It’s fairly rare of me to talk about a comic on the podcast (CBMFP) and not have a written review for the book by the next week. It’s just good business really, but it also helps me to talk about the book prior to writing about it as I’ll get all the thought jitters out-of-the-way. Hopefully they’ve all cleared from my head because at the time of writing this it’s been a few weeks. [su_quote]A young boy discovers that his father is a mafia godfather… oh and that he has the spirit powers of a tiger that transformer him into a tiger-man or weretiger if you prefer. He sets out to bring his father down, but he’ll have to do it before the other animal totems come for his chi.[/su_quote]
That is the gist of the story. Ange is our young boy and we watch as he learns about his father and his powers from his bodyguard. In a very Sith way, there are always two that can access the power. If they die or their chi is stolen, then the totem is closed off.
The writing is decent. It’s translated so I can forgive the choppiness of the dialogue and the exposition. There’s a lot of it though, but it is a complex idea. I’m boiling it down as much as possible, but clearly it was a concept that took a lot of time to craft. The pacing of the story is where it’s the weakest. We spend a lot of time with Ange as a kid, but then when the prodigal son is set to return we’re rushed to the ending.
Ange as a character isn’t great. I didn’t really root for him because he’s a spoiled brat and kind of an idiot. He’s oblivious to the way that people treat him because of his father and to his father’s business in general. He really thinks he has forty uncles. He’s hard to root for even after his tragic-ish origin too.
The art is really the reason to read the book. You’ll get lost in the pages and that’s what makes so much of it forgivable. I almost want to score the art on its own, but that would change the entire world of scoring on the site and I’m not doing that. Just know that if the story was focused more that this book would jump an entire point. The art is just that good on its own.
The line work is clean. It’s definitely Japanese inspired, but in the way that a lot of French comics are. By the way, I’m guessing that this was possibly a French comic book based on the art work. I could be way off and if I am look at the bottom for a correction.
As for the coloring it’s very light looking. It’s very flat looking, but still incredibly deep with colors and lighting effects. You’d almost expect it to have a shine to it with as much detail as it has, but instead it’s flat and muted looking. It works for the book and it matches the line work which would be completely lost if it was colored with a shine of sorts.
The story is a bit convoluted. I wish it wasn’t because if it was just a bit more focused it would be really cool. There’s just too many elements, some of which I haven’t mentioned because then my review will be convoluted as well. What I do like about the story is that every page is written almost as if there was the real possibility of it being the last page of the book. As if the creators really didn’t know if they’d get to finish it so they went all in on every page. That I like and respect a lot. All of that aside, it’s still a good read with amazing artwork.
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