And Then Emily Was Gone Vol 1 Review

And Then Emily Was Gone is one of the weirdest and disturbing comics I have ever had the pleasure to read from publisher Comix Tribe. The story is based on Scottish folklore specifically the tale of Bonnie Shaw a creature who offers to help out parents in stressful situations in exchange Bonnie would take ownership of one of their children.

Emily is gone, and her best friend Fiona seeks the help of famous former police officer, Greg Hellinger. Greg has been seeing grotesque monsters that haunt him and have driven him to a less then glamours lifestyle. Fiona Persuades Greg to help her find Emily and they travel to  Merksay Island, interacting with obscene creatures during their search.

My first impression of Ian Laurie‘s art was that it reminded me of the 90’s cartoon show Aaahh! Real Monsters which I enjoyed as a kid. Ian’s art is different in a good yet twisted way, the imperfections in the characters are showcased very well, and you get the sense of evil, desperation and fear from the appropriate characters. While I’m not generally a fan of this particular art style, it challenged me and it worked well with the story. The art never put me off from the story which is always good and is a testament to the skill of Ian’s art. Very rarely can I read a comic with bad art and a good story, thankfully both sections were executed well.

John Lees writing is mostly dialogue driven which is nice. He takes you on an emotional roller coaster with highs and lows and a few “what the?” moments. There is a nice flow to the story and appropriate endings to each issue leaving you with questions and wanting answers.

As with most horror comics these days there is gore and lots of it. What I really appreciate about And Then Emily Was Gone is that the gore doesn’t feel unnecessary or overused. They hit a nice balance in my opinion. It’s nice to see a comic that stands out from the thousands of other horror comics out there.

If you enjoy horror comics, this will exceed your expectations. If your not a fan of horror I’d still give it a shot it may surprise you (in more ways than one).

9/10

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And Then Emily Was Gone Vol 1 is available for $7.99 USD on Comixology

There is also a free comic from the And Then Emily Was Gone universe by John Lees and Iain Laurie coming out during Halloween Comicfest on October 29th, 2016.

Follow the creative team on Twitter

Writer John Lees:  @johnlees927       Website: John Lees Comics 

Artist Iain Laurie:  @IainLaurie

Colourists Megan Wilson: @MeganEngiNerd

Letterer Colin Bell: @colinbell

Publisher Comix Tribe: @ComixTribe       Website: comixtribe.com

Alan Moore Retires From Comics….Again

Legendary comic book writer Alan Moore announced yesterday at a press conference in London for his new novel Jerusalem that he will be retiring from comic books.

Moore told The Guardian that he has “about 250 pages left of comics left in him.” and added that “those will probably be very enjoyable”  Moore plans on finishing the last book of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and a few other titles that he is currently working on. Once those are complete Moore said he would do the odd comics piece in the future, but he is essentially done with comics.

Moore explained to The Guardian that he felt too comfortable in comics saying  “I think I have done enough for comics. I’ve done all that I can. I think if I were to continue to work in comics, inevitably the ideas would suffer, inevitably you’d start to see me retread old ground and I think both you and I probably deserve something better than that.”

Moore has been a harsh critic of the comic book industry for a long time and is  designated by many as “the grumpy old man of comics.” He has made some valid points about creativity, and the big two but for the most part he has attacked the very industry and medium that gave him a voice and a living. One can argue that he has earned that right with works as great as Watchmen, V for Vendetta, but Moore has expressed publicly his dislike for those books now and especially the movie adaptations (which is entirely understandable).

So while Alan Moore is on the tail end of his comics career again (this isn’t the first time he’s announced it), it seems a little more certain this time with the plan he’s laid out. Moore has not been doing mainstream comics for decades, and now and then is independent work get some buzz, but it’s hit and miss. The majority of comic fans assumed he stopped creating comics long ago. I appreciate what Moore has contributed to comics, but I’m not sure it’s a big loss for the industry.

He will still be writing novels and will tackle film an area he admits he know nothing about and likes the challenge. It will be interesting to see an Alan Moore film that’s for certain.

