a look at Nagai’s raw, unchecked id. Mazinger Z follows Kouji Kabuto, whose father had designed the giant robot Mazinger Z before Kouji’s parents were killed in a mysterious accident in Greece. Kouji soon learns his parents’ deaths were caused by the evil Dr. Hell, who is out to take over the world. Kouji must stop him. Kouji is joined by Dr. Yumi, Kouji’s father’s assistant, and the designer of the robot Aphrodite A, which is piloted by Dr. Yumi’s daughter, Sayaka. Mazinger Z generally hasn’t had much exposure in the US. The show got a short run in the US under the title of “Tranzor Z”, but the complete series wasn’t dubbed – only the first 65 out of 92 episodes, stopping the series before the story was completed. However, Discotek Media has recently licensed the original series for a US release, which means that we’ll be able to get access to the series in its entirety. Gunbuster Gunbuster is the Super Robot series that GAINAX made prior to making Evangelion. While Eva is a deconstruction, Gunbuster plays things more straight. What makes Gunbuster different from the other shows that I’ve discussed earlier is that it, as an 7-episode OVA (Original Video Animation – a direct-to video series), is shorter and more to the point than the other series discussed earlier, cutting out the Monster of the Week padding. Additionally, Gunbuster attempts to be more of a hard SF show than the other shows I’ve discussed are. The show follows Noriko Takaya, the daughter of an admiral in Humanity’s space navy, who was killed in one of humanity’s first encounters with a race of massive aliens known simply as the “Space Monsters” who are out to wipe out humanity, and which are slowly encroaching on the solar system. Noriko enters a training school in Okinawa in order to learn how to pilot giant robots to fight back against the monsters that threaten humanity and which killed her father. In the course of this, she, along with another girl Kazumi Amano, end up becoming the pilots of the massive robot Gunbuster. The main drama from the series is drawn less from the battle scenes (which are gorgeously animated), but are instead drawn from the inter-character drama. In particular, the war with the Space Monsters involves travel at near- light speeds, which means the characters have to contend with Time Dilation – leaving Earth to go and fight the Space Monsters on a tour that for them only takes a few weeks (or at most a month), and returning to find that their former classmates have gotten married and had children who are now entering school in the time that they were gone. The societal changes that occur aren’t as dramatic as the changes that happen in Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, but they are significant enough to have a strong emotional impact on our main characters. Unfortunately, like GaoGaiGar, Gunbuster is out of print. Unlike GaoGaiGar though, used copies of the show are a lot more expensive (approaching $100), though occasionally you can find deals. The disks for the show are also available from Netflix. There is a compilation film, titled Gunbuster: The Movie, available that’s less expensive, but it compresses the 7 episodes of Gunbuster into a 95 minute run-time, which is going to gut any character development. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann The other GAINAX series I want to discuss this issue is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, or Gurren Lagann for short (or occasionally turned into the acronym TTGL). Of the series put out by Gainax, Gurren Lagann is their other super- robot series to receive a great deal of acclaim from anime fans. Their third big hit, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, is a topic for another time. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic future Earth, where most of humanity lives underground in various fully enclosed caverns, while the surface is patrolled by groups of rampaging Beast-Men in their giant robots called Gunmen, who attack anyone who dare to escape these caverns. When Simon, a digger in one of these caverns finds a small drill followed by a very small rideable robot that is essentially a head with two legs and two arms, Simon’s friend Kamina persuades him to take the robot through the roof of the cave to the surface, to prove that the surface exists. The two, find another settlement that has broken through to the surface, and they begin a rebellion against the Beast-Men, and their leader, the Spiral King. If Evangelion is the Super Robot Anime genre’s Watchmen, then Gurren Lagann is the genre’s Kingdom Come. Where Eva was a deconstruction of the genre, taking the genre apart to see how the genre would work in the real world. Gurren Lagann embraces the genre, in all its silliness, and tries to find a way to make some of that silliness work. Also, Kingdom Come was, to a degree, a response to the dark-grim’n’gritty nihilism of some of the comics from the ‘90s, particularly works from creators like Rob Liefeld, which looked at Watchmen, and instead of seeing how the series deconstructed superheroes and learning from that, instead looked at how the series had superheroes violently killing villains, in addition to the massive civilian body-count in New York, and ultimately, while trying to be “mature”, ended up being more juvenile. Similarly, in the wake of Eva, several anime attempted to cash in on Eva’s success, particularly through telling grim-and-gritty stores in existing genres, or by heavily using biblical or other mythological imagery throughout the series. That said, while many comics that tried to follow in the wake of Watchmen were abysmal (like Youngblood, and Kamandi at Earth’s End), there are many that are fantastic, like Planetary and Stormwatch. In the same way, while much of the anime that attempts to cash on Eva’s success is pretty excitable (for example, the series Arjuna is one to avoid), there are some titles that are very well regarded and worth viewing. Gurren Lagann feels like a response to these gritty anime, particularly those in the super-robot genre that sprung up in the wake of Evangelion’s immense critical and commercial success. Some of these were good, some were bad. I’ll be focusing on some of the more highly regarded titles from this eriod. Now, I haven’t had an opportunity to watch all of all of these titles, so I can’t go as in depth as before, but I will give information on the show’s premise, and how available they are. Because of this, and combined with the fact that this article is running somewhat long, I’m going to make this part a little shorter, and instead give a brief description of the work, and how available it is (or isn’t) RahXephon RahXephon (pronounced Rah-ze-phon), was released in 2002 and basically attempts to be a more optimistic version of Evangelion, with a similar bleak tone, and a certain degree of oppression, but which ultimately wrapped up in a more optimistic fashion. The show is set in Tokyo, which has been cut-off from the rest of the world by an alien incursion, and the aliens have even secretly started replacing some humans. When these aliens, called the Mu, launch an attack with giant monsters, a high school student named Ayato Kamina finds himself drawn to a mysterious massive egg. Within it lies the giant robot RahXephon, which may be humanity’s only hope for survival. RahXephon is apparently still in print, and available on DVD and Amazon Instant Streaming.
