{"id":391,"date":"2015-06-04T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=391"},"modified":"2018-11-20T05:43:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T05:43:00","slug":"thursday-review-last-man-1-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=391","title":{"rendered":"Thursday Review: LAST MAN 1: THE STRANGER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Summary<\/b><\/i>: A collaboration by French comics and animation luminaries Balak, Bastien Viv\u00e8s, and Micha\u00ebl Sanlaville, Last Man 1: The Stranger<\/i> is the first installment in a series that’s been popular in France and is now being released in the U.S. by First Second (who kindly provided a review copy). I always really enjoy reading graphic novels from various countries, and this was no exception.<\/p>\n

Peaks<\/b><\/i>: The unique setting was, for me, one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel. Early on, we are introduced to Adrian Velba’s world, a sort-of-medieval town where the annual gladiatorial games are the most anticipated event. But these are not your run-of-the-mill jousts or sword fights\u2014the games are magical, and competitors fight in teams for the prestige, honor, and riches of the gold-filled winning cup. <\/p>\n

Adrian goes to a magical fight school, but he’s\u2026kind of the youngest and smallest right now. But he’s excited and optimistic anyway, and when he ends up partnered with the mysterious new-hero-in-town Richard Aldana, he thinks he might just have a chance. Aldana, meanwhile, is a bit of a nomad, but despite his fighting prowess, he’s clearly in a different world here\u2014a world with some unexpectedly magical forces flying around. But he does notice that his fighting partner Velba’s mom sure is hot\u2026which might be a good perk if she wasn’t so protective of her son. There’s a fair amount going on here with all three of these characters, and several interesting side characters, but the story never gets confusing, though it’s a bit surreal at times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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The style of the drawing here is loose, flowing, and dynamic, with the only color being flat areas of black, white, and gray. It works well for conveying a sense of movement in the action sequences (of which there are many) while also making sure the reader can still tell what’s going on in each panel. I liked it; there’s something simple and appealing about it, even as it stylistically owes a bit to the Japanese manga style.<\/p>\n

Valleys<\/b><\/i>: This is so much a serial it isn’t even funny. If you can’t deal with total middle-of-the-action cliffhangers, then you might want to make sure you have book 2 at hand when you finish this one. Just sayin’. Not everyone has a problem with this, but I crave instant gratification when it comes to books. I require resolution.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/i>: I suspect fans of other popular kids’ manga series will enjoy this one, and fans of The Last Airbender<\/i> and other series that combine action and fantasy. The adult characters have as much screen time (and character development) as the kids, so I see this one as having crossover appeal as well. <\/p>\n

I received my copy of this book courtesy of First Second. You can find LAST MAN 1: THE STRANGER<\/i><\/a> at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: A collaboration by French comics and animation luminaries Balak, Bastien Viv\u00e8s, and Micha\u00ebl Sanlaville, Last Man 1: The Stranger is the first installment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,30,32,74,14,5],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-af","tag-crossover","tag-graphic-novels","tag-guy-appeal","tag-middle-grade","tag-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8595,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/8595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}