 

 

 

Book Review: “Saga: Volume Six” by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan

Saga is the incredible graphic novel series, narrated by Hazel as she recounts the story of her parents, their escape, and the war that constantly threatens their life. It’s the sci-fi fantasy opera that most might not even realise just how much they’ve needed until they pick it up.

Volume 6 follows a dramatic time jump to Hazel at kindergarten age, and how she must hide who she is whilst being educated inside a prison. Meanwhile, her parents have reunited with a determination to find their daughter, and are willing to work with whoever they need to get there.

Staples and Vaughan have always remained consistent with Saga, with stunning artwork, imaginative species and a thrilling, gripping story.

The themes always remain consistent in Saga; the shockwaves of war, even years after a war seems to have ended, war prisoners, racism, sexism, homophobia, PTSD, drug addiction – the list is seemingly endless, but in a story focussed on war, most of this is a given and a reality. Some are even a reality without the war. What also remains consistent however is the way that the writers present these issues. They are always tackled and presented starkly and tactfully, with nothing but respect. Saga always portrays the ugly side of these issues, presenting realistic and at times harrowing stories, added by the stunning and oft times shocking visuals.

What also remains consistent is the artwork. As usual, it’s visually stunning, with creatures of such fantastic imagination. I’ve never read a comic like it, with such interesting, clear and dynamic panels. It’s so utterly creative and genius, and I never find fault.

The characters are also endlessly wonderful – developing realistically and emotionally around their situations, watching them grow and interact has been nothing short of constantly interesting. I’m never bored by these characters, very easy to grow emotionally attached to all of them, even the side characters who only appear briefly. Hazel remains the honest and witty narrator of the story, aiding the wonderful visuals with clipped, sarcastic comments. She really is the perfect, if unexpected narrator of this tale, especially when she wasn’t present for much of the goings-on.

Overall, Saga: Volume Six continues to carry the story beautifully. Staples and Vaughan re-introduce us to so many characters, and continue to move this epic story forward. Plus, with the amazing, terrifying and somehow hilarious cliffhanger they’ve left us on, it’s very clear this story has a long way to go.

Upcoming Booster Gold Film May Not Connect With Current DCEU Films

The mastermind behind the current slate of popular superhero shows on The CW, mega producer Greg Berlanti, is working on a Booster Gold film. The only catch is that it seems the film wont be connected in any way to the current DC movie universe that started with Man of Steel.

Speaking with Vulture on the his experience working with comic book properties in both TV and movies he talked about a future project involving Booster Gold and where it falls in the DCEU:

“As of right now we have no connective tissue to those worlds,” referring to the current DC movies (Batman Vs. Superman, Suicide Squad) “It’d be a separate thing.”

The film has only secured a writer, Zack Stenz who wrote an episode for The Flash, and Berlanti is attached to it as a producer although he did express his desire to direct. It would be a strange move for DC to exclude Booster Gold from the DCEU. It would demonstrate a lack of confidence in the world building they have done so far. Greg Berlanti has done some excellent work on his TV shows so he should definitely be able to leave his mark in the DCEU. There was also a Booster Gold easter egg in Man of Steel. Even though Zack Snyder dismissed it as just something that would be cool to put in just for the sake of it there is no reason they can’t just run with it as well.

With the film being in the early stages of production things could change and Booster Gold could be making his way to the DCEU in the end. For now lets just thank our lucky stars they’re even working on a Booster Gold film.

Book Review: “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury is Sarah J. Maas’s stunning sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses. The sequel follows Feyre after the horrific events Under the Mountain, and how they haunt her even in the home of her fiancé whom she fought to save. But Rhysand still has his bargain to call in, and as she’s drawn further into the High Lords Court and his tangled politics, Feyre finds it harder and harder to know who to trust…

A Court of Mist and Fury is a truly incredible sequel, that far excels all expectations – possibly Sarah J. Maas’s best so far. I did enjoy A Court of Thorns and Roses, but the follow-up proved a lot of thoughts and theories about how this book would go very incorrect, and it’s also just such a massive step up on every single level.

Firstly, the story this time around is so much darker. Now that we’ve established this world Feyre is in, the characters and the curses and trials they were under, we can branch off into a new and exciting quest, which is exactly what this is. The story this time seems to hold much more weight – obviously, the first book was dark, with a terrible curse and a sick and wicked villain, but this sequel kicks it up to an entire new level, with more horrors, fantasy and monsters to delight and horrify the audience.