Bokurano (and other works by Mohiro Kitoh) Bokurano is a much darker anime series, set in a world where children have to pilot a giant robot to fight other children who are also piloting giant robots, who are from alternate universes. After their mission is complete, the child dies. If you lose, your entire universe is destroyed. If you win, someone else’s universe is destroyed. As one can reasonably guess from the premise, this is a show that is very bleak and very nihilistic. While the anime series came out around the same time as Gurren Lagann, the manga and novel it was based on came out well before, and the creator of the series, Mohiro Kitoh, is known for similar tones in the rest of his work, including Narutaru, which gives Pokemon an Eva-styled deconstruction. I’d also give a trigger warning for this show, due to the dark, violent, and oppressive nature of the plot. While the anime has not been released for distribution in the US, the manga has been released in its entirety. The anime has also been fan-translated and is can be found on most major fan-sub sites, for those who are interested in taking the plunge into Fansubs. Gasaraki While most of the other shows in this article are variants on the Super Robot genre, Gasaraki is a Real Robot show, like Mobile Suit Gundam, created by Ryousuke Takahashi, the creator of Armored Trooper VOTOMS, which is a show that I’ll discuss at a later date. The plot of Gasaraki involves the political manipulations of the Gowa clan, in not- too-distant-future Japan, and their attempts to gain control of Japan through the development and spread of giant battle robots called Tactical Armors (or TA), and how these relate to mystical forces the clan was able to command in Japan’s distant past. The show starts out as a hard SF show, but gets into mystical elements that relate to Shinto. The show’s plot is weirdly nationalistic, with one of the main power players in the Gowa clan effectively going through this entire plan to restore Japan’s honor by financially breaking the US. It comes across as a situation where Takahashi is effectively creating the series to let out his frustration over Japan’s economic bubble bursting (and with it Japan losing its economic dominance over the US). The series has its strong points – you just have to keep the jingoism in mind. Book Review – Magic Bites I normally don’t read much urban fantasy. This isn’t because I don’t enjoy the genre – I do. Many of the great works of urban fantasy take their cues from hardboiled mystery novels by writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, who are some of my favorite writers of all time, and their work has heavily influenced my artistic tastes. However, I’d been scared off of urban fantasy somewhat due to the boom of paranormal romance fiction that came in the wake of the Anita Blake and Twilight series, which aren’t my cup of tea. So, when the novel Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (a pen-name for a spousal writing team), ended up on my recommendations list on Goodreads, and because a few friends and family members enjoyed the book, I decided to give it a shot. The book is definitely the kind of urban fantasy novel I’ve been looking for, as far as the tone is concerned. The book is very much a hardboiled detective story, with the protagonist, Kate Daniels, being effectively a private investigator who effectively hires herself to investigate the murder of her mentor. Daniels is definitely a hardboiled gumshoe. She has a hard cynical edge, with a witty sense of humor, and the kind of amusingly caustic demeanor that makes detectives like Philip Marlowe so enjoyable to read on the page and watch on the screen. Daniels also has the knack for getting under people’s skin enough that they let slip their secrets
I do have one problem with the book, and that’s with how Andrews’ world building implements the world’s magic. In the world of the setting, magic activates in the world in waves. While magic can be performed during, for lack of a better term, low tide, it is not as powerful as magic that is performed during “high tide.” Similarly, technology doesn’t work during high tide – and the more the general population understands the scientific backing behind a concept, the less likely it is to work – leading to a image of the world where most people maintain horses because most people know the principles behind why cars work, which means that come high tide, cars will stop working. Similarly, most of the old skyscrapers are abandoned and are slowly falling apart, because magic is causing them to degrade and collapse due to our understanding of physics and architecture. I’ve got a couple problems with this. On a consistency level, going by the logic that says that cars should stop working, everyone who isn’t magically active should keel over and die the moment the magic hits because the anatomical processes that keep the human body working should stop working, never mind things like guns. I can go with magic interfering with technology in an urban fantasy setting – as is the case with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series of books. However, if the return of magic on its own is causing things like skyscrapers to stop working and start to fall apart, while you’ve created a striking visual image, I end up feeling a logical break with the world. The excuse of “It’s magic, I don’t have to explain anything”, has never worked for me. On a personal level, my first exposure to urban fantasy was through what could best be described as a work of science fantasy, or rather cyberpunk fantasy – the tabletop RPG Shadowrun. In that world, magic and technology could coexist just fine. Sure, magically active people couldn’t get a cybereye to replace their own eye should they lose it in the call of duty. If they did that, their personal magical potency would be effected – but that was explained in the setting as being less of a Magic-Vs-Technology thing, and more of a “You cut a chunk of your body out” kind of thing. Still, I enjoyed the book. The issues I have with the setting are enough that I’m not sure if I want to read later books in the series. I enjoy the characters, but their world is just maddening enough that I think it would throw me out of the work. Still, if this isn’t a problem for you, then the Kate Daniels series of novels is likely for you.