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Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Drifting Classroom
There are comics that make me laugh. There are comics that make me cry. There are comics that fill me with suspense. There are comics that fill me with wonder. But there is only ONE comic that has me close the book and try to stifle my awe/nervous laughter as I try to figure out "what the fuck did I just read!?" I read most of my comics in public so I know I must look silly doing this but this series is just this crazy.
The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu takes all my nightmares as a kid and turns them into a story. A Japanese school seemingly explodes but actually ends up in a post-nuclear future. Now kids and faculty must survive on their own. Umezu has all adults act with varying combination of malice and ineffectiveness. The children panic but our star, the young Sho, tries to be a leader. Shenanigans ensue such as: teachers getting trampled by panicked students, teachers getting stabbed with scissors by students and a teacher stabbing his own son with the older man's eye glasses. That was the first bit that made me wonder "what the fuck did I just?" Those are all from volume one. Volume two is even crazier, mostly in the first few pages. I won't spoil anything but I will say the first chapter is named "Rage for Bread" and certainly lives up to its title.
I can't remember another comic where the intensity was sustained this long. Umezu makes it work, though. I never feel overwhelmed with the chaos in this comic. My feelings reading the series is more like this: "That's the the craziest thing I've ever seen in a comic...no, that is...my mistake once again, that is the craziest things I've seen in a comic." No other book comes close to spurring this reaction in me. I love it and eagerly await more.
Permanent Link: 6:19 PM |
1 comments
Comments:
I sort of had the same reaction to Battle Royal. Which I should really read more of one day. And this. Since you and Jeff Lester like it. Fucking manga! They multiply like rabbits. Like I need to read more comics! Well, maybe I do, come to think of it.
# posted by : 6:37 PM
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