The character development in this book is absolutely off the scales – and in ways I honestly didn’t see coming. I saw certain relationships going certain ways, and I thought it’d be a glaringly obvious and fairly quick occurrence – but it wasn’t. It was wonderfully, realistic and so faultlessly paced. I was so pleased with how these characters came along, and so heavily invested in their growth.

Rhysand was my favourite surprise – I knew from the end of the first book that Maas would try and make him somewhat sympathetic, but after all he did in the first book (obviously excluding the things he was controlled to do), I was fully prepared to dig my heels in and maybe come out begrudgingly respecting him. Rhysand is now my favourite character. His story and character are focussed on a lot more in this volume, and Maas does not waste a second of it. He’s an incredibly interesting character, and he and his entire court are so majestic, colourful and nothing like I expected. Everything is so beautifully and tragically paced, delicately revealed and is just such a wonderful portrayal of a character who is morally grey for all the right reasons.

Without spoiling too much, I’ll also say this – as tragic and anger inducing as it is, Tamlin’s character and the way in which he has changed in this volume might not be pretty, but once again, it’s entirely realistic. Its such a harsh reveal, and it works so incredibly well with the story and the development of other characters.

Alongside the fantastic development of our current cast, we also have some stunning new ones. Monsters, fae and new races alike join the fray, and are each individual, shining characters who each have a strong purpose in this book, and help push Feyres story along naturally.

Maas also handles some very heavy themes in this book, and she manages to handle them both starkly and gracefully all at once. This book touches on trauma, rape, PTSD, abusive relationships, and how being neutral in the face of these things helps nobody but the perpetrators. I’m blown away by how well all of this was handled, without being crudely graphic but whilst being very detailed and honest about these scenarios. The characters also develop realistically around these things – not necessarily correctly, not tidily, but indeed realistically.

I will say that this book, on top of being darker, is a lot more sexual. The sex scenes certainly aren’t Fifty Shades of Feyre, but they are graphic enough that I’d give this a solid PG15, and there’s quite a few of them scattered throughout the book from very early chapters until the end.

The world building in this book is impressive – and fear not, you get to see other Courts in A Court of Mist and Fury, probably more than you’re expecting, along with other magical and horrifying landmarks. This whole world is so utterly vivid and imaginative, and the characters fit so splendidly into it. The politics and laws of lands and courts are also laid out descriptively and clearly – even the most brutally unfair ones. It makes for a strong world, from the smallest and seemingly most petty details to the large and in-your-face ones, and it only makes this fantasy world much more alive – it helps the characters thrive in it and lays a solid foundation for their growth and their story to build upon.

A Court of Mist and Fury is damned close to a faultless book. It’s magical, it’s romantic and it’s real, dealing delicately and honestly with tough subjects, subjects that are very human and that are sometimes left out of fantasy fiction. This truly may be my favourite book so far out of all of Sarah J. Maas’s books – it made me laugh, smile, cry and get real angry, multiple times – and that’s what all good books should do. The world she’s built is wickedly smart, and is both beautiful and horrifying at once. Her characters are multi-faceted, constructed well and with intention. Everything from the plot, to the world she’s built, to the characters and their courts and laws that live within it, all thrive and grow off of each other, and it’d absolutely stunning. Please make this series your next series to read, because I couldn’t recommend it more, and Maas is currently working on the third in this series.

For more details on Sarah J. Maas’s other stories and her next book, please follow her on Twitter.

Review of Croak #1

As summer reaches an end, fall approaches quickly, along with the cold air, colourful leaves and the realisation that winter is coming. It also means Halloween,  making a great atmosphere for reading horror comics.

Croak #1 starts off like a typical horror film from the 80’s or 90’s involving teenagers. Three friends are going camping. There is some friction between 2 of the friends and things are forgotten in their vehicle forcing them to camp good hours walk away without cover in an unfamiliar area.

I can’t say much more without spoiling the story. Croak is a slower paced first issue that could leave you uninterested if not for the ending. It is certainly the highlight of the comic and worth waiting for.

