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SF Supplementary File #2C

It occurred to me today that I have only been giving you half of the covers of these books even though the comics are the perfect size for me to scan two pages at once, so this is what the scanner for the final issue of this series should look like. Can you even call it a series? I guess you could more accurately call it an adaptation of the Queen Esmeraldas story from Matsumoto Leiji in 1979 that somehow became known as a supplementary file for an ongoing series from Ryan that doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with that series, but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. In this issue Esmeraldas follows Boundless Ocean Boy (also known as Boy Zero) down to the planet where she left him at the end of the last issue, but eventually discovers that the entire world is basically one gigantic drop of water that’s surrounding a metallic core. This core has sentience and doesn’t react kindly to being invaded, but Esmeraldas has more than a few tricks up her sleeve and she’s determined to get Boy Zero back. So if you were also worrying about the lack of action in the last issue, it’s all made up for here. The ending was fantastic, including the last line that I desperately want to quote here but won’t because of spoilers. It had the perfect pitch of vaguely nonsensical yet still vastly important verbiage that’s in so many manga comics and was exactly the right way to end things. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way that Ryan alternated colors from page to page, as I’d swear that it added to the feeling that these people were deep in the vastness of space. Probably reading too much into pages of different colors, but that was the impression I got. From here I’m hoping that Ryan keeps this series going, and by that I mean the “SF” series. There are also vast libraries of old manga comics that are crying out for an American adaptation, and an American who’s fluent in Japanese like Ryan would be perfect to adapt them. What I’m basically saying is that the man should keep making comics in whatever form he’d like. Please and thank you. I was listing these individually as $4 each buy Ryan has the set listed at $16 on his website, so I was obviously a little off.

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SF Supplementary File #2B

I mentioned in the review for the first issue of this series that one of the joys of manga comics was the fact that the action was allowed room to breathe, that the readers never felt all that rushed on their journey through the story. Well, the obvious negative to that is the fact that not a whole lot happens in this issue. Which, in case you need reminding or for some reason aren’t reading this series, is the second of three issues, which Ryan did manage to finish on a monthly publishing schedule. Granted, the ability to maintain a monthly publishing schedule for three issues shouldn’t be considered a huge accomplishment, but in the small press world of today it’s pretty rare. Anyway, this issue deals with the two main characters of Esmereldas and Boundless Ocean Boy. They’re both traveling on her ship and she discovers his I.D. card, which is a wonderful excuse to tell the readers all about him. He declares that he can’t travel with her and wants to make it on his own, she points out that his I.D. card makes that problematic and she eventually finds a suitable planet and drops him off. Well, she thought it was a suitable planet anyway, but that turns out not to be the case, and we have the set-up for the final issue of the series. I skimmed over some of the details of the series here (read my review of the first issue if you’re curious or would like this review to make sense), but I have every confidence that this issue is going to fit in just fine in the long run. In the reviewing scheme of things this is a lousy issue to get if you just want to try this guy out, but it’s pretty much always been a bad idea to buy just the second issue of a three issue limited series. The only real problem with this one was a minor printing error that repeated a few pages. It’s hard enough to overcome a lifetime of habit and read this back to front and right to left instead of the other way around, so something like that printing error can be especially jarring. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be corrected in the collected edition, because that is happening, right? $4

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Supplementary File #2A

American readers take note: this comic is meant to be read manga-style, meaning back to front and right to left instead of the other way around. Granted, the fact that the cover is on the back of the book (as they are usually arranged) should be a pretty big clue, but I just wanted to make that perfectly clear. Another big clue is the fact that this is a redrawn version of a Matsumoto Lieji comic called Queen Emeraldas from 1979. So really, you no longer have any excuses if you read this thing backwards. Anyway, this is the first of three parts of the adaptation, with Ryan releasing one part each month for three months (an impressive achievement in today’s small press comics world). This one starts off with our hero running into somebody who apparently just landed called “Boundless Ocean Boy.” They’re also searching for Deathskull, who apparently got away after being wounded. They chat for a bit and then leave the planet, but after they go our hero blows the entire place up. And this is one of the things I’ve always loved about manga: the willingness to let the stories breathe. We’re treated to several pages of the planet starting to blow up, first with smaller explosions and finally with an explosion big enough to turn it into rubble. With most American comics you’d see the planet explode, either in one panel or one page, before moving on to the rest of the action. In this comic you’re given plenty of time to absorb the fact that you’re watching a frickin’ planet explode and maybe you should take a moment to appreciate that fact. It’s an intriguing set-up for a three part comic, with my only complaint being the lost word bubble on the third page. Maybe it was supposed to fly off the page? Either way it doesn’t do much damage to the rest of the book. Oh, and this book will also make perfect sense to you even if you’ve never read any of Ryan’s other comics, so don’t worry about getting bogged down in the continuity. $4

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SF Supplementary File #1

Just to make it clear, it helps tremendously if you read SF #1 before reading this supplementary comic. That seems like common sense, but I’m just throwing it out there. That being said, it’s not 100% required reading. This comic tells the tale of Gorum, the rough outdoorsman of the SF group. But where does he come from? How did he get so rough and outdoorsy? How did he attract the attention of the SF group in the first place? All of these questions are answered here in what ends up being a surprisingly satisfying comic. Surprising because you never know what to expect from these “supplementary” type comics, as sometimes they’re just cranked out for a convention and they don’t stand up very well a few months after the fact. This ends up being another piece of the puzzle that Ryan is building with the whole SF storyline. I’ll just say this again because it bears repeating: keep up the series. Seriously, don’t tease the readers by putting out one regular issue and a supplemental comic and then moving on to different things. Well, unless Ryan gets hired by one of the big publishers that will be willing to pay him serious bucks, in which case go for it. But I will fly to Japan just to punch this guy if it ends up being two years from now with no new issues. Note: punch will be easily avoided due to jet lag and the fact that I haven’t thrown a punch in 20+ years. That and I almost certainly won’t go through with it. But still: threat of punch! It’s all his fault for getting me hooked on this story so early in the series. I’m just setting myself up for disappointment. $2