Nimbus Base # 1
by Wandering Muse (Hannah Saunders).
This comic pretty much covers every assumption I have about certain types of Manga; that it’s light, cute, fluffy and a tad simplistic. But (and here’s a phrase you may well hear a lot when I’m reviewing Manga); I’m just not the audience the book is trying to reach. I have a feeling the actual audience is a lot younger. (Hell, the author was only 16 when it was published). I figure I’ll just read the thing and then tell you what I thought. So with those provisos …….
Nimbus Base is all about Nijiko Arakido; a 15year old girl given weather powers by a race of Faeries, all so she can take their side in the Faerie civil-war that’s threatening to destroy Earth. Along the way we get to meet her rather mad Faerie boss and her Talking Teddy, and see her in crime fighting action and in her non-secret schoolgirl identity.
Now, although I rather enjoyed it in a very light, fluffy and throwaway sort of way I felt that Hannah rather lost her way with the story, trying to give us far too much information in too short a time. The nicest bits in Nimbus Base were definitely the in-between bits, where Hannah dropped the story for a little comedy skit or characterisation. Take the page above from a sequence where Nijiko is at school and discussing everyday stuff with her friend – just relaxed, simple and good fun. Likewise, the comedy skit (below) on Nimbus Base with the mad Commander Rosalba being all flirty and flighty with the staff is fun as well. So when the mad Faerie Commander says; “I’m just glad the explaining part is over. Being serious makes me light-headed.” I got the feeling that the explaining bits weren’t Hannah’s favourites either.
Okay, now for the bit I’m almost singularly unqualified for: the art. To me it looks like Manga art, but definitely with a western comics filter. In fact it’s not very far away from British styles like Laura Howell or Andi Watson. It’s readable, panels flow, pages flow, story gets told and there are some nice little visual touches along the way with Hannah making use (but not overuse) of the Big-Head style to tell her visual gags.
Nimbus Base #1 was published 2005 so it looks like it might be a bit of an orphan series, as #2 hasn’t appeared yet and it looks like Hannah’s moved onto other things away from Sweatdrop. However, Hannah does have other stories out there; Beautiful Voyage and as part of the anthology Blue Is For Boys should you wish to explore further.
Thu, Feb 19, 2009
Comics and cartoons, General, Propaganda, Reviews