Many people say that you have only one issue to hook a reader. While I understand that mentality, I think it’s ridiculous. I usually give a new comic three issues to determine if I want to support the book unless the first one is complete garbage. I honestly just need enough to carry me to the next issue. The reason I give a series a chance like this is there are so many ways to tell a story, and everyone is different. To say one issue or bust is unfair and not logical.

I’m not sure where writer Cody Andrew Sousa is going with croak story wise all I know is it has a lot of possibilities, and I like that a lot. It makes the reader think between issue releases, and that’s what you want a comic to do.

The art by Francesco Iaquinta and the colours by Chris O’Halloran  certainly fits the type of story that’s being told. While their art is nothing ground breaking or different but it is done decently, this isn’t slight against their hard work just an observation.

Overall this is a slightly above average issue with a story that has the potential to be excellent. It’s certainly worth seeing what is going to happen next in issue 2.

7/10

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You can pick up Croak #1 for $2.99usd on Comixology 

Croak #2 will be released October 5th, 2016

Check out The Croak Twitter account: @CROAKcomic

Follow writer Cody Andrew Sousa on Twitter as well: @WhyImCAS

Why It’s Important To Pre-Order Comics

 

Let’s get right to it. Without readers like you and I pre-ordering comic books, it is tough for a creator to continue making comics. 

Pre-orders are essential for print run numbers. The general rule for a physical copy is the more copies you print, the cheaper it costs. The lower the price, the better likely hood of creators breaking even or even making a small profit.

You might be thinking that pre-ordering doesn’t matter cause comic shops will have them just like video game stores always have newly released games right? Wrong.

There was a time many years ago when pre-ordering a new triple-A video game was essential, or you would have to wait months for more copies to arrive at your favourite retailer. That is not the case today the industry adapted to the explosion in consumer consumption of video games. It’s unwise to pre-order video games due to companies getting cash up front. They have little obligation to give you a completed game and charge you later for the rest of it marketed as DLC (downloadable content). So please don’t pre-order your video games!

In the comic book, industry pre-orders are everything. If you do not tell your local shop that you want this new comic coming out in a couple of months, chances are they will not order it unless it’s a bigger know name. Even if your the only one who orders the comic the shop owner will not have a problem with that because it’s a guaranteed sale. Like I’ve said in the past profit margins are tight for everyone involved (except for diamond comics distributors). Shop owners are constantly trying to balance what their customers want and what they think will bring in new customers, and how much to order of each title. Pre-Orders make everyone’s life easier.

There are minimum orders required for a creators comic book to be distributed through the direct market to brick and mortar comic shops. Comics are ordered two months in advance through retailers. If the creators comic does not hit the standard minimum order diamond may try again next month but usually will cancel the title. The creator(s) are left to sell it themselves online and at conventions. The sad truth is that none of the previous avenues mentioned guarantees sales, even with great press and hype around the comic.

The issue that arises next is shop friendliness and not being located near a comic shop. Unfortunately, some stores can be run by elitist fanboys that scoff at customers who are not diehard and knowledgeable  comic fans. I like to think those are rare. For the most part, comic shop owners and employees are friendly, knowledgeable and willing to make recommendations for new and long time customers alike. If your shop is not like this, find another one, it’s not worth your time or money.

For those who do not have a local comic book store Comixolgy has recently made it possible to pre-order digital comic books and have a pull list just like a brick and mortar store. If you prefer complete stories, you can pre-order/order the volumes (trade paperbacks / hardcovers) from your local comic shop as well as Amazon and any other online book retailer that carries them. Kickstarter has been a great and easy way to, get comics as well. Creators calculate what goal is needed to make and ship copies to backers, and it’s delivered right to your door. Just pledge hope the campaign reaches its goal (also give you the incentive to share the project to help them out) and wait for it to arrive. This waiting period is usually longer than when pre-ordering through a comic shop.

Comic book writer Kieron Gillen (known for writing Young Avengers & Origin II for Marvel Comics and his current creator-owned project the Wicked + the Divine through Image Comics) created a step by step comic strip on how to pre-order a comic book a couple of years ago and it worth reposting here.

 

 

 

Rob Liefeld On Why Deadpool Is Not Deathstroke

With the surprise test footage of DC Comics character DeathStroke released on Ben Affleck’s Twitter account recently, Marvel and DC  fans have started going at each claiming that Deathstroke can not hold the audience Deadpool does.

The age old debate of Deadpool is just a rip-off Deathstroke has also been brought back up, with many fans pointing out the similarities. Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld recently spoke on Nerdy Pop‘s Youtube  Channel about five differences that don’t make Deathstroke and Deadpool the same character.

 

Marvel and DC have a long history of “Borrowing” ideas from each other. Green Arrow/Hawkeye, Batman/IronMan, and Namor/Aquaman just to name a few.

While it’s easy to point out similarities between the two aesthetically and their origin stories, it’s important to point out their age and personalities are completely different. Deathstroke is an excellent character in his own right, check him out in the DC animated movies and the Batman Arkham Video games. While he might not be a huge as Deadpool, he can certainly hold his own in any form of storytelling.

What are your thoughts on Deadpool and Deathstroke? Are they the same or different? Let me know in the comments section.

 

Weekly Bookette #10 Genre of the Month September 2016

With school starting up this month, we decided to go back to school with our latest genre of the month article!

Every school has a reading list all students must read throughout the year or during the summer break, and today at skatronixxx we will discuss our favorite school reading list titles!

Tite Kubo: The Storyteller From Hiroshima

Image taken from http://www.azquotes.com/quote/761506

Last August I was asked by phenomenal Stark Wyvern to write an article about Tite Kubo, the author of Bleach, as I had told him I would like to write a few pieces about the lives and characteristics of famous authors, cartoonists and mangakas, starting with Hayao Miyazaki, for Skatronixxx. He himself was writing an article devoted to Tite Kubo and Bleach, published here, as his own personal homage to Kubo and his 15 years of success with Bleach, his greatest and longest work, and which ended this year; although, as Stark states, leaving some doors open to the possibility of future sequels.

I was reading Stark’s tribute and I realised to what an extent this series (which include the manga and TV show, OVAs, films…) has accompanied him for 15 full years of his life no less! He says: “It was the anime that started my love for the world of Anime”, and “The characters are so vivid and life like”. He even mentions he cried when it was rumoured to end in 2011. I hadn’t had the chance to watch much Bleach on TV, and I hadn’t read the manga. But from Stark’s words of affection I understood there was something deep going on there, something that was way beyond the mere Shōnen  topics, the action, and the fights. He underlines that Bleach has managed to be highly successful even against mighty and apparently similar contemporary competitors, like Naruto or the more hilarious One Piece.

I watched a few films and realised Bleach was  (of course, in my personal opinion) somehow much more relatable than these other series, more serious and mature, and indeed there was something special there. Something I couldn’t really pinpoint but which I could sense as well, and which I found enthralling – and I don’t like Shōnen that much! So here’s my reflection, my own  contribution to the homage Stark already posted here, paying tribute to Kubo, to Stark, to every otaku that has ever felt this way while enjoying this great story.

The first enigma one encounters when meeting Bleach for the first time is its very title. Why Bleach, what kind of title is this? What do we use bleach for? One of the best substances to ward off infectious germs and viruses and sanitise our kitchens and bathrooms, bleach, mostly sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, is present in most homes around the world. It is also broadly used for its whitening properties, to remove stains and decolorise clothes or even to lighten your hair. But one should not use bleach, or bleaching substances, in a casual manner, for it is also extremely caustic: use too much, leave it unattended, and water becomes undrinkable, the fabric of your clothes break or tear, your skin gets chemically burnt, and let’s not talk about the hair! In sum, bleach is a raw substance, used wisely it can do a lot of good to clean and purify, but spill a little bit more than advised, use a little bit too much… and it spoils everything.

So what might have led Noriaki Kubo, aka Tite Kubo, one of the most prolific and successful mangakas of this century, choose the word ‘bleach’ as the title of his most famous and successful work of 15 years? And in case one thinks it can be dismissed as just a trivial choice – just take a look at the comic’s logo.

Image taken from http://bit.ly/2cwx2bb

Let’s look at him. Tite Kubo was born on the 26^th of June, 1977, in the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. When learning about this author, I found this very significant for an artist or storyteller. Only 32 years after the atomic bombs were dropped during the Second World War, killing more than 140,000 of its 350,000 inhabitants, the future author was born in a city that had been badly brought to its knees yet was bravely flourishing again. As Bill Powell states at a 2005 report for Time titled “How Hiroshima Rose From The Ashes”, “A city wiped off the map had to be rebuilt in every sense – not just physically but emotionally and psychologically as well.”

The survivors’ initial reactions were extreme shock, a sense of having been dishonoured and desire for revenge – which is only logical. But necessity was first, and recovery was only possible taking a humble, peaceful stance, even if that meant clenching fists and teeth. Not doing that meant perpetuating the conflict. Self-control of raw instinctive emotions like rage and a desire for retaliation had to be toughly disciplined and brought under control, for the sake of survival. So that was the setting for the immediate past behind Tite Kubo, just a few years before he was born. The people in Hiroshima deserved to heal, to hope to thrive again, to move on, not more horror and conflict, and that’s what they strived to achieve. “Renewal and redemption, after all, are at the core of what Hiroshima, 60 years on, represents.” (Powell, 2005).

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1087168,00.html

Tite Kubo, the son of a town council member in Hiroshima, already knew he wanted to become a mangaka while still in elementary school, although he only started taking his dreams more seriously after he turned 17 and was inspired by Saint Seiya, by Masami Kurumada. He is also a big fan of Akira Toriyama, known worldwide for his famous Dragon Ball series. Growing up in a city that now shines as a powerful and bright symbol of amazing progress and peace advocacy, he was inspired by these authors’ adventures that spoke of friendship, loyalty, strength and the eternal fight of good vs. evil. His very first work was Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine, written in 1996 for the Weekly Shōnen Jump and added later on to the second volume of Zombiepowder, his second work, left unfinished with 27 chapters.

The cover image for Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine depicted a man showing his bare back and three words roughly carved out of his skin: “LOVE EXPOSED DELETE”. This character, Bäinhardt Rosner, together with his partner Tinatina, are Deleters: they make people and buildings disappear. As for Zombiepowder, set in a futuristic, Western-style type of society in which one may encounter from semi-cyborgs to people with magical abilities, it narrates the story of three bounty hunters who are looking for twelve rings, the “Rings of the Dead”, that together can be used to produce the “Zombie Powder”, a kind of magical substance with such powerful healing properties that it can even revive the dead and grant immortality. Zombiepowder was published in the Weekly Shōnen Jump until its cancellation in the year 2000. Inside the varied yet similar topics that characterise the genre of Shōnen, these works that precede Bleach already portray some of the main great themes that will characterise Kubo’s great 15-year-old success as well: purification, decontamination, cleansing what is evil or harmful, deletion and rebirth leading to a new beginning, returning to the original state of purity… well, basically, bleaching.

And, curiously enough, taking into account its past and the history of its recovery, we can ascertain that these themes could very well define the gist, the essence that distinguishes the spirit of the new and cleansed Hiroshima, as well.

Bleach tells the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a strawberry-blonde, hazel-eyed young man who lost his mother when he was nine because of his ability to see lost souls, or ‘Pluses’, and ‘Hollows’: lost souls who have corrupted to the point of becoming dangerous for both the spiritual and earthly beings. Although during his childhood Ichigo was a very cheerful kid, he became broody and brusque after the death of his mother, unable to overcome his feelings of guilt and to control his temper. Albeit kind-hearted and determined to protect his friends and family until his very last breath, he is frequently engaged in quarrels with thugs and troublemakers, who frequently tease him about the colour of his hair.

Then, at the age of 15 he becomes a substitute shinigami (God of Death). The shinigamis in Bleach are not akin to the grim, sarcastic monsters portrayed in other series like Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata: they are a sort of spiritual police corps that fight against evil to preserve the order both on Earth and in Soul Society – a Heaven-like realm populated by the people that have already transitioned to the spiritual plane. Shinigamis also rescue lost souls from Hollows and guide them safely to their due destination in the afterlife, be it the Soul Society or Hell depending on the number and gravity of sins they committed while still alive.

When I watched the movies and learned about the plot in Bleach, the way Kubo portrays the Hollows, the lost souls, and the selected people who are able to care about these harmful energies be it on Earth or in another dimension, it immediately reminded me of the Kannushi, the Shintō priests. The Kannushi are dressed in a similar way to Bleach’s main characters, although most of them are fully dressed in black while the Kannushi traditional dress is basically white. The functions of the Kannushi and Bleach’s characters is similar: mediating between human beings and gods and demons, holding purificatory rites, mediumship. Like in Bleach, where Rukia Kushiki and many other female characters are also powerful shinigamis as well, women can also be Shintō priestesses, called Miko, dressed in white and red. The Kannushi also have the authority to conduct weddings. We can say that they are basically Japanese shamans. In fact, the Hollow concept reminded me of the “mud shadows” Don Juan describes to his pupil Carlos Castaneda in his last work The Active Side of Infinity. In it, Don Juan teaches Castaneda about the supernatural shadows that purportedly surround us feed off our ‘good vibe’, consuming our spirit and filling our head with dire thoughts. Curiously enough, the only way to reject this kind of supernatural parasites is mind discipline – bringing your primary passions under control before they lead you to commit violent, destructive actions. It’s basically the same message as in meditation, and also in many other religious-spiritual practices.

But, significatively, and going through many shamanic stages of transformation, this is also the great lesson that Ichigo needs to learn all along the 15 years during which Kubo narrates this great story: moderation, self-control, power applied in its just measure. When your attitude is disciplined, the power of your presence, your actions render purification; when you lose your grip on yourself, somehow damage ensues.

It would seem as if Tite Kubo indulges in playing to resemble his main character as much as possible. His hair is not actually the typical pitch-black Japanese shade, looking a little bit like Ichigo’s in fact, even his haircut. With his expensive shades on and his classy, casual look, the now 39-year-old author looks strikingly young. He pays great attention to his characters’ attire, and even started a clothing line in 1998 based on his designs for Ichigo and his friends. He discreetely got married in 2012.

The Bleach squad is classy. Image taken from http://bit.ly/2bZDzc2

Trying to solve the enigma once and for all, Tite Kubo stated in several interviews that he meant to give this name to the manga, Bleach, precisely because it represents this sharp, caustic transition from darkness to purification and clarity, and that must be handled with care. Nevertheless, he has said too that Bleach is his favourite Nirvana album, and perhaps he was also influenced by this as well. His drawings feature expressive, jagged, broken lines, mostly in pure black and white, with little screentoning. He focuses on the characters, their wounds, their pain, their anguish, their struggle. Ichigo will endure several rites of passage after being initiated as a shinigami: he’ll acquire Hollow powers, even Hellish powers. It’s the shamanic equivalent of discovering and acknowledging your dark side.

The Hollows or evil spirits he encounters use his guilt, his sorrow for his mother’s death against him, and he needs to raise above his past to keep a clear mind and win the fight. The real achievement in Bleach, for Ichigo, will be to master this type of knowledge and discipline. Thus, he becomes able to take proper care about his family and friends, both on Earth and the Spiritual Realms. As a hero, what strikes most about Ichigo is that he loses very often in the battlefield, particularly when he gives in to his short temper, visceral nature and lack of self-control. But he recovers and rises again. That’s what makes Ichigo Kurosaki special as a character: he is not all-perfect, invincible: he may fall, and he may hurt and feel defeated and shamed, but he raises again, stronger than before, cleansed, transformed. Ready to fight anew.

A little bit perhaps like beautiful Hiroshima.

 

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Sources:

https://skatronixxx.com/2016/08/22/bleach-has-ended-after-15-years-of-publication-tite-kubo-i-salute-you/

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/tite-kubo

https://prezi.com/qoh7s1qb1pf7/tite-kubo/

https://short-biography.com/tite-kubo.htm

http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Tite_Kubo

http://www.japandreamtours.com/culture/shinto/kannushi.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/11784827/70-years-after-the-atomic-bombs-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-then-and-now.html

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1087168,00.html